The Strategist Who Carried the Zuo Zhuan onto the Battlefield

Zhang Liao and Wei Xu's army had set out for Xiaopei. Whether the roads had simply missed each other or not, a messenger arrived from the city instead.

"According to the report, Xiaopei has some ten thousand troops, and they're locked in a back-and-forth with Lu Bu."

"That madman dares!"

Zhang Fei looked ready to chase them down on the spot, and the messenger went on, laying Xiaopei's plight out in full.

"They say Chen Gong of Yanzhou came forward as Lu Bu's envoy to negotiate, and Brother Yunchang, holding the city, answered by hurling a spear in his face. He did it three times over. Lu Bu flew into a rage and threw himself at the walls."

Pick it apart and Guan Yu had thrown the first punch — but no one blamed him. On the contrary, he was carrying out, to the letter, an old request of mine: not one remnant of Lu Bu's faction sets a foot in Xuzhou.

"The problem is the state of the enemy. Brother Yunchang took the field, and it isn't a slaughter — it's a stalemate. That isn't normal, is it?"

"That... nngh!"

We had already laid careful preparations at Xiaopei, and still we had failed to sweep Lu Bu's remnants away in a single stroke. Was Guan Yu's generalship lacking? Did his martial skill fall short of Lu Bu's? Maybe. But the bastards who had survived all the way out here were strong as hell.

"The report says the troops under Lu Bu's lieutenant, Gao Shun, are especially formidable. On a level with Lu Bu himself in command, they say."

"Gao Shun? Never heard the name."

"There was a man like that under Lu Bu?"

At a name neither Zhang Fei nor Zhuge Jin recognized, Zang Ba quietly raised a hand.

"I know a little about that fellow."

Truth was, I knew exactly who he was. Still — why not hear it from Zang Ba?

"Back when Cao Cao and Lu Bu were tearing Yanzhou to pieces, he came to Mount Tai several times as an envoy. Eyes long and narrow like this, great scars all over his body. A warrior out of Bing Province who'd walked the line between life and death more than once."

"Is he strong?"

Zang Ba kept answering Zhang Fei's question.

"Never fought him myself, so I can't say for certain. On the surface... but a man who traveled between Bing Province and here again and again under his own power — he's got nerve, I'll give him that."

"And he fought Lord Yunchang at Xiaopei, it seems. They clashed once. A draw."

"What?"

Zhang Fei's eyes flew wide, and he rounded on me.

"That can't be, I tell you! Our brother, fighting a draw with some nobody whose name we don't even know?"

"He came out of the city and met the unit under Gao Shun head-on, and he had the man by the throat — right up until Lu Bu crashed in and made it two against one. That's why, they say."

"Hrrrnn..."

The way it leaned so hard on that two-to-one, the wording just a shade too careful — Guan Yu had written the report himself. Pride, with that one, was a serious business.

"What's left to drag out? We leave for Xiaopei now! I'm the supreme commander of this force!"

Zhao Bao bellowed it, ambition brimming over, and Zhang Fei, Zhuge Jin, and Zang Ba turned as one to look at him.

"Wh-what are those looks? You saying you won't fight?"

"Commandant Zhao, we know you're supreme commander. All the same, wouldn't it be better if the strategist drew up the plan?"

"And it does seem right that Zhang Qian be the one to serve as strategist."

"Ah, as for me, I was only brought along as a logistics aide..."

Smooth as anything, the three of them put me forward as strategist and nudged me out in front. Zhao Bao ground his teeth, and sat.

"So. This brilliant strategist of ours — setting the merchant work aside, what exactly will you do for us when it comes to strategy?"

"We pursue. Straight from Mount Tai to Xiaopei."

"And for a decision like that, is there a reason it has to be Zhang Qian talking, and not me, the supreme commander?"

"Because I'm talking about how we fight once we get there. Lu Bu is at Xiaopei. So is Gao Shun. So is Zhang Liao."

Of everyone here, I knew the ground around Xiaopei best. Why? I had raised the walls myself, and scouted every approach besides. When the three brothers — Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei — went out to Tan County to save the people of Xuzhou, I had held the line alongside Lu Su. And when the war was over, at my brother-in-law's request, I had gone out and picked through Cao Cao's dead for scrap iron. By then the whole of that country, and everything around it, was burned into my eyes.

"I heard before that Zhang Qian may be able at trade and administration, but hardly bright when it comes to military strategy. You said so yourself — that Zijing or Ziyou would be the ones to step forward."

When Zhao Bao dragged up what I had once said, I drew the book from inside my robe.

"That was true until recently. But I have my reasons for stepping up this time. I've been studying."

"The Spring and Autumn... the Zuo Zhuan?"

"Master this one volume and you'll have no need of the Six Secret Teachings and the Three Strategies on the battlefield... I'm joking. I've already worked out how we'll fight on the pursuit."

I pointed at Zhang Fei first.

"Best if Brother Yide takes Lu Bu at Xiaopei. When you meet a spearhead, you answer force with force — and this is the fight he'll want most."

"A proper match! If I get to clash with that Lu Bu again!"

"Xuangao — can you pursue, and take Zhang Liao on one more time? If Zhang Liao joins their spearhead he'll be a tremendous headache. We have to peel them apart and fight them separate."

"Fought him once. He's worth another bout. Gladly!"

"Wait — wait just a moment! Then what about me? I'm the supreme commander, in name at least!"

Zhao Bao was desperate, by any means he could find, to win a great merit this time. On top of that, the elite of his own Danyang troops were here. To a man like that, I made an offer he could not refuse — and a dangerous one.

"Commandant Zhao, you really must be the one to take on the great task."

"A great task? What task is that?"

"The thing that makes Xiaopei truly dangerous is Gao Shun. The reports say he leads an elite called the Trapped Camp — extraordinarily, extraordinarily strong — warriors who fight as one against a hundred. Fail to take them, and we have no chance of winning."

"You're telling me and my Danyang troops to face them?"

"Commandant, they are said to be truly strong. A match even for Cao Cao's Yanzhou elite, the Qingzhou Troops, and their venom will be risen as high as it can rise."

"Those wretches! I don't care how great they are — I'll sweep them away! And all I have to do is bring back this Gao Shun's head, is that it?"

"Then you will have won the greatest merit of this war, Commandant. Unless, of course, Lu Bu's own head happens to fall."

"Hmph!"

Each man had his opponent. All that remained was—

After days on the march, we finally reached Xiaopei. Just as before, a force sat ringed around the castle: the Nansi Lakes to the north, and to the south, beyond the hills, an army in camp.

"Lu Bu's banner — the character Lu — flying in the center. And that army waiting on the hill."

"Plain as day, that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this Gao Shun's banner. They look like they can hit. I'll take them!"

Ambition at its peak, Zhao Bao rode out determined that the Danyang troops under his hand would claim the highest military merit in all of Xuzhou, whatever it took.

"Hraaaaaah! Lu Bu, you bastard!"

Right behind him Zhang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Fei let out a roar like a locomotive letting off steam, serpent spear in hand, and charged the camp flying Lu Bu's banner. When Zhang Liao moved first to meet him, Zang Ba drew his blade and charged as well.

As the soldiers crashed together from three directions, I kept Zhuge Jin at my side and took the whole of the battle in at a glance.

"Ziyou. From here on, the moment one side looks ready to break, the reserves go straight there."

"Understood!"

When the three forces collided side by side, the fiercest fighting was, as expected, between Gao Shun and Zhao Bao. From the first instant the screams crossed, heavily armored infantry slammed into one another in the open, and the shock of it shuddered through the earth. Then the armies on all three fronts began to shift, sliding farther and farther from my sight. Push and give, push and give — the lines never stopped moving. They were fighting across the hills besides, and no matter how wide I opened my eyes, they kept slipping out of view.

"Zhang Qian, look there!"

The center was no better. Zhang Fei had charged in high spirits, been stopped cold in front, and locked into a contest of raw strength, while Lu Bu's men spread to envelop him. Zhang Liao joined in, trying to box Zhang Fei's army from front, rear, left, and right all at once. Zang Ba kept grabbing hold of them and shoving them off — one slip, and we would be swallowed whole.

"Zhang Qian, shouldn't we be helping them?"

"No. Wait."

I had meant to send reinforcements the moment any of the three was pushed back, but something here was wrong. The left wing in particular was opening far too wide. They weren't striking Zhang Fei's army. That movement was—

"Ziyou! Shields up — archers ready!"

"Here?!"

I had it. Watching the way they moved, they were only pretending to encircle Zhang Fei's men. The left wing was running straight at us. The military texts said that in a melee a detached force would strike by surprise wherever the spearhead stood, each side hunting the other's commander. I had read it. Living it was another matter. This was the first time.

Lu Bu's center and Zhang Liao's right were trying to close a pincer, and Zhang Fei and Zang Ba were shoving them back by main strength — but the left was aiming here, so I had Zhuge Jin set the archers at once. Watching a battle from afar, flicking a command baton this way and that, directing a war in comfort: that was the stuff of novels. From the moment you set a foot on the field, you fought with your life in the wager. I threw up a defense as tight as I could make it and settled in to hold. Fall back here, and every last one of us dies!

"Now! Loose!"

Teeth clenched to the cracking point, I poured arrows into the enemy charging down on us.

A furious battle, already raging for several watches.

"Hah... hah... this can't be!"

Zhao Bao watched those mighty Danyang troops collapse one by one, and the cry tore out of him through bloodshot eyes.

"Take the enemy commander—"

Steel shrieked. "Kh—!"

Seven thousand Danyang troops had begun to give ground against a remnant of Lu Bu's army not even half their number. He had expected the resistance to stiffen — spot them, drive them, pursue them to the end, and take this hill. Even at the enemy's center the men under Gao Shun were formidable enough that he had gone in himself, cutting down soldiers of the Trapped Camp, leading from the front, hacking like a madman. When he came back to himself, every corpse around him was Danyang. From noon until the sun went down they had fought as if possessed, and still it was the Danyang troops being pushed back.

"Wh-what in the world is this!?"

"Commandant! We can't go on! You have to withdraw!"

"Withdraw where? Go down from here and we're annihilated!"

"Most of them are already dead or badly wounded! Hold any longer and your life is in danger too, Commandant!"

"They're spent. There's hardly any of them left, I tell you!"

That was when Gao Shun himself came down, spear in hand. The butt of it struck the ground with a heavy thud.

The Trapped Camp had taken heavy losses of its own. As if to finish it here and now, he leveled his spear at Zhao Bao and the handful of Danyang survivors. Behind him, soldiers of the Trapped Camp plastered head to foot in blood began to rise one after another, eyes bulging, the spirit on them that of hungry ghosts. Zhao Bao saw it, bit his lip until the blood came, and roared that he would sooner die on this hill than run.

"All troops — the enemy commander's head—"

And then it came. Dudududu— dudududu— dudududu—

Gao Shun's eyes blew wide at the shudder running through the hill and the rough thunder of an advancing host.

"Hoofbeats!?"

On instinct he halted his men's advance, packed what remained of the Trapped Camp as tight as it would go, and went on the defensive. At that very moment a general on a white horse crested the hill with elegant ease and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drew up before them. A black war robe, two swords in hand — when the Trapped Camp saw the face of the rider, they stirred.

"How is Liu Bei here!?"

"You wretches!"

Liu Bei himself had reached Xiaopei. In the next instant the soldiers of the Trapped Camp snatched up spears and blades and charged on reflex — but the twin swords he swung from the saddle sheared away arms and heads, and the white horse, drenched in the spray, was turning into a blood-horse.

"Secure Commandant Zhao!"

"Protect our own, and drive the enemy off the hill!"

Liu Bei's own household troops had come up the slope and pulled Zhao Bao and the surviving Danyang men clear. Zhao Bao looked around him with a face gone blank. Before a man who had lost most of his Danyang elite, Liu Bei swung down from the saddle and seized his hand in haste.

"Commandant Zhao, are you all right? I heard what was happening at Xiaopei and rode here at once!"

"Ha... haha..."

In a mess this goddamned absurd, Liu Bei had burst in out of nowhere and was sincerely trying to look after him. Zhao Bao was too hollowed out for anything but a laugh. On a hill heaped with the corpses of Danyang troops, the Trapped Camp had been driven off, and Liu Bei planted his banner.

"He really came..."

"I knew he would. Knew it for certain."

Zhuge Jin hurried over and caught my sleeve.

"Then — you knew, and you made yourself the bait?"

Only a few watches ago, Lu Bu's army had pretended to encircle Zhang Fei, thrown a feint, and sent the left wing charging this way. We had put shields to the front, set the archers, and poured shafts until they could not get through, then dug in and held. The resistance was so fierce we stopped that first assault cold. Then the second wave of the left arrived and struck again, and with no chance to rotate the men, nothing stacked up but fatigue.

Zhang Fei and Zang Ba saw it and tried to peel troops off in a hurry to help us, but Lu Bu's army was tangled so thick the melee only went on — and in the middle of it Lu Bu himself came charging to take Zhang Fei. It would have been a fine spectacle. My own fight was too busy for me to watch it. Guan Yu, holding Xiaopei Castle, flung the gates open and came out to save us. While Guan Yu and Zhang Fei fought Lu Bu's army, and while no one could yet say who was winning the hill between the Trapped Camp and the Danyang troops... Liu Bei came.

There was no world in which Guan Yu and Zhang Fei fought on the front while Liu Bei sat quiet in Xiapi Castle and merely listened to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reports. In the end he had scraped together every cavalryman he could find, come here with everything he had, driven off the left wing encircling us, and ridden straight for the hill.

I folded to the ground where I stood, and let the roar of victory roll over me.