Chapter 487: Turbid Current

At this moment, the assembled officials of Henei were nothing like the unflappable Ma Yuan; instead, they were mired in confusion and anxiety.

Upon learning that the Red Eyebrows had crossed north, Colonel Director of the Retainers Dou Rong immediately arrived at Huai County and summoned Henei Governor Feng Qin and the Western Commandant to confer — as for the Henei Eastern Commandant, he was already in Zhaoge County frantically organizing defenses.

The commandery Bandit Section Head had just rushed back from the front and reported: "The Red Eyebrows are raiding mainly Zhaoge and Dangyin counties. This humble official can guarantee that west of the Qi River, there is not a single Red Eyebrow!"

But his claim was quickly slapped down; an urgent dispatch immediately entered the headquarters: "Report! Red Eyebrow bandits are on the loose within Ji County — they have sent a man to beg for urgent aid!"

The Bandit Section Head's face flushed the color of pig's liver, and he stammered, not daring to speak again.

After shouting "the wolf is coming" hundreds of times, now that the wolf had truly come, Henei discovered it had not prepared itself. Ever since Ma Yuan won his great victory at Aocang, the officials and officers of Henei had all thought the Red Eyebrows were nothing to worry about — who would have guessed they would surge all the way to the opposite bank in one go!

Reports were still utterly chaotic. How many Red Eyebrows had now crossed the river, no one knew; all they knew was that the Red Eyebrows' general direction was toward Yecheng. The Wei Commandery Governor Pi Tong had already sent his third batch of urgent dispatches pleading for help.

The Western Commandant, however, urged Dou Rong: "Lord Dou, in this humble officer's view, Henei's troops are not that numerous. We cannot empty Henei just because we are busy rescuing Yecheng."

Henei Governor Feng Qin flew into a rage upon hearing this: "Western Commandant, are you suggesting we sit on the fence and watch our neighbor's house burn without lifting a hand?"

When allies are in trouble, remaining as immovable as a mountain — this too was a time-honored art, but the Western Commandant dared not say so openly. He merely said that their duty was to safeguard the land and waters of Henei, and that was the prudent course.

"Though Wei is the Governor's homeland, you absolutely must not let personal concern throw us into disarray. What if this is a Red Eyebrow ploy to lure the Henei army out, and then they wheel around and strike?"

How could Feng Qin not be anxious? The Red Eyebrows had crossed the river north to plunder Wei Commandery, and his family's home in Fanyang County was the first in the line of fire. No matter which Red Eyebrow band it was, what they hated most were wealthy households. The Fanyang Feng clan had mainly passed down its heritage through poetry and books; it had no great fortified manor. If the Red Eyebrow bandits came crashing through, how could that possibly end well?

Seeing that even Feng Qin was too emotionally entangled to think clearly, Dou Rong coughed and then reassured everyone: "The situation in Henei and Wei Commandery is far less perilous than you gentlemen imagine."

"Although the Red Eyebrows have plundered several places, they have not taken a single county seat. Over the past year, His Majesty ordered us to rigorously implement the baojia system and establish militia and volunteer forces, and this has been quite effective. For now, let us mobilize the militia of every county, each defending its own village and district. That way, the commandery troops will not be tied down to city defense and can advance to the banks of the Qi River."

Dou Rong said: "Let us first mass our troops at Zhaoge County and assess the situation. If Yecheng is in critical danger and the Ji Province troops cannot arrive for a while, then even if I must fight outnumbered, I will have no choice but to go in person to rescue it and safeguard the Northern Capital. If it is not urgent, then we shall await His Majesty's edict…"

He especially assigned Feng Qin a great many tasks. Only by keeping him busy with war preparations would Feng Qin stop fretting day and night about his home clan.

Fortunately, after only two days, on the tenth day of the first month, Diwu Lun's imperial carriage had already reached Henei.

"So swiftly?"

Dou Rong was both astonished and overjoyed. The Emperor had set out east right after the New Year and arrived in under ten days, averaging a hundred li a day — that was practically the speed of a forced march that would exhaust even a top general…

But Dou Rong knew why the Emperor had hurried so: to calm people's hearts!

The originally restless and anxious people of Henei, upon learning that the Son of Heaven had arrived, all felt their spirits lift. Even Feng Qin no longer brooded with worry. A single thought arose in everyone's mind.

"This war — it's as good as won!"

…

Diwu Lun had traveled to and from Henei many times, but never before had he received such a heartfelt welcome from the local magnates and nobles.

"Your Majesty is like timely sweet rain, relieving Henei of its hardship!"

Seeing the fervent look in their eyes as they prostrated themselves by the riverbank — had it been within their power, they probably would have staged another "white fish" incident and presented Diwu Lun with a multicolored fish.

In the eyes of the Henei people, Diwu Lun this time was truly like timely rain. The Emperor was campaigning in person, which naturally meant he was surrounded by a great host; the Red Eyebrows surely would not have the nerve to push deep westward.

But as far as Dou Rong knew, the troops who had raced a hundred li a day alongside Diwu Lun amounted to a mere single brigade, and they had finished crossing the river in half a shichen. Although, as the central army guarding the Emperor, their armor and weapons were quite fine, they had covered a thousand li in nine days, and their faces all bore the marks of wind, frost, and exhaustion — they could not possibly be thrown directly into battle.

As for the troops that crossed the river in the following days, they were mostly recruits provided by the various noble houses of Luoyang, but it was Zhang Zong who had raised them on Ma Yuan's orders, waiting only for Diwu Lun's arrival. This was a gift the old man had sent of his own accord; it could not be counted as Diwu Lun intercepting them.

Diwu Lun saw through Dou Rong's thoughts at a glance: "the Duke of Zhou, could it be you resent that they are too few?"

Dou Rong hurriedly said: "I dare not. Your Majesty is brilliant and divinely martial; one man is worth a million troops."

Diwu Lun, however, did not swallow this flattery and merely laughed: "By that reasoning, the Duke of Zhou's command of troops is equal to mine. With you and I together, that makes two million. What hope of victory would the Red Eyebrows have?"

This so frightened Dou Rong that he bowed again: "Your servant has suffered defeat after defeat and has lost even the courage to lead troops. How dare I compare myself to Your Majesty's record of a hundred battles and a hundred victories!"

True enough — if one really counted, he had commanded the Hebei campaign and been present for the decisive battle in Longyou; Diwu Lun truly was undefeated in a hundred battles.

Dou Rong, by contrast, had now turned his unlucky persona of being "good at losing" into a treasured asset. The old talk of his military command being equal to Diwu Lun's had become a bygone tale of the former dynasty, and he was desperately trying to recast himself as a civil official. With such a tactful attitude, he might even manage to become Chancellor someday.

Diwu Lun's arrival gave Henei, and indeed all the frontline commanderies, a great reassurance. But the main force of the entire army was still crawling through the mountain roads of Xiao and Han at thirty li a day; it would be impressive if they reached Henei within half a month. To deal with the Red Eyebrows "besieging" Yecheng, they would still have to rely on nearby resources.

Diwu Lun asked Dou Rong: "Someone proposed to me that we have Gai Yan take the Yuyang shock cavalry, cross the river north, and sweep through the Red Eyebrows. What do you think?"

The suggestion sounded flawless on the surface. The Red Eyebrows were roving bands, split into many squads crisscrossing the great plain. Cavalry could exploit their speed advantage and defeat these ragtag mobs one by one!

But Dou Rong fell into deep thought. When Diwu Lun pressed him again, he spoke the truth: "Your servant was pondering — which would cause greater harm to Henei and Wei Commandery, three thousand Yuyang shock cavalry or tens of thousands of Red Eyebrows?"

Well said! Diwu Lun had been worrying about exactly this. The discipline of the Yuyang shock cavalry had been all too evident during the Hebei campaign. He had heard that this time the Red Eyebrows were mainly plundering grain, and after overrunning villages they had not engaged in mass slaughter. But the Yuyang shock cavalry was different. In peacetime, military discipline still restrained them, but once they were unleashed to pursue the Red Eyebrows, they would be three thousand wild dogs off the leash. The civilians the shock cavalry "accidentally killed" might well outnumber those the Red Eyebrows had done to death.

The You Province shock cavalry, like Wu Han, was a double-edged sword. Moreover, they were far away in Chenliu — better to leave them for Ma Yuan to expend in major campaigns.

"Aside from the commandery troops of Luoyang and Henei, we must still rely on the militia and volunteer forces."

After arriving at Huai County, Diwu Lun had Dou Rong and Feng Qin explain the state of Henei's baojia system. The two had worked well together; the baojia system had been extended to every township, which was equivalent to rebuilding the tithing system of the Qin and early Han, and in the process they had also roughly reviewed the household registers.

With the Red Eyebrows posing such a great threat, the local strongmen were also quite supportive. They too offered up their clan troops, and most were willing to hand command authority over to the commandery and counties.

"According to reliable intelligence, the Red Eyebrows who have moved north this time are the Cheng Tou Zi Lu division."

Diwu Lun said: "This bandit's method of warfare has four characteristics."

"First, he likes to break the whole into parts, scattering his troops to advance at double speed by separate routes. He avoids large cities and instead moves exclusively through the countryside, which makes it easy to forage for food, and the poor are easily deluded into joining him."

"Second, his tactics are flexible. He makes heavy use of decoy troops to confuse our eyes and ears, while massing his main force to hold firm and wait quietly, probing for our weak points, then shifting his formation to risk a sudden charge."

"Third, when he encounters government troops, he does not lightly engage. He invariably waits for us to take the initiative in seeking him out, while the bandits rest at ease and await our exhausted forces."

"Fourth, his movements are erratic, covering dozens of li in an instant. He is especially fond of plunging into marshes, rivers, and mountain forests — places rarely trod by men — traveling by day and hiding by night, circling and grinding in loops."

Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Regarding this man who had repeatedly escaped from under Ma Yuan's hand and once even made him suffer a setback, Diwu Lun had ordered his men to study him in depth.

"Previously, Cheng Tou Zi Lu had his back to Bohai and Pingyuan, both old homelands of the Great River Red Eyebrows, and thus had a rear area to rely on. Whenever things went badly in Qinghe or Xindu, he would immediately retreat, which is why he was so hard to exterminate."

"But this time, Cheng Tou Zi Lu has miscalculated!"

"Indeed!" Feng Qin, his earlier anxiety completely gone, chimed in excitedly: "In the past, under the Qin, the Han, and the Xin of Wang Mang, bandits swarmed like hairs on a hide, all because the rulers were muddled and governance was chaotic, and none could suppress them."

"Only Your Majesty, ever vigilant and diligent, reveres Heaven and cares for the people. Fields are not burdened with extra taxes, households are not levied for conscripts. Wei Commandery is the imperial domain of Your Majesty's Northern Capital, the land where your cause began; its people, whether noble or humble, all willingly obey your commands. Now, though the Red Eyebrow bandits have seized the season to invade, the villages of Wei have formed fortified manors and stockades to resist the villains. Henei's baojia militia can field a hundred thousand, and Wei can field another hundred thousand. Moreover, the armies of Ji Province are about to march south. With a righteous host that protects the realm and brings peace to the people, punishing violent and shameless bandits — whether sooner or later, they will ultimately be destroyed!"

Yes, the reason the Red Eyebrows had been able to easily defeat the great armies of Wang Mang's Xin, the Greenwood, and the Liang-Han emperors time and again was that those regimes had lost the people's hearts, so that the boat was capsized by the very water that bore it.

"But now that these fellows have come to Wei Commandery, to Yecheng —"

"They will instead become trees without roots, water without a source!"

…

As Diwu Lun's imperial carriage arrived in Henei, the conscription and assembly of militia was pressed forward urgently. The Henei commandery troops "recovered" the several counties that the Red Eyebrows had raided, and the Emperor, Dou Rong, and Zhang Zong led the great army to Zhaoge.

A proclamation was also circulated among the counties of Henei.

"Now this call to arms is sent far and wide, that all may hear and know. If there be any man of hot blood who rallies a righteous company to aid our punitive expedition, I shall take him into my confidence and allot him rations. If there be any who, long trapped among the bandits, extricates himself and comes over, slays their chieftains, and surrenders a city, I shall receive him under my command and bestow official rank. If there be any who, coerced for years, casts down his weapon on the battlefield and comes over empty-handed in good faith, all shall be spared the death penalty and later given travel funds to return to their native places…"

"When the proclamation arrives, it has the force of statute — let none disregard it!"

The village head of Qidong Village in Zhaoge County finished reading this Proclamation Against the Red Eyebrow Bandits and looked at the several tithing chiefs of his village: "His Majesty campaigns in person. The troops are now sufficient in number, but we lack men to transport provisions, armor, and weapons. Is any man willing to follow me to the army and offer his service?"

The tithing chiefs looked at one another, all showing reluctance. The busy farming season was fast approaching. Although the Red Eyebrows had looted many peasants, they had at least managed to hide a little seed grain, and all hoped to seize the spring rains and hurry their plowing and planting. If they followed the army on campaign, would this year's harvest not be lost as well?

"I am willing to go."

The "Chief Xiang" from the Xiang hamlet stepped forward. Xiang Ziping had at last combed his hair properly and looked presentable, though he wore hempen mourning garments over his clothes — he was in formal mourning.

After his elder brother died, the older men in the hamlet had all refused to take up this lucrative post, for they feared the Red Eyebrows would return and kill again.

In the end, it was Xiang Zichang, who could not even bring himself to kill a chicken, who took over the duty. And now he actually volunteered for battle, to everyone's astonishment.

"A fine fellow, this Xiang Ziping! No wonder he has read the sages' books — he understands what is right!"

The village head was overjoyed and told the tithing chiefs to go back and organize their manpower, to assemble the day after next.

When Xiang Ziping returned home, his sister-in-law and his elder brother's concubine were discussing how to manage the farm work. Their household, rather than being called landlords, was better described as "rich peasants." They had only a little over one hundred fifty mu of land — five times the average landholding in Henei — and two tenant households helped with the farming, paying only forty percent of the harvest as rent. After taxes and all expenses for food, clothing, daily necessities, and sacrifices, they could have a surplus of several tens of dan of grain each year.

Excluding the occasional short-term hired hands, the whole household numbered seven mouths to feed — four adults and three children. Though they lived frugally, they always had enough to eat. This was what had allowed Xiang Ziping to pursue his studies and his "reclusion" without engaging in productive labor, and to keep a plow ox.

But now it was all gone. Not only had his elder brother perished, but everything from the plow ox to the grain had been swept clean by the Red Eyebrows. These past few days, their food had depended entirely on his sister-in-law, still in her mourning attire, who had retrieved a few dou of rice from another grain cache — having known poverty and hunger in her own family, she had always kept the habit of hiding grain in a safe place.

She also told Xiang Ziping that she planned to take the children into the fields and plant alongside the tenants.

Xiang Ziping felt they could not survive this way: "A few dou of rice — even if we use half to sow the fields, how many dan of grain can it possibly yield?"

His sister-in-law wept: "Then what else can we do? When you were not here, Uncle, I walked ten li to my parents' hamlet to try to borrow some provisions, but the neighbors there had been robbed by the Red Eyebrows too."

"Does Uncle not have friends in the commandery seat or the county town? Could you go and borrow a little to tide us over these six months?"

Although Xiang Ziping was a student under Fu Zhan, he was only a minor, unnoticed figure, and he was not on good terms with classmates who were single-mindedly pursuing office. Who would be willing to lend to him? And borrowed grain must eventually be repaid — he would still have to rely on himself.

Xiang Ziping then laid out his plan.

"Many households in the hamlet have been plundered to the last by the Red Eyebrow bandits, left without even seed grain. They must have some way to stay alive!"

"Now His Majesty has issued a proclamation to campaign against the Red Eyebrows and needs civilian laborers and volunteer soldiers to assist. Serve as a soldier, and you will have grain to eat!"

"What is more, this is the best chance to earn merit and gain office. I have heard that scholars who enlist, once the fighting is over, have already secured official posts in the county."

Xiang Ziping's character had abruptly transformed. From single-mindedly shunning the world, he had become one who actively sought good opportunities. After all, from now on, the several mouths of his household would all depend entirely on him.

Next year, that cup of pepper-and-cypress wine — he was determined that his elder brother would drink it!

His sister-in-law had no alternative but to heed Xiang Ziping. She found his elder brother's armor for him. When he put it on, it felt slightly too large.

As he was about to set out, the three children with their hair tied in loops all gathered in the courtyard. His nephew and nieces could not bear to part with him and wept softly.

But the little nephew — the one a little older, who had walked the edge of life and death — actually took down the peach-wood talisman hanging on the door and pressed it into Xiang Ziping's hands.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Xiang Ziping looked at his little nephew.

The nephew raised his head and said: "Did Uncle not tell us that on Mount Taodu there is a great peach tree, its branches twisting and coiling for three thousand li, and in the tree there is a golden rooster — when the sun shines on the tree, the golden rooster crows."

"Beneath the peach tree are two divine men, one called Yu and the other called Lei. Both hold reed ropes in their hands, watching and searching for evil, harmful ghosts and phantoms. When they catch a ghost, they slay it. And so people carve the two divine men onto peach-wood talismans, and ghosts are afraid when they see them."

"Everyone in the hamlet says Uncle is leading the men to fight the Red Eyebrow ghosts. I have tried — the Red Eyebrow ghosts are not afraid of dung, nor of stench."

"But they should be afraid of the peach-wood talisman!"

Xiang Ziping crouched down and embraced the three children. His shoulders heaved, and his nose stung, but in the end he held it in — and hung the peach-wood talisman back on the door.

Then he turned around and patted the sword at his waist — at last, it was no longer a mere ornament.

"With this, I have enough."

The Red Eyebrows were not ghosts.

They were men.

"When a man is killed, he dies."

And when a man is starved, he goes mad, loses his mind, and can become a "ghost."

The Red Eyebrows, mad with hunger, rampaged and fled. But the people of Henei and Wei, plundered and left without grain, also went mad. They, who had always tried their utmost to avoid the edges of war, dried their tears, and upon hearing the proclamation, actually picked up their firewood cleavers and sought to join the ranks of the Wei army's militia.

They were like countless trickling streams, merging into the great surging wave that flowed northward — that was Diwu Lun's force, scraped together from east and west, which for now could only match a rabble against a rabble.

Xiang Ziping and the others' first task was to dismantle the door planks of an entire county town and rebuild the floating bridge over the Qi River that the Red Eyebrow Army had burned. And the imperial carriage of His Majesty the Emperor of Wei rolled across that bridge and arrived in Wei Commandery.

Another dozen or so li to the east, the old course of the Yellow River loomed into view, like a divine scar left by a giant serpent crawling across the plain.

Standing on his war chariot, Diwu Lun gazed at this enormous wound. This mother river — no matter how many times he saw it, his heart was always deeply stirred.

"The Red Eyebrows, the Bronze Horses — they were all refugees created by the Yellow River bursting its banks."

"And like the ungoverned Yellow River, they migrate and flee, a blindly thrashing giant serpent whose body sweeps across You Province, Yan Province, Ji Province, and Yu Province, grinding flat the fortified manors pressing down upon them, shattering all order, and incidentally bringing calamity upon innocents tenfold, a hundredfold their own number."

And so this turbid current grew larger and larger, as if it meant to sweep across all under Heaven!

But the Yellow River, in the end, must still be tamed, governed, and confined within fixed channels.

Diwu Lun rose to his feet in his war chariot and looked back. One brigade of the Central Army's garrison elite, one division of commandery troops from Henei and Henan, plus the militia, village braves, and strongman forces from various counties under Zhang Zong's command — cobbled together, they made one army.

Could this clear current from Henei and Wei Commandery ultimately subdue the turbid torrent that raged and rampaged?

"It can. It surely can."

Diwu Lun told himself, and at the same time raised his head to gaze at the dim, distant heavens, recalling that line of Liu Xin's poem: My heart, cleansed and purified, yearns for far distances; I turn back from Gaodu and march north.

He also recalled that day many years ago, when Chi Zhaoping leaped tragically into the river, and the vow he himself had made facing the rolling great river.

"Just as I believe — "

"The waters of the Yellow River will, one day, run clear again!"

……

PS: Only one chapter today.