NOVEL NEXT chapter 5
Chapter 5
＜ I Thought It Was Martial Arts, But It Was Lu Bu (5) ＞
Jangryo.
He was recommended to Lu Bu and started working as a horse archer in the Jin Yang army.
Although he was called a horse archer, he was actually treated as a general within Lu Bu’s unit in the Jin Yang army, following Songheon, Wisok, and Huseong.
At first, he was envied and resented by the veteran soldiers for being favored by the general despite being young.
– Let’s hold a martial arts competition within the unit.
However, that envy and resentment turned into admiration for his strong martial skills, and Jangryo was even called ‘Little Lu Bu’ by the soldiers.
Little Lu Bu.
It meant that they expected him to become like Lu Bu.
Lu Bu himself hoped for that, so Jangryo sincerely wished to learn.
– You said you wanted to work on something, right? Let’s start with the paperwork.
Even when he was organizing the bamboo slips that were pouring in, he thought it was the general’s work.
– A general should be able to handle this much!
When Songheon asked him to organize the materials on horse management, he thought he was being asked to learn about the cavalry of Bingzhou.
– Hey, could you write this for me? Organize what I’m saying well…
When Wisok asked him to write a notice to be posted in the soldiers’ training ground, he thought, ‘This is the role of a training officer in the city!’
– Phew, if it weren’t for you, I would have been alone until now…
When Huseong first lamented that.
– Alone, what?
– ……Never mind, let’s just write.
– General. No, brother. Let’s talk honestly.
“Hey, hey! Let’s not solve this with force! Let’s talk with words, as people who know how to write! With words!”
Zhang Liao realized.
Even though the position of the palace archer given to him was one thing, for the past three months, aside from personal training and sparring-
Administration.
Office work.
Literature.
Hadn’t he been holding a brush more often than a spear…?
“This can’t go on like this!”
Three months.
It was the first time Zhang Liao rebelled against Lü Bu.
* * *
“So, you want to fight instead of doing administrative work?”
“Yes!”
While moving a heavy rock on the farm and chasing away a mole that had popped out, Zhang Liao approached me, taking off his civil official’s coat.
“I’ve shed more ink than sweat in the past three months!”
“That’s true.”
I don’t deny that.
“Even the civil officials think highly of you. That’s a good thing.”
“You didn’t bring me here to write, did you?”
“I brought you here to write as well.”
Ahem.
“As I was doing the general’s work, I realized that just writing my name and title wasn’t enough. I realized that being well-versed in both literature and martial arts is the quality of a general.”
“And you, General?”
“It’s too late for me, so I’m telling you to learn it in advance.”
“General…!”
Zhang Liao approached me with a tearful face.
“I want to wield the martial arts!”
If he had just knelt, he would have looked like someone saying he wanted to play basketball.
“Haha.”
I suddenly felt like a coach with glasses, but in this era, there are no glasses, suits, or basketball.
“Swinging the weapon. Showing off one’s strength, wielding the spear, defeating the enemy, and winning the battle to display bravery. Can it be interpreted that way?”
“Yes…!!”
A mindset that any man should have.
Especially for an outstanding warrior like Zhang Liao, it is quite possible, but-
‘Still young.’
Zhang Liao.
Contrary to his appearance, his age is surprisingly under twenty.
He can’t even drink alcohol.
“How about enduring a bit longer? Now is the time to learn.”
“I joined the army to suppress bandits…!”
“Zhang Liao.”
Whiiing.
The wind blows.
“How many months has it been since you joined the Bingzhou army?”
“About three months.”
“The fact that you haven’t had to step forward means it has been peaceful.”
From the east, it feels like a fishy smell of blood is flowing over the mountains.
“I mean, even though I have been honing my martial skills, I hope there will be no occasion to wield that power against people.”
“What?”
“I do not wield weapons to kill people, nor do I swing them to show off.”
I turned my eyes to Zhang Liao.
“When you stabbed and killed the bandits, what were you thinking as you swung your spear?”
“That was…”
“When you joined this army, what feelings did you put into it?”
I lightly tapped my chest.
“I still don’t know the world well. But at least as someone walking the path of ‘martial arts,’ I can show you one way.”
“General───!!”
Song Heon hurriedly rode up on his horse.
“Ah, over there…!”
“It’s okay. We can plow the field again later.”
The freshly plowed ground was trampled by the hooves of the horses, but there was no time to blame that.
“Report! A group of Black Mountain Bandits is advancing towards the Great Farm of Sangsan!”
A horse with no rider followed Songheon from behind.
“Wi Sook and Hoo Sung are leading five hundred infantrymen in response, but the numbers are unusual!”
“The scale?”
“About… five thousand!”
“!!”
Five thousand Black Mountain Bandits.
It’s a serious number.
You might argue that five thousand isn’t a lot, but the current Black Mountain Bandits are a bit different.
“The weapons they carry?”
“Not sickles, but swords and spears!!”
“Indeed.”
They are dangerous bandits.
“Jangryo. There are two types of bandits. One is the commoners who take up sickles because they can’t feed their families without stealing from others. And the other is the villains who know no other way to live but by taking from others.”
I planted the shovel I was using to cultivate the land into the ground and mounted my horse.
“I became a warrior to subdue such wicked people with this power.”
“…….”
“Follow me. And see. Not how much influence one warrior can have on the battlefield.”
Leaving Jangryo’s confused gaze behind, I pulled the reins of my horse.
“But how many enemies one monster can slaughter.”
“Monster….”
“Songheon.”
Mounting the horse.
“My halberd?”
“Here, it is ready.”
“Let’s go.”
* * *
aaah───!!
The screams of people echoed through the farm.
Red blood droplets ripple over the crops in the field, which is like a staircase carved out of the mountain’s slope.
“Hey, hey, kill them gently. The smell of blood will seep into the crops we’ve grown.”
The leader of the bandits dressed in black, a bearded man with black-painted iron horns on his helmet, clicked his tongue and grumbled at his subordinates.
“Kihehehehek!”
“Look at them, going wild just to taste blood after a long time.”
“Uh, uh. Is this okay, Brother Ugak?”
“Hey. I told you to call me General Jang.”
The one who insists on being called General Jang.
“This Jang Ugak is now a respectable warlord.”
“Warlord…”
Jang Ugak.
He is the leader of the Black Mountain Bandits, numbering ten thousand, in the mountain valleys of Byeongju.
“Hey, don’t you acknowledge it?”
“Oh no, of course, we acknowledge it. If you, General, are not a warlord, then who would be called a warlord?”
Half of those ten thousand are women, old people, and children, but the other half are strong men with black belts.
The difference from other places is that they are all bandits who have experienced killing at least one person.
“Hehehe. The Jin Yang Castle folks secretly hid such a honey pot in the middle of the mountain.”
“That…”
aaah──!
Even though the farmers were being killed by the bandits dressed in black, Jang Ugak didn’t care much.
“Tsk tsk. After killing them moderately and driving them away, we should quickly prepare to take the crops.”
After all, it was Jang Ugak himself who ordered the massacre.
“Uh, Brother. Isn’t this too dangerous?”
“Dangerous, my foot. We’ve already killed at least dozens of farmers plowing the fields, and now you’re talking about danger?”
“But, they say the government troops have appeared.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Those so-called leaders seem a bit agile, but they can’t even come this way because they’re busy protecting the people.”
Below the middle of the mountain.
The armored soldiers were trying to climb the mountain path, cutting down the bandits one by one, but they couldn’t easily climb up the mountain.
Pabababat.
The arrows shot by the bandits from above were one thing, but the soldiers had to urgently protect the farmers, not themselves, holding their shields one by one.
“Just try coming up. The farmers wearing just one set of clothes will all become beehives. Hehehe.”
Jang Woo-gak pointed to the field with a sly smile.
“In the meantime, we can take the crops that those guys have farmed so well.”
“No, instead of talking about it, we should quickly take and run away…”
“Run away?”
Jang Woo-gak snorted.
“From what?”
“From, from Jin-yang’s locusts!”
“…Jin-yang’s locusts?”
“No, sir! You don’t know Jin-yang’s locusts?”
The subordinate’s face turned pale with fear.
“Hahaha! It’s a joke. How could I not know that guy! Aren’t you talking about that Yeobongseon under the garden?”
“You know, don’t you!”
“Yes, of course. I know that the rumors are exaggerated and full of bravado.”
Jang Woo-gak laughed, stroking his long mustache that resembled the horns of a helmet.
“They say that every time he strikes the ground with his long weapon, the ground explodes, and every time he swings his weapon, three or four strong men fly away like leaves.”
“Yes! So…”
“They say he kills at least 300 people in a single battle, and you want me to believe that?”
“…Isn’t he a monster because that’s possible?”
“I don’t believe such rumors.”
Jang Woo-gak shook his head firmly.
“No, does that make sense? Although I haven’t been in Byeongju for long, they say he hasn’t lost a single battle in 10 years in Byeongju?”
“Exactly!”
“He must have fought over a hundred battles by now, so does that mean one person has killed over 30,000 people?”
“No, not that calculation…”
“It’s all just the bravado of that Byeongju magistrate. Hehe, that’s what those strategists do.”
Jang Woo-gak chuckled and pointed in the direction of the government troops.
“Look. That’s the reality of the government troops. They can’t even fight properly because they’re busy protecting the civilians who are just a burden… huh?”
Suddenly, with the sound of drums, the soldiers split to the sides.
With the hand signals of the commanders on horseback, the soldiers with shields moved to the sides.
Someone is on the uphill path.
Someone is close to the cliff.
That narrow passage secured like that.
Gugugugu!
A man in armor, holding something long, is running along the mountain path.
“…What is that?”
His steps are strange.
It feels like he’s running, but one foot touches the ground before the other even lands.
“Th-that’s it! His steps are different!”
“Different steps, my foot. What kind of nonsense is that?”
Jang Woo-gak couldn’t help but laugh at his subordinate’s fuss.
“No matter how skilled a warrior is, how can a human block a rain of arrows shot by hundreds of soldiers?”
Before Jang Woo-gak could even give an order, his subordinates simultaneously drew their bows.
“At least, I’ve never seen such a person until now.”
Pabababak!
The rain of arrows that the soldiers barely managed to block with their steel shields.
Even though the arrowheads weren’t as sharp as those used by the soldiers, if they fired a volley-
Booom!
“…Huh?”
Once.
The red ornament attached to the weapon traced a crescent moon-like trajectory, and in an instant, the rain of arrows plunged vertically to the ground.
“…With wind pressure?”
A single strike.
With that one attack, the rain of arrows was neutralized, and the shockwave covered the second and third rows, causing them to collide in mid-air.
There was no other way to explain it.
Because that was the phenomenon Jang Woo-gak actually witnessed.
“…Bl-block it──!!”
Jang Woo-gak instinctively shouted.
Whether they rained arrows again or responded with swords, they had to block it no matter what.
Otherwise-
Boom!!
As the tip of the long weapon with something sharp struck the ground, three bandits who were charging at the warrior simultaneously bled and rolled down the hillside.
“Retreat…!”
A subordinate shouted.
His face was pale, his legs were trembling, and he had no intention of fighting back—a pathetic subordinate.
Slash!
With the sound of something being cut, the bandit blocking the road was split in half.
Red blood spurted like a fountain, and beyond it, the warrior’s hair, like antennae, flowed down from under his helmet.
Step, step.
The warrior lightly swung the long weapon to the side.
With that single attack, he cut the waist of a bandit who was jumping out from beside him, then grabbed the long weapon and thrust it in the opposite direction, stabbing the bandit’s chest and pushing him off the cliff.
How many times did I blink?
Once? No, twice?
“…What?”
Before I knew it, ten subordinates were dead.
No.
While I was thinking, another five, no, twenty had died—
“This is insane…!!”
Soldiers were dying faster than I could count.
The warrior, as if born to kill people, was cutting down anyone nearby who came into his sight.
Heads flew, blood spurted from chests, bodies were severed, and blood fountains erupted.
“Is he human…?”
Even Jang Woo-gak, who was confident in killing people, wasn’t this good.
That was a monster born to kill people.
“Ugh, ugh…!”
My hands trembled.
Even though I was more than a hundred paces away, and there were hundreds of bandits trying to plunder the fields in between, Jang Woo-gak’s instincts seemed to be screaming.
When was the last time I felt this sensation?
When that damned Black Swallow threatened me?
I don’t know.
“`
At least this feeling, though he had given it to others many times, he had rarely received it himself.
Death.
Yes, that is death.
His own.
“Bl-Block him!! He’s alone!! We are the men of Heuksan!!”
He’s alone?
What about the soldiers behind him?
Only after he shouted that the opponent was alone did he realize his mistake.
Boo──oom!
The long weapon drew a red trajectory.
The spear attached to the end of the long shaft pierced the neck of one soldier.
The crescent blade on the left slashed a diagonal line across the upper body of a bandit.
The other crescent blade on the right sliced through the leg of a thief charging from the side.
“Huh.”
In the past, if the great conqueror Xiang Yu were alive, would he have shown such a sight?
“Mo-Monster···!”
Squeak, squeak.
The monster began to run, slaughtering all his subordinates, gradually increasing his speed.
Towards this direction.
“U-Uaaah!!”
Jang Woo-gak raised his sword.
The fact that he did not run away like his subordinates and held his sword, was it because of his pride that he wouldn’t be humiliated anywhere?
Or was it because of the instinct that he would die even if he ran away?
“I am of Heuksan─”
“Where.”
The moment he thought their eyes met.
“Does a mere thief open his mouth.”
The moment he tried to shout his name and swing his sword, he was already seeing the monster’s antennae upside down.
Thud.
The sky flipped and turned black.
“`
With the feeling of his horn being driven into the ground.
* * *
Swoosh─
Rain falls from the sky.
Night has not yet arrived, but the sky is dark.
“Zhang Liao.”
“…….”
“Do you know how many bandits have died here?”
I asked, kicking aside the corpse of a bandit lying on the ground.
“I think it’s about four thousand.”
“How many of them were killed or cut down by me?”
“That is….”
“One thousand and thirty-four.”
1034.
“That is the number of casualties caused by one warrior.”
“One against a thousand (一騎當千)…!”
“At the same time, it is the number of humans I have killed.”
“…….”
“Zhang Liao. Whenever I wield this halberd against humans, I always think.”
A question.
“Is this person a human who deserves to be killed? Or a beast in human skin?”
“…….”
“Confucius said that all humans are good. My master said that humans can be evil, but with teaching, they can suppress their nature with reason and live pursuing goodness.”
“…….”
I planted the halberd into the ground.
“My martial arts (武) aim for goodness, and my blade points towards evil (惡).”
“What is evil?”
“That is something you must answer for yourself.”
“…Then, what do you think is evil, General? I am listening.”
“Evil is.”
In this barbaric age.
“Those who oppress the weak.”
There is no righteousness or chivalry.
“As a warrior, I pursue becoming a strong person who helps the weak.”
Based on my martial arts, I only pursue chivalry.
“That is the path of a warrior that I, Yeobongseon, live by, and the way I, as a human being, live.”
＜ I Thought It Was Martial Arts, But It Was Lu Bu (5) ＞ End