Chapter 386: High Officials Are Not Born So from the Start

Lady Gongsun did not come to Chang'an for the New Year alone — Diaochan also returned with her. Cai Yan, however, did not; it is said she stayed behind in Hedong to manage the salt fields. Not only that, Lady Feng from far-off Changping also came, and she brought with her the Guard General's second son, Gongsun Ping. As for this, Gongsun Xun considered that her father and family were all in Chang'an, and that his future daughter-in-law Dong Bai was also in Guanzhong, so he saw no reason to say much about it.

And these were merely minor matters. What truly drew Gongsun Xun's attention were those who arrived alongside Lady Gongsun — the so-called legendary Anlihao project examination... ahem, that is, the large number of accountants, shopkeepers, caravan leaders, and senior local downline members from within the Anlihao system who came with Lady Gongsun.

At the same time, several hundred young "scholars" who had once studied in Changping also arrived in Guanzhong along with them. In fact, Lady Feng had hitched a ride on this very same convenient journey.

Now, because most of these people were from Youzhou, or at most from Yanmen and the two northwestern commanderies of Jizhou, they generally spoke with a northern accent. Moreover, in the wintertime, instead of wearing traditional headscarves, they universally wore the Anlihao northern ear-protecting magic treasure — dog-fur hats — which made them extremely conspicuous.

So much so that a saying briefly circulated in Guanzhong: "Third month south of the River, sixth month swallows; ninth month dig the canals, twelfth month cold. Before the new spring greens the willows, once more see dog hats fill Chang'an."

"Have you offended someone?" Lady Gongsun heard this rhyme while on the road to inspect Duling. Finding it rather amusing, she summoned her son directly into her carriage. "Why does the wording carry a hint of mockery and complaint against you?"

"Mother should ask me whom I haven't offended yet." Guard General Gongsun Xun, who was personally accompanying his mother to Duling, reined his horse alongside the carriage, utterly unconcerned. "Some time ago, in Guanzhong, I used the name of Emperor Guangwu's land survey to inspect the fields and pursue back taxes. That matter, combined with the earlier expulsion of Yang Biao and Huangfu Song, and the appointment of the Wei clan to Hebei — at the time, people were already saying: 'The Guard General attacked Dong Zhuo and entered the Three Adjuncts; Dong Zhuo, despite his monstrous crimes, could still preserve his family; Han Sui and Ma Teng, carving up territory, could still gain official rank. Yet the gentry and commoners of Guanzhong face clan extermination over such a trifling tax matter, and renowned local clans are exiled far away because of it — this can only be called harsh.'"

"Did you kill many people?" Lady Gongsun suddenly understood.

"Quite a few, I suppose." Gongsun Xun pondered briefly. "Many powerful households clearly knew I had troops in hand, yet still tried to conceal and evade, making all sorts of excuses... human nature, mostly... In the end, the land survey alone cost several hundred lives, and two great clans were exterminated. Of course that bred resentment. But these people only see me surveying land and killing, and never stop to think how many died at Pujin and Hongnong just to enter Guanzhong. Even earlier, when reorganizing the Guanxi Army, the decimation of parts of Li Jue's and Guo Si's forces alone exceeded that number. How could I possibly go soft over something like this?"

"How many troops do you have here in Guanxi now?" Lady Gongsun frowned slightly, then continued questioning.

"Same as in Youzhou — Hedong and the Three Adjuncts have also formed a field army, twenty thousand men... though here there are fewer cavalry and more infantry. It's mainly led by Xu Huang, Xu Rong, and Zhang Liao, currently stationed along the Wei River. Then there are three garrison divisions for the passes and local defense, totaling nine thousand men: one guards Wuguan, Tongguan, and Huayin; one guards Pujin and Hedong; and one is in Fufeng, guarding Sanguan, Xiegu, and Fanxukou, to face Xiliang and Hanzhong. Finally, there are a thousand Tiger Guard troops, solely defending Weiyang Palace." Gongsun Xun answered casually. "As for Duan Wei and Li Meng, there's been too much to deal with, and I haven't handled them much — also to set their minds at ease. After spring begins, I'll slowly plan for them."

"Not bad." Lady Gongsun spoke readily. "I've calculated it. In Youzhou, you have roughly three million people supporting thirty thousand combat troops. Here..."

"Here it's also three million." Gongsun Xun sneered from horseback. "Guanzhong has far too many aristocratic and powerful clans, many with lineages stretching back a hundred years. And because of the Qiang rebellions, the common folk, to avoid corvée and military service, mostly willingly attach themselves to powerful households as servants... This land survey registered six hundred thousand people in Guanzhong, but in reality, across these eight hundred li of Qin, we uncovered a million able-bodied adults. Add Hedong's six hundred thousand, the seven or eight hundred thousand who migrated in from Hongnong and Henan, and the refugees I hear are returning to Guanzhong from Wuguan and Sanguan now that it's stable — three million is about right. On the contrary, in Youzhou, the two Jizhou commanderies plus Dai and Shanggu still haven't been surveyed, so the figures there are likely still mostly inflated. Once carefully cleaned up in the future, there should still be surplus capacity."

Lady Gongsun could not help but sigh. "The crux is, once you mobilize troops, it's no longer just these forty thousand. How many auxiliary soldiers and able-bodied laborers will forty thousand troops need for logistics support? If it's sixty thousand, that's a solid hundred-thousand-man army. And how can a hundred-thousand-man army on campaign be sustained by traditional poll taxes alone? When the time comes, you'll still inevitably have to use military colonies and civilian colonies to indirectly collect high land taxes, and use commercial monopolies to amass funds... You're having those Henan commoners with nowhere to settle concentrated and resettled in various places, and bringing in so many scholars trained in Changping — isn't it still to replicate the civilian colony system of Changping, to secure military grain after next autumn's harvest? And having me rush over — isn't it still to have Anlihao swiftly monopolize the industry and commerce of the Three Adjuncts, to gather wealth for future military funding?"

"Indeed." Gongsun Xun did not deny it. "This is what we call chaotic times. But if not this way, how could we possibly muster the strength to quell the chaos? This in itself is a paradox."

Mother and son fell silent for a moment. For a while, only the sound of wheels and horse hooves crunching against the ice shards on the ground, along with the snoring of the fat cat inside the carriage, filled their ears.

"Actually, Mother need not be overly concerned." After traveling a few more steps, seeing Duling ahead, Gongsun Xun managed a strained smile. "Chaotic times have their advantages too... Under the blade's edge, whether land surveys or civilian colonies, the most they can do is compose a nursery rhyme. What else can they do? Look at Emperor Guangwu — he waited until the realm was unified to conduct land surveys, and in the end, didn't he still have to use the sword? Didn't we discuss this in Taiyuan? At my stage, and having been taught so much by you, to say I have no intention of establishing a new dynasty and changing the banners would be nonsense. But since I would take it, I must give in return... What we, mother and son, can do now is: first, swiftly sweep away the chaos, to spare so many wretched affairs; second, to use this moment of the world's great collapse to openly and honorably clean house... I don't expect it to last a thousand autumns or ten thousand generations, but I can at least face my own conscience without shame."

Lady Gongsun smiled faintly, setting aside her heavier thoughts for the time being. The convoy rumbled forward and soon arrived at Duling.

Now, Lady Gongsun had not come to Duling for sightseeing, but to take over the workshops. It must be understood that Guanzhong, as the capital region of the Western Han — the so-called "first region of virtue" — had over centuries developed a complete industrial and commercial system. Although damaged by the chaos of Wang Mang and gradually declining after the Eastern Han established its capital at Luoyang, certain parts of that system, in both scale and technical level, still far surpassed other regions of the Great Han Empire.

For example, there are over forty iron offices across the realm, and the most technologically advanced and largest-scale smelting base in the entire empire is, of course, the Nanyang Iron Office. But besides Nanyang?

The answer is that Hedong, Jinan, and Jingzhao are the three best.

Jinan is best because mining demands exist in this era, and Qingzhou not only has large iron deposits but also needs to supply iron tools to Youzhou and Jizhou, hence the existence of numerous armories and smelting bases. And as for Hedong... the reason Hedong's iron is mentioned in the same breath as Hedong's salt — to put it bluntly, who told her to belong to the Sili region?

It was a smelting base forcibly established out of political and military considerations.

Or, to put it another way, the armories in Qingzhou also exist for political reasons... The empire is too vast, and Hebei has border threats, so there must always be a large smelting base and armory nearby for deployment. And although Qingzhou theoretically belongs to the "Four Provinces of Hebei," most of it actually lies south of the Yellow River. Placing the largest military smelting base here to supply You and Ji was out of the central government's consideration to guard against regional powers in Hebei.

As an aside, this is precisely why, once the realm descended into chaos, the two remnants of the Yellow Turbans — the Bobo Bandits and the Mount Tai Bandits — caused the greatest turmoil: because neither Qingzhou nor Hedong's common folk lacked weapons, not to mention the local armories.

By the same logic, here in Guanzhong, due to political, historical, and military reasons, its industry and commerce — especially its industry — were probably second only to Nanyang and Henan, and the scale and development of certain civilian industries were even the foremost in the realm.

Take Duling before them, for instance. Duling housed the largest pottery production base in the entire Great Han Empire — so much so that when Dong Zhuo relocated the capital, he even used this to speak with the entire court of ministers.

Returning to the present, when the Guard General and his mother arrived outside Duling, the County Magistrate of Duling had naturally long since led the local officials and gentry out to welcome them. Interestingly, after the formalities, when he raised his hand to introduce these welcoming gentry, they were not the local Thrice Venerable or renowned clan scholars, but rather: "This is the so-and-so clan of the city, who own so many pottery workshops and produce so many pottery pieces annually," and so on — all of this nature.

Gongsun Xun immediately frowned. It must be understood that this was the first industrial base Lady Gongsun had come to inspect since entering Guanzhong, which was why her son had set aside the multitude of military and administrative affairs at his headquarters to personally accompany her. Moreover, to ensure success, he had specially brought several hundred White Horse Volunteers as escort along the way — those Anlihao shopkeepers and accountants were hardly conspicuous at all.

In other words, the objective of using Anlihao to annex and monopolize Guanzhong's industry and commerce should not have been known to outsiders. So how had it been so publicly exposed?

Was this county magistrate before him simply too clever, or had Du Ji in Hedong learned of his mother's purpose in coming to Guanzhong while still in Hedong, and then tipped off his hometown here in advance?

But Du Bohou couldn't be that foolish!

In fact, it was not only Gongsun Xun — even Lady Gongsun was somewhat puzzled, to the point of delaying her descent from the carriage.

Thus, outside the city gate, the convoy halted motionless, the surrounding White Horse Volunteers encircling the gate. Lady Gongsun and Gongsun Xun, this mother and son, one inside the carriage and one on horseback, harbored doubts and remained silent for a long while... frightening the Duling County Magistrate and these local pottery magnates into terror, so that they prostrated themselves, not daring to raise their heads.

Just then, from the ranks beside them, two youthful Volunteers with bound hair riding white horses suddenly had a realization. They directly spurred their horses forward; one moved slightly faster, bypassing the leaders Zhang Ji, Pang De, and Jia Kui, and on horseback, raised his clasped hands and spoke frankly: "General, you have likely misunderstood the people of Duling. If my speculation is correct, it is not only them — everyone in Guanzhong has guessed that the Old Lady has come to use Anlihao to swallow up Guanzhong's industry and commerce."

At these words, the one who had been slower retreated in chagrin, while from within the carriage came a sound of "Oh?". Gongsun Xun naturally turned his head in curiosity and saw that it was Yang Xiu, son of Yang Biao.

Now, as the son of a high minister, he had been conscripted by Dong Zhuo in Luoyang to serve in the inner guard — essentially to be held as a hostage alongside the Son of Heaven. Later, when Gongsun Xun expelled the ministers by the Wei River, he had swept all these sons of ministers into his own Volunteer corps, continuing the dual purpose of semi-hostage, semi-talent reserve.

And knowing this person to be clever, Gongsun Xun immediately believed him three-tenths. "Explain in detail. Why is this?"

"In reply to the General," Yang Xiu explained unhurriedly, "this is a custom of Guanzhong, originating from the Former Han. At that time, all industries in Guanzhong were directly managed by the Privy Treasurer. Even when they were later no longer managed by the Privy Treasurer, they were still under its supervision. In the Former Han, there was an open system: land tax and poll tax (head tax and property tax) belonged to the state, while industrial and commercial taxes belonged to the Son of Heaven... Then, during the Restoration of Emperor Guangwu, the land survey succeeded and poll tax revenue greatly increased, so the state-run industries of the Privy Treasurer were abandoned. Even salt and iron were released to private operation, to avoid competing with the people for profit... That said, merchants lacked power and could only seek shelter under the powerful and influential to maintain their operations. Today, General, you have pacified the Three Adjuncts, surveyed the land to clean out powerful households, and your family happens to have a well-established commercial system. These Guanzhong merchants and workshop owners naturally understand to whom they should entrust their enterprises."

Gongsun Xun felt he had truly broadened his knowledge.

"Today I have truly broadened my knowledge. So as early as the Former Han, monopolizing industry and commerce from above was already established practice — it seems my son has read too little." As a fat cat leaped out of the carriage and stretched lazily on the ice-shard-strewn ground, Lady Gongsun, supporting herself on the hand of Diaochan beside her, finally stepped down from the carriage with a smile. "A-Xun, who is this eloquent young man? He's far more articulate than that Wang Can."

Seeing Lady Gongsun emerge, those Duling officials and magnates hurriedly prostrated themselves again in salute, not daring to look. Even many of the white-horse-riding Volunteers dismounted and bowed their heads... However, as Yang Xiu bowed, he could not help but feel secretly delighted.

"In reply to Mother," said Gongsun Xun, unbothered by the remark about his lack of reading, as he hastily dismounted to support his mother and casually introduced the youth, "this is Yang Xiu, son of the Household Counsellor Yang Biao, Yang Wenxian... He is about the same age as Ma Chao and Wang Can, whom you've met, and Fa Zheng and Meng Da, whom I've mentioned to you before — all around the time of binding their hair, and after the New Year, they'll all be fifteen or sixteen."

Lady Gongsun looked at him a few more times, then slowly nodded. "So he is Yang Biao's son. No wonder he possesses such learning... I recall you mentioned Liu Zhang is also among the Volunteers?"

"Liu Zhang is older, already capped." Gongsun Xun was unconcerned. "I assigned him a task according to the protocol for adult Volunteers — sent him to Dingxiang as an envoy, to deliver rewards to Grand Administrator Zhang Ze."

Lady Gongsun laughed despite herself. "Delivering a letter to Yunzhong in this weather is hardly a good assignment. What, were you thinking of sending him to the battlefield? If he dies, how will you explain it to Liu Yan?"

"If he dies, he dies. Explain to whom?" Gongsun Xun replied seriously. "Since he joined the White Horse Volunteers, he must be treated equally with everyone else. As for Liu Yan — as long as Liu Fan exists, what does Liu Zhang count for in his eyes?"

Lady Gongsun paid it no mind. Shaking her head slightly, she quickly turned to greet the Duling crowd at the gate and invited them inside to discuss matters.

Now, since Guanzhong had a longstanding custom of industry and commerce directly seeking shelter under the supreme authority, and the local workshop owners had long been prepared for this, Lady Gongsun's trip became much easier, and the large number of Volunteers Gongsun Xun had brought also seemed excessive. In fact, after only about half a shichen of general discussion, the Guard General and his mother withdrew from the meeting, leaving the Anlihao shopkeepers and the local magnates to discuss the details on their own.

And once mother and son had stepped out, they inevitably picked up from Yang Xiu's earlier mention of land tax, poll tax, and industrial-commercial tax, and began discussing population tax, property tax, and the land tax issue... until finally, once again, they arrived at the only method to counter powerful households concealing population and annexing land: merging the head tax into the land tax.

The so-called "merging the head tax into the land tax" meant folding the "oral tax (population tax)" from the poll tax entirely into the "asset tax (property tax)" and the land tax. In an agricultural society dominated by farming, this undoubtedly greatly reduced the burden on the poor and prevented those powerful landlords from annexing land while semi-openly shifting the tax burden onto the poor.

However, mother and son had long since discussed this issue to death in private. Revisiting it now, the conclusion remained very simple:

First, it must be implemented;

Second, it required a prior measure like the land survey to ensure mastery over the specific distribution of land and property;

And finally, since even surveying the land in just the four commanderies of the Three Adjuncts and Hedong required Gongsun Xun to carry the lingering prestige of his campaign against Dong Zhuo, wielding his blade and shutting the gates of the Three Adjuncts to forcibly push it through — then to implement a policy of the magnitude of merging the head tax into the land tax, without sufficient military and political deterrence, would likely be impossible.

And even then, one must consider the rolling tide of infamy that would follow. Had they not seen how even a mere land survey in the Three Adjuncts had already produced that kind of nursery rhyme?

Of course, fortunately, Gongsun Xun was a man without shame. He had never feared others bearing grudges against him. Since he had not chosen to stay in Liaodong back then, how could he care about such things today?

Though thousands oppose me, I shall go forth. Some things must be done... When the refugees filled Yecheng, when the Yellow Turbans of Dong Commandery threw themselves into the river one after another, when Guo Tai of Hedong took his own life — time and again, he had long understood this principle. There was no need to steel his resolve over and over again!

"Summon Yang Xiu and Fa Zheng to come in together." In the rear courtyard quarters of the city's relay station, with nothing else to do, Gongsun Xun, seeing that his mother had already begun teasing the cat, suddenly recalled the earlier incident at the city gate where Yang Xiu and Fa Zheng had vied to offer counsel, and ordered Jia Kui to summon the two.

"Greetings to the Old Lady, greetings to the General!" Although Yang Xiu and Fa Zheng were both universally acknowledged as clever, they were, after all, only fifteen. Being suddenly summoned again now, they could not help but feel pleasantly surprised — especially Yang Xiu, who had seized the initiative earlier and been praised, and was now even more smug.

"There's something I want to ask you two." Gongsun Xun sat beside his mother, watching the two standing below the lodge with a light laugh. "Jia Kui can listen in too. Did you hear the ditty on the road?"

Jia Kui's expression remained unchanged, while Yang Xiu and Fa Zheng both colored slightly, yet nodded in unison.

"Any thoughts?" Gongsun Xun continued, smiling as he asked. "Do you think this ditty was stirred up because I previously offended the court ministers, or is it trouble brought on by the earlier land survey?"

The young Yang Xiu was momentarily speechless.

But Fa Zheng at this moment could wait no longer, clearly unwilling to lose the initiative again: "In reply to the General, in this young one's view, I fear it is precisely trouble brought on by the land survey. Because something like a children's ditty requires the local villages and hamlets to be easily created and spread. Moreover, if one carefully considers this ditty, it is almost entirely from the perspective of a Guanzhong native..."

"Speak slowly, no rush." Lady Gongsun smiled at the sight.

"Yes!" Fa Zheng bowed, then calmly raised his voice to explain. "If the Old Madam will consider... the so-called 'Third month south of the River, sixth month in Yan' actually refers to this place, Guanzhong. In the third month, because of the capital relocation, a great many people from south of the River suddenly arrived; by the sixth month, the General had marched against Dong and entered the Pass, so many people from Yan also arrived. As for 'Ninth month digging canals, bitter cold in the twelfth month,' it refers to the work-relief that began around the autumn harvest in the ninth month, the large-scale construction of waterworks, and then the winter land survey, with many punishments, chilling people's hearts. The last two lines need no elaboration — they are precisely mocking the General for being unable to wait until the weather warms before again seizing the profits of Guanzhong's crafts and commerce."

Gongsun Xun immediately laughed, but just as he was about to speak, Yang Xiu beside him suddenly interjected, raising his voice in rebuttal: "In reply to the General, Fa Zheng's statement contains an omission!"

At these words, both mother and son Gongsun were taken aback, and Fa Zheng beside them made no effort to hide his furious glare.

"Then what do you think it is?" Lady Gongsun, finding this amusing, once again took the initiative to ask.

"In reply to the Old Madam." Yang Xiu forced himself to answer. "In this young one's view, this ditty should have nothing to do with the land survey, the expulsion of ministers, or such matters... It is the local gentry, seeing so many scholars from Changping arriving one after another, fearing they themselves will not be employed, who thus spoke out in mockery and as a reminder to the General. For the emphasis of this ditty is not in the front, but in the final phrase 'dog cap.' And as the Old Madam and the General just witnessed, regarding the monopolization and consolidation of Guanzhong's crafts and commerce, everyone has long anticipated it — it is even a Guanzhong tradition — so why would anyone speak out to mock this matter? Therefore, these two words 'dog skin' should specifically refer to those scholars who hail from the Changping school. It mocks these men as lacking both virtue and talent, merely making up the numbers, substituting a dog cap for a sable tail."

Gongsun Xun and his mother exchanged a glance, then both looked at Diaochan standing behind them. Speechless as they were, they could not help but grow solemn.

"Is that not mistaken?" Gongsun Xun inquired with a serious expression. "I previously issued a decree seeking the worthy, permitting all the realm's talents to present their name cards and come for an audience... They were already in Guanzhong; if they did not come then, yet now worry that Changping scholars will seize their offices — is that not laughable?"

"General!" Yang Xiu glanced at Fa Zheng beside him and answered earnestly. "If you consider it carefully, unless one's family name is not of unsullied repute, how many would deign to present their own name cards? Take Fa Zheng and Meng Da — one's grandfather was called a famous scholar, yet he rose through apocryphal prophecy and did not study the classics; the other's own father is a notorious eunuch partisan known throughout the realm..."

Before he could finish, Yang Xiu stopped abruptly, for Fa Zheng had already swung a fist and struck him to the ground.

—————I am the friendly face-smashing dividing line—————

"At the end of Han, Yang Xiu once, together with Fa Zheng, bound up their hair and served as volunteer attendants, both receiving favor. At that time, the Grand Ancestor and his mother, Empress Xiaozhuang Wen, were both present, and summoned the two to discuss a children's ditty mocking the Grand Ancestor. Fa Zheng answered that it was due to the land survey and the resentment of the great houses of Guanzhong. Yang Xiu refuted him, saying: 'These are Guanzhong gentry who disdained the decree seeking the worthy and would not present their own name cards, yet still desired office. Seeing the Changping scholars arriving in droves, they grew anxious and thus mocked.' The Grand Ancestor and his mother both thought this correct. But Fa Zheng, having gained entry precisely by presenting his own name card under the decree seeking the worthy, flew into a great rage and swung his fist to strike him. The Grand Ancestor laughed and separated them. That evening, applying military law to his volunteer attendants, he issued an order: 'Chicken ribs.' The officials did not know what he meant. Yang Xiu heard it and wept bitterly. Jia Kui was beside him and asked in surprise: 'Why do you grieve?' Yang Xiu said: 'Chicken ribs — to discard them seems a pity, yet to eat them yields nothing. He compares me to this: though I come from the Yang clan and possess talent, I am viewed with suspicion. I know the General does not wish to employ me heavily.' Jia Kui returned and reported this to the Grand Ancestor. The Grand Ancestor laughed heartily, then summoned Yang Xiu and Fa Zheng again, saying: 'The matter of chicken ribs indeed came from you two. However, it is not that they are tasteless to eat and a pity to discard — it is truly that this young man of the Yang clan is as frail as a chicken rib, unable to withstand a single punch from the young man of Fufeng before collapsing. Hence this order.'" — A New Account of the Tales of the World, Chapter of Speech

(End of Chapter)