Chapter 484: Blood and Fire: The Three Kingdoms Kill — A Loyal Soul Sings an Elegy in Blood

In the second year of Kaiyun of the Later Jin, the year 944, on the eighteenth day of the twelfth month, Du Chongwei had warhorses slaughtered and brought out all the remaining grain to give the great army one full meal.

Since being surrounded, the common soldiers of the Jin army had never once eaten their fill.

Now, before the morning meal had even come, there was great chunks of stewed horseflesh to eat, with no limit on portions, and the soldiers ate until their mouths shone with grease, laughing and grinning with delight.

After they had eaten their fill, Du Chongwei ordered the troops out of camp to form ranks. The soldiers all assumed Du Chongwei meant to lead them in breaking out of the siege; though it would inevitably mean bloody fighting, at least they would no longer have to endure this bitter wait in the open wilderness, so their morale was still fairly high.

But no sooner had the soldiers finished forming ranks than countless armored men with drawn silver blades appeared, taking up positions on every side, and the army's commander-in-chief, Du Chongwei, came out of camp dressed only in plain clothes and said:

"What you have just eaten was all the grain and fodder left in the great camp. Even the warhorses have mostly been slaughtered, and the court has sent no relief army.

Now that the food is gone and every road is closed, I must seek a way for us all to survive. After much thought, the only path left is to beg surrender before the Son of Heaven of the Great Liao."

The soldiers were stunned, none of them daring to believe it was true. In that moment of shock, Song Yanjun, Military Governor of the Weisheng Army of Dengzhou, and Zhang Yanze, Military Governor of the Yiwu Army of Dingzhou, each brought armored men forward with drawn swords to threaten them.

"Those willing to follow the Chief Commander, cast aside your weapons and bare your right shoulder! Those unwilling may cross the river on your own and fight the Khitan!"

The common soldiers had never had much conviction to begin with. Most of them had joined the army just to earn a meal, or because they knew only how to fight and kill and could not farm or produce anything, and so could only make their way as fighting men.

That they had fought the Khitan so hard was nothing more than simple national feeling and the hope of winning reward from the court and seizing a chance at wealth and rank.

Now their immediate superiors, the Military Governors and Prefects of the various garrisons, had not shown their faces, and the soldiers only felt lost and bewildered, not knowing what to do.

Immediately after, Li Shouzhen stepped forward and urged them, saying: "Our sovereign has lost his virtue, trusting wicked and treacherous men and suspecting our army. With no way forward or back, we had best submit to the northern court and seek our fortunes elsewhere."

At this moment, the devastating effect of Shi Chonggui's reward of three bolts of silk for every serious wound was immediately made plain.

Many soldiers, even those who felt surrender to the Khitan to be the deepest humiliation and could not bear it, were stirred by Li Shouzhen's words and began to feel their hearts turn cold, no longer willing to throw their lives away for Shi Chonggui.

With a clatter, someone — no one knew who — was the first to throw down the spear in his hand. Once there was a first, there was a second, and the sound of weapons striking the ground rang out in a wave.

Only then did the Military Governors of the various garrisons come out and begin soothing the soldiers' feelings.

Those soldiers who did not wish to surrender, seeing that their own commanders had long since bent the knee, were suddenly stricken with grief, and the great camp filled with the sound of weeping.

Du Chongwei, far from angered, was delighted, and hurriedly sent Gao Xun back to the Khitan camp to report this "good news" to Yelu Deguang.

Hu Cile seized this chance, pretending to go and soothe the soldiers of the Wuning Army, but instead walked straight into the midst of the three hundred or so remaining great horses of Liangzhou.

Hu Tai's eyes went wide, and he stared at Hu Cile in shock and fury.

"How can Du Chongwei be so shameless? To actually surrender to the Khitan! Then what does that make us? We struggled all the way back east, and now we're to be slaves to the barbarians again?"

Hu Tai and the others were themselves barbarians of the steppe, but ever since following Zhang Zhao, they had never once thought of themselves as barbarians again. They regarded their identity as sons of Tang as supremely important, and always comported themselves as veterans of the old Guiyi Army.

Though they had fallen into corruption and could enjoy wealth and rank in the Jin army with easy consciences, when it came to surrendering to the Khitan and becoming the Khitan's lowliest grandsons, they still found it utterly unacceptable.

As soon as Hu Cile arrived, the other officers and men of the Wuning Army gathered around, and he took the chance to look at the surrounding Wuning Army officers and say:

"We are all men of the south. Our families and our wealth are all in the south. If we submit, will the Khitan lord ever willingly let us return south? When would we ever be reunited with our families?"

The officers all heard this and thought it made sense. Hu Cile quickly lowered his voice and said:

"Hu Tai and Commander Ma, go and gather up the good warhorses. Find an opening, and we'll abandon the great army and circle back south."

Even as they spoke, Gao Xun arrived at the Liao army's great camp for the third time.

Hearing the report, Yelu Deguang still felt somewhat uneasy.

Because from his perspective, Yelu Deguang still found it hard to believe that Du Chongwei would be willing, for the sake of a verbal promise, to lead all the elite troops of Jin and betray his brother-in-law and nephew.

How could there be anyone in the world so easy to fool? So naive that even Brother Guang felt it was a little unreal.

So he prepared to send a scapegoat over to test the way.

If it was true, all would be well; if there was an ambush, it would be the scapegoat who lost his life.

He thought for a long time, and the most suitable pathfinder was still Zhao Yanshou.

No sooner said than done. Yelu Deguang immediately had Zhao Yanshou summoned.

To make Zhao Yanshou wholeheartedly willing to take the risk, Yelu Deguang even bestowed on him a dragon-and-phoenix ochre robe.

The "ochre robe" of this time did not mean a dark-red long robe, but rather the ochre-yellow robe.

It was originally the robe worn by the Son of Heaven. The "yellow robe" that Zhao the Great donned at the Chenqiao Mutiny was precisely this ochre-yellow robe.

When Zhao Yanshou saw Yelu Deguang suddenly bestow an ochre-yellow robe on him, he was utterly astonished. He still did not know that Du Chongwei was going to surrender that very day, and so was completely baffled.

Grinning from ear to ear, Brother Guang walked over, and with great warmth told Zhao Yanshou not to stand on ceremony, then personally draped the ochre-yellow robe over Zhao Yanshou's shoulders. After that, he pointed at Gao Xun, Du Chongwei's envoy, standing in the distance, and said:

"The men of Jin have begged to surrender. The Han soldiers are all yours now. You should go in person to comfort them." As he spoke, he placed another ochre-yellow robe on Zhao Yanshou's right shoulder.

Zhao Yanshou had been wild with joy, moved nearly to tears, but the moment he saw Yelu Deguang produce yet another ochre-yellow robe, his heart instantly grew wary.

Yelu Deguang, for his part, made no attempt to hide it. "This ochre robe is to be given to Du Chongwei, because he too has asked me to make him Son of Heaven of the Central Plains."

Yelu Deguang deliberately spoke slowly and deliberately, and only when Zhao Yanshou was on the verge of losing patience did he continue.

"But the Prince of Yan should know that I am only using this to steady the men of Jin. Between you and me, our bond is as father and son. How could Du Chongwei ever compare?"

More fine words that cost nothing, tossed out freely — and yet Zhao Yanshou was exactly the sort to fall for them.

Hearing this, not only did he not think Yelu Deguang was fooling him, he instead believed Yelu Deguang was opening his heart to him and telling him everything truthfully.

Thereupon, after taking his leave of Yelu Deguang, Zhao Yanshou immediately led two or three hundred cavalry of the Lulong Army toward the Jin army's great camp.

It happened that a little wind-blown snow had fallen earlier that morning. Zhao Yanshou and his men wore white cloaks, and amid the wind and snow filling the sky, following the guide cavalry sent out by the Jin army, they crossed the Hutuo River with carriages and horses in full array, to accept the Jin army's surrender.

Du Chongwei and the others had long been waiting at the camp gate. In the snow, their vision was obstructed, and they could only make out someone wearing an ochre-yellow robe, seated in a carriage, leading several hundred Liao cavalry toward them.

Du Chongwei, Li Shouzhen, Zhang Yanze, and the others thought Yelu Deguang had come in person. Deeply moved, they immediately prostrated themselves to welcome him.

Only when the party drew near did they discover that the man who had come was not Yelu Deguang but Zhao Yanshou.

The men were so furious their noses nearly went crooked, but they had already made their bows, and there was no way to make Zhao Yanshou bow back. Du Chongwei and the others could only choke down their words and finish the obeisance.

Zhao Yanshou, feeling he had once again gotten one over on Du Chongwei, was extremely pleased with himself, and immediately handed Du Chongwei the ochre-yellow robe given by Yelu Deguang.

"The Son of Heaven summons you all to come and pay your respects."

When Du Chongwei saw that Yelu Deguang was even willing to give away an ochre-yellow robe, his heart burst into bloom, and the little "grievance" of having just bowed to Zhao Yanshou instantly vanished like smoke.

This shameless wretch actually took off his outer robe in front of everyone, changed into the ochre-yellow robe given by Yelu Deguang, and reverently bowed three times to the north.

After bowing, Du Chongwei showed not the slightest trace of shame, but was instead extraordinarily excited.

He looked at Zhao Yanshou, and not only did he show none of the humility of a man begging to surrender, he even faintly comported himself as the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains.

"I would ask the Prince of Yan to lead the way; I shall go in person to pay my respects to the lord of the superior state."

At the gate of the Khitan camp, Zhao Yanshou led Du Chongwei forward to pay his respects. Yelu Deguang at once had the Liao army throw the camp gates wide open to receive them. Only when he saw the Jin generals all coming to submit did the suspended weight in his heart finally settle.

Zhou Ru, a surrendered Jin general standing beside Yelu Deguang, identified each man one by one by build and features, then whispered a few words in Yelu Deguang's ear.

Without a flicker of expression, Yelu Deguang caught hold of Du Chongwei just as he was about to prostrate himself. "You and your fellows have abandoned darkness and turned to the light, and my heart is greatly comforted. From this day forward, past grievances shall not be raised, and there shall be no prejudice. Let Khitan and Han join hearts and strive as one."

As he spoke, Yelu Deguang held Du Chongwei by the hand and, with the greatest show of emotion, continued his blandishments.

"You have rendered service to the state in the Central Plains; I shall not go back on my earlier word."

At these words, tears rolled from Du Chongwei's eyes, and he at once began to chant in a quavering, singsong voice.

He then led the assembled men in shouting and dancing before Yelu Deguang. Following the highest ceremony for paying homage to the Son of Heaven, they performed the mountain-hail dance and kowtowed in gratitude, the whole crowd of Jin generals making a shameless spectacle of themselves.

When the dance was done, Yelu Deguang pretended to look left and right, and asked as if the thought had only idly occurred to him.

"Is Commander Huangfu, who once righteously rescued his followers by the Anyang River, present?

I have heard that the commander of the Wuning Army is a Tatar from the land of Liang, most skilled in dance. Let him come out and show himself."

Du Chongwei, Li Shouzhen, and the others looked around in all directions at these words, and only then realized that Hu Cile was not among the crowd.

This Huangfu Yu they knew of: Du Chongwei, fearing he might offend Yelu Deguang, had had him confined under guard in his tent. But this Hu Cile — how was it he had not come along?

Du Chongwei was somewhat embarrassed. He cupped his hands and answered: "Huangfu Yu is rash by nature. Fearing he might give offense to Your Majesty, I ordered him to remain on standby in camp.

As for Hu Cile, I truly did not take note of him. Presumably he cannot have gone far. I beg leave to send men to search."

Yelu Deguang's expression did not change. He waved a hand indifferently.

"Let Huangfu Yu be summoned to audience. As for Hu Cile, if he cannot recognize his true lord and dares to flee, there will come a day when he regrets it."

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, Yelu Deguang enfeoffed Du Chongwei as Grand Tutor and Li Shouzhen as Minister over the Masses, and swallowed up the more than sixty thousand Jin troops in their entirety.

And this time he had learned his lesson: he did not immediately wheel his army south, but prepared first to seize the lands of Hebei, and only then make further plans.

On the twenty-sixth, Yelu Deguang made Du Chongwei his vanguard and led the main army to the walls of Hengzhou. Du Chongwei came forward in person and ordered the defending commander Wang Zhou to open the gates and surrender.

Wang Zhou had only two thousand defenders, and not all of them were necessarily willing to die with him in that place. Knowing the matter was beyond saving, he wept bitterly atop the wall.

"Having received the Jin's great favor, I cannot fight to the death, yet I surrender the city. What face have I to go before my lord and the scholar-officials?"

When he had finished weeping, Wang Zhou went straight back to his office, found a dou of strong liquor and drained it in one draught, then made to draw his sword and cut his own throat.

But Wang Zhou's two sons, knowing their father's manner was not right, had been secretly following him. Seeing that Wang Zhou meant to kill himself, and fearing the act would enrage the Khitan, they threw themselves at him, clung to his legs, and wailed and pleaded.

"Father has fulfilled the duty of a loyal minister. What can his sons and grandsons do but cry out in helpless grief?"

At that moment, the Hengzhou army officers in the office also rushed over and pleaded earnestly. Together they seized hold of Wang Zhou and half-carried him toward the east gate.

Yelu Deguang entered Hengzhou without difficulty and at once appointed Wang Zhou Military Governor of the Wusheng Army. Tens of thousands of Khitan troops at last no longer had to bivouac in the open.

And after the Khitan host entered the city, Yelu Deguang rested only a single day before swiftly issuing his redeployments.

With military operations set aside and politics the new game, Yelu Deguang at last had room to exercise his talents.

He did not hurry south. Instead he dispatched the general Mada, with Liao troops and ten thousand surrendered Jin soldiers, northward to Daizhou.

When Wang Hui, Prefect of Daizhou, saw tens of thousands of troops arrive beneath the walls of Daizhou — among them no small number of surrendered Jin soldiers — he learned that Du Chongwei had already handed over the army in surrender. He too did not hesitate, and at once slickly chose to go over as well.

With this, the Khitan, rather than moving south, had instead occupied Daizhou with twenty thousand troops.

Daizhou and the Yanmen Pass region had always been the northern gate of Taiyuan. With twenty thousand men garrisoned there, the Khitan immediately drew Liu Zhiyuan's Hedong troops to the Xing County area, leaving them not daring to make any rash move.

Next, Yelu Deguang sent the traitor Geng Chongmei to take Yizhou.

Though Geng Chongmei is little known to later ages, historically his family was a standard Khitanized Han family, equal in fame to the Han Derang clan.

Geng Chongmei had moreover married Lady Yelu, the Lady of Wei, a clanswoman of Yelu Deguang, and at this time his standing far exceeded that of the Han family.

Guo Lin, Prefect of Yizhou, was also one of the military nobility of Daibei. He had remained as Prefect of Yizhou after the Jin army broke through Yizhou the previous time.

One might even say he was the sole trophy the Jin army had retained after its great victory at Baituanwei Village.

This Guo Lin was a strict disciplinarian who shared the hardships of his soldiers, and was greatly respected by the troops and by the people who could not endure Khitan oppression.

Yizhou lay close to Youzhou. That Guo Lin could hold his ground here made Yelu Deguang regard him as a thorn in his eye, and several attacks had failed to dislodge him.

But this time was different, because the reason the soldiers and people of Yizhou supported Guo Lin — apart from the Khitan's brutal exactions — was above all that they were spurred by the Jin army's formidable fighting strength, and had a powerful Jin army to rely on.

But now the Jin army itself had gone over to the Khitan. How were they to hold out? No one wanted to force themselves down a road to certain death.

So when Geng Chongmei's troops arrived, the officers, clerks, and soldiers of Yizhou scrambled to defect, and Guo Lin was utterly unable to stop them.

In despair, Guo Lin could only sit sprawled in the city gate and curse Geng Chongmei to his face.

Geng Chongmei, like Zhao Yanshou, shared the common trait of traitors: he could do a thing, but you must not speak of it — speak of it and he flew into a rage.

Guo Lin had not cursed long before Geng Chongmei, shamed into fury, drew his blade and killed him.

Having occupied the two critical points of Yizhou and Daizhou, Yelu Deguang then sent Zhang Yanze to call open the gates of Dingzhou.

This Zhang Yanze was originally the Military Governor of the Yiwu Army at Dingzhou, and he took Dingzhou with the greatest of ease.

By this point Yelu Deguang was entirely free of worries in his rear, and so he forcibly summoned Huangfu Yu into the city of Hengzhou.

My Brother Guang did not merely want Huangfu Yu to submit — he wanted Huangfu Yu to serve him, to lead a great army south and destroy the Jin dynasty.

This was pure malice. Yelu Deguang simply wanted to crush such a loyal and righteous man, and thereby achieve the sense of conquest that came from believing he had destroyed the Jin people's will to resist.

Huangfu Yu was brought into Hengzhou in a cart by Liao soldiers. The once-mighty giant of a man was now pale-faced and unsteady on his feet.

For since Du Chongwei's surrender, Huangfu Yu had eaten almost nothing, only drinking strong liquor in bouts to drown his sorrows.

Outside the gate of the place where Yelu Deguang had halted his carriage, a dozen or more men stood watching Huangfu Yu with faces full of misery. Huangfu Yu was at once stunned.

For at the head of the dozen-odd men were his eldest son and his nephew, both of whom had followed Huangfu Yu on campaign and been captured by the Khitan.

The rest were also Huangfu Yu's trusted brothers. Du Zhimin, who on the banks of the Anyang River had in the panic given his own mount to Huangfu Yu and then been rescued by him when he turned back into the host of ten thousand, was there too.

The Khitan had not said plainly what they intended, but the meaning was already clear enough.

Huangfu Yu gave a bleak laugh, pushed away the hands of the Khitan soldiers reaching to pull him along, and walked into the room himself.

Yelu Deguang truly had not expected that this so-called hard man of the southern court, this hero of the Han folk, would be so weak — merely nodding throughout, with no other words.

Yelu Deguang took it that he had already crushed Huangfu Yu, and could not help feeling immensely pleased with himself.

Laughing aloud, he ordered Huangfu Yu to take two thousand of his own troops, together with three thousand Khitan cavalry, and race south through the night to strike at the Later Jin capital, the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture.

Huangfu Yu accepted the order. Only after leaving the room did he realize that, apart from his nephew Huangfu Chong, only a few attendants were waiting there.

Huangfu Chong looked at the haggard Huangfu Yu, his eyes reddening. "The young lord and Du Zhimin and the others have all been taken away by the Khitan."

What sort of man was Yelu Deguang? How could he possibly leave such an opening? Of course he would keep Huangfu Yu's son and trusted men in his hands.

Huangfu Yu said no more, and paid no attention at all to military affairs. Taking only his nephew Huangfu Chong and the others, he moved south with the army.

That evening, Huangfu Yu drank two more dou of strong liquor, and before his nephew Huangfu Chong, tears fell like rain.

"I have received the state's favor in my person, and hold rank as both general and minister. Since I could not die on the field of battle, what face have I to see my former lord! And to be ordered to plot against him — this I cannot bear."

Huangfu Chong and the attendants all wept uncontrollably. One attendant urged, "I have followed you, young lord, for ten years, and cannot bear to see you like this. The one on watch tonight is an old officer of the army. Why not take this chance for us to escort you away?"

Huangfu Yu knew well that if he left, his son and Du Zhimin and the others left among the Khitan army might be killed by the Khitan.

But at this moment, he could no longer care, because he had resolved to tell the court that Du Chongwei had shamelessly gone over to the Khitan.

So that very evening, Huangfu Yu took Huangfu Chong and several attendants, and under cover of night left the camp and headed south.

Two days later, Huangfu Yu and his party reached the outskirts of Pingji County, south of Zhaozhou. By then snow was falling from the sky, the roads were muddy, and the party was weary and hungry, barely able to travel.

Huangfu Yu's condition was even worse. For seven or eight days he had eaten and drunk almost nothing, yet had been gulping strong liquor to get drunk. His once-powerful frame had now completely withered and stooped.

By now he could not even ride a horse. Huangfu Chong bought a donkey cart and pulled him south in it.

Huangfu Yu lay face-up toward the sky. The dry, cold snowflakes drifted onto his face, and he barely felt them anymore.

He suddenly thought that even if he risked death to notify the court, the court no longer had troops to use, and on the road he might instead bring harm to his nephew Huangfu Chong and his loyal attendants.

He gave a long sigh, stopped Huangfu Chong, and then forced himself to sit up.

"I have not eaten for two nights. My illness is grave. When the lord is shamed, the minister dies. I will go no farther south."

Huangfu Chong heard the resolve to die in Huangfu Yu's words and hurried to dissuade him.

"Even if we do not go south, we can find a place to stay for a while, preserve our useful lives, and plan for the future."

Huangfu Yu smiled bitterly. "Is there still a future?"

Huangfu Chong gritted his teeth and said to Huangfu Yu, "The King of Liang in Hexi is a loyal descendant of the Great Tang. When he put down the rebellion in Guanzhong, his name for benevolence and righteousness spread to all quarters. Now he has sent out a million shi of grain to relieve the famine victims. He is truly a lord mandated by Heaven. The one who can in days to come drive the Khitan north and restore the Central Plains must be His Highness the King of Liang."

Huangfu Yu sighed in sudden understanding. "Months ago, when you wished to go to Hexi, it seems you had already set your mind on the King of Liang."

Huangfu Chong nodded. "Your nephew has surveyed all the lords under heaven, whether Son of Heaven or king. Only the King of Liang is a true sovereign!"

A gratified smile appeared on Huangfu Yu's face. "That is very good. After I am gone, you and the others may go to Hexi, assist the King of Liang, drive the northern barbarians away, and avenge me."

Huangfu Chong wept aloud at these words. Grasping Huangfu Yu's wrist, he sobbed, "Uncle, you are one of the few loyal and valiant ministers under heaven. If you could assist the King of Liang, why worry that the great cause cannot be accomplished?"

Huangfu Yu shook his head. "I am a minister of Jin. The Son of Heaven has treated me with great generosity. How can I bear to see the state overthrown and my sovereign humiliated?"

With that, seeing that Huangfu Chong still wished to persuade him, Huangfu Yu shouted sternly, "Do not ruin my good name as a loyal minister!"

With those words, this most fierce and valiant loyal minister of the Later Jin drew from his breast a short blade he had long prepared, thrust it violently into his throat, and killed himself.

Huangfu Chong and the others wept bitterly. After gathering up Huangfu Yu's body, they went straight west to join Zhang Zhao.

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