Chapter 56: Sudden Upheaval

Early the next morning, Gongsun Xun used filial duty as his reason and wrote a resignation letter in earnest, heartfelt terms. Then he called over a retainer from the trading company who was a decent rider and had him race on horseback to deliver it to Yanglue City, the commandery seat beyond the frontier. Once there, an elder kinsman serving as a clerk in the commandery would naturally forward it on his behalf to Prefect Zhao.

After all, although resigning the moment he got home left something of a bitter taste, it was ultimately his own mother’s arrangement, and reason also told Gongsun Xun that this arrangement was quite sound.

After seeing the man off beyond the city walls, Gongsun Xun immediately went to observe his mother’s “immortal” enterprise — that is, the first experiment with so-called woodblock printing… Well, speaking of which, one must praise Cai Yong’s reputation and lament just how remote and desolate this backwater of Liaoxi truly was. The moment word spread that they were reprinting the Seven Classics hand-copied by Cai Bojie, more than half the city’s prominent figures came flocking to watch.

From the county magistrate to the clan elders — not a single one was missing!

However, whether it was Gongsun Xun or Gongsun Yue, the more they frowned and studied this so-called woodblock printing, the more speechless they became.

Because, no matter how you looked at it, this “woodblock printing” that Lady Gongsun claimed would change the face of the entire world seemed hardly any different from the “rubbing technique” used to carve the Stone Classics in Luoyang. It was just a couple of extra steps — carving an intaglio template onto a jujube wood board the same way the Stone Classics were engraved, and then reverse-rubbing it onto paper to make a book!

One could only say that this method did indeed seem far more convenient than copying by hand, but as for anything particularly ingenious or novel about the technique… there didn’t really seem to be any, did there?

And quite obviously, the initial rubbing and carving went extremely smoothly. After a few old stonemasons adjusted to working with wood, they each carved an intaglio woodblock for the Book of Songs in just over half a day’s work, and they continued producing printing blocks in a steady stream.

Yet just as everyone thought things were about to go off without a hitch, the printing work that began in the evening ground to a halt. The moment they started, they discovered a major problem with the ink… there were far too many smudged characters. They adjusted it many times in between — adding oil, adjusting the thickness — and in the end, after fussing about for an entire day, they still hadn’t produced a single decent result.

And so, when they resumed work the next day, the crowd of onlookers shrank by more than half at once. The county magistrate did not come this time, sending only the assistant magistrate to stand in for him. The elder who actually managed clan affairs — Gongsun Xun’s second granduncle — also did not come again; only his grandson Gongsun Fan ran over to keep watching… Here, a slight digression: in Gongsun Xun’s grandfather’s generation, the eldest son died young, so the actual head of the main line of descent was this second granduncle, who had once served as Grand Administrator of Shanggu Commandery. And Gongsun Fan was, in fact, the true eldest grandson of the main Gongsun line.

But the eldest grandson’s presence brought no good luck. The second day also passed in a haze of ink mixing and adjustments.

The third day was the same. By this point, even Gongsun Yue had gone back to help his own family with some task or other. The assistant magistrate was clearly only sitting outside to save face for Lady Gongsun and her son. Only Gongsun Fan followed along from start to finish, watching intently… which made Gongsun Xun regard him with a somewhat higher opinion.

On this day, however, Lady Gongsun finally did not let her long-standing reputation down. After fussing about until the afternoon, the ink was at last mixed to just the right consistency — neither too thick nor too thin — and the oiliness was exactly suitable. Then, after a round of rubbing and printing, they actually managed to print “Guan Ju,” the very first poem that opens the Book of Songs. Including the so-called punctuation and reading marks, it came to exactly one hundred and two characters.

And it was precisely these mere one hundred and two characters on a single large sheet of white paper that instantly drew gasps of astonishment from the crowd of country bumpkins in Lingzhi City!

The assistant magistrate took the final product — the fruit of three days’ hard labor — on behalf of his county magistrate, and even reminded them to be sure to notify him once the entire Book of Songs was printed. As for Gongsun Fan, the heir of the main line, he actually snatched up the defective prints smeared with many ink stains from earlier, though what use he could possibly have for them was anyone’s guess.

Of course, Gongsun Xun only muttered these thoughts to himself in his heart; he dared not let a trace of them show on his face. Couldn’t they see the swaggering, triumphant look on his mother’s face? As if she had made some monumental contribution…

In truth, this was actually Gongsun Xun being somewhat ignorant and self-righteous.

One must understand that many epoch-making technologies do not require a high threshold. Often, they are simply the appropriate integration of several previously existing techniques. Sometimes they cannot even be called integration, but merely standardized improvements made to facilitate wider adoption… and yet, they change the era all the same.

Take this woodblock printing, for example. In the Han Dynasty, the practice of erecting stone steles was extremely popular, and the rubbing technique was also basically widespread. The only reason it had not been applied to printing books was simply the lack of a single sheet of good paper… Yet, in another timeline, even two hundred years after the appearance of Zuo Bo paper — which was dense and durable enough for preservation — people only suddenly realized that the two techniques could be combined to print books!

Was there any technical sophistication in that?

No, but it was still immensely important, and it still changed the world. And Lady Gongsun’s “invention,” utterly devoid of technical sophistication as it was, brought this technology that facilitated the spread of knowledge into the world more than two hundred years early!

Moreover, what Gongsun Xun did not know was that his mother still had many similar things hidden away in her mind, only that she was unable or unwilling to bring them out due to various limitations and considerations.

Ah, as for whether movable-type printing was one of the techniques Lady Gongsun was maliciously concealing? No, truly not… After all, she wasn’t an engineering dog, right? The materials for ink and movable type simply couldn’t pass muster. Just mixing the ink for woodblock printing nearly killed her, let alone the ink and materials for movable type. And since she lacked the skill to use movable type, she had no choice but to use woodblocks, which posed no technical obstacles whatsoever!

In summary, after these three days of fussing about, regardless of the level of technical sophistication, and regardless of how much more time this method would need to mature, one thing was clear to everyone… if nothing else, from now on, the number of books under heaven would only grow greater and greater. And with the methods of Lady Gongsun and the Anli Company, the number of bookshops selling cheap books would likely grow greater and greater as well!

That’s right, you read that correctly… there were bookshops in this era!

Both Chang’an and Luoyang had bookshops. Very early on, people were already carving the most basic texts like the Analects and the Book of Songs onto bamboo slips and selling them… but the price was hardly something the average person could accept, and moreover, only great cities like Chang’an and Luoyang had such bookshops.

In Han history, the famous Wang Chong, because his family was too poor to afford books, went to the bookshops in Luoyang every day to read, and he could memorize a text after reading it just once — though what the bookshop owners thought of that is anyone’s guess… Of course, when he was back in his hometown of Kuaiji, he couldn’t even find a bookshop to mooch books from.

And just as Gongsun Xun was letting his thoughts wander wildly while looking at this “woodblock” that was just beginning to show results, Gongsun Fan returned, bringing with him an invitation from his grandfather — the de facto clan head at present — asking Lady Gongsun to come to his residence for a talk.

As for what the invitation to his mother was about, everyone knew without saying. As mentioned before, by the tradition of this dynasty, without classical scholarship passed down through the family, one was ultimately a second-rate aristocratic clan. And the Gongsun clan had been struggling at the pinnacle of the second-rate clans for far too long. So in the eyes of the older generation, anything that could help spread the family’s scholarly reputation was greater than heaven itself!

However, this had nothing to do with Gongsun Xun. He watched his mother, led by Gongsun Fan, continue on her swaggering way toward the largest courtyard in the clan compound, then turned around and headed straight for a place near the west gate of Lingzhi City — the area behind the main compound of the Anli Company, which Lady Gongsun had personally designated as the dormitory district.

Why come here? Well, the day before, Aunt Li had come looking for Gongsun Xun, saying that the new bookkeeper was clamoring to see him and claimed he wanted to present a brilliant stratagem.

“Brother Zibo, are you settling in well?” Pushing open the door to the man’s single dormitory room, Gongsun Xun looked over Lou Gui, who was busy with something with his head down, with a faint, ambiguous smile.

“Thanks to Wenqi’s care,” Lou Gui replied without even raising his head from where he was writing at the bedside table, every inch the famous scholar. “Since I’m here, I’ll make myself at ease. Besides, this place is ultimately far more interesting than the foot of Mount Goushi. In just three days, I’ve already seen many novel things I’d never encountered in my life.”

“Is that so?”

“Naturally.” As he spoke, Lou Gui turned around and displayed the Arabic-style vertical calculation he had just completed. “A fine thing… far more efficient than expressing it in words.”

“Indeed,” Gongsun Xun did not refute him. “What else?”

“What else…” Lou Gui set down the white paper and goose-feather quill in his hands, turned, and leaned against the high back of his chair. “In just three days, I’ve come to feel that all my previous actions were like child’s play!”

“Which actions?” Gongsun Xun casually sat down on the edge of the man’s bed.

“Naturally, those matters of gathering desperate men…” Lou Gui shook his head repeatedly. “I thought myself clever, seeing through the state of the world earlier than anyone else, and so I wanted to prepare in advance. But only after arriving in Liaoxi did I realize how utterly childish those actions were. Once the world descends into chaos, is it enough to merely have men of courage and strength? What about provisions? What about weapons and armor? What about a defensible location?”

“You speak as if our Gongsun clan is planning to rebel…” Gongsun Xun immediately sneered. “Does our Gongsun clan even have weapons and armor? Could it be that the Anli Company has also gone into the arms trade? How come I don’t know about it?”

“I’m not saying you plan to rebel,” Lou Gui sighed. “Nor am I saying your family deals in arms. But I have asked around. Your Gongsun clan members hold key posts in many places, both in this commandery and the neighboring ones — posts that involve managing arms, armor, troops, and horses in the first place… So if you, Gongsun Wenqi, ever wanted to rebel, it would probably be more convenient for you than for anyone else!”

Gongsun Xun couldn’t help but roll his eyes: “You sought me out just to present a brilliant stratagem for rebellion?”

“Don’t think I’m joking,” Lou Gui said with a serious expression. “These past two days, while learning bookkeeping in your family’s accounting room, I’ve seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. Your family deals in horses, in grain, in cloth and silk. You have warehouses, trading companies, merchant caravans, and subordinate tribes across several surrounding commanderies. Even the Xianbei, Wuhuan, Goguryeo, and Samhan beyond the frontier all have dealings with your family… So, if one day war truly breaks out on all sides, your family could simply dispatch troops from this very Lingzhi City and seize Lulong Fort by deception!”

At this point, Lou Gui suddenly fell silent, and the two men just stared at each other.

“And then?” It was finally Gongsun Xun who feigned puzzlement. “Why stop halfway through?”

“Oh, come now,” Lou Gui said impatiently. “Why must Wenqi play dumb? Once you seize Lulong Fort, not only will you obtain a vast quantity of military supplies, weapons, and armor, but you can also directly cut off communication between Hebei and the frontier, and then leisurely advance to take the five commanderies beyond the frontier. At that point…”

“At that point, pacify the frontier, assemble your forces, sit back and watch the chaos engulf the realm and the warfare in Hebei. Wait for a good opportunity, then lead your troops directly south, sweep across Hebei, and then emulate Emperor Guangwu by holding the Yellow River and peering covetously at all under heaven… is that what you were going to say?” Gongsun Xun questioned, somewhat speechless. “Lou Zibo, oh Lou Zibo, can you not fix this flaw of having grand ambitions but meager abilities? And you still fancy yourself a master of wondrous stratagems? My mother even said your intelligence surpasses mine? Am I a pig’s brain then, for your intelligence to surpass mine?”

“Where have I shown grand ambitions but meager abilities?!” Lou Gui’s face flushed red. “Would this plan not work?”

Gongsun Xun gave a cold laugh: “Let me ask you just one thing. Do you know how far it is from Lulong Fort to Yanglue City, the seat of Liaoxi Commandery?”

Lou Gui looked utterly blank.

“Five hundred li!” Gongsun Xun laughed in spite of himself. “Along the way, there are only small cities like Liucheng and Guanzicheng to rely on. In other words, the core region of the five frontier commanderies is at least five hundred li from Lulong Fort! If you’re carrying dry rations, a dozen riders with three horses each, sparing no horseflesh, you might make it in a day and a night. If you’re an ox-cart merchant caravan, fully supplied with water and grain, encountering no bandits, traveling day and night and rotating draft animals, then a journey of ten days can get you there and back. But if you insist on mustering a grand army and crossing these five hundred li of wilderness to take the five frontier commanderies… Lou Zibo, tell me, how long do you think a grand army would take to cover these five hundred li? How much provisions would it need? To what degree would troop morale collapse along the way? And once you arrive, what if a single brigade of elite troops awaits you, rested and ready?”

Lou Gui’s face burned with shame.

“Of course, if one has deep operations in the five frontier commanderies, it’s not impossible to take them through political maneuvering and strategy,” Gongsun Xun continued with a smile. “But even if you take them, once you go in, you won’t be able to come back out. At best, it’s a place to hide from disaster. Because once you shift your center of gravity to the five frontier commanderies, this Lulong Fort will basically be impossible to hold…”

“All because of these five hundred li?” Lou Gui asked meekly.

“All because of these five hundred li,” Gongsun Xun sighed. “Is five hundred li not far enough? To Hebei, Lulong Fort is a strategic choke point; to the frontier, it is a pass five hundred li away… The moment you shift your center of gravity beyond the frontier, this Lulong Fort will inevitably be seized at the first opportunity by whatever power controls Hebei.”

“I was indeed engaging in empty talk,” Lou Gui said, deeply embarrassed.

“This is called fighting on paper,” Gongsun Xun shook his head repeatedly. “It misleads people and ruins affairs. And what we just discussed didn’t even touch on the other dangers along those five hundred li of road… such as raids by the Xianbei and Wuhuan.”

Lou Gui opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped.

“I know what you want to say,” Gongsun Xun corrected him, exasperated. “You think my family’s trading network runs deep and has dealings with those foreign tribes? Let me tell you plainly: first of all, the Wuhuan are internal vassals of the Great Han. It’s not just my family — anyone can do business in their tribal lands. That my family trades with them proves absolutely nothing! As for the Xianbei and Goguryeo, it’s actually only those small, border-dwelling tribes so poor they’re starving to death that form upstream-downstream relationships with our trading company. As for their true high-level leadership, how could they possibly have dealings with a single trading company like ours? And then there’s Samhan — that wretched place is so barren that neither the Great Han nor Goguryeo could be bothered to bring it under administration. It only gained a modicum of trade value after ginseng became valuable. What use could dealings with them possibly be? So you see, your grand ambitions and meager abilities are truly beyond cure!”

Lou Gui no longer dared to speak.

"With all this energy, you'd be better off practicing your accounting skills!" Gongsun Xun couldn't help but sigh. "Even if the situation really does change, it'll be seven or eight years from now. And my family's Anli Trading Company doesn't keep idle hands... If you keep on like this, I'll have no choice but to send you to the Xuantu branch to buy ginseng. It's nice and cool there — two winters will surely calm your restless heart."

With that, Gongsun Xun rose from the bed in the other man's dormitory, clasped his hands behind his back, lifted his head, and — wearing exactly the same expression his own mother had when she went to see the clan head — a look of utter superiority and self-satisfaction — strode out of the room.

That night, nothing of note occurred.

The next day, the fifth day since Gongsun Xun had returned home, Li Sanyi sent word that this Lou Gui had indeed become much more docile.

But on the third day — the sixth day since Gongsun Xun had returned home — in the late morning, a swift horse suddenly galloped urgently into Lingzhi City... It was none other than the household retainer previously sent to Yangyue to deliver the letter!

As it turned out, this man had not only failed to deliver the letter, but instead brought back to Gongsun Xun, the Gongsun clan, Lingzhi City, and even the whole of Youzhou a piece of earth-shattering news:

The convoy of the mother of Zhao Bao, Grand Administrator of Liaoxi — who was also the aunt of the court-dominating Eunuch Zhao Zhong — had been ambushed by Xianbei tribesmen on the way out of Lulong Pass toward Yangyue City. The entire convoy had been taken captive!

"Are you joking?!" Gongsun Xun's first reaction upon hearing this was utter disbelief. "In four hundred years of the dynasty, through the Former Han and the Latter Han combined, such a thing has never been heard of! The family of a two-thousand-bushel official captured by an enemy state within our own borders?!"

"Young master, how could I joke about such a matter?" the retainer hastily replied. "I heard the news when I reached Guanzicheng. Once I confirmed the facts, I rushed back at once. The moment I passed back through Lulong Pass, the entire pass was already under martial law, and messengers were being dispatched in all directions... I know the roads well and simply rode faster. I fear that in less than a quarter-hour, official word will arrive as well."

"It still doesn't add up," Gongsun Xun said, frowning. "The Grand Administrator of Liaoxi's mother was traveling to the commandery seat — Lulong Pass should have sent an elite escort. The old lady herself even said before..."

"The enemy had ten thousand riders," the retainer suddenly interjected.

Gongsun Xun was instantly stunned, and then immediately understood what had happened... The Great Han's military preparations along the line from Dai Commandery to Yunzhong had been exposed. The Xianbei wanted to strike first, but were unable to breach the passes for a counterattack, so they had raised a great army to raid the Great Han's cities beyond the frontier. And Yangyue City was the first to bear the brunt!

This was only the beginning of a series of great battles!

And thinking of it that way, that old Lady Zhao, along with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, had truly met with terrible misfortune and fallen into enemy hands!

Recalling his several encounters with that family, and then thinking of the successive great battles to come, Gongsun Xun felt a surge of mixed emotions and truly did not know what to say.

But there was no time to dwell on it. By afternoon, with the arrival of the military messenger, Lingzhi City was thrown into complete turmoil... Just as Gongsun Xun had said earlier, setting aside the unprecedented scale of nearly ten thousand Xianbei riders invading, the mere fact that a commandery governor's mother had been seized by an enemy state was something unheard of in the four hundred years since the Great Han's founding! There was no need to think — Luoyang would be shaken to its core, all of Youzhou would certainly dispatch elite troops to reinforce under the coordination of Inspector Liu Yu, and as for the various cities of Liaoxi Commandery itself, that went without saying!

One must understand that in this era, a commandery was treated as a state.

The Grand Administrator was like the ruler of a state. When such a thing befell the ruler's mother, to put it bluntly, all you officials, soldiers, and even the local powerful families of Liaoxi Commandery ought to feel that the master's disgrace was your own death sentence!

In fact, the County Magistrate of Lingzhi, once the shock subsided, immediately issued orders to dispatch all county troops, soldiers, sons of prominent households, provisions, and able-bodied men to Lulong Pass!

Gongsun Xun had not yet managed to resign his commandery clerk post, and with his double surname Gongsun, his status as a personal disciple of the current Superintendent of the Imperial Household, and his fame as the young hero who broke the camp with thirty riders... he was naturally appointed as the commander of this force, sent to provide support.

Although Lady Gongsun was utterly unwilling, she could only let her son go. She could not even voice a complaint... Had she not seen that Gongsun Yue had also just arrived home and was going again? Even Gongsun Fan, the clan's direct heir, had been thrown out by his grandfather! In the current situation, it seemed she could only hope that Han Dang, this "famous general of history," could protect her son once more.

They made ready and set out directly the next day. There was no such thing as a send-off ceremony. To put it bluntly, though the troops were strong and the horses sturdy, and the provisions fully prepared, everyone's hearts were filled with panic and bewilderment... No one had ever encountered such a thing; they did not even know whether this battle ought to be fought!

But just as Gongsun Xun had bid farewell to his mother and, his mind a complete blank, was leading Han Dang, Gongsun Yue, Gongsun Fan, and several hundred "elite troops" to depart through the West Gate, he encountered an utterly infuriating vexation.

"Young Master Gongsun! Gongsun Wenqi!" That Lou Gui, Lou Zibo — the man whose ambition so far outstripped his talent that he did not even know basic geography — was at this moment being held back desperately by two trading company clerks, yet still clung to the doorframe of the Anli Trading Company's main compound, straining to shout into the street. "Hear me out! Just hear me out! I have a plan! I have a brilliant plan!"

Gongsun Xun was already agitated and confused, and now this wretch made his eyelid twitch with fury. He exploded in rage: "Drag him over here, and give him a blade! Even if he survives this battle, I'll toss him into Lelang Commandery along the way and make him a ginseng trader for twenty years!"

"Zhao Bao, courtesy name Weihao, was a man of Dongwucheng in Ganling. His elder cousin Zhao Zhong served as a Regular Palace Attendant, but Bao deeply despised his clan's association with the name and influence of eunuchs and refused all contact with Zhong. He first served in the province and commandery, was recommended as Filial and Incorrupt, and was subsequently promoted to Prefect of Guangling. After three years in office, his governance was clear and enlightened; the commandery submitted a memorial praising his conduct, and he was promoted to Grand Administrator of Liaoxi. Stern and awe-inspiring in his authority, his name shook the frontier. He sent to escort his mother, wife, and children to his post; they were about to reach the commandery when, passing through Liucheng, they encountered over ten thousand Xianbei raiders entering the territory to plunder. Bao's mother, wife, and daughter were thus taken hostage and carried off to attack the commandery." — Book of the Later Han, Volume 81, Biographies of the Solitary and Exemplary.

PS: I'd like to discuss something with everyone. My schedule is getting more and more unreliable — could I officially move the daily update to eight o'clock? That would ease the pressure on me a bit.

Also, here's the new book group. Interested readers can join: 684558115.

(End of Chapter)