Chapter 138: Who Are Our Enemies

In the Liu clan residence at Chongling, several young men were once again plotting rebellion behind the back of the family head, Liu Liang.

"Wenshu is right — bandits are bandits. Counting on Greenwood is unreliable."

The speaker was the Liu brothers' childhood friend Zhu You. When he first heard that Greenwood had badly defeated government troops in the south, he was quite elated — it meant the Jingzhou new army had taken a heavy blow.

But then he immediately heard that the Greenwood troops had utterly no discipline, had massacred the city when attacking Anlu, and carried off women in great numbers. Zhu You flew into a rage.

"Mencius was right indeed: 'The way of the common people is this — those with stable property have stable hearts; those without stable property lack stable hearts. And lacking stable hearts, they let loose in depravity and excess, stopping at nothing.' That describes the Greenwood lot exactly."

This was the essential difference between their group and Greenwood. Greenwood was mostly made up of paupers who had lost their land, fishermen, hunters, and lawless gallants — all "men without stable property." If they had assets enough to feed themselves, they would not have gathered to rebel.

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The Chongling group was different. Liu Yan, Liu Xiu, and their cousin Liu Jia, who was also involved in the plot, were all sons of Former Han imperial cadet branches and great landholding families, each owning farmland ranging from dozens of qing, with no worries about food or clothing. And all three, without exception, had attended the Imperial Academy in Chang'an, steeped in the rites, music, and Confucian classics.

Zhu You's family circumstances were not as wealthy as theirs, but he had served as an Imperial Academy Senior Disciple and Lecturer — the equivalent of a university instructor, a genuine high-level intellectual.

For such "men of stable property," their opposition to the Xin Dynasty was not because they could not survive, but because their real interests had been harmed. They longed to establish a new order and restore the "Han institutions." When he saw Greenwood expose its base and disorderly side, the high-minded Zhu You naturally looked down on them.

Zhu You even believed that the Liu brothers' plan of pinning their hopes on cooperating with Greenwood ought to stop now: "Otherwise, if we draw Greenwood into Nanyang and they butcher Chongling the way they did Anlu, destroying our fields and carrying off our wives and daughters — what then?"

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"Zhongxian misunderstands my meaning," Liu Xiu said. "Greenwood are indeed bandits, that is true — chaotic and disorderly, a jumble of separate factions with no unified command, their military discipline varying wildly from one group to the next. That is how they committed such appalling acts."

"Their slaughter of innocents must of course be condemned and guarded against, but if we wish to accomplish great things, we cannot do without them either."

Liu Xiu looked at his elder brother and the others and said: "When I was in Chang'an, I had the good fortune to read Master Jia's 'On the Faults of Qin.' After the First Emperor of Qin unified the realm, the heroes of the six kingdoms whetted their blades and nursed their hatred in secret. Yet even with the Marquis of Liu's assassination attempt at Bolangsha, the first to raise the righteous banner and revolt against Qin were Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. Both were sons of houses with jar-windows and rope-hinges, men of the commoner and bondservant class, and conscripts sent to the frontier."

"Chen and Wu's talents fell short of the average man; they had none of the worth of a Zhongni or a Mo Di, none of the wealth of a Tao Zhu or a Yi Dun. They rose from the ranks of soldiers, sprang up from the field paths, led weary, broken troops, commanded a force of several hundred, turned and attacked Qin — hewing wood for weapons, raising poles for banners, and the whole realm gathered like clouds and answered like an echo, carrying provisions and following like shadows."

"Only after this did the heroes east of the mountains — like the Exalted Emperor and Xiang Yu — rise together and destroy the Qin clan."

"Are today's Greenwood lot not somewhat similar to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang? No, they fall far short. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang at least borrowed the names of Fusu and Xiang Yan and fought under the banner of Zhang Chu. I hear that Greenwood, though they number in the tens of thousands, have all along had no written proclamations, no orders, no banners. Their leaders merely style themselves 'Canal Chiefs,' and the next rank down are called 'Elders.' That is why, in four full years, they have still accomplished nothing."

"And yet, with their conscript rabble and their bamboo and wooden farm tools, they routed the well-armored Jingzhou new army. From this we can see that, though these men are limited by their own ability and vision and cannot bring about success themselves, they can serve as the vanguard for a true king."

"What Greenwood lacks is precisely an Exalted Emperor! What they lack is a leader like my elder brother — someone who can set a goal and guide them forward."

Liu Xiu looked toward his elder brother Liu Yan. Liu Yan often compared himself to Emperor Gaozu of Han, and Bosheng's high renown was known throughout the commandery; the Chongling inner circle also deferred to him.

"Greenwood also needs men like Xiao He and Cao Shen, the Marquis of Liu, Guan Ying and Zhou Bo, Liu Jia the Prince of Jing, and Liu Jiao the Prince of Chu."

Liu Xiu was referring to himself. He took the Former Han Princes of Jing and Chu as his models, and within the inner circle he also played the part of Xiao He and Cao Shen. Zhu You, Liu Jia, and their co-conspirator, brother-in-law Deng Chen, were rather like the Feng and Pei meritorious officials Guan Ying, Zhou Bo, and the rest.

"Without us, Greenwood will still be bandits ten years from now — knowing only how to raid and plunder as roving brigands, destroying but building nothing. But if they join forces with us, and we give them a little guidance, they can transform in an instant into a righteous army, into Han soldiers, and in the end restore the Han institutions!"

This insight won Zhu You's admiration. This was why he was willing to risk everything with the Chongling Liu clan. Bosheng was fierce and fearless, and Wenshu was seasoned and strategic — these two brothers stood head and shoulders above all in the Forward Division, and were they not also outstanding figures in the whole realm?

"Wenshu is right."

Liu Yan deeply agreed. Liu Xiu's analysis had essentially laid out their relationship with Greenwood: though their social makeup was utterly different, both took the court as their enemy. That was the basis for cooperation between the two sides. Relying on the Chongling Liu clan alone, they could not oppose the Forward Division's new army; they had to borrow Greenwood's strength to stir the situation.

So, just as Liu Xiu said, toward Greenwood they must simultaneously co-opt, guard against, and infiltrate — so that in the end, Greenwood would serve their purposes!

Liu Yan called on his cousin Liu Jia by name: "Xiaosun, take gifts and make a trip to Greenwood Mountain. Pay your respects to the several Canal Chiefs."

"Whoever opposes the false Xin dynasty of Wang Mang — whether Greenwood in the south or Mother Lü and Fan Chong in the east — is a friend of Liu Bosheng. As for everything else, we will settle it after Wang Mang is destroyed!"

……

On the seventh day of the seventh month in the second year of Dihuang, the news of the Jingzhou new army's failed campaign against Greenwood was still riding hard in the vermilion pouch on a post rider's back and had not yet reached Chang'an. Diwu Lun's grand wedding was not delayed; it took place as scheduled.

At the Ma clan of Maoling, the bride, Ma Chanchan, was truly wearing herself out with worry.

She was probably the most exhausted bride there ever was. She not only had to fret over her own marriage, but also had to carefully instruct her mother and her father's several concubines on every household matter. After all, for the past two years, with Ma Yuan away on campaign and her mother still a concubine at the time, unable to show her face, and her younger brother still small, the food, clothing, and daily needs of the household's several dozen members, and the estate's operations with over a hundred workers, had all been managed by Miss Ma.

Even something like her own marriage — she had to step in herself to make sure things went smoothly.

This was also her one condition, the reason she would only marry after the amnesty: if her father were still, as before, without a settled position and unable to show himself, and she herself married out, who would manage this household?

Now, with the Emperor's amnesty, she could at last ease her mind a little. But that ease was replaced by anxiety — after all, she was leaving the home she had lived in for over ten years, going to an unfamiliar place, and dealing with her husband's family.

This anxiety kept the bride from sleeping well the night before. On the seventh, just after the cockcrow, she rose to prepare. As she put on her deep-red gown with black trim, she could not stop yawning and could only cover her mouth. Over it she wore a leather coat with red fox trim and numerous dew-drop ornaments and jingling pendants; underneath was a long train with a joined-love sash. On her feet were lacquered clogs tied with five-colored silk cords.

On her head, Lantian jade; behind her ears, Daqin pearls — so heavy she could barely lift her head. When she glanced into the bronze mirror, Miss Ma hardly recognized herself. Then she had to sit in the inner hall and wait for the groom to come in person to fetch her.

She had always been extremely obedient, following her father's arrangements in all things. But as for this marriage, in her heart she was willing. Over the past two years, Diwu Lun had exchanged at least twenty or thirty letters with her. Ma Chanchan had carefully kept every silk letter, and they now made a thick stack. The mutual affection within them — how could the formal reserve and politeness on the silk possibly conceal it?

Just past dawn, when the sky was fully light, the carriages of the Diwu family arrived. Diwu Lun, with a clamor of gongs and drums, reached the gates of the Ma mansion in Maoling. Ma Yuan, as the head of the household, greeted him outside the great gate. This was the first time Diwu Lun had been allowed through the door since that northern campaign when he received the saddle.

On this trip, he had come to lead away the "little filly" he had set his sights on.

Ma Yuan and Diwu Lun exchanged repeated bows at the great gate. The look in Ma Yuan's eyes was still a mix of affection and vexation — he was indeed a true father-in-law. He led Diwu Lun inside to pay respects to the Ma clan's ancestral tablets in the family temple.

"The founding ancestor of the Ma line was the Lord of Mafu of the state of Zhao."

Diwu Lun was stunned. "Zhao… Zhao Kuo?"

"Zhao She!" Ma Yuan corrected him, displeased — that was Zhao Kuo's father.

And as he traced down the spirit tablets, Diwu Lun also discovered a great rebel from the time of Emperor Wu of Han: the Marquis of Chonghe, Ma Tong, who was precisely Ma Yuan's great-grandfather.

Diwu Lun had long heard of this. Ma Tong was a favored minister of Emperor Wu of Han, had campaigned north against the Xiongnu, and was also a partisan of Jiang Chong, taking part in the Witchcraft Calamity. Then Ma Tong and his younger brother Ma Heluo plotted a major sensation: to bring blades into the palace and assassinate Emperor Wu of Han!

In the end, Emperor Wu's loyal Xiongnu attendant Jin Midi detected them, threw the Mas to the ground in a wrestling hold, and had them seized. This affair led to the extermination of the Ma clan, with only one son of a concubine barely surviving. Afterward, Emperor Wu felt that was not enough, and so changed the Ma surname to "Mang."

"So, if not for changing it back to avoid Wang Mang's taboo name, it would now be Mang Yuan and Mang Chanchan?"

Because of this history, the Ma family truly had no lingering attachment to the Han dynasty. No wonder they were bound so tightly to the Xin Dynasty. Once the dynasty changed, they would be squarely on the list for purge, and were now caught in an impossible dilemma.

Yet Ma Yuan, knowing Diwu Lun's great ambitions, had still agreed to the marriage — which was tantamount to tacitly deciding to bind the Ma clan to Diwu Lun, seeking a new path to survival before the great ship capsized. After all, in matters of rebellion and high treason, in-laws were absolutely implicated.

At this point in the ceremony, one must mention the Ma clan's dowry. It truly filled several courtyards.

Ma Kuang, the eldest brother, who had been the best to Ma Yuan since childhood and understood him the most, was already dead. His son sent his cousin a complete set of the Qi Songs of the Book of Odes. Ma Chanchan had studied it herself, and in the future could pass the poetry and classics down to her children.

Diwu Lun only thought to himself: "Grandfather has always hoped to pass down a 'family learning.' Now, it can be said the poetry and classics are passed down in the family."

Though Diwu Lun did not care about such things, whatever could make the old man happy, he was willing to do.

And the Ma family's second son, Ma Yu, Governor of Yangzhou far off in the southeast — though he could not return in person, he had his household send a dowry gift of two million in cash, twice the betrothal gift from Diwu Lun's family and equivalent to the Diwu clan's entire current wealth. Truly generous beyond measure.

It was said that Ma Yu was doing well in Yangzhou, carrying out Wang Mang's amnesty decree and working to win over the rebel Gua Tianyi in Kuaiji.

The Ma family's third son, Ma Yuan, Commandant of Zengshan, adapted to local conditions and had fifty fine horses from Shang Commandery driven south as a dowry for his niece. This number was ten times the horses the Diwu family had provided, and every horse was tall and fit to be a warhorse — enough for the Diwu clan to form a cavalry troop.

In Qin and Han times, women had property rights. All this dowry would become the bride's private property and the foundation of her standing in her husband's household.

The marriage was carried out with all the dignity the older generation had hoped for, but a dowry too high is just like a betrothal gift too lavish — neither is a good thing. Among the common folk, there are men who cannot scrape together enough bride-price to take a wife, and just as many orphaned girls who cannot save up enough dowry to marry out.

Only Ma Yuan himself did not put up much — he had many friends and was generous to a fault, and the family fortune he had when the household divided had long since been squandered.

And just think: a little over half a year ago, Ma Yuan was still a bandit chief in New Qinzhong, with thousands of cattle, horses, and sheep, and ten thousand hu of grain. Yet before he went south, he sighed and said: "For all goods and property amassed, the value lies in being able to give them in relief — otherwise, one is merely a miser guarding his coins."

And so Ma Yuan gave away all his livestock and wealth to those who followed him, letting those who wished to reform do so, and those who did not go join Wan Xiu in the army. Ma Yuan himself, wearing only a sheepskin coat and leather trousers, went south empty-handed.

He had been far too generous back then, and only now discovered his purse was rather tight — he wished to be a miser guarding his coins but could not. It was only thanks to his daughter managing the estate these past two years and building up a little savings that they even had enough for her to marry out.

This left Ma Yuan somewhat embarrassed, and when he let this feeling show, Diwu Lun thought to himself: "Wenyuan… no, my father-in-law, you really are riding a donkey while looking for a horse."

Diwu Lun was secretly delighted: "You — are you not the finest dowry this marriage could ever have!"

……

PS: Extra chapter for the White Silver patron 'Beneath the Wutong' (1/11).

Thank you, Lao Gao, for your continued support.