Chapter 8: First Strike

Zhang Liang let out a deep sigh.

It had taken forever to pry Lu Bu off of Sima Yi. Even Ma Chao, Xiang Yu, and Guan Yu's combined strength wasn't enough to keep Lu Bu from ripping Zhongda to shreds.

But now they'd finally set up everyone's posts, and this united army could engage those animals head on. Hopefully, he had set up the correct chain of command for this particular campaign. With this many people, their notion of authority was bound to get messy.

"Commander…" Wen Pin rattled his spear as Ma Chao simply continued marching forward.

Ma Chao yawned.

"Commander, I request permission to speak freely, sir." He added.

The hero of Xi Liang gave him an annoyed glance.

The warrior shook his head. "As a General of the Wei army, your disdain for me is duly noted, however I fear that we may be walking into an ambush."

Ma Chao just shook his head. "Ambush slambush, I'll kill anyone who tries to kill me. You just hide behind a ballista or something if that makes you feel safe, pansy."

Wen Pin growled. "I failed to fight for my lord once, and thus I was forced to serve Wei. I will not fail my people, however, so I will fight to the death. But, to have you waste our forces like this makes me question why lord Zifang made you a legion commander." (1.)

Ma Chao grinned. "'Cuz unlike you I can kick major ass."

Wen Pin rolled his eyes.

Among the other officers under Ma Chao's command, Wei Yan simply kept silent and sniffed around. It was obvious that Ma Chao wasn't thinking at all. Their forces were marching loudly in enemy territory, even though they were well aware of the fact that animals had better hearing than humans in general. They were asking for an ambush, and Wei Yan sighed. If only he could speak properly, he could warn Ma Chao accordingly.

For now, though, he'd have to lead any soldiers who were willing to listen to him away from Ma Chao and the main force once they were attacked, otherwise they'd all die.

"Sir Snortalot ordered us to strike the enemy head on. To think that traitors among our people would be so willing to let these humans use them like… Like walking chairs is so insulting! We will free our brothers from being ridden on! We will make humans our slaves and have them carry heavy loads! Brothers, let us destroy these humans and free our siblings from their reign!" Gold hair, an Arabian stallion, yelled aloud.

Wei Yan blinked, and shared a glance with Wu Yan, the Wu warrior Zifang had ordered to serve under the masked commander, and spoke: "Horse… Neigh?"

Wu Yan nodded. "I think that was a neigh."

Wei Yan shook his head. "Our… Horses… Fine… Right?"

"They should be."

"Then… Why?"

At that moment, a Shu soldier in Ma Chao's unit yelled out: "We're under attack!"

And a legion of centaurs engaged the right flank of Ma Chao's army.

Snortalot sighed.

These centaurs were meant to be cannon fodder. True horse people did not have any part of their bodies that resembled people. Centaurs began to appear shortly after the Feral Confederacy was founded, and Snortalot predicted that they were both a unique species and, in some rare cases, the offspring of his 'happy' horse brothers.

This horse leader wondered why any horse brother would have interest in a human mare, but that really was not his business, was it? As long as these centaurs were willing to die for the good of the animals, well, he was pleased.

Those centaurs did wonders to crush their foe's morale.

Zhou Yu shook his head. What kind of enemy was lurking in the shadows, plotting their every move?

Based on the record Wen Pin gave Lord Zifang, the enemy had used these 'centaurs,' or horse-like creatures with an upper body that looked strikingly similar to a particularly strong human man, to charge forward and strike Ma Chao's unit in a pincer maneuver. Since Ma Chao had his lines spread out like a long row of wheat, which was already a very stupid move, the enemy easily tore his formation to shreds, separating chunks of his soldiers from each other.

The fact that Ma Chao and his officers were still breathing was a blessing in itself. Though his formation was hacked to pieces and his soldiers were mostly killed off, Ma Chao tore through the enemy lines and escaped. He had left Wen Pin, Wei Yan, and Wu Yan to fend for themselves, but the three commanders were also able to find a way out.

Still, the coalition's first attack on the enemy was a failure, and Zhuge Liang was quite embarrassed at the fact that he was the one who advised Zhang Liang to send the mighty Ma Chao out to crush their foes… That was why the moment he learned that Ma Chao failed in his mission, Kongming slipped away on the pretense of illness.

Sima Yi just shook his head. "Give me Jiang Wei, Lu Xun, Lu Bu, Xiahou Dun, and a few hundred thousand soldiers. I will destroy the enemy and make up for Kongming's failure. You should not have put him in a higher post, Lord Zifang… If anything Kongming should return to base and help us rally the people. It's the only thing he can do, anyway."

Zhang Liang glanced at Zhou Yu, who seemed to be the only person other than himself who was far more competent than his post would imply.

"What do you think of this, Gongjin? You seem to have analyzed the enemy properly, which is why our rescue force actually succeeded in saving our generals."

"Well, I know for a fact that Sima Zhongda is a brilliant man. He is not one to accept a loss easily, and thus he'll fight twice as hard to prove himself better than Kongming. We should deploy him to engage our enemy."

"I knew you'd see things my way, Zhou Yu!" Sima Yi laughed.

"But Zhongda, remember that this foe is nothing you've fought before. You've engaged the Qiangs, an enemy that is twenty times worse than the Shan Yue, so you know how to counter cavalry properly, but these 'centaurs' and talking horses are nothing like typical cavalry soldiers. They may move similarly, but they are far more brilliant strategists. Qiang tribesman are fine tacticians in the plains, but tend to find it difficult to modify their tactics for forest warfare, as you are well aware, but these horses know the land far better than any of us do, and so they will ambush you from every nook and cranny. That is why General Ma Chao was beaten so easily. Don't make the same mistakes." Zhou Yu's eyes narrowed.

"Ha ha ha. You're quite worthy as a leader, Zhou Yu. But I'll make these animals suffer when I strike. Don't worry about me. Once I destroy them all, you should make Zhuge Liang my personal butler or something. It's all he's good for, anyway." Sima Yi smiled.

Zhou Yu sighed. If Zhuge Liang were here, he'd definitely try to strangle his rival right then and there.

Seeing both Zhang Liang and Zhou Yu's distressed faces, Guo Jia spoke. "Knowing Sima Yi, he may very well have completely ignored your advice, Zhou Yu. We have to make countermeasures."

Zhang Liang raised his right eyebrow. "Do you have a plan, Fengxiao?"

Guo Jia smiled. "Of course. If Sima Yi does fail in this mission, well, we should use the fact that the killer whales can no longer stop us from advancing to try to retake Lu Jiang. Perhaps we've been focusing too much on Guang Ling, as that is a Wei city, and it would seem that the enemy cavalry has a much better chance of holding that position. Lu Jiang is a Wu territory, a city in which our primarily Wu based forces will find it much easier to take and hold.

"Retaking Lu Jiang would boost our morale just as greatly as the capture of Guang Ling would, and we'd be able to use its resources to continue a campaign northward… Doubtless we will see the horrors of what those pigs have done, but it would be better for us to have retaken something than to continue throwing our solder's lives away."

"You have a point, Fengxiao." Zhang Liang nodded. "Once we receive word from Sima Yi, we will move out to retake Lu Jiang anyway. If we do not send our forces out now, the enemy will focus their efforts on protecting Guang Ling, and that will draw their strength away from Lu Jiang, which will make retaking that city much easier. Let us pray that Zhongda will be the victor in that skirmish…"

As Sima Yi's forces marched out, they had no idea that someone was observing their lines.

"Hmn… The army is marching out at double pace, into terrain that has already been contested and proven to be enemy territory. His ally failed in this region, so what makes this commander think he will succeed so easily here? An army that marches too quickly is one that will be tired come time to fight, and a region where a previous invasion was not successful is an area in which you must be very careful. For this commander to disregard both of these critical principles, well, who is he?" Han Xin mumbled as he watched Sima Yi charge towards the same area where Ma Chao was crushed.

"Are you sure you want to move out? There is still a chance for you to find peace, General." An old man muttered as Han Xin watched Sima Yi march towards the enemy position.

"Your arthritis must be getting worse. How can you possibly say such a thing? People say that you are far greater than Zhang Liang ever was, and yet you choose to stand by and watch China crumble under the reign of these beasts? What has happened to you, Master Taigong?"

Jiang Taigong laughed. "I wanted to test your resolve. It was foolish of me to believe that your hate for Liu Bang would keep you from moving forth and saving us all. Young man, you can rest assured that I will help you." (2.)

Han Xin nodded. "Well, let's see how these people do without us to give them pointers…"

Seabiscuit scoffed.

Those humans had just attacked their positions, only to be crushed by the obviously superior might of the Feral Legion. Even so, Sima Yi, one of the human's more talented commanders, was leading an attack on the very position where they saw defeat.

Were humans really so inferior and stupid that they couldn't see their own defeat?

Still, somehow, a chill went down his furry spine. He could smell it: the victories his animal brothers were enjoying now wouldn't last for long.

1. When Liu Zong surrendered to Cao Cao, Wen Pin was among Liu Zong's forces. He had resigned in shame, but later went to serve Wei.

2. This is Jiang Taigong. His butchered version is Taigong Wang in Warriors Orochi 2. To assume that Master Taigong would be so arrogant (and be a bishounen when he served China at 80-ish years of age) is to be rather silly indeed. Honestly, putting Sun Wukong and other random people in the game? They should have added Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, Han Xin, and Zhang Liang to make it more Three Kingdoms relevant.

Basically, yeah, Han Xin and Jiang Taigong will join the fray. I want to include as many heroes as possible without making it too confusing, so I won't have everyone join in. (I mean, Yue Fei is playable if you unlock him in ROTK IX, and that's a bit too much as he's from the relatively far future.)

Long Qie: General of Xiang Yu. Fell prey to a lure strategy used by Han Xin.

INT: 45 (Most generals ought to know and recognize the Lure strategy, but since 50 = typical INT I won't be too harsh to him.)

WAR: 80 (I assume Xiang Yu would recognize more talented officers, or give more talented ones more troops to command. The guy had 200,000 soldiers, after all.)

LDR: 80 (Those soldiers wouldn't have so easily died if they didn't trust him.)

POL: 50 (Seems like he could communicate with his soldiers properly, even if he wasn't smart enough to see Han Xin's tactic.)