Vol 9 Chapter 67 (1/2)

VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 67: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE BATTLE OUTSIDE XINYE CITY (2)

Li Dian POV

Un? When I turned back, I found that the one who spoke was the frivolous and carefree Lu Xiang.

“You don’t need to take the field first, little sister. I’ll do it this time.” Her kind elder brother responded before I did.

I have my own reservations on this naturally. It’s too early to decide who to send at this time, especially when we do not know who is on the other side. If it’s Guan Yu, then you both need to take the field.

At the same time, I recalled what Cao Ren instructed me, that if I could not achieve victory, I ought to try to deplete their troops.

Yes, deplete their troops.

Of the close to 10,000 strong force we brought with us, about 2/3 are from Yuan Shao. If we really cannot achieve victory, then we are to expend as many of Yuan Shao’s troops as we can. Our reinforcements are plenty after all and our ultimate victory over Liu Biao is almost all but a.s.sured just based on our outsized numerical advantage. Expending some of Yuan Shao’s troops is for my lord’s long term strategic goals.

At the same time, I have to do my best to preserve my own troops. My 3,000 strong contingent and my 300 strong personal cavalry battalion.

— Of course, if possible, letting both of these generals die here is also a good thing.

Un… Cao Ren did not explicitly say this but this could be inferred. At least from my point of view, Cao Ren does not seem to have thought this far. I agree with this though, as it is not a wise choice to expend quality generals. Just like with Liu Bei’s retainers, my lord wishes to recruit Yuan Shao’s generals to her side if she is able to.

I looked ahead again and saw that the dust had completely settled. As Lu Xiang said before, there does appear to be about 5-6,000 troops. A few paces ahead of them were 2 generals on horseback, 1 ahead of the other, which implied that 1 was the commanding officer and the other was the lieutenant; and they were looking towards me.

“Those 2 are…”

“Un… The commanding officer should be Zhao Yun Zhao Zi Long.”

Zhao Yun? I believe I have heard of her before.

“Back when Liu Bei sought refuge with our lord, he came with Zhao Yun. And during the Battle of Guandu, Zhao Yun also partic.i.p.ated in it.”

“Where does Zhao Yun hail from?”

“She used to be a subordinate of Gongsun Zan. Back then, Gongsun Zan chose to accept death and released Zhao Yun to serve another feudal lord. It was during then that she met Liu Bei.” Lu Kuang explained.

This made me think back to the time when I crossed swords with Liu Bei outside Xu state city back then. He must have somehow miraculously met with Zhao Yun after that.

Perhaps it might not be a stretch to say that he would not have been able to make it all the way to Ji state where Yuan Shao was without her. Even though his will to live was clearly that strong, why did he not prevail this time? Was it because it was not meant to be?

“What of Zhao Yun’s martial prowess?” I decided to shelve my stray thoughts and inquire about her.

“She’s very good. She fought with Wen Chou a long time ago and it seemed to be about equal even after several dozen bouts.”

“Ah~ Lord Wen Chou was really scary back when Lord Wen Chou was still alive~” Lu Xiang added unnecessarily.

As a warrior, being able to die on the battlefield is a nice way to end after all. But leaving that aside, this means that Zhao Yun’s martial prowess should be exceedingly good. I wonder if she will step up first or if she will send her lieutenant first

.

“Lu Kuang, are you ready to partake in a duel later?” I decided to make a decision first and asked as I turned around.

“Yes!”

“Eh~ Big brother! Are you really going to go?”

“Don’t be afraid, little sister. Big brother will be fine.”

These 2 really are… They are still acting like this even at a time like this.

“It’ll be fine. If it’s the lieutenant who steps up, then he should be fine. But if it’s Zhao Yun who steps up, then I’ll support you from far.” I said as I took out a bow from the cloth bag hanging by the side of my horse, “If Zhao Yun steps up, I’ll a.s.sist you at an opportune moment.”

“Is it alright? Attacking from behind like that.”

“Not at all. Based on my own standards, that is worth close to 0 points.” I very honestly replied, “But sometimes, I have to do things that go against my principles so don’t worry about that.”

That is because I am not strong enough. I said to myself. At the very least, I have to make sure that these 2 remain alive for now. If need be, we can even go against them in a 3-on-2 scenario.