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[How do professionals fight amateurs?]
The generals in the hall fell into thought, pondering the meaning of professional and amateur.
"If we speak of personal bravery, Lu Bu may not firmly hold first place. But if we speak of the troops under his command, the Bingzhou Cavalry..." Guan Yu shook his head, recalling some rather unpleasant memories.
Back in the third year of Jian'an, 198 AD, Lu Bu openly sided with Yuan Shu, who had already declared himself emperor. A direct betrayal of the imperial court. Liu Bei was serving as Governor of Xuzhou back then, and he seized a shipment of Lu Bu's gold in response. Furious, Lu Bu sent his top general Gao Shun straight at Liu Bei and crushed him completely. Cao Cao dispatched Xiahou Dun with reinforcements to help, but even combined their forces were still heavily beaten.
It was not until later that same year, when Cao Cao personally led his main army and joined forces with Liu Bei, that they finally trapped Lu Bu inside Xiapi. They laid siege for three full months and only managed to capture and execute this fierce warrior because his own officers turned against him from the inside.
Every face in Liu Bei's group darkened at this part. Gao Shun had defeated their lord two times straight, and Lu Bu himself barely even had to lift a finger.. The sheer gap in troop quality had just been that overwhelming.
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[Zhao Yun usually lands at number two on the ranking list, and honestly official history paints him as even more of a war god than Lu Bu ever was. At Changban Slope he charged back and forth seven times. At the Han River battle he did the exact same thing. He moved through Cao Cao's massive army as casually as stepping outside to use the latrine, treating their elite troops like they were nothing but empty air!]
Jian Yong burst out laughing so hard he had to raise his cup. "That comparison alone deserves a full cup of wine to celebrate!"
The rest of the generals could not help but laugh right along with him.
Zhang Fei scratched his cheek and said with a straight face, "If Cao Cao's army is the latrine then the A-Dou Zilong pulled out from inside it is…"
Liu Bei's smile froze instantly. "YIDEEEE!!"
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[Zhao Yun originally hailed from Youzhou, so the troops under his command were most likely the elite Youzhou Rapid Cavalry corps. And no, don't ask why they weren't the famous Baima Yicong.
Come on, everyone knows this saying: when the whole land prospers and everyone is rich, our Liu Huangshu stays poor all by himself! Where on earth would he ever get the money to buy up a whole herd of pure white horses? If he really tried to put together a unit like that, it would probably end up getting called the Zase Qiyi, the Mixed Color Cavalry, instead!]
Liu Bei felt like crying on the inside. Of all the things in the world, why did everyone have to keep remembering how poor I was?
Zhao Yun spoke up plainly. "General Gongsun Zan loved white horses. The tribes even called him the White Horse General. Later he picked three thousand elite riders, all mounted on white horses, and named them the Baima Yicong. I never had anything like that, of course."
'Damn, three thousand elite cavalry all riding white horses. Are you trying to show off?' Liu Bei felt genuine envy.
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[But it really is true that everyone loves a good white horse.
Over in Chengdu there used to be a spot called Zilong Pond stretching across ten whole acres. A stone stele stood right by the bank marked "Place where Marquis Shunping washed his horse," so folks also called it the Zilong Horse-Washing Pool.
This whole site got filled in around seventy years ago and renamed Peace Street. When this uploader went to visit, I snapped a few casual photos but all you see now is just an ordinary everyday street scene.
I even chatted with an elderly local man who told me the full old legend of Zilong Pond.]
Everyone in the hall stared with hungry curiosity at those things called photographs. Even Zhuge Liang paused for a moment and forgot all about copying them down.
The streets were wide and perfectly flat. Every passerby had full healthy faces and relaxed looks on their faces. Neat rows of small buildings lined both sides of the road, and in the distance huge towering structures loomed faintly. The outer walls of those buildings were covered in all kinds of decorations and written signs.
Zhuge Liang read them out slowly one by one. "Noodle shop... Mahjong club... Fresh produce market... Peace Street bus stop... Zhang Fei Beef?"
Zhang Fei stood there completely confused. "I, Old Zhang, used to slaughter pigs back in Zhuo Commandery! Is it possible even this got changed around in the Romance?"
Jian Yong said it straight out. "I honestly wish I could have been born in that later age."
Mi Zhu did not say it so openly, but his envy was plain to see. Just looking at that street alone, you could feel how rich and busy commerce was. Nothing like the present, where scholar, farmer, artisan, and merchant were kept in such rigid separate ranks.
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[Legend says when the Mongol army swept in and laid waste to Chengdu, the people suffered terrible cruelty. One night a thick white fog rolled down over the whole city. Right then a magnificent white horse galloped straight out from Zilong Pond, carrying a general clad all in shining silver armor. He raised his arm high and shouted at the top of his lungs: "All troops advance! We march to restore the Han, protect our homeland, strike down the foe, and drive out the invaders! Follow me!"
The White Horse General charged straight into the Mongol camp as if their entire army were nothing but empty air. The people believed Zhao Yun had appeared among them, so they rose up together and followed him into battle. They fought as one and drove the Mongol invaders right out of Chengdu.
After that victory, the people built a grand temple honoring Zhao Yun right beside the Horse-Washing Pool. And from that day onward, incense burned there without end.]
The light screen had spoken of Chengdu so many times already that everyone there had grown quite fond of the place. Hearing that battle cry to restore the Han Liu Bei felt a deep ache of sympathy rise up inside him.
He frowned and turned to Zhuge Liang. "This Mongol army… what kind of force are they exactly?"
Zhuge Liang spread his hands open. He had gone through everything he had ever read and still could not find a single mention of them. He could only make a guess. "Judging purely by the name they are most likely a foreign tribe from beyond our borders."
"Our descendants truly suffer through so much," Zhang Fei said with real feeling. "First the chaos of the Five Barbarians and now this Mongol horde. Will there be even more foreign tribes in the years to come? Perhaps Emperor Wu was not harsh enough after all."
Zhao Yun's expression grew soft and complicated. As a man who had spent his whole life on the battlefield he could see clearly what really happened. That was most likely some brave rebel leader using his name to rally the people and call for the Han's return. Yet even after all those long years the folk of Ba and Shu still trusted him that deeply. He only regretted he could not truly appear among them. If only he could he would have answered that call without a moment's hesitation.
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[Dian Wei ranks after Zhao Yun and is known for his brute strength.
There is even a joke online that says: Lu Bu is unmatched in mounted combat, Dian Wei is unmatched in foot combat, so if Lu Bu rides Dian Wei, would that not make him invincible under heaven?]
"Hahahahaha!"
Zhang Fei and Jian Yong burst into laughter together.
Even Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, and Sun Qian could not help but smile. The creativity of later generations was truly outrageous. Yet when they imagined the scene in their minds, they could not help laughing again.
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[The historical records about Dian Wei are really short and scarce, so there is not much to go on at all.
It makes you wonder if the people who came up with that famous ranking actually slotted him in there just to make the lines rhyme.
Think about it: if Zhang Fei took third place, it just would not flow right. And no matter whether you put Guan Yu or Ma Chao there instead, the whole rhythm falls apart. That reasoning might sound a little silly, but without that catchy rhyme the list would never have spread and stayed popular for all these centuries.]
Since Guan Yu was right beside him, Zhang Fei could only mutter softly. "Why couldn't I be third..."
[Lightscreen]
[As for Guan Yu, there is no need to elaborate. Too many legends remain. The Romance even assigned him five hundred blade guards as personal troops. His might needs no proof.]
Zhang Fei noticed that his second brother was stroking his beard more frequently.
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[As for Ma Chao, this brings us back to today's topic, the Hanzhong Campaign.]
"Alright then! After talking about everything else for so long can we finally get back to the Hanzhong Campaign?!" Huang Zhong said with clear dissatisfaction. He had been waiting all this time to hear the part about Xiahou Yuan.
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[Looking at this ranking, one thing becomes really clear: Ma Chao never truly lived up to what he had. Lu Bu rode roughshod over everyone with the Bingzhou Cavalry behind him. Zhao Yun charged wherever he pleased, backed by the Youzhou Rapid Cavalry.
But Ma Chao? He held the legendary Liangzhou Steeds in his hands and yet ended up running for his life like a stray dog.
These are the Liangzhou Steeds we are talking about!
Back at the end of the Western Jin, when the Xiongnu leader Liu Yuan laid siege to Luoyang not once but twice, the Liangzhou general Beigong Chun came rushing to the aid from over a thousand miles away both times. He drove the enemy back and won each time with far fewer troops. The Zizhi Tongjian records that Beigong Chun gathered just over one hundred brave riders, charged straight into the enemy lines, and shattered an army of tens of thousands.
The rebel force numbered around twenty thousand. One hundred men charging headlong into tens of thousands and winning? That is exactly what people mean by a reborn war god.
Because of this, a song spread all through Luoyang:
Liangzhou Steeds gallop across the realm.
Liangzhou falcons make the invaders fall.
Falcons in flight terror that kills.
A thousand mile march straight into the fight.
Victory against the greater host.
One hundred riders breaking the whole camp.
That is what the Liangzhou Steeds truly are.]
Jian Yong knew music well, and right away he tried humming the Liangzhou Steeds ballad to himself. He pictured that later general as a fierce falcon soaring high above the clouds, striking down his enemies like thunder from the blue.
Liu Bei, being of the imperial bloodline, caught onto something else entirely.
"Wait, what... how can that be... a Xiongnu? Liu Yuan? A Xiongnu man carrying the surname Liu?"