A Brief Burst of Youthful Recklessness

This time, the Horde coalition was led by Warchief Thrall, Blackrock Clan chieftain Rend, Thrall's advisor Nazgrel, the Saurfang brothers, the Songmaster Samuro, and Darkspear commander Shadow Hunter Rokhan. Leading orcs, trolls, and a small number of ogres, the three-hundred-thousand-strong Horde coalition was an exceptionally grand force.

The old orc Frostwolf Clan shaman Drek'Thar, Blackrock Clan warrior Eitrigg, and Darkspear chieftain Vol'jin remained behind to guard Orgrimmar, which Thrall had renamed. Of course, their contracted advisor Gazlowe also stayed in Orgrimmar to conduct a thorough on-site survey of the local geology and other conditions before beginning renovations and constructing simple living quarters.

The vast army of three hundred thousand crossed the makeshift bridge built over the Southfury River and arrived in another part of Kalimdor—the largest region of the Barrens. Before the Cataclysm, the Barrens had not been divided into north and south; it had simply been called the Barrens.

In the game, the Southfury River had been a very narrow river that players could swim across in just a few seconds. In reality, however, its width rivaled that of the main channel of the Yangtze River, and even crossing it by bridge took a long time.

The Barrens was just as he remembered it: barren, yet full of life. Compared with Durotar, it had lush grasslands and forests, but its climate was even hotter. Rend remembered well that this vast land lacked water above all else, so after informing Thrall, the Horde replenished its water supplies at the Southfury River.

The Horde's mission was to open up a trade route to Ratchet and search for Grommash Hellscream. Along the way, aside from encountering scattered small centaur tribes, they met no major obstacles. Hundreds and thousands of centaurs vanished before the fury of the Horde warriors.

"Order the troops to halt. Nazgrel, the elements have told me there is a large centaur settlement ahead." With Thrall, a powerful shaman, the Horde could often detect danger in advance. The elemental spirits were willing to tell Thrall the whereabouts of these twisted races that the elements disliked.

"Leave the scouting to me, Warchief. Gyth and I are best suited for this task." Nazgrel was Thrall's advisor and messenger, while Rend, as the somewhat lower-ranking chieftain of the Blackrock Clan, held considerable status. He had chosen to remain at Thrall's side.

"My Darkspear friend, Chieftain Rend, leave this one to me. Though you and your dragon companion can circle high in the sky, the centaurs have many excellent archers. I have a pact with the shadows. Leave it to me without worry." Vol'jin needed to stabilize the newly absorbed Burning Thorn Clan and Firetree Clan in Orgrimmar, and he also needed to give the Darkspear people someone to rely on. Thus, he had sent another Darkspear powerhouse, Bokan, to lead the Darkspear troops with the army. Players were very familiar with Rokhan. During the Warcraft III campaign, Thrall had called him the Horde's finest scout. Although he had been sidelined for a long time during the WoW era, he later remained by the players' side, using his Shadow Cloak time and again to help them escape danger.

"Rokhan is right, Rend. Rokhan is better suited to this task than you." Thrall had come into contact with the Darkspear Clan before Rend had, so he understood Vol'jin and Rokhan's abilities better. He knew of Rokhan's mastery over the shadows.

"As you command, Warchief. Rokhan, my friend, please be careful." Rend did not argue. With a better candidate available, there was no longer any need for a half-baked dragon rider like him to take the risk.

Before long, Rokhan stepped into the shadows. Among the Horde, only the Songmaster Samuro could rival this Shadow Hunter's mastery of shadowcraft. Yet neither of them belonged to a true stealth profession. The true great masters of shadowcraft in Azeroth did not include a single member of the Horde. Garona's whereabouts were unknown at this time, and strictly speaking, she could not be considered a member of the new Horde either.

It was not long before Rokhan returned, bringing detailed information about the centaur camp. There were roughly one hundred and twenty thousand centaurs in the camp, but judging by its size, it could house at least three hundred thousand. The rest were likely out and had not returned. This large-scale operation seemed to be hunting something. He had also discovered several thousand captive Tauren in the centaur camp. There had originally been nearly ten thousand Tauren, but the rest had been tortured and slaughtered by the centaurs.

Rokhan's intelligence was highly detailed. Rend told Thrall what he knew in the form of a conjecture. "Warchief, I think the centaurs are very likely hunting the Tauren. Otherwise, they would not have so many prisoners. An operation involving hundreds of thousands—this may well be a genocide. When I was in Ratchet, I learned that the Tauren and centaurs are mortal enemies. The Tauren are naturally gentle and generous, yet exceptionally powerful in battle. They could become our allies, and we share the centaurs as a common enemy."

"You make a great deal of sense, Rend. Whether for survival or to save this land from being ravaged by this twisted race, the centaurs are enemies of the Horde. There is a saying in human books: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We can absolutely contact the Tauren and resist the centaurs together." Although Aedelas Blackmoore had treated Thrall as a tool for ruling the orcs, he had to admit that his guidance of Thrall had been selfless. It was precisely because he had done everything in his power to teach and cultivate Thrall that Thrall possessed human thought and knowledge in full. Though Thrall's way of thinking differed somewhat from that of ordinary orcs, it was exactly this caution and thoughtfulness inherited from human society that enabled him to lead the orcs in establishing a new home in Kalimdor when the Horde stood on the brink of ruin. He had also found the Horde two trustworthy allies: the Darkspear Trolls and the Tauren.

With Rokhan's help, after learning the centaurs' deployment, the numerically superior Horde warriors chose to charge headlong into battle. Horde warriors would not fear enemies several times their number, let alone a battle where their own side utterly crushed the enemy in numbers. As Li Yunlong had once said, "I've never fought such a rich battle in my life."

With their magnificent lineup at the forefront, three hundred thousand Horde warriors charged into the centaur settlement. For the first time, Rend experienced what it felt like to stand above tens of thousands, beneath only one. As chieftain of the Blackrock Clan, aside from Warchief Thrall, who ranked above him, even Warsong chieftain Grommash was merely the chieftain of another great clan on equal footing with him.

With the Warchief before him and an army of three hundred thousand behind him, such grandeur reminded him of a poem by Su Shi:

This old man briefly indulges in youthful madness, reins yellow hounds in his left hand, holds a pale falcon aloft in his right. Brocade cap and fur coat, a thousand riders sweep across the hills. To repay the city that follows its governor, I will personally shoot a tiger and let them see Sun Lang.

Though drunk, my heart remains bold and unrestrained. My temples are lightly frosted—so what? When will I be sent with the tally to the clouds, as Feng Tang once was? I will draw my carved bow full like the moon, gaze to the northwest, and shoot the Heavenly Wolf.

Though he was not in Su Shi's circumstances, the boldness in his heart was just the same—a brief burst of youthful recklessness.