Don’t Tell Me This Is the True History of the Three Kingdoms! Vol 9 Chapter 73

Li Dian POV

She removed her hands from her mouth and casually wiped them on her plate skirt. When I looked over, I saw that her eyes were red and puffy but she still tried to keep them open.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” She said tearfully and then eked out a smile as she continued, “I’m fine, *s.h.i.+ku*, I always knew this day would come. It just came earlier than I expected, that’s all.”

“I see…” I did not know how to reply her and merely nodded. Personally, seeing someone from the same side, for now at least, is not a good feeling for me at all.

I had thought that I had grown numb to seeing fellow comrades die in battle but the pain has only grown with every loss. As I looked Lu Xiang with Lu Kuang in mind, I began to calm down.

“Report!” I turned around and saw that it was my 3,000-man general and felt relieved.

“Have you finished counting?”

“… Yes.” Compared to her words from before, she hesitated before answering this question. Even without this hesitation, I know full well that there is no good news that can come out from this.

“How is it?”

“Our losses are great,” She said and bit her lips, “Only about a third of our troops survived.”

“Don’t be so vague and give me a more concrete number.”

“Less than 3,000. About 2,500 or so.”

“Un.” I nodded. This number was more or less what I thought it would be and was even more optimistic than what I had feared, “What of the cavalry?”

“…” She did not speak but I understood what she meant and waved as I dismissed her. She seemed relieved to be dismissed and quickly went away.

“I’m sorry, Lu Xiang.” I said as I turned to Lu Xiang after my subordinate left, “Your and your brother’s cavalry troops are all lost. I will make sure to honour them when we return to Fan city.”

“No, it’s fine. They fulfilled their duties to the very end.” Lu Xiang shook her head as she looked up at the skies, “Besides, big brother would probably be happy to know that his own cavalry troops saved the lives of more than 2,000 men including our own.”

“Yes…” Once again, I did not know what to say in response and merely nodded. At the same time, I looked up at the skies to avoid an awkward silence.

I have to admit that it was Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang’s cavalry troops who saved us. It was all thanks to Yuan Shao’s generals and troops that we were able to survive.

If it were not for that chaotic mess at Wuchao, I really do not think that we could have achieved the stalemate ending we did in the Battle of Guandu. From a long term perspective, as a Cao army general, we gained through the depletion of a Yuan army general and several thousand Yuan army troops even though we lost this battle.

Hai… I felt disgusted at myself for having such thoughts as I looked at Lu Xiang’s forced smile.

Whether I intended to or not, the arrow I shot at Zhao Yun was actually detrimental to Lu Kuang. Not only did it fail to meet its mark, it even put Zhao Yun on guard. Back then, Lu Kuang’s movements were fast, perhaps even fast enough to land a mortal blow on Zhao Yun. However, at that moment, I had already loosed my arrow at her.

“Lu Xiang,” I decided to not think about Lu Kuang and called out softly to her, “Why did you fight with those 2?”

When she heard me, her forced smile evaporated and she frowned.

“Un… Back then, I r
eally didn’t want to live anymore.” Lu Xiang honestly replied and shook her head to prevent herself from crying before smiling again, “But when Lord Li Dian called out to me and told me that big brother was waiting in Fan city, I felt that I had to return and perform the all-night vigil for big brother at the very least. Many thanks for that, Lord Li Dian.” She bowed as she said so.

(TL: Traditional Chinese funeral practices – Staying up all night near the corpse. Number of days can range from the duration of the entire funeral (taking turns between family members) or just the day of death.)

“No, no need for that.” I calmly replied and nodded, feeling glad that my words worked.

As for Lu Kuang’s corpse, we received news earlier that it had reached Fan city before us. Luckily, they had chosen to take the dirt road around instead of turning back and returning through the original route, avoiding the ambush. This was perhaps one fortunate matter among many unfortunate matters that happened today.

“Lord Li Dian.”

“Un?” I turned to Lu Xiang when she called out to me and saw her hand stretched out to me with something inside.

“What is this?” I asked as I reached out to grab it. When I did so, a cold and heavy object fell into my hand.

“This is the green gemstone from my plate armour. Lord Yuan Shao gave it to us as a reward for our achievements in battle.” Lu Xiang said, her smile seeming more energetic than before as she thought back to happier times, “I’m giving this gemstone to Lord Li Dian, as thanks for saving me back then.”

“Ah, no. I cannot take this.” I pushed my hand out. If I knew she was handing me something so expensive, I would not have accepted it.

“It’s fine, take it.” Lu Xiang pushed my hand back, “If it were not for Lord Li Dian, I would have been dead by now.”

“But… What about you?”

“I have this.” Lu Xiang smiled as she showed me her plate armour where an identical green gemstone was set in her left shoulderplate.

“Is that… Lu Kuang’s?”

“Un.” Lu Xiang nodded, her expression still not too good overall but much better than before. Even though she was a happy-go-lucky and cheerful person just hours before, she had become a thoroughly gloomy person.

This battle has affected the both of us very significantly. I have not shown it but this battle has made me think about a lot.

“Lord Li Dian, look.” Lu Xiang said listlessly. I looked over and saw some troops in the distance with “曹” flags clearly emblazoned on them. Cao Ren sent us a reception huh?

But when I saw the “曹” flags, all that came to mind was my lord and I felt even more guilty. Now, I must think about how I ought to explain this loss to Cao Ren.

Liu Bei POV

Haa… Haa…

“Xuan De, hurry up!”

“I know!”

My stamina always runs out at the most critical times and every time it happens, I always blame myself.

At this time, we were already back in Xinye city and were currently rus.h.i.+ng back to our mansion. I caught up to Yun Chang and Zhou Cang and when I looked at Yi De, who was lying on Yun Chang’s back, I began to feel anxious again.

“Yi De…”

Yi De seemed to come down with a high fever after her battle with the general before with her forehead heating up and her spouting nonsense incessantly.

We did not know how to deal with this of course so when the battle ended, we did not even bother sending out pursuers and merely concentrated on wiping out the remaining enemies. We then left Zi Long and Chen Dao behind to gather our troops and clean up the battlefield before galloping back into the city. But because the city’s streets were narrow, we had to dismount soon after entering the city and sprint back.

“What happened to Lord Zhang Fei?” Zhou Cang asked with a frown.

This question of hers is something that Yun Chang and I shared as well. However, neither of us are able to answer this. The only one who is able to is Hua Tuo.

I just hope she is around now.

“Lord Hua Tuo!” Yun Chang yelled as she pried open the heavy, thick doors.

As we entered, I looked about but did not see anyone around. Did everyone leave?

“Ah, you’re all back huh?” Just then, a voice came from the main hall. We looked over and saw Yuan Zhi calmly walk out of the room.

“Yuan Zhi! You’re here!” I exclaimed as we ran over to where she was.

“I didn’t watch battle, how was it?” She asked as she descended the stairs. Though she asked us about it, it did not seem like she was particularly interested in the answer.

“This will have to wait.” Yun Chang said impatiently as she hurriedly saluted and looked about, “May I ask where is everyone else?”

“The ones who did not partic.i.p.ate all went to their troops to do checks and preparations. Lord Sun Qian and the other administrative officials are at the magistrate’s office.”

So everyone is out huh? I thought that they would have spectated the battle. Or did everyone think that this battle was not too important? To be honest, I thought the same as well until this unwanted surprise happened at the end.

“Umm, may I ask if Lord Hua Tuo is out as well?” I asked on behalf of Yun Chang who was gasping for air.

“Lord Hua Tuo is further inside.” Yuan Zhi said as she pointed, “Lord Hua Tuo seems to have woken up late today and seems a little lethargic so she did not leave with everyone. I just saw her though and she seems much better and is currently in the midst of preparations.”

Her preparations must be for the sake of treating the wounded.

“Ah…”

“Big brother! Zhou Cang! Let’s go!” Yuan Zhi had more to say but Yun Chang interrupted her before das.h.i.+ng off with Zhou Cang in tow.