Vol 8 Chapter 15 (1/2)
VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 15: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS RAISING THE CURTAINS ON THE COMING BATTLE
Liu Bei POV
When they got closer, I was able to get a good glimpse of the leading general.
She wore a cloth hat and her fringe covered 1 eye. She wore shoulder plate armour and a plate skirt on top of her uniform, with some words written on her plate skirt. Though she sat on a horse, she held a long spear that was rested on her shoulders with both hands tightly, like a thug.
Of course, she would be a female thug.
“Xu!” When they neared us, she yelled out the command to stop and in an instant, all horses came to a stop.
“Umm…” I spoke up to her but she extended a hand and gestured for me to stop just when I opened my mouth.
“Wait for a moment.” She softly said. Then, she took a gourd hanging at her waist and began drinking heartily from it in big gulps, spilling wine all over. At this time, she was close enough for me to make out that the words on her plate skirt were ‘死守’.
(TL: 死守, HYPY: Si Shou, can be understood as ‘defend to the death’ or something like that.)
“Ha! Awesome!” After drinking about half the gourd’s contents in 1 go, she closed her eyes and made a refres.h.i.+ng gasp.
I looked at her again closely and saw that she didn’t open her eyes very much and I don’t know if she was born with it, but her pupils were really small. She cracked her neck as she kept her gourd; overall, if it weren’t for the armour she was wearing and the fact that she was leading a group of troops behind her, I would have thought that she was some street gangster.
And just then, she suddenly looked over at me, giving me a shock as I thought my thoughts were seen through once more.
“… You’re Liu Bei?” She said after staring at me for a moment.
“Ah, I am.” I was able to calmly answer her when I realised that she hadn’t seen through my thoughts about her.
I looked to the side and saw Gan Ning with a troubled look, and wondered what she was thinking.
“Understood,” She said as she dismounted, and the rest followed suit as well.
I could tell that when she dismounted, she sized me up and was able to inspect me from head to toe in just that few moments. After she dismounted, she threw her long spear to a general nearby and dusted her plate skirt before walking over to me.
“Ah, un.” I hurriedly bowed and saluted when I saw walking over but because I was supporting Zhou Cang, I couldn’t do it properly and could only lower my head as her shadow slowly approached me.
Very soon, her shadow approached my toes. From the corner of my eye, I could see her plate skirt, and as usual the 死守 characters stood out and caught my eye.
“Let me.” After these sudden words, the burden on my shoulder was lifted. I looked up and saw that she had grabbed Zhou Cang and was carrying her on her back.
“It’s been hard on Imperial Uncle. Please follow me to the city where we can discuss things further.” She said, exhaling as she did so, and the puff of air she breathed out blew her fringe up, giving me a good view of her eyes. Her pupils were indeed small, and seemed like those of an eagle.
“Well then, you are?” I could guess who she was from her words and the air about her but I still asked to make it a little more formal.
“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself.” She said as she turned back and blew out again, blowing her fringe up, “I’m Huang Zu and I’m the Administrator of this place.”
Zhou Yu POV
Haa~
A wave of sleepiness a.s.saulted me as I looked out at the calm waves while sitting in the s.h.i.+p. I placed my feather fan on the table and stretched my back.
Ah, I just woke up not too long ago too. Was I too exhausted from the journey? Or am I just too bored from sitting and waiting here?
Never mind, the current mission isn’t too risky. As long as we fight solidly, taking Jiangxia city is only a matter of time.
But my lord Sun Quan really is impatient. She just took over fully from Bo Fu and immediately she’s seeking vengeance for uncle Sun Jian, and has deployed troops to Jiangxia to hunt down Huang Zu. With this, we will earn the enmity of Liu Biao. When Cao Cao eventually moves south, I wonder what things will be like. But if we can seize the opportunity and take Jing state now that Jiangdong is stabilised, we will be in a prime position.
Hai… But Liu Xuan De is now at Jing state. I don’t know what things are like but he should be treated as an important guest. Despite her desire for vengeance, my lord Sun Quan very much wishes that we do not hurt him at all.
That’s a little too naive. There is no room for such sentiments in these troubled times. If we don’t act first, what will we do if Liu Bei takes Jing state before us?
That Liu Bei might seem really unreliable and useless but he’s actually a very scary opponent. We should have been more forceful back then and co-opted him into staying at Jiangdong.
As for Liu Biao, he’s all talk. He’s neither a.s.sertive nor does he have talent. All he’s doing is riding on the coattails of his status as royalty and high n.o.bility and preserving the status quo.
And so, this upcoming battle at Jiangxia won’t be difficult.
Haa~ I yawned again while I was thinking. I really am yawning a lot today.
Perhaps Jiangxia is ours already.
“Gong Jin, Gong Jin.” Just then, a slightly drawling voice came from behind me.
“One Gong Jin is enough.” I could guess who it was so I replied without turning around and even lay back into my seat, “What is it? Lu Zi Jing?”
“A report just came in from a courier. Zhu Ran and Zhu Zhi’s a.s.sault wasn’t effective and they have retreated 20km away from the city where they await to join up with us.”
… Scratch out what I just said.