Sanyou Campaign

242 B.C

Meng is excited, he heard that soon his idol Mou Gou! would be leading a large campaign into Wei, he quickly sent letters to Sei, requesting that he be included with the men sent to invade Wei.

*A few weeks later*

Great General Mou Gou leads 250,000 soldiers into Wei, their goal is to capture the Sanyou region of Wei.

Thankfully Meng finds himself a part of the main army (80,000), he finds himself positioned in the rear of the army held back with the reserves. He doesn't mind, he knows that Wei will likely hold up behind their city walls, his heavy mounted archers wont be very useful in a siege battle.

*couple days later*

Mou Gou has split the army into three, they'll advance at the same pace while invading Wei, his main army under him is currently sieging the city of Kourou. The army has surrounded Kourou and he plans on slowly sieging the city for a month.

Meng (POV)

Sadly, siege battles aren't suited for his men, and he can only watch as the army sends in wave after wave attacking the city walls, he could use his men as archers but it would be a waste of his men to lose them here exchanging shots with the archers on the city walls.

For eleven days his men are held back in reserve, he expected the city to hold for a couple more weeks, but suddenly he noticed a large siege tower being pushed towards the city walls!

Unknown to the rest of the army, Gyoku Hou Unit had built a surprise for the Wei forces, thanks to the efforts of his family, they were able to build a siege tower. Taking the enemy by surprise, the Gyoku Hou Unit rushes their 300 troops atop the city walls! unfortunately, since they didn't coordinate with the rest of the army, their 300 men are alone atop the wall, with the rest of the army not attempting to climb the siege tower to support them, despite this Ou Hon leads the Gyoku Hou unit and fight their way across the city walls until they get above the city gates, lowering robes they are able to send men down and open them.

Despite the Gyoku Hou Unit opening the gates, the Gaku Ka Unit led by Mou Ten steals the limelight and quickly rushes into the city and captures the city center, their flag is soon seen all around the city, bringing the fighting to an end.

With the city captured, Meng camps his men far away from the residential area, he doesn't want to deal with any of his men getting any funny ideas and attempting to assault any of the women in the city. He already learned that Shin was locked up for killing a 1,000 man commander who was raping and murdering the people in the city. Thankfully he had backers from high up who were able to get him off with a light punishment, one of them surprisingly being from Mou Ten.

Mou Ten must have talked to his father General Mou Bu, who then must have talked to his father Great General Mou Gou. Mou Ten already being the grandson of his idol was already looked favorable upon by Meng, now that he helped Shin out, it made Meng even more grateful and caused him to seek out the young man to thank him.

(it totally wasn't so that he could also briefly meet his idol, who just so happened to be camped in the city with Mou Ten and his men)

*three weeks later*

Meng was forced from the rear in the reserves as the infantry took Kinrikan city, with the city captured he and his men set up their camp inside the city, far away from the residential area.

It was getting dark outside and Meng was eating with his men when they noticed a commotion happening, soon a soldier ran up and reported what was happening, it seems that a few 1,000 man commanders had been assassinated!

That was when he remembered that in the manga Rin Ko was prowling around the city! from what he remembered he had taken out many commanders in the city this night!

"QUICKLY! INCREASE THE NUMBER OF GUARDS AROUND THE CAMP!!!", shouted Meng.

"I WANT TWICE AS MANY GUARDS ON DUTY!"

"PULL BACK THE MEN AND FORM THE CAMP INTO A TIGHTER DEFENSIVE PERIMETER!"

"THERE IS NOW A CURFEW!", he shouted.

He didn't want any unnecessary men wandering around outside distracting the guards on patrol.

He set up checkpoints to get from one area of his camp to another, and increased the number of torches in the area, he didn't want even a single shadowy spot that an assassin could use to sneak into the camp!

He then had one of his men switch outfits with him and had him act as a decoy and wait in his tent, he then snuck off and hid amongst the men dressed as a common soldier.

A few hours later the camp alarm was sounded! someone had snuck into the camp and assassinated his double! four guards outside his tent had been killed as well, the assassin had managed to sneak in and out before anyone had noticed! no one noticed the assassination until a patrolling guard had spotted the dead bodies. His men were freaking out but he still waited until morning to reveal that he was still alive.

*three days later*

The assassin had managed to kill six 1,000 man commanders before anyone knew what was going on, then in the night another three had been killed (really two since Meng double died)

Mou Gou despite having many of his 1,000 man commanders assassinated had no choice but to keep advancing the army, he had to keep pace with the two armies on either side of his main force or risk falling behind as they keep advancing to capture cities.

It was three days since they left Kinrikan city and everything was going well, the army after suffering from numerous assassinations, had greatly increased its security, and there had been no other assassination attempts.

Meng was riding with his men when suddenly there was a lot of commotion in the main army! he soon learned that General Ragen had been assassinated! A general in the middle of his army! in the middle of the day! had been killed!

Meng immediately had himself replaced with a double once again and hid amongst the soldiers. He wore the outfit of a common soldier and even went as far as doing the random chores around the camp to help better blend in.

In the manga, after Ragen was killed the assassinations had ended, but a couple of days later his double was ambushed by 20 assassins while riding amongst the soldiers!

He had ordered Side Mob to hang around his double and pretend like his double was really him, Side Mob stunned everyone and had actually managed to intercept Rin Ko! but sadly his double was still killed by the other 20 assassins! they managed to kill ten but Rin Ko and the rest managed to escape!

This time Meng decided to wait to reveal that it was in fact his double that died, he didn't want the assassin to learn that he was still alive. He let the rumor of his death be spread around the army, he wouldn't let his men know that he was in fact alive until he was sure that Rin Ko was finished targeting Qin commanders.

*a few days later*

Qin scouts had managed to spot RenPa leading a large army to face Qin! they hurried to report to Mou Gou!

Meng hearing that Ren Pa had come out of retirement and was once again leading an army, knew that Rin Ko would be returning to join his master to prepare for the battle that was surely coming!

As the day was coming to an end, Meng remembered that Mou Gou had never once been able to defeat Ren Pa throughout his entire military career! he knew from the manga that Mou Gou having learned that he would once again be facing Ren Pa, would dress like a common soldier and amble around the camp, then go lie down in the grassy plains to clear his head, it would be there that he would run into Shin.

Meng decided to go meet with his idol and see how he was doing, carrying a large jar of wine, he headed out to search for Shin and Mou Gou. He soon spotted the pair sitting out by a campfire eating a rabbit that Shin had caught.

Meng forgot that the army thought he was dead! and a startled Shin thought he was a ghost and attacked him! after a short scuffle he was forced to smack Shin on the head and told him to stop being an idiot!

He then came up with a heroic story of how he had managed to single-handedly chase off Rin Ko after he attempted to assassinate him! it seems the pair had learned a bit more about his character and both gave him a weird look as if they didn't believe him, with no other choice he was forced to reveal how he had used a double to survive and had hidden amongst his men to hide from the assassin.

This got a chuckle out of the other two and they passed around the wine jar, Shin talked about his time with Piao as a kid and how they would often battle with Meng and the other village children. Mou Gou after hearing more about the two decided to share as well.

"Back in my younger days, there was a man that I often fought against... and every single time, it would always end with me getting trounced by him", said Mou Gou as he started his story.

"And even though we've now both become old and grey... for some reason, I have to fight him one more time", continued Mou Gou sighing.

"What's more is, even though he's become an old geezer, his strength hasn't withered at all... If anything, his body is still in prime condition!", said Mou Gou.

" (chuckles to himself), quite a conundrum isn't it?", asked Mou Gou.

"So even after becoming an old geezer, you have to fight a monster... I have no idea what you're worrying about at all!", said Shin.

Startled, Mou Gou asked if Shin was listening?

"Yea I heard ya! you gotta go another round with some monster! that's been kicking your ass for ages, right? but isn't this really good for you?", responded Shin.

Mou Gou was shocked once again and asked why it was a good thing.

"Because! isn't this your chance to make a huge turnaround! the last man standing in a fight is the winner! all you need to do is win the next fight! then just keep running away from him! with that, the last laugh will belong to you, gramps!", said Shin.

Meng after remembering what happened in the manga knew that Mou Gou would accept Ren Pa's challenge to a duel and end up losing his arm! Ren Pa would use the excuse of winning the duel to force Mou Gou into accepting a cease-fire, ending the battle when his troops were losing.

Meng then decided to share his experience battling Wei in the border skirmishes that had recently been happening, Mengs' men had been causing havoc! using hit and run tactics on the Wei forces in the area, with their mobility and ranged attack, they had inflicted many casualties on the Wei forces and suffered few casualties in return.

Meng then told them about how Wei commanders thought that it would be easier to deal with him than his troops! they kept trying to bait him into accepting a duel, but instead, they ended up falling for his trap and dying under a storm of arrows!

Meng then laughed at the two's startled faces.

"I figure, it's better to live a coward, keeping my men organized and fighting effectively, than dying a brave death in a duel I'll always lose! despite being weaker than Shin, I've already racked up a few 1,000 man commanders' heads under my belt!", said Meng as he looked up at the sky.

"Mou Gou, you may not be a strong fighter like Ren Pa! but despite this! Qin has entrusted you with multiple campaigns into enemy territory! you're capable of attacking, defending, sieging, and commanding a large number of troops across a vast area!", said Meng.

"Many generals consider you just average, Mou Gou, but despite this, how many cities have still fallen to you? why does Qin keep trusting you! to lead their armies against other nations!", said Meng.

There was an awkward silence amongst the three when suddenly Mou Gou started laughing and patting Meng on the shoulder. Mou Gou in a better mood enjoyed the rest of the night, drinking wine with the two young commanders.