Chapter 508: The Leopard Tail

The three thousand Yuyang shock cavalry, positioned to the south, had become the eyes and ears of the Wei army. Most of the riders halted to rest their mounts beside a stretch of woods with a water source; those whose horses were not too badly worn out were spread far and wide by Gai Yan.

As far as thirty li away, the panting figures of the Red Eyebrow Army's Xu Xuan division, and as near as the various dispositions of Fan Chong's ten-thousand-man camps, all fell under the riders' gaze.

Whether in numbers or in individual valor, the Red Eyebrow scouts were no match for the Yuyang shock cavalry. While reporting every detail of the battlefield situation to Diwu Lun, they could also disrupt the enemy's communications — their role was by no means insignificant.

Yet Gai Yan was still inwardly displeased. Under Ma Yuan's command, the shock cavalry had always been the vanguard that charged and broke the enemy lines. How was it that, once in the Emperor's hands, they could only do these easy, trivial jobs?

"Isn't this using a butcher's ox-cleaver to kill a chicken?"

From this one could see that His Majesty the Emperor, who was putting the Yuyang shock cavalry to such petty use, was probably no great master of military command either.

As if perceiving Gai Yan's impatient expression, a young Commandant riding shoulder to shoulder with him laughed and said:

"Because the Yuyang shock cavalry are worn out, and their horses have only enough strength left for one more charge. A fine blade must naturally be used at the most critical moment. I hope General Gai will not be impatient."

This man was, of course, the Embroidered Uniform Commandant Zhang Yu, sent by imperial order to oversee Gai Yan.

Just then, a scout came galloping over in haste to report: "General Gai, contact has been made with State Commandant Ma!"

"The Red Eyebrow rear force has lifted its encirclement. Over forty thousand men are now moving north. The State Commandant asks me to relay to General Gai that earlier, when surrounded, he wished to await the main army's arrival and jointly annihilate Fan Chong, and therefore delayed breaking out. Now that the moment has come, he hopes the General will lend aid with the shock cavalry!"

Gai Yan was instantly overjoyed and was about to agree, but Zhang Yu cut him off coldly.

"General Gai, do not forget His Majesty's words: act only in accordance with the central army's banners and zither-signals!"

Immersed in Ma Yuan's reply and stirred by the prospect of fighting alongside him, Gai Yan blurted out bluntly: "But this is the State Commandant's order."

Zhang Yu did not wish to harm Ma Yuan, so he refrained from saying something like "Who is greater, His Majesty or the State Commandant?" He only said with a stern face: "As a commander of a front, the State Commandant naturally has the authority to make his own decisions. But General Gai, as an acting general serving to atone for his offenses, can only act on His Majesty's commands."

Zhang Yu knew very well that the Yuyang shock cavalry must hold considerable importance in the Emperor's strategy; otherwise, he would not have been sent to supervise, precisely to keep an eye on Gai Yan and prevent this man of Yan from fighting recklessly on his own whim again.

This constant "Acting General" jab jolted Gai Yan awake, reminding him not to forget the earlier incident. Merely breaking an agreement with an allied force and nearly plunging them into danger had cost him his general's rank. If he now moved troops without reporting to the Emperor, would the consequences not be even more severe?

Though it is said that a commander in the field may disregard certain orders, the Emperor was only a few li away, and sending a scout to communicate would take no more than half a quarter-hour. Gai Yan could only forcibly swallow his impatience and watch the battlefield anxiously.

The matter was urgent. Ma Yuan did not wait for Gai Yan's coordination, nor did he wait for Diwu Lun's edict. Leading the seven or eight thousand men under his command still able to fight, he pushed aside the wagon barricades and began pursuing the Red Eyebrows directly in line formation.

Every Wei army division had its own distinctive banner. Ma Yuan's banner was the leopard-pattern banner, and Diwu Lun had personally bestowed a leopard tail to hang from it. Even among the heavy-commissioned generals, Ma Yuan alone held this honor, a mark of his lofty status.

That leopard-tail banner had drooped listlessly within the encirclement for many days, but now, driven by the wind, it once again streamed out proudly! Then it plunged straight into the Red Eyebrow rear force!

The Red Eyebrow Five Dukes' Yang Yin had deployed ten thousand men in a loose formation to the west to guard against the Yuyang shock cavalry. The other three ten-thousand-man camps were strung out in a slack, straggling column moving north. But their tail was caught up by Ma Yuan personally leading his troops, and they were forced to halt and give battle.

"After days of bitter fighting and days of being trapped, with nearly every man bearing wounds, how can they still have the strength to pursue?"

Gai Yan watched, deeply moved. In his eyes, Ma Yuan was like a wrestler beaten bloody in the face, who had collapsed after being driven against a wall and pummeled relentlessly. But just as the opponent turned to leave, he staggered back to his feet, gave chase, then clenched his scar-covered fist and dealt the enemy's back a ferocious blow!

Gai Yan watched Ma Yuan's division locked in chaotic battle with a Red Eyebrow force several times its size, the Yan and Yu province soldiers staking their lives and their last ounces of strength in a valiant fight against the foe. That desperate, life-wagering ferocity stirred involuntary respect even in the Yuyang shock cavalry, who normally looked down on all other units.

Time trickled by. Seeing Ma Yuan fighting one against three, Gai Yan could bear it no longer. Several times he wanted to send men to support him, but each time Zhang Yu blocked him.

Gai Yan exploded in fury. A perfectly good battle was being ruined by these bungling meddlers: "Commandant Zhang, do you understand warfare or not? The situation now is that Fan Chong and His Majesty's main force are locked in a stalemate. The reason State Commandant Ma is attacking is to tie down the Red Eyebrow rear force and prevent it from joining the battlefield. As long as His Majesty still has reserves, he can overpower Fan Chong. In an emergency, one must adapt!"

Ostensibly cursing Zhang Yu, he was in fact cursing Diwu Lun! Their task, and Ma Yuan's, should be to do everything possible to stop Yang Yin's division. What was there left to hesitate about?

"I do not know much about military conflict."

Zhang Yu kept his eyes fixed on the central army's direction. According to protocol, after receiving a specific report, Diwu Lun would have men raise a long string of green kites as a signal from the command position facing the Yuyang shock cavalry.

"But I do know that the sovereign's command is weightier than a mountain!"

Seeing Gai Yan growing ever more agitated, Zhang Yu simply told him a story.

"I have known State Commandant Ma far longer than General Gai has."

"Six years ago in Xin Qinzhong, I attended upon His Majesty and accompanied him deep into the mountains at night. We met the State Commandant and General Wan, who were still outlaws then. While the three of them drank and talked cheerfully, I was the little wine-pouring boy at their side."

During those days beyond the frontier, Zhang Yu often served as a courier traveling between the army camp and the mountains. Ma Yuan would teach him to draw a bow and shoot, and even, with a mischievous grin, slipped him money and had someone take Zhang Yu into the pleasure quarters to "become a man."

Different generals had different styles. Ma Yuan was easygoing and forthright, making everyone who spent time at his side feel as if bathed in a spring breeze, even conquering them with his personal charisma. Zhang Yu understood Gai Yan's feelings.

In terms of personal ties, Zhang Yu regarded Ma Yuan as a revered teacher and elder. Later, when Ma Yuan was permanently stationed in the east with great power in his hands, occasionally some tactless capital scholar-officials would utter a slanderous remark or two. Whenever Zhang Yu, who was responsible for monitoring the hundred officials and public sentiment in the provinces, learned of it, he would pursue the matter relentlessly and convict those men of "sowing discord between sovereign and subject."

With the situation now critical, Zhang Yu set aside his personal grudges with the Yuyang faction and spoke to Gai Yan from the heart. Perhaps this rough-hewn man of Youzhou would respond to that approach.

"My desire to aid the State Commandant is even stronger than General Gai's!"

"But personal bonds are personal bonds, and rules are rules."

"With a military order, you must go even into fire and water, into the deepest abyss."

"Without a military order, even if it is a smooth plain with boundless profit, you must not go!"

What if Gai Yan refused to listen and insisted on having his way? The attendants behind Zhang Yu did indeed carry an "Imperial Secretariat Horse-Execution Sword." It could kill not only an acting general, but a full general as well!

But the problem was, could he and his handful of men subdue the tall, imposing Gai Juqing and cow his Yuyang shock cavalry into submission? Zhang Yu had no confidence. He could only glare at Gai Yan like a fox borrowing the tiger's might, gambling that Gai Yan was, like himself, a loyal subject of Great Wei.

Gai Yan's fury nearly made his hair stand on end and lift his hat, but in the end he forcibly reined himself in. He only watched the battlefield ahead in tight-lipped silence, his hands gripping the reins so hard that he could keep himself from giving Zhang Yu a sound thrashing.

Just at that moment, a sharp-eyed attendant shouted: "It's up! The signal kite is up! His Majesty has approved the Yuyang shock cavalry's request!"

Upon verification, it was indeed so. Gai Yan's request was to personally lead two thousand riders to aid Ma Yuan, leaving one thousand riders in place to await His Majesty the Emperor's deployment.

Both Zhang Yu and Gai Yan exhaled in relief at the same moment. When their eyes met, Zhang Yu cupped his hands toward him: "I shall remain here. May the General win every battle!"

Gai Yan did not like — even detested — this close imperial attendant Zhang Yu, but he still returned the salute with clasped hands. Then he spurred his fierce horse and charged out!

The Yuyang shock cavalry had indeed been run ragged the day before. Fortunately, they had eaten the beans and wheat that Diwu Lun had allocated from the rear army that morning, which had somewhat restored the horses' strength. Though the men were still weary, at the sound of one rallying cry after another, they roused their spirits and galloped out after Gai Yan.

The two thousand riders advanced to within one li of the Red Eyebrow Army, where they halted one last time to assemble and prepare for battle. Gai Yan swept past their front, and his booming voice needed no makeshift amplifier to make his heartfelt words heard by every man.

"Today, there are no ambushers lying in wait in the woods specifically for the shock cavalry!"

"Nor must we halt our horses to shoot, or weave and pull apart!"

He drew his ring-pommel saber and pointed at the ten thousand Red Eyebrows arrayed specifically to guard against the shock cavalry. Now, they were the only enemy standing between Ma Yuan and Gai Yan.

"On this charge, we need only break the line and smash the encirclement! Press forward without turning back!"

…

Ma Yuan's leopard-tail banner had already driven deep into the Red Eyebrow Army's rear force.

Today, he did not calmly direct the battle from the rear, but personally donned helmet and armor, grasped spear and sword, and led the Yu and Yan soldiers in a desperate, grinding fight against the enemy.

Ma Yuan knew perfectly well that his side was absolutely outnumbered. The morale roused by his pre-battle exhortations, the soldiers' desire to avenge their fallen comrades — all of it would gradually ebb as the battle turned against them. At such a moment, he could only serve as a great banner himself, rallying everyone around him!

Ma Yuan first engaged the ten thousand men covering the retreat. The battle had already descended into total chaos. The Red Eyebrows were impatient, and the Wei troops were exhausted. The speed at which they swung halberds and spears or drew bows was far slower than before. In most places, the fight was deadlocked. Only Ma Yuan's two thousand personal guards, charging at the fore, repeatedly shattered the enemy lines, leaving countless corpses in their wake.

After a storm of blood and gore, a blaze of light burst before their eyes — Ma Yuan had fought through the enemy's rearguard, cutting clean across the formation. Ahead stood Yang Yin, who had halted to face them upon hearing the news, staring at them in disbelief.

Counting this failed encirclement, Yang Yin had now been defeated by Ma Yuan four times. Seeing that leopard-tail banner — his personal nightmare — bearing down on him once more, Yang Yin nearly lost his mind. Ignoring Fan Chong's order to "attack Diwu Lun's main formation and pin down his frontline strength," he directly commanded the scattered twenty thousand men around him to turn around.

"The Red Eyebrows can lose this battle."

"But Ma Yuan must die!"

Yet the Wei troops, who should have been utterly exhausted, still fought with reckless courage, fierce and sharp. Only because the Red Eyebrows outnumbered them did they inch ever closer to Ma Yuan's leopard-tail banner.

Ma Yuan himself joined the fray. Too conspicuous on horseback, he simply dismounted to fight on foot, forming a circular formation with his personal guard — a circle excels at defense!

In the distance, Red Eyebrow fighters hurled stones with swinging arms, relying on numbers to trade evenly with the Wei army's bows and crossbows. Up close, death-sworn soldiers charged relentlessly with leveled spears — even if they traded two of theirs for one Wei soldier, they could still win.

One by one, Ma Yuan's personal guards fell around him. They could have rested where they were trapped until the battle ended, yet here they gave their young lives. For Ma Yuan's face?

"No — for victory!"

Ma Yuan refused to dwell on thoughts that would bring him guilt. When his spear broke, he switched to his sword. Few things end as well as they begin. Overly proud, too lax in commanding his troops, he had underestimated the enemy, suffered a surprise attack, and failed to be a proper commander.

But now he had to mend the pen after the sheep were lost — to be a true "General," using his own strength to drive this battle toward total victory to the fullest extent! Otherwise, he would be even more unworthy before the soldiers already in the Yellow Springs below.

With this thought, Ma Yuan cut down another man, raised his sword, and roared in fury.

"Kill the rebels!"

Roused by Ma Yuan's battle cry, his personal guards fought on with desperate valor. Though utterly spent, they seemed suddenly aided by gods. Despite armor covered in blade scars, they battled to the death against the Red Eyebrow troops surging at them wave after wave like a tide. At their feet and before them lay the corpses of several hundred Red Eyebrow soldiers.

Such fierce, predatory valor daunted the Red Eyebrows. Stunned and terrified, for a moment none dared advance again.

But Ma Yuan's guard company could charge no further either. They leaned on their dagger-axes, spears, and one another's burly bodies, gasping for breath, their wounds grown even graver. Even Ma Yuan had taken a spear thrust to the calf — he touched the wound, and his hand came away covered in blood.

In that brief lull in the fighting, a shrill nomad flute sounded. The Red Eyebrow troops encircling Ma Yuan's force in layer upon layer suddenly scrambled to part to either side.

Amid a chaos of tumbling men and horses, several dozen riders burst into the formation!

The man at their head, armored and spear in hand, heroic and imposing, was none other than Gai Yan himself.

In that short span, the Yuyang shock cavalry had already punched through the enemy formation blocking them. Gai Yan, heedless of the bitter fighting between his men behind him and the Red Eyebrows, had led riders ahead and charged straight through!

The sight struck sheer terror into Yang Yin's heart — he nearly thought he was dreaming. It was the nightmare of Aocang, playing out all over again!

But this time Gai Yan had brought far more riders. Several hundred cavalry followed close behind, their leveled spears and halberds plunging deep into the Red Eyebrow ranks. Then they drew blades and hacked fiercely, or strung crossbows and nocked bows, fierce as tigers, sweeping all before them — every Red Eyebrow they met scattered in rout.

Seizing this moment, under Ma Yuan's command, the nearly thousand-strong guard company shifted from circle to square formation once more. The leopard-tail banner advanced again, struggling forward with difficulty! At last, after the Red Eyebrows fell back like a receding tide, they successfully linked up with Gai Yan!

Gai Yan rode up to Ma Yuan's side. It was similar to the battle at Aocang, yet vastly different. He still remembered his first meeting with Commandant Ma — though fresh from a great battle with the Red Eyebrows, Ma Yuan had been refined and gallant, his hundred-forged blade and bright-shining armor unstained by a single drop of blood, proof that he had fought with ease and composure. He had even been able to receive Gai Yan while seated on a folding stool carried by his guards.

Today, however, Ma Yuan's iron helmet bore a deep dent from a hurled stone, his armor was riddled with broken arrows and stained with blood, and both his steel saber and his sword were bent and notched. Worse still, his leg was wounded — he could barely stand steady, leaning on a halberd for support.

The one thing unchanged was the smile that never left his face.

"Commandant."

Gai Yan's eyes nearly brimmed with tears. He strode before Ma Yuan and, heedless of the armor he wore, made a deep bow. "Your subordinate has come late, and let the Commandant face such peril."

"Juqing always arrives in time."

Ma Yuan had been wounded during the bitter fighting just now. In the heat of combat he had not felt it, but now every movement brought pain. He suppressed a grimace and asked Gai Yan in return, "Where's the wine?"

The question caught Gai Yan off guard. Ma Yuan stroked his beard to mask his pain. "All the wine we carried was finished while we were trapped. How I miss that cup Juqing once warmed for me with fierce battle and hot blood!"

"But no matter."

Leaning on his halberd, Ma Yuan raised his head and gazed at the multicolored kite floating in the sky to the north. "His Majesty surely has good wine."

"Last year, during the Hebei campaign, His Majesty bent the rules for personal reasons and brought me some millet wine from the palace — brewed by my daughter… the Empress herself. That flavor — sweet and crisp!"

"Once we win this battle, you and I will take Yang Yin's head and go together to His Majesty to beg for a drink!"

With that, Ma Yuan made to lead his soldiers onward again. But as he took a step, he lost his footing, his center of gravity dropped, and he half-knelt to the ground!

……

Back on the other side of the battlefield, Fan Chong was still anxiously waiting for Yang Yin to tie down Diwu Lun's frontline troops and reserves for him. Instead, he received word that Yang Yin was being pursued by Ma Yuan and the Yuyang shock cavalry, and that both sides were locked in bitter combat.

"With Ma Yuan behind and Yuyang on his flank, Yang Yin likely won't be coming."

Fan Chong raised his head and heaved a long sigh. He had already ordered the encircling troops to withdraw swiftly and left twenty thousand men to block them, but they had still been too slow. And Ma Yuan and the shock cavalry, exhausted troops though they were, could still fight with such fierce courage — in seven years of campaigning across the realm, the Red Eyebrows had never faced such unyielding foes.

Just as the Red Eyebrow fighters, straining every sinew, still could not break through the Ji Province troops and the Three River troops despite their numerical advantage.

At this point, Fan Chong could wait no longer. Surveying the battlefield, the only force left in his hand was the ten thousand Haidai Red Eyebrow veterans at his side.

They had the longest service, were the most battle-hardened, and were the most loyal to Fan Chong!

Now the Red Eyebrows and the Wei army were fully engaged along a battle line nearly ten li long. Should Fan Chong commit this fresh force against the Ji Province troops, or the Three River troops?

Fan Chong's gaze fell upon the seam between the two Wei divisions. Only three thousand men guarded it. It should have been positioned further to the rear of both divisions, but under the pull and tug of the battle lines, it had become exposed.

"Brothers and sisters!"

There were some women soldiers in the Red Eyebrow Army — mostly the wives and daughters of fighters, some even mothers. In peacetime they sewed and mended; in wartime they tended the wounded. Some even possessed a measure of martial skill and could campaign alongside the Red Eyebrows.

Now even they gripped weapons. Ten thousand pairs of eyes looked at Fan Chong — at the "giant" who had led them to rise against tyranny and live like human beings!

The giant did not ride a horse. He stood equal with everyone, an axe gripped in his right hand: this was Fan Chong's weapon, chosen for familiarity — after all, his former trade was woodcutter.

His other hand pointed behind him, at the gap between the two Wei divisions — the only "weak" spot that, in Fan Chong's eyes, held any hope of being broken through.

Just like seven years ago, when Fan Chong, crushed under the Xin Dynasty's harsh rule and heavy taxes, had in a fury led a band of fishermen and woodcutters to kill the tax collector. Axe still dripping blood, he had spoken those same words to them.

"Follow me!"

From that day on, the poor who for generations had been trampled underfoot began to live a different life.

With that, Fan Chong hefted his axe onto his shoulder, took up half a door plank in his other hand, and strode forward with great strides!

The Red Eyebrow Army followed step for step. As long as they followed in the footprints of the giant Fan, the blessed land lay just ahead!

Faster and faster they moved, and at last, just before charging the Wei troops at a run, they burst forth together with Fan Chong in the song that was theirs.

This was not the despairing wail of the Red Eyebrow masses when they massacred the captives at Dingtao.

This was a battle roar hurled at the world, filled with faith in victory:

"Hah! March!"