Right as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, Haru, Kan'u, Chouhi, and Shoukatsuryou led the Zhuo army in a straight march toward the Sishui Pass. Haru rode on Cerberus, while Shoukatsuryou was on her own, slightly smaller horse and Kan'u and Chouhi walked. Their scouts had already reported that there were no archers up on the ramparts yet; however, there were watchmen up there, and they would likely see the Zhuo army soon enough. In a slight stroke of fortune, the Zhuo army had been given some much needed supplies, mostly in the form of weapons. Thankfully, in the days since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, they had gained a few more horses and had something of a working cavalry for each general's unit, though it was still relatively small. Jun'iku had been right about one thing—they could not fight a protracted battle in front of Sishui, and would have to engage the enemy well out of range of the ramparts to avoid being shot.
As they approached the fortress, which looked for all the world like a giant gray stone wall between the two ridges of the ravine, Haru gave orders to his generals with a calm air. "Aisha, Rinrin, I want your archers to give 'em a few arrows to worry about, try to keep 'em from swarming me and stay on a straight-line chase. Since I'm the biggest target, they'll come racing after me like a bat outta hell."
Kan'u nodded, pursing her lips to keep her disagreement with the riskiest part of the plan to herself—namely, the part where Haru was deliberately using himself as the big bait. If Chouhi had any such worries, she didn't show them, and grinned. "You got it, big bro!"
"Shuri, I'm leaving the rest of my men with you. Use them however you need to."
Shoukatsuryou nodded. "Of course, Lord Haru."
"Lord Haru!" one of the scouts shouted from behind. "The gates are opening!"
"Tell half of my unit to stay with Shoukatsuryou, and the other half to stay with me, double-time!" Haru roared back. "Kan'u and Chouhi's units should be flanking our left and right sides! We're sticking to the plan!"
"Lord Haru, please, be careful," Kan'u said, gripping the shaft of the Green Dragon Blade as tightly as she dared. "If you fall..."
Haru drew Blood-Scythe. "We're gonna win this, and we're gonna go back to Zhuo. End of story." He then faced forward once more and squeezed his legs a little closer together. "Get your ass moving, Cerberus! Time to go to work!"
The horse let out a calm snort, but in contrast to that peaceful action, took off like an arrow shot from a bow, stopping a few yards away. Chouhi and Kan'u looked at each other once, then nodded, and went to their respective units to take command.
Shoukatsuryou was soon surrounded by the half of Haru's unit that he'd left to guard her, and she quickly raised her eyes up to the ramparts of Sishui Pass, pulling out her telescope as the other half of Haru's unit surged past her and gathered around him. Sure enough, there was a contingent of archers up there, but nowhere near the size she'd been expecting. Most of their forces seemed concentrated on the light and heavy infantry that was spilling out to attack Haru and his unit. It was a small advantage, but a good one for an army with inferior numbers. We won't be able to get rid of those archers from here, she thought. The gate will have to be breached first. Still, with that low numbers of archers, we should be all right if we're careful.
"Keep your eyes on those ramparts," Shoukatsuryou said to a soldier standing next to her. "Be prepared to sound the horn once Lord Haru's drawn them out and off from Sishui. Keep me appraised of Lady Kan'u and Lady Chouhi's positions at all times. We're going to pull further back and to the side so that Lord Haru's retreat is unobstructed."
The soldier saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"
In short order, Haru and his men found themselves on the cusp of battle again as a thick mob of soldiers rushed out of the fortress to meet them and mow them all down. At the far back of the mob, he could see a purple flag on it, and made a mental note; that was likely General Kayuu's unit, and probably the best target for him to take down before the rest of the anti-Toutaku alliance appeared.
"Main problem now is holding out and drawing them back," Haru muttered. He patted Cerberus on the back of the neck, and stared fiercely at the growing mob. Without turning around, he shouted, "Are Kan'u and Chouhi's units in position?"
"They are, sir!" a soldier shouted in reply. "Lady Shoukatsuryou has drawn her guard off to the side as well! Our way back is clear!"
Haru allowed himself a tense grin as Cerberus snorted and pawed at the ground. "Good! Remember, pull a slow fighting retreat. Tempt that idiot Kayuu to keep throwing soldiers further and further out from the gates. If I get a shot, I'm gonna try to take her out or capture her myself, got it?"
"Yes, Lord Haru!" the men roared.
The enemy soldiers were close enough for Haru to see the sun gleaming on their helmets and the assorted pieces of armor that they wore. With a final breath, he gripped Blood-Scythe as tightly as he could. "All right then, you bastards. Let's do the usual! And if you're gonna die, die fighting!" He squeezed Cerberus's flanks again. "Forward! It's show time!"
Cerberus launched forward again, and Haru's half-unit followed behind him; a hail of arrows from the rear passed over the infantry's heads, peppering the ground and the enemies in front of them indiscriminately. The advance of the army slowed, and Haru let out an unearthly roar and slashed through anyone that got close as Cerberus dove into the enemies.
Farther back from the main battleground, one of Gi's soldiers lowered his telescope and turned to face Sousou, sitting on top of a brown colored horse. Jun'iku and Kakouton flanked her; Kakouen was with Gi's chosen contingent of backup troops, awaiting the signal to move.
"Lady Sousou," he said, "we have confirmation that the Zhuo forces are engaging. It's Lord Haru's unit in the lead, with Kan'u and Chouhi flanking and laying down additional fire."
Sousou smiled tightly. "That ugly man, under-utilizing Kan'u's strength...what is he playing at, I wonder?" She sighed, and shook her head. "Can you see if Kayuu's flag is on the field yet?"
The soldier put the telescope back to his eye, and nodded. "Yes, it's in the back of the enemy army. She's surging forward, though. It looks like she wants to challenge Lord Haru directly."
Kakouton snorted. "It seems that the rumors were true about Kayuu, then. Impetuous to a fault and overaggressive as well. Even a clod like Haru should be able to dispatch her easily."
Jun'iku frowned, and adjusted the small black bow tie at her neck. "And if he doesn't?"
"Then we will step in and do what he couldn't," Sousou said, folding her arms. "All the better to me if he winds up dead and I have an opportunity to speak to Kan'u once again. There's no reason she should be so devoted to him and his causes if he's not alive anymore."
Kakouton managed to keep the pout off her face. Jun'iku did not.
Unlike Sousou, Sonken more directly observed the battle; though she was still near the rock formation that was hiding the Go army from sight, she was looking through her own telescope, keeping her eyes particularly fixed on Haru. She was naturally accompanied by both Ryomou and Kannei, but there were two other women with them as well. One was tall and tan-skinned, with green eyes hidden behind a pair of red-framed square-shaped glasses. Her long black hair spilled down past her waist, and was tied off with a pink ribbon at the end. She wore a dark maroon dress that exposed both her cleavage and her navel, as well as dark stockings and white shoes.
This was Koukin Shuuyu, the adviser of Sonken's predecessor and older sister Hakufu Sonsaku. She had not attended any of the war councils mostly as a favor to Ryomou.
The other woman had short, lime-green hair and a golden hairpiece sitting just above her bangs. Like Shuuyu, she had glasses, but these were smaller and pince-nez styled, exposing all of her bright blue eyes. She wore a dress with wide-mouthed short-sleeves; it was styled similarly to Shuuyu's, exposing the same areas, but was brighter in color and more similar to a shortened qipao; white stockings and sturdy brown shoes rounded out her ensemble.
This was Hakugen Rikuson, Shuuyu's student and another strategist in the employ of the Go kingdom.
As the battle raged on and Sonken continued to watch, Shuuyu turned to Sonken with an amused smile playing across her lips. "Well, Lady Renfa? How is your little lord doing?"
"He's not mine in any sense of the word, Koukin," Sonken replied, stifling a sigh. "And I wish you'd stop saying that. I already told you I've no interest in him that way, and I doubt he would be interested in me. I've told you about that 'bride incident' in Xizang already, haven't I?"
"But all of those women weren't of noble standing," Rikuson pointed out, her voice light and airy as usual. "If you were to approach Lord Haru seriously, Lady Renfa..."
Sonken lowered her telescope and actually turned around to look at both Shuuyu and Rikuson with a flat, annoyed stare. "That man's not stupid enough to take an offer like that at face value, and even if he was, I'm positive his court would warn him of what it would mean to marry the ruler of a rival kingdom." She sighed. "On top of that, Sheren would probably kill me herself if she found out I was considering something like that."
The mere mention of Sheren—rather, Sonsaku—caused Shuuyu's amused smile to become a little more brittle. In all honesty, both Shuuyu and Sonken would have been much more pleased if it were Sonsaku standing in Sonken's place right now, leading the country the way she should have been. Everyone in the court that bothered to look at her knew that Sonken truly did not enjoy her position at all, and would have been all-too happy to let Sonsaku keep it if it had been possible. The fact that Sonken was viewing the job as more of a burden than a duty had already caused friction between her and Shuuyu, despite the fact that Shuuyu had known both Sonsaku and Sonken long enough to basically be a surrogate older sister to both Sonken and to the youngest Son princess, Sonshoukou.
However, a country couldn't be led by a fevered, bedridden woman, even if that woman was Hakufu Sonsaku, the Little Conqueror of the Son family and the Go kingdom, and even if that woman was slowly recovering her strength with every passing month. Despite being both Sonsaku's friend and lover, Shuuyu could not have been installed as the ruler of Go without causing some major waves amongst the population. There had already been whispers amongst the population that the Son family might have lost the legitimacy of their rule that was granted by the Mandate of Heaven; Sonsaku's injury and sickness were merely the physical proofs. Sonken's acceptance of the throne had staved that talk off, but only just. It would no doubt come up again and again, especially since Sonken was much more content to preserve territory instead of pushing out to aggressively capture it.
Taking the silence as a cue to go back to what she'd been doing, Sonken raised the telescope to her eye again. Shuuyu sighed, but the smile never quite left her face as she played with the ruffled kerchief at her neck. It's that trait about the boy that she likes, Shuuyu thought. Or those traits, rather. Going by what Renfa has said, he's crass and blunt, but he's honest and has no ambition to conquer China, no dream to become the strongest. He simply chooses to protect what he has, much like she does.
It was this thought that made Shuuyu's lips purse slightly. She remembered the visit she had paid to Sonsaku before setting out on this campaign, remembered Sonsaku reaching out a pale hand and stroking her cheek so gently before asking her, "Please take care of Renfa." More than anything else, she wanted to keep that promise, but at the same time, every day that she kept it meant one more day that Go had not pursued the dream that had been the core of its foundation.
Kannei simply observed Shuuyu from the corner of her eye, and said nothing, making only a mental note to go along with many more that she'd been keeping for some time.