Fire and Ambush: Path to Annihilation
Fire attack and ambush. Failure: -2 deaths.
"Miss! Flames are rising from the enemy's ridgeline!"
Sun Qian was hopping around like he couldn't even act his age.
And rightly so. The grand plan had worked perfectly.
"General Guan hit the timing spot-on with those fire arrows. Good call relying on his battle experience."
Deciding when to loose the fire arrows was the field commander's call.
I only laid out the grand plan—I couldn't meddle directly in the fighting.
But Guan Yu, true to his reputation as a war god, had executed my book... no, Master Kongming's book to perfection.
For flames to spread with this much ferocity, they must have targeted the enemy's grain supplies—which meant the fire arrows struck the tail end of their massive army.
And the wind was on our side.
The enemy... total wipeout.
Here at Pakmangpa, they'd be annihilated.
"Leave just the bare minimum hundred guards to defend Xinyang. Everyone else—full mobilization. Every soldier has to rack up as many enemy kills as possible."
Unless we encircled and annihilated them, the enemy wouldn't die.
I remembered from history how kill rates in this era were pathetically low compared to modern warfare.
This was our chance to slaughter them.
We had to unite as one to kill the enemy—and keep killing.
"Tell the company commanders to link up with General Liu Bei's main force. The grand plan succeeded. Now all that's left is killing the enemy."
Everyone was avoiding my eyes.
Why? We're winning.
"Miss... why are you so furious?"
Mi Zhu grabbed my shoulder.
"Furious? I'm saying this is our moment."
"But... what do you call this momentum?"
I felt my shoulder trembling.
"We have to kill the enemy now! That's it. Nothing else."
My words left the four of them speechless.
"Lord Gan head to Jingzhou right away. Find out when General Military Strategist arrives. Lord Mi Bang, go to Jiangxia. Inform Liu Qi of our situation and nail down exactly what he'll do."
I shook off Mi Zhu's hand from my shoulder.
"Lord Mi Zhu and Sun Qian stay with me to hold Xinyang. Someone has to guard this place."
They all just bowed their heads and filed out of the command tent.
Stepping outside, my gaze turned to the blazing inferno at Pakmangpa.
*
Heroic.
Heroic in the resolute sense.
Flip it around, you get Zhang Fei.
Countless men could claim "matchless under heaven," but Zhang Fei steeling himself for total commitment? That's beyond the heavens.
Just watching him command a thousand cavalry was enough to call him the matchless among the matchless.
Zhang Fei wielding a thousand horsemen: heroic.
The heroic Zhang Fei.
"Charge, you bastards!!! "
Zhang Fei moved.
A full thousand cavalry thundering toward the enemy front.
Building insane speed as they barreled in.
"You fucking shits! Die, all of you!!! I'm leading the way!!!"
The soldiers roared in response to Zhang Fei.
"Follow the general!!!"
The disciplined cavalry steadied their breath for that single, piercing charge.
Morale at its absolute peak.
Zhang Fei's killer cavalry, shrouded in the smoke rising from Pakmangpa, struck like lightning.
Utter madness.
As the horses cleaved the battlefield, flesh and bone sprayed outward.
"Kill that one-eyed freak! Slaughter them all!!!"
With Zhang Fei's bellow, a massive dust tornado erupted.
Angels of death bore down on the enemy, who parted in awe—like the miracle of Moses.
The triangular cavalry wedge plunged into the horde, and the Wei soldiers' faces drained white as they sensed defeat.
"You fucking bastards!!!"
Zhang Fei rampaged unchecked. No one could stop this man.
"Run! Run away!"
A Wei colonel’s desperate scream plunged the enemy into chaos in an instant.
"Flee to the mountains!"
"Over the mountains! To where the horses can't reach!"
The chain of command had collapsed long ago.
Behind them, flames roared; ahead, the reaper's cavalry showed no mercy.
Even trying to flee back was impossible—Pakmangpa was a crush of bodies, no room to step.
"We have to run!!!"
"Get out of the way! Run if you want to live!"
"What bullshit! We gotta break through forward! No survival going back!"
The two enemy columns collided head-on.
Xiahou Dun's cavalry, horses panicked by the fire, bolted backward without control; Yu Jin's men fled forward to escape the blaze.
Only Li Dian's small rearguard broke ranks, charging blindly toward the Pakmang bridgehead without looking back.
The flames at Pakmangpa spread, painting a vision of hellfire.
"The fire! The fire's blocking the retreat!"
"Yu Jin's command decimated by the fire! No way back, General!"
Xiahou Dun's face turned ashen-blue.
"What in the hell is happening...?"
It had all unfolded in seconds.
What the fuck just happened?
No matter the ambush, the troop disparity shouldn't allow this.
Did they... go for all-out war? Risk everything in open field battle?
Xiahou Dun reeled in confusion.
Why? Liu Bei's 5,000 should be retreating from Xinyang—that's obvious.
Chasing them aggressively for merit—that's the natural play.
So this battle had to be a sure win!!!
"You, idiot over there!!!"
Zhang Fei closed in.
Xiahou Dun couldn't even dream of facing him.
Soldiers scattered in terror; command shattered. Flames surged behind; no way to stop the cavalry.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
Better to leap into the fire. Horses fear flames—might actually have a shot there.
Regroup, reform lines, counterattack.
Our numbers still dwarf theirs.
If we calm the chaos and restore command, victory's still in play.
"Break through ahead! We have to punch forward!"
Yu Jin's echoing voice made Xiahou Dun realize his mistake.
Misjudged.
Yu Jin's men kept plunging deeper into Pakmangpa to escape the fire.
Now the battlefield was true pandemonium.
Xiahou Dun ordered retreat; Yu Jin ordered breakthrough.
Soldiers couldn't tell friend from foe, or whose orders to follow.
"This is our moment!"
Liu Bei, reading the field, drew his Double-Edged Sword.
"All forces! Spread crane wings—mop up every last enemy Zhang Fei's charge leaves behind!!!"
The supreme commander couldn't hide his excitement, charging ahead; morale soared anew.
"Follow the general!!! Claim glory!"
"Kill the enemy! Not one escapes!!!"
The troops were drunk on battle ecstasy, shouting uncontrollably.
We were winning.
A massive army before us, swept away like fallen leaves by the cavalry vanguard.
"Chaaarge!!!"
Zhang Lian's hidden 300 sprang out.
Target: enemy supply train.
They encircled the rear, ensuring no grain cart-abandoning runners slipped away.
Zhang Lian was a crafty operator.
No letting them go.
"Surrender and live! Drop your weapons, move the carts! Put on these hoods if you yield! Don't you miss your moms and kids?"
Even in this hell, Zhang Lian was hawking deals.
He knew from experience: grace in extremis forged deep loyalty.
But his absurd ploy poisoned the Wei troops.
"Grain carts blocking the path!"
"Trample the carts and go!"
"Hooded enemies swarming the carts too!!!"
"Then over the mountains! We have to climb!"
Zhang Lian's recruitment had siphoned grain carts—unburnt supplies now clogged their escape.
Wei soldiers ditched swords and spears, clawing up sheer cliffs with bare hands.
Too hot. The flames were scorching.
No orders needed; every Wei soldier felt it instinctively.
Survive.
Defeat. But grunts bore no blame.
Just live—that was their best shot.
No general executes retreating troops in a rout like this.
Survivors would get citations, rewards even.
The Wei soldiers clung to hope.
No thought of dying.
Not until the war gods appeared.
"All forces! Advance in square formation!"
Dong! Dong! Dong!
As the flames began to wane, Guan Yu's army advanced.
From the front: heavy shields raised high; rear: long spears skewering foes. A massive mobile fortress of death.
Guan Yu's square from the heights became a people-killing machine, trampling enemy corpses endlessly forward.
"You dog bastards!!!"
Meanwhile, Zhang Fei's shock troops pierced straight to Yu Jin's center without slowing.
Moses' miracle parted them again.
"Run!!! Run, I said!!!"
Yu Jin's men, dazed by fire arrows, sensed doom at the sight.
Ah. Can't dodge this. No one stops that spearpoint charge.
"Trees!!! Hide behind trees! We gotta evade!!!"
"Can't move! Clear out from behind!!!"
"Then climb the trees! Up, you fucks—cavalry's coming!!!"
"Enemies behind too! What the hell do we do?!"
Guan Yu bellowed at the panicked foes.
"All forces!!! Draw swords! Erase every trace Zhang Fei's wake leaves behind!"
Frontline shieldmen dropped heavies, swords out.
"Break 'em individually! Form fives and engage!"
At Guan Yu's command, troops grouped in fives; demoralized enemies, hacking through woods at approaching Shu soldiers, fled back downhill.
"Climb, damn it!!! Cavalry's coming!!!"
"Shu troops descending from above! We gotta go down!"
Pure hell.
"General! Retreat! The commander’s fate unknown! Our army’s routed! Your cavalry’s lost horses and fleeing!"
Yu Jin's mind went blank.
"Ruined it all. What now? Retreat! Retreat!!!"
"General! Retreat blocked! Li Dian's grain carts clogging the path!"
Caught between hammer and anvil.
That was the word.
"Climb the mountains away from the fire. Can't command like this."
"Guan Yu's forces descending the left flank!"
Yu Jin snapped irritably.
"Then the other mountain!"
Of course, that too was futile.
"Slaughter every last one!!!"
Liu Feng and Guan Ping, young blood boiling, stood at the forefront; soldiers followed without mocking their youth.
"Follow Lords Liu Feng and Guan Ping!!! Hack 'em down!!!"
"Waaaaah!!!"