After Sun Jian had returned to Jiangdong, Luoyang remained an empty heap of ashes. The allied army was already breaking up. Yuan Shao (袁紹) held camp at Henei, yet his grain was thin. His counselor Feng Ji (逢紀) offered a low line. "A great captain who crosses all under heaven — how should he wait for another's grain to eat? Jizhou (冀州) is a land rich in grain and treasure. Why do you not take it?"

By Feng Ji's plan, Yuan Shao sent a letter to Gongsun Zan (公孫瓚): "Let us attack Jizhou together and divide its land in halves." Gongsun Zan rejoiced and raised his army that very day. Meanwhile, Yuan Shao secretly sent a messenger to Han Fu (韓馥): "Gongsun Zan's sharpness cannot be withstood; call me to manage the prefecture's affairs together." Han Fu wavered and called Yuan Shao in. Within days, Yuan Shao entered Jizhou; Han Fu received the hollow title of General Who Shows Majesty and fled to Chenliu.

Gongsun Zan, on hearing this, was angered. He sent his younger brother Gongsun Yue (公孫越) to demand the promised half of the land. On the way back, a band of cavalry sprang out shouting, "We are of the household troops of Chancellor Dong." Arrows fell in disorder upon Gongsun Yue's back. He fell from his horse and died. One servant escaped and ran to Gongsun Zan.

Gongsun Zan was greatly angered. "Yuan Shao lured me to attack Han Fu and seized the seat first; now he has sent false cavalry of Dong Zhuo's to kill my brother. I shall repay this grudge." He raised the whole main force at once and rushed toward Jizhou. The two camps met at a bridge above the Pan River (磐河). The name of that bridge was Jieqiao (界橋).

Gongsun Zan halted his horse upon the bridge. He shouted loudly toward Yuan Shao. "You who have betrayed righteousness. You dared to sell me." Yuan Shao rode to the bridge's end and pointed at Gongsun Zan. "Han Fu had no talent; he gave Jizhou to me himself. What concern is it of yours?" Gongsun Zan was greatly angered. "Yesterday I raised you as chief in the name of loyalty; today you are of the wolf-heart and dog-deed kind."

Yuan Shao turned his horse. "Who dares seize that one?" Before the line ended, Wen Chou (文醜) lifted his spear slantwise and rode up the bridge. Gongsun Zan met him. Before ten exchanges had passed, Gongsun Zan could not hold; he turned his horse and fled. Wen Chou's pursuit came like a wildfire. Four captains of Gongsun Zan's line rushed out; in a single thrust of Wen Chou's spear one captain fell beneath his horse, and the other three fled. Wen Chou pursued Gongsun Zan to a mountain hollow. Gongsun Zan dropped his bow, and his helmet fell. His horse buckled its front knees, and Gongsun Zan rolled down the slope. Wen Chou's spear came down straight toward Gongsun Zan's chest.

In that very moment, from the left of the grass slope, a youthful captain leapt in upon his horse with spear slantwise. Eight chi tall, thick eyebrows, large eyes, broad face, a double chin. His bearing was impressive. He faced Wen Chou head-on. Fifty to sixty exchanges passed, yet the contest was not decided. In that interval, Gongsun Zan's main force came up from behind the slope. Wen Chou turned his rein and set his course back.

The youthful captain did not pursue Wen Chou. He only brought his horse down the slope and made a courtesy before Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan, seeing his face for the first time, took a deep breath. "Where are you from?"

"I am from Zhenting (眞定) of Changshan (常山). My surname is Zhao (趙), my given name Yun (雲), my style Zilong (子龍). I was formerly of Lord Yuan's retinue; yet, seeing that he had neither the heart of loyalty to the ruler nor the saving of the people, I left that seat. I did not know that I would meet you here today."

Gongsun Zan was greatly pleased. He took Zhao Yun back to his own camp. That night, the name of Zhao Yun was written, for the first time, upon a grain of this world.

Upon the bridge at Jieqiao, the prefect of Pingyuan, Liu Bei (劉備), and his two younger brothers Guan Yu (關羽) and Zhang Fei (張飛), stood beside Gongsun Zan bearing spear and blade. Zhao Yun's face came into Liu Bei's eye a second time. The tilt of Zhao Yun's spear before Gongsun Zan's hearth in Day 8 was, today, receiving its name officially upon the bridge at Jieqiao. Liu Bei swallowed a single line within himself. The time to bring it out past his lips had not yet come. He only folded that face, once more, into the edge of the pocket over his chest.

The twenty-ninth evening of Book 1 deepened quietly upon the bridge at Jieqiao. The three characters Gyegyohoe (界橋會, the seat at the bridge of Jieqiao) were planted as a seed: the breath in which the first hairline crack of the alliance opened into a border-line upon one bridge. The body that went southward in Day 28's Jangsaeshin and the border-line upon the bridge today stood beneath the same sky.

—