256 BCE
STATE OF ZHAO: HOUKU PLAINS
SEI CHOU POV
"So much blood has soaked the earth just for this meeting… Duke Hyou." I saw the Qin Duke remove his golden mask, and his iconic three-pronged beard billowed in the wind.
"Hahaha." Duke Hyou laughed but did not say anything further. He just continued to stare at me like a beast in the wild. I could see his eyes sharpening with each passing moment. As if he was gaining more of a measure of me, I had never fought against the Qin, nor had I displayed my martial might in this current war.
I wanted to keep my cards close to my chest before surprising people with just how strong I was. My training under Gyou'un had never stopped; it only increased. Being from the future, I understood how muscles worked, and had a wealth of recovery routines that would benefit me.
"I see, having seen you now, it makes sense how you managed to rise so quickly, you have that feeling of a Great General." Duke Hyou said, baring his fanged teeth towards me.
"Whilst I wouldn't say no to more praise. I believe it is time we begin."
"If you're to be a new blade for Zhao, then I shall just shatter it. Since I owe King Shou that much at least." Duke Hyou said, before turning to the few soldiers that had managed to keep pace with him. "You soldiers stay back." He said to them, I saw the soldiers, the majority of them were battered and bruised, covered in dust, mud and dried blood.
*THUD* Across from me, Duke Hyou threw down his shield. My red hare took a powerful stomp forward, "The name is Sei Chou." I said to Duke Hyou, "Should you live through this battle, you will be hearing it quite a lot."
"Duke Hyou is my name, I shall carve it into your young heart. So, you never forget." Duke Hyou's face split into a savage grin, his sharp fanged teeth bared for me to see.
"Here I come, Old man. Make sure you can keep up." I replied.
"He wants to duel Duke Hyou?!" "Surely the boy can't be serious?!" I heard doubts about my martial capabilities from the Qin soldiers. Before my horse set off in a gallop, Duke Hyou was a half beat slower than me.
I gripped my glaive firmly and swung with all of my might. In a split second, I saw Duke Hyou instantly conclude that he was a moment slower than me, meaning he could not meet my swing head-on. Instead, he chose to block. I felt my muscles ripple with my swing and unleashed all of my power. Duke Hyou moved and positioned the pole of his glaive in a firm block, yet the impact from my strike was too devastating.
*CLANG!!!*
For a split second, I saw shock and surprise alight in the eyes of Duke Hyou before he and his horse were sent reeling back more than a few paces away from me. Even though I paused for a slight moment, I thought I had a gauge on just how strong I was, but it seems that my measure was false. 'Is it possible that whilst my own strength was growing, so too was Gyou'un's?' The thought flashed through my mind, but I quickly locked it away.
Seeing Duke Hyou and his horse come to a stop before he huffed, I quickly moved to press the attack, but Duke Hyou was ready for me this time.
"HAAAAHHH!!!" The Qin Great General shouted a war cry as he met a second glaive swing. Near face-to-face, we were locked in place, neither one of us giving ground to the other. However, the deadlock was broken when I saw the Duke of Qin's eyes turn white; it felt like someone was dragging my horse backwards whilst giving me a great push.
My arms took on the brunt of the strike, as I was knocked back a few paces. I quickly shook my head from side to side, my blood thrumming in my veins. Singing a dastardly, chaotic song of war, and I could not stop the smile from splitting my face.
"I had to pay you back. Since you caught me off guard, I didn't expect you to have such martial might." Duke Hyou said. I turned my smile towards him, "This is going to be fun." I said before spurring my red warhorse towards him, and attacking.
Seeing me rushing at him, Duke Hyou gave a humourless laugh, "Bahah!" He was awaiting me. I swung upwards, going from left to right, using the momentum of my horse to give me more power. The strike was met evenly by a downward swing from Duke Hyou.
From there, only defending clangs and bangs were heard, as I clashed with Duke Hyou. Our respective glaives screeched and screamed aloud as we tried to overcome each other. We held nothing back, and I could see surprise on the faces of both Qin and Zhao soldiers alike. Many people in China knew of Duke Hyou, the Qin Great General, who is notorious as a fearsome warrior who leads every charge and fights on the front lines.
A Great General with a famous reputation for his martial might. However, here he was being matched by me. A person who was not as well known for his martial might as I was for my strategical victories.
Some of the Qin soldiers looked as if they had swallowed a whole lemon, whilst others were too stunned to even speak. Duke Hyou had more experience and possibly skill than I, but there was no way I was going to allow myself to lose. In fact, the thought of losing evaporated from my mind; only the sensation of battle rang through my head.
There was no let-up to either of our hits, each clash more devastating than the last. More impactful than the last, cuts started to appear, but the wounds were not deep… Yet. I weathered a storm of strikes from Duke Hyou, matching each hit with a firm block. Before I saw the opening, almost as if I could predict just what Duke Hyou would do.
He swung downwards with both arms, and I moved quickly, batting away the strike as powerfully as I could. His arms went wide, and his guard was open, for a split second. I didn't miss my opportunity; I swung down savagely but with precision and accuracy.
Duke Hyou saw what I was doing, but was too slow to stop it in its entirety. My treasure blade slashed deeply into Duke Hyou.
*SLASH*
Blood spurted from the opened wound, "Ngh," I heard the slight grunt from the experienced Qin Great General. The hit sent him and his horse back a few paces, bringing a short break from the constant back and forth.
"MY LORD!!!" The Qin soldiers screamed. I only kept my eyes on Duke Hyou watching as he crumbled forward and leaned over his horse.
"The Duke is…" "How can this be… For the Duke to match so evenly…" They couldn't believe just what they were seeing.
"... It seems Lord Sei Chou has gotten stranger compared to a year ago." One of the soldiers in my personal army commented.
"What's wrong, old man? I told you to keep up. Did I not?" I asked Duke Hyou.
"Bah. I remember. I'm feeling this duel right now. You're good, I can see your fire raging." Duke Hyou gritted his bloodstained fanged teeth, and he grinned. The red of his cloak only got deeper as it soaked further with his blood.
"I wonder whose fire would consume… THE OTHERS!" Duke Hyou's horse galloped at me in a fury, and I mirrored him. He swung at me, and the hit was strong enough to rattle my bones. Before I returned with a hit of my own, and once again we duelled fiercely. Yet, as time ticked on, I felt my martial skills were becoming sharper and sharper. Duke Hyou's grin was savage, and I knew my own mirrored his.
…
STATE OF ZHAO: HOKU PLAINS
FU JIN POV
He had a task to complete…
The chaos of a battle always presents unordinary opportunities, which is something that Fu Jin had come to learn quite quickly in his time serving as one of Sei Chou's guards. He snorted at the word; the only time he is allowed to guard his Lord is outside of wartime. Which coincidentally is the most peaceful time for his Lord, however, when it is time for war and a battle commences. Fu Jin rarely ever finds himself by Sei Chou's side. Instead, he is usually doing something like he is doing now.
Chaos and distractions were plentiful when two Generals were duelling, after the wilting Duke Hyou's charge was cut down by more than half of the cavalry that followed him. Fu Jin told his troops to break off into smaller units, as they had a plan to complete.
It was alarming how easy the plan was to enact for Fu Jin; they only needed Qin flags, and it was enough to disguise the unit of 300 that he had with him. He knew elsewhere there were more units like him, using Qin flags to get closer to the HQ of Duke Hyou.
It was much easier and faster to move as a smaller group.
"Fu Jin, the Qin are completely lost in battle fervour," One of the soldiers said to him, and with a glance around. Fu Jin saw it, their eyes wide and bloodshot. With only the thought of fighting the nearest Zhao soldier, they did not even look at him twice. They just saw that his group had Qin flags and let them pass by.
'This is actually concerning… I'll bring it up with Sei Chou later on.' A knot tied coiled in his stomach. Seeing the Qin men, it was too easy, and they were too lost in the battle. It made his imagination go wild; he imagined them as Zhao soldiers. How easy it would be should the army lose itself.
"We're almost there." Fu Jin said, looking up and seeing the array of many Qin flags fluttering in the wind. Their shouting and screaming came from behind him, Qin and Zhao soldiers dying and rejoicing alike. He didn't look back once. Fu Jin always knew the big picture comes before everything else.
"I only hope we've timed this perfectly." It would be difficult, but if they managed to do it… They would win the war.
…
3RD PERSON POV DUKE HYOU HEADQUARTERS
"URGENT REPORT!" "URGENT REPORT!!"
A soldier raced towards the main tent with worry and spoke hurriedly, "Multiple units of our soldiers are incoming, it seems they are bringing word from the front lines!" The soldier said, bringing confusion to Duke Hyou's headquarters.
"What?! Why would our Lord send multiple units back here when he is fighting on the frontlines?!" Another soldier questioned, disbelief clearly written on his face as he spoke.
"I am not sure, but that is what I saw with my own two eyes and heard, the Duke is sending multiple units back here and most importantly…" The man trailed off before pointing his arm to where an array of Qin flags was seen fastly approaching.
"They're upon us!" Deep into the Qin formations around the Headquarters of Duke Hyou, multiple small units could be seen passing through the army with ease. The Qin infantry who saw them did not know how to respond, not wishing to be reprimanded for a mistake, allowed them to pass.
The majority only looked at the flag, and that was that, until one Qin soldier double checked a cavalryman who had already passed him.
"THEY ARE ZHAO!!!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs. Hearing the scream, the Zhao soldiers discarded their disguises and threw themselves upon the Qin soldiers. In multiple areas, the fighting became brutal. Bodies were bisected, heads were cleaved off, blood sprayed before falling and soaking the earth.
"We've been tricked." Came the words of Gaku Ga, the lead adjutant of the Duke Hyou army. He frowned, seeing the fighting happening deep in the defensive lines of Qin's headquarters.
"URGENT REPORT!!!" "URGENT REPORT!!!" Two riders came from opposite directions, sweat pouring down their faces and desperation in their eyes.
"Adjutant Gaku Ga, I bring word from Lord Dan Shi. He has been defeated, the Zhao have taken his headquarters, and his army is in full retreat." One of the messengers rapidly spoke.
"Dear me…"
"Heavens be good…"
"Adjutant Gaku Ga, I bring word from Lord Kou Ri's army. The army is in full retreat. Lord Kou Ri has been slain by Den Pou of the Rai'un unit. Qin morale on that wing has fully collapsed." The second soldier said. Much to the disbelief of everyone who heard it, they could not fathom such losses on the first day of battle and all of this whilst their headquarters were under attack.
"How could this be… For them to have coordinated such an attack… Leaving their general to fight the Duke…"Another soldier rambled to himself, sweat dripping down his face.
"It can't be…" Another said, realising that their headquarters were being ferociously attacked after sending away the majority of their men.
"It's my fault. I underestimated the level of Zhao's strategy, wanting only to end the battle on the first day and committing everything. I thought we could overwhelm him, and it has cost us dearly. It is a great miscalculation that we did not think both flanks would be taken so quickly." Gaku Ga was calm as deducted where they had gone wrong.
"But isn't this Sei Chou only a young commander?" One of the men asked.
"Indeed, but he is surrounded by veterans, and he seems to be talented. The fact that he specifically picked out this battlefield and created a situation where our Lord will be forced to split his army up more than he would like. Is the mark of a good general, but he also managed to blunt the Duke's instinctual abilities by overloading the field of battle with multiple points of interest…" Gaku Ga could see the full picture now, the layers of Sei Chou's planning.
"But… why has no one else tried such a thing?"
"Because most can not truly stand tall when facing our Lord's martial might, the plan is brave and risky. Should Sei Chou not be able to face off against our Lord, then the whole plan would crumble, and he would lose everything." Gaku Ga said before continuing, "It was a risky gamble."
"You… Adjutant, you believe him to be that good?"
"The era of the Qin 6 Great General and Zhao's 3 Great Heavens has come to a close. The great river's young waves are here to overtake the old." Gaku Ga quoted an old phrase that was known to everyone in the central plains.
He looked towards where more and more units of Qin soldiers were breaking through their last lines of defence. He knew they could not be stopped now. Their momentum was too great to be slowed, the confusion too out of control to be handled.
"WE'RE THROUGH!!!" He heard the shout before he saw them. Over more than a dozen soldiers smashed through the last lines of Qin's defence, and only a few tens of men were there to defend until they could not contest.
"ENEMIES!!!" "THEY ARE ENEMY SOLDIERS!!!" The Qin guards shouted in alarm. Fu Jin hopped off his horse, his boots slamming into the earth and brought his sword to bear on multiple Zhao foes.
"Guahhh!" "Gahhh!" "Ahh!" His sword slashed and sliced with ease; only half a beat behind him were the rest of the soldiers who had accompanied him.
"WHA?!" The Qin could scarcely believe their eyes as they saw their soldiers crumble upon impact.
Fu Jin and his men moved quickly, not slowing down to engage in any duels. The message for them was clear. 'Kill in under 10 seconds.' If they could not do that, then they move on and wait for the next person to try. More and more Zhao soldiers continued to converge on the Qin headquarters, completely overwhelming the Qin.
"KILL HIM! Ergh!" Dashing into the war tent, Fu Jin, with four men at his back, sliced through all that he could see before meeting the eyes of the last Qin soldiers in the tent. The Qin soldier met his stare with stern eyes, going quickly for his sword, but he was a beat too slow.
Fu Jin beheaded the man with a thunderous blow.
"Set fire to the surrounding region!" Fu Jin said, turning to the closest Zhao soldier next to him. "Raise the smoke high and signal the battlefield of the fall of Qin's headquarters and Sei Chou's victory!"
"We will do, Fu Jin." The man said with a grin before running off to see the task completed.
CHAPTER: DONE