The weather was steadily growing hotter.
Wei Kai's movements were not especially skillful, but he made up for it with care. The mutton was cleaned thoroughly, chopped into chunks, and dropped into a cooking pot. After stuffing firewood beneath the stove, he hesitated—old sheep had a reputation for stubborn flavors—so he went door to door through the neighborhood, talking himself hoarse before finally begging a dozen peppercorns to toss into the pot as well.
From noon until the sun sank in the west, the mutton simmered. When the aroma had grown thick enough to cling to the air, Wei Kai fished the meat out and set it on a chopping board that had been washed several times over. He mixed in some sunflower greens and chives, then minced everything together with meticulous care.
With a flick of the cleaver, he split freshly steamed flatbreads down the middle. Pinching them open with his fingers, he stuffed in the minced meat, added a spoonful of fermented black beans from a clay jar, and drizzled in a little broth.
A meat cake was finished.
He made a full basket, covered it with clean ramie cloth, and carefully carried it up to the western wall.
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were already there, standing side by side, speaking quietly as they watched Cao's army marching in the distance.
Hou Yin lifted the basket lid and took a look. Clearly satisfied, he called out,
"General Guan, it's time for the evening meal."
Thus the city wall became a curious tableau: each man holding a meat cake, gazing silently at the Cao troops moving far below.
Cao Ren, who commanded the main force, was a steady and cautious man. He stationed Xu Huang and Yu Jin each with an army west of Wancheng to guard against pursuit, then personally led the bulk of the troops northward.
Zhang Fei demolished his meat bun in three bites. Wei Kai, quick on the uptake, immediately shoved another into his hands.
Planting one foot on the battlements, Zhang Fei complained through a mouthful of food,
"Cao Zixiao has no guts at all! He's leading the main army and still dares not attack the city!"
Hou Yin's heart nearly jumped into his throat. He feared that the Cao army—so peacefully withdrawing—might suddenly change its mind.
Fortunately, Guan Yu calmly cut in,
"Third Brother, don't speak nonsense. Their troops are exhausted and their grain is short. Being able to retreat safely is already no small feat. Why would they attack?"
The supplies meant for Cao Ren's army were still piled up inside Wancheng itself. That was Guan Yu's greatest advantage.
Zhang Fei smacked his lips, clearly dissatisfied.
"So we just let them go?"
Guan Yu carefully ate three more meat bun, wiped his beard clean, and replied evenly,
"We have barely over ten thousand men. Holding Wancheng without loss is already a great achievement."
Zhang Fei could only continue sighing heavily atop the wall.
Guan Yu and his personal guards sighed because their pursuit of Cao Cao had ended in failure.
Zhang Fei sighed because they had gained ground but could not press for more.
Different thoughts. The same result.
As the sun gradually sank behind the western mountains, Guan Yu observed that the Cao army did not rashly advance, but instead chose to make camp where they were.
He silently noted to himself that this caution was no accident—Xu Huang and Yu Jin were men who would not move lightly.
Since that was the case, the plan for a night raid naturally came to nothing.
After a brief consideration, Guan Yu made his decision. He selected five hundred of his personal guards, mounted up, and rode out through Wancheng's gates.
The heavy gates of Wancheng opened slowly. Their movement immediately put the Cao camp on alert, and scouts were quickly dispatched, riding in widening circles to investigate.
Guan Yu paid them no heed. He urged his horse forward, but deliberately did not ride beyond the range of Wancheng's defenses. Instead, he raised his voice and called out clearly,
"An old acquaintance from Hedong has arrived—why does Xu Gongming not come forward to exchange a few words?"
Before long, war drums rolled through the Cao camp. Xu Huang rode out to the front, surrounded by elite cavalry.
Guan Yu's gaze sharpened. Between the two men stood no fewer than thirty layers of mounted guards. Were it not for Xu Huang's armor and the plume atop his helmet, Guan Yu might not even have been able to distinguish his old friend among them.
"Gongming," Guan Yu said with a faint, restrained smile, "is there truly a need for such caution between us?"
Xu Huang's eyes flicked briefly to the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in Guan Yu's hands. He did not return the sentiment, instead going straight to the matter at hand.
"What instruction does Yun Chang have?"
Guan Yu fell silent for a moment.
Though he already knew—through the course history would later take—that this old friend would one day stand against him again after the Flood of the Seven Armies, at present they served different masters, and there was no personal grievance between them.
As for words of surrender—setting aside loyalty alone—Xu Huang's family was still in Ye City.
With all that unspoken between them, Guan Yu simply asked,
"How is your wound, Gongming?"
During the siege of Fan Castle, Xu Huang had personally led the first assault and had been slashed across the waist by Guan Yu's blade.
Xu Huang reached up and pressed a hand to his side. In the same instant, he recalled how Guan Yu had withdrawn silently from the battlefield that day, circled around unseen, and seized Wancheng in one swift stroke.
A trace of frustration rose unbidden in his chest.
"Fortunately," Xu Huang replied, "I did not die."
Once again, the two men fell into silence.
Between them, their elite troops stared at one another, eyes wide, weapons steady, every man thinking the same thing:
Our generals truly are not men of many words.
Suddenly, firelight flared in the southwest. The sounds of shouting and killing followed almost immediately, carried clearly on the evening wind.
Xu Huang's expression darkened. He wheeled his horse around at once.
"Guan Yun Chang," he said coldly, "well played."
Even as he spoke, the thought flashed through his mind: had he relaxed his guard for even a moment, tonight might have ended very differently.
Guan Yu remained where he was, watching Xu Huang ride away. He seemed as though he wanted to say something more, but in the end he only shook his head.
Behind him, the gates of Wancheng thundered open once again. Zhang Fei, fully armored, burst forth on horseback with troops in tow, his face full of regret.
"Second Brother!" Zhang Fei called out. "Why didn't you keep Xu Huang here a bit longer?"
Events were already moving too quickly for further explanation. Guan Yu raised his blade at once as a signal and led Zhang Fei and the troops of Wancheng forward to press the field.
Though he did not yet know the full extent of what had happened, Guan Yu understood clearly that at this moment his task was to hold Xu Huang and Yu Jin in check—to keep their forces too occupied to interfere.
Both Cao camps lit up with torches. Cao soldiers stared toward the enemy advancing from Wancheng, forming ranks in strict readiness.
The sudden standoff did not last long. Soon a report arrived, and Guan Yu led his troops slowly back into Wancheng.
Upon returning, the first people Guan Yu saw were Xu Shu and Huang Zhong, both looking utterly exhausted.
"Fortunately, we did not fail our mission," Xu Shu said. "Fan Castle still stands. General Huang Zhong has slain Yue Jin and taken Xiangyang!"
"We now bring five thousand reinforcements to assist you, General."
"Good!" Guan Yu felt a surge of emotions, but only managed that single word.
Although he had already learned the general situation from prior reports, hearing it from Xu Shu himself carried a different weight.
Zhang Fei was far less restrained. He first gave Huang Zhong's shoulder a heavy slap and shouted his praise, nearly shaking apart the man who had just completed a long forced march. Huang Zhong's face twisted in grievance.
Then Zhang Fei hoisted Xu Shu up and spun him around several times, saying with heartfelt sincerity,
"Strategist, you're truly amazing!"
Dizzy and disoriented, Xu Shu waved his hands and then sat down to explain the details to the two brothers.
"The battle of Xiangyang and Fan has already been decided."
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei nodded repeatedly.
Xiangyang and Fan Castle had been the strategic objectives from the start. Now they had also taken Wancheng. From here, they could use it as a base to recover all of Jingzhou, with the defenders enjoying a natural advantage. Calling it a great victory would not be an exaggeration.
"The Cao army suffered nearly ten thousand casualties in their forced assault on Fan Castle," Xu Shu continued. "They still have over forty thousand troops, so their numbers remain formidable."
"However, their supplies are growing scarcer by the day. Our forces are few, but our momentum is strong. We can harass their rear and capture their stragglers."
Xu Shu made the situation clear. The campaign had entered its final stage. Though Cao's army was large, shortages of grain and the soldiers' longing to return home made further battle difficult.
If they halted and tried to fight Liu Bei's forces to the death, the decisive battle might never even begin—mutiny would come first.
At this point, elaborate schemes were no longer necessary. Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were both very familiar with this kind of traditional pursuit.
"Strategist, General Huang, you should go rest," Guan Yu said, seeing their weary faces.
Zhang Fei thumped his chest as well.
"Leave the rest to us!"
For the first time, Zhao A felt that the monthly pay he received was a bit of a bad deal.
At the start of the campaign, he had been a sailor on the Han River, manning the great ships.
After Fan Castle fell, he worked on the Yi River as a grain transport soldier.
After Wancheng fell, he found himself atop the city walls as a guard.
One paycheck—three different jobs.
Fortunately, aside from hauling grain on the Yi River, none of it had been particularly dangerous. In the end, Zhao A decided it all balanced out.
At least now he only needed to stand guard on the walls, not ride into battle on horseback and risk his life against Cao's troops.
Not that he could ride a horse anyway.
Still, he couldn't help envying those comrades who did. There was something about it—something very… majestic. That was a word he had only learned recently.
Maybe he should try learning how to ride? Having been away from the great ships for half a month, the thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Speaking of the ships, Zhao A couldn't help feeling a bit regretful that the Yi River was still too narrow. The great ships could barely pass through, with little room to maneuver—it was easy for accidents to happen.
Otherwise, if they could bring the great ships here to patrol along the Yi River, it would make things far more convenient for General Guan and the others in battle.
Zhao A didn't understand military strategy, but he could tell that General Guan and his commanders had grown busier—and yet seemed happier.
Several mounted comrades he knew had gone out twice and returned safely, each time bringing back large numbers of Cao prisoners.
Zhao A wasn't particularly envious. After all, Fan Castle had been taken by their naval forces. No matter how many prisoners the cavalry captured, could that compare to breaking a city?
Whenever Zhao A said that, the mounted soldiers laughed at him, saying that taking Fan Castle had nothing to do with people who only turned capstans.
Zhao A snorted in disdain. If it had nothing to do with capstan-turners, did it have anything to do with people who couldn't even swim?
But after standing guard here for two days, Zhao A's thoughts began to change. The number of prisoners brought back by those mounted comrades was simply staggering—five or six thousand in just these two days.
"Cao Ren never takes risks!"
Inside Wancheng, Guan Yu had not even had time to remove his armor. He strode to the map and gestured for Xu Shu.
"He leads his troops straight north without crossing the Yi River, circles Zhi County, then turns northeast toward Luyang and You County. The roads along the way are rough—pursuit would be difficult."
Xu Shu inwardly sighed in regret. He had thought that with a heavy army, Cao Ren would surely force a crossing of the Yi River to hasten his return. Instead, he was unexpectedly cautious.
But on reflection, it was not surprising.
"This army includes Cao Ren, Cao Cao himself, Xu Huang, and Yu Jin—all veteran commanders."
"Had they won a great victory, they might have grown careless. But now, retreating after defeat, they will pursue stability above all else."
"It's just a pity that the merit General Gan Gui sought will come to nothing."
Guan Yu smiled as well. Earlier, he had judged that Cao's army might attempt a crossing at Bowang County. Gan Gui had volunteered to take small boats and hide upstream in the marshlands, waiting until the Cao troops were halfway across before setting the boats ablaze and letting them drift down to block the crossing, coordinating with Guan Yu's attack.
Now it would remain only a plan. That young general would surely feel disappointed.
"No matter!" Zhang Fei laughed loudly. "I wrote a letter to Cao the bandit—and I even put Gan Gui's name in it. Cao the bandit will know who he is."
"What kind of letter?" Xu Shu asked curiously.
Zhang Fei replied casually,
"I just told Cao bandit a few things about his family."
After escaping Jingzhou and setting up camp at Luyang, the Cao army finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Everyone, that is, except Cao Cao—who was holding Zhang Fei's letter and raging with fury.
"He dares curse my sons and grandsons with wasting illness and splitting headaches, saying they'll die young, that within three generations my clan will be wiped out by the Sima family?"
"That the name of 'Han traitor and city butcher' will be passed down through history, that the chaos of the barbarians began with 'Cao dog'?"
The letter was packed with vulgar street language—marketplace curses, insults comparing men to birds and dogs, scattered everywhere.
Cao Cao, who could read Chen Lin's denunciations with a smile, now felt his head throb and his vision swim.
"'Cao dog'?"
"Zhang Fei—by heaven, I swear I will kill you!"