Vol 8 Chapter 21 (1/2)
VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 21: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE SIEGE BATTLE AT JIANGXIA CITY (1)
Liu Bei POV
Though I miss them, life in Jiangxia must go on.
“Did Liu Qi come here to put stuff as well?”
“No, I’m just strolling about.”
That’s quite honest of her.
“I see.” I softly replied, and decided to size her up since I had nothing to continue the conversation with.
Her clothing was still the same style as ever but she had a herbal sachet hanging by her waist, probably to mask the smells from the camp.
“Uncle, did you hear anything?”
“Ah, ah? About what?”
She moved, and my eyes continued to follow the herbal sachet hanging by her waist. I suddenly realised that this was a little uncouth and s.h.i.+fted my gaze to her face.
“I’m talking about the enemy troops outside the city of course. It’s been a week but they haven’t done anything at all since then.”
“Well, they can’t possibly launch a siege on a city guarded by 6,000 men with just 4,000 after all. If things go bad for them, they might get wiped out.”
“Un…” Liu Qi sank into silence after I finished, and a frown appeared on her face as she continued, “I told Yi Ji that 2 days ago as well when we were talking about this but Yi Ji is pretty concerned about the enemy movements. She thinks that the reinforcements have arrived and i now feel that this is possible.”
“They have?”
Why did she think so?
“Jiangxia is surrounded by the river in the north and covered by forests in the south. If the enemy entered the forests in the night, then things could be troublesome.”
Un… Indeed, but if that’s the case, then our scouts should have detected some sign of that. Chen Gong could not have missed out this danger as well.
“Perhaps you’re just over thinking things.”
And even if they were hiding, it’s not like we can move out and attack them so they can’t possibly ambush us.
“By the way, it’s really been hard on uncle for this period. We’ve been marching non-stop before and now we’re met with such a dire situation.” Liu Qi said as she looked at me with guilty eyes.
I smiled when I heard this.
“No way. I’m used to such situations anyway.” I opened my hands and began to count them, “Back when I occupied Xu state, I was heavily surrounded by Meng De and very nearly died. Looking at how things are like now, I’m still better off than back then.”
At the very least, it’s not snowing here, I thought as I smiled bitterly.
“It’s Liu Qi’s first expedition right?”
“… Yes.” Liu Qi said as she nodded.
“Father has always hoped that I can command troops so I’ve been brought up as a boy.”
Oh~ No wonder she feels so boyish in the way she carries herself, and how she speaks and acts is so rigid and modest.
“A boy huh… Speaking of which, the way you and your little sister carry yourselves are like 2 extremes.”
When I think back to when I just disembarked from the s.h.i.+p and set foot on Jing state, I remember another girl standing beside Liu Qi, who should be Liu Cong. I didn’t specially take note of her, but I remember a flower on Liu Cong’s hair and how she seemed very much like a girl.
“Well of course, she’s the 2nd daughter after all. Hmph.” Liu Qi folded her arms as she said so, and huffed disdainfully.
“Father hoped to have a boy to carry on the family line and pa.s.s down the blood of the ancestors. After having me, father didn’t give up and only after that he had that la.s.s did he give up from the bottom of his heart and began to accept that carry on the family line wasn’t bad after all. Of course, I don’t blame father since patriarchical thinking was more prevalent back then.”
“Haha, I see…”
When I heard her last sentence, I laughed stiffly. Even in the 21st century, this sort of thinking is still prevalent in many places. If as Yun Chang said, gender equality has been in place since the Shang dynasty, what caused things to revert?
“Ah… Right, how many of your personal troops are left?”
I felt that this topic would get more and more serious if we continued and with the circ.u.mstances we were in where there was so much pressure I found it difficult to breathe, I decided to change the topic.
“We have about 100 or so in each of our contingents. So the ratio hasn’t really changed, and we are still at 1:10 against our favour.”
“I see.” That’s all I could say. I couldn’t possibly say that I felt relieved as this wasn’t the truth and I couldn’t even lie about it.
“My lord! Why are you slacking off here!” Out of nowhere, an urgent voice interposed with pants and coughs came from a nearby alley.
I looked over and saw Chen Dao running towards me with great strides, “Chen Dao, why are you so panicked?”
“Ah, Lord Liu Qi is here too.” When she came up to me, she didn’t forget to bow to Liu Qi before continuing.
And when she finished what she said, I began to panic as well.
— Zhu Zhi and Zhu Ran have brought their troops before the city and have begun challenging us.
I put on my uniform, plate armour and equipment, rushed out of the encampment and mounted my warhorse and looked at the 1,300 or so troops before me. Looks like they’ve been ready for a while now.
Liu Qi left with her troops a few minutes ago already and we were the last to get to the frontlines.
“Where did Imperial Uncle go instead of waiting for orders in the camp?”
“I thought my lord ran away.”
As expected, these 2 complained about my tardiness.
“How can you say that, Zhou Cang! How could our lord have ran away!”
“I won’t run away, yes, but Chen Dao’s explanation isn’t very convincing.” I said as I patted Chen Dao’s shoulders and brought my horse to the head of the troops as I pa.s.sed through Zhou Cang and Chen Gong.