The Legacy Of Shu-Han
The Winds Of Change
The story of what would have happened with various changes to Shu's story. This is part of a series of stories such as "The Legacy Of Wei" and "The Legacy of Wu" It follows the stories of Liu Bei and is more focused on Liu Bei and his brothers' tragedy. In this fanfic, Liu Bei's central enemies are Lu Bu and Cao Cao, after facing the two, he ultimately finds his match with Sun Ce's sister, where the tragedy all happens...
Under Peach Blossoms were three souls which would soon become heroes, three ambitions which would become united and finally, three men who would forge a path through destiny and attempt to establish the Han Dynasty's Restoration...
"Though Born On Different Days, we vow to die on the same day, and, at the same time!" Liu Bei said firmly, his simple green armor shining in the sunlight. "If we, break faith, and forget our vow, may we, be punished by the Gods!" shouted Guan Yu who had a long beard which flowed down to his chest, Guan was supernaturally tall and seemed like a giant. Zhang Fei remained silent and then, after a few moments, the man who had been wearing battle armor exclaimed "We swear brotherhood under this peach tree!" Liu Bei turned away and said "We shall strive, for the restoration of the Han Empire, to this, we pledge our lives!" Liu drew his sword and placed it high above his head. Soon, the other two, who were a large amount taller than Liu Bei drew their giant spears and shouted "Agreed!" The trio walked out of the peach garden together, weapon in hand.
Here, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei swore brotherhood and begun their quest for the Han restoration and virtue in the land. The three brothers soon recieved a request for aid from Tao Qian of Xia Pi, who was being attacked by Cao Cao. Liu Bei and his army begun a march in an attempt to aid Tao Qian...
After a long march, the three brothers arrived at Xia Pi where they met the honorable Tao Qian. He explained that Cao Cao had mobilized his men for the sake of false revenge. Cao's father had been invited to join Cao Cao and soon arrived in Tao Qian's territory. Qian had placed one of his minor officers in charge of making Cao's father feel welcome at the Xu Province but his officer was rebellious and robbed Cao's father. Soon after that, he also murdered him. Now, Cao Cao had misunderstood and mobilized his men in an attempt to make Tao Qian pay. "Liu Bei, it was a simple misunderstanding between me and Cao Cao!" Qian exclaimed. Liu Bei nodded his head, Cao Cao wasn't looking at the bigger picture. "Lord Tao Qian, I understand your words are true and I shall help you"
It was a shining day, Liu Bei marched out of the city with his two brothers on either side of him. He had ten thousand soldiers behind him and yet it seemed like a tenth of Cao Cao's much greater army. There were three units that rode out to give battle, they were led by Cao Ren, Yue Jin and Li Dian. Liu Bei heard the three leaders laugh at Liu's seemingly small army and started to taunt them by saying things like "Tsk, everyone says that Liu Bei is a virtous man! If he is, why is he leading ten thousand men to their deaths?!" . Zhang Fei became enraged and lost his cool, he rode out and split Liu Bei's unit into thirds, Zhang Fei had three thousand men, Guan Yu had three thousand and Liu Bei had four thousand. Yue Jin came to meet Zhang Fei's army but, feeling that a mere force of three thousand against one hundred thousand was nothing. Fei rode out personally and started to charge... alone. In a mere flash, Zhang Fei was on the other side of Yue Jin's army and five lines of Yue Jin's formation fell like dominoes. Zhang Fei sheathed his spear and stared at Yue Jin and his remaining fifty thousand men. They fled like ants and were pursued by Zhang Fei and his other two brothers. Yue Jin's hundred thousand men, over the last half hour had been reduced to one thousand. At the end of the day, Yue Jin, a lone rider finally returned to camp. Tao Qian rewarded Liu Bei and his brothers for their victory by throwing a banquet. This victory was short-lived for Cao Ren and Li Dian had come to avenge Yue Jin's mishap. Fearing that Liu Bei wouldn't be able to conquer this new threat, Tao Qian sent in one of his officers whose name was Sun Qian with another ten thousand men. Liu Bei gladly accepted Sun's services and used him in the future battles.
"Forward!" Guan Yu cried as he led twenty thousand soldiers into battle. They set up camp in a forest and awaited Cao Ren's next move. According to Sun Qian's plan, the camp was divided into twenty camps to fool the enemy. At around midnight, Li Dian's unit started a blazing fire in one of the twenty camps and it burned to the ground. Thinking that the army was finished Li Dian and his unit retreated from the forest but after travelling a few miles, he came to a valley where a flight of arrows came down like rain. Spearmen pounced on the confused unit and Li Dian finally made out that he had been tricked into thinking that he had destroyed Liu Bei's army when in truth, while Li Dian was busy burning the one of the twenty camps, Zhang Fei snuck over to this valley in ambush. The camp that Li Dian's soldiers burnt down proved to be empty with nothing but false tents. After fighting as if hell itself was chasing him, Li Dian successfully escaped with just ten men by his side. He was soon met by another unit... "This is the end of me..." Li Dian said sorrowfully but it turned out that this unit was Cao Ren's. Meanwhile, Guan Yu had easily seized the enemy camp in both Li Dian and Cao Ren's absence, he had started a fire to make the remaining soldiers think there was something but then hid. He did the same think twice until the soldiers started to think that it truly was nothing. After the fourth time, Guan Yu and his mounted archerd truly sprung among the ranks of Cao Ren's army and easily defeated the confused soldiers. Yue Jin, who was in the middle of the enemy camp was taken prisoner and brought to Liu Bei in Xiao Pei...
"Lord Yue Jin, why has your Lord come to attack a small province such as Xu?" Liu Bei questioned Yue Jin. He replied "Why shall I tell a "clever" man as you? Others say you are virtuous, why don't you ask your "So Called" Advisor?" However, instead of getting enraged, Liu Bei simply untied Yue Jin from his bonds and said "Go back to your army and tell them to withdraw." Yue Jin, surprised at Liu Bei's act of hospitality, thanked Liu Bei and left for Cao Ren's army. "Lord Liu Bei, is that how you attract so many great men?" Sun Qian asked Liu Bei. He answered "I do not wish to force people to join me, it is their own free will!" Reports reached Liu Bei that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were beating Li Dian here and there but they were running out of supplies and Cao Ren hadn't shown himself on the battlefield.
"It seems that my strategy is working! Zhang Fei and Guan Yu are running out of supplies and their soldiers are becoming weak and demoralized, now is the time to strike!" Cao Ren assured and pointed his finger to the west where the camp of Xu was. Li Dian nodded and led the still-massive army out of the camp for a long march to the Xu camp. Ren soon followed along with his other unit. They continued to march until the opposing camp was in view, they camped a few miles to the south of the Xu camp.
Things were getting harsh for the two of Liu Bei's brothers, the soldiers were exhausted and had lost the will to fight and Zhang Fei's brutal punishments didn't help. Many of the Xu soldiers deserted to the Cao Camp until there were only a mere thousand men left for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Hearing of his brothers' distress, Liu Bei marched down to the battlefield with a fresh thirty thousand soldiers. It was nearly too late for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had lost all their men and were surrounded by the Cao army. Cao Ren had already attacked the Xu camp and set fire to their camp, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu's unit was lured out and they were attacked at both flanks by Cao Ren and Li Dian. "Dammit! My Brothers are surrounded and it seems that Yue Jin hasn't carried out the plan to make them withdraw! If my brothers die here, I will have no choice but to end my own life!" Bei placed his hand on his sword and thought of drawing it but he realized it wasn't time yet, they still had hope.
The Xu camp was burning to the ground and the two brothers of Liu Bei were caught in the middle. Guan Yu heard Cao Ren say "Guan! Zhang! Your lives end here! Unless you stand down and surrender!" The brothers were defiant and replied with a pack of taunts. Suddenly, a huge amount of screaming and suffering was heard, Liu Bei had come to their rescue and beaten the overconfident Cao Soldiers. Not expecting this, Cao Ren fled like a dog thinking it was a larger army than his and was followed by all of his soldiers. Sun Qian was placed in ambush and used fire arrows. Ren was again forced to turn back where he was met by Liu Bei's unit once again. The killing was massive that day and dead bodies lay all over the ground. Cao Ren, Li Dian and Yue Jin were forced to march back to Xu Chang, unsuccessful.
Tao Qian thanked Liu Bei over one million times but unfortunately, he soon fell to illness... and died. There was a feud over the succession but it all came together, the heir was Liu Bei and he inherited the governship of the Xu Province which consisted of Xia Pi and Xiao Pei. However, it seemed that Cao Cao, wasn't short-sighted for the battle against Tao Qian, that battle was merely a ruse to keep Liu Bei from helping Lu Bu, whose capital was now taken by Cao. The greatest warrior alive went here and there, looking for a place to live, he tried Yuan Shao's force but was booted immediately. However, he still had one more idea, Liu Bei...
Lu Bu called out to the gates "Lord Liu Bei! Open The Gates! It is Lu Bu!" Soon, Sun Qian came to the top of the gate and answered "Please wait, Lord Lu Bu, I shall get my lord!" With that, Sun Qian left the gate and went to Liu Bei's house. Liu Bei asked Sun Qian "What Brings You Here?" Sun Qian reluctantly replied "Lord, Lu Bu is here, and he wishes to seek refuge with you." Liu Bei joyfully answered and said "Lord Sun Qian, please, let him in, wouldn't he help me if I was in need?!" Sun Qian walked out of the house and bowed, then, he shook his head. Lu Bu was let into the gates of Xiao Pei, and stayed there for a few months before...
Well, thus ends the first chapter of Shu-Han's Legacy... much more to come. Well, this first bit is basically going according to history but the next chapter won't. Please, if you read this, reviews would be appreciated.