[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-overthrowing-han":3,"chapter-overthrowing-han-overthrowing-han-chapter-45":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Overthrowing Han",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1222804,1620,"Chapter 45: Turban and Cap","overthrowing-han-chapter-45",45,"\u003Cp>In the eighth month, the weather gradually turned cool.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside the Kaiyang Gate southeast of Luoyang lay the Imperial Academy of the Great Han.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Emperor Guangwu, Liu Xiu, had himself studied at the Imperial Academy of the Former Han, after the Later Han reestablished the realm, he placed great importance on the Academy’s development. Moreover, as classical studies later became the dominant scholarship of the Later Han, the importance of learning reached a certain peak. Thus, by the time of Emperor Shun of Han, the Luoyang Imperial Academy had been expanded into a super-institution with over two hundred forty classrooms and more than eighteen hundred dormitories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In its heyday, the Emperor himself often came to the Academy to attend and deliver lectures, and the number of Academy students studying here once exceeded thirty thousand!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, this situation had vanished without a trace over the last decade or so, and the status of Academy students had never recovered… Why? Quite simply, Academy students were naturally inclined to concern themselves with politics, and then they just went and courted death!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is an irrefutable truth throughout the ages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Consider this: during the two Disasters of the Partisan Prohibitions, the Academy students charged into the fray alongside the partisans and great Confucian scholars. Yet, though only a few years have passed since the last Prohibition, the world only remembers Zhang Jian, who fled seeking shelter, and Li Yuanli, the model of the realm. Who remembers the over a thousand Academy students thrown into prison a mere four years ago?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Did any of those students die in prison?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What great cost did their families pay to fish them out?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And after they were fished out, where did their futures lie?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Truly, no one knows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regardless, after these two upheavals, and with the proliferation of private academies after the Prohibitions, the status of the Imperial Academy had essentially plummeted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is not to say that no one came to study at the Academy anymore—after all, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse—but rather that no one any longer regarded the Academy as a serious stepping stone for advancement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who come to the Academy nowadays fall roughly into these categories:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sons of high ministers at court, who, since their families have their own scholarly traditions anyway, might as well answer the call and register a name here; children of meritorious regional officials, who can be granted the title of \"Youth Gentleman\" as an imperial favor and then enter the Academy to study, which counts as securing a future; and further down the list, those whose families truly have no other connections—for instance, newly risen local strongmen from the countryside, utterly looked down upon back home and not even accepted by private academies, who might as well come here to seek a path forward; and of course, there are a very few sons of solitary households from the Henan region who, if they didn't come here, would have nowhere even to read books.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In any case, the grand spectacle of thirty thousand people studying together here was basically gone, never to return. By now, there was even a group of people of unknown origin openly taking over this half-empty Academy to live in, and the Academy students spent their days circling around these people, utterly disregarding their own status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fine calligraphy!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When a middle-aged man wrapped in a green turban finished writing a passage on a huge piece of pure white silk, the crowd that had been holding its breath suddenly erupted in cheers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Truly worthy of Gentleman Cai!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The characters are so naturally formed. To write clerical script so perfectly standard, I fear there is only Gentleman Cai in the whole world!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Gentleman Cai's calligraphy is both free and controlled; it can be as unrestrained as flying-white script, yet also as solemn and upright as this. He must have reached the realm of a grandmaster!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Gentleman Cai who had just finished writing was, naturally, Cai Yong, Cai Bojie. Hearing this, he could not help feeling somewhat self-satisfied. After glancing around, he turned to a few young scholars standing to the side and spoke with a hint of pride: \"What do you young gentlemen think? Does this piece, 'Guan Ju,' suit your taste?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The several scholars exchanged glances, then suddenly shook their heads in unison, drawing surprised looks from the entire hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do you mean by this?\" Cai Yong asked with a frown. \"Do you find my calligraphy not neat enough?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The calligraphy is very neat,\" one of the young scholars replied very crisply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then is there some error or omission?\" Cai Yong pressed on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"'Guan Ju' is the very first piece in the Book of Songs. Everyone under heaven can recite it. How could there be any error or omission?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then why did you shake your heads?\" Cai Yong finally grew displeased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It lacks punctuation marks!\" This young scholar, as contrary as a contrarian could be—who was, of course, Gongsun Xun—calmly and unhurriedly stated his reason.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What he called punctuation marks were, in fact, reading marks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, this era did have punctuation marks. When Zheng Xuan expounded the classics, he specifically explained the distinctions and meanings of reading marks to his disciples, and even concretely discussed the difference in usage between the period and the comma. Interestingly, however, the punctuation marks that had gained currency in this era were only four types: the period, the comma, the emphasis mark, and the proper name mark. There were no question marks or colons… which was rather strange!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"These punctuation marks,\" Cai Yong said, finding himself in a difficult position upon hearing this, \"in principle, should indeed be added. After all, when great Confucians lecture on the classics nowadays, they already use some markings. But this is not a calligraphic style, nor is there any definitive standard. How should they be added, and where?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"To be frank with you, Gentleman Cai,\" Gongsun Xun said, exchanging a smile with Gongsun Zan beside him before producing a piece of silk from his bosom, \"we are in no position to comment on other classics. But as for the Book of Songs, whether the Han version or the Mao version, a definitive standard has already been reached! Before we came, under the direction of our teachers Lu and Liu, we disciples discussed and jointly agreed upon several punctuation marks and established usage standards. Why not take this opportunity to let us, your fellow disciples, explain them to you, Gentleman Cai, and to all the talented scholars of the Academy?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Yong's face darkened, and he opened his mouth, ready to curse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, Gentleman Cai very much wanted to ask the Gongsun brothers before him: since your two teachers, the top authorities of the Great Han, had already jointly formulated this so-called \"punctuation mark\" standard, why didn't you bring it out earlier?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you had brought it out earlier, I would have written them in from the start. Did you have to wait until I had painstakingly finished writing, drenched in sweat, and then shake your heads and tell me I wrote it wrong? Even if you want to make a name for yourselves, you don't have to step on me to do it, do you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Cai Yong ultimately did not voice these words… For no other reason than that while he, Cai Bojie, had been famous for a long time and certainly did not need to fear these youngsters, who asked that these youngsters happen to have two true gods standing behind them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Kuan was the Superintendent of the Imperial Household, and by no coincidence, he was precisely the superior of the Gentleman position that Cai Yong himself held—his current direct boss. And Lu Zhi… according to the court's arrangement, after the stone classics were finished, Cai Yong was to serve as his deputy in compiling the history at the Eastern Pavilion. In other words, Lu Zi was to be his direct superior for the next two years!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And as it happened, both Liu Kuan and Lu Zhi, for some unknown reason, held these frontier lads with the compound surname Gongsun in particularly high regard. They had even previously entrusted the task of supervising the stone tablets to these beardless boys!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, a few days prior, the preparatory work for the stone classics had officially been settled, and Lu Zhi had also received an imperial decree to \"compile books\" at the Eastern Pavilion. However, Teacher Lu, who had long anticipated this, ultimately pulled off yet another eye-catching move. When all the great Confucians and academicians came to the Academy to select the site, he suddenly designated his disciples Gongsun Xun and Gongsun Yue, in front of everyone, to supervise the engraving of the Mao Book of Songs… saying that these two were bold yet meticulous, and already roughly versed in the classics and commentaries, fully capable of shouldering this responsibility. And Liu Kuan, Granny Liu, standing to the side, chuckled and simply called Gongsun Zan and Wang Yi out from behind him as well, saying much the same thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, everyone looked on askance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not that no one felt these two were being overly eager in promoting their juniors, nor that no one wanted to step forward and say a word. But the supervisor of this project, the court elder Yang Ci, was the first to smile and nod in approval. He even specifically called the Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Xun brothers, whose names he had heard before, forward to offer earnest encouragement… making it very difficult for anyone else to object.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, what these people did not know was that Yang Ci had simply been frightened by Lu Zhi's previous series of suffocating maneuvers. Seeing that the other party's entry into the Eastern Pavilion to compile history was a done deal, why stir up more trouble over such a trifling matter? Besides, setting aside the Old Text vs. New Text debate, Lu Zhi was, after all, a paragon of the scholar-official class. In the future, they would all stand united against the eunuchs. That being the case, his disciples could be considered half their own people. Not to mention, there was also the connection with Liu Kuan!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, the Gongsun brothers openly and honorably inserted themselves into this stone classics project, causing their own fame and status to rise to a whole new level!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, they were even chatting and laughing freely with a figure like Cai Bojie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thing is, Cai Yong was ultimately a man of genuine substance. As he listened carefully to the brothers take turns explaining punctuation marks to the Academy crowd, he also found it ingenious… How could it not be? Think back to the late Qing dynasty, when a minister went abroad and saw so many punctuation marks. His first reaction was to record them and then bring them back to criticize, saying the foreign devils only knew these flashy but useless things—a chaotic mess with no real use! Who would have thought that once introduced, they would immediately be widely adopted?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no helping it: a good thing is a good thing. When these marks were used in writing, concepts and meanings were indeed expressed more clearly… Later generations always wondered why, given that Chinese civilization was so advanced and continuously enduring, the matter of punctuation marks remained so crude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Setting other matters aside for now,\" after the explanation, Cai Yong was ultimately the first to speak up in agreement, \"this question mark and exclamation mark are quite apt. Some lines in the Book of Songs are rich and natural in emotion; even a commoner would understand they are questions or exclamations. As for the colon and quotation marks, the Analects is the first text that cannot do without them. Lord Liu and Lord Lu are truly great Confucians of the realm. I shall submit a memorial to the court to establish these marks as the standard…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ahem!\" Gongsun Zan suddenly could not help interrupting the other with his loud voice. \"We dare not accept Gentleman Cai's excessive praise. The question mark and exclamation mark were indeed devised by our two teachers. But this colon and quotation mark were the result of us three brothers… uh, and Senior Brother Wang Yi, pondering by day and reflecting by night, racking our brains until we finally came up with them!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Yong looked as if he had swallowed a fly, but in the end, he was helpless: \"The contributions of you worthy brothers and this disciple of the Wang clan of Taiyuan are naturally also present. I, Cai Yong, will certainly report them truthfully and will by no means conceal them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At these words, not only the Gongsun brothers, but even Wang Yi, who had been rather awkward these days from hanging around the three brothers, could not help but beam with delight… No one expected such a thing to bring any substantial benefit, like a noble title. But Cai Yong was a famous scholar of the realm, and his formal memorial was undoubtedly a form of certification! In the future, when meeting so-and-so, they could bring this up and boast, and likely no one would be able to refute it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like that, after this bout of idle fussing around, Gongsun Xun, as someone not short of money and in a good mood, naturally had to make a gesture. Soon, a pile of fresh fruits and vegetables of the late summer-early autumn season were brought in. In this era, watermelons and grapes were not yet widespread, but things like hawthorn, papaya, sour jujubes, water caltrops, and chestnuts were not lacking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, Gongsun Xun even explained that everything was arranged according to allusions in the Book of Songs and ancient texts: for example, the papaya from \"She threw a papaya to me, I requited her with a fine jade\"; the water caltrops from \"Lotus drapes and a water-caltrop carriage, purple cowrie gate towers and a jade hall\"; and the chestnuts from \"Plant hazels and chestnuts there, also catalpa and lacquer trees\"…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The others were fine, just eating for novelty's sake while casually reciting a line or two from the Book of Songs. Only Cai Yong, inwardly annoyed at these aggressive young scholars, embraced the idea of eating as much as he could to get even, and ended up devouring two large papayas all by himself… Consequently, after dinner, when the cold wind of the late summer-early autumn season rose, Cai Yong felt a terrible discomfort in his stomach and ended up squatting in the latrine for half the day without getting up. Who knows whether he came out ahead or behind in this deal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that was not all!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was precisely in this latrine that Cai Yong, Cai Bojie, suffered the most devastating blow of his life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The story goes: the sky had already darkened, and Gentleman Cai was squatting in the innermost wooden stall when he suddenly heard chaotic footsteps. Then, several familiar voices sounded nearby—it was the Gongsun brothers coming to relieve themselves. He immediately held his breath, terrified that these people would notice his sorry state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he never imagined that these very people would proactively bring him up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Elder brother,\" the first to speak was the youngest, called Gongsun Yue, and his words carried a hint of honesty, \"Gentleman Cai is also a famous scholar of the realm. Why must you use him as a stepping stone again and again?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ah,\" the one who replied was none other than that most insufferable one, called Gongsun Xun, \"you don't understand. This Cai Bojie is one of the few truly honest men left at court. And honest men like him are a rare sight these days. Since we've encountered one, naturally we must make the fullest use of him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Yong sneered inwardly at these words, but he could not be bothered to argue. After all, what did these youngsters understand about the conduct of a moral gentleman? If not for the face of your three brothers' two teachers…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Xun-di is right,\" another voice rang out, and it was especially loud — no need to guess, it was that big-mouthed Gongsun Zan. \"Honest men are getting harder and harder to find these days, and there's another advantage to an honest man: no matter how you use him as a raft, he'll never hold a grudge… From the look of things, as Xu You said, this Cai Bojie is truly a rare find. If we don't use him, we use him for nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By now Cai Yong was feeling some real anger — was an honest man somehow in your debt? But years of cultivating his composure made him swallow it down… The Way of the gentleman, why stoop to argue with these youths? At worst, he would simply see less of that Xu You in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet a moment later, Gongsun Zan suddenly spoke up again with a laugh: \"By the way, before Xun-di met this Cai Bojie, he asked around more than once, wanting to know whether Cai Bojie had a daughter. When we went to his house earlier, though we didn't meet Cai Bojie himself, we did learn that he indeed has a daughter… What, could it be you're thinking that with your capping ceremony approaching, you might go behind Auntie's back and arrange a marriage for yourself?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At these words, Cai Yong immediately grew wary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ahem!\" Gongsun Xun gave a dry cough at once. \"Elder brother, watch your words. Although the exact age of that daughter is unclear, from what I've gathered, she is still in the age of bound tufts, a mere child… Is this a joke one can make?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Yong promptly set his mind at ease — this Gongsun Xun at least still knew something of face and shame. Though he still wondered why the man had been inquiring about his daughter in the first place…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What harm is there? They say she's a child, but a girl marries at fifteen,\" Gongsun Zan on the other side continued joking without any sense of propriety, clearly a product of the frontier, long accustomed to coarse manners. \"Right, A-Yue, you're only sixteen or seventeen this year… Why don't we ask Teacher Liu to act on your behalf and arrange a match with this daughter of the Cai family? Then you can wait another eight or nine years and marry her when you're twenty-five or twenty-six — wouldn't that be rather fitting?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If I'm to wait eight or nine years, why doesn't Elder Brother marry her?\" Gongsun Yue's tone actually carried some indignation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Haven't I already taken a wife?\" Gongsun Zan said dismissively. \"Could the daughter of this Cai Bojie be made a concubine?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then let Second Brother wait eight or nine years and marry her!\" Gongsun Yue said, still indignant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I lost my father in childhood and must marry early to continue the family line,\" Gongsun Xun immediately retorted upon hearing this. \"Better that A-Yue does the marrying.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I won't marry her!\" Gongsun Yue's tone grew ever more indignant, until at this point he was practically shouting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is my, Cai Bojie's, daughter someone you can marry just because you wish to? Cai Yong listened from over there, growing ever more indignant himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking,\" Gongsun Yue continued bellowing at his two elder brothers. \"With that appearance of Cai Bojie's — small eyes, upturned nostrils, thick lips, short eyebrows… it wouldn't take much. If his daughter resembles him by even two or three tenths, she'd be plain at best. If she takes after him by four or five tenths, would she even be fit to look upon? If you want to marry her, marry her yourselves — don't drag me into it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At these words, all that could be heard was the two young Gongsuns bursting into laughter together, utterly unrestrained, and amid the laughter came the sound of Gongsun Yue's indignant footsteps… from near to far — he had simply walked off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Bojie clutched the length of toilet stick he had been using to cleanse his hands, his face flushed bright red… In a fit of rage, he actually snapped the toilet stick in two, then hurled the pieces furiously into the darkening twilight: \"You whelps go too far in bullying others! When has my daughter ever resembled me by even half a fraction?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yue, while in Luoyang, worked with Court Physician Cai Yong on revising the Stone Classics, and once joined the Grand Ancestor, Zan, Wang Yi, and others in establishing standards for punctuation and annotation, showing considerable talent. Yong was very fond of him, and once sighed in private: 'It is a pity the ages do not match; otherwise, to take him as a son-in-law and have him always by my side — would that not be a joy?'\" — Old Book of Yan, Scroll 67, Biographies 17, Biographies of the Various Gongsuns\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: Embarrassing — I set the scheduled post wrong… Sorry, everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, here's the new book group. Interested readers can join: 684558115.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",3524,"2026-06-04T19:42:03.441Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","f034baa85e73145b6b96f99283da84459b16d166e55eb0499e098f03315054de","overthrowing-han-chapter-46","overthrowing-han-chapter-44",548,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foverthrowing-han-cover.jpg"]