Chapter 205: Three Feet of Ice Did Not Form in a Single Day

"A great victory! A great victory! Colonel Cen has routed the Greenwood Xiajiang bandits at the Han River, taking over a thousand heads — countless more of the wretches drowned in the water!"

Though Ren Guang, Yan You's provisions officer, felt that a few victories could not reverse the great tide of heaven and earth collapsing, and held a pessimistic view of the future, ever since the battle of Little Chang'an the government troops seemed to have stumbled onto a streak of luck, victory following victory.

And now, even Cen Peng — whom Yan You had entrusted with a heavy task, leading three thousand men to intercept the Greenwood Xiajiang troops — had, after being out of contact for so long, finally sent back glad tidings.

"It's good that Junran is safe. A pity, though — he probably still doesn't know that his mother and wife have already perished in the battle of Jiyang."

Ren Guang let out a long breath, feeling only regret on Cen Peng's behalf. This was also why he had earlier tried to persuade Dou Rong to keep Liu Wenshu's betrothed, the lady of the Yin clan, behind: when the Han troops broke through Jiyang, Liu Xiu, upon entering the city, had personally stood guard outside the Cen residence and assigned men to protect it, lest the unrestrained Greenwood commanders offend Cen's mother and wife.

In the end, when the Han troops were defeated at Little Chang'an, Jiyang was retaken by government forces. When Zhen Fu's soldiers entered the city, they treated it as enemy territory and slaughtered at will. The Cen residence was plundered by disorderly troops and "accidentally harmed" — pitifully, Cen Peng's entire family, old and young, died wretchedly, and the house was burned to ruins. Now only one son remained, rescued by Ren Guang when he arrived shortly after.

"This was the doing of the Greenwood bandits." When Zhen Fu heard that his men had killed the wrong people, far from admitting fault, he instead wanted to pin the blame on the Han troops and the Greenwood.

This was also why Ren Guang held no hope for the government forces: imperial troops with discipline as good as Yan You's, Dou Rong's, or Cen Peng's were far too rare. The battle of Little Chang'an should have been enough to awe the petty brigands of the forward commandery, but after Zhen Fu's reckless rampage, the people's hearts were lost all the more.

"Never mind the common folk — even the powerful families of this commandery will soon be singing, 'Better to meet the Greenwood than to meet the government troops.'"

Sure enough, hard on the heels of the victory report, dire tidings soon reached Jiyang, where the government forces were massed.

"The Xiajiang bandits, blocked to the south, have changed course and moved north. The Grand Governor of Jiangxia led several thousand troops in pursuit. At Sui County, he was defeated by the bandits' host of twenty thousand!"

"Hold on." Dou Rong was stunned. "When the Xiajiang bandits broke away from the Greenwood, they numbered just over ten thousand. Cen Junran intercepted them and struck mid-crossing, killing several thousand, sending them fleeing north in disarray. In a little over a month, how have they not shrunk but grown, becoming twenty thousand men?"

This was truly a baffling matter. Only two possibilities existed: first, Cen Peng had falsified his battle report, exaggerating his kills; second, the Grand Governor of Jiangxia had deliberately inflated the numbers of the Xiajiang Greenwood troops to cover his own failures.

But the scouts' reports proved both wrong. The Xiajiang troops had indeed suffered heavy losses, yet during their northward march, they had been joined by vast numbers of displaced commoners — refugees whose livelihoods had been destroyed by the chaos of war and by grain requisitions from government troops on every side. After a defeat, their strength was greater than before.

"Even if they had two hundred thousand men, they'd still be a disorderly rabble, nothing to fear. Once we rout them, we can pacify Jing and Chu." After the battle of Little Chang'an, Zhen Fu had grown swollen with overconfidence. Dou Rong, however, like Ren Guang, felt only a deeper layer of pessimism about the future.

"The bandits grow more numerous the more we fight them, stronger the more they're defeated — while our army does the opposite. This is exactly what the art of war means by 'a defeated army fights first and seeks victory afterward'!"

Never mind tactical victories — even a perfect strategic triumph might buy a few more years of borrowed time, but it could hardly save the great momentum of the realm crumbling inch by inch.

Dou Rong murmured to himself, "Three feet of ice did not form in a single day."

Dou Rong could see that his own side's situation was defeat masquerading as victory, but the Han troops and Greenwood Army on the opposite bank of the Tang River were not so optimistic. Though people kept coming to join them — powerful clans and common folk alike — the great Greenwood commander Wang Feng and others were already discussing disbanding. They were roving bandits, after all; what did it matter where they went? At worst, they could avoid the government troops, find some mountain forest, and hole up inside...

The Greenwood could indeed slip away at any time, but the powerful families who had been settled in the forward commandery for centuries could not flee. Though Liu Bosheng had lost one battle, he was not discouraged. He urged the commanders of the Greenwood the Xin troops to fight again. At just this moment, word came that another branch of the Xiajiang troops had reached the vicinity of Chongling. Liu Bosheng immediately took his younger brother to go and make contact.

What cannot defeat you only makes you stronger. Liu Xiu did not know this saying, but he truly grew more resolute with each setback, and had already roused himself anew from the crushing defeat half a month ago. Liu Xiu, too, bore the pain of losing his elder sister and his betrothed, yet he acted as if nothing were wrong, going one by one to mourn the fallen clansmen and local comrades, helping his elder brother hold the hearts of the men together. Only upon waking would he find tearstains on his pillow.

It was only after bitter defeat that he thirsted all the more fiercely for victory.

This time, heading to the Xiajiang camp at Tangzi Township, Liu Xiu had also volunteered to follow, for he knew...

"Though our army has gathered new recruits again, they are untrained and can only fight when the wind is at our backs. The Xiajiang troops are different — they have thwarted government forces several times. Those who crossed mountains and ridges to reach this place are all brave men. Only by persuading their commanders to join us can we steady the the Xin troops."

But the meeting with the Xiajiang commanders was, to say the least, far from pleasant.

"We wish to see the worthy generals of Xiajiang, to discuss great matters together!"

The brothers Liu Bosheng and Liu Xiu, introduced by the the Xin commander Ma Wu, arrived outside the camp stockade and called out loudly for an audience. Before long, four men emerged one after another.

Wang Kuang, the great commander of the Greenwood Xiajiang troops — who shared a name with the Xin Dynasty's Grand Preceptor — was a fisherman by origin. He had little breadth of experience and no clear plan for the future; he merely disliked great powerful clans like the Chongling Liu on instinct, feeling that Ma Wu and the other the Xin men, by joining hands with the Liu family, had already betrayed the Greenwood Army's original purpose of standing up for the poor.

Wang Chang, a man of Yingchuan who also came from a small landholding background, did not declare his stance. He only drew the dark-faced Ma Wu aside and asked in a low voice, "So this is the Liu Bosheng that Zizhang once praised so highly? What sort of man is he?"

Ma Wu praised him: "Bosheng has the valor of a hegemon-king; he is the courage at the army's heart."

"And that one?" Wang Chang was also interested in the man with the fine beard and handsome brows who followed close behind Liu Bosheng.

Ma Wu's assessment was decent enough: "His younger brother, Liu Wenshu — deep in planning and far-sighted, he too has the talent of an able aide."

The other two lesser commanders, Zhu Wei and Zhang Ang, having heard that the Han troops had been defeated at Little Chang'an and now had only a few thousand men left, felt that they were nothing special. Each had his own calculations, and they laughed loudly: "Since we great men have risen in revolt, each should be his own master. Our troops are strong and our horses sturdy — why should we submit to you?"

Liu Bosheng was determined to win them over. Hearing this, he laughed and said, "Wandering through the marshes, trapped within the mountain forests — that is not called 'each being his own master.' That is called being roving bandits!"

"How dare you, you brat — do you think this is still your family's land?" Zhu Wei and Zhang Ang flew into a rage and sprang up, drawing their swords. They never expected that Liu Bosheng, even with blades upon him, would show not the slightest fear, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on Wang Kuang and Wang Chang.

"How many years has the Greenwood been in arms? Six years! Six years ago, you gentlemen were chased east and west by the authorities — and six years later, it's still the same. Are you content to spend your whole lives like rats, startled whenever men or dogs draw near?"

These words struck straight into Wang Chang's heart. He had wanted to go north with Ma Wu and the others from the start, but had been shoved into the southbound force instead. Blocked by Cen Peng at the Han River, the Xiajiang troops' losses had not been great, yet Wang Chang had strenuously urged the others to turn and march north.

He wanted to return to the Central Plains. He wanted to leave behind the marshes he had long grown sick of seeing, to become a true general — not a commander of refugees!

"To overturn the authorities, to exterminate the Xin — that is what a true man ought to do!"

"There are many righteous armies in this world." Liu Bosheng truly had a gift when it came to speaking of ideals and great undertakings. He addressed the crowd: "Each bears a different name — when together, you are called the Greenwood; when scattered, the Xin, Xiajiang, and so on."

"If you fight alone, you will surely be picked off one by one by the authorities. You must unite under a single banner — and that banner is the Restoration of Han!"

"Wang Mang is harsh and cruel. His throne was seized by usurpation; his decrees are chaotic, and he steadily loses the hearts of the people. The common folk sing and chant, longing for the House of Han — this has not been a matter of a single day. You gentlemen are in the south; surely you have seen and heard this too?"

It was true. As the days of the Xin Dynasty grew ever darker, the elders who had lived through the peace of the former dynasty, and the young people who gathered around campfires to hear their elders tell stories of bygone days, all found themselves, as if by unspoken accord, longing for the Han. The dynasty's wretched final years, once reviled, were now beautified by memory, as though the golden reigns of Wen and Jing had been the norm.

Liu Bosheng stirred them: "I have heard a saying: 'What the people resent, Heaven abandons; what the people long for, Heaven bestows.' To undertake a great cause, one must below follow the hearts of the people, and above accord with the will of Heaven — only then can great deeds be accomplished! If you rely solely on martial strength and act with reckless abandon, even if you win for a time, the moment you suffer defeat, years of toil — which began with gathering in the marshes — will likewise end with fleeing back into the marshes. That is the path to destruction."

From Wang Kuang to Zhu Wei and Zhang Ang, they all listened, stunned. This was the first time anyone had ever prodded them: do not be roving bandits — seize the realm!

Seeing their hearts stirred, Liu Bosheng pressed on. The ringing words spoken over two hundred years ago were just as potent today: "Are kings, lords, generals, and ministers born of a fixed seed?"

Though these words, coming from the mouth of a scion of the House of Han, had a very strange flavor, it did not matter — the men before him were too ignorant to have even heard this famous saying. They could only stare wide-eyed as Liu Bosheng urged them on: "If the great cause can be accomplished, if the Fiery Han is revived and the true Son of Heaven restored to his throne, will the beneficiaries be only us of the Liu surname? You gentlemen, too, will have rendered great service in the founding. When that time comes, could high office and wealth possibly elude you?"

Liu Bosheng's voice was deep and resonant, his bearing extraordinary. Even Liu Xiu, gazing at his elder brother's towering back, was filled with admiration. It was only thanks to having such a leader that they had been able to rally from a crushing defeat.

This speech set Wang Chang's and Ma Wu's hearts surging. Even Zhu Wei and Zhang Ang were somewhat moved. Only Wang Kuang still hesitated, his face stern as he said, "Fine words — but you have only just been defeated by the government troops, and yet you boast wildly of destroying the Xin. It's just like the village elder who buys a hen and then, in his dreams, trades the eggs for money, and so on and on, until at last he buys a great mansion!"

"If you gentlemen of Xiajiang can join forces with us, together with the the Xin and Pinglin armies, we will surely smash the government forces!"

It was Liu Xiu, who had remained silent all this while, who now spoke. He made a deep bow to Wang Kuang and the others and began to lay out his case.

"Though Yan You, Dou Rong, and the Forward Commandery Grand Governor Zhen Fu won a lucky victory at Little Chang'an, in truth, their defeat is already sealed."

Wang Kuang and the others asked in surprise, "How can you tell?"

Liu Xiu said, "First: Yan Erudite is reputed to be the best commander under heaven, but when I was in his army, I saw that he had to personally manage every matter, great or small — he would even review any flogging of fifty strokes or more. On top of that, he has not recovered from a grave illness, and has suddenly marched north. He can no longer rise from his bed, and his days are numbered. Meanwhile, Dou Rong and Zhen Fu are not under each other's command; orders come from two heads, and they will hardly get along smoothly. They must surely fear pressure from the court and want to end the campaign quickly — and so they have committed the fatal error of a reckless advance, heedless of the bitter cold."

That Yan You was gravely ill — Liu Xiu was guessing wildly and talking nonsense, aiming to dispel the Xiajiang men's doubts. Yet it turned out to be not far from the truth.

"Second: after their lucky victory, the government troops have grown arrogant and complacent. They massacred at Jiyang, ran amok in Xinye, defiled the ancestral home of our family's in-laws, the Deng clan, and burned their tomb mounds. The Deng clan had originally joined us only half-heartedly, but now, thousands of their sons and kinsmen have had family members harmed by the government troops. Every one of them gnashes his teeth, thirsting for revenge — their morale is utterly different from before. The same is true of the Chongling Liu, the Yin clan, and others. Seeing the government troops act this way, the notable families of Nanyang feel wounded for their own kind and refuse to cooperate with the authorities."

"Third: tens of thousands of government troops have marched south and are arrayed north of the Tang River. Their grain carts must come out from Wancheng. Government troops are always rigid in battle; they only want to press forward with massed force and fight us in formation. We can make full use of the Greenwood's strengths — split our forces, circle around through mountain paths, and raid their rear supply lines. Once their grain and fodder are cut off, their morale will surely collapse!"

This battle — though the Han troops and the Greenwood seemed to be on the defensive — offered them far more choices than that muddled fight at Little Chang'an! In particular, Liu Xiu's proposal to cut the enemy's grain supply won deep approval from Liu Bosheng. This younger brother, whom others saw as utterly unremarkable, had, after suffering a tremendous setback, begun to brush off the dust and show his talent and brilliance.

This was the brothers' constant pattern: Liu Bosheng was responsible for speaking of ideals, while Liu Xiu laid out reality. One held his head high, forever gazing into the distance; the other fixed his eyes on the ground, so that the Liu family could advance step by steady step.

Even without the Xiajiang troops' help, the Han soldiers would not necessarily have been defeated. If they gained a fresh force, the two sides' strength would balance out again — forty thousand against forty thousand.

After this speech, although Wang Kuang had not fully grasped it, the other party did indeed have a strategy against the enemy. Moreover, Liu Bosheng also promised to bring out the Chongling Liu clan's family reserves and stored grain to supply the Xiajiang troops with provisions, solving the hunger gnawing at the bellies of those twenty thousand men.

With Wang Chang and the others already inclined toward an alliance, the Greenwood leaders held a brief meeting and reached a consensus.

"The Liu Bosheng brothers are truly no ordinary men. If we can join forces with them, we shall surely achieve great success. This is Heaven's way of aiding the Greenwood!"

The great matter settled, Liu Bosheng laid out wine and celebrated with everyone. Liu Xiu, having breathed a sigh of relief, walked out of the tent and gazed north, silently murmuring to himself.

"Lihua, wait for me in Wancheng — I am coming to save you!"

In the middle of the twelfth month of the fourth year of Dihuang, just as the Han soldiers in the south were joining hands with the Xiajiang troops, on the banks of the Yellow River in Ji Province in the north, Diwu Lun was watching the river-guarding soldiers chisel through the ice.

"Three chi."

After measuring, a subordinate clerk reported to Diwu Lun: "My lord, this is dire. The ice along the bank has frozen a full three chi thick!"

Diwu Lun nodded, rubbing his hands, reddened from the cold. The bitter severity of this year's weather far exceeded expectations. The once-surging river water was slowly solidifying, turning into dirty ice chunks and icicles floating on the surface. Their flow slowed day by day; sooner or later, they would be utterly motionless, until even the surface at the deepest heart of the river was frozen solid.

Diwu Lun narrowed his eyes and gazed into the distance. On the opposite bank, it seemed someone was also testing the thickness of the river ice — the Red Eyebrow Army. Soon, the natural barrier that stood between Diwu Lun and that woman, the Red Eyebrow Chi Zhaoping, would vanish completely!

"It seems this battle cannot be avoided."

PS: Tomorrow's update at 13:00.