Kingdom: Hyou Ren

"Sir! Shin has slain Man Goku!" A messenger said, out of breath from all the running. 

Great. With him dead, morale should have lowered enough for them to make their escape. Now, there's only Duke Hyou left. 

The left flank was promptly decimated, and over half their forces were lost. However, they continued to fight valiantly against Hyou and his men.

Kei Sha had eventually sent in reinforcements, after multiple failed attempts at baiting Duke Hyou, and his fire was originally with Man Goku, but after his death. Kei had realised the futility of it all, and had sent in the reserves to assist, 20,000 men, including 5000 elites from her army. 

But, night was approaching and Father had seen that enough was enough, so with that. He retreated, alongside his 10,000 cavalry, having lost 5000 in the fighting. But he killed 17,000, a more than acceptable trade. 

However, Shin and his 10,000 men had suffered more, the ratio being 1-1 in almost the entire battle, and they were almost dead, in terms of energy levels, as Shin killed Man Goku.

Luckily though, my infantry had done its job, taking advantage of the hole in their formation, which 2 different cavalry units had used to pass through, properly softening it up while keeping casualties low. 

So, Ishiro, Shin and the rear-guard retreated with that, through the opening created by the infantry. 

The Zhao Army had also decided to end things there, taking the time to properly regroup. Although we won a great victory, in the great view of everything, it mattered little. 

As I´d come to know later, Shin and the 10,000 men had suffered about 2000 in losses, 150 from my unit and 300 from Shin´s unit. 

And so with that, we had lost 7000 men, killing somewhere around 20,000 enemy troops, so by the end of the day.

It was 33 000 against 100 000, 3 times our size, and our situation was identical to before the fighting, only that we managed to kill one of their strongest fighters, and one of Qin´s eternal enemies. 

But keeping the stats similar, was in itself a great victory and reward. 

However, I was brought out of my thoughts as a horse suddenly jumped up in front of me, having ran up the mountain terrain, and jumped over me.

My hands automatically reached towards my sword, but I saw the man atop the horse,

Duke Hyou Kou, my father.

"Father." I said, turning around to face him. 

"HAHAHAHA, Ren! You did not disappoint! You have done us a great service, your decision was sound." The man said while laughing, like he wasn't bleeding out of a hundred small cuts all along his body. 

"You know, sometimes I think you enjoy pain." I said, making the man burst out laughing once again as I sighed. 

"Go and get yourself healed, father. We wouldn't want you to die from infections." I told him, and he calmed down. Riding for his tent, as I called for a messenger to bring a medic. 

My Father knew the dangers of infections well enough to avoid kidding around for too long, so he retreated to his tents. 

"Alright, contact all units. I want a casualty report, estimated kill-count, and status. Contact Genji, he is to coordinate the watch duty. And get us reports from the other battlefields." I shouted. The duties of a commander were far greater than tactics.

**Ei Sei POV**

Five different messengers rushed into the room, as they gave us the reports from today's battle. 

"Sir, Kankoku Pass is standing strong."

"We are continuing to defend the pass." 

Said 2 messengers, which was followed by gasps of relief and shouts of encouragement from the various nobles present in the room. 

"Hahaha. Imagine if they had actually broken through in 1 day." Lû Bu said with a laugh.

We knew we'd survive today's assault, or we were expecting it to hold, no matter our inferiority in numbers, our generals would ensure we remained standing, if not striking back.

For that was Qin´s only advantage as it stood, our generals. And even that wasn't an advantage, more so a portion of the war which we equalled them in. 

"How are the Generals fairing? I want reports." Lord Changping said, our strategist. I liked the man, no matter how much I hated his master, but the man was as great as his mind. 

"First of all, Wei brought 2 massive siege towers, which managed to reach the top. General Kan Ki burned down one, and Chou Tout managed to hold on." One of the messengers said, and I could feel my heart spike at the fact they reached the walls.

That was one of our only certainties, the only battlefield that would definitely hold. But to think they could fight on the walls, it was beyond predictable. 

"Got to hand it to that clever mountain bandit." Lû Bu said, an unexpected compliment. But Kan Ki had indeed served us very well, even if his loyalty couldn´t be depended on.

"Meanwhile, Ou Sen´s army is holding on against the Yan Army, using the mountains." Another messenger said, resulting in another round of murmurs. 

"General Tou had taken to the battlefield with his army, taking on one of Chu´s 3 generals and eliminated the First General in single combat." He said, and this granted him an ever louder round of murmurs, it was a great feat indeed. 

"What of Mou Bu?" Long Changping asked.

"Nothing yet, sir. His forces are still on standby."

That was good, we had taken out a general and his first army, while only utilising 50% of our strength. 

"Lastly, on the rightmost battlefield. Duke Hyou underwent the most difficult battle of them all. 1/4th of their army was almost annihilated, but due to Hyou Ren´s intervention, he saved that part and even counter-attacked." A messenger said.

That was shocking, Ren was mostly unknown, and he commanded a small force. How did his 2000 men save 10,000?

"Do you have any details?" Lord Changping asked, and the messenger nodded. 

"Apparently, Duke Hyou has placed his son as his army's tactician. When Duke Hyou´s exhausted vanguard was shifted to the rear, Zhao sent Man Goku and his 10,000 elites to annihilate it. But Hyou Ren had predicted it, sending his own 1000 men to hold them off, giving the rear the time to regroup, and for the Hi Shin Unit to arrive, beginning a counter-attack." One messenger said, and another continued.

"With the assistance of the Ginryu Tai, Commander Shin of the Hi Shin Unit has killed Man Goku. And Hyou Ren then assured their safe retreat from the middle of their centre, surrounded on all sides by sending in the infantry." The messenger said, as a third spoke.

"I heard that Duke Hyou had fought the left flank with 15 000 men, killing 17 000 and only losing 5000, another 2000 dying in the centre, while killing around 3000.

"What? They have won such great feats? Perhaps they'll annihilate the Zhao army." An unknown noble said, but Lord Changping quickly shut them down.

"No, the original face-off had 40 000 vs 120 000, and now there's 33 000 vs 100 000, the odds are the same. Except for Man Goku and his elites." He said, shutting any hopeful thoughts off. 

"Remind me, wasn't Man Goku that psychopathic general we wanted to keep far away from Kanyou?" Lû Bu said, and Lord Changping nodded. 

However, my mind hadn´t caught most of that. My mind focused on the 2 men, Hyou Ren and Shin. They appeared everywhere, alongside that Ou Han and Mou Ten, it seems we have a few geniuses coming through the ranks. 

And Shin, I believe you'll be the shield that will guard Qin from total destruction! 

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Captain Vaughn: +11 Chapters

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Hyou Ren: 40+ (soon, gotta fix a few things)