Chapter 65 – Selecting Weapons
Translated by Bloodfalcon
Current translation is MTL, it is not translation checked, proofread or heavily edited yet.
“You truly have decided?!” Asked Lu Bu who stood in martial arts practice field in Shouchun
Yuan Shu has escaped from Shouchun, so Lu Bu naturally stationed in Shouchun temporarily. Now, cannot go through Runan, so now they are considering to reach Xinye from Jiangxia. So he temporarily stays at Shouchun, because compared to camping in the wilderness, the air is much better in the city.
“Hum!” Liu Mang nodded, he cannot be indecisive anymore, he must practice martial arts. He come from present time, where nowadays military force practice wushu as melee battle, even though there are wushu, battles usually fought with guns and bombs, no longer using wushu. But here, he must at least have a skill in wushu in order to survive. Having skill in wushu, also meant he no longer need to rely on other people to protect him.
“Good!” Lu Bu nodded. Lu Bu is the god-of-war. He has settled on Liu Mang as his heir, naturally is to inherit his power and position also he has a natural desire to make Liu Mang a valiant general. So, even Liu Mang had not request Lu Bu, Lu Bu can also force Liu Mang to practice martial arts.
In this chaos times, one cannot live if do not have skill in wushu.
Even these warlord need to learn also, even though they are not masters. For example Cao Cao and Yuan Shu. These two originally crusaded against Yellow Turban. At that time , Cao Cao and Yuan Shu are already a leader that leading their own army. Yuan Shu at that time also wield title as Officer of Westland
Liu Bei,Liu Xuande also have a skill in wushu, and his skill is also not bad. If not, how can he participate in “Three Heroes versus Lu Bu”???
Gongsun Zan's skill also excellent, if not how can he lead his Penetrating White Horse to drive out those invaders from beyond Great Wall? Thus one can see, Gongsun Zan's skill.
Tao Qian of Xu Province, Kong Rong of Beihai and Liu Biao of Jing Province, please do not think them as a mere Confucian scholars. The Confucian scholar at this age are not those who are from Ming and Qing Dynasty who even do not have strength to kill a chicken. In this day, they still following Confucius learning from Zhou Dynasty Six Arts which also included archery from horseback. And also Chen Gong although he is a strategist, his skill are very good also even defeating Cheng Yu's own skill.
TL: Six Arts of Confucius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Arts
Sun family who occupy Jiangdong. Those three brothers and sisters are also good in wushu, including Sun Quan, who have not yet experience battle.
Forcing people to do something will never ended up in good result compared to willingly to learn. Seeing Liu Mang heart has the resolve to become strong makes Lu Bu really happy.
“Here got a very nice roster of weapon, choose the weapon that suited you the most!” Asked Lu Bu while pointing to army's weapon rack.
“Choose a weapon?!” Liu Mang stunned, he has not thought about this matter, in his opinion, is not a military must be adept in every weapons? But now, he must choose one.
Knewing Liu Mang's mind, Lu Bu start explaining “Skilled in ten weapon is inferior than mastering one weapon!” Lu Bu then point at his Poseidon halberd and said “I am able to wield lance, spear, sword and great sword, but that is only able to wield. The one that I truly master is halberd!”
TL: actually the phrase is “Knowing well 10 gates, is inferior, to mastering 1 gates”, so I changed it into more appropriate sentence.
Holding his halberd in his hand, he start to explain more “With other weapons I can breakthrough enemy lines, can kill enemy, but it can only display my strength around 70%. Once I encounter Zhang Fei, Guan Yu or Xu Chu, these valiant generals, I can only maintain their rhythm but cannot break their rhythm and finally killing them! But with halberd, it is different, with this Poseidon halberd, even Zhang Fei or Guan Yu came, if one on one I can kill them, with two of them attacking me together, I can still kill them and if those three valiant generals attacking me, I can keep up with their pace to a draw!” This is Lu Bu's fighting prowess and where his confidence lies.
Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Xu Chu is not a pinnacle of super generals but their strength is around 90 points, and Lu Bu is confident that he is able to kill them if one-on-one, able to defeat them when they come two people and able to keep up the pace with them, if three of them come at once!
“Is halberd really so strong?!” Said Liu Mang full of doubts. If halberd is really that powerful, why so few people using it? Beside Lu Bu, their user are Dian Wei, Taishi Ci, etc. No one else using halberd.
Not only that those two Dian Wei and Taishi Ci's type of halberd uses is different from what Lu Bu uses. Their weapon only have 1 single additional blade and not as long as Lu Bu's Poseidon halberd whose length is about 2m.
“It is not the halberd but the person who uses that weapon!” Lu Bu again replied “Everyone need to suit themselves with one kind of weapon. Example Zhang Fei is using snake spear. Guan Yu is using guandao, Xu Chu is using nine-ring greatsword, these are their chosen weapons and also they are most adapted weapons! So you need to discover your own weapon amongst these pile of weapons!”
“I found one!” Said Liu Mang after listening to Lu Bu, he picked up one weapon from weapon rack.
“I think I will take broadsword!” Said Liu Mang while thinking to use long sword.
“Broadsword is the king of hundred soldiers!” Lu Bu said “Broadsword is known for its ease of use, it does not matter whether it is broadsword or short broadsword, the main point of sword is to slash and slash! If you become a master of broadsword, you should be able to defeat a skilled person completely using three moves with your strength alone! With this, you will follow a strong and overwhelming path like Xu Chu with his nine-ring broadsword or Guan Yu with his guandao.
“King of hundred soldiers, strong and overwhelming path? Defeating people by overwhelming them?!” Liu Mang thought while brandishing the broadsword, then he shook his head. Broadsword was not the weapon that he desire. Although broadsword is very powerful but this is not what Liu Mang had in mind. Using broadsword surely will make him strong and be competitive but Liu Mang at the core is still that of a scholar, so he cannot show aggressiveness. Moreover, to defeat people using sheer strength? He himself almost defeated that way.
"Sword?!"The knife was too aggressive, Liu Manghuan an erudite Confucian scholar point. “What about two-edged sword?!” The broadsword is too aggressive, Liu Mang changed with a more refined weapon; Lu Bu nodded, because Liu Mang's physique has not suited with broadsword and broadsword wielder need physique like Xu Chu to use in order to maximize its true potential.
“Two-edged sword! Weapon of choice for soldiers and scholar alike!” Lu Bu said “Elegant form, practicing in road of two-edged sword lies in its elegant form, using sword as if it is dragon or snake, ease of use also!” Two-edged sword is not only a tool to kill in cold weapon era, it is also a symbol of status for those who are Confucian scholars. Like Chen Gong, who Lu Bu also praise his proficiency with two-edged sword. Lu Bu also have met two-edged sword master such as Royal Tutor Wang Yue which Lu Bu also confessed that he is at draw when fighting using two-edged swords with him. And again there is Liu Bei, who use dual two-edged sword, a male and female swords, his skill also cannot be just overlooked.
“No, it is not what I want!” Liu Mang shook his head. Although Liu Mang quite fond of two-edged sword, but two-edged sword is used as a symbol of status, it will not help him when fighting battle.
“What about spear?!” In Lu Bu's left hand there is a spear. “Spear?!” Liu Mang took the spear from Lu Bu's hand, while he examining it, Lu Bu explained “Spear is the favorite weapon for commander-in-chief, a stabbing weapon, wielder of this weapon took their own path because it has the elegance of two-edged sword but spear also can be used to sweep enemy, like broadsword slashing technique, you also can overwhelm the enemy with your strength. So you can say that spear is a combination of two-edged sword and broadsword and mixing it with other weapons!” “Weapon for commander-in-chief?!” Liu Mang remembered that the user of spear in Three Kingdoms era really is very graceful. Spear users for example Zhao Yun or Zhang Xiu and no matter who use spear, they can be very charming person besides their skill with wushu! If Zhao Yun using axe or hammer, you will also like him! Though this spear is graceful! This is not what Liu Mang wants! Graceful is nonsense if you cannot use it properly. So Liu Mang will not use this weapon.
“Club?!” Boss Lu offered him many weapons broadsword, halberd, axe, kali sticks, hook, whip, mace, hammer, stick, polearm all turned down by Liu Mang, because he did not suited with those weapons. Hell, even if Boss Lu offered him his Poseidon Halberd, Liu Mang do not want that.
“What weapon do you want?!” Liu Mang had already searched the entire weapon rack, but he cannot find weapon that he liked.
“The weapon that I want must be big and able to block arrows, and can protect myself and people behind me!” Liu Mang said his own idea.
“Block arrows? Can protect yourself and people behind you!” Lu Bu brow wrinkled, is not that Liu Mang described is shield? “Do you want to use great shield as weapon?!” Asked Lu Bu trying to understand him.
“Great shield?!” Liu Mang also considering it, those aluminium shields that he brings, it is not just big but can also block arrows and protect himself and the person behind him! Great shield is the only weapon that can hide one's posture from enemy. “Right, that is my weapon!” Liu Mang said firmly.\
“You want to use shield as weapon?!” Lu Bu's mouth corner twitching. Since ancient times, a shield is to defend, but now Liu Mang want to use shield to attack?
“Okay, let me explain again, a great shield can only protect you but cannot kill the enemy!” And also defensive power of shield will deteriorate when it is used as a weapon. What Lu Bu believes is, the best way to defend is to attack.
”Said who, shield cannot kill enemy!” Liu Mang took out a polisher from the armory, He polished the edge of the shield until it become sharp like blade and he showed its proficiency for killing person by stabbing it on the ground and pulling it back up. “Using shield to kill people?!” Lu Bu never understood this son-in-law way of thinking, but he knows that Liu Mang will not change his decision based on his expression alone.
“Good, take your weapon, we start from the basics!” In the martial arts training field there are two figures already fired up to train.