Chapter 437: The Red-Scarved True Man Asserts the Heavenly Throne

It was said they would rest until daybreak, but Sun Jian made a colossal mistake — daybreak came far faster than he had imagined!

The rain-night clouds gave Sun Wentai a false impression, making him think daybreak was still far off, enough time for his troops to get ample rest. But in reality, by the time he felt his way to the small town of Chouju it was already near midnight; then they set out again, launched another raid — time had long since stolen away unnoticed in the exhilarating victory, and as it happened, summer daybreak was the earliest of the year.

On the other hand, the sun is eternal. The clouds, from which the rain had gradually ceased, could not possibly block out all light. So very soon, as the sun rose in the east behind the clouds, the originally pitch-black battlefield immediately began to blur into view, and then grew clear.

Yet precisely at this moment, Sun Wentai’s troops were simply too exhausted. Though the ground was sodden and the camp in disarray, many soldiers, the moment they sat down, were so drowsy they could not stay awake — to the point that some who had fought in plain clothes with bare blades and come through unscathed actually dropped dead in their sleep, throwing the officers under Sun Jian’s command into momentary panic.

By all logic, this was exactly the best moment Lu Bu had spoken of earlier — to lead two or three thousand troops in a fierce sortie and turn defeat into victory.

However, on the battlefield problems always arise. Down below, in the camp that had become a quagmire of mud, Sun Jian’s army could be plunged into peril by their commander’s misjudgment. But up on the wall, things were even more straightforwardly speechless — Cai Mao and Liu Pan had fallen into internal strife.

To call it internal strife might be an exaggeration, but considering the present circumstances and the grave consequences that could ensue, to say it was not internal strife would be self-deception.

The deep-seated conflict between Cai Mao and Liu Pan needs little elaboration — the regional friction between a powerful local clan and the trusted confidants of an outside ruler, something no one in this age can avoid... As soon as Gongsun Xun firmly established a Hebei-centered governance model, Shen Pei rallied his faction to contend with Lu Fan on equal footing, and it was not merely because of his merits and seniority. As for Yuan Shao’s downfall, a fair share of it can be directly attributed to this very issue. Then take Liu Biao, a Faction grandee from Shanyang in Yanzhou who came to the Jiang-Han region as Inspector — though for survival’s sake everyone was surely tightly united at first, once you got past Liu Biao himself, how could those below him truly be as close as family?

What’s more, Liu Biao had been in Jingzhou for four years by now, long past the period of mutual forbearance for the state’s sake.

And the direct conflict between the two seems to need no further words... In chaotic times, military authority comes first. Cai Mao initially served as Grand Administrator of Jiangxia, later ceded it to Huang Zu and transferred to be Grand Administrator of Nan Commandery, where Xiangyang was located. And the post of Military Advisor that Gongsun Xun established had been widely imitated everywhere, so Cai Degui was also appointed by Liu Biao as General of the Household of the Military Advisor, effectively Jingzhou’s Regional Commander and Liu Biao’s second-in-command. But while others feared Cai Mao, Liu Pan did not. He was Liu Biao’s clan nephew, Liu Jingsheng’s true trusted man in the army — otherwise he would not have been put in command of the troops sent out to battle at the start of this campaign. Such a figure was probably the only man in the Jingzhou army who could contend on equal footing with Cai Mao, and with Huang Zu who governed Jiangxia separately.

As for today’s spark, it must be said the blame also lies with Lu Bu... This fellow had advised Cai Mao to shut the city gates and drive the routed troops to go around the city walls. The reasoning was sound, but Liu Pan, Huang Zhong, and the others, fleeing back in utter disarray, were likewise refused entry. They could only stumble in wretchedness from the east side all the way around to the west side, and only then managed to call out to a west-gate defender they knew, who then opened the gate and let the commanders and their routed followers into the city!

It’s hard to say who was right or wrong... Cai Mao was of course fully justified — he would not fear this incident being recorded in the history books, and might even be praised for his strict discipline. But Liu Pan nearly lost his life outside the city; as the direct victim, was he supposed to praise Cai Mao’s strict discipline?!

For a time the two quarreled without cease, and as it happened, each had his subordinates and followers — who was willing to yield?

The officers below were also split in two. Those on the wall despised those below as routed and useless; those below were indignant at those on the wall for sitting snugly in the city, not only watching them die without lifting a hand but even refusing to let them in at the critical moment... In the end, Lu Bu earnestly pleaded and pleaded, until the sun itself came out, and only then did the two sides, mindful that outside the city there still stood a covetously watching Sun Jian, and for the sake of the faces of Tiger Sun and Tiger Lu, refrain from open battle. Instead, one occupied the east and south walls, the other the west and north walls, each going off to do his own defending.

But with that, Lu Bu’s sortie plan was completely dashed... After the great defeat, the troops in the city with any fighting spirit left had each been taken, half by one Jingzhou grandee and half by the other, each afraid of leaving one more man for his rival. All stood firmly arrayed on the battlements. Left idle inside the city was only a heap of routed soldiers, every man stained with blood, caked in mud, without even armor — how could there possibly be a rested, fresh force to suddenly hand over to Lu Bu to lead in a breakout?

“Marquis Wen, what is to be done about the present situation?” Cai Mao, long after Liu Pan had left, finally recalled the matter of the sortie and could not help feeling somewhat abashed. “That scoundrel Liu Pan is so detestable — after losing the camp through his incompetence, he still futilely delays our chance to strike!”

Lu Bu had long since been speechless to the extreme, cursing inwardly without cease, even regretting that he had not kept his eight hundred cavalry hidden inside the city. But now that he was here alone, what more could he do?

“Set your mind at ease, Lord Cai, it is of no great consequence.” Lu Bu smiled unceasingly on the surface, and accordingly turned toward the former main camp of the Jingzhou army east of the city, now seized by Sun Jian’s forces, gesturing casually as he spoke. “As things stand now, though our army can no longer sally forth to counterattack, look at Sun Jian’s soldiers — every one of them is wearied to the extreme. Though they have won a great victory, what can they do at this moment?”

“That is true.” Under the faint sunlight spilling through the gaps in the post-rain clouds, Cai Mao narrowed his eyes and gazed down at the city below, the fierce stance he had shown when nearly coming to blows with Liu Pan earlier that morning entirely gone, the bearing of a scholar-general fully displayed. But then he suddenly frowned. “However, what if they forcibly press the victory and assault the city?”

“Then there will be no need to organize a fresh force to sally forth.” Lu Bu likewise slightly narrowed his eyes as he gazed down at the city. “We will counterattack right here on the battlements and finish this wretch off!”

As it turned out, with all the lengthy delay up on the battlements, Sun Wentai’s forces had managed to endure through their most vulnerable stretch of time. Aided by the spoils, the faint sunlight emerging after the rain, the exhilaration of a great victory, and of course the necessary replenishment of food, drink, and sleep, they had ultimately rallied once more.

And looking out from the battlements, what made Lu Bu and Cai Mao somewhat baffled yet also unavoidably furious was that someone was clearly organizing and rousing a death squad... Those men originally in plain clothes were now rummaging through the spoils for armor, blades, and weapons, then donning the armor and switching to the captured blades one after another. At the same time, large numbers of soldiers were sorting through captured bows, crossbows, arrows, and the like, concentrating and distributing them.

Clearly, they intended to continue fighting. And at this point, to continue fighting — what else could it be but an attempt to scale the walls? Yet if they attempted to scale the walls, that would be looking down on Cai Mao and the others.

Of course, this was also the one sliver of confidence Cai Mao and the others had after their great defeat... The previous night’s disastrous rout had, after all, left the army’s morale crushed, casualties heavy, unit structures in chaos, and had also strategically severed any possibility of Liu Biao intervening in the Nanyang campaign. Only, behind firm city walls it is easy to be brave. Dengxian was since ancient times a great city on the Mian and Yu rivers, the gateway to Xiangyang. Its walls might not be especially high, but they were quite solid. And having, after all, endured through the most chaotic depths of the night, for Sun Jian to now still seek to press his advantage would inevitably provoke indignation.

“Tell Liu Pan to defend the north side well — that may well be a direction of attack too.” Seeing Sun Jian’s army below gradually recovering its momentum, organizing the camp and equipping armor, blades, and weapons, and even directly rummaging out ropes, grappling hooks, and even some ladders, Cai Mao no longer doubted Sun Jian’s intent to attack, yet remained as indignant as ever. “And ask him for me — if he had not left behind so much military materiel, how would Sun Wentai have the nerve to come assault the city again?”

That last remark was unavoidably born of spite. After a defeat like that, no one could find anyone else — was Liu Pan supposed to have destroyed the military stores?

But before the officer, embarrassed, could stammer an acknowledgment and leave, an officer from the north wall arrived first. He had come to relay an order on Liu Pan’s behalf, saying that General Liu was concerned that Military Advisor Cai had never experienced a major battle, and so specially reminded Military Advisor Cai to defend carefully and heed the opinions of Marquis Wen, lest the city be taken in a single charge and the overall situation be ruined — which promptly made Cai Mao so furious that smoke seemed to pour from his every orifice!

With a great enemy before them and the entire army just having suffered a crushing defeat, the two were still engaged in internal strife here. Watching coldly from the sidelines, Lu Bu felt half vexed and half amused... But when he thought of how he himself had been sold out by Jia Xu, and of all those sordid affairs in Dong Zhuo’s camp back in the day, and of how he had hidden his cavalry away early today, he was in no position to laugh at others for being fifty paces when he himself had gone a hundred.

In the late morning, as the sunlight abruptly broke through, battle suddenly erupted once more!

Sun Jian’s forces, their morale exploding after a great victory, and all the more so because his troops feared not death, actually attempted to concentrate their scaling assault directly at the junction of the east and north walls... Whether or not they had detected the clearly demarcated defensive lines on the battlements, it hardly mattered. The men on the wall, after all, were in the bitter position of defending after a great defeat, and could not help but immediately prepare to meet them in strict formation.

First came suppressing arrow volleys. Thousands of Sun Jian’s troops, heedless of the severe exchange ratio, surged to the foot of the east and north walls and poured concentrated arrow volleys at the battlements, attempting to suppress the defenders above. The defenders dared not be negligent and immediately tried to return fire, though the limited safe space atop the wall made them appear slightly weaker.

And amid the flying arrows, grappling ropes and crude ladders were concentrated and laid out near the northeast corner of Dengxian’s county seat.

War has never had anything to do with composure. Though in theory a grappling rope can be severed with one fierce slash of a blade, and a long ladder can be forcefully pushed away... in practice, most of those death-defying soldiers of Sun Jian, bearing captured shields and clad in captured armor, simply fell from the wall without ever engaging in combat, never to rise again... But on the other hand, under ranged suppression, sometimes in the frantic chaos the Jingzhou troops could not so easily deal with these things successfully.

Grappling hooks in particular, compared to ladders that seemed more stable, were actually harder to handle. Because once a grappling hook caught in a gap between the bricks atop the wall and the rope pulled taut, a slash might not land exactly right. To deal with it perfectly, someone on the wall had to proactively lean out and apply force from the outer side of the wall to properly cut the hanging rope.

But that was far too dangerous!

Of course, from the attackers’ perspective, they still preferred climbing ladders, because while climbing a ladder one could raise a shield to cover one’s head, whereas in the process of climbing a hanging rope one inevitably became a target for the defenders on the flank... Psychological factors had to be considered.

Thus the crude and exceptionally brutal siege battle erupted so abruptly. In this process, lives were purely expendable items, yet it was hard to demonstrate the value of those expendable items... Large numbers of Sun Jian’s soldiers were killed or wounded, and a few defenders also died under the suppressing arrow fire from below. Some attackers even managed, in the chaos, to actually flip over the battlements, only to quickly fall back down under concerted attacks... In the end, it came back to that saying: the men on the wall were a defeated army, so it was true that deep down their morale was lacking and their formations were scattered. But given the current siege conditions of Sun Jian’s army, to try to force an assault on the city was also laughable.

The battle unfolded without exceeding expectations. Lu Bu did not interject with any commands, nor did he idly join the fight himself, merely standing with Cai Mao on the east gate tower, leaning sideways to watch the battle... Yet after watching for a long while, he appeared increasingly bored and listless.

“Assaulting the city like this is utterly meaningless, merely wasting soldiers’ lives in vain.” Lu Bu sighed. “Sun Wentai is probably just being too greedy, wanting to test the morale inside the city. If there is still no result, presumably he will stop here.”

“Marquis Wen is compassionate!” Cai Mao earnestly agreed. “Sun Wentai has no reason to keep attacking.”

But... and this is why we say “but” — just at that moment, a sudden burst of cheering rose from below the city, and then, within the visible range of Lu Bu and Cai Mao, a powerfully built general in a red headscarf and armor, surrounded by a crowd of attendants, led a squad of elite armored soldiers surging to the foot of the wall!

Lu Bu and Cai Mao looked at each other, neither daring to believe his own eyes... Although neither had ever directly faced Sun Jian, ever since the campaign to suppress the Yangzhou rebellion, Sun Wentai’s name as the Red-Scarfed One had been renowned across the realm!

In the present situation, Sun Jian was actually going to scale the wall in person?

“All troops concentrate there — make sure to stop him!”

In his disbelief, Cai Mao felt a chill run through his entire body, and he issued the order with all his might.

After all, the man was an acknowledged famed general of the realm, the Tiger of Jiangdong who had rampaged across Yangzhou even before the Yellow Turban Rebellion. During the Yellow Turban campaign, he had been praised as unstoppable — even the General of the Guards had pointed to him and lauded his martial valor and fierce bravery. Later, during the campaign against Dong Zhuo, it was he who pressed forward with all his might, undaunted by defeat, fighting on and advancing despite repeated setbacks, standing at the very forefront alongside only Cao Cao and Liu Xuande. And now this man was devouring the Central Plains heartland like a tiger, a hero of the realm ranked alongside Cao Cao and Liu Xuande!

Who would dare underestimate such a figure?

Even if someone dared underestimate him, it would not fall to this bunch of defeated generals on the wall!

Not only did Cai Mao on the east wall redeploy his troops, sending all his elite soldiers to block the assault, but on the north wall too, there was a flurry of activity, with strict and meticulous redeployment... In other words, the mere presence of Sun Wentai alone instantly changed the entire battlefield dynamic and atmosphere!

Unlike the tense Cai Mao, Lu Bu narrowed his eyes and fixed his stare on that red-scarved figure. He watched as the man, under the cover of a sky full of arrows and amid the cheers of his greatly heartened soldiers behind him, truly came directly to the foot of the wall and began climbing a hanging rope — and then abruptly turned his head:

“Military Advisor Cai!”

“Marquis Wen, please speak!” Cai Mao, drenched in sweat, hastily replied.

“My bow has been dampened by the moisture. Do your guards have a stiff bow?!” Lu Bu asked with a sidelong, commanding glance, his earlier casual demeanor completely gone.

Cai Mao, recalling the various battle exploits of the man before him, did not hesitate. He personally seized a bow from a trusted guard behind him and handed it to the other, then again cupped his hands and offered arrows.

Lu Bu said nothing. He merely bent the bow and nocked an arrow, took brief aim, then immediately lowered the bow again and strode swiftly forward along the wall. At the same time, the red-scarved man was also straining to climb upward on the rope.

When the distance to the target was a full one hundred seventy or eighty paces, Lu Bu suddenly halted, then drew the bow to face him, aiming at the red-scarved general.

“At such a distance, can Marquis Wen hit him?” Cai Mao knew he should not ask at this moment, but could not help himself. “And the hanging rope sways so unceasingly — this is not simply a matter of how good your archery is, is it?”

“Shut up!” Lu Bu stood sideways behind a crenelation, using a large shield for cover, drawing the bow and waiting in stillness, curt and sharp.

Cai Mao immediately shut his mouth and said no more. But as Lu Bu held the bow drawn without releasing, Cai Mao came to a realization on his own... The rope swayed unpredictably, and at this distance, a guaranteed hit could certainly not be claimed. But when the opponent climbed to the highest point and tried to gain a foothold on the wall, that would be an excellent moment for a sniper’s shot.

The red-scarved man climbed higher and higher. The bowmen and crossbowmen below the city loosed their arrows with ever greater urgency, nearly pinning the men on the wall so they could not lift their heads. The troops hastily rushing to reinforce along the wall were, uncommonly, suffering extremely heavy casualties... At the same time, behind the crenelation and the great shield where Lu Bu and Cai Mao hid, they held their breath and concentrated with ever greater intensity.

And finally, as a wave of cheers shook the city inside and out, the man in the red headscarf indeed seized the battlements and then attempted to leap onto the city wall with all his might.

But at that very moment, two arrows, like shooting stars, flew in unison from the east and the north, striking the red-scarved general precisely in the left and right cheeks! The latter immediately lost his strength and plummeted straight from the top of the wall, crashing heavily onto the ground.

The cheers below the wall ceased abruptly, replaced by jubilant shouts from atop the wall.

And unlike Cai Mao beside him, who was staring at the soldiers below struggling to shield and rescue the body of the red-scarved man, Lu Bu, out of an archer's instinct, could not help but first look toward the north. Separated by nearly three hundred paces, he and the General of the Household Huang Zhong, who stood beside Liu Pan, faced each other from afar, and then each put away his bow!

When he turned back, there was indeed a moment of chaos below the wall. That general, struck in both cheeks by arrows and then falling from the wall, was almost certainly dead... Yet, whether it was Lu Bu, Cai Mao, or Liu Pan and Huang Zhong on the northern wall, they all felt something was amiss, and then grew horrified.

It turned out that the reaction of Sun Jian's troops was far too simple... If Sun Wentai were dead, the entire army should have been shaken by now. Yet only a portion of the troops were in disarray; more men were merely cursing below the wall. What was worse, as a general with disheveled hair brandished his blade and stepped forward, Sun Jian's army below the wall actually resumed their ranged suppression, and many soldiers who had been gritting their teeth moments before simply continued trying to scale the wall!

"Sun Jian is shameless!" Cai Mao suddenly realized, yet could not help but stamp his feet and curse. "To actually have someone wear his red headscarf to deceive us — how can he be worthy of being called a famed general of the realm?!"

"Is this the time to think about that?" Lu Bu finally lost every trace of composure and flew into a rage. "Sun Wentai has always disregarded life and death, charging forward fearlessly in battle — was that false? Otherwise, why would we have so readily believed that man just now was him? And now, with the enemy holding the advantage, at a moment when they are attempting to storm the city on the heels of a great victory, if he had someone impersonate him to scale the wall, then he himself must be even further ahead! Where is he?"

Cai Mao was half stunned, half panicked: "Where is he?!"

Before the words were finished, a clamor suddenly erupted within the city. Cai and Lu turned around to see chaos breaking out inside the city, and green smoke rising from the western side of the city, which should have been the safest area!

"Sun Wentai is inside the city?" Cai Mao was utterly terrified.

"Sun Jian of Wu Commandery is here!" As if in answer to Cai Mao, a wave of sound suddenly rose from the clamor in the city and on its western side — a sound as unforgettable as last night's cry of "Kill Lu Bu"!

"Sun Jian is here!" The main force of Sun Jian's army below the wall also roared in response.

Immediately, countless soldiers and horses of Sun Jian, like a tide, shifted direction outside the city. Shouting and cheering with all their might, they surged from the north of the city around to the west, preparing to enter the city! And the men atop the wall had long since been thrown into utter confusion, with no response left to give.

"Liu Pan has ruined me!" Cai Mao on the wall top, after panicking for a long while, though still at a loss for how to respond, finally understood Sun Jian's tactic. Sun Jian must have personally led a unit during the night, disguised as routed troops, and entered the city alongside Liu Pan, then lain in wait until this moment.

But understanding was one thing; he still had no idea how to respond... Of course, with the battle reaching this stage, his own troops' morale utterly gone and the enemy's morale soaring, even an immortal could not save the situation, so he could hardly be blamed.

On the other side, seeing the chaos within the city and the Jingzhou troops on the wall all at a loss, Lu Bu had initially intended to go straight down from the wall, take his horse Di Lu, and flee alone. But then he suddenly realized that the more Sun Wentai prevailed, the more he himself, even if he escaped, would have to rely on Cai Mao. So, with no other choice, he climbed back up onto the wall.

"Lord Cai, how are your skills in the water?" Lu Bu asked coldly the moment he ascended the wall, just as Cai Mao came to his senses and was grumbling about Liu Pan.

"What do you mean?" Cai Mao was still panicked.

"Sun Wentai has outmaneuvered us in this battle; the situation is beyond salvaging. The strength of one man amidst ten thousand troops is laughable... But with my martial valor, protecting you as we flee through the south gate is still feasible." Lu Bu remained unhurried. "Only, between Dengxian and Xiangyang lies the Mian River. If the pursuit is tight, we will inevitably have to wade through the water!"

"I am a local and have always been practiced in swimming!" Cai Mao came to his senses and hurriedly stepped forward to grasp the other man's arm. "If I can escape this time, I will never betray Brother Lu's great kindness!"

"Let's go!" Lu Bu sighed, seized Cai Mao, and descended from the wall. Cai Mao's personal guards around them no longer stood about in confusion, but followed in droves.

With this, however, the fall of Dengxian county town came all the faster.

By the afternoon, Sun Wentai had won a complete victory and fully occupied Dengxian. All lands north of the Mian River and west of the Yu River fell into his hands! Only, his troops were utterly exhausted and could not pursue and seize spoils after the battle to expand the victory, allowing the four generals in the city to flee in disarray. And Jiang Qin, who had wrapped his head in a red scarf to impersonate Sun Jian scaling the wall, had met an untimely death — this only deepened the hatred in Sun Wentai's heart!

————I am the dividing line where a Northeast tiger cannot beat a South China tiger in South China————

"Bu, bearing the seal of the Grand Administrator of Nanyang, traveled through Wuguan... Liu Biao received him with courtesy, yet dreaded his character and did not greatly trust or employ him. At that time, Sun Jian was devouring the Central Plains and the Jianghan region like a tiger, so he drove Bu to the front lines to be of use. Arriving at Dengxian for several days, before long, Sun Jian, riding the rain, swept across the Yu River and thoroughly routed the army below the city. He then personally disguised himself as a routed soldier to enter the city, only revealing himself at noon. In an instant, chaos broke out within the city, and Dengxian was lost. Bu, alone at the time, thereupon rescued Cai Mao and fled in secret through the south gate. The pursuers were extremely urgent; Mao lost his horse and was struck by an arrow, blood flowing like a stream. The horse Bu rode was named Di Lu, a famous steed formerly gifted by Xun, renowned for its strength and vigor. He thus took Mao and laid him across the horse, and together they fled on Di Lu. Reaching the Mian River, the pursuers, because Bu had killed Sun Jian's famed subordinate general Jiang Qin, pursued relentlessly, and were fully equipped with bows and crossbows. Bu, with no alternative, urged his horse into the Mian River, but became mired and could not emerge. Bu grew greatly alarmed; with Mao unconscious, he placed him in the water and dragged him as he went. Di Lu, a divine steed, carrying one man and dragging another, actually managed to cross the Mian." — Records of Heroes at the End of Han, by Wang Can

PS: Finally finished writing this... Fellow students in the southwest, stay safe...

(End of Chapter)