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I could have gone to an internet cafe, found whichever version of Dynasty Warriors was installed on it (obligatory in any such establishment), and located the level. Were I of a mind to do so, I could have left that park and replayed the battle any time I wanted. Lord Sun, who was commanding the troops, narrowly escaped with his life, and thereafter the area became a prize that the Wu forces could not claim. Famously, Zhang Liao defeated a numerically superior Eastern Wu force using only a handful of horsemen, exploiting a weakness in the enemy formation. Xiaoyaojin happens to be the site of one of Zhang Liao’s greatest martial victories. One can buy milk tea in a pagoda, then observe the centuries-old bridges from atop a Ferris wheel, or even take a paddle boat to the burial site of legendary Cao Wei general Zhang Liao. As with many Chinese parks, it is an odd, jarring blend of the old and new.
F or a few years, I lived close to an enormous park known as Xiaoyaojin.
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