After the Battle: One Rider Stands Against a Thousand
One rider stands against a thousand. A single cavalryman holding off a thousand soldiers. Honestly, I'd always thought such a thing was impossible. No matter how mighty a warrior, there's no way one man could fell a thousand foes.
But I saw it with my own eyes—that this wasn't just empty talk.
Clang, clang. With every jingle of the bells, a soldier's head flew. Each flash of that sharp curved blade, like something out of the Dongwu armory, sent another man crumpling. He didn't care that they were heavy infantry clad in iron plate. The frozen river beneath their feet? No issue at all. Sword in hand, he danced through the enemy ranks, slicing them apart.
"That's..."
"Hahaha! I came to stretch my legs, and what do I find?"
The man's booming roar echoed like thunder, and Zhang Je's soldiers began to falter, one by one. Even I, his ally, was trembling. If I had to face that monster head-on right now? I'd drop to my knees and beg for mercy in an instant. I'd know I couldn't win, and to protect my men and my stuff, I'd grovel for my life.
That's what a fierce general is, isn't it? A single existence who can flip the tide of battle. Turning defeat into victory, or sealing an already-won fight.
"Come on, then! None of you will set foot on this riverbank!"
Alone, he dashed along the shore, butchering the soldiers charging from the river. Zhang Je's army faced an impossible choice: plummet through the cracked ice to drown below, or charge toward us—the closest land—and beg for their lives.
Of course.
Slash. But with every jingle of those bells, no more beggars appeared.
"Y-You! Who the hell are you?!"
Zhang Je had somehow maneuvered his horse to the bank. Panting raggedly, he leveled his spear at the man, who slung the flat of his curved blade over his shoulder and pointed at himself with his free hand.
"Me? Gan Ning."
"What? You... Gan Ning?!"
"You know me? Makes it easier, then."
The warrior called Gan Ning sauntered toward Zhang Je with a swagger.
"You're gonna die here."
"Y-You bastard...! Do you know who I am? I'm Zhang Je! A general of the realm! How dare you—"
"So what?"
Gan Ning shrugged and closed in. "A title from Dong Zhuo, right? One bullied out of His Majesty by Li Jue and Guo Si?"
"Shut your mouth, you...!"
Clang! Gan Ning lunged in a single stride, swinging his curved blade. Zhang Je parried with his spear, and the horse reared in shock from the transmitted impact, bolting on its own.
"Gah!"
He fled. Just one clash, and the horse had panicked from the sheer force.
"R-Retreat, all troops!!"
Zhang Je spurred his mount onward, bellowing as he fled. He had fewer than a hundred cavalry trailing him, while the rest drowned under their heavy iron armor—but his own neck came first. He galloped away furiously.
"Ha, haha..."
My hands and feet shook uncontrollably. The man who'd terrified me moments ago, pale-faced and fleeing for his life. His expression must have mirrored mine from earlier. The face of one gripped by death's terror. Even after smashing the frozen river to drown us en masse, seeing him bolt like that...
"The enemy commander flees—!!"
This time, a familiar voice rang out. I turned, and joy welled up so fiercely tears pricked my eyes.
"General Huang!"
"Reinforcements from Governor Liu."
Huang Zu drew his sword and pointed ahead. Armored soldiers filled the gaps in our defense line, nocking arrows aimed forward. Their arrowheads gleamed like the steel of Zhang Je's armor.
"Fire—!!"
At Huang Zu's command, a volley ten times ours darkened the sky.
"Argh!!"
Soldiers flailing in the river sank under the arrows; those pursuing Zhang Je struck his horse. Neigh!! It slipped on the ice and fell, hurling Zhang Je off—helmet flying, tumbling head over heels.
"...We're saved."
Hooray!! Cheers erupted. Not just Huang Zu's men, but our northern garrison and volunteers—all roared in triumph.
"Teacher Kim. You can relax now."
Huang Zu pointed below with the steadiest face imaginable.
"Three thousand imperial troops from Jingzhou to suppress the bandits."
Three thousand. They said fifty thousand clashed in the north, and thirty thousand under Tao Qian got massacred by Cao Cao in Xuzhou. But here, now? Three thousand felt like a hundred thousand strong.
A general sprawled on the ice after falling. Half his men still thrashing in the water. Despair spreading as reinforcements arrived. Easy pickings for three thousand archers.
"All troops!!"
Huang Zu's next bellow sent chills down my spine.
"Wipe them out—!!"
Wipe them out. What word could be more perfect? With Huang Zu's reinforcements, we annihilated Zhang Je's army. Arrows darkened the sky once more.
"Aaaagh!!"
Those abandoning their men to flee alone got trampled under hooves and pinned by arrows without aid.
About half a shi chen. We had won.
* * *
Hooray!! A festival broke out around Suyeon Academy. Celebrating the bandit purge—and our ragtag "army" fighting together and triumphing.
"Enough meat and booze for six thousand? On me today!"
"Kim Taeyang! Kim Taeyang! Kim Taeyang!"
Why did I do it? I'd scrimped and skimmed donations, hoarding in the warehouse. If I was gonna blow half in one day, why not eat and drink sooner?
"Ha, haha."
Still, seeing people laugh and enjoy lifted my spirits. We'd survived. The refugees from the north, those who stayed to fight, our five hundred Jingzhou defenders, Liu Biao's reinforcements. We'd beaten the enemy.
And I learned some lessons.
One: Life doesn't go according to plan.
Two: I'm no frontline fighter.
My heart felt like it was shrinking. Every moment was terror. From slamming horses headfirst into paddies using the drop, until Huang Zu arrived—I'd staked my life every second.
Never again. I'm suited for quiet civilian life. Leading wars, scheming, charging ahead? Not my style.
"I'll buy us time."
"Hurry!!"
"Don't worry! I'll survive for sure!"
"...Hah."
The liquor tasted bitter. I survived on others' sacrifices. I'm a coward, timid to the core. If I were some faction's official, I'd stay back, sipping honey water. Maintain order to prevent rebellions, focus on internal affairs, ship grain when ordered—and live long and thin.
Today, my thread of fate nearly snapped countless times. Too pathetic to recount in detail, but it hammered home how hopelessly timid I am.
Suppressing Zhang Je. Big enough for the histories? Nah. It'll be a footnote at best under Li Jue and Guo Si after Dong Zhuo: "Zhang Je plundered northern Jingzhou and was slain." Or omitted entirely.
Yet I brushed death endlessly here. Never again. Lucky it was Zhang Je—if that boozing, blade-dancing Gan Ning had charged...
"Master, what are you thinking?"
"Kim Taeyang splitting in two?"
Sima Yi sidled up. I'd asked her not to reveal her schemes, so this victory was all Mun Bing's plan, with volunteer me lending an arm.
"Fierce generals are something else. Never thought one horse and rider could turn the tide—but now I believe it."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Why not base all tactics on a fierce general's prowess?"
How to break a square formation? Answer: Give troops to a fierce general and let him smash through.
"The battlefield's terrifying. One word from me, and men die. Ordering death felt too horrifying—like I killed them myself."
"Master."
"But no regrets. They did worse than beasts, coming to steal ours."
Debating Zhang Je let me understand them.
"Their mindset's alien. Steal to eat when hungry, grab what you want— that's baseline for them."
Fleeing petty thieves taught me what great state robbers are like.
"Anyway, Yi. One certainty hit me."
"What?"
"You can't judge those types with common sense."
I need power. To protect mine.
"Gotta find a magistrate for Suyeon Academy, Xinya County. Beg him to defend this place."
Someone to shield the people in any crisis. Exceptionally capable.
"Tch... He'd be perfect."
"Who, Teacher?"
"Wha— Mun..."
Glug. A flushed, booze-soaked man swigged from the jar.
"General Mun?"
"Yup. Mun Bing. Ah, mustache slipped."
Casually dressed Mun Bing stood before me.
"Y-You're... alive?"
"Course. Thought I died? I said I'd buy time—not die. I'm a smidge below that Gan Ning, but I could've taken Zhang Je in thirty bouts."
Mun Bing slapped his arm and grinned.
"Don't underestimate me. Hahaha!"
"Magistrate."
"Yes?"
"General, ever thought of being magistrate?"
Recommendation.
"As you know, my auntie..."
Zhang Je plunders northern Jingzhou and is slain. Nephew inherits command. Mun Bing recognized for merit, appointed magistrate of Xinya County.