Kapitel 19: The Final clash of Bayou
KouRyU PoV
I swung my Glaive with my full strength as Lu Bu did the same with his halberd. This is getting a bit tiring now. I have held him back for over two hundred moves, but we were both showing signs of fatigue slowly.
Zhao Yun needs to hurry up, if this takes too long, I'm afraid I will be out of breath first.
I can't be defeated here even if it's Lu Bu. I mustered my will to send a blow to Lu Bu, him crashing into some of his soldiers.
Lu Bu was almost out of breath but he still held on . He shook his head to get his mind clear and looked at me with a feral grin, blood dripping from his mouth.
That bastard is enjoying getting beaten, what kind of character development is this!
The original Lu Bu would have retreated as most of his soldiers are gone, and my reinforcements on the way.
It seems some of them have changed from their three kingdom persona.
My soldiers were putting up a better fight than.e at the moment as most of the troops Lu Bu brought was dead by now. I wanted to check the overall condition but I didn't have the luxury.
We both looked at each others eye and nodded, both of us having the same thoughts at that moment, "With the next blow, I shall defeat the enemy with all my remaining strength! "
We rushed at each other with a roar that shook the forest itself. Everyone watched with baited breath as our weapons collided. The world shook as our blades came into vontact with a deafening bang.
At first, it was almost even as neither could push the other back. Then Suddenly, with a maniac grin, Lu Bu started to overpower my weapon slowly.
I thought how to counter immediately and came up with a crazy plan.
I weakend my hold on my glaive for a second to slide off his his halberd as I swung my horse right with a spur of my leg and the entire momentum of Lu Bu pushed him to swerve to the left which caused him to jerk forward and get disbalanced for a second.
That was what I was I aiming for as I swung my glaive from that weird angle towards his neck. I dislocated my right wrist in the process.
But what met my blade was the butt of his halberd which he raised just in time to save his neck. The handle stopped my attack and the lack of power made it useless.
My weapon could only give a shallow cut as he pushed me away with a mighty throw. I flew back about 10 steps as Lu Bu created some distance for possibly another strike.
At that moment, the ground shook violently as the army sent by Zhao Yun was coming here. It would take only a few minutes for them to get here.
Lu Bu also realized that and he scoffed and said,"I would have gotten your head within the next few strikes. Consider yourself lucky." He immediately rushed back ordering the retreat and didn't look back.
I yelled back in reply," Says the man who barely kept his own. Watch out on your way or you might just drop it."
The soldier from before was hear yelling again," Damn! Lu Bu has his lost his face completely and ran away to save his neck. Nobody can mess with the boss!"
I had question marks popping around my head as I failed to remember when did I become an ancient china gang boss from a general.
Zhao Yun rushed in after a few minutes with 5,000 troops. I smiled weakly and waved at him as I felt my body finally giving out with darkness surrounding me. The last things I heard was the worried shouts of Zhao Yun as I lost consciousness.
Zhao Yun PoV
I barely managed to grab him as my lord passed out on his horse. The surrounding soldiers filled me in on what happened, and I was surprised to hear that he almost got Lu Bu! His strength has increased again it seems.
Very few generals would be so blessed by the heavens to posses both terrifying intelligence and marital might. All this while he is only 21 Years, Not even coming off adult age.
Speaking off which, KaRin immediately went to see him as soon as the battle ended. She hasn't left the tent and would stay there it seems.
I started to gather the reports from all battle fields and it was surprisingly less than we thought it would be. The Kyou and Ouki army of 60,000 faced the bulk of Lu Bu army and drove them back. They still have 50,000 soldiers out of 60,000 as The Zhao army of 40,000 (20,000 in reserve) lost about the same numbers.
The Lu Bu army of 20,000 that battled Lord KouRyu and his 20,000 troops, suffered a horrible blow as only about 5,000 returned back. Our army lost about 8,000 troops in the battle.
KaRin also pulled one of her weird tricks as she wiped out most of Riboku's army that arrived. 40,000 that came to surround them, only 15,000 or so returned as after Riboku retreating, the troops that were caught in her trap were wiped out.
The remaining survivors surrendered. KaRin commanded My Lords 30,000 along with her own army and lost only about 12,000 soldiers in total.
This had now brought the numbers almost even for the clash of the next day.
So tomorrow would be another brutal fight. The war was not quite over yet.
The Next morning
After the huge battle at night, both camps decided to face off a little later than usual. On the Zhao side, Lu Bu commanded 55,000 Troops along with Riboku on the right flank, commanding also 55,000 troops, bringing their total army at 110,000.
Facing them, was the KouRyu army of 35,000 along with KaRin's 10,000 troops and Zhao Yun's 10,000.
Zhang Liao had yet to arrive with his troops. The OuKi and Kyou army of 50,000 brought their numbers to 105,000 currently. Both army was tired and faced with a stalemate as they began the final days battle of Bayou.
Ouki and Kyou army dealt with Riboku and Left Lu Bu to KouRyu. The change proved to be quite useful as they pushed back the Riboku army. Same was the case of KouRyu army.
After KouRyu managed to drive off Lu Bu and almost took him down, the soldiers were bursting with morale as they charged at the enemy lines.
The reserves were placed forward to give the fighting troops some rest after last night.
Lu Bu and KouRyu faced off again, but this time with Zhao Yun's extra pressure, The Lu Bu army was suffering some heavy losses.
Li Ru, witnessing this decided to use the Greater Red Crane Formation to compact the soldiers together and build some momentum.
Lu Bu and KouRyu were both tired and not recovered from their battle last night as they fought again. This time however, Lu Bu was cautious after knowing the measure of his opponent.
He slowly began to corner KouRyu and overpower him. But he failed to break through the defense and land a decisive blow.
The Lu Bu army was slowly beginning to gain their foothold . Lu Bu's Flying Raider Cavalry proved to be the match of the white horse cavalry. When both armies were at their struggle, all of a sudden a loud rumble was heard that was drawing closer.
The famous Wolf cavalry led by Zhang Liao was here.
OuKi PoV
It looks like neither side wants to give in as the soldiers pushed themselves to the fullest. I came out riding on my horse to boost morale and provide support if required.
I haven't recovered completely but I will survive. The important thing was to see through this battle.
I saw Kyou rushing in time after time as the Zhao troops faltered on the face of her relentless assault. Tou was managing my troops and assisted her to fight. But they didn't manage to breakthrough completely.
Suddenly I saw an archer taking his aim at Kyou. I was alarmed and wanted to yell out, but before I could, the arrow was released.
The arrow struck her on her left shoulder and the force almost knocked her off the horse but she barely held on.
Tou rushed in to get her out and at that moment, I heard the rumbling of thousands of cavalry rushing at our direction. Soon they were visible and I looked at their flags which had "Zhang" and "Wolf Cavalry ".
So that's the famous Zhang Liao, KouRyu's other top general and pillar of his great army. I decided to go and check on Kyou as the cavalry arrived and struck the enemy flank. It was a critical wound that would not kill her, but probably would hinder her fighting capabilities for a while. With that confirmed, I joined the fray as well, fighting to take revenge for wounding my future wife.
Li Ru PoV
This was quite interesting. Lu Bu has never lost or even came close to losing, yet This guy who was known mostly as a strategical general suddenly became an unparalleled warrior capable enough to put Lu Bu in deaths jaw.
I don't think the battle can be won here. We must return to the fortress and fight on the walls.
A messenger came rushing suddenly with tattered and bloody armor and yelled , " Emergency Report ! The castle was attacked by Qin troops and were on the verge of falling as I left! "
I dropped my fan as I was shocked to hear this news. I grabbed his collar and shakenly ask, " Say that again !"
The soldier squeezed out a reply," Yes Master Li Ru. They were not more than 10,000 but they had siege weapons. As they destroyed the defenders without moving, the soldiers were scared and abandoned the walls. After which they brought their siege tower and breached the walls. When I left, we had about 1,000 troops left and they urgently need reinforcement."
At that moment, I heard a huge rumble as I looked at the right flank side fearfully. The dust storm that was rising showed that a heavy cavalry of at least 10,000 is coming.
I immediate yelled out, " all troops stay alert , they got cavalry incoming ! Tell Riboku to withdraw. The castle is lost, so there is no point continuing our battle here!"
The soldiers hurriedly got into a defensive stance as the cavalry split off into two groups and immediately struck both army flanks simultaneously .
They not only pierced through the infantry lines easily, they switched targets and the other team would swap with the current attackers, maintaining momentum and continuous pressure on our soldiers. The soldier began to buckle and broke formation, after which the center was almost open. I realized the war lost at this point.
With the castle gone and the cavalry freely striking our flanks , we would slowly choke to death. So, this was his master plan all along. Heh, that KouRyu has managed to best both me and Lu Bu it seems. I took a deep breath and yelled out, " All troops, retreat. We are going home."
Of the total 200,000 soldiers of Zhao, only about 70,000 managed to return home. Qin also lost around 120,000 Soldiers from their 200,000 army. Both states suffered a great blow to their military, But gaining the strategic point of Bayou helped Qin to be secure at the Zhao border for the next few years.
Zhang Liao PoV
As the Zhao troops began to retreat, I forbade the soldiers to further chase them as we have already achieved our goal. The war was ours and the Lord ordered to focus on reaching to the castle and fully capture it.
On the off chance the remaining soldiers would go there. I left my formation breakers there just in case . With them, the city would definitely not fall in a day. We regrouped together and Zhao Yun and I headed out towards the castle first.
There was nothing to worry about as no Zhao soldiers were seen there. We entered the castle and waited for the whole army to show up. By Afternoon, We had settled in and the soldiers were given reprieve to finally rest and celibrate.
It looks like my lord pulled another victory from jaws of defeat. Since this will be his last battle in a while, This would be a good send off. After successfully winning Bayou on the face of an invasion, and defeating Zhao's desperate attempt to hold Qin back, We can rest easy now, knowing that Zhao would need to recuperate for a while.
The coming years shall be quite calm, before the next storm that shall swept through China and with it, the destruction of Kingdoms will begin.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Virtuosso
Virtuosso And that's that! The epilogue will be released after tomorrow and I will take a week to edit the previous chapters and coming up with approach for next Volume.
Enjoy!
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein