Enemies Even More Idiotic Than Expected
Enemies Even More Idiotic Than Expected
General of the People (人公將軍) Zhang Liang
He was gripped by deep euphoria as he watched the troops steadily gather.
It had been five years since he began scheming the great cause with his brother Zhang Jiao.
Back when they planted the first seeds in the shadows, they had started with only three.
But now, before Zhang Liang's eyes, countless comrades were gathered together.
Not twenty or thirty thousand, but a great host of over two hundred thousand.
Even in the history of the Central Plains, such a massive force was rare,
and now this enormous host would move at the command of only one man—
Zhang Liang.
All that remained was to hurl this great army forth, pacify the Henei region, and throw wide the gates to a new era.
As Zhang Liang savored that profound thrill, the chieftains standing behind him spoke in excited voices.
"Truly amazing, General. Just by raising the banner of the great Yellow Turban Army, so many have gathered in one place..."
"I've seen similar sights a few times, but the sheer scale this time is truly astonishing."
"Two hundred thousand! That's larger than the total government forces defending Sili! At this rate, conquering Henei will be a walk in the park, General."
The chieftains expressed the same excitement he felt.
Zhang Liang gave a deep smile and said,
"This is all thanks to my sister sowing the seeds ahead of time. The day is not far off now—the day the yellow sky of the Yellow Turbans shall cover all under heaven!"
"It shall surely come to pass, General."
"The great cause's fulfillment is near. A new world where all commoners live in happiness will soon open."
"Yes, it must. It will be so!"
The chieftains chattered with glee.
But apart from the smile he wore while watching them,
a chilling resolve had already settled in Zhang Liang's heart.
'What great cause... Do you think I don't know the blackness in your hearts?'
Though they were fellow chieftains of the Yellow Turban Army, Zhang Liang was well aware of their deeds.
They merely used the name Yellow Turban Army; in truth, they were committing atrocities that earned them the label "Yellow Turban bandits" among the people, and were notorious for it.
Due to their tyranny, the Yellow Turban banner was becoming an object of loathing everywhere except Ji Province, and the momentum that had spread like wildfire had been severely dampened.
Those blinded by self-interest rather than the lofty great cause were enemies of the cause no less than the foul government forces.
For now he accepted them as comrades, but Zhang Liang knew well that these were precisely the ones to be eliminated first once everything was over.
'Enjoy yourselves all you want for now, you filthy bandits. Once we conquer Luoyang and my sister ascends the throne, you'll be the first I put to the sword.'
Hiding these true feelings, Zhang Liang intended to use them thoroughly as tools for the great cause for the time being.
A soldier called out...
"Hmm?"
Another band of soldiers came into Zhang Liang's view.
They wore the same yellow headbands as the other Yellow Turbans, but their unusual size drew admiring looks from Zhang Liang and the chieftains.
"Oh... I thought everyone who was supposed to come was already here..."
"That looks like at least four thousand... no, five thousand at the least."
"Come now, instead of standing here, let's go greet them. We should meet our new comrades quickly, shouldn't we?"
With a major battle ahead, every additional soldier was a good thing.
Especially since, while newcomers had usually arrived in the hundreds before, this time they had come in the thousands—Zhang Liang and the chieftains wore beaming expressions as they welcomed the "allied forces" entering the encampment.
At the vanguard stood a woman with blue hair.
Wearing the yellow headband that symbolized the Yellow Turban Army, she bowed respectfully and greeted them.
"Greetings, it is! We are Yellow Turbans from up north in Bing Province, it is! We came in response to the call of Zhang Jiao, it is! We have brought the chieftains' credentials as well, it is!"
The wooden credentials Zhang Jiao had distributed to the chieftains across the land long ago.
Though the ownership had become completely chaotic as chieftains died amid endless battles, they were still used as markers guaranteeing a minimum of identity.
"Oh... you came all the way from Bing Province?"
"That is correct, it is. It was a difficult journey, it is."
The wooden tablet bore the name of a chieftain he'd never heard of, 'Do Pae.'
But the symbol carved on it was unmistakably the one Zhang Jiao had personally carved.
"I am truly pleased to meet you. I am the General of the People Zhang Liang, the overall commander here. I welcome you as comrades in the great cause."
"Thank you for the welcome, it is! We look forward to working with you-dat!"
Her speech had a slightly peculiar ring,
but since the Han was vast and she had come from the far-flung border of Bing Province, there was no need to find an odd regional accent strange.
What mattered was that, having heard word from so far away, she had come all this way to help.
"Come, come inside. You must have had a hard journey here, so let us eat and drink together today."
Expressing his gratitude for that fact, Zhang Liang, like the other chieftains, intended to treat the female chieftain from Bing Province hospitably.
If this group had also committed bandit-like deeds, she would have to be dealt with in due course, but that was a matter for later, he thought...
The scout was not finished.
"Thank you, it is. But before that, there is something important that needs to be scouted, it is!"
"Something that needs to be scouted? What is it?"
"Government troops, it is! They have set up camp on the mountain west of here, it is! It looks like they may be planning to attack here or commit some sort of Yellow Turban-hating act-dat!"
"What? What did you say?"
Despite her peculiar speech, the female chieftain was relaying a highly serious matter.
Zhang Liang's expression hardened, and he immediately began summoning the other chieftains.
*
"What did you find out?"
"As you said, a fair number of government troops have been sighted."
"What is their strength?"
"I'm sorry. The forest is too dense, so I couldn't ascertain that."
"Hmm..."
According to the female chieftain's account, it seemed a force numbering in the tens of thousands had been headed that way.
The undergrowth made a precise count difficult, but it was clear that a force of some significant size was gathering there.
"The government dogs are likely up to some clumsy scheme."
"Give us the order, General. We'll go sweep them all away."
"Hmm..."
The chieftains demanded to be sent forth in high spirits.
Zhang Liang, however, fell into sober deliberation for a moment.
Not only was the enemy's strength unclear, but more importantly, their current position was deep in the rugged mountains.
Attacking would be difficult in itself,
and they might have laid a trap and be lying in wait for them.
No, if he were them, he would certainly have done so.
There was no way those bastards would have simply come right up to the camp and stuck their necks out, begging to be killed, unless they were insane.
'But... for now we cannot just leave them be.'
If the army here had consisted solely of Zhang Liang's direct subordinates, there would be no need to deal with them.
He was no fool; there was no reason to crawl into terrain unfavorable to his own side and fight.
However, apart from such calculations,
the assembled force currently gathered here was a coalition of two hundred thousand drawn from chieftains all across the land.
For now they called Zhang Liang "General" and followed him, but at their core they were rough, undisciplined, and thoroughly ignorant bandits.
Nasty bastards ready to smash you in the back of the head in spectacular fashion at the slightest squeak.
To lead them properly, he could not afford to show any sign of weakness, and he also needed to secure a major victory as soon as possible.
A large government force... possibly the enemy's main body—that was exactly the kind of prize that met the requirement.
'It can't be helped... I'll have to attack even at the cost of some losses.'
The prospect of being unable to minimize casualties chafed him as a commander.
But when he thought about it, since these were the very people he planned to purge once the great cause was achieved, sending them in first to fight could actually be politically advantageous.
The moment that calculation was complete,
Zhang Liang issued his orders to the chieftains in a resolute voice.
"We attack. Show those foolish government troops the might of the Yellow Turban Army."
"Understood, General!"
The chieftains immediately began to prepare for the sortie upon those words.
Just then, one person among them—
the female chieftain from Bing Province—approached Zhang Liang and spoke carefully.
"General, I'm sorry, but I think my soldiers and I must sit this one out, it is. We've only just arrived after a long journey, and I, as well as my lads, are all completely exhausted, it is."
"Do so. We aren't short on troops anyway, and more than anything, the scouting you provided alone is merit enough. You may rest well."
"Thank you-dat! You really are a Yellow Turban-friendly General, it is-dat!"
The female chieftain visibly brightened at Zhang Liang's permission.
She had clearly been quite worried that, utterly exhausted as she was, she might be ordered into a reckless attack.
After allowing those who needed rest to do so, Zhang Liang immediately left the council tent to ready the army for sortie.
Setting aside his willingness to accept a certain level of sacrifice, this was a first battle that he had to win.
Feeling a touch of tension at that fact, Zhang Liang gripped the sword at his waist tightly.
*
The Yellow Turban host, numbering two hundred thousand, began moving along the forest path.
Under the convenient pretext of giving them a chance to earn merit, he deliberately placed the chieftains with the foulest reputations at the vanguard, while Zhang Liang and his direct subordinate units took the rearmost position.
Regarding this arrangement, the chieftains at the front accepted it without any objection, even taking delight in it.
They were men who had never fought a proper war, who had wielded their blades only against helpless government troops and weak commoners.
To them, being at the front meant no more than that they would be the first to plunder.
They were about to learn otherwise.
In reality, being at the vanguard meant serving as arrow-sponges.
You could attach grand labels like "spearhead" to it, but unless you were a warrior of exceptional skill, the one standing at the very front was naturally the first to die.
Yet those fools, unaware of this truth, were simply dashing ahead in glee.
Scoffing inwardly at that fact, Zhang Liang began to mentally forecast the battle to come.
By now, the enemy would surely have noticed their movements.
They were undoubtedly lying in ambush somewhere like a hill, waiting for them.
Once they attacked the vanguard directly, he would immediately use the bastards in front as bait and strike the enemy's flank.
A stratagem to use untrustworthy allies as bait and extract the maximum advantage.
With that thought in mind, Zhang Liang waited impatiently for the bastards to show themselves.
But...
'What's this? By now it's about time for them to appear...'
There was no reaction from the enemy, even though it seemed they ought to be showing themselves by now.
Feeling puzzled, and at the same time a creeping unease that something might have gone strangely wrong,
Zhang Liang pushed on, his mood growing gradually more anxious.
Just then.
"General!"
A scout hurriedly approached.
Seeing the man appear to have discovered something, Zhang Liang asked with a sliver of expectation.
"What is it? Did you spot the enemy?"
"Yes! If you follow this path up the mountain, there's a wide clearing at the summit, and the enemy has set up camp there."
"At a clearing? You mean they're clustered in such an obvious open spot?"
"Yes, General. There looked to be at least several thousand... possibly more than ten thousand."
"Hmm..."
Contrary to his expectation that they would use the harsh terrain to ambush him, the enemy was waiting openly in plain sight with their formation deployed.
Hearing this, Zhang Liang began to think that the enemy might be even more moronic than he had predicted.