Chapter 121: Entering the Palace

Of Yang Xiong's three disciples, Hou Ba remained in Shu to observe the three-year mourning for him. Wang Long, ever since he parted ways with Diwu Lun, had taken his private followers and retainers and retraced every place Yang Xiong visited in his youth.

In the lanes of Chengdu he soaked in the extravagance of the "Rhapsody on the Shu Capital"; he climbed Mount Min, which people of this age believed to be the source of the Yangtze, and gazed out over Dujiangyan — the very spot where Yang Xiong once cast his "Refutation of the Li Sao" into the waters.

By the time Wang Long returned to the capital, Diwu Lun had already gone north. Recently Wang Long happened to be home on leave; hearing that Diwu Lun had returned home in glory, he was overjoyed and became the first guest to visit.

The two had not seen each other for over a year. After exchanging pleasantries and catching up, Wang Long listened as Diwu Lun grumbled that his family's trading caravans were losing two loads for every three sent out, and could only smile wryly. "Boyu, you really have been away from the Central Plains too long. Do you think things are the same as a year ago?"

"Not just merchant caravans and travelers — even the court's envoys get robbed by bandits without exception. Some time ago, a Major under the Grand Marshal, sent to Yu Province on official business, was seized by bandits in the Left Cohort — Yingchuan Commandery!"

Diwu Lun said, "And then he was killed?"

Wang Long shook his head. "A Grand Marshal Major is a six-hundred-bushel official. When the bandits of the Left Cohort discovered he was actually a capital official, they didn't dare harm him. Instead they wined and dined him well, and several days later escorted him back to the county seat."

And so that Senior Major returned to Chang'an with this bizarre tale and reported the matter to the Emperor.

Wang Long said, "I know that Senior Major, and I asked him about his experience. He said he had also rebuked the bandits, asking them why they rebelled. But the bandits of Yingchuan all said they had not plotted rebellion — it was only because corrupt officials repeatedly levied taxes and they truly could not survive. On top of that, years of prolonged drought had left them starving, poor, and desperate, and only then did they fall to banditry."

"When the Senior Major asked about the officials they had killed, the bandits all said it was an accident in the chaos, and they hoped the Senior Major could plead their grievances before the sage Son of Heaven. If only the harsh taxes were stopped and their crimes pardoned, they would leave the hills and forests at once."

So some bandits were hoping for amnesty and recruitment. Diwu Lun's interest was piqued. "After the court heard this story, what was the reaction?"

Wang Long said, "His Majesty was furious. He deemed it a deception and issued a public reprimand to the Four Supports and the Three Dukes."

His memory had always been excellent, and he described it to Diwu Lun: "In the edict, His Majesty said that he himself rose from humble origins and knew well the wickedness in the villages and hamlets. Those driven by poverty, hunger, and cold to become bandits fall into only two types: large gangs that plunder, and petty thieves that steal and rob graves."

"But these so-called bandits now number in the hundreds and thousands, spanning provinces and linking commanderies. So well-trained and disciplined — they are absolutely no ordinary bandits, but rebels plotting great chaos! They besiege townships, villages, and county seats, and even openly plunder the court's envoys, killing officials and slaughtering clerks. Such brazen audacity — how can it be brushed off as driven by hunger and cold?"

"The court admonishes the ministers, grandees, Company Commanders, Commandery Governors, and all the various officials to earnestly instruct the law-abiding people and to identify and exterminate the bandit rebels. Henceforth, should anyone dare to speak on behalf of bandits, they shall be arrested, imprisoned, and prosecuted for their crimes!"

Diwu Lun found it utterly absurd after hearing it. Those who don't resist are rebels; those who do resist are well-trained rebels. One word: exterminate! It seemed Wang Mang was determined to be hardline to the end, both at home and abroad.

But amnesty would be useless anyway. Given the state of the realm, even if the rebelling peasants temporarily returned to the land, they would soon be driven to revolt again because they had no means of livelihood.

In short, the once-safe roads were now crawling with highwaymen and bandits everywhere. The Diwu clan's outward exploration had to be stifled and temporarily halted, its scope confined to the Six Colonels' districts. Any farther out, and they truly could not travel without armed escorts for their trade.

Diwu Lun decided to immediately dispatch some of the hundred-odd platoon commanders and squad leaders he had brought back from his own company to the various hamlets within the clan. Under the pretext of bandit defense, he would begin planning and training clan troops. The pity was they could only train separately in small groups.

Every ill has its advantage. After a year or so, with bandits swarming the land like hemp, they could just send out clan troops in batches to draw aggro and gain experience. Diwu Lun also thought to himself, "Since it's such a mess out there, if one or two exiled convicts run off from the frontier, the local officials won't care, will they?"

When the time was ripe, he could dispatch a squad to Western Sea Commandery to bring Diba Jiao and even that Liu Long back. Just today, Diba Jiao's father, Diba Zhi, had been weeping before Diwu Lun, saying he had not received a letter from his son for several months. The men the Diba clan sent had also vanished without word — whether they perished on the way there or on the way back, no one knew.

After seeing Wang Long off, Diwu Lun did not sleep well that night. He was woken by the wailing cries of children from within the fortified compound.

Those two "uncles" had truly inherited Diwu Ba's style — hardy stock. Not only were their cries sonorous, but as if by prior arrangement, the moment one stopped crying, the other would immediately start howling, or the two would sing in chorus. There was never a quiet moment; they simply kept it up all night long.

What was even more infuriating was that the next day, Diwu Ba came with a sleeping babe cradled in each arm and declared that the reason he had, "with nothing better to do," added these two sons by a concubine was entirely because Diwu Lun was dragging his feet so much that he still could not hold a great-grandchild in his arms.

This was a prod for Diwu Lun to marry. Diwu Ba had a very long list. As the Diwu clan grew daily richer and stronger, many powerful families in Liewei Commandery and even Chang'an had set their sights on his house. In Diwu Ba's words…

"Countless fine young ladies are waiting for you to choose!"

Diwu Lun smiled and said to Diwu Ba, "Speaking of which, your grandson has an important matter and needs your help, Grandfather."

"What matter?" Diwu Ba lowered his head and gave his son a loud kiss.

"Please get me some live wild geese. Four of them!"

Diwu Lun wanted live geese not to make soup to nourish his body, of course. In the six rites of wedding ceremony in this age, five of the rites called for the use of geese.

Hearing that Diwu Lun wanted geese, Diwu Ba was first stunned, then overjoyed. Only then did Diwu Lun inform his grandfather that, back in New Qin, he had already sought betrothal with Ma Yuan and obtained consent.

"The Ma clan of Maoling?"

Diwu Ba was even more astonished and delighted, so agitated he nearly dropped the babe in his arms.

He knew of the Ma family. Ma Yuan had ties with Diwu Lun. Now Ma Yu was already Governor of Yang Province, and Ma Yuan was Commandery Governor of the northern Zengshan Commandery — Shang Commandery. The Ma clan had both pedigree and substance. And from what Diwu Lun said, the young lady of the Ma family was also well brought up…

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Diwu Ba suddenly saw the light. "No wonder Boyu was always sending local specialties to the Ma family for no particular reason. So you were planning this all along! Excellent — you have this old man's style from back in the day!"

He immediately dispatched someone… no, he went personally to arrange the matter! And conveniently tossed that long list of marriage alliances into the stove to burn.

Diwu Ba could not even be bothered with his two little sons' crying and fussing. The grain and silk in the granaries had to be inventoried; the betrothal gifts at the gift-presentation rite must be ample — they could not let the Ma family look down on them. The wedding must be grand and lavish. The carriage and horses for the bride-fetching must be prepared early — it absolutely must be a matched team of fine hundred-gold horses! Not only the Diwu household had to bustle; everyone else in the clan must be mobilized too. In this matter, they all shared the honor.

Reckoning the many things to be busy with, Diwu Ba grinned from ear to ear and murmured, "Our family, actually tying a marriage alliance with a top-tier scholar-gentry clan — truly a fine match I never even dreamed of."

No matter how high Diwu Lun rose in office, no matter how rich their family grew, in Diwu Ba's subconscious that self-awareness of a commoner clan of humble origins still remained. He always felt his family were mere upstarts.

Going back generations, a dozen generations — which of those so-called great houses and gentry clans had not once been upstarts?

"Grandfather." Watching the old man's happy expression, Diwu Lun thought to himself, "The things you never dreamed of from here on — they'll be beyond counting!"

…

Although the matter of visiting to ask the bride's name had been put on the agenda, there was something even more pressing: Diwu Lun's audience with the sage Emperor. After all, setting aside official duties to attend to private affairs first — with the bride's father still a fugitive at large — would be troublesome if someone with ill intent impeached him for gross disrespect.

Diwu Lun first went to the Palace Gentlemen's office in Chang'an to report and request an audience. After waiting another day, he received notice to enter the palace the next day.

The following day, Diwu Lun donned a brand-new set of crimson official robes, hung his seal and cord at his waist, and put on the unicorn-leather cap that Wang Mang had bestowed on him last time. He was very much looking forward to today's meeting.

Although he had had an audience with Wang Mang at Hongmen Camp last year, the distance had been so great he had not even gotten a clear look at his face. This time entering the palace for an audience with the sage Emperor, he should be able to get a bit closer and have a look at old Wang's venerable countenance.

The person leading Diwu Lun into the palace was none other than Liu Die, the General of the Gentlemen of the Palace of the Five Offices, whom he had encountered many times at Liu Xin's residence.

"Marquis Yixiu, is the State Preceptor in good health?"

Diwu Lun inquired cautiously after they met. Even as far away as New Qin, he had heard the news that the Crown Prince had been deposed. For Liu Xin, the Crown Prince's father-in-law, it was as if the sky had fallen. The State Preceptor's position had become extremely sensitive.

On top of that, some time ago that man from Runan, Zhi Yun, had recklessly submitted a memorial demanding Wang Mang return governance to the Han house's Liu clan. Wang Mang might well harbor thoughts about Liu Xin.

But strangely, Wang Mang still doted on and trusted Liu Die as before. He remained General of the Gentlemen of the Palace of the Five Offices, commanding the Palace Gentlemen and serving as a guard within the palace.

Liu Die smiled. "My father has barely even attended court lately. He just cultivates his health and sees no outsiders, spending all his spare time frantically working on his circle-division calculations."

Diwu Lun felt somewhat ashamed. Liu Xin had once helped him, but visiting at this critical juncture would be disadvantageous to both sides.

Liu Die led the way ahead, bringing Diwu Lun through the Eastern Gate — the Blue Dragon Gate Tower, where the azure dragon stretched across — and into Shoucheng Hall.

Shoucheng Hall was, in fact, just Weiyang Palace with a name change. In the Former Han it had two gates in total, east and north; the north gate was called the Black Tortoise Gate Tower. But after Wang Mang took power, he demolished a section of the wall and added west and south gates.

The south was the Vermilion Bird Gate Tower, convenient for him to go to the Bright Hall, the Imperial Academy, the Circular Moat, and the Nine Temples for sacrifices, all under grand construction south of Chang'an.

The west was the White Tiger Gate Tower. Wang Mang had no interest whatsoever in scenic excursions; he only liked the Grand Liquid Pool and the Gradual Terrace in Jianzhang Palace to the west, often crossing via the covered bridge to escape the summer heat.

Diwu Lun took in the novelty all along the way. This Shoucheng Hall indeed had the grandeur of a great state's palace, only the coloring was plain and elegant — predominantly yellow walls and black tiles, completely different from the red walls and green tiles of the later Forbidden City.

Only after entering the Blue Dragon Gate Tower did one truly enter the "palace interior" — the outer perimeter of the palace compound. Inside there was yet another palace wall, also with four gates, formerly called the Public Carriage Marshal Gates, where ministers' and nobles' carriages had to stop and they had to dismount and proceed on foot. Now they were renamed the "Four Gates of the Royal Way."

Once through the Wanglu Gate, you are in the central hub of the front court. From afar, you can see a vast and majestic palace standing atop Longshou Hill, its halls arrayed in sequence from north to south, from the hilltop down to its foot.

That is the Front Hall, now called "Wanglu Hall."

Ancient upright bell-stands were arrayed in the palace courtyards. The hall's beams arched like flying dragons and curved like long rainbows; the rafters were aligned in perfect order, the upturned eaves spread like the wings of a bird, and the massive ridge-poles were ranked like galloping steeds — a sight of sweeping grandeur.

Diwu Lun had heard Yang Xiong and Huan Tan say that before Wanglu Hall, there once stood twelve colossal golden men, cast by the First Emperor of Qin, outside the main gate. But after Wang Mang took power, he deemed them relics of the Qin dynasty that must be destroyed! So when the White Tiger and Vermilion Bird watchtowers were being built, he had them hauled and dragged out of the palace.

All that remained on the spot were the deep impressions left after the twelve golden men had stood there for two hundred years. Diwu Lun reckoned that even lying down, he could not fill one of those enormous footprints.

Wanglu Hall was used for grand affairs; private audiences were generally arranged in the Proclamation Chamber, where the Emperor worked.

The Proclamation Chamber was somewhat smaller than Wanglu Hall, but the guard was just as strict. The guardsmen, each with a tiger's head and a swallow's jaw, were brawny and robust. Their hair was done up in mallet-shaped topknots and crowned with caps, and they gripped great halberds — awe-inspiring and majestic.

Diwu Lun was first led to the Painting Chamber at the side of the hall, a place for awaiting summons. A master of ceremonies duly demonstrated the rites to be observed during the audience, every detail strict and precise — Wang Mang was clearly a man who cared deeply about ritual.

An emperor's day is exceedingly busy, let alone with Wang Mang's style of personally attending to every matter. Diwu Lun had waited a while, and Liu Die had just come out again to notify him to prepare to enter, when an unexpected incident occurred.

Outside the palace, a small horse-drawn carriage came rumbling along, heading straight for the Proclamation Chamber.

Wait — wasn't it said that no carriages were permitted within the four gates of Wanglu?

But the carriage did not stop, driving right up to the door of the Proclamation Chamber before halting. A tall, slender woman stepped down from it. Her attire was extremely plain — truly all white, making her look as though she were in mourning.

As she walked, her bearing was dignified, her steps graceful and swift. The duty eunuchs and guardsmen of the Proclamation Chamber, who moments before had been full of swagger, now dared not block her. They parted like a tide, following at a distance and bowing repeatedly to the woman, pleading in low, submissive voices — but they could not stop her.

Diwu Lun was still in the corridor of the Painting Chamber and had no time to clearly make out the woman's features before she strode directly into the Proclamation Chamber, leaving behind only a plain silhouette.

"I was clearly here first!"

Diwu Lun cried out in his heart. He had been cut in line, just like that, and could only look at Liu Die helplessly. What now? And who was this woman — one of Wang Mang's favored consorts?

Liu Die was also quite frustrated; he had not expected her to come at this time. He could only offer a dry laugh: "Boyu, do not be impatient. You will have to wait a little longer."

"The one who just went in — that is the Princess of the Yellow Imperial House!"