บท 17: A Show of Force
After being given our mission the four of us departed from the Guild and towards our own personal retinues, these would be the troops we would be individually leading ourselves.
Lin Biao had 100 mercenary swordsman and 100 mercenary axemen, Ma Shun with 200 Mercenary Spears, Tai Yang with 200 Mercenary Archers and me with 100 Mercenary Calvary with a total army of 704 people in total, more than enough to deal with a rebellion army of mere peasants.
Even if the army did number twice our numbers that wouldn't matter to much as peasants don't really have the moral to keep fighting if attack by real soldiers, their even weaker than the weakest class of soldiers being recently recruited militia have better standards and moral than the common rabble that the Yellow Turbans can make for soldiers.
And so with everyone ready and a small group at the rear meant to cover our provisions we began to head westward.
As we were traveling together I decided to see everyone's personality traits as I felt that this wasn't a perfect army set up of leaders as disharmony was evident from differences in our personality's, though this is something only I can see without them telling me personally.
Lin Biao: Fiery, Ambitious, Brave, Scarred (+/-)
Ma Shun: Stalwart, Composed, Strong (+)
Tai Yang: Clever, Scholarly, Patient (+/-)
Gongsun Xuanyuan: Brave, Scholarly, Fraternal (+)
'So that's it, me and Ma Shun get along well with everyone but Tai Yang and Lin Biao have opposing views, Lin Biao is attack first think later where as Tai Yang is plan then attack since Biao is Fiery while Yang is Patient, they both will have different ideas on how to deal with this upcoming battle, also she's scarred? Most have a old wound somewhere under her clothes and armor.' I thought to myself as the four of us kept our horses at a trot while the foot soldiers were keeping up with us, though it will be a few days until we would arrive
I was also able to gleam their titles as well just like my 'Yellow Emperors Chosen' title though anyone that wasn't a famous person within the Era of the Three Kingdoms have a rather Normal Background story.
Lin Biao: Officer: Commends Duty
Ma Shun: Wanderer: Commends Flexibility
Tai Yang: Tactician: Commends Perceptiveness and Intelligence
Gongsun Xuanyuan: Yellow Emperors Chosen: Values Honor, Friendship, Family and Loyalty/ Loaths Disloyalty and Cruelty/ Dislikes Manipulation
'Yeah that seems about right, I already personally don't like both CaoCao and Lu Bu just because of Lu Bu's constant Betrayals and CaoCao's known manipulations all across China, it's also why I respect Liu Bei so much and have him high up in the kinds of people I would be willing to work for.' I think though I hope all I need to do is keep Lu Bu from dying at the battle of Xiapi and that's it, I can't see him become emperor of China, if he does chaos would reign even more so than under Dong Zhou.
But I kept these thoughts to myself as we pressed onwards as after several stops to have the men rest, drink water, relieve themselves, along with regular rations of dried meats and bread, a staple on the march, we finally set up camp for the night.
"Like I said! All we need to do is charge in and run them all through, that will send the weaklings running for the hills!" Biao shouted out while Yang shook his head as we had all gathered around a fire pit that had our tents set around in the generals area of our camp.
"And I said we need to think this through! Lord Liu Bei wants to keep the casualties of the peasants low if possible! If we can do this peacefully then we should." Yang said back in return.
"We will probably get paid more if we can get this done peacefully, besides diplomacy is something us Mercenaries need to be good at as well to get a good deal on how much we get paid for doing our jobs." Ma Shun said as he was whittling away at a stick from boredom.
"Besides, we ask them to give up and they refuse, then we can rush in and take them down with ease." I wave it off, but she gets mad still.
"Then we lose the element of surprise if we tell them we are coming! That way they can prepare for us and the fight will drag on longer than it should!" She says pissed as ever as I shake my head before snapping my fingers.
"Not unless the person we send terrifies them beyond belief, think about it, if one of us comes before them and does something that puts fear even in their ringleaders, surely then they will surrender, and if they don't then we will have at least severely demoralized them and when they see us running head first towards their lines and crumble before we make it while they run for their lives." I say with a smirk as I come up with an idea.
"? I didn't take you as the Terrifying type." Biao said as she tilted her head while looking a bit confused with the other two nodding in agreement.
"No im not the type of guy who would go out of my way to terrify peasants, but you guys have heard of the feat of Lu Bu before right?" I ask as they raise there eyebrows.
"You mean when still under Dong Zhou two of his top advisors were arguing, and it annoyed Lu Bu so much that he said 'If I can hit the tip of this Ji(Spear) from 150 paces(375ft) with a mere bow this argument will end!' And then he took the shot and the rest was history." Tai Yang said as I nodded.
"That's the one, and I plan on doing something similar, of course only if they decide they don't want to give up, if they do then I won't have to give them a Show of Force, and we will see if they want to keep fighting after that." I say as I have my plans in order, and Dragon Piercers special skill will be the ticket to make them surrender, probably, and if not then to war it is.
So with those plans underway and knowing that they only had to work together once both Lin Biao and Tai Yang put aside their differences for the mission that was at hand.
And a few days later we were on the outskirts of Penglai the village where the Yellow Turbans had actually taken over in the time it took us to arrive, so it was now or never as the had makeshift barricades in the way of the main points of access into the the village along with wooden spikes on other entrances to stop our Calvary from circling around and attacking their exposed flanks.
"Looks like they have themselves heavily barricaded for a non-walled settlement." I say as we stare across the field.
"Our scouts report more than 2000 peasants have joined their cause, they outnumber us almost 3 to 1." Ma Shun says as he brings his over to mine.
"The men have been informed, they are determined to go into the fight even if this doesn't work out with this plan of yours." Tai Yang says as he joins up next to me as well.
"And Lin Biao?" I say looking at him as he shakes his head.
"She will stay back and see how this goes, we don't have the power of surprise since they have taken up the settlement before our arrival and have if fortified, she is getting the troops in position, she said to shoot a flaming arrow if they still haven't given up after your Show of Force as you called it, if the surrender, return with your spear raised high in the air." Tai Yang said as I saw Lin Biao giving the orders before Ma Shun handed me the Mercenary Banner, which is a red banner with the symbol of a sword and axe crossing each other on it to show we are mercenaries and not part of Liu Bei's armies.
I took it and carried it over my left shoulder as I had a bow and arrow along with oil and flint to light my arrow on fire to signal the attack.
"Wish me luck." I smirk before I tapped Kali's sides with my heels as I made my way towards the Yellow Turbans.
Time to give the world a feat that even outshines Lu Bu's.
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