Liu Bei POV
Because of my selfishness, we’re joining the battle, following a sudden and hastily put together plan which will put all of our lives at risk. Is it worth it? If we lose, how can I possibly shoulder the resulting burden? Even so, Chen Dao still trusts me.
“Imperial Uncle, what are you in a daze for?”
“Ah? Ah, it’s nothing?”
Zhou Cang who was beside me tapped my back and called out to me casually. Until now, I have not felt any tension from her at all, just eagerness.
Perhaps she’s like Yi De, the sort that gets way too excited and doesn’t know fear.
“You really showed me up this time, you know?”
“Eh?”
Out of nowhere, she suddenly said that which I found myself at a loss as to how to reply her.
“Why this all of a sudden? And what do you mean by that?”
“Nothing, it was just something that popped up.” She folded her hands behind her head as she said so, “I’ve always felt that all those royal relatives are lazy, good-for-nothing scumbags. But you, as Imperial Uncle, are nothing like what I though an Imperial Uncle should be.”
What crude words. Honestly this Imperial Uncle gig came out of nowhere. That brat of an Emperor just flipped ot out and made me Imperial Uncle out of the blue after all.
“Is that bad?”
“No, it’s pretty good. It’s tiring to mix with that sort.”
So it’s because of something simple like that huh.
“Thanks.” I gave her a simple thanks.
But it looks like I should do my best not to let her interact with Liu Biao. He tires even me after all.
As I looked at Zhou Cang who still had her hands behind her head, I felt that her looks were truly exquisite and it would be a waste if she didn’t take care of her looks.
Who knew that such a beautiful young girl would be Zhou Cang? This is truly fate toying with people.
“Ah! Look, over there!” Just then, Zhou Cang yelled out. It was so loud that it was possible that even the soldiers at the foot of the mountain could hear her.
But that didn’t matter now. I hurriedly looked into the direction she was looking in, and saw the ‘宫’ (HYPY: Gong) flag flying high.
Ah! Looks like Chen Gong is in position.
“Ah, Chen Dao’s side is ready as well.”
I looked over to the other side, and saw the ‘到’ (HYPY: Dao) flags were ready as well. So both sides are in position huh.
“Give the order, my lord.” Zhou Cang drew her machete once more and gripped it tightly as she called out to me in a more serious and formal manner.
I took a deep breath, and thought about how I should issue the order as I did so. After thinking for a moment, I felt that the best way would be the traditional way.
“Raise the flags and notify them– Advance!”
Along with my yell, a signaller behind me took out a flag from his waist and ran over to me. He stood up straight and began signalling to the other 2 contingents.
Both sides gave their replies shortly after. I don’t actually know what they meant but I can largely guess.
I held my breath and remembered what Zi Long taught me as I held my reins tightly and aimed my sword in front. Then, I focused all my strength on my chest–
“Charge!”
Dieeeeeeeeee!!
In the next instant, the thunderous roars for blood resounded all around me and a human current swept down the slopes. My mind seemed to be set free from all inhibitions as my heart pumped blood all throughout my body.
I swung my reins, and after my horse gave a long cry, it shot down the slope along with the troops. Chen Dao and Chen Gong’s troops also charged down almost simultaneously with the troops on our side.
Alongside me was Zhou Cang. I shot her a glance and saw her black hair dancing in the air, with some locks getting cut on her own machete. She seemed unperturbed at this, and was only concentrating on the enemies in front.
Thereafter, I turned my gaze to the front. All I saw on the 2 sides of the horse were sand and dust flying about. My heart thumped but I didn’t feel fear at all. All I could feel was the excitement from the adrenaline rush.
This feeling was something incomparable to riding a roller coaster.
“My lord, we’ll be making contact soon!”
“I see! Got it!”
Zhou Cang gave me a heads-up that reminded me that we were almost at the foot of the mountain now. By now, the troops at the perimeter of the foot had detected us, and were sending small platoons over.
“Defend against the charge!” An officer yelled out, and all the platoons at the foot of the mountain formed 2 rows with shield warriors at the front and spearmen at the back.
“My lord! I’ll bring some men and charge in first!” Zhou Cang said, and before I could reply, she brought 20-30 cavalry troops with her.
A rough count puts the defending contingent at about 100-200 troops so I’m not sure if Zhou Cang can break through them… Perhaps we should just charge in with all we have!
… No.
No, I can’t let the excitement from battle get to my head. We need to buy time so we have to conserve as many troops as we can.
“All other cavalry! Make your way around the defending contingent! Leave the head-on charge to Zhou Cang and her cavalry!” Realising I nearly forgot myself, I hurriedly gave supplementary orders after regaining my senses.
“Zhou Cang, don’t push yourself!” I yelled out at Zhou Cang who was several dozen paces in front of me. Just 100 paces from Zhou Cang were the lines of spears.
“Push myself?!” At this, she only returned the question back and didn’t say any further.
I didn’t know what she wanted to do, but in the next second, she vaulted from her horse and roared, “I never ever push myself!”
She somersaulted in the air and spun 2-3 times, accelerating with every spin and landed like a tornado amongst the forest of spears.
I couldn’t see her, but I could hear the clashing of weapons after Zhou Cang landed and when I looked over, I saw that almost 20 spears were split into 2.
“Haa!” Along with a ferocious roar, and the glimmer of a blade, 5-6 people in the first 2 rows fell to the ground, their blood spraying in every direction as they did so.
And now, Zhou Cang’s majestic figure could finally be seen, as she held her machete with both hands and knelt on 1 knee amongst the broken spears and casualties.
With just 1 attack, she had torn open a hole in the defensive lines of almost 200 men. The ones who survived the initial attack tried to surround her but Zhou Cang swept her machete about and there was no way the enemy soldiers could surround her without getting sliced apart.
And by this time, the rest of the cavalry had caught up and swept away the defensive lines.
“Everyone! Charge ahead!” Seeing that the formation was broken, I yelled to bolster troop morale. When the ones around me heard my yell, they actually did seem invigorated and hastened their charge.
“Don’t get too deep! Let the enemies come to us! We’ll deal with them slowly!” Just then, Zhou Cang added on as well to prevent the troops from charging in too far.
I took her horse that she had left behind and headed to her.
“Zhou Cang, are you alright? I think you got cut.”
“Ah? This? It’s fine! I’ll just lick it when I get back and it will be fine.” She rubbed the bloodstains off her face and smiled as she gave me a thumbs up.
“Here, your horse. It’s better to continue on horseback. You’re not wearing plate so it will be easy to get injured.” I said as I handed her the reins to her horse.
“No, no need.” She rejected me swiftly, “I’m used to walking. Horses just get in my way during battles.”
When she finished, she didn’t bother listening any further as usual and leapt up beautifully once more before spinning and slashing down toward the enemies, killing many at one go once more.
Looks like she’s one hell of a ferocious warrior as expected. But I can’t lose out as well.
“Everyone listen up. Don’t ever let the enemy get around us! When attacking cavalry troops, be careful of your neck, and go for the horse first!” I did my best to be as vicious as possible with my words, just as Zi Long taught me. Of course, my viciousness can’t match hers.
“Ya!” Just then, a soldier leapt up at me and slashed down with his blade.
My mind went blank in that instant, and I just stared at the blade for a long while before realising the danger coming at me.
But it was only for a moment. For some reason, my body was able to react instantly as I twisted to the left and dodged the attack before raising my sword and stabbed him.
“Ah!” Following the attack was a gut-wrenching cry which unnerved me– My sword was stabbed into his abdomen. His face contorted and he shuddered once before he stopped moving.
“Ah…”
This wasn’t the first time I killed someone, nor is this the first time I’m seeing a dead person but I still couldn’t accept it. And so I concentrated on pulling my blade out slowly, and tried to calm my emotions as I did so.
Calm down… Calm down…
I told myself this over and over as I was now afraid at what I’d just done. I never thought that after some training, I can dodge and counter reflexively.
And… These are Sun Quan’s troops, should I really be doing this?
These are troubled times,
Ah.
In my mind, these words appeared once more. And this phrase was something I’ve heard over and over again ever since I came to this era.
Troubled times.
Yes, these are troubled times, and so these situations can’t be avoided. — Or so I told myself over and over again to convince myself.
… Alright!
“Keep at it, everyone! Be careful not to get in too deep! Don’t be drawn in!”
In order to forget about the more important problems, I concentrated on the danger before me to make myself feel better. I was in a perilous sotuation now after all, and if I were to die, I couldn’t deal with those problems even I came to a solution.
After we fought for a while, I looked into the distance, and saw that many of the enemy troops were heading for us, and Chen Dao and Chen Gong’s troops.