Chapter 135: I

Within a mere ten days after Diwu Lun's departure, the Feather Mountain bandits were "pacified" by the swarming commandery troops.

Just like the ever-sprouting head of Lu Fang, the head of "Great Bandit Jia" was hoisted high on a spear, and the commandery soldiers marched back to the commandery seat in jubilation to report their merits to the Grand Governor.

The real "Great Bandit," Jia Fu, however — the one Diwu Lun's proclamation had denounced — had long since slipped away with Ma Wu and their followers, leaving only an empty nest for the government troops.

Upon hearing the dire tidings of his own "death," Jia Fu found it absurd. He felt his head and said, "Couldn't the government troops have found a better-looking head? Am I, Jia Fu, really that ugly?"

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Ma Wu burst out laughing, but soon they could laugh no longer — for the government troops had not only taken the bandit chieftains' heads; they had also made up the count with several hundred bandit followers, leaving behind only a few blood-drenched hamlets and weeping, wailing women and children who had lost fathers and brothers.

"We should never have left."

Witnessing this harrowing scene, Jia Fu's heart was filled with shame: "They were all folk from the northern township of Champion County. Poor as they were, they still aided us with grain and fodder. Now they have met this calamity — it is Jia Fu's fault!"

Having spoken, Jia Fu's shame turned to rage. Brandishing his halberd, he turned on Ma Wu, dropping the courtesy name Zizhang and cursing him outright: "You ugly wretch, it's all your fault! If you and your lot hadn't come to my Feather Mountain with nowhere else to go, would the government troops have been drawn here?"

"Junwen, you're blaming the wrong man."

Ma Wu was unimpressed: "Blame that Xin envoy escorting the imperial sons, Diwu Lun. Blame the government troops who slaughtered the common folk. Blame the Grand Governor of the Vanguard Commandery who gave the order. Blame that muddle-headed Emperor! Blame this whole wretched, chaotic world!"

He went on: "If life were bearable, who would willingly hide in the hills and forests as a bandit? Three years ago, famine struck the Jiangxia region. Many starving people flocked to the wild marshes to dig up grass roots for food and gathered at Greenwood Mountain in Yunshe. At first, they numbered only a few hundred, but now they have swelled a hundredfold. How do you think that happened?"

By the far-sighted brilliance of the Greenwood leaders? Their bellyful of stratagems? Not at all. The great canal commanders Wang Kuang and Wang Feng and the rest have vision that is merely so-so — the caliber of mountain bandit kings — and their localist bias is so strong they would rather die than take a single step beyond Jiangxia. Of course, Ma Wu as a leader would not be much better than them, but he would at least think of fighting his way back to his own homeland.

"Greenwood owes its present strength entirely to the government troops' assistance. Every time the commandery soldiers came to suppress us, they could not catch the 'bandits,' so they seized the common folk who eked out a living around the marshes to make up the numbers, killing innocents and claiming false merit. Over time, the once-prosperous Cloud Dream Marsh has become a wasteland, its villages emptied — all the doing of the government troops. The Greenwood bandits have been 'pacified' over and over in memorials to the throne, yet in reality they only grow stronger, because honest folk have all been driven to become outlaws."

Earthquakes wreck houses and tear down homes, floods sweep across the countryside, drought demons scorch the earth for a thousand li — yet none of them are as devastating as the calamity of soldiers. The Xin imperial army's speed and efficiency in cutting off the common people's means of survival outstrip any natural disaster!

Now the same scene was unfolding in the Vanguard Commandery. Just as Ma Wu said, after the government troops' encirclement and suppression, those whose homes lay in ruins had no way to survive and could only flee into the mountains and forests. Within a few short days, Jia Fu's Feather Mountain bandits had exploded to over a thousand men.

Yet compared to the government troops, they were still very weak, and most were weary and uneasy. Young as Jia Fu was, the burden on his shoulders grew heavier by the day. Ma Wu urged him to join Greenwood, but looking at the thousand pairs of eyes behind him, Jia Fu shook his head.

"This affair is my responsibility. I must lead them and keep them alive."

Greenwood lay far to the south, and the road was blocked by the Jingzhou Governor's twenty-thousand-strong army; a large body of men could never slip through. Champion County was no longer tenable either. Jia Fu decided to lead his people as roving bandits, slowly shifting southwest along the foothills and byways, heading for the banks of the Han River, to a poor and remote county called Wudang, to seek a way to survive in a region where government troops were weak.

All feasts under heaven must end. As Jia Fu parted from Ma Wu, he cursed him again: "Ma Zizhang, you ugly wretch, you've done me grievous harm. Keep your life — I mean to demand recompense from you. Whatever you do, don't die."

"The same to you, Junwen. Don't let that fine face of yours get scarred by blades. My third sister is especially fond of handsome young gentlemen like you. When we meet again, how about we tie the knot as in-laws?"

Ma Wu bowed to Jia Fu with clasped hands and watched him and his followers vanish into the mountain forest. Each had their own battle to fight. Jia Fu had to keep his followers alive, while Ma Wu had to return to Greenwood Mountain and take part in the great battle that would decide whether they lived or died!

He would not flee, for the crow's eight or nine fledglings face danger on every side — there was no road by which to flee!

The road south was a tangle of mountains and rivers, fraught with peril, and the greatest danger came from the government troops pressing men into corvée labor everywhere.

Ma Wu had thought of deliberately getting himself seized so he could infiltrate and gather intelligence, but considering that fewer than half the conscripts survived, he had to abandon the idea. Instead, he resorted to his old trick: his men ambushed and killed a squad of conscription officers, donned their uniforms, and with a half-official seal dangling at his waist, Ma Wu swaggered openly along the main road, brushing past one government detachment after another hunting bandits.

He was indeed born to be a bandit. Even when challenged, he showed not the slightest alarm. In these chaotic times, at least three batches of court envoys passed through every month, and lesser officials were beyond counting. The post stations barely bothered to inspect travel tallies, giving them a cursory glance before waving them through.

Ma Wu even had the gall to demand food from the station conscripts at the relay lodges. To play the part of government troops more convincingly, he ordered his men to act fierce and menacing, slapping the table and glaring at the slightest provocation.

And Ma Wu also observed that a new situation was unfolding in the Vanguard Commandery: this time, it was not just the common folk who suffered — the powerful families were taking a beating too!

After Diwu Lun had fleeced the Li clan of Wancheng for a number of skilled ironworkers and smelters, he felt that the powerful families of the Vanguard Commandery were having things a bit too easy. He therefore hinted to Cheng Zhong, using him as a mouthpiece to suggest to the commandery Grand Governor and the Jingzhou Governor: "Certain powerful families may have aided the Greenwood bandits and taken part in the attack on the imperial sons."

Before the court's Master of Fates of the Five Majesties could arrive in his horse-drawn chariot, the Grand Governor of the Vanguard Commandery had already launched a thorough investigation of the commandery's powerful lineages.

Written as "thorough investigation," read as "extortion." The Jingzhou Governor and the Vanguard Grand Governor were fretting over insufficient grain and fodder for the campaign against Greenwood. Grain east of the passes cost a thousand cash per shi, and the court could not transfer any supplies, telling them to raise it themselves. The Vanguard Commandery had suffered a severe drought the previous year, and little more could be squeezed from the common folk. The powerful families had been making excuses and resisting grain levies, guarding the stores in their granaries and refusing to hand them over. Now was the perfect chance to concoct pretexts and fleece them thoroughly.

An ordinary commandery governor would surely have held back, mindful of the maxim "do not wrong the great houses." But Zhen Fu, a diehard loyalist of the Xin Dynasty, demanded that the top three surnames of every county each contribute a donation of bandit-suppression grain. Those who gave nothing or too little were suspected of aiding the bandits.

For a time, the Vanguard Commandery was thrown into utter chaos. When Ma Wu and his party passed through Anzhong County, not even the Marquis of Shuaishuai's Liu clan was spared — the very clan that had once won eight marquisates by betraying Liu Chong, the Marquis of Anzhong who had first raised the banner of rebellion against Wang Mang, and had been granted the imperial surname Wang. Your house holds one marquisate and seven attached fiefs, does it not? Then naturally you must make a contribution to the court. The Marquis of Shuaishuai donated two thousand shi of grain, and his seven sons one thousand shi each.

The ever-stingy Marquis of Shuaishuai's household had no choice but to grudgingly hand over the grain, setting an example.

"Serves them right," Ma Wu gloated. Not all powerful families were as charitable as the Fan clan of his own Huyang County. The Vanguard Commandery, a mere palm-sized patch of land, was crammed with nearly two million people, with average land use per household barely over twenty qing. Its conflicts were even sharper than those in the Guanzhong heartland.

The next stop was Xinye. The heads of the Yin and Deng clans had both been summoned to the commandery seat by the Grand Governor and would not be released until they donated grain. The two families could only hastily scrape together the grain and fodder and send it by cart to Wancheng. The convoy stretched for several li — this time they had truly bled heavily. One imagines that behind closed doors, they must be grinding their teeth in hatred for the court.

By the time Ma Wu's party reached Boshui Township in Caiyang County, north of Greenwood Mountain, Liu Xiu had also hurried off with grain carts to Wancheng to ransom his uncle. Ma Wu had long heard the name of Liu Bosheng of Chongling, and now, passing through his territory and observing, he discovered that the retainers and dependents of the Chongling Liu clan were by far the most tightly organized of all the surnames in the Vanguard Commandery.

Even the territory of the Li clan of Wancheng was riddled with holes like a winnowing basket, letting Ma Wu come and go as he pleased. The Liu clan alone was different. Many of the minor clerks at the relay lodges and post stations had long been under the control of Liu Bosheng's retainers. No traveler escaped their eyes. Once a suspicious figure was spotted, there was no need to report to the Bailiff or the County Magistrate — the Liu Yan brothers were notified first.

Ma Wu and his men had passed through several counties without incident, yet it was precisely in Boshui Township that someone saw through their disguise. Just as they were about to leave the township boundary, a party of horsemen caught up with them. Seeing no way to slip away, Ma Wu could only wheel his men around, ready for a desperate fight at any moment.

The man leading them was a burly fellow wearing a crimson headband. He reined in his horse at a distance, bringing his men to a halt, and announced his name.

"I am Liu Yan of Chongling. I heard that honored guests were passing through my township. Having failed to invite you to a feast in time, I have come especially to make amends!"

As he spoke, Liu Yan had his men lift tables, wine, and meat from the carts and bring them over to Ma Wu and his party.

What sort of ploy was this? The Greenwood bandits looked at one another in bewilderment, their mouths watering at the aroma but fearing a trick. Ma Wu, astonished and suspicious, simply replied: "Will you not ask what our status is, or where we come from?"

Liu Yan declared in a loud voice: "Does it matter who you are? Once you enter this township, you are Liu Yan's guests. Why must I ask a gentleman's origins?"

Ma Wu hesitated for a moment, unwilling to let the other man think him timid. He let his subordinates eat and drink their fill, and they even took a good deal with them. Seeing that Liu Yan's men made no move to stop them, he was even more amazed. He personally rode over and asked: "We are about to leave. Will you not ask where we are going?"

Liu Yan shook his head: "Those who have eaten the Liu clan's food and drunk our wine are friends of my house. Whatever your status, gentlemen, you may leave the township boundary in peace. Should you come again, Liu Yan will once more set out wine and honor you as guests. That being so, why must I ask where you are going?"

"Worthy indeed of the foremost knight-errant of the Vanguard Commandery!"

This gallantry and free spirit drew Ma Wu's admiration. Ordinarily, at such a critical juncture, anyone who recognized them as the Greenwood Army would either report them at once or keep as far away as possible. Yet Liu Bosheng was so bold as to do the exact opposite.

Ma Wu thought to himself: "It seems all those rumors were true. Every hero in the Vanguard Commandery longs to befriend Bosheng and is willing to abandon family and property to become his retainer. It is only a pity that while I was in the Vanguard Commandery, I never managed to make this man's acquaintance."

"But from this day forward, not only I… Greenwood is determined to make Liu Bosheng its friend!"

…

Meanwhile, on the other side, Diwu Lun had left the capital in the third month and returned in early the fifth month of the second year of the Dihuang era (AD 21).

During the two months he had been away from court, two more major events had occurred in Chang'an.

The first was that Wang Mang, having lost wife and sons in succession, now lost yet another grandson. This time it was a natural death, and it had no impact on the political situation, but four deaths in the imperial house within a few months was so unusual that it gave rise to rampant rumors — in Diwu Lun's view, Wang Mang probably just had a fatal effect on his children and grandchildren.

Wang Mang extended his habit of usurping another's nest from the world of the living into the world of the dead. Over the objections of the Princess of Huanghuang, Wang Yan, he demolished the temples of Han's Emperor Xiaowu and Emperor Xiaozhao and buried his own descendants separately within them. He tore down the old temples of the former dynasty and treated them as his own family halls, never stopping to consider whether his unworthy sons and grandsons could overawe the heroic spirits of the former dynasty's mighty sovereigns and enlightened rulers.

With deaths and funerals far too frequent, the old Wang family urgently needed a happy event to dispel the gloom. Thus, as soon as the imperial sons and daughters entered the capital, Wang Mang immediately bestowed titles upon them: the timid Wang Kuang became Duke of Gongjian, the lecherous Wang Xing became Duke of Gongxiu, and the princesses Wang Ye and Wang Jie became Lady of Muxiu and Lady of Mudai.

Then Wang Mang promptly married off Wang Jie, whom he had just made a princess, to Xubu She, the Duke of Hou'an and son of the late "Compliant Slave Shanyu," in a political marriage that looked nothing like a political marriage. It seemed Wang Mang still wanted to prop up Wang Zhaojun's grandson as master of the steppe — was he seeking peace talks and a marriage alliance with the Xiongnu? Deeply influenced by Chen Tang as he was, Wang Mang still could not bring himself to swallow his pride.

Next, Wang Mang announced something that should have been done long ago but had been delayed until now.

"A general amnesty for all under heaven!"

Didn't this mean the condition the Ma clan had set for the marriage was now fulfilled? For the first time since he had crossed into this world, Diwu Lun sang Wang Mang's praises from the bottom of his heart, his voice nearly cracking.

"Your Majesty is sagely and wise!"

……

PS: Starting tomorrow, I'll make up the extra chapters.