Chapter 356: The Sun Slants West, the River Flows On

The sun slanted westward.

The White Wave Army, or rather the Hedong Army, had marched twenty li from Xiangling in half a day, and along the way they had been repeatedly harried by Youzhou cavalry. Although the main infantry force had suffered no real damage, they were utterly exhausted. Even so, the White Wave commanders swiftly made their decision and immediately began organizing an assault.

This was not foolishness. On the contrary, it demonstrated the excellent military quality of these Hedong Army leaders. Like the Youzhou troops facing them, they clearly understood where each side’s fatal weakness lay and where their strengths resided — and only then did they make this decision.

Think about it: Hedong lies north of the Yellow River, borders the Xiongnu to the north, and neighbors the Qiang tribes to the west. It has always been a vital source of troops for the Great Han Empire. The famed "Three He Knights" include the Hedong Knights... It is no accident that Guan Yu and Xu Huang both rose from this place, nor is it an accident that Jia Kui, even when his family was impoverished, still had family military texts to study.

In fact, the Hedong Army’s display of excellent tactical acumen did not stop there:

The two armies faced each other north and south. Just as Li Kan led his own troops out to form ranks directly south of the Gaoliang Pavilion encampment, two more White Wave units simultaneously began to assemble. One, flying a large banner bearing the character "Han" and numbering around three or four thousand, moved to the western flank of Li Kan’s formation — clearly intending to attack the encampment from the west together with Li Kan in a two-pronged assault. The other, flying a large banner bearing the character "Yang" and numbering a full five or six thousand, took up position on the eastern flank of Li Kan’s formation with long spears, great shields, and crossbows... Obviously, this was to cover the two units assaulting the stockade and prevent the Youzhou cavalry massed on the east from suddenly charging in and executing that classic, most practical hammer-and-anvil tactic in front of the stockade.

Moreover, even as these three units were forming ranks, other White Wave contingents behind them had already begun preparations... Clearly, they intended to relieve the forward formations at any moment, whether to attack or defend.

And that was not all. Gongsun Xun, watching clearly from the high platform at the center of the encampment, saw a unit without any banner begin to disperse from the White Wave rear and head toward the Fen River beside them — whether to set up defenses, search for something, or simply scout a retreat route, he could not tell.

The various units were well-arrayed, combining offense and defense, and had further preparations in hand... The basic military competence of the enemy’s senior officers was indeed quite impressive.

"The 'Han' banner should be the troops of Han Xian, the great magnate of Jicheng," Wei Ji said hastily, seeing the enemy formations stirring ahead. "The 'Yang' banner is undoubtedly Yang Feng, the great magnate of Xiangling. Both are men of considerable courage, strength, and cunning... Especially Yang Feng. In the White Wave Army, his forces are second only to the leader Guo Tai. He is widely knowledgeable and counts as a figure of some note in the commandery."

Hearing the name Yang Feng, Gongsun Xun nodded slightly, but still said the same thing: "Let us watch for now."

Wei Ji fell silent and, together with the many military clerks of the central army, stood on the platform, watching the battle unfold from afar.

Under the midday spring sun, after Yang Feng personally led his own troops to form ranks and cut off the Youzhou cavalry to the east, almost no time was wasted. Li Kan’s unit was the first to assault the front of the stockade, while Han Xian’s unit had just begun moving westward.

"The enemy is cunning!" Lou Gui, watching from a distance, was the first to see through the scheme. "Though Han and Li’s two units are making a pincer attack, they are staggered in sequence, one frontal, one flanking... If our army ignores Han Xian’s movements and throws its full strength against Li Kan at the front, our flank will be weak, and the White Wave Army will surely send reinforcements to aid Han Xian on the flank and break through the stockade from the side. And if we are drawn by Han Xian’s unit and dispatch troops to the flank to respond, reinforcements may come from the front at any moment."

"There is another way to put it," Tian Feng interjected, cupping his hands beside him. "True, the plain is boundless, but they came in haste and have not even had time to erect a high platform. Their view is blocked by the stockade, and they can only see the troops directly ahead. They likely also fear an ambush in the camp on the western flank, which is why they sent Han Xian’s unit forward slowly, doubling as a scouting force."

"Correct." Lou Gui immediately stroked his beard and nodded. "Brother Yuanhao makes an excellent point. But no matter what, they probably still underestimate Gao Su..."

Just as the two were speaking, suddenly, a tremendous noise erupted from the ground before the stockade, and then the entire White Wave formation began clamoring at once!

Seventy to eighty thousand men shouting together — it shook the heavens and moved the earth, a display of overwhelming momentum that stood in stark contrast to the utterly silent Han army defenders at the stockade.

Of course, aside from Wei Ji and a few civil clerks who had joined from Taiyuan and were truly unaccustomed to warfare — and thus somewhat frightened — everyone else on the platform watched with cold detachment.

Once this clamor arose, it was very difficult to suppress. And it was amid this state of army-wide uproar that the picked warriors of Li Kan’s unit, their morale boosted again and again... donned armor, gripped sharp weapons, and surged forward with valor. Moments later, countless more soldiers, shouting battle cries and following close behind, charged straight toward the Youzhou army stockade barely three or four hundred paces away.

It seemed this force, lacking drums and gongs, truly intended to use their voices in place of drums and carry the position in one charge.

But immediately, amid the clamor behind them, Li Kan’s assault bogged down in an awkward and fatal standstill.

Specifically, when they were still two hundred paces from the main stockade, and over a hundred paces from the dense chevaux-de-frise before it, the vanguard elite of this army began plunging headlong, one after another, into several staggered rows of trenches.

These trenches were roughly the width of a man’s body — impossible to jump over, and not easily covered by a great shield alone... In truth, these trenches were visible, and the White Wave troops had mentally prepared themselves to pay a price for these trenches and the chevaux-de-frise behind them.

But what they had never imagined was that these trenches, which they had thought they would only need to jump into and then clamber out of, were far too deep!

How deep?

A full zhang and more! And the inner walls were rammed smooth — climbing out bare-handed was far too difficult!

The picked warriors of Li Kan’s unit who fell in certainly would not die from the fall, nor would they be injured, but to climb back out, they would have to form human pyramids!

In fact, when the Youzhou army auxiliaries had dug these pits, they could only climb out using ladders... But what was more terrifying was that there was more than one such trench. They were staggered, of varying lengths, densely packed, and extended all the way to the chevaux-de-frise array a hundred paces before the camp gate.

By the time the White Wave soldiers of Li Kan’s unit had painstakingly climbed out of the trenches, or found a winding, tortuous path through them, and laboriously advanced to the dense chevaux-de-frise, they then had to pull up the wooden obstacles by hand. And by now, having closed to within a hundred paces of the stockade, they had already entered the range of the Youzhou army’s ranged attacks.

From behind the stockade, Han army auxiliaries loosed dense volleys of arrows in high arcs, falling upon Li Kan’s troops who could not move freely... These soldiers had to pull up the chevaux-de-frise while guarding against the rain of arrows from above. Some were pinned dead on the spot. Others tried to flee and dodge, but were blocked by the trenches behind them and could not easily retreat!

In mere moments, on the ground before the stockade, wails of agony replaced the earlier battle cries, while the Youzhou army remained composed.

Han Xian’s unit on the west also began their assault. Yet just like the frontal attack, they immediately bogged down in the attrition of these complex defensive works.

To put it plainly, such petty tricks were not worth a sneer in a grand battle, but in the current situation, they were a superb tool for stalling for time.

At the front, south and west of the stockade, Li Kan and Han Xian were directing the battle. Behind them, Guo Tai had just climbed onto a hastily heaped-up high platform. Though at different moments, they all began to realize something.

Together, they understood that the problem was not really these strange yet effective trenches. The problem was that the entire battle was under Gongsun Xun’s control... This General of the Guard, who lived up to his great reputation, had from the very start made comprehensive plans and preparations targeting the White Wave Army’s weaknesses.

What were the White Wave Army’s strengths?

Naturally, their numerical superiority, outstanding individual soldier quality, and the military competence of their senior commanders... Correspondingly, what was their weakness, or rather, their fatal flaw?

The answer was simple: organization.

This army lacked a sufficiently effective military structure! Their forces were organized around clans and villages, forming large-scale war bands centered on each local Hedong magnate. Each leader then took direct orders from Guo Tai, and these war bands would carry out corresponding military tasks... In small-scale combat, this was not a terrible thing. In fact, because members of a war band supported each other and were not prone to routing, it could even become an advantage. But in large-scale, grand-army operations, it appeared exceptionally cumbersome!

Earlier, when the cavalry losses were severe, Yang Feng had said to Xu Huang that in that situation, whether Guo Tai or the great magnates, they all noticed the danger after the massive cavalry losses, but could only grit their teeth and let the army continue advancing to Gaoliang Pavilion for a decisive battle... Why?

Was it not because, after the cavalry losses, the White Wave command system, already lacking drums and gongs, became even more scattered and disordered?

In other words, Gongsun Xun had precisely this intention when he first struck at the enemy’s cavalry units. And the reason he was able to destroy their cavalry and create the current advantage was precisely because the enemy lacked an effective command system and military organization.

Both sides were trying to amplify their own strengths and tear open the other’s fatal flaw. But without a doubt, from the morning’s troop movements to the now-stalled assault... the Youzhou army had been consistently successful, while the White Wave Army had yet to make any progress.

"Send men to see Generals Li Kan and Han Xian!" Guo Tai, his head wrapped in a yellow turban, stood atop the hastily heaped high platform. His demeanor was intriguing — a trace of worry was clearly visible on his face, yet his tone remained calm, though the words he spoke seemed full of indignation. "Ask them for me: without cavalry, and unable to seize the stockade, with so many of us, we don’t even have a foothold on this plain... Once it gets dark, if the enemy cavalry concentrates and charges our central army, how will we survive? When a hundred thousand disordered troops rout like cattle and sheep, and tens of thousands of Youzhou cavalry trample us at will, can their lives be preserved? Why still hesitate? Why not commit the entire army?"

Two riders hurriedly departed with these orders. Just then, another rider came laboriously galloping from the direction of the Fen River to report.

"What news?" Guo Tai recognized the man from afar and quickly asked with a serious expression.

"Reporting to Commander Guo, there are no trees left!" The rider, out of breath, could only answer helplessly. "That patch of woods has been completely cut down by the Youzhou troops. I fear it has already become the stockade palisades and watchtowers of the Youzhou army!"

"As expected." Guo Tai still maintained some composure. "What of the reed beds by the Fen River, five li away?"

"Also cut and cleared." The rider continued his helpless report. "I went to see personally... The reeds along the river were also cut down in advance by the Youzhou army. We can’t even make makeshift campfires or torches! Commander Guo, on the way back, Junior Commander Wang told me to tell you: if we cannot seize the Youzhou army’s stockade before dark to use as a foothold, today we will likely suffer a complete and utter defeat."

Guo Tai’s expression finally grew a few degrees more severe, but he remained helpless: "Also within expectations. After all, he is a famed general... So it is still as I said: we must stake everything on taking the stockade before us."

"Then..."

"You stay!" Guo Tai shook his head for a moment, then continued issuing orders without pause. "Send more men. Go to the front and see Yang Feng, Cheng Yin, Li Le, Hu Cai, and Hou Xuan. Tell them that we cannot set up a camp or even prepare torches... And then ask them for me — these generals and junior commanders — was this battle not what they wanted to fight? Why, at this moment, do they still harbor false hopes?! Why not fight with desperate, deadly effort?!"

Apart from the rider who had just returned, the few remaining cavalry at the central army all galloped off to deliver orders in every direction. And Guo Tai remained in that strange posture — stern, weary, yet somehow relaxed. Whether you called it composure or awe-inspiring dignity, in any case, he stood atop that makeshift platform of jumbled debris and said no more.

Up front, Li Kan was far from the self-serving man Guo Tai’s words had described. In fact, even before Guo Tai’s messenger arrived, he had already taken a series of measures to intensify the assault.

The entire army pressed forward. Enforcer squads advanced. More importantly, Li Kan, as the commanding general of a unit, had personally taken up his waist saber, crossed the maze of trenches, and gone to the very front, braving the rain of arrows himself to pull up the chevaux-de-frise!

Several personal guards held great shields to shield him from the arrows, and a banner marked with the character "Li" was planted, solitary, to one side... This act was clearly meant to boost morale, and it was quite effective.

After all, the armies of these Hedong magnates were fundamentally personal forces. Li Kan’s unit was built around Li Kan himself. So when the man disregarded his own life and death, no one in his unit dared retreat or flee, and the speed of removing the chevaux-de-frise greatly increased under efforts that disregarded all casualties.

Finally, after a little less than half a shichen had passed, and the sun was clearly slanting westward, having left behind who knew how many corpses, Li Kan at last fought his way to the very foot of the great stockade. By this time, Han Xian on the west had only just begun pulling up the chevaux-de-frise — or rather, had only just begun to suffer casualties from the arrows.

"The men of Hedong do possess some will to fight fiercely, after all." Gongsun Xun, having "watched for now" for half the day, finally laughed aloud. "Yet the state’s misfortune has driven such outstanding soldiers into the position of rebels, while Xiongnu and Wuhuan have become my claws and teeth in quelling chaos... Such is the time, such is fate!"

"That's precisely why we must rescue the imperiled and quell the chaos!" someone nearby chimed in.

But that single sentence was all there was, for as soon as the words fell, a sudden upheaval erupted before the encampment... Just as Li Kan's unit had finished clearing away the dense chevaux-de-frise spanning over fifty paces wide and reached the camp's edge, the numerous gates already conspicuous along the camp wall suddenly swung open in rapid succession. Then, the infantry commander of the Youzhou Army, the two-thousand-bushel-rank Captain Gao Shun, Gao Suqing, personally led over a thousand armored soldiers charging straight out!

War drums thundered, banners stood distinct, iron armor gleamed dazzlingly, blades and spears flashed cold light — Gao Shun's camp-breaching unit, which had been resting and conserving strength behind the archers for so long, burst forth almost like fierce tigers loosed from their cage, inflicting countless casualties in a mere instant.

Li Kan and his troops, having toiled so bitterly to reach this point, were already utterly exhausted and unable to endure. Now caught completely off guard, they naturally collapsed into rout in an instant!

Yet when they turned to flee, they were blocked by the trenches behind them. Some fell into the ditches in panic; others halted in terror but could not stop at all, only to be shoved into the trenches by those behind them and trampled to death.

Behind them, the Hedong Cheng Yin unit and part of Li Kan's rear troops who had not yet crossed the ditches surged forward, attempting to provide relief, but they too were obstructed by these mere few laughable trenches.

In that critical moment, amid the screams, Li Kan shouted with all his might. Though his exact words could not be made out, it was clear he was ordering his own troops to counter-charge with him, not to futilely offer their backs to the Youzhou Army.

Gao Shun, having personally sallied forth from the camp to counter-attack, saw clearly and understood perfectly well that this man was the commander of this enemy unit. Without a word, and without personally engaging in combat, he merely pointed from a distance, and over a hundred armored soldiers bearing shields and spears charged straight from behind him toward the target.

Seeing this, Li Kan showed no fear; instead, he directly raised his blade and charged forward to meet them, attempting close combat.

But when these hundred-odd armored soldiers reached Li Kan's cluster of troops, they did not engage them directly. Instead, they suddenly turned and planted their great shields upright, forming a shield wall, and pushed forward with all their might. Only when their formation was disrupted did they use short spears thrust over the top of the great shields to stab and drive them back.

Li Kan was stupefied. He and his subordinates alike, for all their martial skill and valor, were forced back step by step by Gao Shun's more disciplined troops using this formation tactic, until they were ruthlessly shoved into the trench. There, he was promptly pierced through the chest by the blade of a soldier beneath him, and then struck down upon the head by his own personal guard!

Pitiable indeed was this great magnate of Hedong who had commanded thousands of troops — a man who, in another time and space, had even carved out territory across several counties in Guanzhong after the disbanding of the Bobo Bandits and occupied Mei Fortress... Yet now he was to suffocate to death in this pile of corpses, unable to make even a single sound more.

He was thirty-three years of age.

Over a hundred paces away, separated by several trench lines, Cheng Yin watched his fellow townsman and colleague die so wretchedly, and felt a chill run through his entire body.

With Li Kan dead, the shortcomings of the Bobo Bandits' military structure were once again laid bare. His unit lost its capacity to resist almost instantly. Gao Shun's own thousand-plus armored soldiers surged forward valiantly, slaughtering these men almost effortlessly in the open ground between the trenches and the camp.

Across the trenches, Cheng Yin instinctively wanted to dispatch archers to provide some cover, but only then did he realize that the width of the chevaux-de-frise and barriers before the Youzhou Army camp, the width of the trenches, and the width of the entire trench zone had all been meticulously calculated... The several trench lines, combined, spanned roughly over a hundred paces wide — precisely the effective killing range of ordinary bow fire in parabolic volleys. His archers were utterly useless.

Realizing this, Cheng Yin grew even more despondent.

But what was even more disheartening was yet to come. Once Li Kan's troops ahead had either died or fled, clearing the area before the camp, Gao Shun showed no desire to press the fight. With another wave of his hand, he sounded the gongs to withdraw his troops, pulling back behind the camp palisades. Then, remarkably, a large number of auxiliary soldiers emerged, carrying pre-prepared barriers and chevaux-de-frise and sundry items, and swiftly began piling them up again in the open ground before the camp.

The trench zone was filled everywhere with wails and cries for help, and quite a few survivors, having escaped with their lives, clambered back over the corpses and bodies of their comrades... Such a scene made any advance inherently impossible, and upon seeing the Youzhou Army piling up the chevaux-de-frise anew, Cheng Yin was, in that instant, nearly overcome with a sense of despair and collapse.

Knowing full well that such enormous sacrifices must be made ahead, must they still repeat what had just happened?

Knowing full well there were trenches ahead, must they still leap into them?

Knowing full well the barriers and chevaux-de-frise ahead must be exchanged for with lives, must they still go and trade them?

Knowing full well the enemy had elite armored soldiers lying in ambush within the camp, who would counter-attack at your most exhausted moment on that narrow battlefield, must you still go to your deaths?

It was not that they could not sacrifice, not that they could not die, but at the very least they had to see some progress, right?!

Progress there was indeed!

On the western flank, Han Xian's unit had achieved outstanding progress. When they encountered the Youzhou Army's counter-attack, they forcibly held their ground... The Youzhou combat troops lying in ambush here lacked the terrifying combat power of those on the main front; Jiao Chu was not merely a little inferior to Gao Shun, and so the two sides actually fought with considerable vigor and effect.

But that was all it amounted to. After Gao Shun easily routed Li Kan's unit before him, he immediately followed the flag signals from the high platform, shifted within the camp to the western flank, and broke them in a single engagement, once again staging a bloody game of shield-wall pushing at this location... The only difference was that Han Xian, having received word from Cheng Yin, immediately fled back with his personal guards, shields raised, and did not end up shoved into a pit to die a stifled death!

And because he survived, his unit likewise maintained its combat effectiveness.

Yang Feng sat astride his horse. He was perfectly aware of the failed assault behind him, but the nearly twenty thousand Youzhou cavalrymen who had dismounted and were resting motionless several hundred paces ahead of his battle line made it even harder for him to breathe.

"Gongming!" Yang Feng turned his head and said. "The situation is already extremely urgent... As Commander Guo said, if we have no foothold before nightfall, these eighty to ninety thousand troops can only become lost souls beneath the cavalry's hooves! Go tell Cheng Yin and the others — if they don't stake their lives, it won't do!"

Xu Huang helplessly reminded him: "The Youzhou soldiers' defensive works are too superb — those several trenches..."

"It means they must spare no lives and fill them up with corpses!" Yang Feng suddenly lost some emotional control. "They understand that too!"

"These are all men from our Hedong homeland!" Xu Huang replied with a solemn expression.

"But if we lose this battle, will the number of our countrymen who die be any less?!" Yang Feng still spoke with certainty. "Do you think, the moment the sun sets and these twenty thousand cavalry charge us head-on, how many of us will die?! From the very start of this battle, when the Youzhou Army seized the initiative and suddenly raided and destroyed our cavalry, nothing has been up to us! They schemed meticulously, pressed us step by step — we simply have no path to take!"

Xu Gongming was instantly dejected. He wanted to say: if we had known it would come to this, wouldn't it have been better to follow Guo Tai's advice and evade north of the Fen River? But then he recalled that he himself had supported the decisive battle because his family lived south of the Fen River, and found himself with no words to offer in reply.

It was just like when those two Youzhou Army officers earlier had demanded to know why he had become a bandit — it was fundamentally an unanswerable question.

Becoming a bandit was of course wrong, but when more than half of Hedong Commandery had turned to banditry, when everyone he knew on both banks of the Fen River had become bandits, how could he himself not become one?

One could only say that the times were thus; one could not blame Heaven or begrudge others! This world was one that forced good men into becoming bandits!

Yet, he had also heard it said that the junior brother he had once looked after in Hedong, Guan Yu, Guan Changsheng, was now already a general! What did this count as? The mockery of fate?

Xu Huang's various thoughts churned as he turned to personally deliver the message in Yang Feng's stead. And after he had traveled back and forth across the battlefield to convey the orders, battle was soon joined a second time!

After pondering briefly, Cheng Yin finally gritted his teeth and began driving Li Kan's remnants forward. On the other flank, Han Xian's unit was granted a reprieve because Han Xian himself had survived; another minor commander took his place in the assault... One could only say that even when facing the terrifying prospect of total army collapse, the pernicious influence of this kind of military structure remained difficult to eliminate.

The sun slanted ever further westward. The valor and fearlessness of the Hedong Army were gradually worn away in this brutal war of attrition, yet there was simply no second path to consider!

Correspondingly, throughout the entire afternoon, Gao Shun, Gao Suqing, displayed immense might. Leading the thousand-plus armored elite soldiers he trusted most and who were the most outstanding, he exploited the time differential between the two fronts to move freely within the camp... And aided by the flags on the camp's high platform, he repeatedly sallied forth with success!

In a single afternoon, he successfully counter-attacked over ten times, slaying until the Bobo Bandits turned pale at the mere sight of the name 'Gao.' It was only then that the entire Bobo Army suddenly realized: this infantry general surnamed Gao had been using attack as his means of defense all along!

However, after more than ten counter-attacks, the Youzhou Army finally began to suffer large-scale combat losses as well... The trenches no longer needed to be filled level with corpses; fill them halfway, lay shields on top, and one could tread across. Later, they even devised the tactic of using long spears as supports, then laying shields to create 'pontoon bridges.' The barriers and chevaux-de-frise could also be turned around and thrown into the trenches, and their numbers were finite. Arrows were loosed in volley after volley; after two quivers' worth, arms would grow sore and numb, and the rate of volley fire would greatly slow. More importantly, the elite infantry's sallies were, after all, close combat. Though each time they bullied the weak by relying on strength, after more than ten such engagements, even Gao Shun's superbly trained core unit gradually began to falter, leading to casualties. Not to mention that these decisive elite troops numbered only a bit over a thousand; the remaining five thousand infantry were far inferior.

"Send back those prisoners taken earlier at Yang County and Gaoliang Pavilion," Gongsun Xun, who had been silent all afternoon, suddenly spoke. "Tell the enemy I permit them to collect their dead..."

At these words, not only did Tian Feng and Lou Gui exchange glances of bewilderment, but even Wei Ji, who had been watching in a daze, found it somewhat incomprehensible.

"General!" Tian Feng responded with exasperation. "Bloodlust has already taken hold — they will not fall for such a crude delaying tactic. Rather than use such a method, it would be better to bring up the over ten thousand auxiliary troops held in the rear camp as a general reserve to assist in the defense! Or simply have the cavalry, who have rested enough, mount up and ride around the camp to the western flank to carry out harassment, thereby relieving the pressure on the infantry."

"Just do as I say," Gongsun Xun replied, unconcerned.

"Aye!" Lou Zibo had initially wanted to object as well, but suddenly he seemed to grasp Gongsun Xun's intent and actually bowed his head in assent.

The sun's position could already be called the evening glow, but a spring evening sun would still linger for some time. Perhaps in the very next moment, the main camp might suddenly change hands... After all, the Bobo Bandits' numbers were simply too great, and there were still countless fresh troops available to step forward and continue the fight.

The prisoners were quickly released from the eastern camp gate bearing Gongsun Xun's verbal message, and most of them made their way to Yang Feng's formation.

And just as expected, Yang Feng was so enraged that he laughed instead, paying them absolutely no heed. He did not even allow these men to go speak with Guo Tai or the other minor commanders whose eyes were red with bloodlust.

"My Lord, what is to be done?" As Gao Shun, at the cost of over a hundred elite soldiers, once again repelled an assault, Lou Gui on the high platform cupped his hands helplessly and asked. "The bandit army does not fall for the ruse, and their troop numbers are too great. Shall we mobilize the auxiliary troops from the rear camp, or dispatch cavalry to circle the camp in support, or have Yigong concentrate the cavalry right now to deliver the decisive blow?!"

"None of that is necessary!" Gongsun Xun spoke calmly, then abruptly rose to his feet, hand on his sword. "The battle has reached such a state — why should more lives be lost? Enough people have died today... Sound the war horns, summon the entire army. I will end this battle personally!"

On the high platform, all the officers of the central army were struck with awe. A moment later, as countless horns within the Youzhou Army camp suddenly sounded in unison, and the White Horse Banner beneath the high platform and the canopy above it began to move simultaneously, the entire Bobo Army, from top to bottom, was likewise nearly universally struck with awe.

—————I am the dividing line of universal awe—————

"When Dong Zhuo usurped the government, the Grand Ancestor of our dynasty raised troops to campaign against him. Reaching Hedong, the Bobo bandits gathered a host of one hundred thousand to oppose him. And because the Hedong soldiers were skilled in war, the Youzhou Army, though only twenty thousand strong and far from home, had some who were anxious. Once battle was joined, the Youzhou shock cavalry first destroyed the Hedong cavalry; the Hedong infantry then repeatedly stormed the Youzhou camp with great frequency, the trenches filled level, the dead and wounded piled upon each other. The many staff officers in the central army, dreading the peril of the troops and fearing calamity, stood on the high platform in alarm. Fighting until the evening sun, the Grand Ancestor called out, rising, desiring to quell the enemy himself. Those around him, shocked by the danger of the battle lines, sought to dissuade him. The Grand Ancestor then personally took up bow and arrow and declared: 'This campaign of mine shall be like this shot!' Thereupon he sat upon the high platform and loosed an arrow at a distant suit of hanging armor. The arrow flew and struck the armor. The assembled troops fixed their eyes upon this, understood his resolve, and all were willing to follow him. And because of the matter of striking the armor, their morale increased tenfold." — A New Account of the Tales of the World, Chapter on Boldness

PS: Exhausted this morning, and I have to go drinking tonight... so I thought I wouldn't be able to write anything, but unexpectedly I managed to slack off and churn this out all afternoon.

(End of Chapter)