Little Conqueror (小覇王) (1)
The warlords who commanded Yang Province had assembled with tens of thousands of troops. Wu Prefecture, its preparations complete with every Jiangdong ship fully mobilized, resembled a hornet's nest ready to erupt.
Show yourselves.
I'll send you all to a watery grave at the bottom of the Yangtze.
However fierce a tiger on land, it cannot exert its full strength in the water. If Sun Jian's army attempted a reckless landing, they would unleash a general offensive and sink it to the riverbed.
"Would the Tiger of Jiangdong truly come head-on? There's a possibility he'll land at Danyang Prefecture instead of Wu Prefecture."
"He will definitely come."
Sun Jian was clearly a fierce commander who preferred frontal assaults. But he wouldn't be so stupid as to stick his bare hand into an enemy camp that was little more than a hornet's nest.
Would they really come?
There was a chance of trickery.
They might concentrate their forces here at Wu Prefecture, then launch a surprise attack on Danyang Prefecture to the rear. Danyang was the pivotal prefecture of Yang Province, so it was entirely possible.
Wang Lang, Governor of Kuaiji, voiced his concern with a heavy sigh.
"Enemy ships!"
Just as they watched in uncertainty,
the ships revealed themselves.
It was a staggering number, over two hundred vessels.
Sun Jian's army.
Just as expected, Sun Jian's army had arrived.
Countless ships surged forward, riding the north wind with their sails unfurled. The Jiangdong warlords reacted with a start at the sight of Sun Jian's fleet charging head-on without the slightest hesitation.
"Archers, prepare fire arrows! Spearmen and shield-bearers, block Sun Jian's army on the front line!"
"Sun Jian...! Today your reckless courage will be your death!"
Thousands of archers nocked fire arrows onto their bowstrings.
That wasn't all.
A multitude of infantrymen waited for orders, their sharp long spears and sturdy shields held high.
Qu'a Port, the gateway into Jiangdong, was blockaded by the Jiangdong warlords. Yet Sun Jian's army's attempt to seize Qu'a Port through a direct frontal attack looked like nothing but foolhardy bravado.
"Loose!"
The ships that had crossed the Yangtze were almost upon them.
At the same time, a torrential rain of fire arrows fell.
"The southern rebels have landed! Rain fire arrows down on them!"
"Burn them with their ships! Sun Jian's army...! They are the shame of Jiangdong for following that traitor!"
Ships attempting a landing.
The forces of Jiangdong desperately trying to stop them.
Qu'a Port was a vast harbor that could accommodate a great number of merchant ships at once. This vibrant port, always alive with the creaking of masts and decks and the shouts of sailors, transformed in an instant into a battlefield where slaughter ran rampant.
"Gah!"
"Don't fall back!"
Soldiers from Sun Jian's army disembarked from the ships and stepped onto land.
But the moment their feet hit the ground with a splat, they collapsed, their bodies riddled with arrows.
The other warships suffered the same fate.
They landed on the shore, but there was no way to break through the stubborn defensive line.
At best, they could only raise their shields to fend off the volleys of arrows. Even as dozens more ships arrived in succession, they could not secure the riverbank at Qu'a Port, and the offensive stalled.
If they remained bogged down here, they would all die.
The Sun Jian forces that had landed ashore were effectively in a Last-Stand Formation, with their backs to the water.
"How long will you cower behind your shields! Brothers, follow me! I will open a path!!"
A girl with flowing crimson hair revealed herself, raising a greatsword. She urged the trembling soldiers on, ordering the advance.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The shield-bearers parried the arrow barrage.
In that gap, the soldiers of Sun Jian's army formed a defensive formation.
A perfect defensive formation.
Even the fierce arrow barrage could not penetrate it.
They maintained the formation as they force-marched, until they reached the defensive line guarding Qu'a Port.
"Strike!"
When they almost reached the defensive line,
Sun Ce ordered the charge with a furious shout.
"Agh! M-my lady...!"
"If her face gets so much as a scratch..., we'll all be dead men!"
The beautiful War Princess of the Wu Prefecture Sun Clan leaped into the field where arrows were raining down fiercely, as if to prove the reputation of the Female Leopard. The soldiers who witnessed Sun Ce's back let out a shriek and pressed the charge.
Close-quarters battle unfolded.
Qu'a Port was soon awash in gore and screams.
"Come at me, all of you! I am Sun Ce, the General Who Attacks Rebels!!"
Every time she swung her razor-sharp greatsword, Liu Yao's officers and soldiers were mown down. Sun Ce's monstrous strength, which allowed her to freely wield a blade larger and heavier than her own upper body, overwhelmed the crowd.
Crunch!
She smashed through the wooden palisade and leaped in.
A myriad of soldiers thrust their sharp weapons, trying to block her entry. But with overwhelming power, Sun Ce shattered every counterattack head-on.
Conqueror.
It was the martial achievement of a true Conqueror.
She faced ten thousand men with the martial power of a single warrior.
She was a ferocious beast cloaked in the shape of a beautiful woman. Soaked head to toe in fresh blood as she waged a bloody battle, Sun Ce's figure was reminiscent of Xiang Yu, the Conqueror of Chu, the original Foe of Ten Thousand.
"How dare a mere wench run wild here!"
Fan Neng, a general of Liu Yao's army, thrust his spear and lunged at her.
In response, Sun Ce grasped her sword hilt in both hands.
Shing!
A blow filled with monstrous strength fell like a lightning bolt.
Fan Neng, who had not foreseen the life-threatening strike, met a wretched end. He was cleaved clean in two along with the weapon he had raised high.
Not even a scream escaped him.
The general of Liu Yao's army was severed from shoulder to pelvis and tumbled from his horse.
"General Fan Neng has fallen!"
"Damnation...! Stop that bitch, quickly!"
The Assistant General commanding the defensive line had been killed. The soldiers of Liu Yao's army, having witnessed Fan Neng brutally slaughtered before their eyes, stumbled backward in utter panic.
"Send a dispatch to the Governor of Wu Prefecture and the Governor of Kuaiji. Their troops are few in number. If this war of attrition continues, the southern rebels will have no choice but to tire themselves out!"
The enemies who had come ashore numbered no more than five thousand.
If they leveraged their numerical superiority, they could annihilate them in a single blow.
Liu Yao, the Governor of Danyang, sent dispatches to Xu Gong and Wang Lang, urging them to send reinforcements. Soon, the troops of the Governor of Wu Prefecture and the Governor of Kuaiji, who had been waiting in the rear, joined the front lines.
"You Chen Wen, Zu Mao bastards! It is I, the elder Huang Gai!"
"Follow the young lady! We must protect the young lady!"
Boom-.
The ships of Sun Jian's army seized the docks of Qu'a Port.
Huang Gai. Zu Mao. Cheng Pu. Han Dang.
The veteran generals of the Wu Prefecture Sun Clan revealed themselves.
Also,
"Sun Jian...! The Tiger of Jiangdong!"
"Sun Jian has appeared! Sun Jian has appeared!!"
The flagship of Sun Jian's army, which had been guarded by numerous vessels, landed. Immediately after, the Grand Command Banner of the Left General appeared, causing the vast army of tens of thousands defending Qu'a Port to tremble in fear.
Sun Jian.
The Tiger of Jiangdong.
A famed warrior of the era who had swept through the Central Plains.
Among the officers and soldiers of Jiangdong, who revered the martial path, was there a man who did not fear Sun Jian's martial renown? Sun Jian rushed into the enemy camp, leading the dozens of cavalrymen who had disembarked from the deck.
"My lord! The enemy has landed at Dantu Port!"
"Moling County and Danyang County are under enemy attack! Governor of Yuzhang, Hua Xin, has requested reinforcements!"
The Sun Jian army committed to Qu'a Port was merely a decoy.
The ships led by Liu Seong-hwi and Zhou Yu had landed successively at Moling County and Danyang County, striking at Danyang Prefecture, Liu Yao's base of power.
That wasn't all.
As Liu Chong's army launched its major invasion, urgent reports requesting aid came flooding in from all directions.
"Just how many of them are there! The ones who raided Wu Prefecture are just a detached force. Their main army must be the troops that invaded Danyang Prefecture...!"
The Governor of Danyang, Liu Yao, was forthright in his blood and chivalric spirit, but he was nothing more than a white-faced scholar ignorant of military strategy. True to form, when the battle plunged into chaos with a flurry of urgent reports, he could not make a decision and hesitated.
Danyang Prefecture was already lost.
If he fled rashly, the enemy would surely capture him.
If he retreated to Kuaiji Prefecture to the south, there might still be a chance to reorganize his army.
"Found you at last! You are the commander-in-chief of Jiangdong!!"
Just as he was about to issue the order,
a wild beast drenched in blood came charging in at full speed on horseback.
Yu Mi, the guard commander leading the bodyguards escorting Liu Yao, was slaughtered. Sun Ce, who had charged alone deep into the ranks and reached Liu Yao's main camp, immediately leveled her greatsword at him.
"M-my lord!"
"The enemy general is aiming for our lord!!"
Just as she lifted her greatsword, which dripped with blood and chunks of flesh,
Clang-!!
a sharp short halberd blocked it.
Green hair that had been covering her face scattered, revealing a vivid scar etched across her cheek. The heroine who had intervened at this critical moment, saving Liu Yao, leveled the sharp tip of her short halberd and warily eyed Sun Ce.
"Tai, Taishi Ci!"
"You must retreat for now! My lord, the Governor of Wu Prefecture and the Governor of Kuaiji are already withdrawing!"
Taishi Ci.
I've heard of her.
They say she's the hero who single-handedly broke through the Yellow Turban army that besieged Qing Province.
Realizing she had met an opponent worthy of her full strength, Sun Ce felt her blood boil.
"Lion! I see you're the Lion! I was called Leopard in Jiangdong, so are you the Lion of Jiangdong? Just how confident in your martial power were you to be named Lion the moment you were born?"
"You ignorant bitch...! My surname is Taishi, and my name is Ci!"
A brief exchange of names ended.
Simultaneously, as if drawn by something, they lunged at one another.
(Pants with a zipper that can instantly manifest a showdown.)