Chapter 204: True Feelings Revealed in Shared Adversity

Outside, the snow still fell, no telling when it would stop, while inside the hall of Yangping County's temple-office, candlelight flickered and each man nursed his own thoughts. Huang Chang sank into deliberation; Geng Yan watched Diwu Lun, wanting to know how he would decide.

Seeing Geng Chun plead so earnestly, Diwu Lun instead said with solemnity, "Borrow troops? Is Boshan asking as a subordinate officer, or as a friend?"

The implication was clear: if as a subordinate, then it was official business, dealt with by the book; if as a friend, then it was another matter entirely.

Geng Chun raised his head. "At this moment — as a friend."

"Good."

Diwu Lun broke into a smile and said to Geng Chun, "Zilu once said, 'I would share my carriage and horses, my light furs, with my friends, and if they were worn out, I would feel no regret.' From the day we first met at the Lang Bureau in Chang'an, we have known each other five years, and Boshan has never been sparing in his help to me. You and I can share hardship, and we can share wealth and honor. Now that Boshan's father is in peril, how could I sit by and do nothing? That word 'borrow' — Boshan, please take it back!"

"Boyu." Seeing Diwu Lun agree, a stone fell from Geng Chun's heart. He truly had not misjudged Diwu Lun, nor boarded the wrong ship.

Diwu Lun did not stall or delay, but asked at once, "How many soldiers do you need to lift the siege of Dingtao?"

At these words, Geng Chun's gratitude caught abruptly in his throat.

The Dong Xian division of the Red Eyebrows at Mount Liang was nothing like the petty riffraff of Wulou and Wufan in Hebei — this was the main Red Eyebrow force that had smashed the General of Renewal and the Grand Preceptor's one-hundred-thousand-strong imperial army just two months ago! Now Dong Xian had proclaimed himself General, gathered fifty or sixty thousand men, and was rampaging across Jiping. To defeat this Red Eyebrow army, with its soaring morale and formidable fighting strength — how many men would that take?

Even if Geng Chun were possessed by the spirits of Sun Wu, Wu Qi, and Bai Qi, he would need at least ten thousand to face the Red Eyebrows head-on — and that was a number Diwu Lun himself could not scrape together.

Cut it in half, then — five thousand? If so, Diwu Lun's main force would be left with nothing but the Boar-Rush Braves, and Wei Cheng would have to exhaust every last resource, sacrificing himself for another. Such a thing — not only should a subordinate officer never ask it; even as a friend, one could hardly open one's mouth.

Clever and quick-witted as Geng Chun had always been, when it came to how to break the siege of Dingtao, he too was utterly at a loss.

A bluff? Borrowing the tiger's might by walking in its shadow? Dong Xian had just punctured the court's paper tiger — what might was left to borrow? On the contrary, every commandery in Qingzhou and Yanzhou feared the Red Eyebrows like tigers. Even if Geng Chun had the skill to falsely proclaim that a hundred-thousand-strong imperial army was coming, did he think Dong Xian would be afraid?

Seeing Geng Chun sunk in thought, Huang Chang, ever adept at reading his master's mind, seized the moment. "My lord, in this subordinate's view, Dingtao cannot be saved."

Geng Yan flared up at once and rebuked him. "You cripple — do you understand military affairs?"

"I do not understand military affairs, but I do understand the situation."

The little dwarf stretched out his stubby arms and laid out his reasons, point by point. "Wei Cheng and Dingtao are over five hundred li apart — a round trip takes more than a month. Distant water cannot quench a nearby fire. That is the first reason."

"Even if the Wei troops went all out, marching five hundred li for advantage in the dead of winter, the soldiers would inevitably suffer severe attrition. Crossbows could not be drawn, armor would be frozen stiff, and fighting strength would be greatly diminished. How could they match tens of thousands of Red Eyebrows waiting at ease? One careless move and they might instead lose the army in the field. That is the second reason."

"Furthermore, although Chi Zhaoping's Red Eyebrow division has withdrawn from the Great River, it still lingers on the opposite bank, roaming between Qingzhou and Yanzhou, press-ganging able-bodied men everywhere. She has also sent men to proclaim that once Yuancheng was smashed and the imperial temple burned, the river would return to its original course — and the disaster-stricken people downstream believe it. Chi Zhaoping has also joined forces with the Red Eyebrow splinter group at Mount Chengzi in Taishan Commandery, growing stronger by the day, her military power now no less than Dong Xian's. The only thing that can stop her is the surging river — but now, with the bitter cold and frozen ground, the Great River may ice over at any moment!"

"With a powerful enemy at our flank, how can we spare the strength to rescue Dingtao? That is the third reason!"

Huang Chang bowed low. "Therefore, this subordinate holds that this matter is like carrying Mount Tai under one's arm and leaping over the Northern Sea — it is not a question of refusal, but of impossibility!"

Huang Chang had outdone himself today; every sentence was sound, and even Geng Chun had no words to refute him. This was precisely why he had earlier urged Diwu Lun to ignore the plea for aid from neighboring Qinghe Commandery.

But the moment one's own flesh and blood was at stake, it was never a matter of calmly reasoning things out. Men are ruled by emotion, and even knowing a thing cannot be done, they will still do it!

Geng Yan, too, had grown heated, and simply said, "Grand Governor, my uncle previously brought back two thousand defeated troops of the Renewal army and strengthened the Wei territory. Now that the Geng clan is in trouble, why not grant us those two thousand soldiers?"

This was the tactlessness of youth. Geng Chun stopped Geng Yan and bowed to Diwu Lun with clasped hands. "I know full well that the Wei territory is ringed by powerful foes. I ask only that Boyu grant me two thousand refugee soldiers. The shortfall I will make up with my own retainers and clansmen."

The Geng clan of Julu was a great house of Songzi; their retainers and dependents could furnish two thousand men. Geng Chun would send word at once for his younger brothers Geng Zhi and Geng Su to bring them all south — tearing down the north wall to patch the south.

Diwu Lun feared Geng Chun meant to die alongside his father, but seeing his expression, it did not seem so. He asked what plan he had.

Geng Chun laid out his scheme. "I do not expect to fight ten to one and drive the Red Eyebrows back. I only hope to go near Dingtao and see if there is a chance to cover my father's breakout and bring him back to Hebei."

"The reason I wish for refugee soldiers rather than Renewal troops is, first, that those men have just suffered a crushing defeat at the Red Eyebrows' hands. I fear that the moment they hear they are to fight Dong Xian, they will scatter and desert the moment they cross the river."

"If I take the refugee soldiers and disguise them as Red Eyebrows, then hurry to Dingtao — the Red Eyebrow branches do not answer to one another, and they have no banners or insignia. Who will know who I am? Once I reach the walls of Dingtao, there may yet be a chance to rescue my father."

Geng Chun finished, "As for Dingtao itself… abandon it if we must. This court post of two thousand piculs — I can do without it!"

This set Diwu Lun's mind considerably at ease. It seemed Geng Chun had not lost his head; the plan was feasible. Yet he still shook his head. "Two thousand is too few!"

"Bozhao." Diwu Lun looked at young Geng, who had been growing somewhat disgruntled and contemptuous at his long indecision. "Take two hundred mounted escorts and cross the river south with Boshan. If you succeed in rescuing Lord Geng, you can cover his escape at any moment!"

"Aye!"

Geng Yan was instantly gratified, his attitude transformed. He took the tally and left the city in haste with Geng Chun to muster the troops. Geng Chun, deeply moved, could only bow his head heavily to Diwu Lun.

After the two had gone, Huang Chang, his heart heavy with worry, followed behind Diwu Lun and said, "My lord, think this over carefully."

"Two thousand refugee soldiers, plus nearly all the cavalry — the coming month will be the moment of greatest weakness for the Wei territory."

How could Diwu Lun not know? Even with Geng Chun's promise that his family's private retainers would all come south to help, in the short term their strength would still be greatly diminished.

But to achieve great things in Hebei, he could not do without the Geng family's help, and both the elder Geng and the younger were rare talents, fit to be general and minister alike.

He had no lofty gate or pedigree; he was even burdened by this persona of "Great Xin loyal minister," without even a good name to attract worthy talents. To a man of humble origins like Huang Chang, he could promise wealth and rank, but to the Geng uncle and nephew, who lacked for nothing, he could only rely on true feelings revealed in shared adversity.

Ask not what they can do for you.

First ask what you can do for them.

To take, one must first give.

Once outside the city, however, Geng Yan said to his uncle, "In the past, I looked down on Lord Diwu. I thought that even when he put on the airs of humbly receiving scholars, he had too many schemes and lacked the spirit of a hero."

"But now, with Lord Diwu disregarding his own safety and giving his all to help us, I have come to admire him somewhat."

"Indeed." Geng Chun turned his head to look at Diwu Lun, who was seeing them off from afar atop the city wall, his heart full of gratitude. "Boyu can share prosperity with our family, and he can share hardship too! But this enormous debt of gratitude — the Geng clan has now well and truly incurred it."

He recovered his usual manner and gave a low chuckle. "It seems that for the rest of my life, I, Geng Chun, must truly give myself to Boyu — use this seven-foot body of mine to repay him in flesh!"

…

In the early twelfth month of the fourth year of Dihuang, within the walls of Wancheng in Nanyang, Yan You awoke once more from his sickbed, feeling a bone-deep cold all over. Dou Rong hurried over bearing a bowl of hot herbal decoction.

"Lord Yan."

To recount: in the Battle of Little Chang'an the previous month, although Dou Rong had seized the initiative in the thick fog and routed the Greenwood men, what ultimately decided the outcome was Yan You, traveling light and striking north, who stabbed into the rear of the Han troops and thus defeated them.

But Yan You's autumn illness had never fully healed, and now he had driven his troops on a forced march in deep winter. The soldiers were exhausted, and the old general had nearly given his life. After the battle, he was carried down from the drum-chariot, and from that point on he never again left his bedchamber, his sickbed, or his herbal decoctions. The physicians of Wancheng, after examining him, all shook their heads. They said it was already remarkable that Yan You had held on this long; if he could survive the winter, there was still a chance he might live, but donning armor and taking up weapons, leading troops into battle — that he absolutely could never do again.

Yan You did not drink the medicine. The moment he came to, his first words were urgent. "Lord Zhou, how goes the war?"

Dou Rong sighed. "Both the Greenwood men and the Han troops have withdrawn south of the Tang River. Though we killed several thousand, we failed to capture Liu Bosheng and his brother, or any of the Greenwood chieftains."

Yan You could not fathom it. "It was a rout — how could they have been allowed to escape so smoothly?"

Dou Rong was full of grievances. "Grand Governor Zhen did not join me in pressing the pursuit of the main Han force. He had the larger army, yet he focused solely on 'recovering lost territory,' haggling over every city and hamlet. He also gave his soldiers free rein to slaughter the powerful houses of Xinye and Jiyang who had sided with the Chongling Liu clan — defiled the residence of the Deng family, arrested the entire Yin household, and purged the magnates who had supplied grain to Liu Bosheng."

And Dou Rong himself, in truth, was unwilling to pursue relentlessly and face the desperate, cornered-beast struggle of the Han troops and Greenwood men alone. Thus the two of them had let slip the chance to wipe out the Greenwood forces in one stroke.

On top of that, the common people of Xinye and other places were freely plundered and subjected to reprisals by the government troops. This now drove those who had been sitting on the fence straight into the opposing camp. Though the Han troops and Greenwood men had suffered a great defeat, after their retreat, those flocking to join them actually increased. They had now secured a foothold south of the Tang River and were locked in a standoff with the government forces.

Orders issuing from two heads — that was now the greatest problem plaguing the government army. Dou Rong could only pin his hopes on Yan You's swift recovery.

But never mind that Yan You is ill right now — even if he were not, there would be nothing he could do. His Majesty the Emperor is fond of balancing powers against one another. Zhen Fu forms his own independent faction and does not answer to Yan You's command. On top of that, the troops under Yan You and Dou Rong have been swept by malaria, and the march north cost them many more. Barely a few thousand remain now — actually fewer than the commandery soldiers Zhen Fu has freshly conscripted. For provisions, armor, and weapons, they all depend on the Forward Commandery supplying them.

He is the host, we are the guests. Dou Rong must remain courteous and consult Zhen Fu on everything, but that man is obstinate and self-willed — extremely difficult to work with.

And sure enough, Dou Rong had just come out from visiting Yan You when he learned that Zhen Fu was up to mischief again: he was preparing to send all sixty-four members of the Li clan — men and women, young and old — seized after the Li family fortress was taken, along with over a hundred members of the Yin clan of Xinye who had been arrested after surrendering, straight to Chang'an!

Dou Rong could not understand. "We have yet to achieve complete victory. Why the rush to send captives to the court?"

"The Duke of Zhou here simply does not understand His Majesty well enough," Zhen Fu said, with a theory all his own. "Lord Yan's oversight allowed the Greenwood men to advance north into the Forward Commandery, and word has also reached Chang'an that Liu Bosheng of Chongling has proclaimed himself General and raised troops. His Majesty is greatly enraged!"

Powerful as the Red Eyebrows bandits are, though they have routed the imperial army, they have raised no slogan, no banner. But this Chongling Liu clan is different — the banner they have raised blazes with the Han, and their rallying cry is to restore the House of Han!

The eastern brigands are mere roving bandits, but these southern brigands — they are flying a clear banner, intent on toppling the Xin dynasty!

Wang Mang accordingly issued an edict: "The many sons of the late Han Marquis of Chongling, Liu Bosheng, together with his clan, marriage kin, and partisan followers, have committed treason. Whosoever can capture this man shall be enfeoffed as a viscount, with a fief of a thousand households, and rewarded with five million in precious goods!"

Though this amounted to giving Liu Bosheng a wave of free publicity in reverse, it also showed just how seriously Wang Mang regarded the war here.

As a scion of a clan that had helped Wang Mang ascend the throne, Zhen Fu indeed understood this Emperor very well: "His Majesty governs with urgency and likes matters settled swiftly. It is precisely because complete victory has not yet been won that we must send Liu Bosheng's marriage kin and partisans to Chang'an at once — so the Son of Heaven will know that we have already won a great victory and success is imminent!"

He wanted the Emperor to feel that everything was firmly in hand, to spare Wang Mang from anxiety and the impulse to replace his generals mid-campaign.

The reasoning was sound, and Dou Rong had no grounds to object. He could only stand atop the walls of Wancheng and watch as over a hundred members of the Li and Yin clans, along with captured Chongling youths, set out wretchedly into the wind and snow.

The Yin clan patriarch sighed deeply — his rebellious son Yin Shi had insisted on following Liu Bosheng and brought ruin upon the whole family, even tying them by marriage to the Liu clan. The wealth and ease accumulated over generations had been wiped out in a single day. He could only hope that, having surrendered of his own accord, they might receive leniency in Chang'an. Even if the whole family were reduced to slaves, at least they would escape clan extermination.

The once wealthy and noble households, the carefree young ladies and gentlemen, were now prisoners and convict laborers. The men trudged along bound by ropes, crying out in ceaseless misery, while the women sat on flatbed carts used for hauling firewood, at least spared the walking — but with no thick furs to wrap themselves in, they shivered in the cold.

Pitiable was the eldest daughter of the Yin clan, Lihua, just eighteen. In days past, she would idly open her mirror and languidly comb her hair, or lean upon the carved railing, too languorous to speak. Only last month she had received Liu Xiu's betrothal gifts through a fine matchmaker — only to meet this chaos of war. The Han troops were routed, and her entire family taken captive.

Thanks to her aging father's voluntary surrender, the whole family had been spared the executioner's blade. As spoils of war destined to be presented before the gates of the Shoucheng Palace, they had not been subjected to humiliation — but their lives still hung by a thread.

She could only force her moth-brow smooth, muss her cicada-wing temple locks, and climb onto the cart to travel. As she hesitated and glanced back, her eyes were filled with nothing but bewilderment and terror.

Watching this scene, Dou Rong shook his head. "If you knew it would come to this, why rebel in the first place?"

Though he too was observing the shape of the realm, the Duke of Zhou, Dou Rong, was absolutely not the sort to stick his neck out first.

Ren Guang, who had come north with Yan You, stood to one side. He suddenly pointed at the column of captives heading north and said to Dou Rong, "Liu Bosheng's younger brother Liu Wenshu's betrothed wife, of the Yin clan — she is among them."

"Liu Wenshu?" Dou Rong searched his memory carefully. The man had indeed served as a minor clerk in Yan You's army for a few days, but later committed an offense and fled. Looking at it now, he must have known all along that his elder brother intended to rebel. Diwu Lun, it seemed, also had some slight acquaintance with him.

Dou Rong looked at Ren Guang. "What do you mean by that, Boqing?"

Ren Guang reminded Dou Rong, "Should we perhaps do a good deed and leave some goodwill behind?"

Was he thinking that the final outcome of this struggle was still uncertain? Indeed. Though they had won on the battlefield, people still came in an endless stream to join the defeated Han troops and Greenwood men. Thanks to the efforts of Zhen Fu and the imperial army, those who had been sitting on the fence now found they had no way out — what else could they do but fight with their last breath?

Even if the government forces could win once, twice — with their numbers dwindling with every fight, could they keep winning forever? Especially now that Yan You was no longer able to command.

Dou Rong, however, shook his head. "Liu Bosheng's other brother, Liu Zhong, died at the hands of my own unit. At the battle of Little Chang'an, who knows how many Chongling youths lost their lives? A grudge like that — can one woman possibly dissolve it?"

"Let her go!"

Dou Rong's heart was bitter. "She at least knows she is being taken to Chang'an. But I — I only wanted to flee to Hexi to take refuge, and somehow got muddled into becoming a loyal minister of the court, unable to get off the boat even if I wished. I truly do not know what to do, or where I will die when the time comes!"

"In times like these, no one can save even themselves!"

……

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00.