[Eight hundred men. One objective: Eternal Glory.
Zhang Liao chose a tactical doctrine perfected by his old friend, Guan Yu:
The Spearhead Charge.
Ignore the infantry. Ignore the formations. Find the enemy commander and end the war before breakfast.]
"Wenyuan is a man of action!" Guan Yu praised, striking his palm against the table.
As a general, Guan Yu knew that many men could analyze a map—but very few possessed the cold-blooded nerve to execute a plan once the arrows began to fly. He remembered Baima. Remembered the instant he spotted Yan Liang's banner and understood that hesitation meant death.
Now or never.
If Zhang Liao had delayed for even a single breath, the history of Hefei would have been written in Wu's favor.
Beside him, the other generals felt their blood stir. Eight hundred against one hundred thousand? It sounded like the sort of madness only their Second Brother would attempt.
[Zhang Liao had his Dare-to-Dies ready. But what about Sun Quan?
Sun Quan was… well, he was there.
History insists he wasn't merely "sightseeing" at the front—but Zhang Liao certainly treated him like a tourist.
The timing was surgical: 4:00 AM, the grey light before dawn.
While the Wu army was rubbing sleep from its eyes and wondering where the tea was, Zhang Liao was already at their throats.]
"Wenyuan and I led the vanguard together at Baima," Guan Yu said, his gaze distant. "Cao Cao placed us at the front, with Xu Huang in reserve. Wenyuan smashed through their ranks like a god of war. No one could stand before him."
"But you were the one who took Yan Liang's head, Second Brother," Zhang Fei muttered, a trace of bitterness in his voice. "And Baima was a real battle! Yan Liang had Hebei's elite veterans backing him. This?" He snorted. "This is a sneak attack on southern household guards. It's not the same."
Guan Yu laughed and patted Zhang Fei's arm. "True. But nothing compares to your roar at Dangyang Bridge, Yide. Yours is the name the world truly fears."
Bullet Comments: Skill Issue
〖 Sun Quan: "Why do I hear boss music at 4 AM?" 〗
〖 Zhang Liao: "Spawn camping is a legitimate strategy." 〗
〖 Chen Wu has left the chat. (Permanent) 〗
〖 Sun Quan's 'Tiger Guards' are actually just very large housecats. 〗
〖 Narrator: "Zhang Liao didn't just break their formation—he broke their souls." 〗
〖 Achievement Unlocked: Go to Hell and Back (Literally). 〗
The Anatomy of a Collapse
[The disparity in troop quality was, frankly, humiliating.
Zhang Liao and Li Dian ripped through the front lines like a hot knife through butter.
Chen Wu—one of Wu's famed Twelve Tiger Ministers—was killed almost instantly.
Panic spread like a contagion.
Zhang Liao pursued the fleeing soldiers straight into the heart of the camp.
It wasn't until Sun Quan scrambled up a literal hill that he looked down and realized:
"Wait… there are only a few hundred of them?"]
"He charged in, realized he'd forgotten some of his men, then charged back in to get them?" Zhang Fei shouted, equal parts impressed and irritated. "And the Wu army just let him do a round trip? Are they soldiers—or stage props?!"
"Only one general killed?" Guan Yu shook his head, though his eyes gleamed. "A pity. Had Sun Quan's head fallen, the war would have ended that very morning."
The others exchanged glances. Only one general? Charging at a hundred-to-one disadvantage and returning with the head of a Tiger Minister was already the stuff of legends. But to Guan Yu, if the king still lived, it barely counted as a proper effort.
"It's the voice," Zhang Fei said critically. "Zhang Liao doesn't shout loudly enough. If I were there, the front line would've collapsed backward so hard they'd have trampled Sun Quan into the mud themselves."
The Leap of Faith (or Terror)
[After ten days of half-hearted siege and a sudden outbreak of disease, Sun Quan decided to withdraw.
He made what he believed was a solid tactical decision:
'The main army will retreat first. I will remain behind with 1,000 elite Tiger Guards to cover the rear.
What's the worst that could happen?']
"The worst," Zhuge Liang murmured, "is Zhang Liao."
[Zhang Liao didn't merely pursue them—he rode them down.
The elite Tiger Guards, pride of Jiangdong, were shattered.
Ling Tong fought until his body was nothing but wounds.
All three hundred of his personal retainers died to buy Sun Quan a few seconds of life.
At Xiaoyao Ford, the bridge was destroyed. Sun Quan was trapped.
Only a servant's frantic screaming at the horse—and a desperate, bone-shattering leap—sent the Marquis of Wu flying across the gap.
Back aboard his flagship, Sun Quan and his officers wept openly.
Hefei did not merely break an army.
It broke a generation's confidence.]
The hall fell silent.
Zhang Fei smirked. "I'll say it again. Zhang Liao is only famous because southern soldiers are soft. If I were retreating and Wenyuan chased me, I'd turn around and make him change his family name to Zhang."
Huang Zhong did not smile. Earlier, he had praised the Tiger Guards. Now he had watched them collapse on the screen.
"The northern plains are a guw-pot," he said quietly, borrowing the light-screen's terminology—an arena where venomous creatures devour one another. "If we only fight local bandits and mountain tribes, we become like Sun Quan—arrogant, until a real wolf bites."
[Zhang Liao did not win by luck.
He scouted the ford.
He sabotaged the bridge.
He hid his boats.
It was a masterclass in psychological warfare.
For years afterward, in the lands of Wu, when a child refused to stop crying, parents needed only whisper a single name:
'Be quiet… or Zhang Liao will come.'
And the crying would stop instantly.]