Battle Royale of the Sinners

October 21st, 184 A.D.

Another army of 10,000 foreign cavalries appeared north of Xiangping, east of Beiping. They also crossed the Great Wall and reached their border city.

"Mobilize all armies from our province. Get every able man and drag all mercenaries from the nobles. If there is any selfish bastard, charge them with treason and slaughter their entire families!"

Gongsun Zan did not hesitate to give a death sentence to anyone who defied his order.

Guan Jing, the strategist of Gongsun Zan, stepped forward to object the order.

"Lord, the enemies only take 10,000 men to attack us. We can leave it to the newly promoted 5,000-man-commander to take care of this. With your clan's assistance, they should have no problem handling a small army."

"No. When a lion wants to catch its prey, it goes all out! We will not hold back even if our enemies are only 10,000 men in number. We will mobilize everything to trample them! These nomads are a threat to our Kingdoms for generations. We have to kill every single of them before they multiplied!"

"Lord, there are injured soldiers from the last battle against Zhang Kai. Do we take them with us as well?"

"Hmm, no! Take only able men, not the injured. Treat them as a reserve if we are that short on hands."

"Understood, lord."

…

Qiuliju, the current King of Wuwan Tribe, led the troops toward Xiangping.

He did not want to invade Xiangping right now. However, the King of Xiongnu threatened that he would attack Wuwan Tribe if they did not participate in this grand battle.

From the instruction of the Xiongnu King, Qiuliju had to pretend to attack Xiangping and draw their attention.

Tadun, Qiuliju's cousin and the current vice commander of the army, did not agree with this mobilization.

"We should have killed those bastards! Who the hell did they think they were, immortal? Pfft, immortals only exist in the fairy tales!"

Tadun spat as he dissed Xiongnu King.

"Don't underestimate that brat. He united all scattering tribes and killed all self-proclaimed Chanyu at the age of 15! If he can achieve this far at this age, it won't hurt serving under him."

Qiuliju planned to leech the current Xiongnu King's glory and fortune. Although he was humiliated for bowing to other King while he was a King himself, it might be worth it to invest in the young King in his point of view.

As they marched toward Xiangping County, the two debated if it was a good idea to be a vessel to someone else.

However, the discussion came to a halt as a team of scouts returned with a pale face.

"Report! Seven of our scout teams have been destroyed! The enemies are aiming at our dispatched scouts!"

Qiuliju's face blackened while Tadun spat again, "Any info on our enemy?"

"Aside from their white horses, we have no clue."

"White horses? Meh, they are those fanatic Gongsun Clan. Aside from Gongsun Zan, none of them is worthy of paying any attention. You lots, call back all of our scouts! We will reorganize the patrol teams!"

"Ha!"

…

The patrol forces of Qiuliju and Tadun had been strengthened by adding more men into the squads. Each patrol squad now consisted of 500 men instead of the usual 100 men, which could be seen as detach troops that could ransack a village easily.

Four teams of patrol units went out to secure the route toward Xiangping County.

Yet …

"Report! One of the patrol team has been wiped out!"

"WHAT!?"

Tadun stomped his feet and grabbed the collar of the messenger, "How did they lose!?"

"I-It was the white riders! They used the same tactic as the Xiongnu!"

"The horse archers?"

"Y-Yes! They used both horses and arrows!"

Qiuliju glanced at Tadun, "Cousin, you take half of our army and proceed ahead. Take all of our bows and arrows. We'll retaliate with the similar tactic."

"I know! Our horse archers are elites. We won't lose to the knock-off fanatics of Gongsun!"

Tadun took 4,000 horsemen with him, planning to eradicate whoever that ambushed his men.

Upon moving three kilometers further, they could see the wall Xiangping County from the horizon.

"Coward! Ha, because I've come here myself, they chickened out!"

Tadun spat again.

"Do not separate from the group! Keep looking around you and report whatever you find! Even if it's a flying bird, report it!"

"Lord, sir!"

"What!?"

"An army is approaching from the direction of the city."

"Hmm?"

Tadun looked up and saw a battalion of White Riders. Leading the force, a handsome young man in white cloth and a white cloak was shouting something that Tadun could not hear.

"Form ranks! Get our bows and arrows ready! I want to see how they copied the horse archer stratagem of our tribes!"

Tadun turned to the white army with a sneer, "They are already wearing mourning clothes for themselves! Don't be afraid of those silver-pants young masters or whatever they call. Once we start fighting, they will run like a bunch of ants fleeing from their collapsed nest!"

4,000 Horse archers readied their short bows. Unlike the orthodox soldiers in China, they formed ranks by galloping their horses forward to maintain their mobility.

In a minute, the horse archers moved around like a snake slithering toward their preys.

The white cloth general of the White Riders raised his hand and swung it down. Thousands of arrows flew and covered the sky as the black wall of arrows made their ways toward Tadun and his men.

The arrow rain got to Tadun Army before they could shoot their short bow.

Tadun raised his wooden shield to cover his head and his horse. He glared at his enemy and spat again.

"Foolish! We're wearing silks and leather armor inside. Those arrows won't hurt us. Men, fire back!"

Tadun turned back to command his men. As he had expected, not many horsemen were shot down.

Unlike the Xiongnu in Jinyang, Qiuliju was more generous toward his men and his horses. All of the horses wore custom leather armor and silk cover as well. As a result, only a few hundred unlucky men were hit at the unprotected area and fell off their horses.

Tadun drew his short bow as his horse carried him into the range.

However, the white robe general whistled and led his troops back, retreating.

"Coward! Come back here!"

Tadun also sent a signal to give chase. At the same time, he managed to catch a glimpse of the army that he was battling.

They had roughly 5,000 men!

'Wait a minute. We have a similar troop count, but why is he retreating? Shit! A TRAP!?'

Tadun pulled his reign and turned around, wanting to order everyone to stop chasing.

*RUMBLE*

The rumbling noise of galloping horses alarmed the Wuwan Tribe horsemen.

"PULL BACK! PULL BACK!"

All Wuwan horsemen pulled their horses and turned around.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Arrow barrages rained upon the Tadun's men. The White Rider from before also turned around and fired another volley of arrows at them.

"DAMN IT!"

Tadun was on the verge of going crazy. His army had a shorter range than the opponent's arrow range. Furthermore, he had been tricked and was about to get an ambush from the sudden oncoming troops.

Tadun glared at the white robe general and bellowed, "I AM TADUN OF WUWAN TRIBE! I CHALLENGE THE STRONGEST FIGHTER OF YOUR CLANSMEN! DO YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO FACE ME ONE-ON-ONE!?"

The white-robe general paused. His action revealed hesitation to Tadun, who sneered at the general.

'Fool! Hesitation and cowardice will bring down your army's morale! Now is the chance to retreat!'

Just as Tadun was signaling his men to withdraw from this disadvantageous battle, the white general shouted, "I ACCEPT! FACE ME!"

Tadun laughed, 'Idiot! A young brat can't possibly master all technique on horseback. I'll show you how veteran fight in a duel!'

At this moment, an army appeared from a hill, west of their direction. Because of blindside which Tadun and the scouts failed to notice, they did not detect this army when they arrived here.

The ambushing army did not attack Tadun's men, but they surrounded them from behind and pointed their crossbows.

Tadun gritted his teeth. He tried to think of a way to get out of this predicament.

'Maybe I can negotiate for my men. He's still young, so he should be easily fooled.'

Tadun made his proposal, "Before we duel, I want to make a deal!"

The white general rode forward, confronting Tadun, "What deal?"

"If I defeat you, I want all of you to let us go. I promise that I'll tell my King to withdraw his troops from your territory as well. A good deal, no?"

The white general raised his eyebrows in doubt, "How can I trust you with your words alone?"

"Oh? That's simple. I'll leave a few of my injured men here as hostages. If I were to break my promises, kill them as you wish."

Tadun laughed in his mind, 'They are useless to us anyway. Giving them to you won't hurt since you'll be feeding them with your supplies.'

"Well, the deal is a bit odd, don't you think?"

"How odd?"

"You haven't told me what you will do if you lose."

Tadun sneered, 'Hahaha! Defeat me? In your dream!'

"Well, I haven't thought about it. How about you name the condition?"

"Ha? You … Haiz, I'm being silly for trying to deal with you. I still have a lot to learn."

"What are you mumbling about? You can name your condition it, go ahead. Losers have to follow the instruction of the winners anyway."

"Okay, if you want it this way. I want all of you to surrender if I win. Fair enough?"

The men behind Tadun's murmured as they thought that the condition was ridiculous. However, they could not protest as their life was in Gongsun Army's hands.

Still sneering, Tadun nodded, "Sure, draw your weapon!"

Tadun took out his lance while the white general took out an iron spear.

"Before we fight, I want to hear your name. If by chance that I kill you, I can engrave a tomb for you!"

"Actually, I don't think that's necessary. But … Oh well."

The general commanded his horse to keep a bit of distance, getting ready to charge.

"I am Zhao Yun."

…

…

That was the name that Tadun had heard before he was knocked out of his horse in one strike.

All surviving soldiers of Tadun Army were arrested as prisoners as promised. Tadun also regained his consciousness later in prison.

He did not dare to spit or look down on the young white robe general again.