Chapter 13: A True Man Cannot Go a Single Day Without Power

Gongsun Xun stepped out of the Wangri Tower and was immediately hit by the cold air outside, making him sneeze… He truly had no idea how he was supposed to face Han Dang now.

But if he didn't give an explanation, that… wouldn't be right either, would it?

Thinking this, Gongsun Xun lingered awkwardly beside the Wangri Tower, until he finally spotted a familiar-looking attendant of the Commandery Governor and asked him to summon his clan cousin Gongsun Yue.

"Barrier Commandant?!" Han Dang was both shocked and furious. "Did the Governor really say that?"

"That is indeed the case." Gongsun Yue also frowned, though it was unclear whether he was displeased with Governor Hou or with Han Dang's attitude. "My elder brother tried to secure the Garrison Commander post for you but failed, and he is so ashamed he dared not come to see you, Brother Yigong, so he sent me to convey this matter on his behalf."

Han Dang remained silent.

Cheng Pu, standing to the side, was after all more seasoned and had spent many years navigating the commandery office, so he had some insight into these matters. Shaking his head slightly, he instead offered Han Dang a few words of consolation: "In this world, for a son of a humble family to rise is ultimately difficult. Yigong, do not dwell on it, and above all, do not let it lead you astray!"

Han Dang still said nothing, lost in who knows what thoughts.

"Oh, right." Gongsun Yue turned back toward Cheng Pu and said, "Brother Demou, you need not worry too much. My elder brother asked me to tell you that he is going right now to see our clan uncle. That side is far easier to deal with than this one, and he will certainly arrange a fine post for you!"

Cheng Pu immediately straightened his expression and bowed in thanks.

As it happened, just as everyone imagined, this Gongsun Zhao was a complete pushover. Moreover, the man had just recently earned great merit while lying flat on his back, so how could he possibly quibble with his nephew, who had fought through blood and fire, over the promotion of some minor clerk?

And so, Gongsun Xun arrived still carrying his anger and came close to simply slamming the table: "Cheng Demou must at the very least get a substantive post as a commandery bureau deputy, ranked at two hundred dan!"

Gongsun Zhao nodded on the spot, saying that the Law Bureau of Youbeiping Commandery happened to be short a Deputy Clerk, and since Governor Wang was still counting on him to share the military merits, the Governor would certainly not slight his face and would just give the post to Cheng Demou.

One had to admit, pushovers had their advantages—straightforward and decisive!

But as for Han Dang's situation, there was truly nothing to be done.

And so, the next day, the two Grand Administrators jointly inspected the severed heads, confirmed the merits, bestowed rewards of goods and money, and laid out wine and meat. The entire Lulong Fortress was filled with celebration. As for Cheng Pu and Han Dang, the outcome ran exactly as the earlier rumors had foretold: the former had a great stroke of fortune and was directly appointed Deputy Clerk of the Commandery Law Bureau, while the latter was promoted to Barrier Commandant of Lingzhi Fortress—a post of the same two-hundred-dan rank, yet one that drew ridicule from his comrades in the fortress.

Once the matter was settled, Gongsun Xun had no face left to see Han Dang. He forced himself to stay one more day in the fortress, and once Gongsun Yue also received his letter of recommendation, they gathered Gongsun Zan, and the three brothers, leading their retainers and companions, returned to Lingzhi City for the New Year. At the same time, they packed their belongings and bid farewell to their families, preparing to set out for Luoyang as soon as spring arrived to broaden their horizons.

"I've finally seen it clearly." One day after the New Year, in the afternoon, as snowflakes drifted down outside the window like goose feathers, inside a clan building heated by the underground flues 'invented' by Lady Gongsun, Gongsun Zan, having had a few extra cups, could not help but voice a thought from his heart. "A true man cannot go a single day without power!"

"What does Elder Brother mean by that?" Gongsun Yue, who had been called over to join the drinking, looked utterly puzzled. "Why suddenly bring up such a thing during the New Year celebrations?"

"What do I mean?" Gongsun Zan poured himself a cup of hot wine and sneered. "Look, before my father-in-law recognized my worth, the only influential family in the clan that valued me was A-Xun's. My own father wouldn't even look me straight in the eye… And A-Xun, hah, he's also fatherless, so we shared that misery. But the moment I became the Commandery Governor's son-in-law, in these past days, people I could never even see before have suddenly turned obsequious, one after another coming to curry favor… Even a brand-new house with its own courtyard was sent over! Oh, right, A-Yue, do you know that legitimate son from the second branch?"

"You mean Gongsun Fan, the direct grandson of that granduncle who once served as Grand Administrator of Shanggu Commandery?" Gongsun Yue thought for a moment, then caught on. "What… about him?"

"He came to see me this morning to offer New Year's greetings as well." Gongsun Zan was still sneering. "This is the first time he's ever remembered that I am the eldest brother of this generation."

Gongsun Yue was speechless.

On one hand, having grown up poor and suffered his share of discrimination, he seemed to hold some sympathy for Gongsun Zan's grievances; but on the other hand, this Gongsun Fan had, after all, come with proper courtesy, and though he had never made an effort to be close before, neither had he ever directed any targeted malice or ill deeds toward them. To hate someone for no reason just because they were born into a good family… what kind of reasoning was that?

"Just watch!" The more Gongsun Zan drank, the more he talked. "One day, I, Gongsun Bogui, will also become a two-thousand-dan official like my father-in-law, acting without restraint, so that no one will ever look down on me again!"

Gongsun Yue grew even more silent.

"Enough." At the same time, in a deep courtyard mansion on the eastern side of the clan settlement, the underground flues 'invented' by Lady Gongsun were also burning strong. Lady Gongsun herself, sitting cross-legged on the heated kang, finally set down the account book in her hands and then, with some impatience, removed her most treasured spectacles. "So you couldn't get that Han Dang a good position—is that worth sighing and groaning about for days on end? What is this? You're ruining everyone's mood for the New Year!"

"The key is, it's just too great a pity!" Gongsun Xun lay on a strange long chair by the far window, staring out at the goose-feather snowflakes drifting down, his expression filled with dejection. "I went so far as to risk my life in a night raid to win him over, and in the end, it all fell apart because of a single word from the Grand Administrator… Power truly is a fine thing, deciding everything with a single sentence."

"That's why it's called feudal society." Lady Gongsun sighed as well. "When I was young, for reasons you know, I found this even harder to stomach. But there's no helping it—that's just how this world is. The Great Han Dynasty has tens of millions of people, after all. What can one person do? Since you lack the ability to change it, you can only choose to blend into it, use its rules to secure a good position for yourself… The same will hold true in the future. So-called effort…"

"Strive to make one's name known among the feudal lords, in order to preserve one's life through the coming chaos." Gongsun Xun recited the words effortlessly. "I know."

"It's good that you know." So saying, Lady Gongsun lay back on the heated kang, and a young maidservant nimbly climbed up and began massaging her temples. "Silly boy, today I'll say a few more things, and you listen carefully. Your old mother here has observed this world for decades, and objectively speaking, this Great Han Dynasty has two problems that are absolutely more troublesome than the Xianbei who come to fight year after year. One is regional discrimination. Not just between provinces—even people from the neighboring commandery can bar you from doing business there simply because you're not a native of their commandery. Even if you're just passing through their territory peacefully, the local strongmen might draw their blades on you for no reason at all, just because you're an outsider! Look at our family's business—we have the capital and the trade routes, but going west, we can't get past the line of Zhuo Commandery and Zhongshan; going south, we can't get past Mount Tai. Being able to open a branch in Ye City is already the people in Jizhou giving us face for years of cooperation. If the Mi family of Xuzhou doesn't give us face, we simply can't set up shop in Langya."

Gongsun Xun shook his head as well—this was a well-worn topic between mother and son.

"The other one," Lady Gongsun continued, her voice turning wistful as she sighed, "is this matter of birth status we've been talking about. Thinking back, it was truly fortunate that the first person I encountered after arriving was your father. Even dead, he could still leave me the title of Lady Gongsun. Tell me, if I had run into someone from a humble family, wouldn't that have been the difficulty of the eighteenth level of hell? And if I had met some commoner from the very bottom, what other path would there have been besides waiting to die like those refugees at Guanzi City? And thank heavens it didn't happen when I was traveling in Korea—if it had been there, I'd probably have been sold off as a slave woman of the Samhan to who knows where…"

That last sentence, Gongsun Xun pretended he hadn't heard at all.

"In short, in this age, never mind a commoner from the bottom like Han Dang—even a local strongman with money and power but no connections or inherited knowledge, what they call a 'humble family,' can only be a local tyrant, a rural magnate, without a sliver of hope of rising even one step higher…"

"Since the world is like this, why did Mother teach me from childhood to treat everyone equally, to judge by ability, and not to focus on birth status?"

"Because treating everyone equally is the right way," Lady Gongsun raised a hand to stop the maidservant's massage, sat up, and answered with a serious expression. "And this discrimination based on family status is wrong! Think about it—if the upper class weren't locking down the channels for the lower class to rise, if the rich weren't getting richer and the poor poorer, if those in power understood the principle of treating all equally, wouldn't this Great Han Dynasty last for ten thousand generations? A four-hundred-year-old dynasty, such a vast territory, such a huge population, yet reduced to its current state—isn't it precisely because there are too many wrongs like this?"

Gongsun Xun was slightly stunned. He turned his head and stared at his mother, unable to speak for a long while.

"Boy, what are you thinking?" Even without her spectacles, Lady Gongsun sensed her son's unusual reaction.

"I was thinking… this time, I truly believe those words Mother said back then." Gongsun Xun said as he rose. "When those in power are all like Governor Hou, no matter how capable they are, the realm will still descend into chaos."

"That remark of yours does touch on the inner logic." Lady Gongsun nodded slightly. "I'll tell you plainly—for a dynasty this vast to collapse so easily, its internal contradictions must have intensified to a certain point. It's not so obvious here in the border commanderies, since ethnic conflicts suppress class conflicts here—whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know… If you ever get the chance to see the inner commanderies and kingdoms, that's where you'll truly see…"

"So it is said, a true man cannot go a single day without power!" Gongsun Xun suddenly flipped over and sat up from that strange reclining chair, clearly having not listened seriously to his mother's teachings at all. "People like me should be the ones sitting in positions like Governor Hou's!"

"Gongsun Xun, I must warn you! In chaotic times, high ambition is not necessarily a problem, but you must act within your limits—the first to die are always the birds that stick their necks out… Are you going out?"

"Yes." Gongsun Xun, already dressing with the help of a maidservant, responded in a low voice.

"It's the New Year, and the snow is falling so heavily, and you're going out now… Where to? To find that boy Gongsun Zan and drink together?"

"I'm not in the mood for that." Gongsun Xun shook his head. "Such heavy snow—for some people it's an elegant pleasure, but for others, it's a catastrophe that can wipe them out… Isn't that what you taught me, Mother? The families of those retainers and cavalrymen who went to battle with me and died outside Lulong Fortress—I should send them some more firewood and charcoal. Going there in person before I leave can at least count as a token of my regard."

"Then go." Lady Gongsun could not resist putting on her spectacles and casting a light glance at her son. "These past few years of struggling in the commandery office have truly made you grow up quite a bit… It's just that charcoal is such a troublesome thing, and I haven't found a suitable coal mine either, otherwise I could ensure that no one in the entire city freezes to death."

Gongsun Xun pushed open the door and went out, departing into the falling snow.

"Gongsun Zan, styled Bogui, was a man of Lingzhi in Liaoxi and an elder clan cousin of the Grand Ancestor. He served as a clerk under the commandery office. He had a fine bearing and a great voice. Governor Hou thought highly of him and gave him his daughter in marriage, then sent him to study the classics under Lu Zhi of Zhuo Commandery." — Old Book of Yan, Volume 67, Biographies of the Various Gongsuns

Thanks to Tai Mei, Lay Scholar Bailu, and Lin Dajun for the red rewards… and of course, Xiao Ming's second cutie… My saved drafts are collapsing… though mainly it's because I'm lazy.

(End of Chapter)