Vol 9 Chapter 73 (1/2)

VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 73: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE BATTLE OUTSIDE XINYE CITY (8)

Li Dian POV

She removed her hands from her mouth and casually wiped them on her plate skirt. When I looked over, I saw that her eyes were red and puffy but she still tried to keep them open.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” She said tearfully and then eked out a smile as she continued, “I’m fine, *s.h.i.+ku*, I always knew this day would come. It just came earlier than I expected, that’s all.”

“I see…” I did not know how to reply her and merely nodded. Personally, seeing someone from the same side, for now at least, is not a good feeling for me at all.

I had thought that I had grown numb to seeing fellow comrades die in battle but the pain has only grown with every loss. As I looked Lu Xiang with Lu Kuang in mind, I began to calm down.

“Report!” I turned around and saw that it was my 3,000-man general and felt relieved.

“Have you finished counting?”

“… Yes.” Compared to her words from before, she hesitated before answering this question. Even without this hesitation, I know full well that there is no good news that can come out from this.

“How is it?”

“Our losses are great,” She said and bit her lips, “Only about a third of our troops survived.”

“Don’t be so vague and give me a more concrete number.”

“Less than 3,000. About 2,500 or so.”

“Un.” I nodded. This number was more or less what I thought it would be and was even more optimistic than what I had feared, “What of the cavalry?”

“…” She did not speak but I understood what she meant and waved as I dismissed her. She seemed relieved to be dismissed and quickly went away.

“I’m sorry, Lu Xiang.” I said as I turned to Lu Xiang after my subordinate left, “Your and your brother’s cavalry troops are all lost. I will make sure to honour them when we return to Fan city.”

“No, it’s fine. They fulfilled their duties to the very end.” Lu Xiang shook her head as she looked up at the skies, “Besides, big brother would probably be happy to know that his own cavalry troops saved the lives of more than 2,000 men including our own.”

“Yes…” Once again, I did not know what to say in response and merely nodded. At the same time, I looked up at the skies to avoid an awkward silence.

I have to admit that it was Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang’s cavalry troops who saved us. It was all thanks to Yuan Shao’s generals and troops that we were able to survive.

If it were not for that chaotic mess at Wuchao, I really do not think that we could have achieved the stalemate ending we did in the Battle of Guandu. From a long term perspective, as a Cao army general, we gained through the depletion of a Yuan army general and several thousand Yuan army troops even though we lost this battle.

Hai… I felt disgusted at myself for having such thoughts as I looked at Lu Xiang’s forced smile.

Whether I intended to or not, the arrow I shot at Zhao Yun was actually detrimental to Lu Kuang. Not only did it fail to meet its mark, it even put Zhao Yun on guard. Back then, Lu Kuang’s movements were fast, perhaps even fast enough to land a mortal blow on Zhao Yun. However, at that moment, I had already loosed my arrow at her.

“Lu Xiang,” I decided to not think about Lu Kuang and called out softly to her, “Why did you fight with those 2?”

When she heard me, her forced smile evaporated and she frowned.

“Un… Back then, I r

eally didn’t want to live anymore.” Lu Xiang honestly replied and shook her head to prevent herself from crying before smiling again, “But when Lord Li Dian called out to me and told me that big brother was waiting in Fan city, I felt that I had to return and perform the all-night vigil for big brother at the very least. Many thanks for that, Lord Li Dian.” She bowed as she said so.

(TL: Traditional Chinese funeral practices – Staying up all night near the corpse. Number of days can range from the duration of the entire funeral (taking turns between family members) or just the day of death.)

“No, no need for that.” I calmly replied and nodded, feeling glad that my words worked.

As for Lu Kuang’s corpse, we received news earlier that it had reached Fan city before us. Luckily, they had chosen to take the dirt road around instead of turning back and returning through the original route, avoiding the ambush. This was perhaps one fortunate matter among many unfortunate matters that happened today.

“Lord Li Dian.”

“Un?” I turned to Lu Xiang when she called out to me and saw her hand stretched out to me with something inside.

“What is this?” I asked as I reached out to grab it. When I did so, a cold and heavy object fell into my hand.

“This is the green gemstone from my plate armour. Lord Yuan Shao gave it to us as a reward for our achievements in battle.” Lu Xiang said, her smile seeming more energetic than before as she thought back to happier times, “I’m giving this gemstone to Lord Li Dian, as thanks for saving me back then.”

“Ah, no. I cannot take this.” I pushed my hand out. If I knew she was handing me something so expensive, I would not have accepted it.