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The fall of Xu Chang; A loyal general's stand
Topic Started: Oct 24 2008, 02:35 AM (204 Views)
Satyrus
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The White Rabbit
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[size=7]The fate of a city[/size]

Nervous feet shuffled back and forth in the barracks of Xu Chang, now the base of operations for some of the last remaining imperial forces. The pacing man was had already passed the age of fifty, and his beard had long ago grown grey, but these last few weeks it was quickly turning white as news of the Yellow Turban's victories followed one after another.

First Zhu Jun was slain after being defeated at Bei Hai and the surrounding country soon followed. Now the aged Han General awaited news from a second battle, the noble Cao Cao and his army had set out to defend Pu Yang engaging the rebels near the fort of Bai Ma. It had been a week since any news had been heard from Cao Cao and a loss there would mean that most of the north had fallen and that the Yellow Turbans would soon be at his doorstep.

A young soldier rushed into the tent, breathing heavily he tried to steady himself for a proper bow, but the general urged him to speak.

"General Huangfu, Cao Cao's forces have been obliterated! The few remaining troops have fled and it's unknown if Cao Cao or any of his officers survived."

Huangfu Song had stopped pacing. He placed his hand on the table next to him and his aged body sagged as if all the years had caught up to him at once.

He looked up at the young soldier and then at his commanders, they all knew very well what this meant.

Each of them nodded and Song pulled himself up and began briskly walking about the room giving orders.

"Begin preparations for battle. Get the supplies and the people inside the city walls now! Start digging fortification outside the walls and reinforce the watches and patrols!"

Soldiers hustled around to do their work and now Huangfu Song was the last bastion between the Yellow Turban rebels and the imperial capital...

[size=7]The Battle for Xu Chang[/size]

The time had come sooner than Song would have liked, of course he had hoped that it would never happen so perhaps the demons that favored the Yellow Turbans had turned his wishes against him. It didn't matter any more though, the people were safe inside the walls and he'd done all he could to see that it could withstand a siege.

He marched his soldiers out into the field, all of them held perfect ranks with banners held high, but their sprits were as tenuous as the Han it seemed. Once the army was assembled outside and the gates were closed the Yellow Turbans could be seen in the distance, so vast was it that it seemed a sandstorm was about to devour the land. Seeing the enemy far off and his men's courage near to breaking he turned his horse to face them.

"Soldiers of the Han! Today is a battle which cannot be lost, we stand as the last fortress between the Yellow Turban horde and the Imperial Capital of Luo Yang. If we are to lose, not only will your lives be forfeited, but the lives of all those in Xu Chang and in all the Empire will be subjugated to their vile ways."

Huangfu Song unsheaths his broadsword with a flourish and points it at the apporaching Yellow Turnbans.

"The preach the Way of Peace and yet they gather men to fight and die for them, slaughtering innocents and opposition alike. There peace is that of silent screams, unheard in the din of battle. If that's the peace they desire then we will see to it that their unheard screams are many as we send all of them to eternal peace!!!!"

He raises his sword into the air and shouts with all the might that his lungs can muster. His words have the desired effect as the soldiers of Xu Chang and of the Han raise there weapons in promise. Then the march forward begins.

The two armies face eachother some few hundred yards apart, and the commander's flag of the Yellow Turbans can be readily seen blowing in the wind. The rebel's leader, Zhang Jue, is the name flown on the banner and Song's heart goes weak. Zhang Jue was said to have mystical powers and was also a competent general by all accounts, this battle kept looking more grim.

The war drums sounded and the two armies moved to engage, Song's troops marching forward in formation with longspears in the first two lines, while the Yellow Turbans, relying on superior numbers, charged forward in a wave. And Song's troops were the rocks upon which that wave broke, as rebel after rebel was impaled. More kept coming but still the line held strong, and after hours of this seemingly meaningless attack the defenders of the Han held strong.

Song was worried though, even killing ten men for every one of his the Turban's forces seemed limitless and in this battle their sheer numbers would weary his troops and overwhelm them. He needed a break in the battle to rest, but doing so would only give the enemy a chance to attack. No they had to hold and hope that Zhang Jue would order a retreat to rethink his strategy. And so the battle continued with Turbans dying in droves while his own forces took relatively few casualties. Finally they war drums sounded and the Yellow Turbans retreated. Seeing an advantage Huangfu Song pushed pasat the corpse-lidden ground and made a strong camp.

That night the troops celebrated their victory and Song went about congratulating the men on their bravery. But he knew this battle was far from over. Late that night the wind picked up and a storm blew in. By the next morning it had turned to a steady rain and as the two armies faced eachother once more the downpour grew worse.

At the forefront of the Yellow Turbans stood Zhang Jue, appearing in Taoist garbs of Yellow. Soldiers in full armor and in disciplined rows stood all around him. Huangsu Song cringed, now he knew what the enemies tactic was. He'd let the lowly peasant-soldiers wear down his men and now the professionals would finish the job. Still, Zhang Jue seemed to have underestimated his men and had made the mistake of giving them a night's rest.

The attack began not to the beat of men's drums, but the heaven's as thunder rolled across the plain. This time though Zhang Jue's men weren't killed in droves. Instead it was an earnest battle as men clashed, forced into close combat in many places. Men in both armies fell across the plain, but Song didn't have the men Zhang Jue did to spare. It was time to retreat to the city and prepare for a siege. Song gave the order and his troops began falling back, but the enemy didn't press them, why?

Huangfu Song hoped it was the number of Turban bodies that his army was coming up to that reminded the enemy to be cautious. But just as the reached the edge of the piled dead the Yellow Turbans charged forward in brutal fury, Zhang Jue in their midst as well. How strange that the commander would purposely expose himself to danger now that his army was winning, Huangfu Song wondered. Something was wrong, but there was little time to think as his line was pushed to the breaking point by the Yellow Turnbans.

The storm had continued unabated throughout the battle and now Zhang Jue cast his arms out wide and a monstrous crash of thunder rolled across the army, so powerful it nearly knocked Song off his horse. The enemy commander called out to the heavens "RISE! RISE AND FIGHT ONCE MORE FOR THE WAY OF PEACE!!!"

From among the corpses from the previous days battle men began to rise once more, covered in blood and screaming terribly. "The enemies sorcery has brought the dead to life!" soldiers began to break rank in terror, and the battle became a bloody frenzy of brawls.

Huangfu Song was stunned at the turn of events, we're the Turbans really that powerful? His answer came soon enough as he fought the so-called dead. One after another he cut them down, they screamed as ordinary men and their bodies were covered not in blood, but red paint. Now Song understood the true purpose of yesterdays slaughter.

Zhang Jue had sacrificed thousands of his own men, let him advance in victory and then hidden his men among the dead behind his force. The thought filled him with rage, the death of so many cast aside for a rebel cause. So this was the extent of their 'sorcery'. Huangfu Song kept fighting, trying to rally his men, but the longer he tried the fewer and further between the pockets of his own troops became. Soon he found himself with only a small handful of men, and he knew the battle had been utterly lost.

Already the bulk of Zhang Jue's men we're laying siege to the city while a small force remained to clean up what had once been a proud army. Now he had two choices; fight to the death and leave the empire to fend for itself or escape to live on and fight for the Han again. That choice was easy to make for a loyal man of the Han. So Huangfu Song and a few followers fought their way out breaking through the lines simply by charging his mount through the men. He didn't need to worry about who he ran over, nearly all his men were dead and those few remaining were eithersmall pockets of resistance or following behind him.

Escaping the tumult of the lost battle Huangfu Song rode hard, his men pressed to keep pace. He fled toward the lands of Liu Yan, he had perhaps the last pro-imperial army outside the captial that had any chance of standing against the turbans. If the Han were to defend Luo Yang they would need every able body and so he rode away from Xu Chang. He would return though, and see that the Han did not fail.
Tao Ci(33) 45-28-82-95-75 Architect(II), Civil Works(II), Commerce(II), Demagogue(II), Scribing(II)

GMNPC for Ma Teng, Liu Yan, and Huangfu Song!
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