chapter 77

{Ji Province}

{city of Ye}

[Pang Ji]: My Lord, please give me two months to raise an army.
{Yuan Shao’s strategist, Pang Ji}
[?]: Yes, and I can also raise the military funds.

[Yuan Shao]: Two months…

chapter 77 King Of Formations Of the Eight Geniuses

{Governor of Ji Province, Yuan Shao}
[YS]: We were just fighting Dong Zhuo a few months ago…

[PJ]: Who’d have thought the wildly ambitious Dong Zhuo would be killed by his own son-in-law. What divine retribution!

[?]: How could someone like Li Ru have the skill to seize power?

[YS]: Him again?

{First Genius of Water Mirror, Yuan Fang}
[Yuan Fang]: That kind of ruthlessness belongs to none other than Lü Bu.

[?]: My Lord, why don’t we take advantage of the mutiny in West Liang and summon the Guandong Alliance to Chang’an.
[?]: Once Chang’an is captured, taking West Liang is just a matter of time.

[YS]: What do you think, Fang-er?
(-er suffix is a diminutive but affectionate reference to someone)

[YF]: Perhaps it was worth a try a month ago. Unfortunately Gongsun Zan has now regained his footing.

[YF]: A rash mobilization will leave our base weak for Gongsun Zan to take advantage of.
[YF]: Besides, it’s every warlord for themselves now. The Guandong Alliance is already dead.
(simplified)

[?]: Though I’ve heard that Ma Teng has deployed his army…
[?]: But why hasn’t he informed us? Our Lord is the Commander-in-Chief after all! Is he trying to privately expand his territory?

[YS]: Master Meng said, it’s natural to desire food and sex. So why not the desire for world domination? When seen in these lords…
(rephrased)

[YS]: it reflects on the world.
(rephrased)

[YS]: As sad as it sounds, everyone, I must say the Great Han is dead.
(rephrased)

{Dong Zhuo’s home base, Liang Province}

[?]: At the first light of dawn…

[?]: Damn it! Lü Bu’s faction assassinated our Lord and dared to pin the blame on Li Ru? How shameful!
[?]: this incessant noise!
[?]: Phooey! Your coup failed and now you want to hurt General Lü Bu. You’re the shameful one!

{Dong Zhuo’s subordinate, Dong Yue}
[Dong Yue]: I’ve heard both views, yet which should I believe?

[?]: Believe Lü Bu, sir. Don’t you see the people of Chang’an support him? Look at Minister Wang Yun…
[?]: Believe Niu Fu, sir. Don’t you see who the people outside of Chang’an are backing? They’re unfazed by the scheme! So…

[?]: Screw you! Li Ru’s coup even took the lives of our Lord’s son and mother…
[?]: Watch your baseless accusations! This is absolutely the work of Lü Bu. Did you forget why our Lord married his beloved daughter to Li Ru?
[?]: Grand Administrator Dong, who do you believe?

[?]: Yes! General Lü has achieved so much for us, and with the Grand Administrator’s support he’ll surely…
[?]: Sir! You can’t trust Lü Bu so easily! Please reconsider!

[DY]: You speak of Li Ru’s betrayal, but his relationship with our Lord…
[DY]: turned sour overnight… where’s the logic in that?

[DY]: And you.

[DY]: By helping our Lord expand his domain, Lü Bu’s achievements cannot go unnoticed. With the two of them like father and son, why would they be at odds?

[DY]: As the pillar of our home base in West Liang, how can I act rashly without real evidence?
[DY]: Now go back and tell your masters, whoever can bring me proof…

[DY]: and our force of one hundred and fifty thousand will exact bloody revenge on the culprit, or die trying!

{Shan County}

[?]: He sent a lobbyist to Liang Province? Didn’t expect Lü Bu to move so quickly…
[?]: That’ll make it hard for Dong Yue to decide. We won’t be able to get reinforcement from him.

[Jia Xu]: But it’s not much of a loss when that also eliminated the threat from the rear.

[JX]: We’ll need a quick and decisive victory against Lü Bu, while he’s still plagued by the rumormongers inside Chang’an.
[JX]: A four sided attack. A large city like Chang’an will wear down Lü Bu and allow us to crush him eventually.

[Niu Fu]: The logic is sound, but… oh, Advisor!
[NF]: We’re barely half as strong as Lü Bu’s army. We can’t even beat the third battalion… let alone surround the city.

[?]: General Niu is right! We must take our situation into account before deploying the troops. This move… is suicide!
[?]: A smaller army can only engage in attrition warfare. As veterans with decades of experience, who would understand this better than us?
[?]: Besides, Ma Teng of Mei County and Han Sui of Jincheng Commandery have been mobilized. Your plan would put us between two threats.

[?]: And the commander of the third battalion is the renowned officer Li Su. He is brave and wise, so it’ll be difficult to deal with him!
[?]: So we should concentrate our forces against Li Su!

[NF]: Such rashness, no wonder father-in-law only trusted Li Ru…

{stab~}

[JX]: That’s the fate of only trusting Li Ru.

[JX]: Have you all forgotten the unfulfilled vengeance?
[Li Jue]: Screw you! We’ll never forget it as long as we live!

[JX]: No one needs to die. And there’s no need to launch all of our troops. Who dares to doubt the reputation of the Eight Geniuses?

[JX]: I only need a tenth of the troop strength.
[JX]: Li Su will be defeated in five days or off with my head.
(“…not leave person’s head”; this in Chinese becomes Jia Xu’s catch-phrase, but it’s awkward to say it exactly like this every time, so I tweak it for each instance)

One… tenth of the army? Five… five days?

Five days later.

[Lü Bu]: Who boasted?

[LB]: Who said he’d annihilate the enemy in five days?

[LB]: This self-proclaimed genius bit off more than he can chew!

[LB]: That’s Li Su!

[LB]: His failure to carry out his duty cost us the lives of great warriors!
[LB]: The brave and mighty third battalion was sacrificed over this! Why?

[LB]: It’s because they lacked a great commander! A God of War who is invincible! Who is he, everyone?

LÜ BU! LÜ BU! LÜ BU! LÜ BU!

LÜ BU!

Jia Xu,
Lü Bu is coming to face you.

{spit}

[NF]: Does hearing Lü Bu’s name stop us in our tracks?
{outside of Chang’an}

[Fan Chou]: Not because of Lü Bu…
[?]: but for the sight of Chang’an once again.

[Zhang Ji]: The third battalion and Li Su were wiped out overnight. The adviser is truly amazing!
[LJ]: But… now Lü Bu is the one inside the city. I wonder… what other tricks are up his sleeves?

[NF]: Chang’an, the greatest city in the world. Never has it been breached…

[JX]: Yet I’ll still claim to defeat Lü Bu or my head will roll.
(“…not leave person’s head”; note that the no-subject simplified syntax allows Jia Xu to basically retroactively decide who that head belongs to, while the English kind of forces a subject reference)
[NF]: Same conditions as before?

[JX]: Yes! One-tenth of the army,

[JX]: and within five days.

When it comes to being wise and wielding power… I, Li Ru, was but a bit player in this era.

After this era, three powerful and wise men entered the scene: Prime Minister Zhuge, Grand Tutor Sima, and…

Grand Commandant Jia!