Chapter Five: The Family's Flight from Calamity

Yellow Gate Pavilion, Deng Clan Ancestral Hall.

After the Deng clan relocated to Yellow Gate Pavilion, their family flourished and branched out, spreading throughout the countryside. The family register now counted over three hundred members. The Shen clan followed closely behind, numbering over two hundred. With the addition of other families, the combined population of several neighboring hamlets around Yellow Gate Pavilion surpassed a thousand souls.

In the earliest days, the Deng and Shen families had lived in two adjacent hamlets near Yellow Gate Pavilion. Over time, both clans grew in strength and influence until they became the leading families in their respective communities.

In this generation, the Deng family had six direct descendants, each overseeing a different hamlet around Yellow Gate Pavilion, holding sway over clan affairs. No family council could be convened without their assent.

When Deng Hong learned that Cao Cao had massacred Qulu, confirming Shen Chen’s prediction, he hastened to dispatch messengers to summon the Deng clan elders scattered throughout the hamlets, urging them to answer the call and convene a council.

Though Deng Hong was the youngest son, the Deng family upheld the values of filial piety and fraternal respect. Upon hearing the urgency of their youngest brother's request, the elder siblings did not refuse. The eldest, Deng Mao, now over fifty, presided over the deliberations in the ancestral hall.

By tradition, outsiders were not permitted within the Deng ancestral hall. But given the gravity of the situation, Deng Hong brought Shen Chen with him. They gathered in the right wing of the hall, where the brothers conferred.

The elders took their seats in turn. Deng Hong recounted the situation in detail; the elders exchanged troubled glances. After a long silence, Deng Mao finally spoke in a grave tone, "Sixth Brother, this concerns the very survival of our entire clan. Are you certain of the news?"

"Surely you haven’t forgotten, Eldest Brother, that only a few days ago I borrowed your horse," Deng Hong replied. "The clansmen sent to investigate reported what they saw with their own eyes. If you doubt it, summon them for questioning and see for yourself."

"Yes, caution is best," Deng Mao agreed.

He ordered the messenger to be brought in. Waiting outside, the clansman came in and described all he had witnessed.

Cao Cao himself had led his army south. After passing through Pengcheng, he entered the territory of Xiapi. Qulu, being the closest to Pengcheng, was the first to suffer the massacre. By the time the Deng family scout reached Qulu, Cao’s troops had already departed.

What he saw was devastation: the land littered with countless corpses. The Cao army had shown no mercy, slaughtering all in every village and hamlet they passed, burning homes to the ground. Most settlements were clustered along the riverbanks.

Xuzhou was cradled by two major rivers: the Si and the Huai. Qulu County lay between the Sui River and the Si. Bodies floated downstream from the upper reaches of the Sui toward the Si, clogging the entire waterway.

Hearing this, Deng Mao and the other elders were struck with horror.

In the Han dynasty, communication was rudimentary at best. Villagers lived their entire lives in one place, rarely venturing more than twenty kilometers from home. They knew nothing of the empire's shifting tides, the identity of the current emperor, or even that the Han dynasty was all but a name.

So when Cao Cao wiped out a county, leaving no survivors, the people of neighboring counties remained ignorant. Otherwise, how could it be that, in history, after Cao Cao slaughtered five cities, the people of Xuzhou did not flee?

Thus, once the Deng clan elders understood the truth, terror seized their hearts. Deng Hong’s second brother, Deng Kai, spoke in a trembling voice, "Is Cao Cao truly intent on exterminating all of Xuzhou? Has he lost his mind?"

"He is not mad," Shen Chen said, sitting cross-legged with an air of calm maturity, his gaze steady as he addressed the elders. "He knows full well that he cannot match Yuan Shu in open battle. To prevent Yuan Shu from seizing the rich lands of Xuzhou, he must reduce Xuzhou to utter ruin."

"Then... what should we do now?" Deng Mao asked anxiously. "Cao Cao has already sent his army; chaos grips the north of the Huai. Even if we want to flee, where can we go?"

"I spoke of this two months ago," Shen Chen replied. "The whole clan dismissed my words as nonsense. Had we fled then, we might have made it safely to Jingzhou. Now, the only option is to escape north, hide in Mount Niqiu, and wait until Cao Cao’s slaughter of Xuzhou is done before making further plans."

"Can we not go east?" Deng Kai, who had traveled in his youth—though only within Xuzhou and Yangzhou—knew that from Qu County, roughly today’s Lianyungang, one could head south into Guangling Commandery, bypassing Xiapi, and from Guangling enter Yangzhou, then perhaps reach Jingzhou.

But Shen Chen shook his head. "I often converse with merchants and travelers. Guangling is now under the control of Zuo Rong, who is notorious for his cruelty. All who pass are preyed upon. For our whole clan to flee south through his territory would be like sheep into the tiger’s maw."

"Alas, these are hard times indeed," Deng Mao sighed, looking around. "Brothers, A-Chen speaks wisely. This concerns the survival of us all; we must act decisively. What do you think?"

"We have no other choice."

"I have no objection."

"Then it is settled: we will escape north to Mount Niqiu."

Finally, Deng Hong declared, "Brothers, let us immediately gather all the people from our villages and prepare to move."

"There is no time to lose," Shen Chen added. "Cao Cao, having slaughtered Xiapi, will not spare Shanyan County. Beyond preventing Yuan Shu’s advance to seize Xuzhou, he is also bent on avenging Tao Gongzu!"

In recent days, Shen Chen had analyzed every move Cao Cao had made since his attack on Tao Qian the previous year. He concluded that Cao’s chief strategic aim was to prevent Yuan Shu from advancing north. Secondarily, it was clear he sought vengeance for his father.

Xuzhou was rich, especially in Donghai State, Xiapi State, and Guangling Commandery. Of these, Guangling had been ravaged by Zuo Rong and lay too close to Jiangdong, far from Cao’s reach. Donghai still harbored remnants of Tao Qian’s forces and was closer to Cao’s territory, so he did not wish to utterly destroy Donghai, as he still coveted Xuzhou as a whole.

Thus, Xiapi, lying between Yuan Shu’s Huainan and Cao Cao’s Yanzhou, became the primary target for Cao’s slaughter. His aim was to turn the central region into a desolate no-man’s-land, but that did not mean he would spare Shanyan County, for Tao Qian was still his enemy, and vengeance for his father remained.

The Deng clan had not believed Shen Chen’s warnings, but the truth now lay before their eyes—his prediction that Xiapi would be massacred had come to pass. No one dared delay; they immediately called upon the villagers to prepare for flight.

Yet the millet seedlings had only just been planted; leaving their homeland was a bitter prospect, and persuading everyone to flee at once was no small task.

When Xun Yu, upon discovering Dong Zhuo’s usurpation, resigned his post and returned home, he tried to urge the elders to lead the people of Yingchuan away from the coming chaos, but the villagers refused to leave—after which, many perished in Dong Zhuo’s violence. It was a classic lesson.

Fortunately, the Deng and Shen clans were intermarried; persuading the Dengs meant the Shens would follow. Half the people in Yellow Gate Pavilion were of these two clans, the rest relying on their leadership. With the elders’ urging, most agreed to pack their belongings and prepare to leave.

Nor was it only Yellow Gate Pavilion; for the Han people, bonds of kinship were everything. Once news spread of Cao Cao’s massacre in Xiapi, neighbors hurried to inform their friends and relatives in nearby villages, and soon the whole county of Xiangben knew of it.

In the days that followed, word traveled even farther, reaching neighboring counties within a radius of forty or fifty li, stirring great alarm. The news quickly reached Tao Qian himself.

Shanyan County in Donghai State was very close to Xiangben. In recent days, many villagers from Xiangben were moving their families. Local officials and elders could not ignore such an exodus and reported it up the chain. Thus, even as the crisis was still unfolding, within two days Tao Qian had dispatched an envoy to investigate.

His confidant, Cao Hong, was sent to Xiangben to ascertain the truth. Having learned the full story, he returned to Shanyan to report back to Tao Qian.