25 The birth of the "Hi Shin Unit"

Narrator PoV

By the time Qin army reached Bayou, the Zhao army also made their way there. They immediately took a defensive stance and set up camps. The Qin army also set up camp for next days battle. OuKi chose to put his main army as reserve to use later.

The first day went by without much fighting as both sides were testing each other out. There wasn't any noticeable events which was even a bit suspicious. Houken wasn't seen and Zhao was scattered around and fighting individually. OuKi was looking to find out the Zhao conspiracy. He knew that Zhao had an ulterior motive but couldn't find out what. He relied on his instincts and decided to speed up the battle before anything happens.

Shin PoV

There is something wrong with this battle. I didn't know what but I could feel it. General OuKi said we need to pick up the pace and finish this quickly. He then named my unit" Hi Shin" unit and tasked us with taking the head of Feng Ji. As we are a small unit with low presence, we would be perfect for missions like this.

Being named by one of the greatest generals was a honour few recieved. I knew he chose to do it so we could gather fame quickly and I was grateful. I might not be smart or educated, but even I understood the need for such an action. I won't fail with such stakes on the line.

We were skulking under the Zhao soldiers nose and made our way to our target. It was quite easy with our small team and we didn't have armor so we didn't make much sound. Old man Ganyou would serve as the decoy so we can break through the opening. Our unit was mostly peasants so they would underestimate us and that would be their downfall.

It worked out well as Feng Ji was distracted by Ganyou and he ignored our small unit . He only sent a detached force to stop our advance. We cut through the 500 or so soldiers he assigned to stop us and reached his camp just as Ganyou also reached there. It caused a panic among Zhao camp and they were disorganized.

Feng Ji wasn't an idiot and he chose to create distance by retreating when he saw Ganyou approaching and ordered 2000 troops to guard his rear but he made a simple miscalculation. The 500 soldiers couldn't stop us as he thought and I saw him coming our way. I leapt from my horse and swung my blade as he turned his head at the last second.

I sighed with relief as the head of Feng Ji rolled off with my slash. Ganyou announced our success as the Qin army was in high morale and charged . Zhao left wing was crumbling amd their HQ decided to retreat and regroup.

Ganyou came to me and spoke," By announcing your name and unit, now you got the eyes of the enemy on you and our kingdom would notice you more. This is your first step to become a symbol of Qin. Never stop forgiing ahead young lad, my lord has chosen to give you a push so you can grow into a fine general someday."

I grinned as I replied," My journey is just beginning. I won't just be any general, I'll keep getting stronger and one day I would be the greatest general of China!" To which the old man just laughed and went back. With our mission accomplished, we also retreated to the HQ for further orders.

Narrator PoV

The 2nd day of the battle of Bayou would be recorded in the shiji records with these simple two sentences; "A former slave named Shin got the acknowledgement from Great GeneralOuKi as he named his unit the "Hi Shin" unit. He then took the head of the Zhao general Feng Ji which would mark the beginning of his career as one of the key generals of Qin."

But light is always faced with darkness as tragedy struck the Qin camp that night. Hi Shin unit eho was reveling in their success would be struck down by Houken , the commander of Zhao army himself. Hi Shin unit lost almost half of their numbers and both their captain and lieutenant got injured.

Only by the sacrifice of his soldiers Shin managed to survive that night, which would force him to get much more stronger . The next day was relatively quiet as both armies just maintained their positions and didn't want to risk anything.

OuKi chose to sent out general MouBu to search the mountain valleys to spot any ambush and hold a strong position there. He specially told MouBu not to rush ahead and hold the position as it's a key location for blocking the enemy rather than attacking.

This was a mistake as MouBu wasn't keen on defending and he decided to rush out tomorrow and chase the Zhao soldiers into the valley. This would be what Zhao was waiting for all along.

Not far from the battlefield, in a small abandoned watch tower, there were two young kids sneaking in. Karyo Ten and MouKi are both new students in the school of strategies created by Shouheikun. They came to watch the battle unfold to learn more about warfare and stragies, unknowingly they would be lucky enough to witness something miraculous the next day.

With all this, the 3rd day would come to an end with the battlefield relatively quiet. Both sides gearing up for delivering a fatal strike the next day. Qin now had about 105,000 soldiers while Zhao had 85,000 soldiers. It was only the calm before the storm as there would be many twists waiting for both sides on the coming day.

Shin recovered and vowed to get revenge for his fallen comrades. They had about 150 people left so OuKi chose to give him 150 more from his own army to boost their numbers. They would be tasked with protecting the rear as OuKi decided to take the field himself tomorrow and put an end to this. As Hi Shin Unit was low on morale, he chose not to push them too much.

Then it was finally the fateful 4th day of the battle of Bayou where history would be changed forever. A sleeping dragon that had turned into a myth with the passage of time would be awoken once again. With that, the drums of war would be rang which would engulf the entire China and signify the end of the warring states era.