The Giant Trap at Baima Castle
The massive trap at Baima Castle sprang shut. The Yuan Shao army’s archers, hidden inside the covered assault boats, revealed themselves and drew their bows toward our cavalry. I didn’t even waste time looking—I simply wheeled my horse around. “To the north gate wall of Baima Castle! Stick close to the wall and get under the covering fire from our allies!”
But arrows were already slicing through the air, striking the cavalry’s flanks by the narrowest margin. “If you don’t want to look like porcupines, move!”
Cavalrymen were already collapsing, bodies pierced by the surprise volley. To save even one more life, we raced desperately for Baima Castle. I deflected countless arrows as they whistled toward me, but there were simply too many.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
An arrow had punched through my armor and buried itself in my shoulder. I wanted to rip it out immediately, yet doing so would cause catastrophic bleeding. I yanked free the one lodged in my saddle instead. The moment our counterfire began from the castle walls above, I caught sight of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry corpses scattered across the ground like broken dolls.
“Aah…”
We had ridden out as the vanguard, only to suffer devastating losses. At that exact moment, Yuan Shao’s ambushing forces closed in, encircling us. Their cavalry numbered in the thousands. If we stayed huddled here, we would die. With covering fire coming from the castle walls, our only chance was to fight our way out.
“Yuan Xi has arrived!”
A giant of a man—larger than most cavalry commanders—charged forward. It was Yuan Xi, roaring his own name as he attacked. Even with an arrow in me, I could handle him. I knocked his spear aside. The blow wasn’t light, but it lacked the crushing weight I had felt when sparring against Guan Yu or Zhang Liao.
“I’ll take your head and turn the tide of—”
Clang!
A chill ran down my side. I reflexively raised my spear and barely blocked the strike.
“Chunyu Qiong is here!”
Two against one. I was desperately holding them off when a sharp whistle cut the air and an arrow punched straight through my gut.
“Gah!”
The shaft protruded from my lower abdomen. The pain was so intense I could barely draw breath.
“Cao Cao’s fake son. Wen Chou has come for you.”
These filthy bastards—three against one now…
“Yan Liang will claim your head!”
Four generals. The entire encounter had been a trap from the beginning, and they had committed everything to surrounding and capturing me.
Clang—Clang!
“Kuh!”
If I faced them one at a time, I could have taken their heads. But the moment I blocked one, attacks flew in from every direction before I could counter.
“Save the Zhonglangjiang! Guard unit, rescue the Zhonglangjiang surrounded by enemy commanders—”
Slaaash!
“Annoying vermin!”
Yan Liang swept his enormous crescent halberd in a wide arc. Elite riders of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry fell like wheat before a scythe. These were irreplaceable veterans, the best of the best—yet they died as arrow fodder in an ambush or were cut down while surrounded by Yuan Shao’s generals.
“Kuh!”
I charged again, aiming for Yan Liang’s throat, but he parried. Then the blades of three halberds came at me simultaneously from different directions.
“Graaagh!”
Lamellar plates tore from my side. The shoulder already pierced by an arrow took a spear shaft on the opposite side. I swung wildly to drive them back and tried to create distance, but all four were formidable warriors determined to kill me where I stood.
Blocking each strike was already exhausting. The moment I let my guard down, any one of them would drive steel into my neck.
“You bastard! I will take that head myself!”
I had barely deflected the combined assault from Yan Liang and Wen Chou when Yuan Xi charged straight at me. I slipped aside by the width of a finger, then stepped inside his reach and slammed my body into his.
“Kuh! This guy?!”
Clang!
Chunyu Qiong attacked next. Killing intent rose behind my neck. If I dodged, I died. If I blocked only one side, I died. Knowing that, I knocked Chunyu Qiong’s spear aside and—
“You bastard!”
Clangggg!
I drew the sword at my waist in a reflexive arc. The impact felt strong enough to shatter my shoulder blade, but yielding even an inch would have sliced my entire torso in half. The moment I deflected the blow and broke free, my whole body screamed—torn flesh, broken bones, blood that refused to stop flowing.
“Haa… haa… Uwaaaaaah!!”
I roared once and leveled my sword at the four men closing in again.
“At least I’ll kill one of you. Preferably that dirty bloodline of a bitch’s son—”
“You damned wretch!”
As expected, Yuan Xi charged first. I reversed my grip and hurled the sword at him. Startled by the flying blade, he knocked it aside—only for my spear to thrust forward. Yan Liang and Wen Chou blocked it together.
Slaaaash!
Chunyu Qiong drove his weapon into my side once more.
“Before you die, I’ll cut out that nonsense-spewing tongue and nose and present them to my lord!”
I could no longer keep my seat. My body crumpled from the horse. At least…
Slash!
“This bastard cut the horse!”
I had taken the head of the mount in front of me. The one losing balance and collapsing was Wen Chou. But Yan Liang immediately swung his halberd from the opposite side. As I twisted away, my own beloved steed took the blow. Blood sprayed everywhere.
It was one of the finest warhorses Cao Cao had personally granted me, yet it drew its final breath on this battlefield. The moment the horse fell, I leapt clear and rolled across the dirt. From the ground, the enemy generals looked twice or three times their actual size—towering like pillars.
“This ends now…”
Swooosh!
“Keuk!”
“Young master!”
“Lord Xuanhe!”
An arrow suddenly struck Yuan Xi in the arm. As Yan Liang and Wen Chou moved to shield him, familiar hoofbeats thundered from behind.
“Zayul!”
“You despicable cowards! All of you ganging up on one man!”
Dian Wei and Zhang Liao had arrived. They rushed forward, placed me behind them, and immediately engaged Yan Liang and Wen Chou.
“This is no warrior’s duel!”
“Zayul, leave this to me and fall back!”
Zhang Liao took Wen Chou while Dian Wei faced Yan Liang. Yuan Xi, still bleeding from his wound, locked eyes with me.
“Young master!”
“General Chunyu! We must capture that one first!”
Chunyu Qiong glanced at Yuan Xi, then seized his halberd and charged me. At that exact moment—
Clang!
“…Uncle!”
“Cao Cao? Cao Cao himself?!”
Cao Cao had come personally, sword drawn, and deflected Chunyu Qiong’s halberd. His horse was lathered in sweat, steam rising from its body from the furious ride. The supreme commander and lord of our army had taken the field himself, crossing blades with an enemy general.
The Yuan Shao forces at Baima—who had launched a surprise all-out assault targeting me and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry—were pushed back by the faster-than-expected arrival of Cao Cao’s main army. They retreated to their landing-point formation for the time being.
Yet when I looked around, a huge portion of our elite Tiger and Leopard Cavalry lay dead. And my own body…
“Zayul! Zayul!!!”
I was urgently carried inside Baima Castle, but I could not move a single finger. My vision grew increasingly blurry. Only my hearing remained sharp amid the burning thirst. I had lost a large part of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry on my very first battle as vanguard, and my own condition was critical.
“This is my fault. I pushed you too hard, sending you into a death trap just to win the first engagement!”
Cao Cao himself knelt before me, tears streaming down his face as he clutched my hand and admitted his mistake. How often in the Three Kingdoms era did one witness such a scene?
“Save him! No matter what it takes, save him!”
“T-the wounds are too severe, my lord. We must stop the bleeding and stitch the injuries first, but his chance of survival… we can only know after we try.”
“Shut up and save him! If Zayul dies, I will have all your heads!”
Cao Cao roared like a madman, drawing his sword on the castle physicians. I could not stay conscious any longer. My eyes closed.
“Hahaha! Ahahahahaha!”
Yuan Shao, stationed at Liyang north of the Yellow River, clutched his belly and laughed uproariously upon receiving the victory report.
“Do you all see this? The content is truly magnificent. Our vanguard surrounded Baima Castle, crushed five thousand of the enemy’s vanguard cavalry, left their commander on death’s door, and only when Cao Cao himself rushed over were we barely stopped. Ahahahaha!”
The usually calm and dignified Yuan Shao could not hide his delight. His own son had gone forth and delivered a victory. His smile stretched from ear to ear.
“My lord, congratulations!”
“Congratulations!”
Having won the first battle so splendidly, his advisors—Guo Tu, Shen Pei, Feng Ji, Xu You, and the rest—rubbed their hands together in front of him.
“As expected, Lord Xuanhe possesses truly exceptional martial talent.”
“Indeed. Did not the remnants of Gongsun Zan in You Province all get swept away the moment he was appointed Governor of You Province?”
“He clearly inherited my martial prowess. He has no interest in politics or factional strife. The fact that he went straight to the frontier filled with barbarians and fought there proves he is a born warrior. Hahahaha!”
From Yuan Shao’s perspective, nothing could have been better.
Yet amid the laughter, only one man read the report and let out a deep sigh.
“Aah, this cannot be!”
“Hm? What is it, Commander Ju?”
Ju Shou clasped his hands and reported gravely to Yuan Shao’s question.
“Great General, your servant Ju Shou speaks. While the first victory is certainly joyous, we have let the greatest prize slip through our fingers. Cao Zayul survived and retreated.”
“Hoh, you mean that fake son of Cao Cao’s? He is certainly an insolent fellow. It would have been ideal to kill him, but we wiped out half his cavalry. Is that not enough?”
“Great General, in this war we absolutely had to capture that man. He will become a persistent threat to Hebei in the future. Killing him would have fastened the first button of this entire campaign properly.”
“Is he not merely one of Cao Cao’s many seed-spawn? Why ruin the mood of victory like this?”
When Guo Tu sneered, Ju Shou shook his head and explained to Yuan Shao.
“Great General, Cao Cao has always been deeply suspicious. Whenever he undertakes any important matter, he tends to send his own blood relatives to the front. For this battle as well, he must have chosen Cao Xiu as the most trustworthy piece among his kin. Had we killed him, we would have eliminated a troublesome military talent while dealing Cao Cao more than double the shock—having lost a relative he himself sent forward. It might have even shattered the man’s spirit.”
“Hmmm. That emotional fellow Cao Cao might have clutched his neck and collapsed. So that is what we missed.”
“We should have prepared poisoned arrows for the archers and made certain to stop his breath.”
“Now, now. Poison will not do.”
Before marching out, the Yuan Shao army had suffered from a plague that swept through Jizhou. In their efforts to contain the disease, they had burned latrines and cleared filth. In the process, the various poisons originally prepared for war had also been dragged outside Yecheng and incinerated. When the time came to wage war again, there was too little time to procure fresh, lethal toxins for arrowheads and blades. They had no choice but to prepare only ordinary arrows.
“Ju Shou, you are excellent in many ways, but you tend to obsess over finishing touches. Even if that fake son of Cao Cao’s survives, we simply need to capture Cao Cao himself. Ahaha!”
With his pride soaring to the heavens, Yuan Shao merely continued to laugh.