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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. AT ANY RATE, IT CONTAINS A REALLY, REALLY REAALLY BIG F'N BATTLE!
Yep. It is official. We're one quarter of the way through this novel now. It's Chapter 30, and what better way to celebrate that fact than by having a big giant f'n battle, eh? That's right. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, childhood friends, court officials, former subordinates of He Jin, now the two most powerful Lords in China, are squared off against each other in an all out battle for supremacy in the Northern Provinces of the crumbling Han Dynasty.
This is it. A good half of the first quarter of the novel has been all leading up to this battle. Indeed, after Cao Cao gained control of the Imperial Court, this Battle became an inevitability. (If any of you have played Genso Suikoden II on the Playstation, you might recall the rather tragic tale of two great heroes, Genkaku and Han, who led opposing armies in a war between the two nations on whose mutual border their village had stood. They too were destined to fight, though they had been friends from their earliest days, and I think that story was derived from this one. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were both extraordinary characters, and two of the greatest of Heroes of their day.
In 200 A.D., Cao Cao lured Yuan Shao south to near the fortifications at Guan Du. Guan Du was pretty much all that was keeping Yuan Shao from pressing on to the Capitol with his massively numerically superior army. And Yuan Shao, so cocky that he didn't realize Cao Cao's intentions, fell for the Chief Minister of State Cao Cao's tactics hook, line, and sinker. For, you see, it was Cao Cao's intention to lure Yuan Shao south because doing so would stretch his lines of supply, extend them so far to the south that it would be difficult to make an effective defense of them.
In the end, the Battle of Guan Du was won (by Cao Cao, naturally) because he was just simply smarter than Yuan Shao. He understood army planning, tactics, strategy, how to inspire his men to great deeds, and how to outmaneuver his adversary upon the field of Battle.
Yuan Shao, for all that he is an awesome character who was actually a lot of fun to voice, just simply was not the better man in that struggle. Had he listened to his advisors, Tian Feng and Ju Shou, and implemented their advice, and threw the scheming and plotting little serpent Guo Tu to the Tigers of the Forest, then he might very well have won. He had a huge army, several times the size of Cao Cao's, and yet he lost, because he just too stupid to recognize good advice when he saw it.
Tian Feng and Ju Shou, honestly, I consider to be as worthy to advise a great Feudal Lord as was Guo Jia, and that's saying something. Yet their advice was disregarded, and Yuan Shao was driving away his subordinates right and left.
And Cao Cao crushed him. Destroyed his supplies, and routed him. Need I remind you all that there was several hundred thousand troops involved in this battle, close to a million total when you count up both sides. Few battles in history have equaled the sheer death toll as had Guan Du. The Siege of Verdun in World War I might compare. Maybe.
There are some very notable names in this chapter. Tian Feng and Ju Shou, of course, but also Zhang He, one of the True Heroes of the Sanguo Period makes his debut in this chapter. And yes, I know the choice to attempt to do a voice reminiscent of his voice on the Dynasty Warriors games is probably vain, foolish, and totally not any good, but in my defense, I would like to point out how one man, with occasional help from a second, might have a hell of a time thinking up voices for the hundreds and hundreds of characters in this novel. Sometimes, I just need a voice wherever I can get it. And you do have to admit, it is....memorable. :p)
Anyway, enough yappin'. Enjoy the Battle of Guandu already!