Chapter 210: Into This River

No one understands running for your life better than the Red Eyebrows.

Though many among them had fought in victories like the great triumph at Chengchang, far more often they were chased helter-skelter by the armies of the commanderies, the provinces, and the imperial court.

So they charged with reckless courage, and when the battle turned, they fled without a shred of hesitation. This offensive by the Red Eyebrow Army had aimed to smash into Hebei in one fierce surge, but now that the fighting had stalled, morale had crumbled, and their rear was even under attack — their spirit collapsed in an instant. The Red Eyebrows, who moments before had been a single clenched fist fighting to win and survive, began to scatter. The rear ranks, which had just been shoving the front forward, saw the tide turning and started retreating backward — then turned and fled at a dead sprint!

In stark contrast, the banner on Diwu Lun's war chariot, surrounded by the Seventh Biao and his other personal guards, with those "righteous volunteers" close behind, began to surge forward in a fierce counterattack.

As the heart and nerve of the army, he not only had to keep beating the war drums with an unflinching face amid enemy encirclement and flying arrows, but also had to sound the horn for the countercharge.

"Follow me — counterattack!"

As the banner passed through the militia ranks, Lu Zhongkang and the local militia, with their loose order and crude armor and weapons, were trading blows evenly with a comparable number of Red Eyebrows. Since both sides were amateurs pecking at each other, the tactical sophistication was abysmal and casualties were light. When the Red Eyebrows who had earlier surrounded Diwu Lun pulled back, they had incidentally torn a wide gap in the formation — had the entire battle not already tilted, it might have become a breakthrough point.

Now they eagerly followed Diwu Lun, their war cries thunderous.

"Drive the Red Eyebrows into the river!"

Next came the motley array of powerful clan forces. They could each hold their own ground, but when the counterattack came, they showed no interest in chasing the Red Eyebrow main body. Instead, they zealously set about capturing scattered Red Eyebrow stragglers — the powerful clans each had their own calculations. Diwu Lun had promised they could keep a share of prisoners after the battle as compensation, and many interpreted that as "catch as many as you can keep."

The commandery troops and the former Gengshi veterans, who had borne the brunt of an assault twice their number, were equally unenthusiastic. It was plain to see that both Chai Rong and Peng Chong wanted to conserve their strength as the battle drew to its close.

Finally, passing through the great central forward formation, there was Zang Nu with two thousand armored soldiers, who had fought on the very front line against the greatest mass of enemies. Bearing the onslaught of a foe five or even ten times their number, they had held for nearly an hour. It was precisely because they fought to the death without retreating that the battle had any hope of victory.

Though their armor was thick and their weapons keen, they could not withstand the enemy's relentless waves. Now, the fighting over, every man was drenched in blood, their casualty rate the highest in the entire army. Even those still alive, after an hour of shoving back and forth with the Red Eyebrows, had long since exhausted every ounce of strength. When that torrent receded just as it had come, most of the soldiers collapsed, sitting heavily on the ground — or even on enemy corpses — gasping for breath.

As Diwu Lun's war chariot passed by, weary as they were, they still propped themselves up on their spears to rise. Diwu Lun bowed to them with clasped hands.

"In this battle, you gentlemen have earned the highest merit. But we have yet to achieve total victory. You shall pursue the enemy to the left and right of the battlefield."

Diwu Lun had calculated carefully: if the Red Eyebrows were allowed to scatter wildly and ten or twenty thousand remained in Hebei, it would be tantamount to another Wulou bandit force — his jurisdiction would still suffer. They had to be driven across the river, every last one of them.

Looking at the scene before him, Diwu Lun felt a pang of regret. Had he possessed foreknowledge, he would never have detached his cavalry to Geng Chun and the other man.

With the allied forces all half-hearted, the pursuit had become the militia's show. Unlike the motley assortment nursing their own schemes, or the utterly exhausted main force, the militia were all cheering and roaring, surging forward valiantly behind Diwu Lun. With several thousand righteous volunteers clamoring at the rear, the sheer noise was at least impressive. Diwu Lun saw that these men's hearts could be put to use — when the time came to expand the army, they would be a potential source of recruits.

Had the Red Eyebrows had anyone to organize a counterattack at that moment, they would likely have suffered a severe mauling. But in the chaos of a rout, every man thought only of racing to escape, and their directions were wildly scattered. It was precisely this that spared Ma Yuan, fighting on the riverbank, from being overrun by tens of thousands of routed soldiers.

Chi Zhaoping's trusted followers tangled with Ma Yuan, and the great cart bearing the female canal chief began to withdraw as well, heading for the ice-bound great river. Only the masked woman on top, still waving the banner, kept her eyes fixed westward through the holes of her mask — fixed on the direction of Yuancheng, seething with bitter hatred.

"Just like last time — missed by a hair!"

By the time Diwu Lun and his men fought their way to the riverbank and linked up with Ma Yuan, most of the Red Eyebrows had already descended onto the riverbed, crowding the ice-covered river that stretched for over a dozen li — like swarms of tiny ants upon a crystalline mirror.

Those who had fled early were already crossing to the far bank; the slower ones still lingered on this side, frantic with impatience.

Perhaps from being trampled by too many feet today, perhaps from the sheer crush on the ice — suddenly, the mirror split with a violent crack, as if the spring thaw had come early. The shattering of the ice, mingled with the panicked cries of the Red Eyebrow Army, resounded along both banks!

That enormous fissure, like the gaping maw of some giant Yellow River fish, swallowed over a thousand people in an instant. They plunged despairingly into the bone-chilling water, struggling to grasp floating shards of ice, or crying out to their comrades and countrymen on the shore. But the rest of the Red Eyebrows merely skirted the crack in haste, detouring over ice that was still intact.

With that, the Red Eyebrows' order collapsed even further. It was at this moment that Diwu Lun led his troops charging down the riverbank, striking their rear — causing even more men to scramble over one another, and several more sections of ice to crack under the trampling.

Even Diwu Lun was deeply shaken by the sight. He gave his men only one order: "When surrounding a city, leave one side open. A cornered beast fights to the death — do not press them too hard."

Diwu Lun strove to rein in the militia, who were drunk on the thrill of battle, keeping them just far enough to hang on the enemy's heels, using ranged weapons to pick off the rearmost of the bandits.

Give men a sliver of hope for escape, and they will fight each other to squeeze toward it — but they will be utterly incapable of uniting to counterattack.

Ma Yuan, however, kept his eyes locked dead on Chi Zhaoping. Her cart had also been blocked by a splitting ice crevasse. The masked woman aboard and a retinue of maidservants dressed like her had no choice but to dismount and proceed on foot. Seeing that escape was impossible for the moment, she tried to rally the Red Eyebrows for a counterattack. Though they were already scattered sand that could not be molded back into a ball, she still managed to gather several thousand men to fight with their backs to the river.

Diwu Lun was in no hurry. He simply ordered his men to abandon the pursuit of the other Red Eyebrows — after crossing that perilous ice, they scarcely had the courage to cross back. With victory now assured, it was better to exercise some caution.

As expected, the Red Eyebrows trapped on the north bank lost patience first and launched an attack on their own initiative. This time, the Seventh Biao rotated from the rear to the front, engaging the desperate Red Eyebrows in a bitter melee — several thousand men locked in slaughter. Diwu Lun directed the battle with composure; spurred by orders, banners, and drumbeats, Ma Yuan also led his troops into the fray, smashing the Red Eyebrows' left wing in a single charge.

The Red Eyebrows were now in utter chaos. Seeing no hope of breaking out, many chose to surrender — kneeling by the river, prostrating themselves, weeping and wailing, cursing heaven and earth, begging for mercy. Even more had no strength left to open their mouths; they simply threw down their weapons, lay down in resignation, and waited to be taken captive.

Most of them were men of Yanzhou who had followed Chi Zhaoping into Hebei. The vast majority had come only for a mouthful of food, just to stay alive. And spreading across both banks along with tales of Hebei's wealth was the reputation of Diwu Lun's benevolence and kindness — they had heard that when he captured the Wulou bandits, he only executed one in ten and let the other nine go free!

As long as they were given something to eat, they didn't care if they ended up as tenant farmers or even slaves again after being captured.

But there were also those of unyielding spirit who would rather die than suffer disgrace. Over a thousand of these clustered around Chi Zhaoping, watching the Wei troops press closer and closer, leaving them not a moment's breathing room — their eyes filled with despair.

Just then, a mournful song, sung by women's voices, rose in waves from the Red Eyebrows' very rear.

"Tell the River Lord for me — why so merciless? The flooding never ceases, grieving us mortals."

"Mulberries float away, the Huai and Si overflow — long gone from home, the waters' bonds slacken slow."

"The river surges wide, rapids swirl and churn — to cross back north, through floodwaters hard to turn."

These were lines from Emperor Wu of Han's "Song of the Gourd Mouth," widely known on both banks. The common folk had altered them into a lament for the terror of the Yellow River's floods, an outcry against the gods' cruelty.

Yet they also held the hope that one day the great river might return to calm, and torment them no more…

Since popular rumor held that the breach was left unsealed solely to protect the imperial ancestral tombs at Yuancheng, perhaps if those tombs were dug up and burned, the River Lord's wrath might be appeased? But now, even that desperate hope was shattered.

Diwu Lun sighed as he listened. Those who are hateful always have their pitiable side. He ordered his men to call out loudly, offering surrender:

"If you are willing to yield…"

But not a single one among that thousand-strong band wavered. Instead, they followed Chi Zhaoping in a furious shout: "We will not yield! A fish that has tasted freedom — how could it willingly swim back into the net, or stretch its body across the chopping block?!"

Chi Zhaoping turned her head. She had transformed from a weak woman, bullied and abused, into one of the three great chieftains of the Red Eyebrows, commanding sixty or seventy thousand men, free to go anywhere under heaven. Yet in the end, haunted by that obsession, it seemed she would go no further than this.

Even in deep winter, the river's waters still rushed endlessly beneath the ice. Its old course had entered the sea at Bohai Commandery in You Province, but this was its new channel, not yet fully settled — every year it twisted and turned, passing through Shouliang, and finally emptying into the sea from Chi Zhaoping's homeland: Pingyuan Commandery.

This accursed great river — vast and mighty, heartless and unfeeling, making people love her and hate her in equal measure. Her moisture nourished the people on both banks, yet her fury had destroyed the livelihoods and families of countless souls.

And in the end, she was still going to return to it.

"Chi Zhaoping cannot lead you all to destroy Yuancheng and pacify the great river."

"I can only fill it — with flesh and blood!"

Chi Zhaoping removed her mask and left it on the bank. Then, like the bird Jingwei trying to fill the sea, she clasped a stone to her breast, leaped into the air, and plunged into the ice-choked great river — vanishing from sight in an instant!

This was the fastest way back to her old home in Pingyuan Commandery, back to the side of her husband and child, who had died in the river's floods.

The several dozen orphan girls she had taken under her wing followed right behind her — every one of them threw herself into the current!

As if Tian Heng's five hundred martyrs had returned, the last thousand-odd Red Eyebrow soldiers trapped on the bank followed suit, one after another — like a horde of lemmings rushing to their deaths.

The tens of thousands of Red Eyebrow routed soldiers who had reached the south bank, blocked by the ice's complete collapse from coming to the rescue, could only watch this scene, weeping in anguish, beating their chests and stamping their feet. Some even regretted their own cowardice moments before.

Unreconciled, they clamored for a long while from the south bank. But without their great leader, and with their bellies empty, their strength soon ebbed. One after another, they dispersed behind their respective canal chiefs, vanishing to destinations unknown.

Perhaps they would go east to follow in Fan Chong's footsteps; perhaps south to throw in their lot with Dong Xian; or perhaps they would become scattered bands of bandits across the countryside. In any case, they would not be coming to Hebei to look for trouble again.

Having witnessed such a scene, the soldiers and militiamen who moments before had been drunk on slaughter, eager to beat a drowning dog, now leaned on their spears, their hearts a tangle of complex emotions. This had been a struggle for the right to survive — a knot that could not be untied, where only one side could emerge victorious.

But they were human after all, and seeing their own kind suffer still stirred a shared grief — they could not truly feel good about it. Fortunately, everyone was long accustomed to death, and they dispersed one after another, beginning to clear the battlefield, collect spoils of war, and gather the captured Red Eyebrows prisoners together. In the end, the captives would likely number over ten thousand.

Only Diwu Lun stood by the riverbank, lingering long without leaving. He had been so shaken by the scene just moments before that he remained speechless for a long while.

He now understood what the history books meant by "the river's waters ceased to flow" — he had seen exactly what that looked like.

In this single battle, the Red Eyebrows lost several thousand dead in combat, and several thousand more perished in the river. Some drowned, some froze to death, their bodies caught by the ice and left lying upon the river's surface. Perhaps the next heavy snowfall, with temperatures plunging sharply, would freeze them into solid ice sculptures, and only when spring came and the snow melted would they drift with the current into the sea.

From New Qinzhong to Wei lands, from the upper reaches to the lower, Diwu Lun had witnessed too many wars along this mother river, seen too many stories.

He knew that the ballads of Chi Zhaoping and her people had not yet been sung to their end.

"Fell the forest bamboo, drive the stone weirs — seal the breach, block the flood, and ten thousand blessings shall come!"

Facing the thousands of dead souls buried in the river, Diwu Lun bowed to them with clasped hands. In his heart, he made a silent resolve and took upon himself a task so difficult it was like climbing to heaven — a task even Wang Mang had fled from.

"One day, this Yellow River..."

"... shall be tamed by me!"

……

PS: Chapter 2 at 13:00, Chapter 3 at 18:00.