Comfort in vengeance (For Wang Yi)
In a valley near the Wei-Shu border, a battle was waging between the two forces. It was a mere border skirmish with an overzealous Shu force with no officers of renown in their ranks contrary to who the Wei forces had. Despite having no formal plan and these odds stacked against him, their alacrity put the battle at even. Suddenly, reinforcements for the Wei soldiers in the form of a cavlary unit under Xiahou Ba's leadership. With this one single batch, the Shu troops were being routed now. After an one more hour of fighting, the remaining Shu forces had retreated. Despite his urges to chase them down and murder every last one of them, Zhongquan had to restrain himself from chasing them; it was a brash move and it had resulted in the death of many officers due withdrawals either being a trap or the pursuer getting too vigorous. Grasping his lance as hard as he could, he could only sigh. After the wounded had been gathered up and the dead buried, Xiahou Ba ordered the troops to retreat to Chencang, a small fortress but vital to the protection of Chang'an.
As the battered troops entered the fortress, much preparation has been taken place. It was a few months after the Wei forces had utterly crushed the Shu forces at Jieting during the massive Shu offensive. Xiahou Ba was able to fight in this battle and helped Zhang He secure victory over the impulsive Ma Su. Sadly, it wasn't a total victory over them since Wang Ping and Zhuge Liang had thwarted their efforts via clever tactics and stratagems. Nonetheless, it was still a great victory after the initial setbacks with the rebellions of the commanderies.
Yet despite this fact, anger was seething through Xiahou Ba's body as he went back to the barracks; even as the years had gone by, he still couldn't forgive Shu for killing his father. Sure, it was war and people die but when it comes to family, it hits harder than usual. Watching his father died just because his bow broke was the most painful thing that Ba ever had to watch. It irked him even more so when Cao Cao ordered a general retreat from the region back to Chang'an and leaving Hanzhong. Like his cousin Xiahou Dun, he could only grudgingly comply with his lord's orders. In an attempt to deal with this pain, he headed to the tavern to get a drink or two.
