“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“…I am not Cheng Yu, so any true answer to that is beyond me,” Xun Gongda replied dryly.
Cao Cao laughed and said, “Well met! Xiahou Dun, Yu Jin: you will attack from the east and west.
Yue Jin: you will attack from the north. Dian Wei… you will charge from the south and destroy
any bandit that you encounter. I expect you all to act as ferociously as you did in Xu Province, but the
people of the village are to be saved, not slain… understood? I want the people to chant
our names when this is done.”
The four officers placed their right fists to their chests, shouted, “AS
YOU COMMAND!” as one, and rode to their units to ready them for the attack.
“Cousin Mengde!”
Cao Cao smiled and turned to his young cousin Cao Xiu.
“Let me fight, Cousin Mengde!” Cao Xiu pleaded.
“…Once again, young Xiu, you are the excitable ‘enduring horse’!” Cao Cao
chuckled. “Never a dull moment for you since you were a flag-bearer for my battles with Dong Zhuo, mm…?”
“You never let me carry the flag into battle, Cousin,” Cao Xiu complained. “I always
ended up staying in the camp.”
“You weren’t ready for battle then,” Cao Cao retorted. “Since then, you’ve
become a fine major, so I gladly have you along for this campaign. As for letting you fight the bandits
head on…”
“How else will I grow as a general?” Cao Xiu asked.
“…A fair point,” Cao Cao sighed. “Very well: join Xiahou Dun.”
“I shall not disappoint you!” Cao Xiu promised.
“Will you be taking part, Lord Cao?” Xun Gongda asked quietly.
“Not today,” Cao Cao replied. “I am enjoying a rare day without a headache, and the
smells of war are likely to change that if I am in close proximity to them.”
Xun Gongda nodded silently.
The attack was, as Cao Cao ordered, ferocious: the screams of the villagers as they begged
for mercy were quickly drowned out by the chanting soldiers as they set upon the bandits. Dian Wei was the first
to enter the village, and his methods immediately had the bandits terrified: he slashed and swiped at the enemy
with his halberd as he rode back and forth, laughing and screaming like a tribal warlord, and his soldiers
seemed almost superfluous.
“Somebody get him!” one senior bandit cried. “QUICKLY!”
One bandit archer managed to knock Dian Wei from his horse, and for a moment, there was relief as the wounded
horse bolted: but when the angry Dian Wei got to his feet, it was as though a wild tiger had appeared in his
place. Men howled in agony as the unseated officer slashed, kicked, punched and even bit any man that neared
him as he moved in random directions; Dian’s soldiers were afraid to stray too close to their frenzied
commander in case they became one of his victims.
“He’s mad! He’s truly mad!” one bandit wailed as he fled from Dian Wei with
one hand over his face: blood was seeping from the gaps between his fingers, and a mangled piece of what was
left of his nose hung down above his lip.
“Everyone rush at them!” the bandits’ leader ordered.
“Bugger off! You attack him!” a subordinate retorted as he led his battered men
away from Dian Wei’s small force.
“Oh no! More!” a man screamed.
The bandits were afraid to turn their attention away from Dian Wei and his men, but Yu Jin’s force had
now arrived: they were chasing another group of bandits toward Dian Wei with the help of a small group of
armed villagers.