Rather Than Zhang Ran, Zhang Bao’s Eldest Daughter

After the volunteer army joined, the guide became Qu Fu instead of Ma Chong. Although Ma Chong was from Baxi Commandery and worked as a government official, memorizing maps, he couldn’t compare to a true local.

Qu Fu had already figured out where Du Hu’s base was. And so had Du Hu.

As soon as we entered the mountain range, they immediately revealed themselves. Unlike regular soldiers, they were armed in completely different ways, looking more like a band of mountain bandits than an army.

It was very easy to spot who Du Hu was. He was the one dressed most extravagantly. As if he thought he was a real marquis befitting his title of Zong Yi Hou, he was wearing silk.

Although they had the high ground and were spread out widely, so it wasn’t exact, they didn’t seem to outnumber us.

They boldly showed themselves against regular troops with just that many soldiers? Having only faced the weak Liu Zhang army, they seem to have lost the ability to objectively assess their combat power.

Although Wang Ping was from Tangge, I watched Du Hu’s behavior a bit more just in case.

“I heard the commander over there is a woman named Zhang Ran! This Lord Zong Yi Hou has come, so hurry up and show your face!”

His way of speaking is truly that of a bandit. However, it might be a strategy to provoke the opponent’s excitement through trash talk, so it would be foolish to underestimate him based on this alone.

Even Ma Dai and Liu Xun, who are in their hot-blooded 20s, seemed to be managing their anger well despite being a bit upset. At least until the next statement.

“I heard Zhang Fei’s eldest daughter is so beautiful, but with a rough personality like a wild colt. If a hero like me doesn’t embrace her, in whose arms will she cry?”

“Hahaha, just as the Zong Yi Hou says!”

“Don’t they say beauties are taken by heroes?”

Beating the drum and playing the gong, they’re really going all out.

As the person in question, I just thought ‘this is ridiculous’ and let it pass, but those around me were different. Unlike their initial reactions, my lieutenants’ faces were now full of undisguised anger.

“General, if you give the order…”

Suddenly, a loud laughter echoing interrupted Liu Xun’s words.

“How dare the Zong Yi Hou break his promise and try to take the lead!”

With this level of volume, it’s almost on par with my father.

A force that appeared from the side, separate from Du Hu who was blocking the front, looked no different from Du Hu’s group. It was Fu Hu, who led the Ba tribe to surrender to Cao Cao along with Du Hu and was appointed as the Governor of Badong.

Fu Hu’s force was clearly larger than Du Hu’s. Fu Hu, who led the Fan Shun Man faction of the Ba tribe, was called the king of the Seven Surnames of Fan Shun Man, known as the Qixing. Na, Du, E, Tuo, Shi, Gong, and Fu. Fu used the character for ‘Pu’ but was pronounced ‘Fu’ and was the largest surname.

To come all the way to Hanchang County while being based around Tangge County, they’ve saved us some trouble.

“I will give a thousand gold to whoever captures Zhang Ran. Isn’t it fitting that I, the king of the Qixing, should be the match for the Heavenly Beauty? Zong Yi Hou, I’ll give you a chance after I take her, so wait your turn.”

Wow, even I find this quite disgusting. As I was taking a deep breath at Fu Hu’s words openly saying he would pass me around, my lieutenants standing beside me spoke, panting as if they couldn’t bear it anymore.

“I’ll take that bastard’s head. Just give the order.”

“I’ll take care of the one who first wagged his tongue.”

Despite being surrounded on two sides, their fighting spirit didn’t waver. Of course. We had already anticipated this situation.

Napoleon emphasized tactics that cut off the enemy’s retreat path and conversely occupied their rear. I too was widely operating reconnaissance teams to understand the enemy’s marching route and strike them from behind.

And when we discovered the Fan Shun Man coming up from Tangge, having gained Qu Fu as a new guide, I had Ma Chong take some troops to cut off the enemy’s retreat path.

Actually, I didn’t expect them to make the first move like this. The bait that was me must have been quite tempting for them to rush here from Tangge and immediately show their faces without rest.

I was angry too, but my goal was ultimately to secure Wang Ping. Although subjugating the Ba tribe was important, it was ultimately just a superficial reason, and Wang Ping was the real goal, so it was right for me to observe the entire battlefield from the rear while looking for Wang Ping.

I nodded and unleashed the two fierce hounds that had been boiling with rage.

“Very well. Go and bring me their heads.”

“I will obey.”

“As you command.”

Ma Dai and Liu Xun shot off like arrows released from a tightly drawn bow.

True to the reputation of Xiliang cavalry as masters of horsemanship, Ma Dai rode his horse as if on flat ground despite the mountainous terrain. The soldiers followed fiercely as if they couldn’t bear the mockery their commander had endured.

In contrast, Liu Xun dismounted and charged forward on his own two feet. Leaving behind the words “I’m still more comfortable on foot than on horseback,” Liu Xun rushed in with a speed no less than Ma Dai’s.

“Attack!”

“Capture Zhang Ran alive!”

“No need to spare the rest!”

Fu Hu and Du Hu’s subordinates came crashing down the slope, meeting head-on in a test of strength.

‘But my troops are on a different level from the Liu Zhang army you’ve been dealing with.’

Immediately after the collision. They realized with their bodies how far their thoughts were from reality.

“These guys are different from before! Cough!”

“Wha- what kind of guy is…!”

Liu Xun swung his zhanmadao as if it were a tree branch.

Every time the giant sword with a blade nearly 1m long cut through the air, several enemies fell, spraying blood.

It’s said that the elite troops of the Landsknechts, who made a name for themselves in medieval Europe, the Doppelsöldner, took the vanguard role of cutting spear shafts and breaking formations with great swords like the Zweihänder. The fierce attack Liu Xun is showing now is explosive enough to remind one of those who were called masters among the Doppelsöldner.

The Ba tribe soldiers who recklessly charged at Liu Xun, who had achieved brilliant merits even against the strong troops of Wei who held hegemony in the original history, were truly like moths blindly rushing into a bonfire.

‘That side will be settled quickly.’

Ma Dai seemed to be somewhat inferior in martial prowess compared to Liu Xun. Historically, his only notable achievement was pursuing and beheading Wei Yan when he rebelled.

In the Romance, he demonstrates martial prowess on par with Ma Chao, but from what I’ve observed while being with him, his martial skill is not bad but not exceptional either.

‘That’s why I placed Qu Fu under him.’

While Ma Dai alone might not be enough, with the addition of Qu Fu, who was compared to Wang Ping, they should have stronger breakthrough power than Liu Xun alone.

As I expected, on Fu Hu’s front, Ma Dai and Qu Fu were pushing back the Fan Shun Man soldiers from both sides like a double-headed eagle at the vanguard.

And confusion arose in the enemy’s rear. It was Ma Chong’s appearance. Having confirmed that the battle had begun and we were pushing back the enemy, Ma Chong didn’t just block the path and wait, but led his troops to directly attack the rear.

The Fan Shun Man, already tired from hurriedly coming here from Tangge, were crumbling like a sand castle, floundering even while holding the high ground.

Even their leader, Fu Hu, who had been so confident when talking about me earlier, was now frantically urging his soldiers and in a state of panic.

However, there was one place that wasn’t being pushed back much and was maintaining a fairly solid defensive line. If there was a talent among the enemies who was solidifying the defense in the midst of our overwhelming battle situation, there could only be one person.

“There you are.”

I grinned and pulled on the reins.

This battlefield would be settled even without me. I need to reap the results of this battle.

“I’ll break through! Follow me!”

My horsemanship was still lacking to break through mountain paths. In a battlefield where soldiers are entangled at close quarters in an already narrow space, with obstacles like trees, swords were more suitable than spears.

Bang!

Avoiding, cutting, and sweeping away the spears and swords thrusting towards me as I charged, I approached and kicked away the enemies’ shields. Unbelievable strength. It was a tightly packed shield wall formed by leaning on each other, but that was it. Due to the small number of people, there’s a limit to the defense when the rear can’t properly support.

It takes only a moment for a dam with a hole to collapse. As I punched a hole in the enemy’s defense line, the soldiers following me rushed in all at once, completely demolishing the defense line.

Collapse. An irreversible catastrophe.

“Throw down your weapons and surrender. If you surrender, I’ll spare your lives.”

The Ba tribe soldiers, sensing they could no longer hold out, threw down their weapons and buried their heads in the ground. However, not everyone did so.

Since I had given orders to prioritize capture over slaughter from the start, the soldiers ignored those who had lost their will to fight and only dealt with those who continued to resist with weapons.

And among these Ba tribe soldiers, there was one who could be called a rare talent. Even when several soldiers attacked at once, his calm defense didn’t waver, and his counterattacks, targeting the openings of soldiers unfamiliar with combined attacks, were scathing.

Just as a flash of counterattack was about to behead one of the soldiers, my sword intercepted.

Clang!

As I was about to twist my sword to disarm him, he let go of his sword from his side and nimbly rolled away on the ground, picking up another sword from the ground.

Leadership to build a defensive line by encouraging soldiers whose morale had collapsed, solid martial skills, and quick situational judgment. No doubt about it.

“It’s you.”

The young man in front of me was none other than Wang Ping.

Unlike my expectation that he might look dull due to the record of being unable to read, Wang Ping had quite an attractive appearance.

Considering that the past valued appearance more than the present and considered it an important factor in evaluating a person, it’s not strange for Wang Ping, who was appointed as Jiawei after surrendering to Cao Cao, and then immediately appointed as Yamen and Feijiang after defecting to Liu Bei, to have above-average looks.

His eyes, shining with intelligence, were calm even as he faced me at close range. Wang Ping was not bending his will despite the extremely adverse circumstances.

“Surrender.”

“No matter how reckless Lord Fu Hu is, I have received his favor, so I cannot do that.”

Given the records that Wang Ping became an orphan at a young age, was raised by his maternal family, and lived in military camps from childhood, it was plausible that he had some connection with Fu Hu.

“If I promise to spare his life, will you surrender?”

“…Why are you trying so hard to make me surrender? You could cut me down at any time.”

“Because I want your sincere loyalty.”

A gleam appeared in Wang Ping’s eyes. For the first time, emotion spread across his face, which had remained unchanged even when the defense line collapsed.

“…I have sufficiently fulfilled my loyalty to Lord Fu Hu. Please allow me to witness your strength.”

“Good.”

The most recent real combat I experienced was the Hanzhong rescue operation. While fighting the pursuit team to extract Ma Chao’s family members, I gauged how much I could perform in one-against-many situations.

However, one-on-one battles against strong opponents remain unknown. It’s a problem that could be easily solved if I could spar with my father, but I didn’t have such an opportunity.

Personally, I think there aren’t many people who can make me reveal my martial prowess to the fullest. Maybe only my father, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Pang De, and perhaps Zhang Fei.

I even defeated Wei Yan in a sparring match. I wonder how skilled Wang Ping really is. I was looking forward to it as well.

“Here I come.”

Taking a step forward, I overlap my sword range. Drawing Wang Ping into my attack range, I roll on the ground.

I draw up strength from the ground through my whole body. From the soles of my feet through my legs, waist, shoulders, and to my wrists. A slashing attack incorporating the mysteries of rotation and footwork, called zhanshajing, came down directly on Wang Ping.

Clang!

“Ugh!”

Wang Ping blocked my sword. It wasn’t that he wanted to block it. Judging that he couldn’t dodge, Wang Ping chose defense as the next best option. Despite the straightforward and simple sword path, it was because the speed was too fast.

My body, which directly inherited Zhang Fei’s physicality, possessed an unbelievable destructive power that belied its small frame. And that meant I could unleash a second and third strike after such a blow without any problem.

Clang!

Strongly pushing Wang Ping back, my second sword flash cut through the air. Wang Ping, even while staggering, demonstrated amazing concentration and attempted to deflect the blade. However, it’s difficult to properly receive and deflect the impact with an unbalanced posture.

Clang!

The sword, which had already been nicked from the first attack, couldn’t deflect the impact and broke completely.

“The blade…”

Wang Ping had avoided injury despite his sword breaking. His hands, covered in thick calluses, didn’t even burst open. They were trembling a bit, but he could still continue fighting.

“The sword isn’t good. I’ll give you time. Bring another sword.”

As I withdrew my sword, Wang Ping looked down at his broken sword for a moment, then threw it away.

“I surrender.”

Wang Ping knelt on one knee and bowed his head. Then he raised both hands above his head. Wang Ping’s speech had changed to completely formal, but I pointedly asked:

“What are your true feelings?”

“I’ve heard that Han people give their lives for those who recognize them. Although the blood of Fan Shun Man flows in me, how could I not know the utmost principle? As you sincerely want me, I too will sincerely serve you.”

I laid my sword flat and lightly touched Wang Ping’s shoulder with the blade. It was an unconscious action in response to Wang Ping’s posture, which looked like a knighting ceremony. Deciding to do it properly since it had come to this, I spoke with force in my voice:

“Although we met as enemies, I have accepted your sincere loyalty, so you are now reborn as a loyal subject of the Han imperial family. I hope you remember this day for the rest of your life.”

“I will engrave it in my bones.”

Just after finishing the surrender ceremony disguised as Wang Ping’s investiture, my lieutenants returned as if they had been waiting. Each was holding a severed head in one hand.

They had perfectly kept their words. The identities of the heads they were holding were Fu Hu and Du Hu. And Qu Fu, who had followed Ma Dai, had also collected a head, none other than that of Yuan Yue, who had surrendered to Cao Cao along with Du Hu and Fu Hu.

With this one battle, we had killed all three leaders controlling the Ba tribe and completely dismantled their forces.

“General, it’s a great victory.”

“Congratulations.”

“Isn’t this all thanks to the general’s perfect lure?”

“Haha…”

If it weren’t for the last comment, I might have happily enjoyed it too, but he just had to add that. Liu Xun, I’ll remember this.

Still, I felt good.

“Let’s go back.”

It was time for a triumphant return.