Chapter 200: Constant Change, Constant Loss

Meanwhile, Diwu Lun, far away in southern Ji Province, had learned that the Han troops in Nanyang had risen in revolt. His reaction was simply: "Wenshu's side has already opened for business."

What he did not know was that at this very moment, the Liu family shop, barely a month old, had already suffered a crushing defeat near Wancheng and nearly been forced to shut its doors.

"Why this road again?"

Liu Xiu rode a dappled gray mare, slumping dejectedly along the road south. He himself did not understand why, over these past few years, his repeated escapes had always followed the same unchanging direction: from Wancheng to Xinye. But unlike his quick-witted departure from the Imperial Academy, or the hair-raising evacuation from Wancheng when the plot was exposed, this time, just as the Han troops were about to reach their zenith, they had suddenly collapsed in utter defeat!

Little Chang'an — a name Liu Xiu would never forget as long as he lived — was the unavoidable route for the Han troops and the Greenwood men marching from Jiyang to Wancheng. Before they reached it, Zhu You and the others had joked with Liu Xiu: "The Han capital was once called Chang'an. According to the military yin-yang theorists, if we fight at Little Chang'an, it should favor us!"

Liu Xiu, however, saw that the surrounding mountains were high, the valleys deep, the forests dense, and the terrain exceptionally treacherous, and felt it was disadvantageous for the attacking side. But before he could advise Liu Bosheng and the Greenwood commanders, they were suddenly ambushed by government troops.

The man ordered to intercept the Greenwood the Xin troops — Dou Rong, whom Liu Bosheng regarded as fearing the enemy like a tiger and retreating again and again — had learned that Wang Mang's old mansion in Xindu had been burned. Knowing that if he did not exert himself now, his head would be forfeit, and with no further ground to retreat to, this "talent for command" whom Diwu Lun had so highly praised, together with the Front Column Commander Zhen Fu, laid an ambush at Little Chang'an and caught the Han troops completely off guard.

In a head-on fight, the Han troops and Greenwood men would not necessarily have been at a disadvantage — the enemy's morale was low, while their own fighting spirit was high. But unfortunately, a great fog descended, so thick you could barely see your hand before your face. The Han troops and the powerful clan militias from Xinye and Huyang had been gathered solely by Liu Bosheng's prestige, and they had no coordination whatsoever with the Greenwood men — not to mention that the Greenwood men themselves were split into the the Xin and Pinglin branches, with different chieftains not under each other's command.

Though they had the larger force, when they came under attack in the fog, they simply exploded into chaos. Not knowing the enemy's strength, every unit began retreating on its own to preserve its forces.

If they could have withdrawn, it would have been fine — after all, they had a steady commander like Liu Xiu holding the rear. But they never expected that during the retreat, they would be attacked from behind by an enemy force. It was Yan You, who, upon hearing of the Han troops' rise, had ignored his illness and personally led over a thousand chariots and cavalry on a lightning raid!

Truly worthy of the title of the empire's foremost strategist. Liu Xiu had previously thought Yan You excelled in cunning but was deficient in tactical skill — now he had been slapped hard in the face. The old general, his hair white, personally beat the war drum from his chariot. The drumbeats spread through the thick fog, striking terror into the hearts of the Han troops and Greenwood men.

Pincered from front and rear, shrouded in dense fog, the orderly retreat turned into a catastrophic rout. In an instant, attacker and defender had swapped roles.

Over the next ten days, the speed with which the Han troops and Greenwood men had previously stormed cities and seized territory was matched only by the speed with which they now lost those cities in defeat. Jiyang, Xinye — one by one, the walled towns that had previously surrendered, hearing of the Han troops' defeat, hastily changed their allegiance again. This meant Liu Xiu could not even enter Xinye; he could only watch helplessly as the crimson Han banners on the city walls were lowered and burned, and the earthen-yellow Xin dynasty flags fluttered once more.

Liu Xiu had intended, as before, to go to the Deng clan in Xinye to rally the scattered troops, but the Deng family was under attack by the Front Column Commander Zhen Fu, who was pressing south in pursuit.

Because all the able-bodied men and retainers had gone north with the Liu Bosheng brothers, the defenses were insufficient. The main gate of the Deng clan's fortified manor was breached, and the Deng family fled in haste through the rear gate. Zhen Fu divided his forces and pursued them relentlessly.

Since the end of the Qin, Xinye, which had known peace for two hundred years, now suffered severe military calamity. The Deng clan was a prominent surname in Nanyang, having produced many officials of the two-thousand-bushel rank during the Former Han. Now, two centuries of accumulated wealth were destroyed in a single day. Their sons and daughters could only flee in panic; the wails of the common people shook heaven and earth; those struck by arrows or spears, abandoning their children as they fled, were beyond counting.

Liu Xiu, with his remnant force, engaged Zhen Fu in battle. Outnumbered, he was again soundly defeated, and even his followers and attendants were scattered. He could not now reach the Yin clan's fortified manor, several dozen li away. He only thought grimly: "This great rout cannot be salvaged. I must at least find my second elder sister and escort her safely back to Chongling."

He therefore turned his horse around and searched everywhere amid the chaos. Countless fleeing refugees looked at Liu Xiu's horse with desperate eyes, all hoping he would carry them for a stretch.

Liu Xiu, sword in hand, drove off anyone who dared approach to seize his horse. When he saw a familiar face, he would stop and ask: "Where is the Deng family matriarch? Where is my second sister?"

Only after searching for a long time did someone tell Liu Xiu: "She originally burst out of the manor in a carriage, but the government troops caught up. The retainers turned to fight to the death, and the carriage, its reins broken, bolted far away."

They pointed him in a direction. Liu Xiu rode alone, galloping on, until he found the overturned carriage beside a small stream. Its wheels pointed skyward, still slowly spinning. The horse, struck by an arrow, had stumbled and fallen dead. On the stones by the stream were traces of fresh blood, leading downstream.

Liu Xiu followed the blood trail through withered reeds and wild grasses, until at last he heard the sound of weeping. He went over to look — it was indeed his second elder sister, Liu Yuan. Wounded in the leg, she was like a mother hen protecting her chicks, brandishing a dagger in her hand and shielding her three daughters behind her, ceaselessly berating the two soldiers who were grinning hideously as they closed in.

A crossbow bolt flew in, striking one of the soldiers square in the back. He cried out in pain and fell. The other man turned, saw Liu Xiu, and, stunned, immediately raised his spear and charged at him.

Judging the distance, the time it would take him to close in was only enough for Liu Xiu to fire one more shot!

Liu Xiu was usually mocked by his elder brother for being cowardly and timid, but he had one extraordinary trait: the more life-and-death the moment, the calmer he became. His hands did not tremble in the slightest. Steadily, he strung the bow, raised it, and aimed. As the trigger mechanism released, the bowstring thrummed. The soldier, who had already closed to striking distance, the spear tip nearly at the horse's chest, collapsed at the sound.

The bolt had struck the soldier in the belly. Liu Xiu spurred his horse forward, trampling him and finishing him off.

"Elder Sister!"

Dismounting, he slit the throat of the other soldier, who was staggering to his feet. Only then did Liu Xiu have a moment to check on his own blood sister.

His three nieces, ranging in age from seven or eight to just over ten, had been frightened at first when they saw Liu Xiu approaching covered in blood. Once they recognized their uncle, they burst into loud wails and begged him to quickly look at their mother's wound.

Liu Yuan's face was deathly pale. In protecting her daughters, besides the arrow wound in her thigh, she had also taken a spear thrust to the shoulder, and blood flowed ceaselessly. Liu Xiu hastily tore strips from his own robe to bandage his sister. As he bandaged, tears fell from his face.

"Xiu'er."

Liu Yuan still called him by his childhood name. Before she married, she had doted most on her youngest brother, and her husband, Deng Chen, had also regarded Liu Xiu with special favor. Who could have foreseen today's calamity? She was in terrible pain, yet she gritted her teeth and made no sound. Seeing Liu Xiu weep, she simply used her sleeve to wipe his tears and smiled: "I'm not crying — what are you crying for?"

It was guilt. Liu Xiu prostrated himself on the ground and said: "It was because my elder brother and I did not do well enough. We invited the Deng clan to raise troops, only to fall into a government ambush at Little Chang'an and be routed all the way here, bringing disaster upon you, Elder Sister. This is Wenshu's fault!"

The brother and sister had no more time to speak. In the distance, another squad of infantry was arriving. Judging by their banners, they were not Han troops, but government soldiers!

Alarmed, Liu Xiu moved to help his sister and nieces onto the horse, intending to stay behind and hold the enemy off on foot.

Liu Yuan disagreed: "I am wounded and cannot ride. Without you, how would I escape?"

With no other choice, Liu Xiu lifted Liu Yuan onto the horse, then sent one of the slightly younger nieces up to ride with her. He himself carried the smallest one on his back, led the horse by the reins, and, sword in hand, had Liu Yuan's eldest daughter walk alongside. Stumbling and staggering, they headed south, wading through the icy stream, crossing the cracked fields.

Liu Yuan's bleeding had not stopped. It trickled down from the horse's back bit by bit. She felt her body growing heavier and heavier. Looking to her left, her eldest daughter had lost her shoes; her feet were rubbed raw and bleeding as she walked. She bit her lip, weeping as she held onto the horse and trudged along. If not for this disaster, in just a few more days, the eldest daughter would have been married.

Looking to her right, Liu Xiu had been fleeing for days and had not eaten a full meal in all that time. Now, carrying his niece on his back was an immense strain, and he still had to lead the horse. He could only grit his teeth and push forward with all his might.

His ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, during the great defeat at Pengcheng, had abandoned his aged father and cast aside his wife. Even his own two children riding with him — when the pursuers drew near and he thought the carriage too heavy — he kicked them off, one by one. Emperor Hui of Han and Princess Yuan of Lu had nearly perished that way.

Though Liu Xiu had inherited the old Liu family's destiny of flight, he was not so cold-blooded and ruthless. If there was any way at all, he was unwilling to abandon a single family member.

When Liu Yuan turned her head, she saw the pursuers in the distance drawing closer and closer. Though they had a horse, they were moving even slower than on foot.

Liu Yuan's resolve was set. She simply looked at her younger brother and said softly: "Wenshu."

Liu Xiu turned back. His sister smiled and said: "When you were young, you always followed Bosheng to fight. He would take on ten men alone, but the remaining three would run over to beat you. No matter how many punches you took, you never made a sound — you just clung to their legs, not letting them leave, until Bosheng came back to help you. Even when we returned home and I cleaned your wounds, you never cried. Instead, you smiled."

"Since childhood, Wenshu has valued clan and family above all else. You would never abandon us."

"But I am gravely wounded and truly cannot go on. If this continues, not a single one of us will escape."

Liu Xiu could only watch, helpless, as Liu Yuan drew the dagger she always carried and pressed it to her own throat. With tears in her eyes, she said: "Go, Wenshu. Do not let me be a burden to you! Take my daughters to their father. If you cannot save them all, then save one — save whoever you can!"

With these words, she stabbed herself in the throat, fell from the horse, and her fragrant soul was extinguished.

"Elder Sister!"

Liu Xiu held the sister who had loved him most since childhood, his heart torn with grief. For all his usual resourcefulness and cunning, he was now utterly powerless. He could not even give her a proper burial. He could only ruthlessly abandon her body, use rope to bind his nieces tightly to himself, and, riding the dappled gray mare, flee in a staggering, reeling gallop.

Their speed increased considerably. This squad of pursuers was on foot and could not catch him. But as Liu Xiu looked back at his sister's body lying in the wild grass, the remorse in his heart and the fury at his own helplessness sank one layer deeper.

Liu Xiu did not even know how he finished the rest of the journey. He encountered government soldiers several times. When his crossbow bolts were spent, he fought with short weapons, killing several men in succession.

He had promised his second sister that he would bring them safely out of the battle. He would keep his word — not one could be lost!

In the end, he even lost his horse. Still, he led or carried his nieces, pressing onward. During this time, he took an arrow meant for them, saved only by his lamellar armor.

The Tangshui River lay ahead, the pursuers behind. Liu Xiu found a bamboo raft that could only hold three people. He tied himself to it, removed his armor, discarded his weapons, and pushed them across the bone-chilling river.

When he reached the middle of the river, Liu Xiu briefly lost consciousness. He awoke again to the cries of his nieces, struggled to push the raft to the bank, then collapsed on the rocky shoal and fell into a deathlike faint.

In his dreams, everything was the opposite. At the Battle of Little Chang'an, the Han army had won a great victory and marched smoothly into Wancheng. His elder brother had become Emperor, and he himself had become Bearer of the Gilded Mace, returning home covered in glory to Xinye to marry Yin Lihua. On the wedding day, his second sister, Liu Yuan, was also in the crowd, watching him and smiling.

When Liu Xiu awoke again, he felt the warmth of a fire and the weight of a heavy fur blanket. He had been rescued and was now among the remnant forces of the Deng clan who had escaped.

It turned out that his nieces had dragged and hauled him ashore, and then they had encountered Deng Chen, who was retreating from the north. Only thus had they escaped with their lives.

The first thing Liu Xiu heard was the Deng clan elders complaining bitterly to Deng Chen, who had just lost his wife: "The Deng clan had its own wealth and rank — why must we follow our in-laws into the boiling cauldron? Now look! Those in the clan who have lost wives and children — are you the only one? The Deng clan is finished! You are truly the Deng family's sinner!"

Deng Chen only listened in silence, not a single word of protest. Despite losses so enormous, there was not the slightest trace of regret in his eyes!

Seeing Liu Xiu awake, Deng Chen hurried over to help him up. Liu Xiu felt even more ashamed, so choked with grief he could not speak. Yet Deng Chen did not blame him at all, only saying in a low voice:

"The Xin has already fallen; the house of Han is sure to rise. Bosheng and Wenshu can accomplish great things. The decision I made — it was the right one!"

Through Deng Chen's account, Liu Xiu learned of matters he had not known.

In the battle at Little Chang'an, his second elder brother Liu Zhong, who had been in the same unit as Deng Chen, had died amid the chaos of the army — yes, between Liu Bosheng and Liu Xiu, there was also a Liu Zhong in the family. Liu Xiu was unremarkable, and Liu Zhong was even more ordinary.

And those who died alongside him in battle or perished during the rout numbered several dozen sons of the Chongling clan. Of the seven or eight thousand who had risen up at Caiyang, barely half remained, fleeing south of the Tang River.

For Liu Xiu, who had always cherished and protected his clan, this was undoubtedly a devastating blow. It meant that nearly half the households in Caiyang would be hanging mourning cloth.

Worse tidings followed hard upon one another. More defeated soldiers retreated to the southern bank of the Tang River — and it was Yin Shi, the eldest legitimate son of the Yin family.

"Wenshu, your elder brother has failed you."

Unlike those who were full of complaints against the Deng family, Yin Shi, like Deng Chen, had no regrets about raising troops in answer to the Liu brothers' call.

But he could not speak for the entire clan.

"Dou Rong has led his troops to Xinye. My father, seeing he could not resist, shifted all the blame onto me and surrendered to the government forces of his own accord. Now the entire main lineage, over a hundred people, along with my younger sister Lihua, have all been seized by Dou Rong and taken to Wancheng. I could not save them in time and could only withdraw here with those clansmen unwilling to submit!"

This was truly a bolt from the blue. Liu Xiu felt as though struck by lightning — sure enough, everything was the reverse of what he had dreamed.

His elder sister, his clansmen, his brothers, his dream of the Bearer of the Gilded Mace, and Yin Lihua, who had already become his betrothed — in a single battle, all of it was gone!

Liu Xiu wearily closed his eyes. What met him was not darkness, but the thick white fog of Little Chang'an, where blossoms of crimson blood bloomed one after another!

So many years had passed, time and time again, and still he fled endlessly along this road from Wancheng to his homeland, as though caught in some curse from which he could not break free.

Liu Xiu could not help but doubt deeply: "Could it be... that I am truly ill-starred?"

"I really am ill-starred."

At the same time, in the last days of the eleventh month of the third year of Dihuang, Diwu Lun was also studying intelligence sent back by scouts from the vicinity of Liaocheng, his brow knotted tight.

The bandit forces near Liaocheng had suddenly grown considerably. Only after ragged refugee soldiers who had infiltrated them captured men of the Five Towers bandits for interrogation did they learn that it was Zhang Wen of Five Towers who had invited the Five Schools and Five Banners bandits operating in Qinghe Commandery to reinforce them.

"Deliberate, isn't it?"

What a coincidence. Diwu Lun did not know whether to laugh or cry — Five Towers, Five Schools, Five Banners, and then a Diwu Lun on top of it all; they could practically hold a Four-Five Clarity Grand Battle.

Hearing Diwu Lun sigh that he was ill-starred, with the enemy suddenly doubling in strength and proving far tougher than expected, Geng Chun's mouth ran loose again: "Not so — four fives make twenty. How is that odd? It is an even number! According to the military yin-yang school, in this campaign, our army is sure to win!"

PS: Got home later than expected, ran a bit over time, but it couldn't be helped — this stretch of plot had to be finished.

Dragging the update into the middle of the night just this once. Extra chapter tomorrow.