Chapter 103

After Yu Piao and the Xiongnu tribe rushed out, Guo Huai did not stay idle. To ensure the Xiongnu’s mounted archers could effectively play the role of a hammer, he advanced his troops to pressure Kang Yu’s Medium Cavalry Brigade.

Yu Piao claimed their attack was a mistake born out of greed for merit, but Guo Huai did not see it that way.

He thought there was some truth to it. For a moment, he even wavered, wondering if Chang-ran’s control over her troops had truly weakened.

But Guo Huai believed in Chang-ran. The Chang-ran who had killed Zhang He would never be someone who couldn’t manage her own soldiers.

Chang-ran’s eye for talent was renowned even in Wei. Her evaluations of Shu’s personnel had been relayed to Wei, becoming key reference material for assessing Shu’s officials.

Such a Chang-ran would never entrust her most valuable Medium Cavalry to someone prone to mistakes.

She must have had some purpose. There must have been a deeper intention behind sacrificing the Medium Cavalry.

And just as Guo Huai believed, Chang-ran proved it. The Medium Cavalry was neither abandoned nor acting recklessly. She had entrusted them with the role of an anvil, confident they would hold.

As soon as the Xiongnu surrounded the Medium Cavalry, they were counter-encircled with flawless precision.

It was a reversal straight out of a military strategy book. The seamless coordination made it seem almost too perfect, like a scene from a painting. The principles of “Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain” were fully embodied.

When the Medium Cavalry first charged, the troops were as still as a forest. But as they advanced, the cavalry on the flanks moved like a whirlwind.

The counter-encirclement spread like wildfire, and the Medium Cavalry’s defense, now blocking the retreat path, stood as firm as a mountain.

Now, Guo Huai had two choices.

Abandon the Xiongnu and buy time to retreat safely, or join the battle to save them and risk a full-scale engagement.

If Guo Huai had not anticipated Chang-ran’s hammer-and-anvil maneuver, the former would have been the right choice.

A reckless charge without proper preparation would only add to Chang-ran’s growing reputation.

But Guo Huai’s eyes kept searching for gaps in the enemy’s formation, his heightened senses calculating the right moment to strike.

Using bait to attempt an encirclement against a numerically superior enemy was astonishing even to Guo Huai. It was bold, but it overlooked the risks.

Future generations would remember “Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain,” but there were two more principles behind it.

“Hide like a shadow when still, and strike like thunder when moving.”

If Chang-ran wielded “Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain,” Guo Huai chose “Shadow and Thunder.”

“All troops, attack! Leave the Xiongnu! While they deal with Chang-ran’s cavalry, we will flank and strike the enemy infantry!!”

Chang-ran and Guo Huai had different options.

For Chang-ran, the Medium Cavalry was her responsibility—her own troops.

But for Guo Huai, the Xiongnu cavalry were expendable. If they could inflict heavy damage on Chang-ran’s infantry, their annihilation was acceptable.

“General Zhao, take the left flank! I will take the right!”

Guo Huai, leading the cavalry to reinforce, entrusted the right flank to Zhao Jin and glanced at Chang-ran, whom Zhao Jin would face.

Wei’s right flank faced Lanling Army’s left flank.

Zhao Jin, considered second only to Cao Cao’s son Cao Zhang among Xiahou Yuan’s relatives, should be able to hold his own against Chang-ran.

‘They haven’t finished crossing the river yet. The cavalry is scattered forming the Xiongnu’s encirclement. The infantry is effectively isolated.’

Chang-ran would have no choice but to agonize.

Should she break the Xiongnu’s encirclement to stop Wei’s cavalry, or leave the infantry to fend off Wei’s cavalry while maintaining the encirclement of the Xiongnu?

‘Whichever she chooses, it will be a loss.’

If she breaks the encirclement, the trapped cavalry will pour out, and the entire army will be surrounded and harassed by mounted archers. If she maintains the encirclement, the rear infantry will be ravaged by Wei’s cavalry.

‘Did you think the dilemma was your tactic alone?’

The strategy of attacking Lanling’s infantry to save the Xiongnu from encirclement—”Besiege Wei to Save Zhao.”

The tactic of sacrificing the Xiongnu as a decoy and using Wei’s main force to strike the infantry—”Steal the Beam and Replace the Pillar.”

No matter how formidable Chang-ran’s martial prowess was, there were limits in the late chaotic era where armies were becoming more elite.

In the era of warlords, where most troops were militias or volunteers, it might have been different. But to overturn the battle situation with personal martial prowess alone, one would need someone like Xiang Yu, who once collapsed an army of over 500,000 with just 30,000 troops.

“What will you do, Chang-ran?”

Guo Huai was confident. Whatever decision Chang-ran made, this battle would benefit Wei more.

But if Chang-ran had heard Guo Huai’s muttering, she would have replied:

This was exactly what she wanted.

§

‘Abandon the Xiongnu. A ruthless decision, Guo Huai.’

If you had chosen to face our cavalry head-on to save the Xiongnu, this battle could have ended in a technical defeat. If you had succeeded in breaking the anvil of the Medium Cavalry, we might have suffered even greater losses.

But Guo Huai prioritized inflicting greater damage on us over saving the Xiongnu. I understand. What’s so appealing about the Xiongnu that you’d risk a frontal breakthrough?

Rather, you’d want to weaken the Xiongnu’s strength while they distract us, hoping for mutual destruction. Inflicting damage on us while achieving a double loss would be even better.

In the meantime, Guo Huai’s Wei army would attack our infantry and reap the benefits. Even I would have thought the same.

But there was something Guo Huai didn’t know. The new weapon we prepared wasn’t just the Qiang Nu.

“You, Xu Xiao.”

“Yes, General. Lord Xu Xiao, at your service. Give your orders.”

“Go to Kang Yu and tell him to trigger a landslide and sweep away the Xiongnu.”

I ordered Kang Yu, who had been playing the role of the anvil, to switch to the hammer.

At the same time, I urgently dispatched a messenger to the infantry, who had been the hammer.

“Yue Jian.”

“Commander Yue Jian, awaiting orders.”

“Go to Yu En. Tell him to switch from offense to defense and use the Yuan Rong against Wei’s troops.”

The Yuan Rong was a type of crossbow similar to the Qiang Nu. It was one of the new weapons developed in preparation for this northern expedition. Unlike the Qiang Nu, which incorporated my future knowledge, the Yuan Rong was purely Zhuge Liang’s own creation.

Used in Zhuge Liang’s northern expeditions, the Yuan Rong could fire ten iron arrows in a single shot, resembling a futuristic shotgun—a simultaneous multi-shot crossbow.

‘If Guo Huai relies on numerical superiority, we’ll use a weapon that turns that against him.’

The more enemies there are, the more effective the Yuan Rong becomes. It would be difficult for cavalry to dodge the arrows with their mobility. Zhuge Liang’s historical defeat of Sima Yi’s Wei cavalry with infantry proves this.

I looked forward to seeing Guo Huai’s expression when faced with the Yuan Rong’s arrow rain.

It’s a pity I won’t see that face, but we have our own work to do.

“Leave Wei’s troops to the infantry. We’ll ignore them and finish off the Xiongnu!!”

We tightened the encirclement and crushed the Xiongnu cavalry. I had already instructed Ma Dai to leave an escape route for the Xiongnu remnants.

The Xiongnu had already lost their will to fight. If their leader’s head flew off, they wouldn’t even think of fighting. If we opened an escape route, they would flee the battlefield without looking back.

“You’re next, Guo Huai.”

But first, this guy.

Yu Piao, the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu. After confirming my first target, I spurred my horse forward.

§

“Attack the Xiongnu?”

Confirming that Chang-ran had begun a breakthrough toward the Xiongnu’s center, Guo Huai, atop his galloping horse, speculated on her plan.

‘You want to quickly finish off the Xiongnu and save your infantry? Fine. While you kill the Xiongnu, we’ll clean up your divided infantry!’

Sacrificing the Xiongnu’s mounted archers to take Lanling’s infantry. A trade Guo Huai would welcome with open arms. Urging his cavalry, Guo Huai pushed his horse to occupy Lanling’s rear.

Excluding the cavalry and those who hadn’t fully crossed the river, the remaining infantry numbered only a few thousand. How many of them were archers?

Even if infantry archers generally had longer range and accuracy than mounted archers, overwhelming numbers would render that meaningless.

Just as the violence of numbers was about to be unleashed, Guo Huai saw it.

A rain of iron covering the sky.

An unbelievable volume of arrows pouring from what should have been a mere few thousand infantry.

The first thing Guo Huai felt upon seeing the arrow rain was an instinctive sense of defeat—something had gone terribly wrong.

“What the hell is this…!?”