Blood Garden Oath
“Ha!”
With a mixture of shock and admiration, Sun Jian roared.
The bandit army was charging, raising dust, but they did not attack.
“Separate army.”
Sun Jian gave a bitter smile.
“But we can’t move from here at Juyong Pass. Tanshihuai is indeed cunning.”
The Left Wise King Hozheng, who ordered the Xiongnu soldiers to climb the wall rather than speak, agreed with that opinion.
“The number of enemies attacking the gate is small, but we have too many to go out and fight.”
Han Dang had no choice but to nod, brushing his horsehair whisk.
“If we split our forces here to help Bogui brother, the walls are too damaged.”
It had been a pass that changed owners twice in a short period.
No matter how much Juyong Pass was one of the nine great fortresses under heaven, it was not something that could be defended against the enemy with just makeshift gates and broken watchtowers.
“Whether the main force is okay or not, we’ll have to wait for news, but our war ends here.”
Sun Jian declared calmly, and Han Dang closed his eyes.
The fact that the You Province soldiers left behind might have been wiped out was a greater pain than accepting his own death for this warrior.
“...Tanshihuai used the surprise attack on Juyong Pass, the Wuhuan soldiers, and the bait of Tanhan Mountain, and our Han army fell for it nicely.”
“Is there no possibility that Tian Yan’s force joined and escaped the crisis?”
Hozheng asked, and Sun Jian shook his head.
“If that were the case, Tanshihuai wouldn’t have had the strength to send a separate army here. The fact that he sent a separate army means... he’s chasing something in the main force.”
Whether it was Tian Yan, Zhang Min, or Ha Yu.
“For now, we have no choice but to wait for news from other units. We can’t let Juyong Pass fall.”
***
Sun Jian spat out the blood from a Han soldier’s mouth.
With a fierce grin, Tanshihuai revealed his bloodied teeth like a beast.
Tian Yan’s force was simply wiped out. Although Tian Yan the Defeating Xianbei was missed, even including the fleeing subordinates, there wouldn’t be more than a dozen horses.
It was a skeleton that might not even make it back across the desert to Nanman.
This victory was possible because Zhang Xiu incited Tian Yan and gave Tanshihuai intelligence that Tian Yan would advance towards the Han Sea.
“Father!”
Helian rushed towards Tanshihuai ahead of the other generals to congratulate the victory.
Tanshihuai smiled happily and raised his sword high.
But while the cheering soldiers surrounded him, he pulled his son’s shoulder and whispered.
“Looking at the results alone, it’s a victory...”
“Father?”
Looking at the results alone, it was indeed a great victory in repelling the Han invasion.
Several counties northwest of Dai Commandery, including Gaoliu County, came under Tanshihuai’s control.
The northeastern borders of Yunzhong, Dingyang, and Yanmen Commanderies were now included in the Xianbei sphere of influence.
“You’ve missed too much. And you’ve learned that there are too many things to overcome.”
“The troops that escaped thanks to that cavalryman Lu Bu are just remnants. Don’t worry too much about it.”
“I wanted to completely annihilate the armies from three directions and get the heads of Zhang Min, Ha Yu, and Tian Yan.”
“The territory expanded, and the Xianbei and Wuhuan living there were released. Instead of oppressing the Han people, you made them slaves and sent them to the Han Sea farms.”
Just looking at territory, population increased, and by increasing Han slave farms, food supply improved.
“Tengri...”
Since Helian knew what his father was muttering the name of the sky god, he kept quiet.
“If the Han people were more prepared, or if some shaman in the Southern Xiongnu had planned better, we would have been destroyed.”
“Impossible...”
“No. It was dangerous right up until the moment we won this victory.”
Upon hearing his father’s words, Helian looked around.
The nobles who were purely rejoicing now, if they felt betrayed because Tanshihuai missed the enemies... the Xianbei would have fallen into civil war before defeating the Han and Northern Xiongnu.
Like when they were mercenaries wandering between Han and Northern Xiongnu.
“Corpses or maimed prisoners who are useless should be made into Jingguan.”
Helian swallowed hard.
In ancient times, from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, southern people made altars with the corpses of enemies they killed, calling it Jingguan.
On one hand, to instill fear with cruelty, and on the other, to make everyone participate in the cruel act, turning it into a ritual.
Tanshihuai’s intention seemed to be there.
Tanshihuai’s two hands grabbed Helian’s face. His hands were sticky with the blood of Han soldiers.
“If the enemy shakes our hearts, we must find a way to harden our hearts. Helian, find the crisis of defeat even in victory and learn from it. Only then can our Xianbei become a true state.”
***
Young boys without even characters yet wandered around You Province.
They roamed from Youzhou Commandery to the west to Zhuo Commandery, hunting the ‘allowed game’ that the Youzhou army permitted.
Few villages were intact. Last year, the Wuhuan who broke through Juyong Pass had looted and killed everywhere.
Of course, that was almost over.
While Sun Jian successfully defended Juyong Pass, Gongsun Zan defeated the Wuhuan armies in various places in You Province.
Kill the Wuhuan to kill, submit the Wuhuan to submit, expel the Wuhuan to expel.
Thanks to that, the wandering Wuhuan remnants were few. Those who lost their horses too were just beggars.
Since it was hard to find scattered remnants one by one, he entrusted the work to his close younger brother.
The young boys led by that close younger brother were sitting on a hill away from the village, watching the situation.
The village was empty. But they set a trap by making smoke from cooking rice.
As expected, the hungry Wuhuan soldiers started jumping from afar after seeing the bait.
“Brother Bei! They’re coming!”
Even though the voice was childish, the boy who was as big as ‘Brother Bei’ announced it.
“Wait until they get closer.”
The boy Bei didn’t even look at him, just clacking the wooden stick in his hand.
“What are you looking at so hard?”
The big boy frowned and asked, but the boy Bei didn’t answer this time either.
The big boy thought, really annoying... and wanted to go down to the village first and beat the Wuhuan remnants.
But he knew that if he did, the Bei brother would use his strangely long arms to knock him down first, so he held back.
The big boy sat as if suppressing his knees and just made ‘eeek’ sounds.
Eventually, the boy Bei, who had glanced at the village once, rolled up the wooden stick and stuck it in his waist.
“Let’s go down and see-“
“Brother! Look at that!”
Before the boys could go down, someone jumped out from below the village.
“Who is that guy?”
Bei turned around and asked, but they all shook their heads as if they didn’t know. So they were commoners who didn’t understand it was a trap.
“If he comes out alone like that, he’ll die-“
Crack-!
The sound of a skull cracking, echoing all the way to the top of the hill.
The person who came out from below the village swung a club and one Wuhuan soldier fell with his head in a terrible state.
But he killed three more in an instant.
“I saw some fighting.”
But numbers don’t win.
One Wuhuan soldier came behind the person’s back.
If so, his neck or back would be cut off for sure.
“Ong!”
Before Gongsun Zan could call his name, the boy named Ong let go of the bowstring.
Shu-pok!
The Wuhuan soldier with his temple pierced fell, and the person turned around in surprise.
He met Bei’s eyes.
Bei realized he was a boy of similar age.
“Go!”
The boys shouted and ran down the hill.
While the startled Wuhuan soldiers hesitated whether to fight or flee, the arrow shot by the boy Ong pierced another one.
And the boy with the club beat two more.
Bei threw one of the two swords he was carrying to that boy.
After receiving the sword with a clack, there was no hesitation in discarding the club.
Although the age was similar, he seemed as familiar with fighting as Bei.
Because they were boys, a more brutal slaughter ensued.
Since the enemies were dead, there was no concept of moving to the next enemy, stopping the battle, or accepting surrender.
The big boy used a stone to crush one Wuhuan soldier until he became minced meat.
He approached the Wuhuan soldier begging with one arm cut off, saying not to attack with the other arm, and stabbed him while laughing.
After aiming at the Achilles tendon of the fleeing Wuhuan soldier, he looked at the one crawling while screaming and killed him with a neck shot.
This cruelty was also revenge for the Wuhuan’s looting and killing.
After everything was over, there was no place in the village without blood splattered.
The pursuit continued even inside a well-kept mansion behind a collapsed wall.
Even the garden that was once well-tended had blood flowers blooming.
The leader of the boy group, Bei, left the handling of corpses or enemies not yet killed to his subordinates.
Among them, there were those who lost their families due to the Wuhuan’s looting.
The big boy led, fixing a living Wuhuan soldier to a tree.
Another boy brought a sharply sharpened wooden stake and drove the Wuhuan soldier into the tree alive.
The sound of the stake hitting the tree and the scream echoed in rhythm.
With the corpses scattered around, it became a tree with a horrific blood flower.
Only then did Bei turn to the unfamiliar boy and ask.
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
The big boy tried to stand up saying ‘this brat is unruly’. The boy Bei raised his hand slightly. Just that stopped the big boy.
“I am called Liu Bei.”
With a face covered in blood droplets, Liu Bei smiled thinly. And asked again.
“Who are you?”
“...Zhang Sheng.”
Upon that answer, Liu Bei’s eyebrows twitched.
“Is that your real name?”
“... ”
“Your speech suggests it’s not You Province, nor Ji Province or Bing Province... close to Luoyang.”
“... ”
“I won’t ask. But you fought well, so how about joining our knights with us...”
Before Liu Bei finished, the sound of at least ten horse hooves was heard.
Unlike the boy who introduced himself as Zhang Sheng, who was tense, Liu Bei looked over the collapsed wall and smiled.
Then, seeing the cavalry on white horses entering the village center, he greeted them.
“Brother Zan!”
The cavalry following Gongsun Zan frowned at the greeting. But Gongsun Zan burst into laughter and said to Liu Bei.
“Bei! You can’t call me brother just because you haven’t received a zi yet! When did I receive the name Bogui.”
“Ah, sorry. Every time I see you, I remember the time we were playing together under the master.”
“Then I have to talk about the time you were idle too.”
After exchanging jokes, Gongsun Zan looked around and whistled.
“Well done.”
“Just remnants. It was at a level we could handle in our circle.”
“Even if they have good weapons, don’t attack. We’re also roaming the entire You Province catching remnants.”
After saying that, Gongsun Zan and the cavalry on white horses exited the village.
Liu Bei turned back to Zhang Sheng.
“Where did I leave off... Ah, right. I asked if you wouldn’t join our knights.”
Zhang Sheng seemed about to shake his head to refuse, but then looked at the rolled-up wooden stick stuck in Liu Bei’s waist.
“You read books?”
“Ah, not that I like it that much, but this one caught my fancy.”
“What book is it.”
“Shang Jun. Are you interested?”
“I’m a little into Chunqiu.”
“Then let’s go together and talk about books.”
Liu Bei put his shoulder on Zhang Sheng with his blood-stained hand. Zhang Sheng looked at Liu Bei’s hand for a moment, then didn’t refuse.
“The big one here is Zhang Fei, the one with the bow is Jian Yong. But how old are you, Zhang Sheng?”