East of the River: Home of the Sun Clan sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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5
Over the next few weeks, Sun Jian pushed the Yellow Turban forces away
from the regions closest to the northern bank of the Yangtze River and made his
way northward, toward the area of Runan in Yu Province that was being defended
by his immediate commander, Zhu Jun.
“Those southern men again, come to help the Luoyang
dogs,” Liu Pi complained as a Yellow Turban scout finished a report. He turned
to the rest of the officers in his command tent and added, “Why are they not
seeing sense…?”
“They’re not as aware of the way things are in Jiangdong, perhaps,” Liu
Pi’s ally Huang Shao suggested as he rubbed his short, scruffy beard.
“The south is worse than the frontier!” Liu Pi complained. “Swamps,
hovels, pestilence and poverty! They are the people that our master’s words
should be resonating most with! Must such men be blinded by false visions,
rendered deaf by the speeches of the liars in Luoyang, and-”
“They’re our enemy, though, Brother Liu, despite all that you say,”
Huang Shao interrupted. “They bring their end on themselves, then.”
Liu Pi nodded silently.
“They’ve beat us away from the Great River, and now they’re set to join
up with the others,” Huang Shao noted. “If we don’t drive them back this time…”
“…I know,” Liu Pi sighed.
“So what do we do?” Huang Shao asked. “Do we ask Brother Bo Cai to send
us more help?”
“He needs every man he has to keep the rest of our heathen enemies from
gaining ground,” Liu Pi replied. “I wouldn’t ask, and he couldn’t offer.”
“So we’ll meet the southerners together,” Huang Shao said.
“…Yes,” Liu Pi replied miserably.
Sun Jian and Cheng Pu arranged their men and gave instructions to the
other militia leaders before they marched against a ready Yellow Turban force
that was camped between them and the forces of their commander Zhu Jun. Liu Pi
and Huang Shao inspired a typical round of chanting, but Sun Jian’s men were
used to - and perhaps a little tired of - the Yellow Turbans’ mantra by now,
and did not react in any way.
“Thoughts…?” Sun Jian asked
of Cheng Pu.
Before Cheng Pu could reply, Han Dang said, “Just this once, I’m going to complain that I am sick of fighting these
people.”
“Aren’t we all?” Zu Mao
suggested.
“There are several points in
their lines that we can exploit,” Cheng Pu shouted over the din. “Might I…?”
“He asked, didn’t he, Mister Strategist…?”
Zu Mao chuckled. “So what are we doing?”
“Huang Gai, Zu Mao, Han Dang,
attack where their lines are thinnest,” Cheng Pu continued. “Begin with hit-and-run tactics, but if they
buckle as I expect them to, lead men deep into their lines and scatter them
from within. Commander Sun, Wu Jing, I wonder if opportunities might not arise
for a direct attack on their leaders… if we can find them among that mess.”
Sun Jian and Wu Jing agreed with Cheng Pu’s analysis, and had men pass
orders to other officers in the battle lines.