Surviving as Guan Yu in the Three Kingdoms

“Squad Leader Hu, you’ll die if you keep drinking like that. You’ve already had half a mal of alcohol.”

At those words, Hu De chuckled and emptied the cup in his hand.

“Doesn’t Sergeant Zhang usually drink at least two mal of alcohol by himself? So if I want to keep up with even half of that, I should drink at least one mal. I’m training hard too, you know.”

It’s nice to see his determination, but isn’t that goal a bit too high?

I hate to say it, but Zhang Fei is already an abnormally powerful individual who can defeat about 100 enemy soldiers on his own.

No matter how hard a normal person trains, could they even reach half of that?

No matter how many times I think about it, it seems impossible.

Still, I shouldn’t ruin the mood by pointing out the facts.

“Half of Yide’s strength, huh. For others it might be impossible, but for Squad Leader Hu, it might just be doable. Alright, if you ever become that strong, I’ll buy you a crescent blade.”
“Really?”
“By then, you’ll probably be known as the brave general Hu De in our Liu Bei army. Shouldn’t you have a splendid weapon?”

Hu De grinned at those words.

“You promise to get me a crescent blade then?”
“I’ll make sure of it.”

As we were drinking like this, Liu Bei called me from behind.

“Yunchang, I’m sorry to interrupt while you’re having fun. Can you spare a moment?”
“Yes, Lord Xuande.”

Saying that, I got up from my seat.

It’s nice to drink like this occasionally with men like Uncle Hu, but the most important people to me are Liu Bei and Zhang Fei.

If those two call me, I should jump up and run to them even if I’m sleeping.

Liu Bei silently moved his feet without saying a word until we reached a fairly secluded spot.

After looking around to make sure no one was around, Liu Bei opened his mouth.

“It seems nothing in life is easy, no matter what you do. Don’t you think so, Yunchang?”

Liu Bei is exactly right.

Before entering university, I thought life would be smooth sailing if I just got into a decent university.

Once I got in, I found that college students had their own hardships, and after getting a job, there were difficulties like having to please superiors.

Even after being reincarnated as Guan Yu, we’ve been winning so far, but…

Because we’ve always been fighting from numerically disadvantageous positions, I’ve always said we could win confidently, but…

“You’re right, Lord Xuande. I’ve always said we could win every time we fought, but honestly, I was anxious about whether it would really work out.”

A faint smile appeared on Liu Bei’s lips at those words.

“When you proposed strategies to me or Commander Zhu, you spoke so confidently that we would definitely win if we just followed your plan. So I thought Yunchang was someone who remained calm in any situation.”
“If I showed fear or hesitation when proposing a strategy, would you have listened to me, Lord Xuande? So I just hide my anxiety even if I feel it.”

Although I said I was anxious, it wasn’t because I thought my strategy wasn’t perfect.

War moves on its own whims like a living animal, so even if I propose a strategy thinking we can definitely win…

Depending on how the enemy moves, what I thought was a perfect strategy can crumble in an instant.

We often say Cao Cao was stupid for linking his ships with iron chains at the Battle of Red Cliffs, but in reality, if Zhuge Liang hadn’t used the ‘Southeast Wind’…

The Liu Bei-Sun Quan alliance would have been defeated right there, and the Three Kingdoms story would have ended.

“Yunchang is right. If the person proposing the strategy shows anxiety, who would believe them?”

After catching his breath for a moment, Liu Bei sighed again.

“The reason I called you now is because I wanted to consult with you about something. When we fought Zhang Yan this time, Yide immediately went out and beheaded Deng Wu with one strike, right? Thanks to that, we won, but…”

Liu Bei paused for a moment and looked at me.

“Honestly, it was too rash. He should have moved only after getting my permission like you do, Yunchang, but he just rode out on his own without saying a word. If Yide had been injured or pushed back, we might have lost.”

An old saying from a war otaku who was obsessed with studying military history, including the Three Kingdoms, goes like this:

Do you know why in pre-modern wars, the losing side often lost several times more soldiers than the winning side?

When I said I didn’t know, he answered like this:

In armies of that era, when fighting in proper formation, battles were often evenly matched and casualties weren’t as high as one might think.

But when one side can no longer hold and their formation breaks, the losing side ends up facing an organized army as individuals.

Zhang Fei certainly charged in at the best timing, but what if Deng Wu had been a bit stronger?

Our side with fewer troops would likely have been defeated as our formation crumbled.

“So even though Zhang Fei made a great contribution this time, I called him separately today and scolded him harshly. The result was good this time, but if he does this again, something bad could happen.”

Zhang Fei’s rushing out on his own was a violation of military law on the battlefield.

It’s such an obvious fact that even Zhang Fei himself probably wouldn’t dare to deny or make excuses for it.

So if Liu Bei had been a bit harsher, he could have caned Zhang Fei in front of the soldiers.

But did he call him separately and scold him out of consideration for Zhang Fei’s dignity?

It’s a gentle approach befitting the kind-hearted Liu Bei.

“I didn’t hit him or anything, but Yide seemed to feel wronged at first. He said he clearly played a big role in our victory by beheading the enemy’s vanguard commander, so why should he be scolded?”

I can understand why Zhang Fei feels wronged.

From a rational perspective, Zhang Fei was wrong to rush out on his own in an army that needs to move as one unit.

But looking purely at the result, if Zhang Fei hadn’t beheaded Deng Wu there, we might have been defeated.

After making such a great contribution, instead of receiving praise, he was called away secretly from this joyous occasion to be scolded…

“But after hearing everything, Yide admitted he was wrong and apologized. He said he wouldn’t do it again.”

They say you should hear both sides of a story before making a judgment, but…

Even just hearing Liu Bei’s side, it’s clear that he dealt with the situation in the best way he could.

He rebuked Zhang Fei for his mistake and made him reflect, but didn’t scold him in front of others to avoid hurting his pride.

‘If we hurt the pride of the still immature Zhang Fei, who knows what problems it could lead to later…’

“That’s been weighing on my mind, so I wanted to hear your thoughts, Yunchang.”

I took a moment to gather my thoughts and spoke carefully.

“I think you did well, Lord Xuande. Although Zhang Fei made a great contribution, wasn’t it wrong of him to leave formation and charge on his own?”
“That’s true.”
“If we hadn’t rebuked him for that just because he made a big contribution this time… Since Yide succeeded in beheading Deng Wu this time, he might recklessly charge in again if a similar situation arises in the future. Thinking that it’s fine to act alone as long as he achieves something.”

I heard that there were various political situations intertwined that led to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s, but…

The one who started it was a regimental commander named Mutaguchi Renya, who was about to retire as a colonel…

Somehow, while searching for a chance to achieve military merit, saying he couldn’t retire like this…

He made up nonsense about Chinese killing a soldier of the great Imperial Japanese Army because a soldier who went to the bathroom was late for roll call, and charged in.

This was possible because the Japanese army at the time had a stupid culture of forgiving anything as long as you achieved military merit.

So if we let Zhang Fei’s solo action slide, we might get into big trouble someday due to other generals with similar ideas.

“But if we rebuke Yide, who made a great contribution, in front of other soldiers, that would also lower the morale of the troops. So I think it’s best to personally scold Zhang Fei to ensure he doesn’t make this mistake again, and then reward him later.”

Liu Bei smiled, seeming relieved at my words.

“Hearing you say that puts me at ease, Yunchang.”

Seeing her smile made me feel at ease too.

Is it because my body is Guan Yu, or am I being drawn to Liu Bei without realizing it?

That’s how I felt.

“It’s good to reward him later, but Yide has a slightly childish side. By now, he’s probably reflected enough and is feeling dejected.”
“You might be right about that child. He’s still childish in some ways, even though he’s grown physically.”
“Why don’t you go comfort him personally? Tell him you scolded him because you believe he’ll become a great general who will make a name for himself in the world.”

Hearing those words, Liu Bei gave me a light hug.

“Did you treat Lord Cao Cao this kindly too? Is that why he came all the way to Xu County to try and take you away…”

…… Why is Liu Bei acting like this?

“The only people I can open my heart to and talk like this are you and Yide, Lord Xuande.”

Liu Bei smiled, looking very satisfied, and left a meaningful remark.

“Yes, because we’re family. It’s different from Lord Cao Cao.”

And with that, Liu Bei left.