Bab 5: Fate, Destiny and Hope
Narration
The war between the Kingdoms reached their bloodiest phase during the Spring and Autumn period when 100 Kingdoms fought each other and only 7 Kingdoms emerged victorious. They fought for supremacy for hundreds of years but no result came out. There was no Kingdom strong enough to unify these lands.
Amidst these chaos, each kingdom found their own heroes to call upon,ones who would both conquer new lands and defend their nation , leaving behind a lasting legacy. Those are ones who are recognized as great generals all across China.
As the 3rd smallest nation, Wei had to struggle to survive or rely on other nations for protection just like Han. They had a large population but their area of expansion was limited due to being at the center of middle Kingdom. But that all changed during The decade of 270-260 BCE. With the rise of great generals Reiou, Gokei, Earl Shi, and Gaimou, they rose up and stood proudly on their own strength, but the greatest addition to them was Sima Yi.
The youngest of them but the most talented. One they hoped would lead Wei to the peak. At 265 At the Age of 17, He became a vice general to Reiou and became general the next year.
Within 262-257 He became The youngest great general and the Wei King awarded him the title of "Shield of Wei" after he repelled both the Ouki and Kyou army of 130,000 with 100,000 troops in a field battle near Sanyou.
Even Hakuki, the monstrous general acknowledged his abilities and said, " Sima Yi might be the only strategist who plans so intricately, taking every little details to calculate his winning chances. He never likes to fight without a back hand. Only way to defeat him is to do something so grand and bold, that it will be beyond his imagination, and then do not let him escape or regroup once you surprised him ."
*Present*
Sima Yi and I stood face to face as we both stared at each other trying see through the other.
Sima Yi broke the silence as he asked me," You are merely a kid. What reason made you come to the battlefield? This is the sacred place where warriors and strategists put their life on the line to fight for their Kingdom. What is it that you are seeking here? "
This question gave me a pause. After coming here, I have been doing mostly what should be done. Kinda like following a pattern to beat the game. I do like fighting despite wars killing thousands. Even as a soldier, I never loved killing. I just did it because I was trained to kill rather than getting killed.
Do I really enjoy killing thousands? I have been thinking I'll just follow along the history and help out Ei Sei, make sure he doesn't stray and just become the most famous general.
I have thought like I'm playing a game but these people are real and have families and loved ones. But destruction of Kingdoms will cause sorrow no matter what we do. Then what is it I am seeking truly?
I realized something at that moment. I have to be a shining light so the darkness may never fall on Qin. I'll make sure tragedies like Choyou never happen and build the perfect empire that would last a 1000 years. I felt clarity with these thoughts and I focused on the conversation again.
Sima Yi spoke again seeing I was silent," It is alright. We all come to the battlefield to get rid our uncertain heart. At your age, What you have done is truly commendable but You are facing an army of 70,000 soldiers."
I stopped him and said," so only 3,000 huh? You must have sent the best of the best. Did they went east or west? "
Sima Yi smiled and replied," they went towards West. You are truly amazing. Why don't you leave Qin and join Wei?
You would be a 5,000 commander under me immediately and have all that you desire. You will join the Wei Fire Dragons once you grow up and I will personally guide you to that fate."
I laughed and replied," You are a cunning one. So I was wondering what kind of man you would be. My guess was almost spot on, except that superb acting. You seem like a old man luring a kid to his secluded hut.
So you put on a nice face for me to let down my guard, show possibility of being recruited, Then sneak attack from all sides while my mind is comparing the benefits. I might surrender or perish if that happens. You are passing time to let them attack. I actually count 65,000 troops with you.
Sadly for you, The 12,000 army you sent to west and east won't be coming back. Same as You, who will become my first trophy towards becoming general. All the words you spoke, you don't believe them at all. You desire to kill me so in future I don't wreck your country. You are afraid of me, and you should be." Sima Yi lost his smile and looked at me with shock.
I smirked and said, "You thought you were the only one wasting time? I understood your plan the moment you mentioned you have 70000 troops while you should have 77000.
But in truth, There's only 65,000 troops here and I also don't notice Souou's banner. So Souou has probably led the sneak attack to either side. Sucks to be him to die like that."
Sima Yi dropped his gentle facade and spoke coldly," And now I'm certain that I need extinguish your light in order for Wei to be safe. I shall destroy you and those few troops and then take ChouTou's head before returning, that would lighten my anger."
He turned back to return after saying those parting words as all his troops got into formation. I yelled to the troops," Let's finish them early gentleman so we might be back home before night warming our wives and lovers rather than huddling in this damp place."
Everyone laughed and cheered as they got ready to face 65,000 soldiers with only 2,000 soldiers, but none of them were afraid.
Zhang Liao PoV
I looked at the incoming dust cloud as I smiled happily. Looks like I won the bet with Zilong as They have sent the troops to attack from West. 10 jars of wine will be plenty to celebrate tonight. Just need to take care of those 6,000 troops and go back and take Sima Yi's head.
I looked behind to nod at my troops and within seconds, we charged at the unsuspecting enemy flank and basically ripped them apart. There was this commander named Souou who put up some fight but it didn't last long. Then we decided head into the direction of Wan Castle as my lord had planned. I hope he doesn't finish up all by himself.
As we got closer, we could hear the sounds of an ongoing battle. I hurried up our speed to go there faster. Once we reached it, We were stunned to see that my lord rather than standing atop the rampart, Is at the gate on his horse holding his sword. It was him and only about 1,500 soldiers and the other 500 troops were supporting him with arrows from above.
Surprisingly, they were holding the gate rather easily. I could see Zhao Yun also approaching from east and setting up his position. Well, let's not keep him waiting. I raised my sword with a war cry and charged at the Wei forces who were not prepared to receive it at all.
ChouTou PoV
I hurried the troops as we drew nearer to Wan castle. We could hear the sound of fighting as we approached and looked at the chaos going on. Surprisingly enough, they were actually beating Wei Back. I saw a young lad sitting atop a Giant Black horse waving his sword and commanding his troops at the same time.
For some reason, His image seemed to overlap with that Hakuki and Ouki, how dreadful! But looking at him leading the troops so bravely at an young age, I felt some sort of comfort and faith in him.
"Every era, heroes will be replaced with other heroes taking their spots, surpassing them even. Maybe he will begin a new era. Let's hope he can fully show his talents as the whole middle Kingdom watches." I smiled and thought as we charged at the Wei forces.
I could see Sima Yi getting on his horse from the tower as he switched formation to get out of the encirclement. If there's even a little chance of harm to him, he will not stay there. That's the kind of person he is.
Like hell I'll let him do that! he outsmarted me at the first day but now how the tables have turned. It's all thanks to that brat.
I need to make sure even if we lose, he must survive and go back. He will be a great addition to the new 6 greats in future.
Sima Yi PoV
Everything has gone horribly wrong. Day one of the battle went too perfectly and I thought it would be a easy victory. It seems the sudden appearance of that boy KouRyu has entirely turned the battle upside down.
Not only that, he actually managed to push me into a corner. If the army is attacked from 4 directions despite them being half the number, there is a possibility that we might have to retreat.
We need to focus all our forces on one side to create a breakthrough and get out of the encirclement. If I can't, It will be too late. Me, a person who was claimed to be fated to pull Wei to the top, can not fall here. It is my destiny to curb these invaders to the last so they may never bear their fangs at Wei again.
I decided to order all troops to spread out in an iron lock formation to emphasize defense.
But before they got into formation, That damn KouRyu decided to charge directly at me, ignoring the rest.
I ordered all troops under Kyugen to stop him as I focus on the ChouTou army that just showed up behind us. I used some space to create a trap so the ChouTou army had to slow down. I managed to bottle them after a while and could finally focus back on that KouRyu.
At that exact moment 500 cavalier from both east and west struck my flanks. Although I prepared 3 defensive lines, They just mawled through their lines to charge ahead. The captains leading those forces were incredibly strong, maybe even as strong as That brute Xu Chu.
My personal guards were yelling to make a way for us but the troops are in chaos from all sided attack. But it also presented an opportunity to escape.
I decided I would take Kyugen and Whatever remains of the army to charge through the North and bypass Wan Castle to retreat to Rongyang.
Shameful though it might be, if I fall here, Wei is finished. There isn't anyone capable of defending her.
Suddenly there was a loud crash in front of us as I looked up to see Kyugen being sent flying in a battered body, clearly dead. I looked forward to see the person who was responsible for this nightmare.
That accursed KouRyu who has cut through Kyugen and his army to now stand in front of me. How did he get through 15,000 troops! My guards all managed to put themselves between me and I took that chance to escape throwing away my flag.
I could hear my personal guards getting slaughtered as I clenched my teeth and didn't look back. I will take my revenge against that brat, mark my words. I managed to finally get through the mess with about 1,000 troops.
I was angry at myself for letting a kid beat me at strategy but I need to learn from this and make my comeback. I won't let this hold me down. Next time, I will consider his strength and devise a strategy. We managed to get near the forest ofWan castle but there were some people still chasing us. Suddenly one of my men screamed," watch out my lord!"
Everything slowed down as I turned my head to see that dreadful figure atop a small hill sitting on his beastly horse, His arrow about to be released. Our eyes met and he smirked at me. he released his arrow towards me. In that one moment, I finally realized, it was already too late for me. I have failed my duty.
I could barely understand what happened as a tremendous force pushed me from my horse to the solid ground. I tried to scream but failed to make a noise.
Only then I noticed the hole in my chest, the tears and screams of my men and the fate I was promised, the destiny I was supposed to reach and the hope for Kingdom of Wei to stand above the middle Kingdom slowly fade away.
I sighed as darkness enveloped me. It seems this era will belong to Qin, and maybe to that brat. I hope he becomes the greatest general to exist, no less will be acceptable from the person who slayed me.
I just wished I could see more of his feats and defend my nation in front of his assault, but it seems that won't be possible.
With these thoughts, The great strategist and "The Shield of Wei" Sima Yi passed away at 257 BCE in the battle for Wan castle, Slain by Qin 1000 man commander KouRyu who showed the entire China a glimpse of his military prowess.
Upon hearing this, Kanyou, and all the other capitals across middle Kingdom were shook up and specially paid attention to this young commander.
The person who would latter be known as the "Heavenly Dragon General" , who helped the Qin Shi Huang Ei Sei to unite all of China and even expand further beyond. Their accomplishments shall forever be etched in the pages of history even after thousands of years.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Virtuosso
Virtuosso last chapter of the week. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone