Chapter 094: Seizing the Stronghold

Wu troops charged through the hail of Wei arrows to the base of the fort wall. Some halted more than ten paces out, raised their faces, and answered with arrows of their own; others hurled themselves straight at the wall and, in a flurry of grasping hands, set up the scaling ladders. Before the ladders had even steadied, men already with shields in one hand and sabers in the other were leaping onto them and climbing at speed.

Whether answering with arrows or storming up the ladders, the Wu soldiers were at a disadvantage, yet not one of them showed the least fear. Under Wei counterfire, the archers kept falling one after another, while those scaling the wall were struck in turn by stones and rolling logs dropped from above, screaming as they tumbled from the ladders. But where an archer fell, another stepped into the gap at once; and on the ladders, fearless warriors surged up again and again, pressing steadily toward the wall.

The Wei troops had clearly already tasted the Wu army’s fierce courage, and they dared not be careless. Under their commanders’ urgent prodding, the archers leaned their upper bodies out over the parapet, heedless of the danger from Wu bowmen, and loosed their shafts down into the attackers below; meanwhile, spear- and saber-men hacked and stabbed furiously at the ladders, doing everything they could to keep the Wu soldiers from closing in.

Above and below the wall, both sides were locked in savage struggle. Men were struck by arrows, pierced by spears, or cut down by blades, their shrill cries echoing as they fell from the battlements or collapsed upon the ground. Many lay dead beside the wall, and blood ran down its face, staining it crimson.

Though the Wu soldiers were brave, the terrain was against them, and under the Wei army’s stubborn resistance their casualties mounted rapidly. Without outside support, breaking through this wall would not be easy.

Wei Ba wanted very much to delay a little longer and let Wu’s losses climb still higher, but when he thought of Pan Zhang and his force of only a little over five thousand men, he knew that if they suffered too heavily here, they would not be able to cause Sima Yi much disruption at all. So he had no choice but to give the order to attack.

At the signal flag from Wei Ba, Zhou Yu, who had long been holding himself back, roared and sprang up from his hiding place, drawing his saber as he shouted, “Kill them!”

Five hundred elite troops poured out in single file from the valley and broke into a run. In an instant, the raised blades reflected the winter noon sun, flashing with a bright, heatless glare that stabbed at the eyes and chilled the bones.

Zhou Yu charged at the head of them, a wild horse at full gallop, fierce and unrestrained. Before the Wei soldiers standing guard with spears could even send word, he had already reached them. His blade fell, and two Wei soldiers collapsed into a pool of blood.

“Kill!” Blood sprayed across Zhou Yu’s face, streaking the beard on his cheeks crimson. He wiped at it with one hand, and his features grew all the more ferocious.

The soldiers surged past him and hurled themselves at the stunned Wei troops, cutting and killing with abandon.

The Wei soldiers farther off only then recovered their wits at the sight before them and hurriedly rang the warning gong.

The sharp clang of the gong rang out, and the Wei soldiers fighting on the wall immediately fell into confusion. In the midst of fierce battle, an enemy appearing at one’s rear from what should have been a completely secure position was a devastating blow. Two soldiers who had been fighting Wu troops stepped back, and at once Wu men surged onto the wall.

“Don’t panic!” A fully armored Wei general burst from the watchtower and barked, “Lose your formation, and you die. Cut them down!”

“Yes, sir!”

Several warriors with ring-pommel sabers shouted in unison, charged forward, and executed the two retreating soldiers on the spot. Then they lunged at the Wu troops who had just gained the wall. The Wu soldiers had barely set foot upon it and had not yet secured their footing; faced with such a fierce counterattack, they could not hold. They retreated two steps, one leaping back down from the wall, the other hacked to the ground.

The Wei general glanced back, quickly estimated the number of attackers, and at once made his arrangements, pointing at one company commander and shouting, “Go see what is happening!”

“Yes, sir!”

The Wei company commander answered and led his men out of the formation, turning to the rear to meet Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu had only just reached the base of the wall when the commander blocked him. The two men crossed blades, their weapons clanging in a furious racket. After a moment, Zhou Yu gave way a step, and the Wei commander did the same. Like two maddened dogs with red eyes, they glared at one another and then lunged again with savage roars. Around them, countless soldiers slammed together and fought desperately.

The Wei force had more than five hundred men, but they could not all rush to the front to meet blade with blade. Having checked Zhou Yu’s charge, the Wei company commander quickly fell back two steps and took shelter under the protection of his personal guards. Saber in hand, he shouted, “Archers, ready—fire!”

Zhou Yu cried out in fury. He and the man had been perfectly matched, cutting each other with exhilarating ferocity, and he had not expected the fellow to simply run. He tried to pursue him, but countless Wei soldiers blocked his way; no matter how he chopped and killed, he could not clear them all. At that very moment, he heard the order to loose arrows. Instinctively he stepped back, raised his shield, and shouted, “Shields up!”

The Shu soldiers he had rallied did not dare delay. They swiftly подня their shields. No sooner had the words left Zhou Yu’s mouth than the Wei arrows came down. Fortunately, the Wei archers had also fired in haste, and their volleys were not dense. The shafts fell in scattered, uneven rain and did the Shu troops no great harm. Even so, the momentum of the assault was blunted, and they could no longer press forward with the same furious speed as before.

Though the Wei army was under attack from both sides, it did not fall apart. After a brief moment of confusion, it quickly steadied itself and once again settled into a deadlock.

Wei Ba looked down upon the battlefield and was quite satisfied with the Wei company commander’s response. By relying on his own martial skill, the man had checked the spearhead of the Shu charge, Zhou Yu, and yet he had not lingered in combat. Instead, he had used the advantage of favorable terrain on his side to hold Zhou Yu’s assault in place. If things continued that way, Zhou Yu would remain at a complete disadvantage, and the odds of breaking through were slim indeed.

Fortunately, he had not made this a one-shot affair. Otherwise, one failed strike would have left him with no second move.

Just as the Wei army had barely stopped Zhou Yu’s charge, Zhang Xi struck at the right moment. He burst out shouting and charged toward the other side of the fort wall. Hearing the cries of battle, Zhou Yu’s men, whose morale had only just been shaken, immediately surged with renewed spirit and once again unleashed a powerful burst of fighting strength, forcing three steps forward.

The Wei company commander was alarmed. While he directed men to the other side of the wall to reinforce the defense, he also sent off an alarm signal.

Zhang Xi had watched from the rear for quite some time and had already roughly figured out the Wei deployment. He knew there was a weak point in the line before him, guarded by only a small number of Wei troops. First, they had never imagined that enemies would appear from behind; second, their numbers were limited, and now that they were being attacked from both sides, they were already under strain. Naturally, they would not waste large numbers of troops where an attack seemed highly unlikely.

But they had clearly underestimated the Shu soldiers’ fighting ability. Clambering up and down cliffs was, after all, one of their strengths. Before Zhang Xi made his move, he had already arranged for more than a dozen soldiers to scale the cliff beside them. As soon as he burst out, the Wei soldiers focused their attention on him and rushed to the wall to intercept him; at that very moment, those men suddenly lunged out from the side, vaulted onto the wall, got behind the Wei troops, and hacked away as they seized the opportunity.

Caught off guard, the Wei soldiers were thrown into chaos and cut down in disarray. Seizing the chance, Shu soldiers raced up the steep steps, quickly secured a foothold, and stabilized their position. Their sudden assault and rapid success disrupted the Wei deployment and, to a great extent, unsettled their morale. As some of the troops rushed over to block Zhang Xi, the once-orderly formation broke apart, and the calm confidence it had held only moments before descended into confusion.

“What is happening?” Hearing the clamor of footsteps behind him, the Wei general in the tower erupted in fury. He rushed to the wall and saw at once that Zhang Xi had already surged several steps upward, and he was visibly startled. He surveyed the battlefield and roughly gauged the enemy numbers, then waved an order for a company commander to take his men and reinforce the position.

The Wei general raised his head and looked toward the distant valley, worry creasing his brow. He did not know whether these men were Wu soldiers or something else altogether. Their dress was the standard garb of the Han armies, and they carried only two banners of command, with no war standard to identify their allegiance. Who they were, where they had come from, how many there were, and how they had suddenly appeared behind him all tormented him with uncertainty.

When enemies appeared where none should have been, it was enough to put anyone on edge. In such a situation, anyone could become a startled bird.

The Wei commander was no different. Not knowing how many enemies remained, he even began to doubt whether Anqiao Fortress could be held.

He leaned on the wall, staring into the distance and tapping lightly against the rail, never imagining that on the cliff above his head, another man was watching him.

Wei Ba was watching him. From beginning to end, Wei Ba had kept his attention fixed on the commanders on both sides; he had not scattered his focus among the rank-and-file soldiers. Even if one or two men as fierce as Guan Yu or Zhang Fei appeared, in most cases that would still not be enough to alter the course of the entire battle. In war, the real contest is still the commander’s judgment and the overall strength of the forces involved. This was reality, not a tale of romance, and there was no such thing as one heroic warrior holding back thousands, or even tens of thousands, of men. However mighty a man might be, facing a hundred or two hundred soldiers fighting in formation, his end would still be death. In the final analysis, strength and command were the keys to victory.

He had been born unable to become a match for ten thousand men, and so he could devote his mind more fully to intelligence: the grand strategy of the whole field and the tactics of immediate command. Those were the things he cared about. Whether it was his father, his master, the Wu general Pan Zhang, whose loyalty and enmity were hard to distinguish, or the Wei general before him now, he paid close attention to the way they commanded their troops.

And now, with his attention fixed on this Wei general, the matter had become even more immediate. From the man’s actions, he needed to find the perfect moment for the final blow.

Before that, Zhou Yu’s assault had not distracted him in the least. He had merely sent one subordinate to deal with it, which meant he still had full confidence in victory. Now, however, Zhang Xi had successfully broken through the first line of defense. He stood by the wall and remained motionless for a long while, which showed that he had already sensed how serious the situation was and had begun to waver.

When the enemy’s heart falters, that is the moment to strike. Those words, spoken more than once by his master Zhao Yun, rose in Wei Ba’s mind. He lifted his hand and brought it down with a light sweep. “Attack!”

I tried using WPS once, and the formatting completely fell apart. I do not know why, so I am reposting this. Just to be clear, this is not a fake update from Lao Zhuang.