Jinting Han people

Liu Xian didn't sleep well. After resting for more than an hour, he opened his sleepy eyes, forced himself to get up and go out despite his fatigue.

It was still dark, with dark clouds overhead casting a purple shadow over the night sky, and the exact time was unknown. Liu Xian woke Li Sheng and the others to take stock of the remaining soldiers pulled from the battlefield and assess his strength. The results came quickly: he had only about three thousand men left, more than half of whom were routed soldiers from other units. This result greatly discouraged him.

Having fought so many battles over the years, Liu Xian had suffered defeats before. But to lose so decisively, to the point of disintegration, was truly unprecedented. What was most disheartening was that he didn't even know how the Imperial Guards had lost.

The troops of the Western Expeditionary Army were stationed in the western fortifications, surrounded on three sides—this was known beforehand. While the western side wasn't completely sealed off, numerous scouts were monitoring the area. It was possible for Zhang Fang to send a few messengers to break out, but was it possible to send an army undetected, bypassing the main force to the east of Luoyang? How did he manage to do it?
Liu Xian didn't have time to delve into these details; time was of the essence. Logically, Zhang Fang's tactic of using refugees to launch attacks from both east and west would easily rout the enemy, but it would be difficult to annihilate them completely. There should be a large number of remnants scattered around, and Liu Xian had to seize every moment to gather the remaining forces in the surrounding area. Only with troops could he have the strength to continue considering his next move.

Therefore, after taking stock of his forces, Liu Xian immediately summoned his trusted confidants for a military meeting.

It was called a military council, but it was actually an order: Liu Xian ordered his trusted thousand or so men to be divided into dozens of teams and immediately go to all the villages, fortresses, and towns around Luoyang to find any remaining soldiers and tell them that he was at Jingu Garden. He also said that there was food stored in Jingu Garden, and that he, as Grand Commandant, ordered them to come and eat and rest now.

When they were originally breaking out, Liu Xian's order was to meet again at Heyin. But now, thinking about it, Heyin is thirty or forty li from Luoyang, which is still a bit far. The location of Jingu Garden is neither too close nor too far, but just right.

So, apart from Li Sheng who stayed in Jingu Garden to set up the cooking pots, everyone else mustered their spirits and rode out in all directions. Even Liu Xian himself was no exception; he led more than ten riders, intending to personally go to Heyin to investigate the situation.

Running along the road, the wind was cold. Not only was the physical fatigue still there, but even Fan Yu, the horse beneath him, was neighing in dissatisfaction. Unbeknownst to him, Fan Yu was already nearly twenty years old. Although far from death and still possessing strength surpassing that of ordinary horses, it was no longer what it used to be. Liu Xian patted its neck and whispered, "Old friend, just bear with it a little longer, we'll be there soon."

Though he said this, Liu Xian's heart was filled with worry. This was the result of defeat. He didn't know how many people were alive, how many were dead, or how many were still willing to follow him. Everything seemed like a mystery, keeping his mind preoccupied, but until the dust settled, he was powerless to change anything.

By this time, the flames in Luoyang were nearly extinguished, and a thin mist gradually rose from the ground. Yet, the chilly morning mist still carried the smell of ashes, and even a faint, pungent odor of blood, making the road ahead shrouded in darkness. Liu Xian could see various flags and armor abandoned in the fields at his feet, and some people lying motionless on the ground, indistinguishable between the living and the dead. Perhaps they were still alive, perhaps they had just died, or perhaps they were zombies from ten days or so ago.

But Liu Xian had no time to worry about that. The corpses that had been lamented by the people of Luoyang in October were now incomparable to the tragedy in Luoyang.

After about an hour, the group arrived at Heyin. The sky was gradually brightening, but the fog had grown even thicker, reducing visibility to only about ten feet. Liu Xian almost lost his way. However, he did hear some commotion and followed the sounds, eventually finding the market at the corner of Heyin city. It turned out that several dozen escaped Songzi camp knights were scavenging for food in the abandoned market, planning to cook a hearty meal.

Upon seeing Liu Xian approach, they were overjoyed and quickly bowed to him. Liu Xian waved for them to put down and then inquired about the situation. He learned that Gongsun Gong had led about eight hundred Songzi cavalrymen to break through the encirclement and arrive here. In addition, Guo Song's troops had also broken through and arrived here, along with a considerable number of other remnants of the army.

Hearing this, Liu Xian felt both comforted and saddened. So, of the three thousand Songzi soldiers who broke through, nearly two thousand remained—a remarkable survival rate. Yet, Liu Xian still felt heartache for the one thousand lost; these were his carefully nurtured followers, and rebuilding them would take an unknown amount of time.

He hurriedly went to see Gongsun Gong, who was drinking alone in a thatched hut. Upon seeing Liu Xian, Gongsun Gong immediately knelt down and said with great shame, "My lord, I am incompetent. During the breakout, I abandoned many horse armors and heavy armor in order to run faster. Please punish me, my lord."

"It's nothing, as long as you're alive, that's all that matters. Those things are just inanimate objects, everything will come back to normal." Liu Xian looked at the bloodstains all over him, knowing how difficult the journey had been, how could he blame Gongsun Gong? Besides, in times like these, every living person is extremely precious.

As they were talking, Guo Song arrived. He had just finished counting the troops in Heyin and reported to Liu Xian that, apart from the eight hundred men in Songzi Camp, there were about two thousand six hundred men here. However, Heyin had no food reserves, and most of the men had not eaten and were throwing tantrums.

This was exactly what Liu Xian wanted to hear. He smiled and said, "How can we go hungry? Follow me, and I'll take you all out for a good meal!"

Thus, roused by the call to eat their fill, the routed soldiers spontaneously regrouped. Gongsun Gong led the way, while Liu Xian brought up the rear with over a hundred Songzi soldiers. After all, at this point, the ranks were scattered, and falling behind was commonplace. To maintain order, Liu Xian had to forcefully pull back those who were about to collapse and were about to drop out. This was not only to control the troops but also to prevent unnecessary deaths.

When the group finally returned to Jingu Garden, exhausted, they found the entrance blocked. Blocking the fortified village was none other than a Western Army cavalry force carrying white tiger banners. There were approximately two thousand of them, shouting at the people inside, demanding they surrender.

Upon seeing this, Gongsun Gong immediately stopped. Aside from the Songzi camp, the remaining soldiers who had only come for a meal were all whispering amongst themselves. They asked in hushed tones: What's going on? Why is the Western Army here? Is Zhang Fang going to lead his troops to attack?
After saying that, some people immediately tried to turn around and leave, but Liu Xian stopped them.

Liu Xian scolded them in a low voice, "Don't scare yourselves. There are only so many of them right now. Where is Zhang Fang?! If you want to leave, there's no food, so where can you go?!"

The remaining soldiers were speechless for a moment, then asked, "What should we do then?"

"Fight back!" Liu Xian drew his sword and said, "I know we've lost the battle, everyone's hungry, and we're all homeless. But if we can't go home, what difference does it make where we die?"

After looking at each other for a while, everyone said there was no difference.

Liu Xian then said, "Here, we'll defeat them. If we win, we'll go in and have a good meal; if we lose, we'll die a dignified death!"

At this point, he seemed to have returned to his youth in Xia Yang, and said to everyone, "I'll charge ahead, you follow me! If we are destined to die here, I believe that even if we go to hell, we will be invincible!"

With him setting an example, morale rebounded, and many people praised him. However, the group was hungry and exhausted, and almost half of them were unarmored. Even if there were no reinforcements on the other side, just an ordinary army, could they really win? Liu Xian was uncertain.

He forced himself to go to the front, mounted Fanyu, and said to Gongsun Gong, "Stay close to me, don't get lost again."

Without war drums, horns, flags, or even shouts to boost morale, Liu Xian truly charged ahead. Apart from the few hundred cavalrymen from Songzi Camp, the others hesitated for a moment before drawing their swords and giving chase.

The Western Army knights who had been clamoring before the Golden Valley Garden were startled when they suddenly saw a group of people charging towards them from the north. But upon closer inspection, they immediately sneered. These men were disheveled and covered in dust; many wore tattered winter clothing, carried neither bows nor arrows, and many carried only a ring-pommel sword. Furthermore, due to their disrupted formation, they lacked any clear ranks. Such soldiers coming to fight were simply courting death.

They immediately chose to ride into battle, maintaining distance and firing arrows at the remaining soldiers, giving them no chance to get close.

This was probably the most destitute moment of Liu Xian's life on the battlefield. While willpower is important, every battle is ultimately determined by material conditions. Liu Xian had at least had a short rest, but his men, constantly running back and forth, were truly exhausted, both the horses and the men themselves. Even their extensive battlefield experience and skills were useless now; many could only use their flesh and blood to brave the rain of arrows and advance.

Some of them didn't have horses and had to run on foot. As soon as their formation broke, the Western soldiers split up and charged out, effortlessly reaping lives from the crowd. Liu Xian tried to regroup, but seeing that these few dozen men still had the strength, the Westerners rallied again, launching a massive attack with overwhelming numerical superiority.

This is probably what they mean by "a tiger fallen into the plains." After one defeat, the tiger's claws were weakened, leading to one defeat after another, one humiliation after another. The two thousand knights who were once no threat to Liu Xian were now repeatedly pushing him into perilous situations.

Just as Liu Xian was at his wit's end, amidst the chaos, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from the east, followed by shouts: "Guerrilla Suo is here! Surrender at once!"

Liu Xian recognized the voice as Zhuge Yan's, and he immediately shouted to the east, "Is that Nan Qiao? I'm here!"

This threw the Western Army knights into chaos. They had been confident of victory, but unexpectedly, a group of people suddenly appeared from the northeast, rushing towards their southwest and cutting off their retreat. Moreover, the dust billowed behind them, making it impossible to see how many people were coming.

This group of Western soldiers hadn't slept or rested after receiving orders, and had only managed to get through this ordeal. They thought they were coming to claim credit, but instead encountered two groups of enemies in quick succession. Overjoyed and devastated, their morale quickly plummeted. Seeing the enemy's panic, Liu Xian seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack, leading his men to capture the leading officer, whom they seized in one fell swoop. The remaining knights, bewildered, had no choice but to surrender on the spot.

The leading officer was named Ma Tai, the younger brother of Ma Zhan, a general of the Western Army's Tiger Division. He served as a cavalry captain in the Western Army. When he surrendered, he didn't know that the person in front of him was Liu Xian. He even tried to persuade Liu Xian to surrender, saying, "Friends, the court has been defeated, and the fate of the King of Changsha is unknown. Why are you still fighting for them? Our marshal has even defeated Liu Xian. He is invincible. You should surrender now!"

Then, seeing that Liu Xian seemed relatively young, he asked again, "What official position do you hold? My elder brother is Marshal Zhang's favorite general. With your courage and bravery, I will recommend you to him and guarantee you a better official position!"

Liu Xian glanced at him coldly and said, "I serve as Grand Commandant in the court. I would appreciate it if you could introduce me to someone."

Ma Tai was speechless, his face turning a deep purple-red, unsure of what to do.

Liu Xian ordered his soldiers to seize all the armor, weapons, and horses of the prisoners. Li Sheng, inside the Golden Valley Garden, seeing Liu Xian's victory, quickly opened the fortified village and brought them porridge. The morale of the remaining soldiers immediately improved; even though they had lost over two hundred lives in the brief battle, they no longer cared.

Liu Xian then went to meet the reinforcements that had suddenly appeared from the east. Sure enough, the newcomers were none other than Zhuge Yan.

It turned out that after receiving orders from Liu Xian, Zhuge Yan was still scouting the crossing point when he suddenly noticed light shining in the southern night sky. He then realized that Luoyang was ablaze and the Imperial Guards had suffered a crushing defeat. He immediately wanted to return to the Luoyang camp, but on the mountain path of Mangshan, he ran into the fleeing Western Army. Zhuge Yan blocked some of them on the path and then encountered Suo Jing, who was also trying to rally the surrounding routed soldiers.

The two hit it off immediately. Suo Jing gathered the remaining troops, while Zhuge Yan went to find news of Liu Xian. An hour earlier, they had encountered a group of envoys sent by Liu Xian and immediately headed towards Jin Valley Garden.

"How many of you are there?" Liu Xian had just noticed the thick cloud of dust behind them and thought to himself that the group was probably quite large, which pleased him greatly.

Unexpectedly, Zhuge Yan complained, "We have gathered more than 2,300 men, but there are not many cavalrymen who can ride horses, only 700."

"There should have been more, but Liu Shen's men, including Huangfu Dan, were unreliable. They insisted on leaving the horses behind and insisting on leaving! That's why we moved this way and happened to see His Highness suffering. So I came up with an idea: I tied tree branches to the horse's tail and ran around on the ground to scare these beasts!"

This answer disappointed Liu Xian somewhat, but regardless, they were still a vital force and had saved his life. Liu Xian immediately rallied and asked, "Where is Duke You'an? Where is he? I can't see him?"

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Yan hesitated for a moment. Seeing that Liu Xian seemed to be losing patience, he said in a low voice, "Lord Suo is injured and not feeling well. He should rest on his horse now."

"Where is it? Take me there quickly!"

They hurried a few steps and found Suo Jing in the grove of trees on the eastern hill. Suo Jing was lying on a large rock, wearing two layers of armor and a deerskin overlay for warmth. Seeing Liu Xian approach, he straightened himself slightly, revealing his blood-stained face. He looked Liu Xian over for a moment, then panted and laughed, "Huai Chong, you've got a sorry state of affairs!"

Seeing that he was still in the mood to joke and seemed to be alright, Liu Xian breathed a sigh of relief and replied jokingly, "This is all thanks to Duke You'an's good fortune; otherwise, I would have been accompanying Qi Wannian!"

The two had fought side by side since Niyang. Although they were of different generations, Liu Xian deeply respected Suo Jing because he was a true elder who cared deeply for the world. Knowing that he would be suspected, Suo Jing led ten thousand men to Luoyang to serve loyally, something Liu Xian could not do.

"Hahaha..." Suo Jing laughed twice, then stretched out his bark-like hand and grasped Liu Xian, saying, "Not bad, I have done a lot of good deeds in my life. I should go to the underworld and fight Qi Wannian again."

Suo Jing's hands were not only cold but also pale. Liu Xian then realized something was wrong and quickly tried to reach out to check Suo Jing's wound, but Suo Jing stopped him. Suo Jing smiled and said, "I'm getting old. I took an arrow to the waist. Thirty years ago, I would have been healed long ago. Now I'm sixty-five, it's normal that I can't make it..."

Liu Xian remained silent, gazing at the magnanimous old man, utterly at a loss for words. The man was far from home, without children or grandchildren, and saw no hope for the future of his country; he felt utterly powerless to say anything.

In the silence, Suo Jing asked, "But you, Huai Chong, where are you planning to go, you Kunpeng?"

"North or south?"

Under Liu Xian's surprised gaze, he finally said, "One should live with a clear conscience, and you have always done a good job. I believe in you, and I will definitely make the right choice and live up to everyone's expectations."

"It's such a pity I won't live to see the day you succeed..."

After saying this, Suo Jing sighed softly, closed his eyes, and seemed to fall asleep, as if exhausted, resting peacefully forever. (End of Chapter)