Chapter 42: Forged Letter, Stolen Seal

In the evening, inside Lu Zhi's room, a low table had been placed on the bed-couch, and Lu Zhi and Liu Kuan sat facing each other across it... Their conversation had long since fallen into a kind of anxious stalemate — there was no helping it, the gap between the two sides was simply too vast!

To put it bluntly, what were the terms Yang Ci had sent over through Liu Kuan? They were for Lu Zhi to simply give up!

This was not a negotiation; this was a demand for surrender, and how could someone like Lu Zhi possibly surrender so easily?

Of course, too many scholars had drunk too much today and stayed overnight at the foot of Mount Goushi, so even if the two grandees could not agree on half a word, they were too embarrassed to just disperse... Otherwise, someone might stir up trouble again, urging them to shake hands and make peace, which would be utterly nauseating.

But just sitting there stiffly would probably only make the atmosphere more and more rigid, especially with the weather still so hot.

"Has it grown dark?" Liu Kuan, sitting cross-legged on the bed-couch, had nearly slumped over the table and fallen asleep. Only when he saw someone enter and light the beeswax candles did he suddenly come back to his senses.

"Just so." Gongsun Yue, who had come in to light the candles, bowed his head in acknowledgment. "Would the two honored teachers care for some food and drink?"

Liu Kuan, whose body had sagged down, and Lu Zhi, who sat rigidly upright, exchanged a glance, then each nodded... Though neither was hungry, having something to fill their mouths was better than enduring this dry stalemate, was it not?

"Bring some food and drink then!" Lu Zhi instructed.

"If there is still any grape wine stored in the well, do not forget to bring some up as well — the weather remains unbearably hot." Liu Kuan hastily added another line.

"Yes." Gongsun Yue quickly agreed.

However, a moment later, when the food and drink were brought in, Gongsun Yue came carrying a large wine jar of a completely different shape from the ones used during the day. As soon as the jar was opened, the room was instantly filled with the fragrance of wine... Not to mention Liu Kuan, even Lu Zhi looked over with curiosity.

"To report to the two honored elders," Gongsun Yue said carefully, "there was originally some grape wine left, but it has already been distributed to the various fellow disciples hurrying back to Luoyang. This is another fine wine — fragrant and piercingly strong, known as 'Three Bowls and You Shall Not Pass the Ridge'! This is a secret brewing recipe my aunt had someone seek out at great cost from Qingzhou. It is said that in that region, there is a ridge called Jingyang Ridge..."

Before the story was even finished, Liu Kuan was already invigorated.

And Lu Zhi was even more direct — he had been stroking his beard and sneering the entire time, though it was unclear whether he was sneering at the absurd tiger-slaying tale or at the boastful claim of 'Three Bowls and You Shall Not Pass the Ridge'!

A moment later, Gongsun Yue bowed and withdrew, then headed straight for the rear courtyard.

"Did they drink?" In the rear courtyard, Gongsun Xun was pacing restlessly in circles. Seeing Gongsun Yue return, he immediately pressed for an answer.

"How could they not?" Gongsun Yue wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied. "Both of them are acknowledged lovers of fine wine in Luoyang. When they heard me tell that tale of 'Three Bowls and You Shall Not Pass the Ridge,' their faces were full of defiance. Before I had even left, each had already downed two bowls..."

Gongsun Xun immediately let out a sigh of relief.

"It is just, elder brother..." Gongsun Yue suddenly hesitated.

"My mind is made up." Gongsun Xun answered without even raising his head. "Judging by the rumors these past few days, the court nobles will certainly not give Teacher Lu another chance. And if this continues, he will inevitably end up like that grape wine, stored away and chilled in a cellar... If he brings cold storage upon himself, it may be his own doing, but must he drag us brothers down with him? I absolutely refuse to accept this!"

"That is not what I meant." Gongsun Yue waited until the other had finished before explaining helplessly. "I wanted to ask... is there truly no need to give our eldest cousin Bogui a hint about this matter?"

Gongsun Xun was taken aback by these words. Only after a long while did he answer with his hands clasped behind his back: "That man was born with luck and is already safely on the shore... And if this affair is exposed, we will likely be driven back to Liaoxi by Teacher Lu. That being the case, why drag him into it?"

Gongsun Yue pressed his lips together and said nothing.

"Has eldest cousin left?" Gongsun Xun asked again. "He didn't suspect anything, did he?"

"He has already escorted those fellow disciples who wished to return back to Luoyang." Gongsun Yue quickly replied. "And he had no misgivings — he simply thought we genuinely wished to foster harmony between the two teachers."

"That is good."

"Elder brother..."

"What else?" A trace of irritation had crept into Gongsun Xun's voice.

"This man Xu You — is he truly reliable?" Gongsun Yue lowered his voice and asked earnestly.

"It is not a matter of whether Xu Ziyuan is reliable," Gongsun Xun sighed, "but that we brothers have too shallow a foundation in Luoyang and can only rely on this man!"

Hearing this, Gongsun Yue was about to speak again, but was unexpectedly cut off directly by his elder brother: "Go to Brother Ziheng's room and see whether his 'essay' is finished yet!"

Gongsun Yue grew even more helpless but could only bow his head in acknowledgment:

"Yes!"

And so, after his clan cousin had left, Gongsun Xun, who had been in seclusion the entire day, finally lowered the hands he had kept behind his back — for no other reason than that these hands had been trembling uncontrollably while he spoke earlier, impossible to still, which was why he had hidden them behind him!

And now, Gongsun Xun looked at his own faintly trembling hands, and for a moment his heart was tangled in turmoil, for when it came to nervous unease, he, the instigator, probably far surpassed Gongsun Yue, only he absolutely could not show it.

In summertime, the sky darkened extremely fast. In no time at all, the usual clamor began again from the charity hostel across the way — the voices of three pigs leading two monkeys could be faintly heard even across the official road. Gongsun Xun continued to stand with his hands behind his back at the rear courtyard entrance, waiting for news from all sides:

First, the Goguryeo maidservant sent out reported that half a jar of wine was already gone, and the two noble gentlemen were already seven or eight parts drunk, just waiting for the delayed potency to kick in and knock them down;

Then, Lu Fan sent Gongsun Yue over to say that the 'essay' had a miswritten character — the matter was too important to scrape it off, so it could only be rewritten, and he asked the Young Lord to be patient;

Next, Han Dang came leading Xu You over. The latter had actually come to press Gongsun Xun, asking whether the residence promised to him could be exchanged for one in the south of Luoyang City — because the south of the city had many wealthy and noble households, which would be convenient for his socializing...

At this moment, Gongsun Xun truly did not know whether he should admire the man's composure or his insatiable greed.

But all in all, by around the end of the xu hour and the beginning of the hai hour in the evening, matters proceeded according to plan and one by one reached a favorable outcome — Xu You was thoroughly satisfied; Lu Fan had finished writing his essay; and most importantly, Liu Kuan and Lu Zhi had finally succumbed to the wine's potency and collapsed drunk on the bed-couch!

Thereupon, Gongsun Xun formally began his own plan.

"Brother Xun, please look." Inside his own room, Lu Fan, his head drenched in sweat, handed over an unrolled bamboo slip.

"A fine document." Under the lamplight, Gongsun Xun briefly examined the other's 'essay' and nodded repeatedly. "It bears an eighty to ninety percent resemblance to Teacher Lu's handwriting!"

"It would be difficult for it not to." Lu Fan gave a wry smile. "Ordinarily, I am the one responsible for proofreading Teacher Lu's official documents... Rest assured, it is not just the handwriting — I can guarantee a seventy to eighty percent similarity in prose style as well."

"Is that so?" This time, Gongsun Xun was genuinely astonished.

"Teacher Lu is not one who delights in plucking phrases and picking apart passages." Lu Fan shook his head and explained. "His prose is concise and direct, and therefore easy to imitate..."

"This is even better, this is even better." Gongsun Xun looked at the writing on it and nodded repeatedly. "What of the other copy?"

"Here." Lu Fan handed over another bamboo slip. "I saw the draft of Lord Liu's writing that Xu You brought — the handwriting can be roughly imitated as well."

"This is already sufficient." Gongsun Xun nodded again. "In any case, the content is the same, only the tone needs to be adjusted. Shall we... proceed to affix the seals?"

This time, neither Gongsun Yue beside him nor Lu Fan before him spoke.

"A-Yue, go fetch Teacher Liu's seal and ribbon!" Gongsun Xun seemed to have anticipated this. Gritting his teeth, he commanded, "Brother Ziheng, soften the clay pellets — I shall affix the seals myself!"

The two exchanged a glance and could only comply.

Under the Han system, nothing was held more important than seals and tallies!

Generally speaking, an official was only qualified to receive his official seal after accepting an appointment, and once he resigned or died, the seal and tally were generally to be surrendered... In fact, the vast majority of cases where seals and tallies were lost only occurred in events where soldiers died on the battlefield.

Conversely, once a document bore the mark of an official seal, it generally represented the most formal and direct stance of the corresponding official — to subordinates, it could be regarded as an administrative order; to superiors, it could be regarded as a final declaration.

Therefore, what Gongsun Xun intended to do was very simple: since Lu Zhi was unwilling to seek truth from facts, he would help him seek truth from facts!

That is right — he was going to forge a letter and submit a memorial to the Emperor in the names of Lu Zhi and Liu Kuan!

The content of the forged letter was very simple and left room for both sides — was the Xiping Stone Classics not just carving characters onto stone steles? But steles have a front and a back — the front could be carved with the New Text Official Scholarship, and the back could be carved with the Old Text!

This idea originated from Lady Gongsun’s letter, but Gongsun Xun adapted it to local conditions — for example, he specifically sought out Liu Kuan!

Isn’t Liu Kuan a specialist in the *Han Shi*? Isn’t he renowned throughout the Great Han for his leniency and benevolence? Wasn’t he seen with their own eyes by a great crowd of scholars today, about to engage in a harmonious discussion with Lu Zhi on the dispute between the old and new text schools?

Isn’t that perfect! Let Liu Kuan and Lu Zhi, after a bout of ‘harmonious discussion,’ ‘jointly submit a memorial,’ and then tell the Emperor that for the *Classic of Poetry* stele inscription, the front side should be carved with the *Han Shi*, and the back side with the old-text *Mao Shi*!

Let’s see which way the situation turns once this joint memorial reaches the imperial presence!

In any case, no matter which way it goes, Gongsun Xun won’t have to stay here on Mount Goushi waiting on Lu Zhi anymore, right?

The plan is audacious to the extreme, but in fact carries no great risk… because there is a key figure in this plan: Liu Kuan!

Liu Kuan’s leniency and muddle-headedness have reached an unimaginable degree. Whether it’s genuine or feigned, he will most likely continue to maintain this style. So after the fact, whether to avoid losing his official post, or because he will assume this was Lu Zhi’s doing… in all likelihood, he will retroactively acknowledge the existence of this memorial!

And once he acknowledges the existence of this memorial, Lu Zhi, as co-signer, will be unable to refute it! Otherwise, would he have to say that Liu Kuan was lying?

In other words, even if Lu Zhi is as shrewd as a ghost or god and knows in his heart that Gongsun Xun did it, as long as he doesn’t stoop to privately retaliating and punishing the other party by shedding his great Confucian dignity, this fellow Gongsun Xun will come to no harm.

And besides, when it truly comes to that, Lu Zhi will in all likelihood be off compiling some *Mao Shi* — where would he find the time to take revenge on Gongsun Xun? Most likely this fellow would have long since seized the opportunity to run over to Liu Kuan’s side and continue idling about in Luoyang.

Of course, the premise for all this is that Lu Zhi will not stoop to deadly measures… and speaking of this point, didn’t the all-knowing Lady Gongsun write it in her letter?

This man Lu Zhi is not necessarily fearsome!

Just as he was lost in these wild thoughts, Lu Fan beside him had already dissolved the clay pellet, and Gongsun Yue, with a face full of alarm, had retrieved Liu Kuan’s official seal and ribbon — the latter, while changing clothes, had simply tossed his full court attire into the room.

It must be said that, because the writability of paper still needed improvement and could not be widely popularized, the official documents of the Han dynasty were still wooden or bamboo slips, and slip-documents had to be strung together with cords. After the slips were written on and rolled into a bundle, the cord not only bound them securely but also served another important function — that of sealing clay!

One would take a pre-prepared square wooden groove, guide a portion of the cord from the slip-document into the groove, then place in a clay pellet softened with water, and finally… affix the seal!

This is the origin of later sealing wax and ink paste.

Because it was a joint memorial, Gongsun Xun this time tied the cords of the two slip-documents together in a knot, then added the clay pellet, and stamped it with Liu Kuan’s silver seal of the Superintendent of the Imperial Household.

The silver seal was actually very small, only a finger’s length and width. Yet after completing this action, Gongsun Xun could not help but pant heavily: “There is still Teacher Lu’s Erudite seal… those two are completely drunk. Who will go fetch it for me?”

Gongsun Yue and Lu Fan exchanged glances, both wanting to speak but hesitating.

“Is no one going to help share my worries?” Gongsun Xun did not notice at all that his tone had changed… Only at this moment did he recall that while the plan was indeed excellent, the premise was not only that Lu Zhi was ‘not fearsome,’ but more importantly, that he must not be caught red-handed while committing a capital offense!

If he were discovered while going in to retrieve the seal from Lu Zhi’s waist, then what the hell was he even playing at?!

“Elder brother, how about we forget it!” Gongsun Yue swallowed his saliva and said. “Studying bitterly for a year at Goushi is no great matter. If you truly cannot bear it, we can just return to Liaoxi!”

“Young lord.” Lu Fan, who had just written the false memorial on behalf of the two grandees of the two-thousand-bushel rank, was also somewhat timid at this moment. “There is still time to stop now!”

“Ha!” Urged on by these two, Gongsun Xun instead laughed in spite of himself. “I once heard my mother say a phrase: ‘The arrow is on the string and must be loosed.’ Having come this far, how can we retreat? Is that the way to conduct affairs?”

The two men in the room both changed countenance, gritting their teeth, wanting to volunteer.

“You two need not!” Gongsun Xun immediately waved his hand. “This matter was instigated by me from the start; the crucial task naturally falls to me to carry out!”

With these words, without waiting for the two to react, Gongsun Xun directly pushed open the door and left.

No one knew how long passed… in truth, it was not long at all… Gongsun Xun went and returned, and in his hand was conspicuously another silver seal attached to a blue ribbon.

The hardest hurdle was passed. Now the three men’s movements became much more efficient. They continued tying knots, softening clay, and affixing seals, and before long another clay sealing was added. Then Lu Fan fetched a wooden case lined with silk floss and carefully placed the two slip-documents, now tied together, inside.

The matter came to a temporary halt.

But only a temporary halt — it was not yet finished!

“Put the ribbon and seal away properly, and quickly summon Xu You,” Gongsun Xun immediately instructed, then slumped down onto the bed.

Lu Fan and Gongsun Yue acted accordingly, and shortly after, Xu You arrived, escorted by Han Dang.

“Brother Ziyuan, I entrust this matter to you,” Gongsun Xun said, pointing to the sealed wooden case. “After it is done, not only will a residence south of Luoyang City be given to you, but there will certainly be other substantial rewards!”

Hearing this, Xu You’s face immediately showed delight: “Please rest assured, Brother Xun. I, Xu Ziyuan, am a man whose word is worth nine sacred tripods and will never fail in this task! I shall set out now and travel through the night to wait outside Luoyang City. As soon as the city gates open at dawn, I will go directly to find Cai Yong… That man is far too easy to deceive. With Teacher Liu’s and Lord Lu’s clay seals here, he will have no cause for suspicion. By the time Teacher Liu returns to the city tomorrow, this slip-document will already have been delivered to the imperial presence, and Teacher Liu will have no choice but to tacitly accept it… Absolutely foolproof!”

“I entrust this to you, Brother Ziyuan!” Gongsun Xun stood up, bowed, and performed a salute.

Xu You accepted it calmly, cradled the wooden case, turned, and left.

On the other side, Han Dang was just about to follow when, unexpectedly, Lu Fan directly held him back. The latter discreetly pointed to the former’s saber… Han Dang understood, nodded slightly, and only then turned and chased after him.

Once the man had left, the three people in the room were all silent.

After a long while, Gongsun Yue finally rose and said, “I will go return Teacher Liu’s seal and ribbon.”

Gongsun Xun also stood up: “I nearly forgot. I must hurry here — Teacher Lu has his seal and ribbon tied to his waist.”

Lu Fan wanted to say something, but could not utter a single word.

“Everyone has toiled the entire day,” Gongsun Xun shook his head at the sight. “A-Yue, after you return it, don’t come back — go directly to rest. Brother Ziheng, you as well, go directly to rest. I won’t come back either. At this point, we can only quietly await good news!”

Lu Fan and Gongsun Yue nodded together, and the three parted ways.

Entering Lu Zhi’s room, the situation was indeed just as before. Liu Kuan was sprawled over the low table, sound asleep, while Lu Zhi lay on his back on the bed opposite the former… Gongsun Xun breathed a sigh of relief and carefully tied Lu Zhi’s Erudite seal and ribbon back onto the other’s waistband.

Only at this moment did he completely relax.

Yet, just as Gongsun Xun turned around and prepared to slip out the door, a question came from behind him, utterly devoid of drunkenness: “Do you know that according to Han law, stealing the seal and ribbon of a two-thousand-bushel official and forging documents… is punishable by beheading?”

In an instant, Gongsun Xun was tongue-tied, drenched in sweat, his hands and feet unable to move.

“When Lu Zhi established his school at Goushi, he was fair of heart and a model to all. At that time there was a locust plague and the people were frugal. A thief, taking advantage of his sleeping at night, entered his chamber. Zhi secretly observed, yet continued to feign sleep, allowing the thief to search his person. As the thief was about to leave, Zhi rose, adjusted his clothes, and from behind sternly admonished him: ‘A man must not fail to exert himself. Those who are not good were not necessarily evil by nature; habit forms character, and thus they come to this.’ The thief was greatly startled, threw himself to the ground, and knocked his head in admission of guilt. Zhi slowly reasoned with him, saying: ‘Looking at your countenance, you do not seem like an evil man. You should deeply restrain yourself and return to goodness.’ He then accepted him as a disciple. From then on, there was no more thievery in the entire county.” — *A New Account of the Tales of the World*, Chapter on Admonitions

PS: Coded on the fly… This time it seems, perhaps, maybe, there truly isn’t a single word of backlog! Begging for bookmarks, recommendations, reviews, comments… In short, to celebrate the strong recommendation, I’m going all out!

Also, the new book group: 684558115. Interested students can join.

(End of Chapter)