Chapter 188: The Torrent

After crossing Baima Ford, they re-entered the lands of Dong Commandery.

By late in the ninth month of the third year of Dihuang, when Geng Chun arrived, this territory — which Wang Mang had split in two and renamed "Zhiting" — was no longer as stable as it had been the year before, when Diwu Lun had hurried to Puyang to borrow troops.

Geng Chun remembered what Diwu Lun had told him when he left Yecheng: "Wang Hong, the Grand Governor of Zhiting, is an imperial kinsman and a capable administrator. He has governed Puyang for over ten years, but he's a bit timid — terrified of imperial reprimands, like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow. He even once took poison to kill himself."

Nor could Wang Hong be blamed for living in constant fear. After all, hanging right over Zhiting was a vast yellow river that could, at any moment, wash away in a single day everything he had labored over for more than a decade. And with the old Wei lands lacking any natural defenses of mountains or rivers, the region had been a battlefield contested by the swords of Zhao and Qi ever since the Warring States period. Now, with refugees from Yan Province flooding in, the local administration was already on the verge of collapse.

So around Puyang, Geng Chun saw only commandery troops worn ragged trying to cope with the refugees, and powerful local clans hastily raising the walls of their fortresses to defend themselves.

After Geng Chun and his party passed Huzi Crossing, they entered the Yellow River flood zone. If some semblance of order was still maintained by Wang Hong and the powerful clans around Puyang, then in this region, nothing but chaos remained.

As far as Geng Chun knew, a hundred and fifty years ago, in the early reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the Yellow River had burst its banks right at Huzi near Puyang. The court mobilized a hundred thousand men but still failed to plug the breach. Moreover, Chancellor Tian Fen, the Marquis of Wu'an, preached that dredging was better than blocking: "The breaching of rivers is a matter of Heaven; it is not easily forced shut by human effort. To block it may not accord with Heaven's will."

As a result, the plugging was abandoned. The Yellow River rampaged unchecked southeast into the Great Wild Marsh, connecting with the Huai and Si rivers and bringing disaster to the people of sixteen commanderies. This whole area became a flood zone. Only over twenty years later did Emperor Wu of Han come in person to Huzi, mobilize even more men, and finally plug the breach, restoring the Yellow River to its original course.

So even today, Geng Chun could still see, beside the Huzi Crossing embankment, the rows of wooden stakes driven down from the Qiyuan bamboo groves, filled in with earth, stone, and brushwood to form the blockage.

But institutions left behind from the empire's zenith will eventually decay — and bamboo, wood, and brushwood rot even faster. After years of neglect, Huzi breached again. The Xin Dynasty, when it still had the capacity to act, had dragged its feet again and again. Now, utterly unable to muster the funds or manpower, it could only let the muddy torrent rampage eastward.

"Huzi has burst — what can be done? Vast and swelling, I fear all shall become river."

Geng Chun gazed at the river waters and shook his head. He ordered the several dozen men Diwu Lun had sent as his escort to heighten their vigilance. Entering the flooded region, he said, was like entering enemy territory.

Among these several dozen men were a few refugee soldiers. Geng Chun had more than once asked them to tell him about the day the great river had burst. In that natural disaster, the people of Wei had been mere bystanders, fortunate neighbors — but these refugees had lived through it.

One refugee soldier, already promoted to squad leader and allotted land in Wushi County, said his family home was in Zhencheng, right in the direct path of the river's breach.

"To tell you the truth, Commandery Aide, the day the river came was the very day I was getting married."

Squad Leader Zhen described the scene that day. The wedding procession was not long, but it was lively — the pipes and flutes played brightly, the bridal carriage rode steady, and adults and children crowded the roadside, laughing. But right in the midst of the merriment, he faintly felt the yellow earth beneath his feet tremble. A muffled, thunderous hum came from afar, so deep it numbed the ears.

Then the muddy floodwaters surged in. At first the volume was not great, only the current was swift. In mere moments, the murky yellow water submerged the carriage wheels, then rose to the carriage body itself, making travel impossible. He could only unhitch the horse and flee with his new bride. But before they could reach high ground, a greater flood came roaring down. Waves several feet high crashed into the crowd, and in an instant, people, horses, and carriages were all swept away without a trace.

"I survived by clinging to a tree, but I never saw my bride again. Most likely, the River Earl really did snatch her away."

The squad leader smiled bitterly. "The water didn't recede for days. I was so famished I couldn't bear it, so I grabbed a door panel floating in the water, tied myself to it, and paddled around looking for food. I ate everything — flower snakes, for instance, scales and guts and all, swallowed right down. Normally you'd find it rank and foul, but at that time, it tasted sweet and delicious."

Ah, let me ask the River Earl — why so merciless? Flooding without end, you grieve us so. The mulberries float, the Huai and Si are full — long gone, and the river's bonds grow slack!

When the floodwaters finally receded and Squad Leader Zhen returned home, all seven members of his family were gone, not even their bodies to be found. More than half the village had died.

Even harder days lay ahead. All along the road, Squad Leader Zhen pointed left and right, telling Geng Chun that while the river's fury was brief, the devastation it left behind was long-lasting. First, every low-lying area downstream was turned into a vast lake. After the waters receded, the fertile fields of the past became sandy flats and crisscrossing channels, impossible to farm.

Squad Leader Zhen's family had been small landowners before the flood. Later, he led the surviving clansmen to till the fields, but the harvests were pitifully meager. They could only abandon their home and go to hilly counties untouched by the flood to work as tenant farmers for others.

Life had barely settled down when the Yellow River, as if itching or something, twisted its body again. Good heavens — the flood came once more!

"A small flood every three days, a big one every five — what's the point of farming?"

Under living conditions where their homes could be wiped out at any moment, the people of Yan Province would rather wander and scavenge for food than fence off land and plant grain. That way, at least when the great waters came, they had no ties and no burdens. If they were lucky enough to survive, they simply moved somewhere else.

Because the river's course remained unsettled, the Yellow River flooded year after year after that. The climate also turned strange. Battered back and forth between drought demons and floods, the once-fertile land cracked into blocks and finally became utterly unfit for farming. Zhencheng, once known as a granary, was now — as Squad Leader Zhen led Geng Chun on this return visit to old haunts — already a complete wasteland.

"Now, even becoming a tenant farmer or hired hand is impossible."

"Three seasons in a row without a single grain harvested — I had no choice but to flee west. It was a blessing to reach Wei lands and be taken into the ranks. Not only did I get food, but now I've been allotted fields and a house again. Ah, Lord Diwu is truly our great benefactor." Squad Leader Zhen was genuinely grateful to Diwu Lun from the bottom of his heart. He planned to take a new wife the following year — this time, he wouldn't have to worry about raging floodwaters.

As Geng Chun walked, he noticed insect eggs mixed into the soil. The abandoned land had become a breeding ground for locusts to multiply rapidly. Plagues erupted almost every year, stretching across Yan, Ji, Qing, and Xu provinces — the locusts could even fly all the way into the Guanzhong region.

The refugees of Yan Province, tormented back and forth for over a decade by floods, droughts, and harsh governance, were themselves seen by people of other commanderies as locusts, scattering in all directions. Now, some had joined the Red Eyebrows, while others had slipped into Wei Commandery and been taken in by Diwu Lun and the powerful clans.

As for those who remained in the area, their plight was truly harrowing. Geng Chun saw homeless refugees forced to fill their bellies with grass roots and tree bark, even stuffing themselves with poisonous wild greens and earth to stave off hunger — chaff and husks had become delicacies by comparison. He even saw corpses collapsed by the roadside, their flesh carved away by sharp blades.

On the road toward Wuyan, they were attacked many times by bands of armed refugees, which they repelled with powerful crossbows. At other times, they were attacked by small detachments of imperial troops out foraging for grain. Only after Geng Chun identified himself did they receive an escort and proceed to Wuyan County, where the General of Renewal was stationed.

Having witnessed all this with his own eyes along the way, Geng Chun gained an even clearer understanding of the current situation.

"Even if the great victory at Wuyan is true and a hundred thousand Red Eyebrows have been annihilated — as long as the great river knows no peace for a single day, the million refugees of Yan Province will still scatter in all directions seeking survival. Sooner or later, Yellow Eyebrows, Green Eyebrows, and White Eyebrows will rise up too!"

"Containing the people is harder than containing a river. The imperial troops and government forces are like the bamboo, wood, earth, and stone at Huzi — how can they block this raging, furious torrent? Even if they plug it for a time, once the river is dammed and then bursts, the casualties will be all the greater."

These refugees, banding together just to survive, were just like a flood. Geng Chun realized with stark clarity that once they slipped completely out of control, the destruction they would cause would be unimaginable. When that happened, wealthy households of solid means, seemingly impregnable fortresses, even the high and mighty court and government offices — all would be swept away in the raging tide of the people.

"Weicheng at least has some mountain defenses to hold it off for a time. My hometown, Songzi County in Hecheng Commandery, is far to the north — my clan won't be affected in the short term. But Dingtao, where my father is, lies directly in the path of danger!"

Geng Chun could not help feeling a surge of worry for his father, Geng Ai. The reason he had accepted Diwu Lun's invitation the year before and followed him to Ji Province was precisely the idea of "a crafty rabbit has three burrows." Since staying in Chang'an offered no prospects, he might as well follow Diwu Lun and build another nest for the family in Weicheng Commandery.

With Dingtao, where Geng Ai served as Grand Governor, their old home in Songzi County, and even his clan uncle Geng Kuang up in Shuodiao, they had plenty of options. The Geng clan would not be left without a place to go in these chaotic times.

But now it seemed that Dingtao, once hailed as "the center of the world" and the wealthiest place in Yan Province, was in peril as precarious as a pile of eggs. It had already been ravaged by the imperial troops' occupation, and now it lay near the battlefield between the Red Eyebrows and the government forces. Worried for his father's safety, Geng Chun planned to first go to the General of Renewal's camp to learn the true situation, then head to Dingtao to see if he could persuade his old father: our family should not hold Dingtao any longer. Learn from Diwu Lun's decisive resignation — find a way to slip away.

On the road ahead, Geng Chun saw Grand Preceptor Wang Kuang's great army advancing south toward Mount Liang by the Great Wild Marsh. Their order was ragged, but the carts they pulled were loaded with severed heads — Red Eyebrows eliminated along the way, they claimed. But Geng Chun suspected most were innocent commoners, killed to inflate their battle merits.

When he asked the government troops escorting him about the great victory at Wuyan, they swaggered with arrogance, saying things like: "Just a bunch of refugees — utterly helpless. The Red Eyebrows at Wuyan lined up to let us chop their heads off. I killed thirty men in one morning."

This only made Geng Chun detect a certain amount of exaggeration. Moreover, being trained in both civil and military arts, once he had figured out the marching routes and strategic dispositions of the Grand Preceptor and the General of Renewal, he could not help but be greatly alarmed.

"A thousand-li raid to cut the Red Eyebrows in two? This is clearly walking right into an encirclement by the Mount Liang Red Eyebrows and the Mount Tai Red Eyebrows!"

He had long heard from Diwu Lun about how, when these two fought the Xiongnu, they were experts at sabotaging their allies and utterly useless at actually attacking the Xiongnu. But he never imagined they could fight a battle this badly. Was it genuine stupidity, or sheer overconfidence? What were they trying to do — bloom from the center?

Sure enough, as Geng Chun, his heart full of misgiving, reached the area west of Wuyan County, he saw a mass of bobbing heads ahead. Government troops were fleeing westward for their lives, shouting as they ran: "The imperial army is defeated! The imperial army is defeated!"

Geng Chun had his men stop a unit that was still somewhat intact. Its leader was an Army Adjutant named Peng Chong, who had a kindly face. Upon questioning, they discovered they had once crossed paths in Chang'an.

"So it's Geng of the former Remonstrance Office. I once served as an officer under the Grand Minister of Works."

Peng Chong had been ordered to lead able-bodied men out of Wuyan to deliver grain to the Grand Preceptor. But not long after they left the city, they encountered routed soldiers fleeing from the rear, who told them that the Mount Tai Red Eyebrows, guided by locals from Wuyan, had raided the main camp of the General of Renewal.

With as many as fifty thousand men, the defensive perimeter was spread very thin, and communication between units was poor. After the sudden attack, each unit reported that the front lines had collapsed and that the General of Renewal had died in battle, and so on. Thus, a scene of men scrambling over each other to flee southwest unfolded. Peng Chong also ordered his men to abandon their baggage and join the escape.

But where to go now? Peng Chong said, "We were all planning to join the Grand Preceptor."

Under the circumstances, Wuyan was of course out of the question. Geng Chun had no choice but to flee in confusion alongside Peng Botong.

Along the way, Geng Chun observed that this Peng Chong had a good head on his shoulders. He gave strict orders and kept a tight grip on his able-bodied men, holding them together. In the chaos of a great rout, units that kept their formation had a far better chance of survival. Anyone who scattered and fled alone — the people of Wuyan, hiding in the marshes and burning with hatred for the imperial troops, would take your head.

After all, just as the imperial troops determined who was a Red Eyebrow, the locals could just as easily kill all outsiders based on their accents!

Thus swept along against his will, Geng Chun was mixed in among the retreating routed troops. When they reached Chengchang Township, several dozen li west of Wuyan, they found that the rear guard of the General of Renewal's forces, which had bravely surged ahead past them in their flight west, was now suddenly scattering like headless flies. Some even turned and fled north.

And the men now fleeing toward them carried banners of entirely different units.

"Those are troops under the Grand Preceptor's command." Peng Chong was shocked. After he and Geng Chun grabbed a few routed soldiers who had blundered into them and questioned them, they learned something horrifying.

"The Grand Preceptor attacked the Mount Liang Red Eyebrows under Dong Xian and suffered a defeat. The main army is retreating toward Chengchang, hoping the General of Renewal can come to their rescue!"

Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable. The General of Renewal, Lian Dan, attacked by the Mount Tai Red Eyebrows, was also planning to retreat to Chengchang, hoping to rely on the Grand Preceptor for rescue!

The Great Xin's Sleeping Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix, barely half a month after the great victory at Wuyan, had smoothly battled their way across a hundred li and joined forces in triumph at Chengchang.

Countless units swarmed chaotically around Chengchang; soldiers could not find their generals, generals could not find their soldiers, banners and insignia tangled together in a jumbled crush, and tens of thousands of men stood bewildered and helpless. Even Geng Chun and Peng Chong were swept up in the tide, unable to break free.

And the two great armies — the Liangshan Red Eyebrows and the Mount Tai Red Eyebrows — were closing in on them like a pair of pincers!

Standing atop his chariot, Geng Chun watched this scene unfold before his very eyes, and in a flash he recalled the day the river burst, exactly as Officer Zhen had described it to him.

The yellow earth beneath his feet trembled faintly; a muffled, thunderous hum rolled in from the distance, while close at hand the government troops milled about in helpless confusion, wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves, the din numbing the ears — it was exactly the same.

And on the horizon, surging floodwaters were also a mass of bobbing heads — the Red Eyebrow Army, their brows smeared red with mud, their armor and weapons crude, their ranks utterly disordered, yet every man of them charged forward with fierce courage.

The river, blocked too long, had burst — this was the fury the refugees of the Yellow River floodplain had stored up for over ten years, the roar of ten thousand unavenged souls from Wuyan mingled within it.

Unstoppable, the scarlet torrent came rolling on, drowning the imperial army, sweeping across the land of Yan Province, shattering everything like dry weeds and rotten wood, utterly destroying the old order!

……

PS: Chapter 3 at 18:00.