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Legend of Zhen Ji
A Dynasty Warriors fanfic
By: Ninja Gaijin
***
PART 3: Not A Lady’s Duty
Road leading to Youzhou, morning
Should jerks be allowed in the army?
Cao Cao’s General Li Dian had been contemplating about that all the way as he marched with Yuan Tan, Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang, together with some 2.000 soldiers. The assignment had given Li Dian a lot of opportunities to observe the habits of Yuan Shao’s son and officers. No wonder they had been losing to Cao Cao’s army despite their superior numbers. If anything, they lack discipline. As a rather uptight military man, Li Dian always maintained his troops in a battle-ready state, physically and mentally. Apparently that wasn’t the case for the Yuans, whose army seemed to be nothing more than a riotous, rowdy lot. Of which part was under his command now.
Li DianAs planned before, Han Dynasty Prime Minister Cao Cao had assigned Yuan Tan to attack his younger brother Yuan Xi at Youzhou. Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang, two brothers who had switched alliances from Yuan Shang to Yuan Tan to Cao Cao, were named as vanguard leaders, while Li Dian was assigned to guard the rear. Half of the soldiers were Yuan Tan’s men. When he surrendered to Cao Cao, Yuan Tan had fifteen thousand men. Most of these were incorporated into Cao Cao’s main army. The rest were men recruited by the Lu brothers, and Li Dian suspected that they had been conscripting mountain bandits, pirates, and former rebels. That would explain why the army had been pillaging and plundering villages along the way.
Youzhou’s garrison numbered 5.000, half of Yuan Xi’s troops; the other half were stationed in various northern outposts, keeping an eye on barbarian nomads beyond the border. Cao Cao promised Yuan Tan that he would send more troops later. In the meantime, Cao Cao assigned Li Dian as his military advisor, with 500 veterans. Although not exactly the best fighter among Cao Cao’s men, Li Dian was an all-round general whose calmness and trustworthiness had made him useful.
The advancing army had just left a village in ruins. Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang’s men were always the ones initiating the plunder, and apparently the bad influence spread to Yuan Tan’s soldiers. Li Dian’s 500 veterans never took part, however. None of the four officers made a fuss over their men’s misdeeds. The Lu brothers were crooks, after all, and Yuan Tan did have a despotic side to his character, which was the reason Yuan Shao did not prefer him to be his heir. As for Li Dian’s inaction, he was simply ordered by Cao Cao to tolerate everything the other three did. And Li Dian was a man who took orders seriously.
Yet it was the rampage that made Li Dian pondered about jerks in the army along the way. From a utilitarian point of view, it was counterproductive; it created contempt towards them. The military-minded general viewed plunder as neutral—if it helped to win battles, it’s reasonable. Then it dawned on him that the Prime Minister’s think-tank had accurately read the personalities of Yuan Tan and the Lu brothers, and they intended for the rampage to happen—to ensure that villagers in Yuan territories no longer support their former masters. Li Dian never doubted the collective geniuses of the Prime Minister and his team of strategists. And again he felt his decision to trust Cao Cao had been justified.
The Yuans are heading for defeat, whereas Cao Cao would certainly prevail, he thought.
Youzhou was only several miles away.
*****
The following morning, the lookout guards of Youzhou reported that a camp had been set up on a hill some distance south of the fortified city, and flags of Yuan Tan had been recognized.
Li Dian had been inspecting the terrain since before dawn. To get from his vantage point atop the hill straight to Youzhou’s southern gate would entail a rather steep descent down the hillside followed by an easy march across a flat field. The hill itself had gentler slopes on its other sides, which were favourable for downhill charges, and his own lofty position offered a good position for archers.
He returned to meet his allies and explain the strategy he’d formulated.
The city’s garrison was more numerous (five thousand against their two thousand), and considering the lack of strategists among the defenders (Youzhou leaders only consisted of Yuan Xi, Gao Gan, and Lady Zhen), it was reasonable that the defenders would not try anything too complicated; instead they might march out en masse to try to wipe out the attackers. If the attackers could be lured to the steep hillside, they could be encircled with a pincer move: two units moving downhill to their rear, while the archer unit could inflict casualty from above.
No strategy experts themselves, Yuan Tan and the Lu brothers just nodded in agreement.
Yuan Tan would lead archer units on the top of the steep hillside, while the Lu brothers took the left and right hillsides. Li Dian, with his 500 veterans, would be the vanguard.
*****
Sometime in midday, Li Dian rode to Youzhou’s gate and shot an arrow over the city wall. The arrow carried Yuan Tan’s letter.
The defenders picked it up and presented it to Yuan Xi. It was straightforward and rude—
“My brother Yuan Xi,
I demand that you surrender Youzhou and your territories to me and join my forces to destroy the usurper Yuan Shang and his collaborators. Should you resist, let it be known that I have the support of Prime Minister Cao Cao’s army and my might overwhelms yours.
Oh, by the way, give my regards to my lovely sister-in-law Lady Zhen.
Yuan Tan”
Several days before, Yuan Xi and his officers (only Gao Gan and Lady Zhen, actually) had discussed how to anticipate the situation. Gao Gan mentioned that they have a reserve of 5.000 border troops under his own command which he can summon if necessary. Yuan Xi said that their response should be adapted to what they would face. If the attackers were too numerous, say, a hundred thousand men, they would abandon the city, disperse their troops, and flee to third brother Yuan Shang’s place for protection. But if the enemy’s size was still manageable, they would hold their position.
After receiving information that the advance party numbered 2.000, the three decided that they would stay and confront them. However, Yuan Xi had been worried that the main bulk of Cao Cao’s army would arrive later, so he told Gao Gan to get ready to ride out to the North and summon his reserves for backup.
And now, after receiving Yuan Tan’s letter, Yuan Xi became sure there will be more troops following, so he told Gao Gan to go north and gather the border troops for backup.
Leaving only Yuan Xi and Lady Zhen in defence.
After Gao Gan left, the couple discussed what to do next. Lady Zhen couldn’t help but notice fear on Yuan Xi’s expression. He was a weakling, after all. Only got his high position because of his father’s status. He’s no better in warfare than Lady Zhen. Yuan Xi was also an uninspiring character, one that could not motivate soldiers to fight for him. All of which made Lady Zhen sometimes question the merits of aristocracy.
On the other hand, it has been proven in the battlefield that Lady Zhen was a charismatic leader. Maybe it was because of her looks that soldiers seem to be prepared to fight with all their might to protect ‘The Lady’. Or the fact that she (and Niu Qing) regularly practiced their martial-arts skills with the soldiers, which had made her popular and respected among them. Yuan Xi never did that—to spare himself from the embarrassment of being beaten by lowly soldiers in sparring matches.
Which all came down to the conclusion…
“Fine, I’ll lead the troops and engage the vanguard,” Lady Zhen said. “You wait here and take care of the city defence until Gao Gan comes back with backup,” and the last part she hissed scornfully, “my husband.”
Yuan Xi just agreed.
*****
Sometime after noon, Lady Zhen found herself leading 3.000 men to march out of Youzhou to meet a small enemy contingent advancing towards the southern gate. Accompanying her was her sister-in-law/ maidservant/ bodyguard Niu Qing, and two captains. All four rode horses, whilst the majority of their troops were on foot. Whereas their enemy, Li Dian and his 500 veterans, were all cavalry soldiers.
Lady ZhenAs their horses galloped towards the defenders, Li Dian got a better glimpse of their commander. She was clad in something like a court dress, beautiful as ever, looking as if she weren’t going to battle but a court assembly. It was her again.
“We meet again, Lady Zhen.” Li Dian whispered. He had fought against her one-on-one a year ago in the Battle of Guandu, whilst acting as a bodyguard for Cao Cao’s son Cao Pi. They were evenly matched that time.
Li Dian did realize that his opponent Lady Zhen as a beautiful woman, but it did not matter for him. He only saw an enemy to be defeated.
Besides Lady Zhen, rode another woman, wearing a helmet and light armour, carrying a very long glaive. Li Dian knew that she was Lady Zhen’s bodyguard, and in battle she would charge ahead and dispatch any enemy soldier threatening her mistress. That glaive of hers was a cumbersome weapon, because of its length, but it seemed that the female bodyguard was able to wield it without much problems. She and her lady would sometimes act in combination, too—Li Dian had seen Lady Zhen’s unusual technique of blowing her inner energy into flute notes, which can stun or shock people; the stunned would then be finished off by the bodyguard.
He’d face them again… soon. He pointed his lance forward towards the enemy as he rode.
*****
Niu Qing held her long glaive in anticipation. She glanced sideways to see her lady with a serious expression, her Dark Moon Flute in hand. Lady Zhen’s outfit looked like a typical court dress, but in fact it was an inside-out armoured suit: light jade tiles had been sewn inside the dress to protect her lady’s body from stray arrows and slashes. It would not protect her from heavier blows; that responsibility was Niu Qing’s.
Niu QingIt was that desire to protect her little sister-in-law that had made Niu Qing start learning martial arts. She had been fortunate to be trained personally by Yuan Shao’s two best generals, Yan Liang and Wen Chou. Sadly her teachers were killed in battle two years ago, both defeated by the mighty Guan Yu. But at least she learned enough skills from the late generals Yan and Wen to help her and her lady survive in the battlefield.
Her chosen weapon, the long glaive, was really a hard thing to master; she remembered countless hours practicing to spin it, twirl it around her body, thrust it quickly to different sides, or using it to block attacks without dropping it or accidentally throwing it away or hitting herself too much. She wanted a long weapon so that she could clear crowds better, and by doing that, keeping her lady (with her short weapon) away from harm. Besides the glaive, she also kept a sword at her side, as a backup weapon.
She knew that fighting was not a lady’s duty. Yet she also knew Lady Zhen had a very strong filial sense; this was the thing that had made Lady Zhen agreed to help her father-in-law Yuan Shao in the battle of Guandu when Yuan Xi asked her back then. Lady Zhen did have some martial arts skills, although not comparable to the might of Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang He or even third brother Yuan Shang. But she compensated with a great charismatic attitude that makes soldiers seem eager to fight alongside her, for her sake. Perhaps the fact that this noblewoman had the courage to appear in battle sparks the soldiers’ spirits. Perhaps she appealed to their instinct to protect women. Or maybe her presence became a challenge to their ego: look, there’s this lady fighting alongside you, the last thing you want to do is act cowardly in front of her! For those reasons, Lady Zhen proved to be an effective military leader. But a battlefield is a deadly place. Niu Qing wanted nothing better than her lady’s safety, and to ensure that she decided to become her bodyguard.
The attackers’ vanguard came face to face with the defenders. Lady Zhen was the first one to speak.
“You should know that we outnumber you and the city is well-stocked. Please turn back. You have no chance of winning,” she said politely.
“Milady, has the city run out of capable men so you are forced to take up arms? Then it should be us who could boast superiority!” Li Dian answered, and then gave the signal for his 500 cavalry soldiers to charge.
Seeing that the attackers did not intend to negotiate, Lady Zhen told her captains to get ready. Niu Qing moved to the front, right on Li Dian’s path towards her lady.
As the frontline of the attackers crashed onto the defenders, the battle began. The attackers, having the advantage of experience and horse, inflicted the first casualties: almost a dozen defenders got impaled or ran over by the charging veterans. The veterans stopped and formed a line along the front edge of the defending crowd; they didn’t want to be surrounded by infantry. Using their long spears and pikes, they fought the defenders from a distance, trying to keep their enemies away. Sword-wielding defenders couldn’t even get close enough to land a strike. In a few minutes the veterans managed to kill and wound a lot of the frontline defenders, while there were still no casualties on their side.
Li Dian tried to charge Lady Zhen but he was stopped by Niu Qing. As the two started to duel, a few of Li Dian’s men began to move towards her. Lady Zhen picked her flute and concentrated her qi in her throat.
As Li Dian’s soldiers approaches Lady Zhen, she put her lips to the flute’s mouthpiece and blew.
And the note carried a qi shockwave that literally knocked some of the men off their horses, stunned the others, and even shocked the nearby Li Dian.
Seeing a chance, Niu Qing immediately left Li Dian and rode through the dazed men, slashing right and left. The stunned soldiers were all slain. Niu Qing returned to her lady’s side.
Li Dian got back to his senses and saw the dead bodies of his soldiers.
“I couldn’t let you do that again,” Li Dian said, and again he charged towards Lady Zhen. Niu Qing got in his way, trying to block Li Dian’s advance with a vertical slash of her long glaive. Li Dian was ready for that one. Blocking hard, he managed to throw Niu Qing off-balance. As the maidservant tried to control the momentum of her cumbersome weapon, Li Dian slipped through and thrust his lance towards Lady Zhen. The target was Lady Zhen’s flute.
A thrust from that distance would have broken the weapon. But to Li Dian’s surprise, Lady Zhen gracefully swerved and avoided the thrust, while at the same time attacking Li Dian’s face with a thrust …of the flute! Li Dian leaned back to dodge the thrust. This was a good move, since his position made him aware that Niu Qing tried another vertical slash. He quickly pulled his lance and blocked, the glaive’s blade met the lance’s handle.
Li Dian twirled his lance to force both Lady Zhen and Niu Qing away, trying to get some room. His lance wasn’t as long as Niu Qing’s glaive so it was rather effective in short-range combat; he tried to get as close as possible to Niu Qing before her glaive got him first. After ducking to avoid a great swing aimed at his neck, Li Dian managed to sneak in and got a thrust, aimed at Niu Qing’s throat—
And at that moment a shockwave from Lady Zhen’s flute crashed into his head. Li Dian was knocked forward, almost falling from his steed. He felt as if his head was just being hit with a hammer. Luckily the shockwave wasn’t as strong as the first one, because Lady Zhen had not concentrated more qi, so Li Dian was not stunned. He managed to block Niu Qing’s finisher that came afterwards, and decided to have a go at Lady Zhen again. The aforementioned woman had been preparing for another flute shockwave. After deflecting another Niu Qing strike, Li Dian lunged towards Lady Zhen again, forcing her to break her preparation and—struck back at Li Dian with an unexpected move! Li Dian felt a sharp pain on his cheek and realized that he received a cut there. Glancing at Lady Zhen, he realized what caused it. Lady Zhen now held two weapons. One was her flute, whose mouthpiece had been detached. The other was said mouthpiece, which turned out to be attached to a very slender blade that had been sheathed in the flute! She slashed his face with that blade when he rode past, barely missing his eye.
“Dangerous woman,” Li Dian hissed. He decided he’s had enough. Defeating Lady Zhen here was not his objective, anyway. He broke away from Lady Zhen and Niu Qing, and signalled for his soldiers to retreat.
The veterans were having an easy time picking off defending soldiers with their long weapon from their secure mounted position; some of them had been killed or injured, but they did more damage to the defence. After seeing their commander’s signal they immediately turn back and retreated southwards, towards the cliff under the enemy camp on the hill.
The defending soldiers, who had been intimidated by the veterans, perceived this retreat as a sign that the enemy was afraid. Their courage immediately rose and they started to chase the fleeing soldiers. Lady Zhen and Niu Qing also moved forward.
“Get them onto that hillside!” Lady Zhen commanded, “We’ll crush them there!”
Her soldiers cheered and picked up pace, and the defenders turned offensive. The enemy was on horses so they can flee faster, but it didn’t stop some of the front runners to try to bring them down by throwing spears and lances. Some of the thrown weapons found their way to the backs of some fleeing soldiers, killing them instantly or, more often, knocking them off their horse.
Li Dian rode on, trying to get the defenders as far as possible from the city gates. He ignored the damage suffered by those behind him. In every military campaign there will be deaths and damage. He knew that; and he made sure his men knew that. He explained that point over and over again in training, that soldiers are ultimately tools of their state or lord.
The defending soldiers were getting more eager to crush their opponent, especially after they saw that the enemy was retreating to the steep hillside. It seemed obvious that they had cornered the enemy. Lady Zhen commanded them to destroy the enemy party; victory seemed certain.
Li Dian and the veterans, minus some fifty that had fallen during their initial attack and feigned retreat, arrive at the hillside and immediately turned back to face the defenders. Soon after the defending soldiers caught up to them and pounced at the trapped enemy. The veterans fought harder from before, with their backs against the steep wall; for them it was a battle for survival.
Still keeping his concentration amidst the carnage, Li Dian defended himself from attacks and scanned the enemy’s formation. He waited until the whole body of the defending troop converged on the hillside. As soon as it happened, he whistled hard, and two of his men raised and waved blue banners.
From the woods on the hills above, three army units emerged. Two were mixed cavalry-infantry units which rushed downhill from the left and right slopes, encircling the defenders’ rear. Lu Kuang headed the left wing while his brother Lu Xiang led the right. The last one stayed on top of the mountain; it was Yuan Tan’s archer unit, which began to fire at the surrounded defenders.
“No!” Lady Zhen screamed, realizing that her troops fell into a trap. She immediately ordered her soldiers to fall back, but their escape route had been sealed off by the Lu brothers. With some effort, they could have broken through, but they found it hard to focus on driving away the Lu brothers when their backs were threatened by the archer unit above. In a matter of minutes, Lady Zhen’s troops fell into disarray, as their enemies continued to slaughter them at will. Li Dian and his veterans, previously in a very dangerous position between the enemy and a wall, was given relief by the defenders’ confusion and hacked their way out to safety whilst trying to avoid ‘friendly fire’ from Yuan Tan’s men.
Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang spotted the enemy leader in the midst of her troops. Lady Zhen and Niu Qing had been busy avoiding or knocking arrows. They were still surrounded by friendly soldiers. The Lu brothers did not want to miss the chance to capture the enemy commander; the fact that the enemy commander is a beautiful woman only made them more eager. They started to make their way onto Lady Zhen, mowing down defenders that got in their way. Their own soldiers followed.
Yuan Tan saw the Lu brothers’ movement and thought they could use some help. He told his archers to shoot the men around Lady Zhen and Niu Qing. The rain of arrows got more intense there, and Niu Qing was kept busy swinging her long glaive above her head to protect her lady as the defending soldiers around her went down with arrows sticking out of their heads, faces, or backs.
Lu Kuang, Lu Xiang, and their men made short work of the remaining ones. Although the defenders still have many men, their formation had been broken and Lady Zhen was about to be surrounded by enemy soldiers.
“This is bad, milady,” Niu Qing prepared herself for a clash with the Lu brothers. After reassembling her flute, Lady Zhen put her lips to the mouthpiece again, ready to deliver shockwave notes to the enemy’s ears.
Just then, something large and sharp moved quickly towards Lady Zhen’s face. Thinking it was a stray arrow, Lady Zhen swung her flute, trying to slap it away…
It was not a stray arrow. Lady Zhen’s flute immediately cracked as it met the approaching object, Li Dian’s lance.
Li Dian, who had been on the sidelines, had noticed that Lady Zhen was preparing a flute shockwave. Having seen what it could do, he tried to prevent it—by hurling his lance towards Lady Zhen so she would use the flute to parry it. That move was quite a gamble, but it turned out that Li Dian made a correct guess about the flute’s strength. It could not hold against the lance’s weight, and Lady Zhen was rendered weaponless. The lance was deflected, but its objective had been achieved: a shocked Lady Zhen holding the remains of her flute.
Meanwhile, Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang had engaged Niu Qing. The brothers wielded regular spears, which were still shorter than Niu Qing’s lengthy glaive. She used the advantage to keep the brothers away, but she was fighting two men, and every time she managed to drive back one, the other brother would get close.
“Just give it up, missy!” Lu Kuang snarled as he thrust his spear.
“In your dreams!” Niu Qing yelled back, avoiding Lu Kuang’s thrust and giving a vicious slash in return, which she quickly converted into a block to protect herself from Lu Xiang’s attack. The brothers then attacked her in synchrony, which she found easier to block since they were coming from the same direction. It was then she noticed that Lady Zhen lost her weapon.
“Oh no, milady!” Niu Qing whispered. She retreated towards Lady Zhen, but the brothers were determined to take her down and they followed her. Niu Qing managed to throw her backup sword to Lady Zhen. Lady Zhen caught it and immediately unsheathed it, just in time to meet the charging Li Dian, who had also picked up a sword from his subordinate.
The contest becomes a two-versus-three battle: Niu Qing and Lady Zhen against Li Dian and the Lu brothers. The two ladies were surrounded by the men, and they were clearly disadvantaged by the loss of Lady Zhen’s special weapon.
The brothers attacked rather haphazardly and impatiently, yet predictably. Apparently these two intended to capture Niu and Lady Zhen alive, so they seemed reluctant to inflict wounds, and concentrating to overpower the ladies instead. Li Dian on the other hand was tactical; usually he would let the brothers attack first and then he would charge in when Niu Qing or Lady Zhen had just blocked the first attack. Usually Niu Qing would then be forced to stretch and deflect Li Dian’s attack.
Elsewhere, the defenders were getting fewer and fewer. A lot had fallen victim to the arrows from above, or cut down by Lu Kuang or Lu Xiang’s men while trying to get through. Quite a few surrendered; some were lucky enough to escape, but they did not return to Youzhou but deserted instead. Almost all had been demoralized enough and they weren’t so keen on fighting anymore.
The Lu brothers did not care that much about what happened to the enemy soldiers, as they have their quarry where they wanted them to be. Their own soldiers, after overpowering the defence, began to gang up on the two female fighters. Niu Qing and Lady Zhen fought valiantly to resist the wave of attackers, forcing themselves to kill in order to survive. Niu Qing cut down three men that rushed towards her while Lady Zhen watched her back and fended off Lu Xiang’s attack. A deflected Lu Kuang attack ripped the bow tying Niu Qing’s hair and it came undone. Niu Qing ignored this and continued to attack fiercely, trying to hack a path for her and her lady to escape. But the attackers keep on coming and most of their own soldiers had been killed, captured, surrendered, or fled. They have no more backup.
The challenge had taken its toll as both Niu Qing and Lady Zhen showed signs of fatigue. They had been slashing right and left, ducking and dodging, for at least an hour. Li Dian noticed that the ladies were getting tired, and he decided to take advantage on the situation. After gathering his veterans, he and his men rushed in between Lady Zhen and Niu Qing, leaving Niu Qing for the Lu brothers and mobbed Lady Zhen. Lady Zhen tried to cut loose, but her options were limited: Li Dian and his soldiers on her front, right and left sides, and the cliff at her back. The veterans came armed with spears and pikes, and individually they were more experienced than the other soldiers, so it took more effort from Lady Zhen to defend herself. Besides, she also lost the protection of Niu Qing, who was busy fighting against the Lu brothers and their men.
Tired and overwhelmed, Lady Zhen still managed to cut down eight of Li Dian’s veterans before a swinging spear handle knocked her down. She tried to get back on her feet, but at the same time almost a dozen veterans held her down with their spears.
“Lady Zhen had been captured!” roared Li Dian.
“Milady!” Niu Qing screamed, and fought harder than ever as she tried to reach Lady Zhen, cutting down anyone in her path. In her panic she ignored her exhausted state and other things—among them an incoming arrow shot by Yuan Tan from above. It struck her right shoulder with such force and suddenness that she instantly dropped her glaive. Before she can regain her composure, she had been tackled and held to the ground by Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang.
*****
After their two leaders had been defeated and taken prisoner, the attackers dealt with demoralized defence troops. A lot of the defenders saw no hope and surrendered; some fought until they are killed, and a few managed to get back to the city, where they would inform Yuan Xi about the defeat and capture of his wife.
As night falls, the attackers marched the prisoners to their camp on the hilltop. Both Lady Zhen and Niu Qing were bound.
Li Dian couldn’t help but notice the wolfish look on the Lu brothers’ faces as they pushed and prodded the two ladies. Having seen the brothers’ exploits on their way to Youzhou, he already knew what they had in mind.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Author’s notes:
Niu Qing’s weapon is actually a naginata. Similar to Guan Yu’s Blue Dragon Sabre or Zhang Liao’s DW sabre but with a lighter, more slender blade. I don’t know the Chinese term for it. Pudao, maybe?
It is VERY HARD to write fighting scenes using a goddamn flute, so I broke it. >
-Pertama kali terbit di adultfanfiction, 5 Mei 2007
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