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As Lü Bu guessed, the four so-called ‘Han soldiers’ whom Liu Bang ordered to be stationed at the west gate in advance were in fact Fan Kuai, Xiahou Ying, Jin Jiang, and Ji Xin.
These four people had either followed him for a long time or were closely related, they were all very capable and he relied upon them heavily.
But at the moment of life or death, even his loyal subordinates whom he usually called brothers were mere stepping stones for his escape.
The shrewd and eloquent Zhang Liang was left behind at the banquet to deal with the aftermath, while a horse was hidden near the side door in advance. In order to not attract undue attention, there was only one horse, which was only for him to ride.
As for the four officers who had to walk because they had no horses, if all went well, they could get away together. If they were unlucky and encountered obstacles, they would fight to the last in order to give Liu Bang more time to escape.
It was a pity that Liu Bang and his party were truly unfortunate this time, and met Lü Bu face to face.
Liu Bang was well aware of Dapple’s ability to travel hundreds of miles in a day. He knew that his own mount could only barely be considered a good horse, and it was absolutely impossible for him to outrun this unknown yet aggressive Chu soldier.
Therefore, he decisively ordered his officers to kill the horse first; not only to force Lü Bu to dismount and fight on foot, thus losing an advantage, but also to preserve an upper hand in speed during his escape.
“Fuck your grandma stop running away!!!”
Seeing that cunning thief Liu recklessly galloping away after throwing down his command, Lü Bu was so angry that his glare could have torn him apart. After roaring, he wanted to urge Dapple to pierce through the four officers’ encirclement to give chase.
The four Han officers had fought with Liu Bang for many years. They knew in their hearts that Liu Bang had sacrificed them to protect himself, but they still remained loyal.
Although they hadn’t personally witnessed the martial skills of this Chu soldier, they knew they could not underestimate him simply from the fact that he could tame the famously fierce Dapple. They would have to put their lives on the line to stop him.
They were currently dressed as ordinary Han soldiers, but their equipment was by no means similarly inferior. Their swords alone, made of rare materials, were enough to give them a greater reach — Lü Bu might be a sentry, but he hadn’t actually touched a weapon more than a couple of times here and he wasn’t expected to go into battle himself, so no weapons had been issued to him.
And Xiang Bo had prevented him from entering the palace, so he had nothing on him except for the pitiful little broken sword he took off the Han soldier in the beginning.
Seeing that the four men did not betray Liu Bang who flew away like the wind but instead waved their swords to chop off Dapple’s legs, Lü Bu’s eyes reddened as he forced himself to calm down.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!”
He angrily cursed three times in a row!
No matter how much he hated Liu Bang, he couldn’t just ignore Dapple!
Not to mention that he really appreciated such a spiritual horse, even if he really hardened his heart and broke through without a care, he would have no horse to ride and it was impossible for him to catch up with Liu Bang with just his own two legs.
He couldn’t avoid this fight and it would be hard to get away for a while.
Hateful!
Lü Bu cursed to himself for a while.
If he had his partner Red Hare with him and his Sky Piercer1方天画戟: Lü Bu’s iconic weapon, a dagger-axe polearm; almost certainly anachronistic; see end notes for image halberd in his hand, he could have rampaged as he liked. How could he be blocked by these pathetic fodder in embarrassment?!
But he had only a short sword and Dapple, whom he was riding for the first time. It was hard even for a clever woman to cook if there was no rice, he had to deal with these four first!
Lü Bu took a deep breath. The next moment, like a fish flicking its tail, he kicked out his right leg at a dizzying speed. Not only did this kick push away the man closest to him, it directed Dapple to change direction, narrowly avoiding the densely converged weapons. Then he smoothly rolled off the horse.
“There’s a road to heaven but you refuse to walk it; hell has no gate but you insist on breaking in,”2上天有路不走，那阴曹地府无门，你们偏闯进来: literal meaning is best meaning, but less prosaically it means asking for trouble Lü Bu said darkly, staring straight at them.
He understood very clearly that he had missed his best chance at killing Liu Bang.
A monstrous anger seethed in his chest as he glared at the four men who were in his way. Now, even if they wanted to run, he would not allow it.
Since they successfully stopped him, they had to leave their lives behind as well.
He stood stationary with only a short sword, but gradually revealed the valour within him which had condensed after many years on the battlefield.
On the surface, he had no good weapons, gave up Dapple to fight on foot, and was a single man facing four enemies. On the surface, he was at an absolute disadvantage.
But for some reason, Fan Kuai and the others didn’t relax at all, and their hearts continuously sank.
“I, Lü Fengxian, have never executed unknown people,” Lü Bu said as he smiled contemptuously, his eyes narrowing. He pointed at Fan Kuai, the most muscular and imposing of the four, with his mediocre short sword, and said sternly, “Report your name!”
“Impudent!” Fan Kuai inhaled and shouted back, “I am the Duke of Pei’s aide, Fan Kuai is my name!”
Fan Kuai’s ominous premonition grew stronger. As his words fell, he decided to act first and, together with the other three officers, stabbed their spears at Lü Bu!
In his early years, he made a living by slaughtering dogs, so he had strength on his side. Now they also had weapons and men, so he naturally thought that they could easily capture this unknown Chu soldier if they made an effort.
Unexpectedly, Lü Bu caught his first strike with his short sword, causing a crack in the blade; then he flexibly turned his wrist and struck again, this time the short sword made of inferior metal broke in two; now Lü Bu held only the remaining stump of half a short sword and was about to welcome the third blow–
“For the sake of your loyalty, I allowed you two moves,” Lü Bu sneered arrogantly.
He thought nothing of the other three officers approaching closer as he stared at Fan Kuai without blinking. He took two steps forward regardless of the nearing spears, swung his arm down, twisted his wrist, and habitually spun it around.
“Fan Kuai you coward,” he shouted loudly with his thick brows furrowed, “it’s time to die!!!”
The veins on his arm bulged due to his excessive force, perhaps because he wanted to use Fan Kuai to vent his anger. With his innate strength, he buried the remaining half of his sword into his opponent’s neck!
Although the sword edge was dull, enough force was used that flesh tore and bones shattered.
Hot blood spurted out from the gash. Lü Bu did not dodge, so some of it splashed onto his expressionless face.
The deep, handsome facial features were suddenly dirtied by scarlet blood, which then flowed down his fair skin…
Fan Kuai had been alive and well just a moment ago, but now he was a half-beheaded body writhing on the ground, clutching his neck, tormented by pain.
His eyes bulged open and his mouth opened as if wanting to say something, but his windpipe had also been torn open. He spasmed one last time and soon after, his body distorted at strange angles and he breathed his last.
The area fell into a deathly silence.
Xiahou Ying and the others took in this horrifying scene. Their strongest, Fan Kuai, had just been killed in the blink of an eye. For a moment their jaws dropped and they collectively became speechless, all forgetting to continue their attack.
They had all witnessed Xiang Yu’s supernatural power which was able to break people’s courage with a single roar, making them tremble to the point that they were unable to hold up weapons.
But hadn’t dared to imagine this. Since there was already a Xiang Yu in the world, why must Chu have another brave general in their ranks!
Grinning, Lü Bu dropped the broken short sword without hesitation and picked up Fan Kuai’s spear, weighed it a few times, turned it around, and stabbed its butt into the ground. Then he turned to his strangely unresponsive enemies with a superficial smile and asked coldly, “Who’s next?”
With a more suitable weapon in his hands, Lü Bu was like a tiger with wings. He swung the spear side to side with a whoosh.
He hadn’t fought seriously for a long time. Now that he had opponents who could barely be considered qualified and was filled with anger he needed to vent, he felt very happy to go all out.
First, he got rid of Fan Kuai, who seemed to be the best at fighting. The three remaining were each quite good but they had little experience cooperating with each other, this was just a temporary arrangement.
After all, they were all officers who commanded the lower ranks. If they were only as skilled as ordinary soldiers, they naturally would not be Lü Bu’s opponents.
Though it was impossible to compare them with the Liu, Guan, and Zhang brothers who would advance and retreat with one heart.
After no more than a dozen fierce bouts, Lü Bu quickly saw through their flashy yet insubstantial moves. They often interfered with each other, so he unceremoniously grasped this weakness to stop them from wasting any more time.
The first to die was Ji Xin, the weakest of the three. Lü Bu simply raised his arms to neatly pierce into his neck, leaving him to roll on the ground with life or death unknown.
Xiahou Ying and Jin Jiang still circled him. He swung at Xiahou Ying first and when he dodged backwards, he twisted the spear around to stab at Jin Jiang who took advantage of the gap to attack him from the side.
“Huh?” Lü Bu even had the time to sneer. “Where’re you looking?”
How could Jin Jiang avoid it?
The spearpoint which was still stained with Fan Kuai and Ji Xin’s blood pierced his right eye. Blood instantly gushed out, the pain and blindness was hard for anyone to bear.
He couldn’t help covering his eye and howling, and he could no longer hold onto the weapon in his hands.
A group of four lost three in an instant, leaving only Xiahou Ying.
Being alone, he could only support it for two more rounds before Lü Bu stabbed him through the breastplate protecting his heart. There wasn’t even much blood — after Lü Bu pulled the spear out, he convulsed a few times and died.
Lü Bu then expressionlessly stabbed Jin Jiang, who was still rolling, and Ji Xin, who wasn’t moving but who knew his life or death, again at the neck. He casually wiped off the blood on his face and listened to the sound of approaching footsteps with a serious expression.
The time it took for him to kill four officers in a row might have felt extremely long for Fan Kuai’s group, but in reality it was a quick battle that took only a few dozen breaths, not even enough for other guards to rush over after hearing the commotion.
…The people were killed, so what should he do next?
As his head cooled, Lü Bu fell into reflection.
He originally thought that Liu Bang could be killed at once, so of course he hadn’t worried about how to take care of the mess.
Unexpectedly, that rat slipped away like the soles of his feet were covered in oil. He might have reached the Han army’s camp already.
And after they met just now, he had already startled the snake and lost any chance of ambushing him. If he wanted to deal with Liu Bang, he had to… stay in the Chu army.
Lü Bu stood alone among a pile of corpses, and was racking his brains to think up a way to clean up the mess and explain things to Xiang Yu when Dapple, who ran to who knows where earlier, trotted up to him while nickering coquettishly. He licked at Lü Bu’s blood-splattered face, apparently to help him clean.
Dapple was spiritual enough to be willing to obey Lü Bu’s instructions and rush forward desperately while ignoring the weapons that cut at his legs, so naturally he could also feel Lü Bu’s love and how he was unwilling to let him get hurt.
Lü Bu stood there with a deep expression, and after Dapple affectionately licked his face clean, a sudden flash of inspiration came to his mind.
Taking advantage of the time before any guards showed up, he decisively waved Dapple away and, striding through the side door, he took off his bloodied robe, turned it inside out, then put it back on.
By the time the guards arrived, they only saw four bodies in Han uniforms lying stiffly on the ground with their eyes wide open in death.
Next to them was Dapple, who was ignorantly dazed one moment then disdainful the next, raising his head and snorting at them.
The guards were speechless.
Even though they knew it was impossible, everyone who witnessed this scene still had the same terrifying thought in their minds.
It can’t be Dapple who did this, right?!
Author:
Whether it’s leaving behind his 100 escorts, making the four generals go on foot, or Liu Bang riding away on a horse, that all actually happened at the Hongmen Banquet… in fact Ji Xin later acted as Liu Bang’s body double in the Siege of Xingyang to cover his lord’s escape, and was killed after being discovered by Xiang Yu.
Translator:
Sky Piercer, and some of this chapter’s comments on JJWXC.
This chapter’s MVP: little baby Dapple
Dapple: yep that’s right it’s me
Dapple, before: get lost, scram far away from me
Dapple, after: clingy clingy clingy clingy
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- 1方天画戟: Lü Bu’s iconic weapon, a dagger-axe polearm; almost certainly anachronistic; see end notes for image
- 2上天有路不走，那阴曹地府无门，你们偏闯进来: literal meaning is best meaning, but less prosaically it means asking for trouble
suiruo says:
Poor Dapple used as a scapegoat.
Thank you for the chapter!
30 August 2023 — 23:49