East of the River: Home of the Sun Clan sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

“We know where we are, Jia Xu!” Dong Zhuo growled. “Bloody Wang Plains, on the wrong side of the river! How do we get back if-”
“REPORT!” a messenger cried.
“…Go on,” Dong Zhuo sighed.
“The Qiang have armies positioned to the west, northwest and south!” the messenger sobbed. “The bridges have been destroyed! There’s no way back!”
“We’re effectively surrounded, then,” Li Ru realised. “The river behind us, and-”
“YES, I KNOW THAT!” Dong Zhuo boomed. “…Give me a minute to think.”
“We have to do something, Father-in-law,” General Niu Fu said pointlessly.
“…Alright, I have it,” Dong Zhuo said after a thoughtful pause. “Dam the river.”
“They’re not likely to let us do that!” Niu Fu whined.
“Calm down…!” Jia Xu chortled. “I understand your plan, my lord… Li Jue, Guo Si, Li Su, order your men to dam the river.”
“…If you say so,” General Li Jue said cynically as he retreated with his fellow generals to carry out his orders.
“Hua Xiong, Xu Rong, prepare nets,” Jia Xu ordered.
“Nets…?” General Hua Xiong chortled.
“…Ah, I see!” Li Ru said. “A fine plan, my lord.”
“…For fishing…!” General Xu Rong realised at last. “Of course… of course! ALL OF YOU MEN, WE’RE FISHING! PREPARE NETS!”
The soldiers looked at one-another with bewilderment, but they began the work nonetheless.

The Qiang watched Dong Zhuo’s stranded army, but their situation appeared unchanged to the untrained eye. Dong Zhuo’s men fished every day in the bloated section of the river, and cooked meals with a casualness that suggested that Dong Zhuo wanted a confrontation and that he believed that he could win. But Dong Zhuo was secretly thinning his battle lines and sending men back across the river, where no army awaited them due to poor foresight on the part of the enemy.

It was only when Dong could no longer hide the tiny size of the force on the west bank of the river that the Qiang realised that they had been deceived and descended on Wang Plains with every man available. But by the time that the Qiang reached the river bank, Dong Zhuo had already crossed with the last of his men, and the dam was being dismantled by a team of saboteurs.
“FAREWELL, FRIENDS!” Dong Zhuo bellowed as he began the last stage of his retreat; the Qiang heckled the Han forces from across the river and fired some arrows, but their actions were futile.
“A narrow escape, but an escape nonetheless,” Li Ru sighed. “Can we regain their friendship and respect later…?”
“I can think of many ways to do so,” Jia Xu replied. “For now, we must be thankful that we lost not a single man and report our situation to Zhang Wen.”
“He’ll not be happy,” Li Ru supposed.
“We’ll see; it depends on how well Zhou Shen did, doesn’t it…?” Dong Zhuo chuckled.
“That it does,” Jia Xu agreed. “And I think they might have done worse.”

Zhou Shen’s army continued their long march toward the rebel-held stronghold of Yuzhong; the supply train was slow and plodding as supply trains always were, and it remained poorly guarded.
“What my ancestor would say,” Sun Jian chuckled miserably as he rode alongside an irritated Zu Mao near the front of the army.

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