Chapter 18: Then Let It Be a Last Stand

"What a stroke of luck!"

Zou Jing spotted the motley crowd ahead. He had truly believed he was a dead man. The horse he was riding was at its limit, blood-flecked foam already bubbling from its nostrils. Having spent years on the frontier, Zou Jing knew all too well that if he pushed the beast any harder, it would collapse and die in an instant. But there was no choice; a massive group of Xianbei warriors was in hot pursuit, and they were the elite forces of Tanshihuai’s own ranks. If his horse stopped or fell dead, his life would be forfeit. When he was first ambushed, he had accepted his fate and sought a desperate trade—a life for a life—but his body was already covered in wounds, and he no longer had the strength for a final stand.

Yet, unexpectedly, just as all hope had vanished, a group of rescuers appeared. While these men looked more like horse thieves and mountain bandits, they had let him slip through and were now attempting to intercept the Xianbei behind him. That made them heroes—righteous warriors.

"I am... Han Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan, Zou Jing... May I ask which hero has saved me?"

Zou Jing assessed the situation, pulled his horse to a halt before Liu Bei, and dismounted. A sharp pain in his waist prevented him from standing, so he sat on the ground, bracing himself to ask. Having held such a high office, his judgment was keen; he immediately recognized that Liu Bei was the leader, as he was not participating in the fighting and was flanked by two guards—one tall, one short.

"Colonel Protector... it is actually Commissioner Zou! I am Liu Bei, a military official of Zhuo Commandery."

Liu Bei had been debating whether they could win or if they should flee, but hearing that the man he had saved was Zou Jing sent a jolt through him. The Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan was no minor post; it was a high-ranking official position equivalent to two thousand shi, responsible for managing the Wuhuan tribes that had submitted to the Han Dynasty. Han colonels were men of significant stature. If Liu Bei recalled correctly, in the original course of history, Zou Jing had been rescued by Gongsun Zan while fighting the Hu. But now, it was he who had saved him—assuming, of course, that they could defeat the Xianbei.

"Commissioner Zou, why were you being hunted by the Hu?" Liu Bei dismounted and helped Zou Jing onto his own horse. "Have the Hu launched a full-scale invasion?"

"No, it was not the Hu. It was Zhang Sheng, the Military Sima of Shanggu Commandery..." Zou Jing gasped, clutching the wound at his waist to explain, then pointed at the battlefield. "This is no time for talk. Are the men you lead the Penal Soldiers? I fear they are no match for those Hu cavalry..."

In truth, Liu Bei had already realized this.

There were about a hundred Hu pursuing Zou Jing, several times more than he had anticipated. Furthermore, Jiu-chi had identified them as Tanshihuai’s Xianbei cavalry—meaning these were elite troops under the command of the Xianbei leader, not mere nomads. That was why Liu Bei had kept out of the fray and kept both Jiu-chi and Zhang-ba by his side. Zhang-ba served as his bodyguard, and Jiu-chi acted as his navigator—always ready to make a run for it. He did not blame Jiu-chi for the faulty intelligence, as this was clearly an accident. Jiu-chi, however, was visibly distraught, pacing back and forth as his other brothers had already engaged the enemy.

The Penal Soldiers had intended to hunt "fat sheep." From a distance, they had thought the approaching group was mostly horses and had charged in quickly to use their lassos. They hadn't realized until they were close that every single horse had a man on its back. The lassos had been somewhat effective; one could trip a man just as one could trip a horse. Several Xianbei in the lead were indeed snared and dragged from their mounts, tumbling and being trampled by the following horses—a scene more chaotic than a disaster site.

But the problem was that even if a rider was snared, the horse would not stop. The riderless horses continued to charge. Following them, the Xianbei in the rear brandished sabers and short spears, plunging into the loose ranks of the Penal Soldiers along with the stray mounts. The Penal Soldiers’ formation had been loose to begin with, and this charge threw them into complete disarray. They had intended to use the lassos to stop the lead horses, causing the rest to grind to a halt, but they had failed to stop the Xianbei cavalry entirely. The consequence of failing to halt the cavalry was that their already scattered formation was pierced through.

Fortunately, about twenty men on the flanks of the Penal Soldiers were also mounted. Seeing that the center had failed to hold, they rushed to intervene. The Xianbei, seeing "cavalry" approaching from both sides, did not push forward, but instead curved around to the outer perimeter, effectively encircling the more numerous Penal Soldiers. They likely wanted to bring order to the battlefield to continue their hunt for Zou Jing. They began circling the Penal Soldiers, who were being compressed into a tight knot in the center.

"They must retreat and pull back across the river! Otherwise, they will be worn down and killed!" Zou Jing, with his extensive experience in battle, urgently advised Liu Bei.

He was right. In such a situation, one had to rely on the riverbank to negate the mobility of the Xianbei cavalry; otherwise, being circled would be like peeling an apple, layer by layer. The cavalry of this era were light horsemen—not meant for direct frontal charges, but for flanking and encirclement. This "peeling" tactic was the bread and butter of light cavalry. The Penal Soldiers, lacking a formation of spears and crossbows, had no way to counter such a maneuver.

However, Liu Bei knew that these men had not yet learned how to conduct a disciplined withdrawal on the battlefield—they only knew how to scatter! On a battlefield, retreating is far more difficult than advancing; a charge requires reckless courage, while a retreat requires discipline. Discipline was precisely what the Penal Soldiers lacked. They hadn't fled yet only because they hadn't yet seen signs of defeat; the losses were currently equal, and neither side had suffered heavy casualties. But if he ordered a retreat, it would truly be the end.

"No retreat! We formed this unit to drive out the Hu, and now that we have met them, how can we turn and run at the first touch?! You are wounded, Commissioner; take my horse and leave. I will hold off the Hu here!"

Knowing that a retreat was impossible and that running away might not succeed, Liu Bei spoke with heroic resolve. Zou Jing was moved to tears. "Young hero, I admire you greatly! But do not take unnecessary risks. Just stall them, and I shall go to seek reinforcements!"

Without further delay, he mounted Liu Bei’s horse and turned toward Zhuo County.

"Master, we should retreat. We really shouldn't risk it..." Jiu-chi urged from the side.

"Retreat, my foot! We have the numbers!" Liu Bei suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. "What are you afraid of? Fight alongside me! Kill the Hu!"

His voice was so loud that even the distant Xianbei turned to look. But after shouting, Liu Bei whispered to Jiu-chi, "We can't run; their horses are too fast. But they were after Commissioner Zou; they won't want to fight us to the death. If we fight back hard, they will retreat! Shout with me: Kill the Hu!"

"Kill the Hu!" Jiu-chi raised his blade and shouted, charging forward alongside Liu Bei.

"Kill the Hu!!!" Seeing Jiu-chi charge, Zhang-ba also rushed forward, brandishing his mace. His voice was even deeper; his roar echoed across the field.

The three of them charged toward the Hu side by side. The Penal Soldiers, who had been hesitating, were stirred by the courage of the trio. One by one, they began to shout, "Kill the Hu!" and charged toward the nearest enemy with whatever weapons they had.

They swarmed the enemy. And the result of such a chaotic swarm, naturally, was a messy, brutal brawl. But a messy brawl had its advantages—the Xianbei cavalry had no desire to be caught in such a fight.