The Battle of Hetao 3

When the ethnic minorities on Han’s side led by Tubin first charged, Cao Zhang wondered if this was Zhang Ran’s ploy.

The Battle of Wei River, where Guo Huai was defeated by Zhang Ran and Liu Biao, the Left Wise King of the Southern Xiongnu, was killed. Cao Zhang had heard in detail from Cao Zhen, a survivor, how the battle progressed from beginning to end.

Zhang Ran threw out heavy cavalry as bait, drew in the Xiongnu, and then attempted to reverse the encirclement. Similarly, Guo Huai used the Xiongnu as sacrificial pawns and attacked the rear of the Han army with Wei forces, so it was truly a mobile battle with repeated reversals of encirclement.

Two things determined victory and defeat. Zhang Ran’s martial prowess and the new weapons possessed by the Han army.

The Xiongnu failed to stop Zhang Ran and gave up their commander’s head, while the Han army succeeded in holding out until Zhang Ran returned based on the new weapon called the Thunderclap Bomb.

Therefore, in this battle, Cao Zhang was keeping these two things in mind.

There was no proper way to deal with the long-range strong crossbows. The only option was to close the distance as quickly as possible, exploiting the long reload time and small number.

Fortunately, the Thunderclap Bombs could be dealt with to some extent. Though the Thunderclap Bombs used iron bolts like the crossbows, their destructive power was weaker. Though they used iron bolts, because they fired 10 at once, the power behind each bolt was lower.

Using shields didn’t provide perfect defense. This was because they weren’t iron shields used by infantry.

There were limitations to the light shields that didn’t sacrifice cavalry speed. But they were enough to reduce fatal wounds to light injuries. That was sufficient.

They only needed to endure once. If they could endure just one volley, the cavalry would break through into the enemy lines and close combat would begin.

If it came to that, there would be no room for new weapons like Thunderclap Bombs or crossbows to intervene.

The second thing to be cautious of, Zhang Ran’s martial prowess, was countered by Cao Zhang himself.

Cao Zhang was confident that his martial prowess was not inferior to the level of legendary generals Wei boasted of, like Cao Ren, Zhang Liao, and Xiahou Yuan.

And Cao Zhang was actually the only person who had gained an advantage over Zhang Ran in combat. Though it wasn’t a complete victory, even Zhang Ran acknowledged that he had been superior.

The story got long, but the point was this. Cao Zhang had to make a decision.

Should he prioritize the charge based on the premises above?

Or should he just check Zhang Ran’s main force and pursue the ethnic minorities?

Choosing the former would mean throwing the dice.

Choosing the latter had the advantage of more safely eroding the enemy’s strength.

‘I won’t take my eyes off for a moment.’

Cao Zhang’s decision was the former.

He leaves the fleeing Han-side ethnic minorities to be dealt with by the same ethnic minorities on his side.

“Tell the Xianbei. Budugen and Su Li, have the two of them pursue the scattering enemy.”

Budugen of the Western Army and Su Li of the Eastern Army. He assigns 5,000 to each to prevent them from returning to the battlefield.

“The remaining forces will strike Zhang Ran’s main army as we are.”

The Art of War’s chapter on Emptiness and Fullness states:

Make the enemy’s formations visible while concealing our own.

Thus we take shape while the enemy is shapeless.

This is to gather our forces while the enemy scatters.

That is, we concentrate while the enemy divides.

Our forces gather in one place, while the enemy is divided into ten.

Through this, we attack their one with our ten.

This is how we use ten to attack their one.

The ethnic minorities under Zhang Ran, regardless of intention, were dispersed, and Zhang Ran’s main force was exposed.

With nearly double the troops, Cao Zhang chose a frontal attack.

“Deploy the Awl Formation! I will lead the vanguard!!”

The Awl Formation, taking the shape of a triangle, is a formation specialized for cavalry breakthrough. Cao Zhang himself stood at the vanguard where the strongest unit should be placed.

It was a determination to attack Zhang Ran directly through a single point breakthrough, just as Zhang Ran had beheaded Cao Hong in the past.

However, as the distance closed and they faced Zhang Ran’s formation, Cao Zhang’s frontal attack met with difficulty.

‘What is that formation?’

A square formation made up of carts with shields and troops divided into seven.

Formations using carts had existed before. Even Li Ling, who showed a miraculous fight against 80,000 Xiongnu cavalry with just 5,000 infantry, held out for a long time by placing carts at the front and actively utilizing archers and crossbowmen.

But the formation Zhang Ran was showing was different from that. Dividing the army into 7 and forming a square formation with each. It was an idea completely unfamiliar even to Cao Zhang, who had studied various military texts under his father who had considerable insight into military strategy.

No matter how great a general Cao Zhang was, it was unreasonable to expect him to immediately grasp the method to break a formation he was seeing for the first time. Even Cao Cao would find it difficult.

“General!”

“Spread out! Jian Yong takes the right wing, Yan Yu the left wing! First observe the formation while being cautious of enemy arrows!”

When they first started advancing, it was an ordinary horizontal formation. But how long did it take to approach for it to completely change into a different appearance?

Of course, to maximize the impact force of the cavalry and to keep the horses’ strength, they came at a light trot to a certain distance, so it wasn’t so brief as to be described as an instant.

However, even considering that, it was an extremely rapid change of formation.

‘You’ve prepared thoroughly, Zhang Ran.’

But there’s no such thing as perfection in this world. The same goes for a flawless formation.

Even if you create a formation that is theoretically infinitely close to perfection, the people forming it cannot be perfect.

It may be more solid and less vulnerable compared to others, but in the end, there will always be a point that can be called a weakness.

And Cao Zhang saw it. He felt it with his sixth sense honed on the battlefield. His reason, which coldly analyzed the situation by gathering collected information, answered.

‘Weaker compared to other units.’

The two units deployed at the rear were more unstable compared to other units. It wasn’t clear whether this was because the soldiers were weak, or if the commander’s capabilities were lacking. Perhaps both the general and soldiers were excellent, but disharmony due to discord between them was the cause.

Such details didn’t matter. The important thing was that he had found a point to attack.

Cao Zhang’s eyes sank deeply while flashing fiercely at the same time.

It was a look like that of a beast that had discovered its prey’s weak point.

“Tell the left and right wings and the rear guard! I will strike their rear, so keep them occupied so they can’t send support!!”

Through the gap between the two square formations at the rear of the Han army, Cao Zhang directly faced Zhang Ran.

As if confirming who was aiming for him, Zhang Ran also turned towards him and directed her gaze.

‘Wait, Zhang Ran. I’ll be there soon.’

At first, he wanted to see her face, then he wanted to take her heart.

This time, he will take her head.

§

As soon as signs of Tubin’s collapse appeared, Tuoba Yiyi immediately turned his horse’s head as planned beforehand. And he was the first to start fleeing.

It’s always hardest the first time, but gets easier from the second. As Tuoba Yiyi started to flee, the Xianbei who had been barely holding out crumbled like a sand castle and scattered for self-preservation.

As the collapse and desertion intensified, Tuoba Yiyi pulled on the reins again. And this time, instead of fleeing, he moved to save other Xianbei.

Tuoba Yiyi had informed his most trusted confidants of his plan and planted them among other Xianbei tribes.

Through them, Tuoba Yiyi quickly rallied the scattered Xianbei and glared at Budugen of the Western Army who was pursuing closely.

“Insufferable bastard.”

It was an unfinished grudge. The very person who had made Tuoba Yiyi enter under the Murong clan. Tuoba Yiyi’s gaze towards Budugen, who was interfering again this time, was full of hatred.

‘I need to shake them off and return…’

At this rate, who knows when he’d be able to return to the main force.

Tuoba Yiyi kept looking back at the pursuers with a slightly impatient heart.

About 5,000 gathered on their side and a similar number on the other. It was a force clearly intended just to check them, not to repel.

‘In this case, there’s no choice but to break through head-on.’

The original plan was to shake them off appropriately and return. But as there were no signs of shaking them off at this rate, it was time to pull out the final card of battle.

As he was steeling his resolve and about to shout to turn around, an untimely scream was heard from behind. Hurriedly looking back, surprisingly, Budugen’s Xianbei were being attacked from the rear.

“W-We attack too! Everyone turn around! Turn around!!”

With not that many in number to begin with and being attacked from both sides, Budugen’s forces were crushed in an instant.

Attacked from both sides, Budugen couldn’t withstand being outnumbered and fled. As the battle ended and things calmed down, someone approached Tuoba Yiyi, who was gathering his troops, and spoke to him.

“What are you still doing here?”

Tuoba Yiyi couldn’t hide his surprise when he confirmed who had attacked Budugen’s rear.

“You are… Lord Fang De? What about Su Li……”

It was Fang De, who had gone in the opposite direction from him and had been pursued by Su Li like that.

Though he had taken a route as if circling around to avoid getting too far from the battlefield, the distance from Fang De was still considerable. To have come this quickly, did it mean he immediately defeated the pursuers as soon as they caught up and came to support?

While Tuoba Yiyi was astonished, Fang De spoke nonchalantly.

“Su Li? Ah, you mean this fellow.”

As he said this, Fang De lifted a severed head hanging from his saddle.

The severed head, eyes wide open as if he had died without time to close them, was a face Tuoba Yiyi knew.

“Su Li…!”

Fang De’s reputation was famous even outside Xiliang, so Tuoba Yiyi had heard of it, but seeing it directly was beyond imagination.

Not only his martial prowess in instantly defeating the pursuit force, but also his cavalry operation in catching up over a long distance was at an unbelievable level.

He could understand why Zhang Ran had hidden Fang De’s General of the Left banner and secretly sent him out with the Xianbei among the ethnic minorities.

She must have expected Fang De to resolve things even if Tuoba Yiyi failed.

“Are all Qiang like this?”

“Hahaha, if all Qiang were like this, wouldn’t we have conquered the world? Only Father is like that. Just now, he charged in alone and beheaded Su Li!”

A voice overflowing with pride for his father.

It was the words of Fang Hui, Fang De’s son who had joined the expedition as his lieutenant this time.

“Did you finish gathering and come back?”

Though the words were stiff, Fang De didn’t seem to particularly dislike his son praising him. In fact, Fang De was proud of his son.

After submitting to Liu Bei, despite his expectations rising from observing Zhang Ran, Zhang Fei’s daughter, by his side, Fang Hui showed behavior that met his father’s expectations.

However, now was not the time to be intoxicated with praising his son.

“Time is pressing. Let’s hurry.”

Dismissing the conversation between Fang Hui and Tuoba Yiyi, Fang De immediately began returning to the main force.

And on the way back, as they were passing a hill with a slight elevation, the battlefield that entered Tuoba Yiyi’s eyes was so beautiful, unlike the horrible sight of blood raging inside.

“Flower……”

He understood Zhang Ran’s words when she said “flower.”

It wasn’t some kind of code. It was a word that expressed exactly what it looked like.

A flower with six petals and swarms of bees and butterflies surrounding it.

And the sight of the Wei army concentrated at the rear attacking looked just like seeing a flower calyx.

Faced with this marvelous sight, only one thought filled Tuoba Yiyi’s mind.

‘She is a heavenly maiden…!’