Chapter 4: The Capital Devastated
The city was in turmoil as news of the Allied invasion reached the ears of the citizens. A
group of these people, though, were calm, and were plotting something. These people were
known as the Han Brotherhood. They were Han loyalists, led by Mao Zi Long, a natural leader
and warrior, and were about to change the course of a battle.
Discovering of the Allied Force approaching from the south, Li Ru ordered half of the
soldiers from the Hu Lao Gate to reposition to defend the southern gate. Since it was smaller
though, archers could not be positioned on the top of the structure. Instead, they lined up behind
the gate. Li Ru planned to launch a volley at the enemy force when the break through, then have
the soldiers attack using melee weapons.
Lu Bu, eager for battle, paced back and forth and his steed, The Red Hare. This horse
was the fastest known to exist at the time, and was at a height which matched it's speed. It was
as tall as it's owner Lu Bu, who was a giant himself.
Cao Cao ordered for the attack to begin. Arrows, lit on fire, were shot at the gate's upper
level, in hope that they would catch something on fire. Xiahou Yuan, an expert archer, shot at the
enemy soldiers themself, not wasting a single arrow he shot. 5 siege towers and 2 rams were
rushed to the front of the gate. Many soldiers who were manning the rams, were getting killed by
the enemies' arrows from above. Immediately, though more soldiers took their place. Of the 5
siege towers, only 2 made it, as the other three fell apart to enemy firearrows. On one of the two
Siege towers, though, was Cao Ren and Cao Hong. When the siege tower reached the Gate, and
unloaded the soldiers in it onto the top of the gate, the two Cao's came out to attack the enemy
soldiers. There was not a single soldier that could defeat either one of the two, as they ravaged
enemy forces along with 15 other men. With the enemy archers defeated, the rams easily started
pounding at the gate, attempting to break it open. That was one problem solved.
On the Southern Gate, the rams were already breaking down the gate. Sun Jian, with
Huang Gai at his side, was about to charge directly into enemy lines when the gate broke down.
Unbeknownst to him at the time, though, he was about to ride into fate. When the gate shattered,
he charged on his steed, straight forward toward the enemy forces ready to attack. Before he
could, however, Li Ru said, "Fire!". A volley of arrows was shot directly at the charging force,
with him at the front. 4 arrows immediately punctured Jian's armor, two at the chest, one in his
left shoulder, and one in his right leg. Knowing his death was imminent, though, Jian made a final
attempt to do damage, and continued to ride at them. Seeing the enemy general coming toward
him, though, Li Ru put an arrow on his Longbow and shot it at close range. His aim was true,
and the arrow went right through Sun Jian's eye and out the back of his skull, killing him
instantly. Half of the charging force was killed instantly, and, with their leader dead, the rest ran
for their lives, among them Huang Gai, who carried his Lord's body as they fled. The charge had
failed horribly with nothing gained, but almost everything lost. They had not anticipated so many
archers to be stationed at the southern gate, and payed for it.
Back behind the gate, Sun Jian's remaining troops sorrowed for the loss of their leader.
However, the three brothers felt this only as something to make their victory more important.
"Listen my people, should Sun Jian's death, be in vain? Or should we avenge him and take out
Dong Zhuo!" he yelled. Extremely loyal to him, Liu Bei's troops got ready for another charge,
this time, though, they had a plan.
Guan Yu, the oldest of the three brothers, thought up this plan, and explained it to
everyone. "Us three will ride through the gate first to attract all enemy fire. After you hear the
enemies fire, you charge out and attack them before they reload. That way you can catch them
without weapons, also."
One of the soldiers protested, "But that would kill you three!"
"Is the lives of three men equal to the millions of lives in this country?" Liu Bei shouted.
"Everyone in their life must make sacrifices."
"This is ours," Zhang Fei yelled and the three rode of through the gate. Seeing three
enemy generals, many of Li Ru's troops readied their arrows to fire, but Li Ru immediately
ordered them not to fire.
"Do not attack them, target the main force." Li Ru had seen through their plan. He
stepped forward of his troops, put another arrow in his longbow, and shot it directly at Liu Bei.
Guan Yu was not about to let his brother die and swung his spear around, deflecting the arrow at
the tip away from Liu Bei and onto the ground.
However, hearing the sound of an arrow being fired, Liu Bei's troops charged out of the
gate, despite Liu Bei yelling at them not to. Li Ru, smiling, ordered his troops to fire at their
target. He thought he heard the sound of hundreds of arrows being shot at first, but only saw a
handful of arrows go by him. Turning around, a pain emerged in Li Ru's arm, as an arrow flew
right into him. He looked up to see almost of all his troops, dead on the ground, and about a
hundred soldiers, all dressed as normal people, holding bows, were standing behind where his
troops once were. In the front of them, was Mao Zi Long.
"It's over now, Li Ru, surrender," he yelled, "the people are in revolt and are fighting back
at Dong Zhuo. You don't want to be one of the ones that are killed in it."
And so, thanks to Mao Zi Long's rebels, Liu Bei's forces cleared the way for the rest of
the Southern Army. It was a victory that would effect the tide of the war.
Hu Lao Gate shattered, and Cao Cao's troops ran forward, directly towards the city.
They did not run far, however, and stopped as soon as they reached the end of the barricades.
One of the soldiers shouted, "Is that who I think it is?" The soldiers stopped, seeing Lu Bu right
in front of them. Knowing his patience paid off, Lu Bu rode into enemy forces, killing many of
them with ease. Zhang Liao and Li Jue followed. After 5 minutes, Cao Cao's force was in full
retreat, as they had only been killed, and never killed.
Not pursuing the enemies, Lu Bu stayed behind the gate, taunting Cao Cao. "Come! Who
else wishes to die?" There was no soldier in the entire allied force at the east gate, that could
match up to Lu Bu. No soldier, at least.
A massive warrior rode through the gate, waving around his halberd. He challenged Lu
Bu to a duel. "Just us two, you and I, no help from your allies!" he yelled, getting off of his
horse. "I can defeat you anytime."
"Hah! You really think you can surpass me?" Lu Bu dismounted Red Hare and accepted
the warrior's challenge. "Very well! Walk to you death!" He ran at the warrior and he and Lu
Xian begin throwing jabs and slashes at each other.
"I just couldn't stop him. He seemed eager to get to battle, so I let him go," Xiu Luo
explained to Ma Yuan. "I hope he doesn't kill himself."
"Then we would be two men down, right?" Ma Yuan sighed saying this, as he looked
back at Zhang Ce. "Where the hell is Yuan Chu?" It had been weeks since Yuan Chu left to find
this 'Doctor' that he mentioned, and has not sent word or anything. Ma Yuan was starting to
doubt his lifetime friend's survival. Zhang Ce had been unconscious for 2 days, but was still
breathing.
Ma Yuan got up from his seat and walked out of the tent, looking up at the sun. He
turned his attention to finding Liu Wei, Ce's would-be assailant. However, after looking around
the main camp, he could not find him. He asked one of the guards about Wei's whereabouts.
"Liu Wei? You mean that prisoner? He left about a week ago, said he had some business
to take care of." Almost instantly, Ma Yuan's hands wrapped around the guard's neck.
"Why the hell did you let him leave!?! He will be the death of my friend and you let him
go?!?" After realizing taking his anger out on a common soldier would get him no where good,
he let go of the guard's neck, who quickly ran away. Seeing this commotion, Otori Takeo walked
over to Ma Yuan.
"Hey, you need to calm down, alright? Everyone loses a friend or family once in awhile.
You can't let it control you. You have to find peace with yourself. You can't let the actions of
others effect those around detrimentally.
Ma Yuan did want to control his temper, but he couldn't help himself. "How do you
'calm' down then?"
"Me?" Takeo hesitated. "I take it out on those who deserve it." It was then that Ma Yuan
decided what to do. Taking a horse from the stable there, he rode out towards the southern gate
of Luo Yang, and towards Liu Wei.
Lu Bu's weapon missed it's target barely, as his opponent jumped up. Still in the air, Lu
Xian swung down at Lu Bu almost hitting him in the head if Lu Bu had not ducked. As the battle
went on, many were very surprised by this unknown man's skill with weapons. Which also meant
that someone stood a chance against a Lu Bu, so Cao Cao's soldiers' panic stopped. Using this
opportunity, Cao Cao ordered all his troops to advance around Lu Bu and towards the enemy
troops. Busy with the duel, Lu Bu was unable to give orders to his troops and wouldn't care less.
Cao Cao's troops fought hand to hand against the remaining forces of Dong Zhuo, who they
outnumbered greatly.
They outnumbered them, but Cao Cao's troops were unable to compete with one of Lu
Bu's officers. Zhang Liao ran out towards them, slashing away at the enemy troops. His skill
with a pike was unmatched and made easy killings against them. Xiahou Dun decided it was his
turn and rode out to meet Zhang Liao in combat. "Zhang Liao! You have no honor with him as
your leader. Come, Fight me and prove yourself worthy of living," Xiahou Dun challenged him to
a duel, picking up a spear from a fallen soldier.
Zhang Liao had never lost a duel nor deny one, and he did not intend to. "Very well, I
will strike you down!" Zhang Liao dove at Xiahou Dun and the two also began in a duel. This
caused a separation of forces, as neither Cao Cao's troops nor Dong Zhuo's could get by when
the two duels were in progress, as they feared they would get killed by accident. All they could
do was watch and hope their generals would win.
"This will not happen, I say, it will not!" Dong Zhuo shouted as he learned of the fall of
the south gate. "That's it, we are moving the capital to Hong Nong!" He ordered the movement
of every citizen to Hong Nong, a city west from Luo Yang. Obviously, every one of his advisors
hated this plan.
"But sir," Wang Yun insisted, "Moving everyone would require massive resources, and no
one will like the idea of being forced to move. They might also chase after us, it's not that easy.
If they decide to use the city as a fortress, we might not be able to defend ourselves after awhile."
Dong Zhuo smirked. "I already have a plan to prevent that. Now take the emperor and
everyone in the palace and move them westward. Alert all citizens as well. Tell them they will
die if they do not leave."
"They will die?" Wang Yun asked, suspiciously.
"More specifically, they will burn to death."
The Allied force that had advanced from the south was now moving into the city, heading
directly towards the palace. They intended to find and kill Dong Zhuo along with any of his
followers that were still loyal. They also wanted to make sure the emperor was safe. As they
proceeded through the streets, though, they noticed something that was unusual. Very Unusual.
They were empty. The streets, the houses, everything. The city was always in constant motion,
but now it was quiet. Something was clearly wrong.
"What is going on, where is everyone?" Zhang Fei asked his brothers.
"I don't know but it cant be-" Liu Bei stopped, hearing the cries of someone in a house
they had passed. Quickly dismounting, Liu Bei ran towards the source of the sound. He found a
little girl, crying in her house. "Are you okay, what is wrong?"
The little girl, sobbing in her arms, was a little relieved by Liu Bei, as he was a famous for
being noble and caring. "M-My parents! Th-They just D-Decided to leave and I miss them....."
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei came in at that time also.
"Come on, we'll help you get out of here," Liu Bei said. However, that was that last
words that he would speak, as at that moment, something terrible happened.
The two duels were at their peaks when the noise and scene reached their ears and eyes.
All four of the men stopped their actions, as they watched in horror. The city was on fire. All of
it. The houses were burning, the stores, the granaries, everything. It was all on fire, and there
was no hope of saving it.
"What the hell is he thinking?!?" Zhang Liao shouted. The only reason he was on the side
of Dong Zhuo was because he believed that with him on the stronger side, there would be less
conflict. He made the wrong decision, and was now hating himself for it.
The members of the southern force that survived tried to flee the carnage. As Yuan Shu
was fleeing, though, a wall from a building fell down and almost hit him. A hooded person dove
out and knocked him out from under the debris, saving his life. Yuan Shu looked up in surprise,
then looked at the man. "Thank you, you saved my life, who are you anyways?" The man stood
silent.
He smiled and said, "I'm a representative." With these words, the man drew his sword and
stabbed Yuan Shu through the neck, completely catching him off his guard. As Yuan Shu fell
over, the man took off his hood, and walked away. "Hmph, that felt pretty good." Liu Wei
picked up from a walk to a run and fled with everyone else.
The city was in turmoil as news of the Allied invasion reached the ears of the citizens. A
group of these people, though, were calm, and were plotting something. These people were
known as the Han Brotherhood. They were Han loyalists, led by Mao Zi Long, a natural leader
and warrior, and were about to change the course of a battle.
Discovering of the Allied Force approaching from the south, Li Ru ordered half of the
soldiers from the Hu Lao Gate to reposition to defend the southern gate. Since it was smaller
though, archers could not be positioned on the top of the structure. Instead, they lined up behind
the gate. Li Ru planned to launch a volley at the enemy force when the break through, then have
the soldiers attack using melee weapons.
Lu Bu, eager for battle, paced back and forth and his steed, The Red Hare. This horse
was the fastest known to exist at the time, and was at a height which matched it's speed. It was
as tall as it's owner Lu Bu, who was a giant himself.
Cao Cao ordered for the attack to begin. Arrows, lit on fire, were shot at the gate's upper
level, in hope that they would catch something on fire. Xiahou Yuan, an expert archer, shot at the
enemy soldiers themself, not wasting a single arrow he shot. 5 siege towers and 2 rams were
rushed to the front of the gate. Many soldiers who were manning the rams, were getting killed by
the enemies' arrows from above. Immediately, though more soldiers took their place. Of the 5
siege towers, only 2 made it, as the other three fell apart to enemy firearrows. On one of the two
Siege towers, though, was Cao Ren and Cao Hong. When the siege tower reached the Gate, and
unloaded the soldiers in it onto the top of the gate, the two Cao's came out to attack the enemy
soldiers. There was not a single soldier that could defeat either one of the two, as they ravaged
enemy forces along with 15 other men. With the enemy archers defeated, the rams easily started
pounding at the gate, attempting to break it open. That was one problem solved.
On the Southern Gate, the rams were already breaking down the gate. Sun Jian, with
Huang Gai at his side, was about to charge directly into enemy lines when the gate broke down.
Unbeknownst to him at the time, though, he was about to ride into fate. When the gate shattered,
he charged on his steed, straight forward toward the enemy forces ready to attack. Before he
could, however, Li Ru said, "Fire!". A volley of arrows was shot directly at the charging force,
with him at the front. 4 arrows immediately punctured Jian's armor, two at the chest, one in his
left shoulder, and one in his right leg. Knowing his death was imminent, though, Jian made a final
attempt to do damage, and continued to ride at them. Seeing the enemy general coming toward
him, though, Li Ru put an arrow on his Longbow and shot it at close range. His aim was true,
and the arrow went right through Sun Jian's eye and out the back of his skull, killing him
instantly. Half of the charging force was killed instantly, and, with their leader dead, the rest ran
for their lives, among them Huang Gai, who carried his Lord's body as they fled. The charge had
failed horribly with nothing gained, but almost everything lost. They had not anticipated so many
archers to be stationed at the southern gate, and payed for it.
Back behind the gate, Sun Jian's remaining troops sorrowed for the loss of their leader.
However, the three brothers felt this only as something to make their victory more important.
"Listen my people, should Sun Jian's death, be in vain? Or should we avenge him and take out
Dong Zhuo!" he yelled. Extremely loyal to him, Liu Bei's troops got ready for another charge,
this time, though, they had a plan.
Guan Yu, the oldest of the three brothers, thought up this plan, and explained it to
everyone. "Us three will ride through the gate first to attract all enemy fire. After you hear the
enemies fire, you charge out and attack them before they reload. That way you can catch them
without weapons, also."
One of the soldiers protested, "But that would kill you three!"
"Is the lives of three men equal to the millions of lives in this country?" Liu Bei shouted.
"Everyone in their life must make sacrifices."
"This is ours," Zhang Fei yelled and the three rode of through the gate. Seeing three
enemy generals, many of Li Ru's troops readied their arrows to fire, but Li Ru immediately
ordered them not to fire.
"Do not attack them, target the main force." Li Ru had seen through their plan. He
stepped forward of his troops, put another arrow in his longbow, and shot it directly at Liu Bei.
Guan Yu was not about to let his brother die and swung his spear around, deflecting the arrow at
the tip away from Liu Bei and onto the ground.
However, hearing the sound of an arrow being fired, Liu Bei's troops charged out of the
gate, despite Liu Bei yelling at them not to. Li Ru, smiling, ordered his troops to fire at their
target. He thought he heard the sound of hundreds of arrows being shot at first, but only saw a
handful of arrows go by him. Turning around, a pain emerged in Li Ru's arm, as an arrow flew
right into him. He looked up to see almost of all his troops, dead on the ground, and about a
hundred soldiers, all dressed as normal people, holding bows, were standing behind where his
troops once were. In the front of them, was Mao Zi Long.
"It's over now, Li Ru, surrender," he yelled, "the people are in revolt and are fighting back
at Dong Zhuo. You don't want to be one of the ones that are killed in it."
And so, thanks to Mao Zi Long's rebels, Liu Bei's forces cleared the way for the rest of
the Southern Army. It was a victory that would effect the tide of the war.
Hu Lao Gate shattered, and Cao Cao's troops ran forward, directly towards the city.
They did not run far, however, and stopped as soon as they reached the end of the barricades.
One of the soldiers shouted, "Is that who I think it is?" The soldiers stopped, seeing Lu Bu right
in front of them. Knowing his patience paid off, Lu Bu rode into enemy forces, killing many of
them with ease. Zhang Liao and Li Jue followed. After 5 minutes, Cao Cao's force was in full
retreat, as they had only been killed, and never killed.
Not pursuing the enemies, Lu Bu stayed behind the gate, taunting Cao Cao. "Come! Who
else wishes to die?" There was no soldier in the entire allied force at the east gate, that could
match up to Lu Bu. No soldier, at least.
A massive warrior rode through the gate, waving around his halberd. He challenged Lu
Bu to a duel. "Just us two, you and I, no help from your allies!" he yelled, getting off of his
horse. "I can defeat you anytime."
"Hah! You really think you can surpass me?" Lu Bu dismounted Red Hare and accepted
the warrior's challenge. "Very well! Walk to you death!" He ran at the warrior and he and Lu
Xian begin throwing jabs and slashes at each other.
"I just couldn't stop him. He seemed eager to get to battle, so I let him go," Xiu Luo
explained to Ma Yuan. "I hope he doesn't kill himself."
"Then we would be two men down, right?" Ma Yuan sighed saying this, as he looked
back at Zhang Ce. "Where the hell is Yuan Chu?" It had been weeks since Yuan Chu left to find
this 'Doctor' that he mentioned, and has not sent word or anything. Ma Yuan was starting to
doubt his lifetime friend's survival. Zhang Ce had been unconscious for 2 days, but was still
breathing.
Ma Yuan got up from his seat and walked out of the tent, looking up at the sun. He
turned his attention to finding Liu Wei, Ce's would-be assailant. However, after looking around
the main camp, he could not find him. He asked one of the guards about Wei's whereabouts.
"Liu Wei? You mean that prisoner? He left about a week ago, said he had some business
to take care of." Almost instantly, Ma Yuan's hands wrapped around the guard's neck.
"Why the hell did you let him leave!?! He will be the death of my friend and you let him
go?!?" After realizing taking his anger out on a common soldier would get him no where good,
he let go of the guard's neck, who quickly ran away. Seeing this commotion, Otori Takeo walked
over to Ma Yuan.
"Hey, you need to calm down, alright? Everyone loses a friend or family once in awhile.
You can't let it control you. You have to find peace with yourself. You can't let the actions of
others effect those around detrimentally.
Ma Yuan did want to control his temper, but he couldn't help himself. "How do you
'calm' down then?"
"Me?" Takeo hesitated. "I take it out on those who deserve it." It was then that Ma Yuan
decided what to do. Taking a horse from the stable there, he rode out towards the southern gate
of Luo Yang, and towards Liu Wei.
Lu Bu's weapon missed it's target barely, as his opponent jumped up. Still in the air, Lu
Xian swung down at Lu Bu almost hitting him in the head if Lu Bu had not ducked. As the battle
went on, many were very surprised by this unknown man's skill with weapons. Which also meant
that someone stood a chance against a Lu Bu, so Cao Cao's soldiers' panic stopped. Using this
opportunity, Cao Cao ordered all his troops to advance around Lu Bu and towards the enemy
troops. Busy with the duel, Lu Bu was unable to give orders to his troops and wouldn't care less.
Cao Cao's troops fought hand to hand against the remaining forces of Dong Zhuo, who they
outnumbered greatly.
They outnumbered them, but Cao Cao's troops were unable to compete with one of Lu
Bu's officers. Zhang Liao ran out towards them, slashing away at the enemy troops. His skill
with a pike was unmatched and made easy killings against them. Xiahou Dun decided it was his
turn and rode out to meet Zhang Liao in combat. "Zhang Liao! You have no honor with him as
your leader. Come, Fight me and prove yourself worthy of living," Xiahou Dun challenged him to
a duel, picking up a spear from a fallen soldier.
Zhang Liao had never lost a duel nor deny one, and he did not intend to. "Very well, I
will strike you down!" Zhang Liao dove at Xiahou Dun and the two also began in a duel. This
caused a separation of forces, as neither Cao Cao's troops nor Dong Zhuo's could get by when
the two duels were in progress, as they feared they would get killed by accident. All they could
do was watch and hope their generals would win.
"This will not happen, I say, it will not!" Dong Zhuo shouted as he learned of the fall of
the south gate. "That's it, we are moving the capital to Hong Nong!" He ordered the movement
of every citizen to Hong Nong, a city west from Luo Yang. Obviously, every one of his advisors
hated this plan.
"But sir," Wang Yun insisted, "Moving everyone would require massive resources, and no
one will like the idea of being forced to move. They might also chase after us, it's not that easy.
If they decide to use the city as a fortress, we might not be able to defend ourselves after awhile."
Dong Zhuo smirked. "I already have a plan to prevent that. Now take the emperor and
everyone in the palace and move them westward. Alert all citizens as well. Tell them they will
die if they do not leave."
"They will die?" Wang Yun asked, suspiciously.
"More specifically, they will burn to death."
The Allied force that had advanced from the south was now moving into the city, heading
directly towards the palace. They intended to find and kill Dong Zhuo along with any of his
followers that were still loyal. They also wanted to make sure the emperor was safe. As they
proceeded through the streets, though, they noticed something that was unusual. Very Unusual.
They were empty. The streets, the houses, everything. The city was always in constant motion,
but now it was quiet. Something was clearly wrong.
"What is going on, where is everyone?" Zhang Fei asked his brothers.
"I don't know but it cant be-" Liu Bei stopped, hearing the cries of someone in a house
they had passed. Quickly dismounting, Liu Bei ran towards the source of the sound. He found a
little girl, crying in her house. "Are you okay, what is wrong?"
The little girl, sobbing in her arms, was a little relieved by Liu Bei, as he was a famous for
being noble and caring. "M-My parents! Th-They just D-Decided to leave and I miss them....."
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei came in at that time also.
"Come on, we'll help you get out of here," Liu Bei said. However, that was that last
words that he would speak, as at that moment, something terrible happened.
The two duels were at their peaks when the noise and scene reached their ears and eyes.
All four of the men stopped their actions, as they watched in horror. The city was on fire. All of
it. The houses were burning, the stores, the granaries, everything. It was all on fire, and there
was no hope of saving it.
"What the hell is he thinking?!?" Zhang Liao shouted. The only reason he was on the side
of Dong Zhuo was because he believed that with him on the stronger side, there would be less
conflict. He made the wrong decision, and was now hating himself for it.
The members of the southern force that survived tried to flee the carnage. As Yuan Shu
was fleeing, though, a wall from a building fell down and almost hit him. A hooded person dove
out and knocked him out from under the debris, saving his life. Yuan Shu looked up in surprise,
then looked at the man. "Thank you, you saved my life, who are you anyways?" The man stood
silent.
He smiled and said, "I'm a representative." With these words, the man drew his sword and
stabbed Yuan Shu through the neck, completely catching him off his guard. As Yuan Shu fell
over, the man took off his hood, and walked away. "Hmph, that felt pretty good." Liu Wei
picked up from a walk to a run and fled with everyone else.