Surviving as Guan Yu in the Three Kingdoms

As soon as Zhu Jing heard my words, he shouted:

“How dare a mere Dun Zhang offer an opinion! Do you really need to be flogged according to military law to come to your senses?”

A Dun Zhang leading 100 soldiers is not a low position. However, Zhu Jing, who commands over thousands of soldiers, is equivalent to a colonel in Korea.

No, since he’s commanding over thousands of troops, should he be considered a general with stars?

Moreover, although Liu Bei and us are being treated better than other volunteer armies, in the end, we’re just a group without any official position or proven credentials.

So there’s a wall between Zhu Jing and me that’s so high we can’t even make eye contact.

The situation we’re in is also very unfavorable, with only 6,000 on our side while the enemy has 30,000, and there seems to be no solution.
Saying that I have a plan probably sounded presumptuous, so he seems to be trying to take out his frustration on me.

“The enemy is a large army of over 30,000, and we have only 6,000! In such a urgent situation, how dare a mere Dun Zhang like you propose a strategy? I’d like to have you flogged to correct your insolence, but…”

Zhu Jing glanced at Liu Bei and said:

“I’ll let it slide this time, specially considering the face of General Liu who participated in the Yellow Turban suppression leading a thousand elite troops. Now get out of here!”

Although I received the order to withdraw, I have no intention of backing down here.

It’s obvious that Zhu Jing doesn’t have any proper plan right now.

Then, in the end, relying on the mountain terrain to defend would be the best option, and the Yellow Turban leader must know this too.

If there were no detour routes here, I would have agreed with the strategy Zhu Jing would choose.

However, there were as many as three detour routes near this Daxing Mountain, so it’s obvious from the start that the defensive strategy he wants to use is impossible.

With three routes, if we divide and deploy 2,000 men each, when 30,000 enemy troops swarm in, we’ll be instantly broken through and die like dogs. On the other hand, if we concentrate our defense in one place, they can just go around the other routes.

If we let the enemy slip away like that, our Wei Zhu will have his head cut off for violating military orders, so he’ll lead the remaining army in pursuit and get wiped out by the numerically superior Yellow Turbans.

“Hey, Dun Zhang! Are you listening to me?! I told you to get lost!”

When I didn’t move, Zhu Jing couldn’t contain his anger and raised his hand to hit me.

However, that palm never struck my cheek.

Because Liu Bei stood in front of me and stopped him.

“No, General Liu. No matter how much you care for that Dun Zhang, I simply cannot tolerate that arrogant fellow. We can’t just leave someone who disrupts military discipline unpunished, can we?”

Even in Korea, when old fogies were in a bad mood, they would nitpick their subordinates and scold them unreasonably, saying young people these days have no concept of respect.

It seems Zhu Jing is trying to take out his frustration on me, who got picked on, for being forcibly burdened with an unreasonable task by that Liu Yan fellow.

If that’s not the case, there’s no reason to intimidate me, who said I have a strategy, in the current situation where we’re just facing off against the enemy, unless it was an urgent battle situation.

“Your words aren’t wrong, Wei, but the one who trained the elite soldiers I brought is Yunchang here.”

Having trained for only a month, it’s actually a bit conscience-pricking to call them elite soldiers.

However, in the late Han period, “elite troops” doesn’t just mean the ultimate elites like Cao Cao’s Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Gao Shun’s Troop of Ferocity, or Gongsun Zan’s White Horse Volunteers who were trained over decades.

If the soldiers have sharp angles as if measured with a ruler, and are equipped with shiny armor and weapons, they were considered elite, so it’s not wrong.

Zhu Jing’s stern face softened a bit upon hearing Liu Bei’s words.

“Is that really so?”
“And last time when over a thousand Yellow Turbans invaded Xu County and all the government troops fled, it was Yunchang who came up with the strategy to defeat them. So please give him a chance.”

When Liu Bei, who had brought over a thousand elite troops, spoke to this extent, Zhu Jing heaved a deep sigh and asked me:

“Alright, since General Liu speaks so highly of you, let’s hear it. So, what strategy have you thought of?”
“Before I explain, please look at the Yellow Turban camp over there first.”

Looking again, it’s really in a state of utter chaos.

Although it’s not very clear since we’re looking down from afar, it seems like they’ve hastily set up their camp.

Even though they’re facing an enemy, you can hear the soldiers laughing and chattering from the Yellow Turban camp.

Even though it’s difficult to conceal and cover a military camp, in a state of impending war, no more words than necessary should be allowed to maintain military discipline.

“Their discipline has hit rock bottom. Their morale seems very low too. They’re completely disorganized.”

The problem is that the corrupt Han government troops are at about the same level of disorganization.

Even now, looking around, while Liu Bei’s army that I trained for a month with guerrilla tactics and drills was ready to face the enemy at any time,

The Han soldiers were already sitting down on the ground resting, as if foretelling that the Han dynasty would soon fall.

Some experienced soldiers are even sitting and sleeping, and the officers are pretending not to see this, which says it all.

“But what does this have to do with the strategy you’re about to explain?”
“Like all armies, such disorganized rabble are especially weak against surprise attacks. So I intend to surprise attack them.”
“But the Governor of Yu Province told us to tie them down. So we should build a stronghold…”
“Although the mountains here are a bit rugged, there are three detour routes. If we block one, they’ll go around through the others, and if we try to block all three, we’ll have to spread out our already small forces…”

I deliberately omitted saying that there’s no way it would work.

There’s no need to mention “defeat” in a situation where you don’t have to say such things, as it would only hurt the other person’s feelings unnecessarily.

“Given this situation, it would be difficult to tie down the enemy as per military orders. Moreover, although the Governor said he would somehow send soldiers…”

Zhu Jing heaved a big sigh.

“Honestly, no one knows when reinforcements will arrive.”

In a situation without a reliable fortress, it’s hard to tie down over 30,000 enemies with 6,000, and saying that reinforcements won’t come is essentially telling us to die.

It means they’ll treat us as having died an “honorable death” if we tie them down as much as possible.

“So there’s no other way but a surprise attack. Now I’ll propose the details of the actual operation.”

In fact, there’s only one reason I’ve spoken at length up to this point.

To increase the credibility of what I’m about to say, it’s important to make it look plausible by attaching facts that anyone can notice, rather than talking about something special.

“First, we’ll set up camp in one of the three forks here, the Dongzhong Gorge. Then we’ll let the enemy know we’re here, intending to draw them in.”

One of the terrains most often used in the Three Kingdoms when a small force has to face a large enemy is precisely a gorge.

Because gorges are narrow, they inevitably have to line up in a long column. Therefore, it’s good for blocking the entrance even with a small allied force.

“Zhang Yan will probably want to avoid us stationed in the gorge, but if he hears that our Liu Bei army is only a thousand strong, he’ll surely come to attack us. Not only because our numbers are small, but also blinded by the thought of collecting and selling our armor and weapons.”

Without exaggeration, selling just one set of armor our soldiers are wearing now could buy enough land and cattle to feed a family.

With as many as 1,000 such money bags, there’s no way the Yellow Turbans would pass that up.

“While our Liu Bei army is holding back the 30,000 Yellow Turbans, Wei, you should hurry from Sanghucun towards where we are. Then surprise attack them.”

The distance from Sanghucun to the Dongzhong Gorge I mentioned is roughly half a day’s journey.

So Zhang Yan will think he can beat us within half a day with his 30,000 troops, and will rush in recklessly.

“Then the victory in this battle will be ours.”

Zhu Jing listened to my words, thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Normally, I wouldn’t want to use such a reckless strategy, but we have no choice. We’ll have to do it.”
“Thank you for listening to my insignificant opinion.”
“No, I’m sorry. I think I took out my frustration on you because I was feeling overwhelmed by having to face a large army. It’s late today, so go in and rest now.”

Then Zhu Jing ordered everyone to dismiss.

As we were returning to the camp, Liu Bei asked me:

“Listening to the story, it seems like there’s nothing wrong with what Yunchang said, right? But you’re hiding something, aren’t you? Tell me honestly.”

As expected of Liu Bei.

In fact, I deliberately didn’t mention the Yellow Turbans’ most important secret in order for us to get a chance to shine.

In the original history, the group led by Zhang Yan was a band of thieves with such weak cohesion that they could be defeated by Liu Bei’s “500” troops.

Well, this is knowledge at the level of someone who knows the future, so I didn’t mention it…

I should answer in a roundabout way, but not to the point of lying.

“The Yellow Turbans are like a blazing flame. When they flare up once, they instantly increase their momentum, but if anything goes against their will even for a moment, their morale plummets. So, if we just endure and fight well according to our training… we might be able to chase them all away even before Wei arrives.”