Chapter Thirty-Six (Part One) The First Battle

  (PS: The second update is delivered.)

  "The Master said, 'The use of ritual propriety is to harmonize. The way of the former kings is to be cherished for its beauty. Whether it is a matter of great or small importance, there are things that should not be done. To know harmony and yet not regulate it by ritual propriety is also something that cannot be done. The Master said, 'Faithfulness is close to righteousness; words can be repeated. Respect is close to ritual propriety; it keeps shame and disgrace at a distance. Because of this, one who does not lose his kin can also be revered. The Master said, 'A gentleman eats without seeking to be full, lives without seeking comfort. He is diligent in his affairs and cautious in his words, and by these means he cultivates himself on the path of virtue.' This can indeed be called a love of learning."

  The neat and loud chanting of the eight hundred gentlemen soldiers echoed on the battlefield, the black character on a white background of the gentleman's great flag, as well as the two deputy flags with "benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and sincerity" and "gentleness, modesty, courtesy, thriftiness, and humility", also fluttered in the wind on the vast battlefield. In contrast, in the opposing Liao Rong rebel army, a shocking and earth-shaking laughter erupted, countless rebel generals and soldiers laughed until they cried, and even cavalrymen fell off their horses due to excessive laughter, creating a tragic comedy of dying from laughter.

  "Hahaha...!!!” The one who laughed the most in the rebel army was none other than Lian Rong himself, slapping his thigh and laughing wildly: “Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness? Gentleness, modesty, courtesy, thriftiness, and humility? Confucius said? Learning without thought is labor lost, thinking without learning is perilous. It seems I really underestimated Tao Yingxiao, that bookworm, he even came up with the idea of reciting the Analects on the battlefield! Truly a pioneer, unmatched by anyone before or after! Hahaha...!!!”

  "Big Brother Da Hu Fa, it seems that Tao Ying Xiao Er is easier to deal with than we thought." He Zi, the trusted deputy of Ruan Rong, also said excitedly: "Big Brother Da Hu Fa, please take a look, Tao Ying Xiao Er doesn't even understand how to deploy troops, the cavalry's position is very loose and they haven't even set up horned barriers to protect themselves. Our troops just need to charge forward and we can immediately disperse Tao Ying Xiao Er's troops and surround them!"

  "Ha! It seems that Zhao Kuo's little trick is a hundred times stronger than Tao Ying's little trick!" Lun Rong burst out laughing and shouted triumphantly: "Pass the order to the whole army, set up the arrow formation, concentrate the cavalry in the center to charge forward, deploy the infantry on both wings, and as soon as there is an opportunity, launch a surprise attack and capture Tao Ying alive!"

  "Alright!" Huo Zhe and the others responded, immediately going to make arrangements. Soon, the 10,000-strong rebel army began to deploy, with more than 3,000 cavalrymen arranged in the center, positioned at the forefront. The remaining 7,000 infantrymen were divided into three large teams, two teams of soldiers lined up on both sides, forming a diagonal line that opened to the left and right, working together with the cavalry to form a huge sharp arrowhead. There were also about 3,000 auxiliary troops stationed behind the arrowhead, protecting the grain and supplies. The sound of bugles and war drums also echoed through the massive rebel army.

  "The Master said: 'Is it not a pleasure, having learned something to practice it at once? Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar? Is it not gentlemanly not to take offense when others do not appreciate your abilities? The Master said: 'It is rare for someone to be filial and yet fond of going against his superiors. There has never been anyone who was not fond of going against his superiors but yet fond of making trouble. A gentleman focuses on the fundamentals, once the fundamentals are established, the Way will arise. Filial piety and respect for elders - is this not the root of benevolence? The Master said: 'Those who are skilled in speaking and have a pleasing countenance, rarely are benevolent...'"

  The speed at which Tao Ying's rebel army deployed its troops was so slow compared to the enemy Cao Cao's army in Xuzhou that it seemed like a snail's pace. The formation of the troops was even somewhat disorganized, and if there had been another commander, they would have already ordered a surprise attack. However, Tao Ying refused to seize this opportunity, instead leading his 800-strong army of Confucian scholars to recite the Analects with shaking heads, repeatedly reciting the first chapter on learning as if they were attending a gathering of 800 Confucians to worship Confucius.

  "Bookworm! Do you even know how to fight?!" Lin Qing, an outsider of the Junzi Army, could no longer bear it and rushed up to argue with Tao Ying, criticizing his armchair strategies.

  "Shut up!" Tao Ying's reaction scared Lin Qing half to death. Normally, in front of Lin Qing, Tao Ying was always smiling and joking around, but at this moment, he seemed like a different person, his face stern and majestic as he shouted at Lin Qing: "Close your mouth! Usually I can tolerate you, but now we are in the midst of battle, if you utter one useless word or interfere with my command even once, you will be subject to military law!"

  Lin Qing was taken aback by Tao Ying's words, and for a moment, she didn't know how to react. The accusatory words that had been on the tip of her tongue were swallowed back down. At this moment, Tao Ying didn't have the heart to explain things to this troublesome little girl either. Turning his head back, he simply observed the enemy's situation. When he saw that Rong Feng had arranged more than 3,000 main cavalry troops in the vanguard position, and also saw Rong Feng's flag appear among the cavalry troops, Tao Ying couldn't help but smile, muttering to himself: "Heaven is helping me."

  After a while, the Mo Rong rebel army, which had finally finished deploying its troops, slowly advanced to the front of the Junzi army. The two sides followed the unwritten rules of battle and each sent an archer to run to the center of the battlefield, back to back, drawing their bows and shooting arrows in the direction of their own armies. The spot where the arrowheads fell was also the frontmost point of both sides' vanguard troops. Because the Junzi army's archers had a good grasp of distance, the arrowheads landed right in front of the first row of Junzi army cavalry horses, so the Junzi army didn't need to change their position at all and simply stopped reciting "The Analects" in an extremely comical manner. The Mo Rong rebel army's vanguard troops, on the other hand, had to move forward by twenty or thirty steps before they stood in front of the arrowheads.

  The two armies faced each other, and according to the rules of war in this era, Tao Ying and Mo Rong, the two commanders-in-chief, rode their horses to the front line to exchange words. Mo Rong, who was nearly 40 years old, tall and majestic, pointed at Tao Ying with his whip and shouted: "Tao Ying, you are outnumbered, why don't you quickly dismount and surrender? If you surrender, I will spare your life for the sake of your father! Otherwise, with just one order from me, the tens of thousands of soldiers from Guangling will trample you into dust in an instant!"

  " Bah!" Tao Ying extremely ill-manneredly spat a mouthful of saliva, pointing at Ruan Yu and scolding loudly: "Ruan Yu, you are the world's number one ingrate, shameless and unscrupulous dog thief! My father entrusted you with important responsibilities, his kindness was as heavy as a mountain, but you didn't think about repaying him. Instead, you led your army to flee south, killing innocent people, and even murdered Governor Zhao of Guangling, harming the common folk, poisoning the living, and committing atrocities without any humanity! Your crimes are piling up! Today, this young lord is leading his army to punish you, this dog thief, but you still dare to utter arrogant words, brazenly offending your superior! Ruan Yu, dog thief, I'm telling you the truth, your time of death has arrived!"

  "How dare you, you little scamp! You don't know life or death, and yet you still dare to insult me?!" Zuo Rong's face turned red with rage, and he turned around to shout at the crowd of generals behind him: "Who will go capture Tao Ying's son for me?!"

  "He shall be the last to go!" General He Zizhen, the chief general under Meng Rong's command, responded with a loud cry, mounted his horse, grasped his spear and charged out of the formation.

  "Who will go and capture that thieving dog Rong for me?!" Tao Ying also turned around and roared at the troops behind him.

  "I will follow your will..."

  Xu Sheng, who had long been eager to show off his skills on the battlefield, shouted loudly and was about to charge out with his horse when Tao Ji suddenly grabbed him from beside and said with a smile: "Don't be in such a hurry, let's watch the good show first."

  "Enjoying the show?" Xu Sheng was taken aback, "What's there to enjoy on a battlefield?"

  "I am the one who will take Guan Yu's place!" At this time, a gentleman with a wooden-handled large knife came out of the array on horseback, and shouted at He Zi, who was coming to challenge him: "I am Guan Yun-chang! Come and announce your name, under Guan Yun-chang's knife, no nameless rats will not be killed!"

  "Is that Lord Guan, the Cloud Long?!" Xu Sheng, Lin Qing, He Zi and others from afar were all shocked, thinking to themselves how could the Lord Guan who beheaded Hua Xiong while drinking wine also be in the Junzi army? How come we've never heard of this?! And He Zi, who was facing off against Lord Guan, was so frightened that he hastily reined in his horse and shouted at Lord Guan, who had emerged from the Junzi army: "You're really Lord Guan, the Cloud Long, who beheaded Hua Xiong while drinking wine?!"

  "No!" The gentleman with the long-handled knife shouted loudly: "A great man does not change his name when he acts, nor does he change his surname when he sits! My surname is Guan, my name is Yu, the universe's Yu! My word is Yun Chang, Changshan Zhao Zilong's Chang!"

  "Bang, bang, bang!" A dull thud echoed across the battlefield. Xu Sheng and Lin Qing were both amused and annoyed, hastily asking Tao Ji: "General Tao, is there such a coincidence in this world? How does General Guan Yu's name and courtesy name resemble that of the renowned Guan Yu and Guan Yun-chang?"

  Tao Qi's answer left Lin Qing and Xu Sheng speechless. "Can't be more coincidental, right? His original name was Guan Er, but he didn't have a courtesy name, so my second brother changed it to this one, specifically for him to duel with enemies."

  What made him even more desperate was that he almost got scared to death, or rather pitied General He Zizhen, who took a deep breath and then charged forward with his spear, shouting "Guan Yu's little boy, take my sword!"

  "Nameless rodents, take my sword!" Guan Yu also held his sword and rode towards He Zi. The two horses clashed, and in the blink of an eye, they were less than thirty steps apart. But just as suddenly, Guan Yu reined in his horse's head, threw out his large knife, turned around, and galloped back to his own camp, shouting: "Nameless rodents, I'll spare your life this time!"

  "Bang, bang, bang, bang!" The battlefield was also a series of dull thuds. He Zi easily dodged the large wooden-handled knife thrown by Guan Yu and charged forward on horseback, determined to strike down this lazy and despicable 'Guan Yu' and seize the first achievement. But at the same time, Tao Ying, who had already retreated back into the heavy cavalry formation, raised the triangular command flag and waved it once...

  "The Master said: 'To govern with virtue is like the North Star, which remains stationary while all the other stars revolve around it.' The Master said: 'The three hundred poems of the Book of Poetry can be summed up in one phrase: "Think without evil"'"

  The new son said poem cloud sound transmission, ranked third team of one hundred and sixty gentleman army light cavalry suddenly launched a charge, neat loud reciting the son said poem cloud patting horse forward, through the first two rows of heavy cavalry between the gap to advance, and together with the bow and arrow, one hundred and sixty arrows all shot towards the patting horse rushing He Zhi, poor He Zhi general scared soul flying scattered, hastily waving steel gun blocking arrow branches when, but blocked east can not block west, in the blink of an eye was shot into a hedgehog like, miserable cry fell to the ground, together with the horse died.

  "Junior Brother—!" General Lun Rong let out a disbelieving long hiss.

  "The Master said: Guide them with government, regulate them with virtue, the people will be safe and without shame. Guide them with virtue, regulate them with ritual, they will have shame and restraint. The Master said: At fifteen I set my heart on learning; at thirty I took my stand; at forty I came to be free from perplexities; at fifty I understood the Decree of Heaven; at sixty my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth; at seventy I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right."

  At the same time, the last two teams of Junzi army light cavalry also rode forward, passing through the wide gap between the first two teams of heavy cavalry, maintaining a neat formation and charging forward together. On horseback, they drew their bows and shot arrows, throwing arrow rain towards the distant Qiang Rong rebel army vanguard. This time, the arrowheads used by the Junzi army light cavalry were all sharp and thin light arrows, with an extremely long range, falling densely into the Qiang Rong rebel army formation, and the sound of continuous arrow hits and mournful cries instantly echoed through the Qiang Rong rebel army ranks.

  "Release the arrow! Release the arrow! Quickly release the arrow!"

  For the first time, he saw such a shameless tactic, and the furious Monk Buddha was enraged, ordering the rebel cavalry to shoot back with arrows. However, the speed of the light cavalry's shooting far exceeded Monk Buddha's imagination. The dizzy rebel cavalry were still in disarray, drawing their bows and loading their arrows, when the three teams of light cavalry had already shot out two waves of arrow rain, instantly shooting down a large number of rebel cavalry again. When the rebel cavalry finally managed to draw their bows and shoot arrows, Monk Buddha discovered with extreme anger that the rebel's bows and arrows simply couldn't shoot that far, and most of the arrowheads fell to the ground within twenty or thirty steps from the light cavalry, posing no threat to them at all.

  An even more shameless tactic emerged, after the rebel army shot back with arrows, the first team of Junzi Army light cavalry turned around and ran away quickly under minimal threat, retreating to an absolutely safe area. The second team of Junzi Army light cavalry charged forward, throwing out a wave of arrow rain, and then also turned around and ran away, switching to the third team charging and shooting arrows, and then turning around to escape, repeating this cycle endlessly.

  Under the circumstances where the bow and arrow range was not as good as the gentleman's military cavalry, after taking a dozen or so waves of arrow rain, General Botuosa could no longer bear it. Relying on his numerous troops and generals, he raised his knife and loudly commanded: "Beat the drums, cavalry charge, rush up and engage in close combat with Tao Yingxiao! Whoever captures Tao Yingxiao alive will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold!"

  "Boom, boom, boom!" The war drums of the vanguard sounded, and the rebel cavalry, still with an absolute advantage in numbers, immediately launched a charge. They shouted strangely, waving their swords and guns, and charged towards the Junzi army's light cavalry with great momentum, overwhelming this shameless Junzi army's light cavalry.

  At this moment, Tao Yingling waved his flag and the sound of the golden drum rang out. The 800 gentleman army finally used the most shameless tactic in this era - whether it was the three teams of light cavalry in front or the two teams of heavy cavalry behind, they all turned their horses around and ran away. As for the commander-in-chief Tao Yingling and his deputy Lin Qing, they were even more shameless, pulling up the reins of their warhorses and leading the escape!

  The most shameless thing is that the three gentlemen's light cavalry, who had changed from the rear team to the front team, relied on the high-bridge saddle and stirrups under their buttocks, and while fleeing on horseback, they desperately turned back to shoot arrows. They fled while shooting, ran while releasing arrows, and the poor cavalry of the rebel army, although having a certain advantage in terms of warhorse charging speed, were unable to withstand the constant flying arrows of the gentlemen's light cavalry. When dodging bows and arrows in a hurry, they did not have the help of high-bridge saddles and stirrups to maintain balance, so their speed could only be forced to slow down.

  Some friends must have asked, are the cavalry of the rebel army all idiots? Why didn't they shoot arrows during the charge and also disrupt the retreat speed of the light cavalry of the imperial army? In fact, the answer is very simple. Without the help of stirrups and high saddle, it's easy to lose one's life due to the horse's shaking and the damn physical inertia while charging and shooting arrows at the same time!

  Friends, if you still don't believe or understand, you can try a small experiment yourself. Stand on a flat-top car without handrails and let it drive at high speed on a bumpy road. Then try to see if you can stand firm? Can you draw your bow and shoot arrows? Or in other words, can you maintain balance and not fall off the car?

  Incidentally, I'd like to advise you that it's best not to try this dangerous experiment in person. Otherwise, regardless of whether you get killed, injured or disabled, don't say I didn't warn you.