The Battle of Sai 3

Xu Sheng’s spear was heavy.

However, it was no match for Guan Yu.

Xu Sheng’s spear was fast.

However, it was no match for my father.

Xu Sheng’s spear was sharp.

However, it was no match for Cao Zhang.

Even in equal conditions of mounted combat, I would have had the advantage, let alone in this favorable situation of facing infantry while on horseback.

Xu Sheng could barely mount an offense and was desperate just to block my attacks.

Nevertheless, blood lines were appearing one by one on Xu Sheng’s body.

“Urgh!”

Once again, blood splattered from Xu Sheng’s body. This time it was quite a deep wound. A groan of pain escaped Xu Sheng’s mouth.

But Xu Sheng didn’t stop there, moving his arm to block the flying consecutive strikes.

Xu Sheng’s willpower, burning his remaining life as he struggled desperately, had reached an astonishing level. Normally, he would have given up his neck long ago, but Xu Sheng showed ferocity beyond his limits as he faced me.

The sense of mission of carrying the great affairs of the state.

The pride of being called Wu’s strongest warrior who cannot lose.

The sense of responsibility that he must do his part to save his subordinates.

Such things pushed Xu Sheng’s back and supported the arm holding his spear.

Like a parent suddenly displaying superhuman strength upon seeing their child in danger.

Instead of recklessly aiming for Xu Sheng’s neck, I calmly drove him back as if shaving him down.

At first glance, Xu Sheng seemed overwhelmed just receiving my attacks, but I could see his eyes still shining fiercely like a beast eyeing its prey.

‘He’s aiming for a mutual kill.’

Some of the wounds Xu Sheng had received were intentionally taken to try to draw me in.

The conditions for victory were different for Xu Sheng and me.

For me, my own safety had to be ensured before defeating Xu Sheng, but for Xu Sheng, it didn’t matter what happened to him as long as he could kill me or put me in a similar state.

It was because of our different values. I was the army’s commander-in-chief, but Xu Sheng was merely the vanguard commander.

The highest-ranking person in the Wu army was not Xu Sheng but Bu Zhi. Even if Xu Sheng died, Bu Zhi or Sun Shao could take command.

Knowing this, Xu Sheng was willing to lay down his life.

But even so, the gap between Xu Sheng and me was wide and deep.

It was all Xu Sheng could do to barely keep up with me by squeezing out every last bit of strength he had.

I could see that he was approaching his limit.

If this continued for just 10 more exchanges, he would collapse.

However, Xu Sheng’s posture began to crumble faster than I expected. It was due to Ma Dai’s exploits coming from right behind.

“Han’s General Who Maintains Vigor, Ma Dai, has killed the enemy general Xu Zhong!”

News announcing that the battlefield situation, which had been maintaining a rough balance, had been overturned.

Although not in charge of one side of the square formation, Xu Sheng’s spear wavered for a moment at the death of an officer-level general whose name I had heard before.

And that broke the balance that had been like a precarious tightrope walk.

Not an intentional opening from Xu Sheng trying to draw me in, but a real gap that escaped Xu Sheng’s control. It was big enough for my spear to penetrate.

Slash!

The spear blade I swung down deeply cut Xu Sheng’s shoulder. I could clearly feel the blade reaching the collarbone as it severed the trapezius muscle.

It wasn’t enough to completely sever the arm, but with more than half cut off, Xu Sheng’s right arm was now as good as gone.

It was over.

Just as I was about to pull out my spear, intending to behead him next to completely settle it,

Xu Sheng grasped his spear with only his remaining left arm. Xu Sheng’s expression, as he tightly gripped near the blade, was so calm it was hard to believe this was someone whose arm had nearly fallen off.

A coldly set face and eyes looking at me even more chillingly.

As soon as our eyes met, I could tell. Right now, Xu Sheng was burning up all his remaining life as fuel for a final flash of brilliance.

A flash of light ran from Xu Sheng’s left arm.

Taking advantage of the moment my spear was stuck in his right shoulder, Xu Sheng launched his first and last attack.

Too short an instant to retrieve my spear and block.

My choice was to let go of the spear.

Clang!!

Xu Sheng’s spear did not reach me. It was because of the blade that blocked between me and Xu Sheng.

White Wall Sword. The sword Cao Cao had given me was shining its blade light outside its scabbard for the first time in actual combat.

“…Ha.”

A short sigh, like a death rattle, escaped Xu Sheng’s lips as he witnessed even his last desperate strike come to nothing.

Regret, resignation, anger, emptiness, sorrow, despair… The sound was too short to contain all his many emotions, so the emotional concentration contained in that single-syllable sigh was incredibly dense.

As strength left Xu Sheng’s left arm, his spear slid along the blade of the White Wall Sword. Soon Xu Sheng drooped his arm like someone who had exhausted all their strength.

His eyes, which had been shining with firm resolve, also lost focus and became cloudy.

With a laugh that was hard to tell if it was self-mockery or a wry smile, Xu Sheng said bitterly:

“Why has Heaven bestowed such monstrous strength? It is not Wu’s inadequacy that I lost to, but because the world has disrupted its principles. How lamentable. How sad.”

Xu Sheng was muttering as if blaming Heaven and attributing fault to it, just like Xiang Yu who lamented to Heaven after being defeated by Liu Bang.

There was no need to do anything more, as he would die from excessive bleeding at this rate, but I, who felt no need to prolong the battle, swung the White Wall Sword as it was.

Slash!

With the spraying of fresh blood, Xu Sheng’s head fell to the ground.

At the same time, cheers erupted from the Nanling Army watching my fight with Xu Sheng, while screams of shock and terror rose from among the Wu army.

The Wu army’s square formation, which Ma Dai had shaken, would now collapse at an unstoppable pace. Ma Su also ordered a full-scale attack of the central army as soon as he confirmed my victory.

With the morale of the Wu army, which had been fiercely resisting until just now, crumbling at Xu Sheng’s death, and with Guo Yi and Ma Su personally leading the central army in an active attack, the tide of battle turned to our side in an instant.

Sun Shao ran about trying to somehow salvage the Wu army that was collapsing like a sand castle, but it was beyond his ability.

Riding the momentum, Ma Dai spread his wings as if he were today’s protagonist, and eventually succeeded in staining his spear with Sun Sheng’s blood as well.

Xu Sheng and Sun Sheng. With half of the generals forming the four sides of the square formation losing their lives, many in the Wu army began throwing down their weapons and surrendering.

The cleanup of the remaining battle would be handled by Ma Dai, Bu Zhan, Guo Yi, and Ma Su, while I looked at a group of troops fleeing in the back.

‘Bu Zhi, you’re quick-witted.’

Judging by the distance, it seemed they had started fleeing right from the moment Ma Dai had just breached the square formation, before Xu Sheng died.

While Sun Shao was somehow scraping together his subordinate troops and Wu soldiers who still wanted to resist, Bu Zhi was quickly widening the distance.

‘Using the sacrifice of your allies to attempt escape. How detestable.’

Rationally speaking, it would be better to retreat and look for the next opportunity rather than stubbornly holding out here and being annihilated out of loyalty.

Who knows? Just as the 12 ships of Bae Seol’s fleet that fled when Won Gyun thoroughly ruined the navy at Chilcheollyang later fell into Yi Sun-sin’s hands and became the foundation for a great counterattack. The soldiers Bu Zhi took might become the cornerstone of the future.

‘Speaking of that, it seems Lu Xun is the only talent in Wu comparable to Yi Sun-sin.’

And Lu Xun is in Huainan.

Even if the Huainan front was wrapped up and they were rushing to Jingzhou without my knowledge, it would take more time to reach here.

Above all, Jiang Wei is waiting like a hunter guarding the path back there. Although Bu Zhi’s abilities are considerable, how many troops could successfully retreat in this situation? If it’s even in the thousands, I’d have to applaud Bu Zhi.

Deciding to leave Bu Zhi to Jiang Wei, I ordered our side to focus on dealing with Sun Shao’s remaining resistance forces instead of pursuing Bu Zhi. That said, I didn’t completely let Bu Zhi go either, and called Bu Zhan to attach him as a moderate pursuit force.

“Make sure to secure the heads of the enemy generals well. They will be used when we attack Xiagu Castle again later.”

I was quite tired thanks to Xu Sheng’s resistance being more intense than expected. I could fight more if needed, but now there was no need for me, the commander-in-chief, to be at the front.

After confirming that Sun Shao’s resistance forces were being cleared up like the setting sun in the sky, I focused on rescuing our wounded soldiers and recovering the bodies of the fallen.

By the time the sun had completely disappeared, Sun Shao’s final resistance also came to an end.

Unlike Xu Sheng and Sun Sheng, Sun Shao, who was captured alive and brought as a prisoner, was still rough and violent as if he had strength left.

“You look fine. Put him in confinement somewhere and treat him the same as the other prisoners.”

There’s no need to treat him specially just because he’s a general.

After dismissing Sun Shao from my sight like that, I returned to the camp that had been set up away from the battlefield.

As I was resting briefly upon arriving at the camp, Bu Zhan, whom I had sent as the pursuit force, returned along with Jiang Wei.

Before reporting to me, Jiang Wei first offered words of apology:

“I’m sorry. I let Bu Zhi escape.”

Bu Zhi had dressed in the same attire as ordinary soldiers and eventually succeeded in escaping using the shallow parts of the lake. Due to soldiers scattering in all directions, they were unable to chase Bu Zhi to the end.

“It’s regrettable, but it can’t be helped. What about the rest?”

“We have over 400 prisoners, and the rest were all killed. No more than 300 would have returned intact.”

Even of those, only half would return to the army again, so in effect, Wu had completely lost 10,000 troops in this one battle.

In fact, excluding the Wuling army, we had practically wiped out the Wu forces stationed in Xingnan. This should have properly broken the morale of Xiagu as well.

“Tomorrow, we’ll return to Xiagu immediately. Bai Yao, rest a bit more and then clear out the blockade of the waterway, salvage the Wu ships and come up the river. I’ll leave the prisoners to you, so you can use them as oarsmen.”

“I will do so.”

Clearing the waterway is just a matter of ramming ships into it and pushing it out. If ships get stuck, burn them down. It will take some time though.

‘Is there any reason to be pressed for time now? Taking Xiagu will definitely be faster than Sun Quan coming here.’

It was in the near future that I realized how complacent that thought of mine was.