A desperado bests 10,000 fellows

“A desperado bests 10,000 fellows” is a saying about the disproportionate force of a fighter who gives no thought to his own survival. Its clearest enactment is Chu Wanli’s bloody stand against Duan Yanqing; elsewhere, the perilous crises around Xiao Feng show how individual nerve can steady armies and alter the balance of power, even as the authority won in battle becomes a burden.

Meaning and First Application

At Little Mirror Lake, Chu Wanli faces Duan Yanqing with a copper staff that is poorly suited to his own strengths. The weapon is Fu Sigui’s: thick, long, and heavy, it calls for steadiness, while Chu Wanli’s martial skill favors speed and lightness. He nevertheless swings it in a disorderly rush, aiming each blow at a vital part of Duan Yanqing and giving no thought to his own life. The saying turns that apparent recklessness into a tactical fact: even Duan Yanqing, though powerfully skilled, is forced to retreat again and again.

The exchange is not a simple triumph of aggression. Duan Yanqing’s iron-cane thrust is timed to reverse their positions, forcing Chu Wanli to choose between evasion and being struck. Chu Wanli refuses to yield. As he keeps attacking, Duan Yanqing’s blows pierce holes in his body, yet he appears not to feel the pain and swings faster. The grass beside the lake becomes spattered with fresh blood: the saying’s “desperado” is not invulnerable, but dangerous because injury does not immediately stop his forward assault.

A Change in the Fight

Chu Wanli’s stand changes the encounter’s immediate terms. Duan Yanqing had used speed and positioning to threaten him, but the prospect of being struck at the waist makes Duan Yanqing jump away rather than risk both men being injured. Once Chu Wanli presses his attack, Duan Yanqing must keep giving ground despite landing repeated wounds. The expression therefore describes a reversal in practical advantage, not a claim that raw courage guarantees victory.

Duan Zhengchun then calls for Chu Wanli to fall back and takes a sword from Ruan Xingzhu, intending to join the fight against Duan Yanqing. Chu Wanli urges his lord to retreat instead. Duan Zhengchun presses on, and Duan Yanqing uses the opening to block Chu Wanli’s staff and thrust toward Duan Zhengchun’s brow, forcing him to step aside. Chu Wanli’s willingness to risk himself has delayed Duan Yanqing, but it has not ended the danger to the people he is trying to protect.

Courage and Command

In the Liao conflict, the expression’s martial logic finds a different scale. When a bugle relays word of rebellion in the capital, YeLu HongJi orders an immediate return. The call travels from signal station to signal station until it reaches the great tent; the gathering’s noisy celebration falls silent, and the army prepares to move. The response is orderly rather than panicked, but the scale of the crisis becomes clear when the rebellion is traced to the Prince of Chu and his father, YeLu ZhongYuan, the emperor’s powerful uncle and commander of the army.

The danger has roots in succession. YeLu LongXu had designated his eldest son, YeLu ZongZhen, to inherit the throne, although the empress favored her younger son, YeLu ZhongYuan. ZongZhen warned his brother of their mother’s scheme, and ZhongYuan did not take the throne; after ZongZhen’s death, however, the succession passed to his son, YeLu HongJi, rather than to ZhongYuan. HongJi later gave his uncle the title of royal emperor uncle, made him supreme commander, and granted him exceptional honors, while placing the Prince of Chu in charge of the Southern Chancellery. These reconciliations and appointments leave the rebellion entangled with the imperial family itself.

From Personal Nerve to Political Power

Faced with a force of five hundred thousand under his uncle and cousin, HongJi chooses to fight rather than retreat. He promises promotion and rewards, puts on golden armor and a helmet, and personally leads three bodies of troops toward the enemy. His soldiers see their emperor riding at the front; their courage rises, and they pledge loyalty to the death. Xiao Feng rides beside HongJi as his personal bodyguard, armed with bow and spear, while the Flying Bear troops protect A'Zi at the rear. Here, resolve works not through a solitary charge but by giving the army a visible leader to follow.

After Xiao Feng brings the captured royal emperor uncle up the mountain, HongJi clasps Xiao Feng’s hands in relief and says that he will share his country with his brother. Xiao Feng advises him to pardon the uncle, arguing that the immediate priority is to restore the rebels’ morale. HongJi agrees and appoints Xiao Feng Prince of Chu and Lord of the Southern Chancellery, ordering him to lead the rebel army back to the capital. Xiao Feng is stunned: he had acted to save his sworn brother, not to obtain rank, and asks HongJi to withdraw the appointment. The episode extends the saying’s concern with personal courage into a political paradox: decisive action can win authority for someone who does not want it.

The Cost of the Victory

Xiao Feng accepts the work that follows the crisis, returning to the Southern Chancellery to oversee affairs. Tribal chiefs, military officers, palace officials, and envoys from the many states associated with the Liao Empire come to pay their respects or curry favor. For more than a month, he is occupied by visitors, treasures, and praise. The aftermath replaces the immediacy of combat with the routines and temptations of office, showing how quickly a battlefield rescue becomes a position in the machinery of empire.

HongJi then tells Xiao Feng to be based in Nanjing and prepare to lead a southern expedition against the Great Song when circumstances permit. He explains that the Liao forces need time to recover and that an invasion should wait until internal disorder offers an advantage. Xiao Feng answers that the undertaking is serious and that the troops are not ready. The contrast sharpens the expression’s limits: the courage that helps a fighter or ruler survive an immediate crisis does not make war consequence-free, nor does it resolve the moral and administrative demands that follow victory.