Under the eyes of the battered troops who had escaped to safety on the southern bank, the Imperial Army's formation on the northern bank proved unable to withstand a single blow. Almost the instant the two sides made contact, the entire line collapsed. Countless soldiers jumped straight into the Ying River, their wails, sobs, and curses mingling with the horses' neighing and the snapping of the warm wind.
The battle had been utterly beyond saving from the start.
On the high ground of the southern bank, Xie Shang gaped, dumbstruck. His instinct was to flee, yet he actually forced it down, because Yao Xiang had not escaped across yet.
He looked around, but everyone his gaze fell upon, from Yuan Hong and his other trusted advisers to the generals and Banner Chiefs who had escaped across, lowered their heads and avoided his eyes.
"I'll go meet the Great Chanyu," Liu Cheng volunteered just then.
Without waiting to see Xie Shang's reaction, he headed straight for the pontoon bridge and had Liu Huzi, who had already begun ordering his men to shoot fleeing soldiers, find him a small boat. Then he personally took two guards toward Yao Xiang's banner on the opposite embankment.
Halfway across, however, he noticed that Yao Xiang already had boats ready, so he waited in the middle of the river, doing his best not to notice the increasingly strong smell of blood and the cries.
A short while later, the Great Chanyu of the Qiang people did indeed board a boat and come across amid the curses of those around him. The two boats met, and the two men looked at each other without a word, though Yao Xiang actually seemed somewhat evasive.
Liu Cheng understood perfectly well, but said nothing.
He knew what had happened... In