Chapter 139: Practiced Efficiency

Driving a chariot was an essential skill for every man of a noble or official clan.

This art of charioteering, one of the Six Arts of the gentleman, was of great importance. Without it, a man would even struggle to take a wife, for on the day of the wedding procession, the groom had to drive the chariot himself.

When the bride emerged, surrounded by the crowd and wearing her outer robe, Diwu Lun was supposed to hand the pull-cord to her, but Ma Yuan declined on his daughter's behalf: "She has not been taught; it would not be fitting for the rites."

This ritual likely signified the groom's willingness to hand over domestic authority to his wife, while the woman, modest and demure, declined so that her husband would continue to hold the reins.

After this final procedure, Diwu Lun led the wedding escort on the journey back. From Maoling to Changling was over a hundred li, and they had to cover it in a single day, so everyone rode or drove without daring to pause, lest they miss the auspicious hour.

The bride's family could only bid farewell from a distance. Inside the curtained carriage, Ma Chanchan felt a sting in her nose. Looking back, she could faintly make out her father's tall figure waving goodbye. She nearly wept, but that would have been a grave breach of decorum, so she forced herself to hold it in.

Her sole comfort was that Diwu Lun was considerate enough to speak with her as he drove: "The road ahead is long. My wife may rest a while; there is a goose-down pillow and a thin quilt in the carriage."

The rites were not even complete, yet Diwu Lun was already smoothly calling her "my wife" at every turn, which Ma Chanchan found a little overwhelming. It made her swallow the "my lord" on her lips and instead address him quietly as "my husband." Her soft, sweet voice was very pleasant to Diwu Lun's ears, but was this relationship progressing a bit too fast?

Though she claimed to have rested well the night before and not to be tired, she had in fact barely slept a wink. After the carriage had rocked and swayed along for a dozen or so li, she drowsily dozed off. When she woke with a start, it was from the jolting of the carriage.

She gently lifted the curtain to glance outside. The scenery was unfamiliar; they had reached Changling. To the right of the carriage, along the Chengguo Canal, tall waterwheels had begun to appear, turning slowly under the current's push. These had been built by the Diwu clan head over the past few years after he helped resolve the clansmen's water disputes.

When the carriage entered the bounds of Linqu Township, the roadside grew crowded with onlookers. They were all members of the various Di clans. Even the old and frail, the white-haired and the young children, came leaning on staffs or hand in hand, squeezing into the crowd to catch a glimpse of the future clan-head wife.

At the sight of the procession passing, they were all overjoyed, as if it were a wedding in their own family. Some clapped and cheered, others called out congratulations. Children ran back and forth around the carriages and were tossed jujubes from the escort carriages.

The two escort carriages had to be driven by the groom's close friends and family. Diwu Lun had invited his fellow disciple Wang Long and the Remonstrant Geng Chun; both had gladly agreed.

Over the past two years, the people of Linqu Township had indeed received many tangible benefits. The court changed orders overnight and imposed taxes and levies at will; even the hardiest chives will be exhausted if cut too often. Many poor families would have been ruined long ago without the aid of the communal granary and relief funds. To them, Diwu Lun was like a savior, so it was no surprise when Ma Chanchan saw people in the fields kowtowing distantly toward the wedding carriage.

Nor did Diwu Lun hoard his agricultural knowledge. He ordered the Husbandry Officers and Elders to spread it to every hamlet, and when he encountered gifted children, he took them into the Diwu hamlet's charity school to learn reading and arithmetic.

With a clan head like this, how could they not be grateful and joyful?

When the carriage reached Diwu Hamlet, the bumpy dirt road from before turned into a smooth, hard-surfaced path, tamped down and packed firm with crushed stone.

"My grandfather had this built for the wedding procession. A full five li of road, all like this," Diwu Lan said to the bride inside the carriage. Compared to the rutted, uneven dirt roads that turned into muddy quagmires on rainy days, this was indeed far more comfortable.

On the Diwu clan's own turf, a small square half a li across, made of earthen cement, had even been laid beneath the great tree at the village center. The road leading to the fortified manor was likewise level and clean, strewn only with pine needles.

The wedding greeters were even more enthusiastic than those outside. After all, through one ancestral rite after another, the tale of Tian Heng's five hundred martyrs had been proclaimed every few days. A once-vague common ancestor had been molded into a tragic hero, drawing the hearts of the hamlet folk together. In these past two years, as the times grew stormy and unstable, their lives had actually improved, making everyone understand what it meant to share a common glory and fostering a blind reverence for Diwu Lun.

Though the Ma clan was a great family, they lived within the city of Maoling. After suffering a clan extermination, their kin had scattered, and they had no tradition of living together as a compact clan. The noise and bustle felt novel to her, and at the same time, she could experience firsthand that Diwu Lun's status and prestige within his clan were indeed at their zenith.

From now on, she would be the matriarch of the Diwu clan—no, of the several thousand people of the various Di clans in Linqu Township. This was far more complex than managing the Ma clan, whose composition was much simpler.

The carriage stopped outside the fortified manor. Diwu Ba, already dressed in fine attire, was at the gate, craning his neck in anticipation.

Seeing Diwu Lun arrive with the bride, she held a feathered fan to cover her fair face and, together with Diwu Lun, bowed to her grandfather. Diwu Ba felt immense comfort in his old heart.

The new bride was beautiful, his grandson was a man of high talent, and the clan was flourishing day by day. All that was missing was a great-grandson to make it perfect.

The remaining elaborate rites are not worth detailing. As for the guests who came today, Diwu Lun had many friends, and many dignitaries from Chang'an also came to offer congratulations. After all, even if they did not care for the Diwu clan's standing, they had to give face to the Ma clan.

For a time, Diwu Hamlet was filled with fine guests and companions, gathering like clouds. Carriages and robes thronged the roads, and the teams of horses moved as if in a dance.

One might have expected this humble, newly risen clan to be thrown into chaos by such a grand occasion, but from welcoming the guests to the banquet itself, everything was arranged impeccably. From the servants attending the guests to the cooks continuously bringing out dishes, everything exuded practiced efficiency.

Dou Rong, newly returned from New Qinzhong, watched this scene with great astonishment: "Even more orderly than my Dou clan's affairs."

He looked at Yan You: "Lord Erudite, could it be that Boyu also governs his clan by military principles?"

Yan You, the guest of honor, laughed heartily. Dou Rong was not wrong. Over the past two months, Diwu Lun had assigned Zang Nu and other retired officers of the Boar-Rush Braves to separately train the clan's men, teaching them to obey orders and heed prohibitions.

However, the reason today's wedding procession and banquet could be so orderly was still the result of practice from one large-scale event after another, like the autumn sacrifice and the winter La festival.

Weddings and funerals best reflect a clan's degree of organization: which task to perform at which time; who is responsible for each procedure; whether the person in charge can manage their subordinates well; how to flexibly handle unexpected incidents. All of this must be meticulously planned.

If even a wedding or funeral is handled chaotically, with orders coming from multiple sources, such a clan will be nothing but loose sand in times of turmoil.

A clan like the Diwu, working together with one heart as if directed by a single arm, had not been reformed in vain.

For today's banquet, Diwu Ba had also invested heavily, even to the point of extravagance. Fish and meat dishes piled high, grilled meats covering the tables, large fish and old soft-shelled turtles, deer fetus, quail, and even fragrant oranges from the south...

It should be said that in the early Han, simplicity was stressed, and an edict was once issued "forbidding the common people, when marrying, from providing wine and food to summon and congratulate one another."

However, this only applied to commoners; officials and nobles continued as before—a classic case of the magistrate being allowed to burn down houses while the common folk were forbidden to light lamps.

By the time of Emperor Xuan of Han, Liu Xun, who had lived among the common people, he deemed this measure inappropriate. In the autumn of the second year of the Wufeng era (56 BC), he issued an edict stating that the rites of marriage were a great matter of human relationships, and that gathering with wine and food was part of performing rites and music. Forbidding the common people from setting out wine and food at weddings to celebrate was tantamount to abolishing the proper rites between village and kin, leaving the people with no cause for joy, and was not a good way to educate them.

Though the intention was good, once this decree was issued, it also sparked a surge of extravagance among the people. If a wedding was not a lavish affair with abundant fish and meat, people feared being looked down upon; it was all driven by rivalry.

In Diwu Ba's words: "We must not be shabby and let the guests think little of us."

For the old man, like the merit gateposts at the entrance, face was what mattered most.

Diwu Lun could not stop Diwu Ba. So be it. If there was to be extravagance, it could not be confined to a small hall. He spent a great deal of money to treat the seven or eight thousand people of Diwu Hamlet and the entire Linqu Township to a fine meal today.

Every hamlet was assigned tasks: slaughtering pigs and sheep, cooking fish and preparing stews. Though not as luxurious as the main banquet, it still surpassed the feasts of the harvest festival or New Year. Many years hence, the clansmen of the entire township would likely still remember this wedding.

The celebratory music was arranged with the help of Huan Tan. He was, after all, a preeminent musician, equally adept at rustic village tunes and elegant court music. Outside, there were popular songs to entertain the common folk, and during the ceremony, refined music to elevate the occasion.

The ancestral announcements, the drinking from the joined nuptial cup, and the sharing of the sacrificial meat in the hall are also not worth detailing. It was during the interval when the bride retired to the bridal chamber to wait that Diwu Lun went out to thank the guests in attendance. While toasting with Dou Rong, they exchanged a few words.

Diwu Lun smiled and said, "Today we perform the rites of the Duke of Zhou, and among my guests, there is indeed a 'Duke Zhou'! You must drink an extra cup."

"Boyu, when you returned from New Qinzhong, you drank all the way from Lian County to Shanghe City, then drank again crossing the frozen river, and had three more bowls at Tewu. My shallow capacity is no match for yours."

Duke Zhou Dou laughed heartily, but then drew Diwu Lun aside and said, "To be honest with you, Boyu, when I returned and entered the palace for an audience, His Majesty asked about the battle against the Xiongnu in New Qinzhong. I told the truth."

Diwu Lun was taken aback. "What do you mean, 'the truth'?"

Dou Rong said, "That I merely led troops south to intimidate the barbarians, and that the one who truly repelled the Xiongnu army was you, Boyu! If I did not speak of this, my heart would never be at ease."

What a coincidence. When I had an audience with the Emperor, I also went out of my way to sing your praises, Dou Rong, while downplaying myself...

Then Diwu Lun froze. This round of mutual flattery between them was absolutely toxic!

Diwu Lun looked at Dou Rong's utterly sincere face and felt a deep sense of foreboding.

"Wait, will the Emperor think that we are both capable and modest, and thus both worthy of great appointments?"

The matters within the bridal chamber are also not worth detailing.

Suffice to say, the next day, after Diwu Lun rose first, the maids helped the delicate and weakened bride to her feet. Though exhausted, she still had to force herself to wash and dress, then, holding a hairpin and bearing a tray of jujubes and chestnuts, she went with Diwu Lun to pay respects to Diwu Ba.

Each call of "Grandfather" made Diwu Ba beam with delight. He handed the bride the dried, spiced meat he had long prepared, signifying that from now on, she would manage the household.

He was advanced in years, and with his happiness, his words naturally grew long-winded. Ma Chanchan, well-bred, merely responded softly and bowed, showing the utmost patience.

Diwu Ge's wife led the new mistress around the fortified compound. After making a circuit, Ma Chanchan asked, as if casually: "Where does my husband's concubine live?"

It was not that Ma Chanchan minded sharing a husband — her own father had a flock of concubines, nothing strange about that.

Rather, after last night, she had discovered that although her husband was gentle, when it came to matters between man and woman…

Why was he so skilled at it!

One technique after another, things too embarrassing to mention, yet hard to refuse.

She had simply assumed Diwu Lun must have long had a concubine, perhaps more than one, to be so practiced. She never expected the servants to tell her that the gentleman had always been busy with official duties and clan affairs — let alone a concubine, he had never even had a maid warm his bed.

This struck Ma Chanchan as rather strange. Had Diwu Lun learned it outside?

Did that mean he had other women out there? Surely not a brothel! Though a little jealous, she was more worried. If one day some woman showed up at the door out of nowhere, leading a child by the hand, and no one even knew for certain whether it was Diwu blood, that would be a headache too.

If he meant to keep her, he should bring her straight home, keep her under the principal wife's eye, and teach her the rules — that would set one's mind at ease. Otherwise, it would always be a hidden trouble.

He must not be like her father, Ma Yuan, who, once he had someone outside, cast aside concubine and child and stayed away from home for years — that would be bitter indeed.

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Since Diwu Lun himself did not bring it up, Ma Chanchan could hardly speak of it, nor could she ask. She could only watch quietly. And she would mix kindness with authority among the Diwu household servants; once she grew familiar with them, it would not be too late to probe slowly. Sooner or later, she would ferret that woman out.

Apart from that, there was little else to worry about. Ma Chanchan found that Diwu Lun held absolute leadership within the clan, his prestige so high that the clansmen, loving the house and its crow, treated her with great deference as well. Diwu Ba did have two sons by a concubine, but they were still young; for now, there was no need to fret over messy internal power struggles.

Matters of the bedchamber can indeed swiftly close the distance between two people. That night, as Ma Chanchan nestled close to Diwu Lun, she took the initiative to bring up a matter.

"Husband, the betrothal gifts you sent earlier — my father gave them all to me."

Together with her dowry, Ma Chanchan was now a woman of some wealth, sitting on over three million cash, plus fifty-five fine horses — far more comfortably off than Diwu Lun, who had scattered his gold to the winds.

She now proposed that since this money and these horses were not needed, they might as well be handed over for Diwu Lun to dispose of.

Just as Diwu Lun had handed her the tether at the wedding escort, this offer of the wife's property was likewise a gesture. But though Diwu Lun coveted it, he naturally refused, declaring he would never touch his wife's private assets.

Diwu Lun accepted only the fifty-five fine horses. The training of the household clan troops had to be put on the agenda, and a mounted unit was needed — might Ma Yuan find the time to come help drill them?

Seeing Diwu Lun refuse the money, Ma Chanchan put forward another proposal.

"Then your handmaid will take out a million cash and place it in the communal granary and relief fund, to meet the clan's unforeseen needs. What do you say?"

…

Just as Diwu Lun had feared after his conversation with Dou Rong, in mid-seventh month, before he had enjoyed more than a few days of peace with his new bride, he was summoned to the palace once more.

In the Chamber of Proclamation, the Emperor Wang Mang was as ever, only the weariness on his face had deepened a few shades. Facing this realm tangled like hemp, catching fire on every side, did he too feel a touch of helplessness in his heart?

Wang Mang first inquired about Diwu Lun's marriage. The imperial house had also sent someone to deliver a gift to the Baron Who Subdues the Nu. Wang Mang was pleased to see Diwu Lun and the Ma family joined by marriage — after all, both houses were "loyal and good" subjects of the Xin Dynasty.

At the end, as if it had just occurred to him, Wang Mang asked Diwu Lun a question.

"How old are you, sir, this year?"

Diwu Lun was taken aback, and could only reply: "I venture to inform Your Majesty: your servant will soon be twenty-one."

"Your servant was born in the time of Emperor Ping of the Former Dynasty."

"The first year of the Yuanshi era — the first year of the Common Era!"

…

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00.