Chapter 528: Chapter Twenty-Three: Old Ramparts Soughing, Summer Like Autumn

By mid-April, the entire Jiangxia region was nearly out of control.

And amid this loss of control, Shaxian was the first to erupt in chaos — not surrender, not flight, but an internal conflict that nearly destroyed the entire city.

It is said that the prominent families of Nanjun and Jiangxia who had gathered there, amassing roughly twenty thousand men, had been watching Liu Bei's fortunes from the sidelines. After Liu Bei died in battle, they immediately dispatched envoys to Xiangyang seeking to surrender. But with the emergence of the "Peach Blossom Banquet" incident, Cai Mao, Kuai Liang, Zhang Yun, and others were executed, and nearly all the prominent families of Nanjun had their properties confiscated. The so-called "loyal defenders of the Empress" gathered at Shaxian were instantly terrified and promptly split apart.

With a great army bearing down, some still sought the possibility of capitulation, but others, knowing their names were on some "clan brigand" register, were utterly unwilling to surrender.

And so, internal strife erupted without warning. The two sides fought back and forth near Empress Yuan's "bedchamber." The specific course of events was as absurd as the Goguryeo civil strife recorded in Wang Can's slim volume, *The Record of Duke Yan's Pacification of Goryeo*. In the end, Empress Yuan had no choice but to flee Shaxian with the imperial eldest son in her arms, protected by a handful of loyal armored soldiers, and seek refuge with her brother-in-law Jing Ze at Sanjiangkou.

Once Empress Yuan departed, Shaxian lost even the last shred of possibility for restoring order on its own, and it was calmly taken by the Jingzhou naval forces led by the surrendered Nanjun general Wen Ping.

On the eighteenth day of the fourth month, Han Dang led the main army into Shaxian. Almost the moment he arrived, a great slaughter began!

First, targeting the chaos itself: those who had verifiably killed innocents or looted, once identified or found with stolen goods, were immediately executed! Then, from the entire body of surrendered soldiers, one in ten was executed by lot, and among officers, one in five was executed by lot, to assume overall responsibility for such wartime disorder! Then, according to Yan state law, military discipline was further enforced for the act of refusing to surrender, and the officers underwent a second decimation of one in five!

This was not the end. After the chaos was dealt with, Han Yigong, following Liu Xuande's list of clan brigands, ordered that all family heads on the list be killed without exception! Finally, all the clan descendants within the army were escorted north, sent to the Yinshan for penal labor!

After this round of killing, not only did Shaxian fall completely silent, but across the Sanjiangkou, Xiling City, which had also been on the brink of internal chaos, likewise quieted down.

On the twenty-third day of the fourth month, after Han Dang had finished the executions, Zhang Zhao, in his capacity as Governor of Jiangdong, sent the instruments of surrender for the two commanderies of Yuzhang and Danyang from the already contiguous southern region of Jiangxia. With this, Jiangxia had no further room to maneuver. And the very next day, Jing Ze, the General of Chariots and Cavalry, returned to Xiling almost alone from Sanjiangkou and requested an audience with the Son of Heaven.

Of course, by this point, an audience was neither here nor there; the young Emperor was also waiting for him to take charge. When the two, lord and vassal, met, before Liu Xie could step down from the dais and burst into tears, Jing Ze, entering the "hall," came straight to the point.

"Your Majesty." Jing Youxi's eyes were deeply sunken, his eyes bloodshot, his hair tips withered — clearly the result of exhausting himself in service to the Great Han. This appearance formed a stark contrast with the magnificent brocade robe and the official seal and cord on his person. "Surrender."

Liu Xie held back his tears, his eyes reddening, but he showed neither anger nor relief. "General of Chariots and Cavalry, in these past few days, I have heard these words no fewer than a hundred times..."

"Then why not surrender?" Jing Ze asked, distracted.

"If you, sir, had come to say this in person a few days ago, I might have surrendered," the eighteen-year-old Son of Heaven replied earnestly. "But after the Peach Blossom Banquet and the recent massacre at Shaxian, the Grand Commandant and I discussed it, and we both fear that Han Dang has come to play the role of Wu Han!"

At the mention of the name Wu Han, Jing Ze was actually left speechless.

It must be said, the Wu Han Liu Xie spoke of was the great Han meritorious official ranked second among the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai. Historically, that Liu Xiu, Liu Xie's ancestor, was able to restore the Fiery Han, and this man's contributions, as well as his personal relationship with Liu Xiu, need no elaboration. He was basically second only to Deng Zhi's ancestor Deng Yu, considered the most meritorious and deeply rooted among the military officers. So comparing Han Dang to Wu Han actually seemed quite apt.

However, Liu Xie's example at this moment was not about merit, but referred to a historical case.

Historically, when Wang Mang usurped the government and the realm fell apart, Liu Xiu restored the Fiery Han. In the final stages, the Long and Shu regions were the most troublesome, especially the Son of Heaven of Shu, Gongsun Shu. This Gongsun Emperor, who styled himself the White Emperor, first publicly debated the Mandate of Heaven with Liu Xiu based on prophetic texts, then successively assassinated Liu Xiu's great generals Lai Xi and Cen Peng, and finally forced Emperor Guangwu to dispatch Wu Han.

This time, Wu Han naturally succeeded in crushing the Shu region, but upon entering Shu, he carried out a massive slaughter. Gongsun Shu's entire clan, young and old, along with the best of the surrendered generals and the famous and prominent families of Shu, were nearly exterminated by him! He also set fire to Gongsun Shu's palace!

After the event, Liu Xiu was naturally furious and publicly rebuked Wu Han, saying his actions betrayed the righteous cause of comforting the people and punishing the wicked. His words were so fierce they could almost be called a "severe condemnation."

Of course, condemnation aside, it did not prevent Wu Han from conveniently offering sacrifices to the ancestors on Liu Xiu's behalf as soon as he left Shu, nor did it prevent him from continuing to serve as both general and minister, nor did it prevent him from being buried upon his death with the exceptional rites historically used for Huo Guang, nor did it prevent him from being universally acknowledged throughout the Han dynasty as the second most meritorious official of Emperor Guangwu, a figure akin to his right-hand man.

In fact, anyone with a modicum of political common sense roughly understands the hidden story behind this affair. The Later Han dynasty, of course, would not discuss it openly, but over the years, especially during the previous Yan army campaign against Shu, various discussions inevitably touched upon this matter. Many people simply stated openly that this was Liu Xiu's implicit order, or that Wu Han had discerned Liu Xiu's true intent!

As for Liu Xiu's later public condemnation, how much was genuine feeling, and how much was because he had previously said during the Mandate of Heaven debate with Gongsun Shu that "you are no rebellious minister or treacherous son," implying a political promise to spare the other party, and thus had to put on a show... it's truly hard to say!

So the question arises: regardless of whether someone like Han Dang received a hint from Gongsun Xun, even if he didn't, given his political foundation, would slaughtering Jiangxia, or even directly killing Liu Xie and exterminating the entire Jiangxia court-in-exile, prevent him from being the foremost military hero of Great Yan?

It would not!

As the saying goes, what your ancestor did, can I not do?

Moreover, with the Gongsun and Liu clans alternating back and forth, who's to say it isn't Heaven's will after all!

If it truly came to that, everyone would have thrown their lives away in vain, only to earn a written condemnation from Gongsun Xun! Perhaps this time the condemnation and self-reproach could even be publicly posted!

But that would be all.

In fact, upon hearing the name Wu Han, even Jing Ze did not know how to dispel the Emperor's misgivings... because he himself was uncertain whether Han Dang might privately harbor the intention of resolving this trouble for Gongsun Xun.

"Of course, I also know that if Han Yigong truly comes to kill, we can now only sit and wait for death." The young Emperor had clearly pondered this a great deal, and spoke thoroughly from the steps before Jing Ze. "So, thinking it over carefully: firstly, I am unwilling to die after surrendering, becoming a laughingstock in vain; secondly, while my own death might not matter, I only worry that my imperial son is still in swaddling clothes, and the two Honored Ladies would have no one left to rely on!"

Jing Ze's heart stirred slightly.

And the Emperor continued to sigh without pause: "Thinking carefully, the two Honored Ladies lost their entire clans for my sake, and then followed me to this fallen state. The three of us have depended on each other for many years — how could I not pity them? And then there is my imperial son. Although the Empress and I are not on good terms, ever since the chaos of Dong Zhuo and the Yuans, I have been utterly alone. This is the sole continuation of the Han imperial lineage — lamentable indeed!"

"I beg Your Majesty to dismiss your attendants..." After pondering for a long time, upon hearing this, Jing Ze finally seemed to make up his mind. "I have something to say to Your Majesty."

The Son of Heaven showed no surprise, merely raising his hand to signal Deng Zhi and the others to leave. "I can roughly guess that the General of Chariots and Cavalry must have received word from the Yan army at Sanjiangkou... I wish to hear it too."

"General Han Yigong did indeed send word to Sanjiangkou. If Your Majesty can surrender, you will be granted the treatment of a hereditary marquis with a fief of ten Battalion Commander, to reside near the Wang clan of Zhao, your mother's family. If you do not wish for hereditary succession, after three generations your descendants may freely take the imperial examinations to serve in office, or engage in commerce or farming... absolutely no prohibition." Seeing that Deng Zhi and the few attendants in the hall had all departed, Jing Ze indeed smoothly recited some things everyone had long anticipated. "It is said that Duke Yan has already begun constructing a high platform north of Luoyang. Though there is no explicit word, according to the conjecture of Lu Ziheng, the Grand Marshal of Yan who has already gone to Jingnan to welcome Shi Weiyan, Duke Yan likely intends to formally ascend the imperial throne in Luoyang through the ritual of abdication, and conveniently move the capital there. If so..."

"If so, my family's lives might be preserved for a time." The Son of Heaven was briefly relieved, but then slowly shook his head. "But what of the future? After the abdication, two or three years later, my eldest son dying prematurely — would that not be a common occurrence? Four or five years later, my wives and concubines all perishing — nothing could be said then either. After ten or eight years, I myself die without issue... At that time, Duke Yan, in his great mercy, would let the Left General's son inherit my title. Wouldn't that be a happy ending for all?"

Jing Ze sighed deeply. "I too have considered this possibility... But I still wish to ask Your Majesty, what exactly is in your heart? Do you cling to the majesty of the Great Han, preferring to shatter jade and burn stone together, fighting to the death just to embarrass the North for a moment? Or, if there is truly a possibility of survival, would you try your utmost to survive?"

The Son of Heaven hesitated for a moment, and finally answered frankly: "My meaning is already quite clear. If I can survive, I naturally wish to survive... It's just that facing Duke Yan, I truly have absolutely no leverage! His thoughts, I utterly do not understand!"

Jing Ze nodded slowly. This matched his understanding. In fact, ever since being controlled by Dong Zhuo, this young Emperor before him had consistently displayed an extremely high desire for survival and a sense of propriety. He had personally experienced those chaotic events and knew very well how his noble close relatives had been tormented to death. This fear was planted deep in the young Emperor's heart. Therefore, all along, this Emperor's sense of responsibility for reviving the Han dynasty was built upon a necessary foundation of security.

And that incident in Chang'an back then was largely a case of Duke Yan deliberately designing a reverse trap. It was precisely the sudden, wholesale disappearance of the three consort clans that caused the young Emperor's sense of security to abruptly collapse, finally making him resolve to flee.

Considering all the subsequent events, one can only ask: why must the weak fight?

"Therefore, Your Majesty's main concerns at present are two..." Jing Ze, having thought it through, pressed on with his questioning. "First, after voluntarily surrendering, you might be casually slaughtered here in Jiangxia by Han Yigong — a man who need not care about merit or reputation — recklessly imitating Wu Han. Second, even if you voluntarily assist in the abdication, ultimately your lineage might not be able to peacefully continue its ancestral incense under Yan rule?"

"Exactly so." A trace of a bitter smile appeared on the Emperor's still youthful face. "Does the General of Chariots and Cavalry have any ideas?"

"I dare not imitate the Anli Trading Company and issue a guarantee for goods." Jing Ze, though his resolve was by now set, showed absolutely no unusual expression on his face or in his heart; instead, he was exceptionally calm. "But I do have some ideas... For the former, I may be able to bypass Han Yigong and send Your Majesty directly to Luoyang via another route. For the latter, I cannot guarantee the safety of Your Majesty himself, the two Honored Ladies, or the Empress, but I can exert my full effort to ensure the safety of the Imperial Eldest Son!"

The Son of Heaven fell silent for a moment.

"Your Majesty, I am Duke Yan's spy unto death!" Jing Ze continued softly, offering a supplement and explanation. Yet as he spoke these words, he showed neither relief nor any air of finality.

To this, the Son of Heaven slowly nodded, showing little surprise. "How could I not have guessed? But such is the way of the world. You are the only one who can save me and is willing to save me, so it matters not. And if you truly are Duke Yan's spy, then perhaps I truly can live."

At this, Jing Ze could only give a wry smile, and the Son of Heaven also laughed awkwardly.

After this laughter, the two stood facing each other in the hall, silent and calm.

The Emperor was on the dais, Jing Ze below it. All around was utterly silent. Only the sudden sound of a cicada from outside the hall reminded them that the seasons were turning, time ceaselessly flowing. Counting from the year Jing Ze was appointed General of the Gentlemen of the Tiger Guard, the two of them had now been in each other's company day and night for eight or nine years.

Truly: In life, partings are many; how long can one's prime endure? Three thousand li traveled back and forth, yet it has been eight or nine years together.

—————I am the dividing line of ceaseless time—————

"Han Dang captured Shaxian and massacred it." — *The New Book of Yan*, Volume 69, Biography 19

(End of Chapter)