Chapter 486: Decency

"The Red Eyebrow bandits are coming!"

Xiang Ziping was searching for malt sugar in the Zhaoge market when word came that a Red Eyebrow force was passing along the eastern bank of the Qi River.

In Henei, which had long known peace amid the chaos, everyone suddenly felt imperiled. Countless carts, horses, and crowds of people surged toward Zhaoge County town. The small county had too few defenders and could only shut its gates.

Xiang Ziping, however, rushed out against the tide of people just before the main gate closed.

The ferry crossing by the Qi River was deserted; even the county soldiers had withdrawn. If the Red Eyebrow Army meant to head west, Zhaoge County could do nothing to stop them and could only pin its hopes on the commandery troops further west.

Fortunately, this Red Eyebrow band was sweeping from south to north, its target aimed straight at Yecheng!

Xiang Ziping thus barely brushed past their tail. He felt that the oxcart the Red Eyebrow Army was driving looked exactly like his own family's old ox. The cart was loaded with grain, and one sack had split, spilling rice all along the road.

By the time Xiang Ziping returned to the hamlet gate, battered and bruised from falls, it was a great relief that the Red Eyebrows had not burned the place to ruins, nor were corpses strewn everywhere. The village's old farmers, their faces full of ill fortune, were gathered at the village entrance. When someone said that Xiang Shaoping had come back, they all turned their heads in unison to look at him.

"Lord Ziping." They did not know how to begin. It was a foul-smelling child who wriggled out of the crowd, threw his arms around Xiang Ziping, and wept uncontrollably.

It was his little nephew, who had lost both parents and lived with the Xiang family. From the look of him, had he fallen into a manure pit?

"It's a blessing he's so lucky to be alive."

A farmer told Xiang Zhang: "This little brat... this little gentleman has nerve, daring to fling dung at the invading Red Eyebrow bandits!"

Xiang Ziping was stunned. His little nephew only stammered: "I took them for ghosts. Ghosts fear filth, so I..."

It turned out that a Red Eyebrow Attendant Officer, his face smeared with pig dung, had kicked the little nephew into the manure pit in a rage.

But the very next moment, the Red Eyebrow Attendant Officer had someone reach out a pole and haul him up, then laughed and cursed: "You little brat, you've got good arm strength. Grow a few more years and you could come serve at my side as a stone slinger."

Because the Red Eyebrows had no logistics supply, their bows and crossbows often ran out of arrows. So they organized a special corps of soldiers — former cowherds and swineherds — who used leather slings to hurl stones as a ranged weapon.

Yet the Attendant Officer did not let the little nephew off so easily. He had him tied up and dumped beside the manure pit, and only after the Red Eyebrows had left was he rescued by the hamlet folk.

Xiang Ziping, not minding the stench, used his sleeve to wipe the filth from his nephew's face. Seeing that the boy's life was not in danger, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed the Red Eyebrows were indeed not the utterly vicious and evil fiends the court and officials falsely claimed. They were men, not ghosts. This band of refugees from strange lands, though they seized grain and clothing, still had a core of decency and did not take lives.

But when Xiang Ziping raised his head, he saw the hamlet crowd still staring fixedly at him. Many seemed to want to speak but held back, which made him increasingly uneasy.

"Lord Ziping." At last someone spoke to Xiang Ziping:

"You had best go back and see."

"Your elder brother — something has happened!"

Though the hamlet had seemed intact when viewed from a distance, walking in along the lane revealed it was not so. The Red Eyebrows had kicked in nearly every door. All the local dogs that dared bark wildly at them met a sorry end and became dog-meat feasts for the Red Eyebrow Army.

Every household had also been plundered. It was said that Red Eyebrow soldiers rushed in, three to five men at a time, heading straight for the granaries with practiced skill.

So long as the master of the house did not resist and let them take what they would, the Red Eyebrows did not make trouble, nor did they seize anyone. But if one could not bear to part with worldly goods and came out to stop them, one would be given a severe beating.

Passing a neighbor's house, Xiang Ziping saw that farmer who toiled diligently from year's start to year's end just to grow a bit more grain to feed his family of seven. He had been beaten black and blue and now sat slumped on the ground, wailing at the sky.

"That was the whole family's food for the first half of the year! What will we eat from now on? Green rice balls? Tree bark? How can we endure?"

He stretched out his arms, not knowing to whom he should cry out his grievance — the Red Eyebrows, the officials, Heaven, the Emperor?

"I told you not to go out, but you insisted." His mother wept too, yet she did not blame the Red Eyebrows; instead, she reproached her son: "You angered the Red Eyebrows. They would have left us some rations and seed grain. Now, just as well — they've taken everything."

"I won't go on living! I won't go on living either!"

"Since we'll starve to death anyway, they might as well have killed me!" The honest man, berated by his mother, grew frantic. A savage madness twisted his face — an expression Xiang Ziping had never before seen on this simple, sincere fellow. He snatched up the household firewood hatchet and made to rush out. To chase the Red Eyebrows and fight to the death? Or to join them and become a new Red Eyebrow?!

And when Xiang Ziping stepped into his own family's dwelling, his expression was no better.

As the tithing chief and one of the wealthiest households in the hamlet, the Xiang home was a prime target for the Red Eyebrow Army's plundering. The courtyard his sister-in-law labored every day to keep tidy was now a wreck. The chickens in the coop — which his elder brother would only bear to slaughter one of on festival days — had been carried off to the last, leaving only a floor of feathers. The granary door gaped wide open.

But Xiang Ziping's gaze was drawn to the pool of blood in the courtyard. Following the sound of sobbing, tracing the bloodstains and the chaotic footprints into the inner room, he saw his sister-in-law and his nephews and nieces gathered around his elder brother.

One of Xiang the Tithing Chief's legs had been brutally broken by the Red Eyebrows, and one arm was also snapped. Worse still, on his forehead the Red Eyebrows had used a knife to carve two bloody gashes — "red eyebrows"!

Though neighbors in the hamlet had helped tend him and a village herbalist had applied medicine, he was still barely clinging to life. When Xiang the Tithing Chief saw his younger brother, face ashen, drop to his knees before him with a thud, he forced a grin and said:

"Why do you stink so?"

Xiang Ziping hurriedly recounted how their little nephew had narrowly survived.

"One might say the Red Eyebrows have a bit of decency," Xiang the Tithing Chief said. Yet the wounds on his own body showed that the Red Eyebrows' decency was selective. They had not stooped to killing children, but toward the wealthy they showed no mercy at all.

"The malt sugar — did you buy it?"

It had long since been lost somewhere. Xiang Ziping could not stop his tears. If he had not gone to buy malt sugar, would things have turned out differently? Perhaps he could have reasoned with the Red Eyebrow Army. They were not ghosts; they were living men who could understand human speech. In the past, they had been no different from the hamlet's poor folk — simple, honest, and sincere. It was only natural disasters, man-made calamities, and hunger that had driven them to wander and forced them to survive by plunder.

Xiang the Tithing Chief, however, cared nothing for such thoughts. He only said with regret: "No matter. Neither you nor I have been good elders. The grain hidden beneath the bricks in the storehouse — they took it after all."

It turned out his leg had been broken because he had tried his luck when the Red Eyebrows pressed him about the grain.

And his arm? His arm was broken because, after seizing the grain, the Red Eyebrows thought the amount too small and were sure he was hiding more. That was how they had scraped out the last five dan of rice. As they left, they tossed out a remark:

"Ah, our mistake. We've never seen a hamlet chief as poor as you."

Xiang the Tithing Chief was now on the verge of death, yet he still spoke of trivial daily necessities. He looked at his younger brother with worry, as if fearing that once he was gone, this family would be finished.

"Ziping, I won't be able to brew the pepper wine I promised you."

These words filled Xiang Ziping with shame. He had seen the realm descending into chaos and had listened to Fu Zhan lecture on the teachings of Laozi in the commandery. Feeling he had attained great enlightenment, he had grown inclined to withdraw from the world.

Yet he lacked the courage to truly live as a hermit in the mountains and forests. So, under the pretext of "hiding in the marketplace," he had simply idled at home, doing nothing.

Though his elder brother scolded him, he still sheltered him like a child.

Xiang Ziping therefore bowed his head to the ground and said: "Governor Feng once summoned me to office. I will take up a post. Even if I start as a petty clerk drawing a dou of grain, earning only a few dan of rice a month, I can still support the whole family. There will even be a little left over to brew spring wine, add pepper blossoms, and drink together with you, Elder Brother."

Only then did the worried furrow in Xiang the Tithing Chief's brow relax slightly, as if he were suddenly set at ease. The breath he had been holding on to all this time dispersed, and very soon he passed away, leaving only the wails of the widow and orphans.

With pepper and cypress wine, the youngest gains a year and is toasted first in celebration; the eldest loses a year and drinks last. Who could have known this would be the last year his elder brother would lose — and that what he drank was not wine, but water.

Xiang Ziping stumbled out the door, utterly lost.

So, should he thank the Red Eyebrows for their momentary decency in sparing his nephew, or hate them for their ruthless cruelty in killing his elder brother? If they were truly evil ghosts, it would be one thing. But they were men — the Red Eyebrows were men too. No one was a ghost. Why, then, must it be a fight to the death?

The entire hamlet was sunk in grief and pain. There were the agonized cries of wealthy and middling households who had resisted the Red Eyebrows and been beaten or maimed, and the head-clutching sobs of those whose grain had been completely plundered. No one gloated. The seventh day of the first month, which ought to have been a day of joy and cheer, was instead so bleak and wretched.

Fan Chong did not know where his happy land, his happy domain, might lie. But for the hundred-odd households of Xiangshi Hamlet, Qidong Township, Zhaoge County, Henei Commandery — for Xiang the Tithing Chief, for Xiang Ziping — this tiny corner of home was their "happy land."

The days, though bitter and toilsome, were stable. Oppression and exploitation certainly existed, but not to the point where life became unlivable.

The war that swept the realm had never reached this place; everyone lived out their lives amid trivialities and penny-pinching.

"But now, our blessed land — it's gone."

Xiang Ziping knelt inside the ransacked granary, covering his face and weeping bitterly. He was the only man left in the family; he could no longer laugh and curse freely or weep openly wherever he pleased as he had before. Only when his own interests were at stake could he set aside that "recluse's" compassion and let fury fill his heart, no longer dwelling on the complicated question of "man or demon."

"Red Eyebrow bandits." This was the first time Xiang Ziping used that name, thick with loathing.

"Why don't you all just go and die?"

……

On that same day, the seventh of the first month, after receiving Pi Tong's most urgent plea for aid, Ma Yuan convened a war council at the Chenliu encampment.

"Since the third of the first month, the Red Eyebrow bandits have turned into roving raiders, crossing the frozen river into Wei Commandery and Henei. All along the way they bypass the county seats, plundering the countryside. The Red Eyebrows aren't stopping — they're pressing north with single-minded intent. Judging by the momentum, they're heading straight for Yecheng."

Zheng Tong was visibly agitated. Many of his subordinates were men of Wei Commandery; with their homeland now under attack, how could they sit still?

But Ma Yuan was quietly studying the terrain map, his gaze shifting back and forth among the troop markers representing the Wei army and the Red Eyebrows.

Ma Yuan had spent a long time in Wei Commandery himself — how could he be indifferent? Pi Tong guessed he meant to use Yecheng as bait to fish once more, but that underestimated Ma Yuan. This sort of thing — letting the enemy deep into the rear to savage his own people — he would neither do nor stoop to do.

The truth was his forces were limited. The twenty thousand Red Eyebrows captured at Aocang had instead become a burden. In a moment of soft-heartedness, Ma Yuan had not drowned them in the river, merely sending them to the rear at Luoyang to be held under separate guard — which in turn tied down at least five thousand troops.

This left Ma Yuan with no spare strength to stop the Red Eyebrows from crossing the river. And this cursed weather had frozen the great river solid. The Red Eyebrows were using the same tactics as Cheng Touzilu — roving raiders. They were no longer tens of thousands of men in formed units, but tens of thousands of wild pigs. Easy to catch?

So over the past month and more, Ma Yuan had focused mainly on consolidating Chenliu, while in his mind he was laying out a grand strategy.

It was like two men playing chess. Before Ma Yuan could make his move, the Red Eyebrows had moved first — but was it really as simple as it looked on the surface?

Ma Yuan made his bold prediction.

"Where there is weakness, make a show of strength; where there is strength, make a show of weakness. The Red Eyebrow leaders don't read books, but their use of troops is not poor — especially that Cheng Touzilu!"

"The Red Eyebrows' strike at Yecheng is a feint, because that stronghold simply cannot be taken! If all the Red Eyebrows go north, it's a dead end."

Scouts from the front had also sent back word: the Red Eyebrows had indeed not all gone north. As expected, a large body of bandits still remained in Dong Commandery.

"The purpose is to lure me into rushing back to the rescue, so as to leave Chenliu empty and let their main force once more seize the chance to push west... Ha. I refuse to fall for the Red Eyebrows' ploy. Better to move the main army east along the river's south bank, smash the Red Eyebrow main force, and at the same time cut off the river crossings — so that the Red Eyebrow troops who went north of the river go but never return!"

Just as he reached this point and Zhang Zong and Zheng Tong were about to praise "the General's brilliant insight," Ma Yuan stopped. He stroked his fine beard and pondered, his brow deeply furrowed. No, something still didn't add up.

Only after a long while did Ma Yuan suddenly see the light.

"Cleverly calculated!"

"This is an open stratagem. It's not that the Red Eyebrows don't know I would move along the great river's south bank to strike their main force — they anticipated it long ago, chose their battlefield, and are waiting for me to arrive!"

Ma Yuan lifted his own army marker, his gaze fixing on Dingtao, several hundred li east of Chenliu. Currently held by the Red Eyebrows, it was the node connecting the three Red Eyebrow forces in Dong Commandery, Yan Province, and Yu Province.

As it happened, this Red Eyebrow disposition gave the plan taking shape in Ma Yuan's mind — a single battle to decide everything — a chance to be realized!

But before he could place his piece, Zhang Zong urged again: "That being the case, might I suggest the General hold Chenliu and resist the Red Eyebrow main army, while this subordinate and General Gai Yan take light troops back to relieve Henei."

Ma Yuan glanced at the Tiger Might General. "Gentlemen, when you once crossed the river on short poles to strike the Greenwood, how heroic and bold you were."

"Why so cautious today?"

Why? Zhang Zong, deeply worried, decided to speak plainly: "Yecheng, though not within the General's defense zone nor under the jurisdiction of the Capital Region, is nonetheless the Northern Capital, the place where His Majesty rose like a dragon. It absolutely must not be lost."

In his view, although the Red Eyebrows' incursion into Hebei was an "accidental" result of a chain of events — the You Province rebellion, the extreme cold freezing the river solid — Ma Yuan had long foreseen the Red Eyebrows' movements, yet had only warned Hebei to be on guard without taking active defensive measures to prevent this. If the worst happened and an inquiry was held afterward, there might still be fault to assign. He must not let anyone pin the label "nurturing bandits to bolster one's own importance" on him.

Ma Yuan heard the worry in his words. "This campaign must take the complete annihilation of the Red Eyebrows and the end of the great war in the Central Plains as its mission, not obsess over keeping a single commandery intact. As it is said: in war there is advantage, and in war there is peril. Seize the greater gain and let go the lesser. Thus, there are roads one does not take, armies one does not strike, and ground one does not contest!"

"My military plan was sent by courier to the Western Capital early in the first month. I am only waiting for His Majesty's reply. By the speed of the post riders, it should arrive back within a day or two."

This operation truly carried enormous stakes; no one could tell what consequences it would bring. Ma Yuan understood the gravity and did not presume to act on the maxim "a general in the field may refuse his sovereign's orders." He placed the choice in Diwu Lun's hands: "Let us see whether His Majesty will permit me to go north and relieve Yecheng."

Zhang Zong and the others, having no alternative, withdrew for the moment to feed the horses and sharpen the weapons, ready to march at any time — only the direction was not yet finally decided.

It was not until late at night on the seventh that the post rider from the Western Capital, braving frost and snow, reached Chenliu city.

"An edict from His Majesty."

Ma Yuan immediately received the edict, only to see the opening lines written with evident regret:

"Wenyuan's letter I have already read. My heart is anxious over affairs in the east. I came in person to Hongnong and was shocked to learn that the bandits have crossed the river. The people of Wei Commandery and Henei are about to suffer the calamity of the Red Eyebrows. I grieve deeply for them..."

Judging by the tone, they were to relieve Yecheng. Zhang Zong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Indeed, since rising in the world, he too had grown somewhat conservative and sluggish — but this was also safer!

But when Ma Yuan unrolled the entire scroll, he saw the text continue below:

"Yet war is the ground of life and death, the Dao of survival and destruction. There are those who suffer defeat first and triumph later; there are those who lose first and gain later. It cannot be measured by momentary gains and losses. That the great river froze solid and the Red Eyebrows crossed north was no man's fault, but a calamity sent by Heaven. On the day Wenyuan took the field, I bestowed upon the General the axe and battle-axe, saying: from this point up to the heavens, the General shall command; from this point down to the abyss, the General shall command."

"The strategy at the front still lies between heaven and abyss! Let the General decide it himself!"

In plain terms, it was a single sentence: "Take the destruction of the enemy's effective strength as the primary objective; do not contest the gain or loss of a single city or patch of ground!"

Ma Yuan was thoroughly satisfied. "His Majesty's breadth of vision is great indeed — worthy of one skilled in commanding commanders!"

Zhang Zong was won over as well. Since the Emperor had consented, Ma Yuan's plan was well worth attempting. Still, he could not set his mind at ease: "But the Wei territory..."

Ma Yuan stuffed the edict into his hands. At the very end were a few more of Diwu Lun's long-winded injunctions: "No need to worry. Pi Tong guards Yecheng. Dou Rong has already gone north. Geng Chun will move south. And most importantly — there is still His Majesty."

"His Majesty, as soon as the new year was over, immediately journeyed east, swearing to exterminate these fiends. He is now near Luoyang and within days will personally lead tens of thousands of reinforcements from Guanzhong to Henei, to rescue the captive people of Wei and avenge the wrongful slaughter of the innocent!"