Battle for the Xu Province part 2

Fang was running onto the battlefield not knowing what was going on as he was confused with how the enemy was wasting arrows on them when they weren't even in range.

He didn't know what he was doing but his body was instinctively responding for him as he began to hold his shield before his body covering his upper body and a small part of his lower body and head like everyone else beside him.

He soon found out that the stories the others told him about the wars weren't like what he is experiencing now when he remember what his father mentioned to him.

They got closer to the wall making it possible for the archers to shoot at them and Fang looked at his left and right while pushing forward when he sees one of the men being killed by a stray arrow.

Many men died through the arrows but they reached the walls and once there, ladders were placed against the wall making it possible for them to climb the wall up while others broke the gates down since they were made of wood.

Once broken through the gates they entered the city without much resistance. Fang was running up the stairs with some of the men as the enemy was on the walls as well as in the middle of the city.

They circulated the enemy giving them only two options which were to surrender or to jump down the wall and die.

"We surrender," says one of the soldiers dropping his bow followed by others making Fang feel secure when suddenly they rushed them.

Fang's body reacted fast and he points his spear at the incoming enemy piercing through him while the adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He then goes after the next one piercing another one and another one on his spear until Lu Bu stops him by placing his hand on Fang's shoulder.

"It seems the apple didn't drop far from the tree," says Lu Bu seeing at least five men pierced on Fang's spear before he takes the spear and puts his foot against the first corpse.

He pushed the corpses while pulling the spear out of it before saying, "But you need to learn how to keep a calm mind. I know that this is your first battle and the training you went through seemed to have kept you alive."

He gives Fang the spear back and looks around trying to find Mi Zhu but he couldn't see him anywhere so he commanded his men to storm the manor and take the city now that the South Gate has fallen.

Fang was running towards the center of the city with the army while Lu Bu was keeping an eye out for him from his horse worried about his future son-in-law since Yun entrusted Fang to him.

"What do you think of Fang?" asks Lu Bu to Chen Gong who looked at Lu Bu confused before a smile appeared on his face.

"Do I smell some worries coming from you," says Chen Gong teasing Lu Bu before laughing and saying, "To finally see the day that you are worried about someone else than yourself and your family on the battlefield."

"Well, he is family since he will be marrying my daughter in some years," says Lu Bu trying to take the loophole that Chen Gong created for him.

"Do you want my honest opinion?" asks Chen Gong seriously as Lu Bu nods before Chen Gong says, "It is his first battle and he never killed someone before. You can see it just by looking at how he is wandering around like a headless chicken."

Lu Bu thought the same seeing Fang following the men without knowing where they are going or what their orders are when Chen Gong says, "But everyone is like this the first time. I can remember my first battle, I stiffened up after killing my first person and fell to the ground. The people left me behind as they went to continue the battle on their own. So you could say he is doing quite well for his first time."

"I don't remember being like that my first time," says Lu Bu thinking over it as he smiled at Chen Gong.

"That is because you are a monster through and through. I think, you and General Zhao are the only ones that did well in their first campaign," says Chen Gong calling Lu Bu and Yun monsters.

"Yun's first kill made him vomit. He said it turned his stomach upside down," says Lu Bu informing Chen Gong that Yun was just a normal person while seeing the enemy defending the manor against Zhang Liao and his men who seemed to have gotten there before them.

"Do you need some help?" asks Lu Bu as he approaches Zhang Liao and Xu Shu with Chen Gong.

"We could need it since we need to take the women alive," says Xu Shu seriously when Lu Bu looked at him confused.

"Liu Bei and some of his men escaped through the North Gate a while ago leaving his wives to their fate. Gao Shun is on their heels leaving me with this task," says Zhang Liao informing Lu Bu about the current situation as he took his time to get to the center of the city.

"General Zhao told us not to chase him," says Chen Gong seriously since Yun warned them.

"Guang Jia should know when to stop Gao Shun from pursuing Liu Bei. She is one of the most intelligent women between our ranks," says Xu Shu not seeing any fault in Gao Shun chasing after Liu Bei if it secures their victory.

Fang was seeing the men fighting when he saw a hole in the enemy formation and he slipped through it. He passed the line and found himself surrounded by three enemy soldiers.

'Fuck!' thinks Fang as his body responded for him. He killed one of the soldiers when two of them were stunned while the other two approached him.

He looks at the men approaching him and it almost seemed like time was slowing down for him as he swings his spear hitting the sword of one of the men and directing it into the way of the other one.

The swords clash with each other and Fang took this opportunity to kill the two men before focusing on the other two who seemed to have dropped their swords.

He didn't want to make the same mistake as before and killed both of them. Now he was inside the courtyard of the manor covered in blood when he gets stopped by a man holding a glaive.

"It seems they have broken through the last line of defense," says the man as Fang looked at the man who seemed to be the General defending the manor.

"I am Fang and you are?" asks Fang not revealing his family name since his father told him that it would be too dangerous if the enemy found out that he was a Zhao.

"It doesn't matter what my name is since I will be dying here by your hands or the hands of another. But I will die while doing my duty," says the man before rushing at Fang who raised his shield to block the incoming attack which made him retreat a step.

Fang then pushes his shield forward making the man retreat two steps before running at the man with the shield first.

The man evades to Fang's left entering Fang's blindspot as the shield would be blocking his view not respecting the training Fang went through. Fang was prepared for it and jumped to his right creating distance again.

"It seems you were taught well," says the man as he looked at Fang who was still a boy compared to him.

"I had to learn if I wanted to stay in General Zhao's army," says Fang as he felt exhausted from all the battling from before and he drops his shield knowing that he couldn't win except he used his remaining strength to fight with the spear.

Fang was holding his spear as his father would and the man looks at him and says, "As far as I know only one person was taught by General Zhao personally and that is his brother-in-law. Who are you really?"

"I am only Fang, a foot soldier that is under the command of General Lu Bu," says Fang as the man rushed at him.

Fang sees the glaive coming and he uses the blunt side of his spear to direct the glaive away from his body while taking a step forward before he uses the tip of his spear to pierce the man.

The man evades effortlessly seeing that Fang had almost no real experience. He uses the blunt end of his glaive and hits Fang in the chest sending him back for a few steps when he sees an opportunity to kill Fang.

He swings the blade of the glaive again at Fang who uses his spear to block the attack. The man repeatedly began to swing at Fang thinking that he would soon have no strength.

And it came as he expected, Fang dropped his spear out of exhaustion and fell to his knees. The man smiled as he took another swing at Fang when suddenly a halberd appeared out of nowhere and blocked the attack.

"How about you cut the kid some slack. He fought a grown man in his first duel while being exhausted from all the running and fighting," says Lu Bu who was standing behind Fang.

The man recognized Lu Bu immediately and looked towards the entrance finding his men either had given up or were laying dead on the ground.

"It seems this battle is over, but my Lord will return one day and exact vengeance upon you all," says the man as Lu Bu smiles at him in excitement.

"Your Lord can call himself lucky that General Zhao didn't want his head. He only wanted the city and he got it," says Lu Bu as he uses a bit of Qi and disarms the man before ramming his halberd into the man's chest killing him painlessly since he at least stayed to fight his battle while his lord ran away.

The man falls over and Lu Bu looked at the exhausted Fang who was still on his knees and says, "For your first battle you have fought well. But we will need to train your stamina and endurance once we are in Xiapi. We can't have you die under my watch or your father is going to kill me and all the thirty thousand men under my command."

"I don't think he would," says Fang exhausted and not thinking straight when he looks at Lu Bu who smiled at him.

"Oh, he would," says Lu Bu knowing Yun far too well.

"He wouldn't even use his army to kill me. He would kill us all himself," says Lu Bu as he helps Fang stand up before taking his shield and spear from the ground and placing them into Fang's hands again.

"Now you look like a proper squad leader," says Lu Bu thinking about promoting Fang to a squad leader so he could gain experience in leading people.

"Squad leader, how many people follow them?" asks Fang curious as Lu Bu raised only one finger.

"A hundred?" asks Fang as Lu Bu laughed at Fang because he thought too much of himself.

"Ten men will be following your command from now on," says Lu Bu as the men were dragging Liu Bei's wives and their servants to the courtyard.

"Does anyone of you know how to treat an injured person?" asks Lu Bu out of them as more than half of them seemed to be able to do so.

He then orders the soldiers to bring the injured to the manor's courtyard and to move their camp into the city when he sees a beautiful woman between the servants and picks her out before saying, "You will be treating our Dragonling until he is fully recuperated. Take him inside and lead him to the master bedroom."

Fang was confused about why Lu Bu was doing that when Gao Shun and Guang Jia returned from chasing Liu Bei and Gao Shun says, "Liu Bei escaped to the North. He might be thinking about allying himself with Yuan Shao."

"That wouldn't be our problem. General Zhao told us to take the city and let Liu Bei escape which means he already calculated that Liu Bei would go North," says Guang Jia as she knew that Yun was an intelligent person that was moving only a pawn around at his tune.

"What is the young master doing with that woman?" asks Guang Jia seeing that a servant woman was taking Fang inside.

"Fang was almost killed on the battlefield because he was running left and right before he had a duel with the corpse laying over there. I ordered the woman to look after him and treat him," says Lu Bu seriously giving his son-in-law a bit of freedom since he certainly saw his life pass before his eyes.

"General Zhao won't be pleased," says Guang Jia seriously.

"I know but the boy needs this right now," says Lu Bu knowing full well that Yun will glare at him later for letting Fang do that but that's why he picked one of the servant girls and not one of Liu Bei's wives.

"I will take full responsibility for it so rest for now. We will move again once the lightly injured can march again," says Lu Bu informing Guang Jia and the others before sending the healthy men to dig mass graves to bury the dead.