259 BCE
After the battle of Chouhei and the massacre of 400,000 Zhao soldiers. The Zhao King panicked and made amends with Ren Pa, asking the last Great Heaven to return and defend the heartland of Zhao against the Qin. Not a man to reject the opportunity of clashing with the Qin, Great Heaven Ren Pa left the Yan border alongside his four Heavenly Kings and headed to face off against Ou Ki of the Qin Great Generals.
Qin commander in chief Hakuki had wanted to push on and maintain the ferocious pace at which the Qin were going to take over Zhao after he had opted to bury 400,000 Zhao soldiers and civilians. Yet, Qin King Shou did not agree and instead wanted to consolidate his power over Zhao, the two had a falling out which led to Qin Great General Hakuki being removed as commander.
The Qin king will also try to make amends with Hakuki and ask him to lead the Qin into battle again once he sees that he made an error in appointing Ouki with Ren Pa stalling the monstrous bird. However, Hakuki would reply that he was sick at each invitation to return back to service.
One day at the manor of Hakuki a Qin minister would hand him a sword and leave some words… Hakuki the Qin Great General used that very sword to take his own life.
….
259 BCE
STATE OF ZHAO: Chuuzan
Six months had passed since the death of Lord Rin Shou Jo, in that time I had decided to relocate those that would follow me and return back to the lands of my former teacher. Even though we had stayed in Kanrin for two years, it was not the home for the soldiers in the Rin Shou Jo army. The true home was in the north of Zhao, a city that was bordered by the State of Yan, the Xiongnu border and other nomadic tribes.
The funeral was held in Dai where Lord Rin Shou Jo was originally, a place where the House of Rin still stayed and thrived at. I moved to the region of Chuuzan, a former buffer state between Zhao and Yan. The city was similar in size to Kanrin, but it was better positioned and I wanted to fortify it further to make it near impossible for someone to take in a siege.
Another reason I chose this region was because of the river that was just south of it, that river opened up the opportunity of trade and trade meant money. It was also very close to what would be known as the silk road in the future. The people in the region knew about making silk and refining it, which I made sure to put to good use. Over the six months I talked with some of the refiners about the ideas I had, they were mainly luxury goods such as handkerchiefs and feather fans alongside some designs for luxury clothing all to generate income.
Introducing custom made silk clothes, with some having their own branding would do wonders in the ancient times. Rich people never changed, the latest and most expensive brand would always be purchased if it is in style and there was popularity surrounding it.
The designs were easy to make and after talking to the credible people, I left it in their hands with only a few trustworthy people to supervise them. The clothes were only just being made by the time I started to leave for battle, word had come that a Yan army was rallying and readying themselves for invasion. It was a logical decision when looking at the situation Zhao currently found themselves in, 400,000 dead, one of the pillars of their army dead and the other pillar has to focus on the Qin coming from the left.
To the Yan king the Zhao border might as well have been open season for them, any military advisor, Great General or General worth their salt would suggest attacking Zhao and reaping whatever benefits they could.
There were new recruits to the army but they were all being trained by ChouGaryuu and Gyou'un, I estimate it would be a year before they would be ready for true war. There were around 5,000 recruits training. The number was sure to increase as the years tick on, my foundation was starting to be built in the north of Zhao but there was more work to be done.
It was late spring and the days to the summer of 259 BCE, I marched towards Reigen castle with Den Pou and the Jo brothers. Gyou'un and Chou Garyu stayed behind to manage the estate and train the soldiers there. I took four thousand soldiers, two thousand for Den Pou and two thousand for the Jo brothers. The commander for this battle was General Chou Haku, I didn't know much about it but from what I can remember he seemed to have quick wit as he was the one who made Ordo return to Yan when he tried this same invasion.
The army was only around 50,000 since Zhao were focusing everything on the Qin and could not spare anymore men to focus on both fronts. There was possibly little hope in securing the Yan border from the King's point of view, but I guess it was just time for him to be surprised.
Then again the Yan commander I would come up against was someone I had never heard of… Chiketsu of Yan's Great Generals.
…..
SEI CHOU POV
We arrived at the army camp where all the troops had gathered. With 50,000 it might've seemed we had the odds in our favour, but when the Yan had somehow gathered 80,000 soldiers under Chu Ketsu… the story was different.
Their right flank is under the command of someone called Li Shun, an apparent longtime vassal of Chi Ketsu who had 15,000 soldiers and on their left flank Yun Ri with 15,000. Chi Ketsu the Great General placed his HQ in the centre.
For our right flank in command was Kou who had 11,000 with my 4,000 it made up 15,000. Since I had experience in previous wars under Rin Shou Jo, it meant that I was given leniency when it came to rankings. The left flank was another 15,000 under a man named Shuu. Both of them were unknown to me, and therefore it seemed they were unknown generals.
Chou Haku had 20,000 troops facing the 35,000 of Chi Ketsu. It was a very balanced method of war. The battle was in Yan's favour and the possibility of Chou Haku dying was not lost on me, since it was the fastest and one of the best ways to end a war quickly. The odds needed to be evened and it was up to me to do so.
Chi Ketsu was an established Great General of Yan, a man who was a Great General alongside Gaku Ki. Which said a lot because if I remembered correctly, Yan only had one Great General at a time in the manga. Once with Geki Shin and then when he died, Ordo was named Great General. So, I knew Chi Ketsu would definitely be a problem.
There was also the retinue who he moved with, a full retinue of 300 guards whose strength were roughly at the level at ChouGaryuu with some going higher than that. This information was being fed to me by scouts, soldiers who were experienced, soldiers who had previously clashed with the Chi Ketsu army and the system.
Being on the right flank only meant I was destined to be fighting in the thick of it. As I had 4,000 I started to think up a strategy for how I will turn the tide. The goal was to defend the border, but I also wanted to go the extra step, perhaps siege and take the nearest Yan city which was Hau city.
If I wanted to take Hau city and hold it, I would need siege engines which I do not currently have. I also did not bring any infantry along with me, which meant I would have to round up any survivors and take them with me but that still wouldn't be enough to defend the city from the Yan army.
As I continued to think step after step of my plan, Chou Haku came out and gave a speech to motivate the army. It was the type of speech that evoked familial emotion.
"My soldiers, my brothers, and my sons. As I look at you all here and now, I only ask you to fight your bravest! The Yan have decided to invade, they perceive Zhao, we will show them together that our Zhao is as strong as it has ever been!" It was a decent speech and I could see some of them with tears in the corners of their eyes as they screamed and shouted their heads off.
The speech had worked and the soldiers were motivated, this battle was to take place in a semi open plain but there were some trees that separated the left and right. It kind of reminded me of Shukai plains from the manga but I knew it of course was not.
Kou, the General given command of the right flank was the brute no brains type of General and an egotistic one to that. It took only a single conversation with him to understand that he thought himself the strongest man in China but had no real power or background to call upon.
He'd tried to place me and my army in the first frontal charge to show everyone his influence, since I was known as a student of Rin Shou Jo, I in turn completely refused and replied. "Hmm, and who will tell Lord Gyou'un and Chou Garyuu that you placed your main strike force at the very front to only die?" Hearing the names of those two legends the man's tone did a 180 and he quickly left after assigning me to the furthest side.
I knew both Gyou'un and ChouGaryuu would not mind, and would most likely say, "The Dojaku unit is the strongest, they would not die so easily." And likewise, "The Raiun wouldn't cower in fear." But they were under my command and I needed my soldiers alive.
I informed everyone of the deployment, and the next day the battle was to begin.
Sei Chou POV END
Chou Haku decided that it was his left flank that would open the day for him, General Shuu charged out with 5,000 soldiers, the attack was only a probe to see how strong the Yan defense was.
Chi Ketsu did something that surprised me, he assumed a defensive formation, one that left little to no openings at all. General Shuu showed some tact as he exploited the openings and started to gain momentum but that was all halted bluntly by Yan General Yun Ri. The man chipped at and whittled down the numbers of General Shuu, by letting the cavalry through and then opening them to the archers.
Shuu attempted to break off and attack a different location, but everywhere there seemed to be an obstacle in his way. Though it seemed he was starting to make his way out and rally his troops, then calamity called.
General Kou, getting this information, decided the battle was in a state for him to show his strength, then committed everything to charge into the awaiting Yan forces. Li Shun like Yun Ri set up traps waiting for Kou to charge blindly into. Li Shun himself, holding nothing back and seeing that he could take the head of a General on the first day of battle, committed all his troops as well.
Kou met Li Shun in a duel, it was then that 10,000 Yan troops swooped around and smashed into the back of the Zhao flank. With his 3,600 troops Sei Chou and his soldiers saw where the battle was heading and awaited his orders, he waited till the last moment before ordering a retreat.
A few of the Zhao soldiers who had heard the words of "Retreat!" decided to follow him and his army, and Sei Chou also managed to rally some more to follow him out of the encirclement but most of the flank had been captured or slaughtered. By the time Chou Haku made himself known, there were roughly 8,000 casualties of the original 15,000.
Sei Chou himself rallying roughly 1,000 and escaping into the forest, he then initiated hit and run tactics looking to whittle down the Yan numbers whilst attempting to draw out Li Shun who was too cautious to fight a skirmish in the dark.
Though they managed to take out a few 1,000 man commanders and around 2,000 soldiers. The odds were overwhelming out of Zhao's favour, to lose a General on the opening day crumbled morale. Chou Haku the Zhao commander in chief was thinking if it would be better to cut their losses.
Sei Chou's night attacks were mainly decoys, his main goal was to get as many sets of Yan armour and flags as they could. As his plan was slowly coming together Den Pou entered his tent and saw Sei Chou looking over the deployment.
"Preparations are done now, Young master. We can proceed with your word." Hearing the words Sei Chou smirked, "I guess it's time, shall we shake things up a bit?" Den Pou nodded with a proud salute.
"Fu Jin," Sei Chou called out to one of his closest and most loyal bodyguards, the man stepped in wearing the same armour as the personal retinue that had first joined Sei Chou after Gyou'un had found him.
"Take 2,000 and scout Hau city, report back what you see." He threw a scroll over and Fu Jin caught it swiftly, "Don't over do it." Fu Jin smirked back at him. "Await my report, my Lord." Before leaving the tent and rounding up 2,000 troops and setting out for Hau city under the cover of darkness.
CHAPTER DONE