Vol 8 Chapter 42 (1/2)
VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 42: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS FENG XIAN TAKING IN DILU (1)
Feng Xian POV
“Jian Yong’s troops are falling behind again…”
“Don’t be too anxious, Lord Mi Zhu. Lord Zhang Liao’s troops are near them and will back them up if needed.”
“Flag-bearers! Issue the order! Have Lord Zhang Liao bring her troops and surround the enemy from the left! Divide and conquer! Divide and conquer!”
“I’ll go from the side and draw the other side’s attention. — 100 of you! Follow me!”
…
Ah… It’s so noisy.
Horse hooves incessantly trod on the ground, making thunderous echoes across the land; and around me was someone who kept droning on and on and on. Though I’ve always been able to sleep while riding on a horse, today has been a little too rough, and noisy, to do so.
I very unhappily opened my eyes and was greeted with the sight of a cloud of yellow sand billowing my way, and hurriedly squinted.
What was going on?
“Lord Lu Bu? Lord Lu Bu! You’re finally awake?”
Un? Someone beside was calling out to me. I turned my head slightly and saw someone wearing rather colourful clothing yelling at me. Though she was yelling at the top of her voice, I can’t hear what she’s saying at all given the pandemonium about us.
This person is…
I raised my hand and rubbed my eyes and blinked a few times before I recognised this person as one of the 3 administrative officials from Xu state, the one who is always holding the abacus.
“Ah… What’s your name again!! I just woke up so I can’t remember what’s going on!” I yelled out even louder than her as I was afraid she couldn’t hear me above the sound of the swirling sand and thundering horse hooves but she actually covered her ears when I yelled.
Ah, if I remember correctly, my voice seems to be rather loud when I yell.
“Lord Lu Bu!! … We’ve been ambushed!”
“Ah? Ambushed?!”
Ambushed? I couldn’t quite understand what she meant immediately.
Ah! She must be talking about the exercise with Liu Biao’s troops. That makes sense.
Un? That can’t be right either. If I remember correctly, that ended right? A few days ago, my side and Guan Yu defeated the 5,000 strong enemy force with 1,000 troops on either side, and beautifully too if I may add.
“Did we really get ambushed? Could it be that it hasn’t ended yet?”
“Ah?” Abacus lady had a puzzled look as though she didn’t understand what I meant.
Forget it. I largely understand what’s going on now. This should be a trick by the Jing state troops. In reality, the exercise hasn’t ended and they are attacking us with full force once more.
Un, they have a little bit of backbone.
I turned back and looked at the troops, and saw that they were quickly charging forth behind me– No, escaping is the right word.
Why do we have to escape?
Based on a rough count, there seems to be about 600 men here.
“Abacus lady, where are the other 400 troops?”
“Lord Zhang Liao is leading 100, Jian Yong is commanding the rearguard who number about 100, and Lord Zhao Yun just took away 100 men.” She yelled at the top of her voice but I could only just barely hear her.
“What are they doing?”
“Jian Yong’s logistics unit has been slowed down by enemy attacks and the other 2 generals have gone to a.s.sist her.” Abacus lady anxiously replied, “And besides the 2 lead generals, everyone else only has wooden batons!”
Un? Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be? It’s only an exercise after all right?
“The others should be wielding wooden batons as well right?”
“Very unfortunately, yes!”
“Very good.”
This means that no one will get hurt.
(TL: Lu Bu is asking about the enemies, but Mi Zhu thinks she is talking about their troops.)
“Ah?!”
“How many enemies are there?”
“About… 2,000 or so!” She stopped short mid-sentence as a clump of sand hit her face but she still continued.
If the enemy is only 2,000 strong we can clearly repel them sp why are we escaping? We just won against 5,000 a few days ago too.
“Understood.” I said as I clearly understood what I needed to do.
As I remembered Red Hare who was still in my chest, I hurriedly opened my breastplate and it stuck its head out. Ah, the weather is getting hotter and it should be out in the open a lot more. It’s also getting bigger so I can’t always carry it around like how I have been.
It’s a little sad when I think about this. Of course, now isn’t the time to indulge in this, I thought as I extracted Red Hare and held it gingerly in my arms before extending my hand.
“Abacus lady! I’ll leave Red Hare with you for a while. It’s very obedient so it will be fine!”
“Ah! Ah, I got it!” Abacus lady was a little clumsy and her horseriding skills were clearly not very polished. But even so, she still managed to one-handedly receive Red Hare from me after a few attempts.
“I’ll be leaving for a bit so slow down your advance. Don’t worry, I won’t let those useless Jing state troops catch up.”
“Yes, I understand– Eh?! Jing state troops?”
“All cavalry units in each battalion are to standby and attack with me at first notice!” I yelled out as I raised my double-sided halberd and twirled it in the air before planting it heavily into the ground.
“Eh?! Lord Lu Bu!”
“Come, give me a wooden baton.”
“Eh?! You’re going to use a wooden baton?”
Of course. This is an exercise after all so how could I use a lethal blade?
Ah… Could it be that I’ve been misunderstanding everything from the very beginning? Could it be that it was like what we initially hypothesised…
“Abacus lady, could it be that those troops aren’t the enemies we faced in the exercise? And they are actually an ambush set by the Jing state people?”
The kind of ambush that seeks to kill us.