On the afternoon of the fourth day, the column of twenty-four thousand reached a hill before Dangyang (當陽).

The name of the hill was Changban (長坂): long, flat hill. Unlike its name, the distance from one end to the other ran twenty li. The whole surface of those twenty li was covered this afternoon with the twenty-four thousand. They moved south along the road, but the column's pace today was a li slower than yesterday.

The dust of Cao Cao's (曹操) advance cavalry had now risen large at the rear. By today the north-south distance had narrowed sharply. Cao Cao's cavalry numbered five thousand, led in the vanguard by Cao Chun (曹純). Behind them, Cao Ren's (曹仁) twenty thousand foot followed. Between the twenty-four thousand column and Cao Cao's five thousand horse lay ten li.

Liu Bei (劉備) looked back from the head of the column. The dust on the northern horizon was no longer a single dot but a line. A line of dust was coming down south, swiftly.

Kongming (孔明) spoke quietly beside him.

"Your Lordship. The situation this afternoon is not what it was yesterday. Five thousand cavalry can swallow our rear in a single stroke. Yet our rear carries twenty-four thousand of the people. Your Lordship's resolve has two roads."

"What are the two roads?"

"First. Abandon the people and go swiftly south. Your Lordship could reach a safe place near Jiangling (江陵) by this evening. Second. Stay with the people, and entrust this afternoon's rear-guard to Generals Guan Yu (關羽) and Zhang Fei (張飛). If the two generals hold off the five thousand cavalry, the first step of the twenty-four thousand may come down south safely."

Liu Bei was long silent.

The first road was the swift road. The second was the heavy road. But somewhere within him, the weight of the seventy-year-old's bundle from yesterday afternoon was already tied to the side of his saddle. To loosen that weight this afternoon did not belong to the rhythm of his life.

He spoke quietly, in a single line.

"Da shi yi ren wei ben (大事以人爲本). In great work, take people as the root. To leave this child (the little Liu, and his mother, and the seventy-year-old, and the rest of the twenty-four thousand) and go swiftly down — I do not choose."

Kongming bowed his head. Within that bow lay the confirmation of an answer he had already sensed since morning.

"Just so. The second road."

Liu Bei turned his horse's head toward the rear.

"Yunchang. Yide."

The two younger brothers lifted their heads at their posts. Liu Bei gave each a single sentence.

"Yunchang. At the southern end of the eastern hill, hold back the right wing of the five thousand cavalry. A single ringing of the Green Dragon Blade (靑龍刀) will leave their right wing half a measure late."

Guan Yu bowed deeply. "Yes, Brother."

"Yide. At the northern end of the western hill, hold back the left wing of the five thousand cavalry. A single descent of your Eight-Serpent Spear (八蛇矛) will leave their left wing half a measure late. And — I need your voice."

"My voice, Brother?"

"Your voice: shout your own name loud, before the five thousand cavalry. Shout Zhang Yide (張翼德) loud. The ringing of your name will further disturb the center rhythm of the five thousand. Use the power of your name today."

Zhang Fei clenched his fist. His two eyes shone large.

Liu Bei entrusted the twenty-four thousand to Kongming. At the head of the column, Kongming lifted his command-rod quietly. The fan had become, this afternoon, the command-rod. With one motion of Kongming's fan, the twenty-four thousand began to move a further li south.

On horseback, Liu Bei raised his right hand. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei each took five hundred cavalry and parted to the eastern and western hills. The thousand of the two brothers would stop the five thousand of Cao Cao's cavalry.

The dust on the northern horizon now took concrete shape. The banner of the vanguard Cao Chun (曹純) became visible, and behind it the gleam of iron armor. One thousand horse against five thousand. The fight at Changban, this afternoon, was beginning.

Liu Bei looked once more at the far north. Then he turned and looked at the column to the south. The two faces of two directions passed over his two cheeks. The north-facing face was the face of the enemy; the south-facing face was the face of his own people.

One man and ten thousand followers. This was an afternoon in which a single man's thread guarded the rear of twenty-four thousand. To guard twenty-four thousand with one man's body came before stopping five thousand horse with one thousand. The blade-tips of a thousand horse were firming, this afternoon, only to guard the direction of the first step of twenty-four thousand behind one man's own back.

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