Chapter 141: Three Boltholes

Let us turn to half a shichen earlier. While Wang Mang struck the bell to summon his ministers, Geng Chun, a Principal Clerk of the Receiving Words Office, suddenly received a summons from his department: a Grand Master of the Palace had arrived at the hall and required him to go along on official business.

Geng Chun came to the hall full of questions, only to find waiting there none other than the new bridegroom whose secondary wedding carriage he had helped drive just days before: Diwu Lun.

"Boyu?"

Geng Chun was somewhat surprised. Had Diwu Lun's previous post not been Grand Master of the Palace Counsellor? How… His gaze dropped, settling on Diwu Lun's waist.

There was no mistake — it was indeed a silver seal with a blue ribbon. Plainly, in the bare hour or so Diwu Lun had been inside the palace, his status had risen yet another notch: after the question-and-answer session, the Emperor had appointed him Grand Master of the Palace, rank equivalent to two thousand dan.

Grand Master of the Palace was an idle post, a brick to be moved wherever needed, but after all he was now a blue-ribbon high official. Geng Chun could not dispense with saluting him properly, and he also wondered what matter Diwu Lun had encountered that required his own assistance.

Diwu Lun said with a smile, "Naturally, we go to your hometown, Mount Bo — Jizhou. Will you come along?"

Geng Chun's eyes lit up at once. His family was a great clan of Jizhou; he had come to Chang'an only to attend the Imperial Academy and be recommended as Filial and Incorrupt, then, through his father's old connections, had stayed on in Chang'an as a six-hundred-dan Principal Clerk.

But after two years in the post, Geng Chun had grown more and more disheartened. Under the present reign, the officials most reviled by the common people, apart from the Masters of Fates of the Five Majesties, were the Receiving Words officials who managed grain, land taxes, and enforced the Five Equalizations and Six Monopolies. When the court conscripted the Boar-Rush Braves for the northern campaign, Geng Chun had been responsible for transporting provisions to the Hongmen encampment and had witnessed no shortage of horrors; he knew all too well the ruthlessness of army clerks who pocketed empty pay and flayed the living. One could hardly speak of any love for this post.

And given his age and circumstances, it would be difficult in the short term to rise further and grasp real authority. After two years of being too high for a low post and too low for a high one, Geng Chun felt he might as well go home and inherit the family estate!

He had long wanted to throw down his duties. The only reason he still swallowed his anger was his father's exhortation: he must keep one more bolthole for the clan. The Geng family's roots were in Songzi County, Julu Commandery — that was the first. His father, Geng Ai, served as Grand Governor of Jiping — that was the second, in the heart of the realm. And Geng Chun remaining at court was the third. Even if trouble broke out on one side, the clan would still have two places to shelter from disaster.

But the times were growing ever more unsettled; without power or troops in hand, the heart grew fearful, and a man of low rank and slight voice would have nowhere to flee if trouble came. Geng Chun reckoned that rather than cling to this petty office, he would be safer going home to rely on his clan.

That day at the wedding feast in Diwu Village, after a few cups of wine, Geng Chun had blustered that he would follow Diwu Lun's example — resign and go home, to hell with it.

Diwu Lun had kept this firmly in mind, and today he took the initiative to invite him, letting Geng Chun return to Jizhou under the pretext of official business. Why would he not be glad to?

Geng Chun was by nature free and easy, and he trusted Diwu Lun enough to believe he would not lead him into a pit. Without even asking the specifics of the mission, he gladly agreed and went at once to process his departure.

Not long after, when Geng Chun returned, he informed Diwu Lun that something major had happened.

"The government troops in the south advanced to suppress the Greenwood, and suffered a great defeat."

"Who was defeated?"

"The government troops. Now Jiangxia is in ruins, and there are rebels in Nan Commandery as well."

Though Diwu Lun had expected this, the scale of the defeat was still appalling.

Geng Chun said, "His Majesty has dismissed the Receiver of Words, Lu Kuang, and transferred him to be Garrison Officer of Huoxiang Commandery."

"Boyu, guess who the new Receiver of Words is?"

Diwu Lun shook his head. Geng Chun laughed. "It is none other than the guest of honor at your wedding, Yan Erudite."

www• tt kán• CO

Geng Chun congratulated Diwu Lun: "Boyu, you have one more man at court to back you up now."

A mountain you lean on may crumble — better to rely on yourself. That was also why Diwu Lun had put such effort into fetching the imperial heir last time: he had to perform outstandingly to keep rising and gain real authority. And this time, the "third bolthole" Diwu Lun had long yearned for had finally come — though the hole had been dug, of all places, in Wang Mang's own hometown.

It was only when the two were driving out of the city that Geng Chun thought to ask their destination. Diwu Lun, looking at the tally personally bestowed by Wang Mang and the tightly sealed official letter of authority, said that before they left the city he could not yet tell him.

Geng Chun, however, began guessing beside him: "Last winter, the great gallant Ma Shiqiu and others in Julu Commandery, Jizhou, conspired to raise troops from Yan and Zhao in revolt — it was only caught because a clerk of the Grand Minister of Works discovered and reported it. The Three Excellencies and the grandees arrested the conspirators, implicating several thousand Jizhou stalwarts, all executed. The aftershocks of that affair have not yet subsided. Could this be related?"

This was a great event that had occurred in Geng Chun's homeland; luckily he had not been involved. It meant that conditions in Jizhou were no better than in the south — perhaps even worse.

It was indeed somewhat related. Diwu Lun shook his head. "In any case, I told His Majesty that I am unfamiliar with Jizhou and need a Jizhou native to assist me."

Geng Chun muttered, "Jizhou is enormous — a full eleven commanderies. If you won't say plainly, who knows where you are going?"

As the two left the city, they happened to meet Dou Rong entering with a bitter face. He clasped hands and saluted Diwu Lun.

Seeing Diwu Lun bearing a tally, wearing a traveling cap, and dressed for a journey, Dou Rong could not help asking, "Where does Boyu go on this mission?"

"To the east."

Diwu Lun gave a vague direction, then noticed Dou Rong was in full military attire, as if about to march to war. Surprised, he asked, "Where does the Duke of Zhou go on this mission?"

Dou Rong's face was mournful. "I may be going south."

It turned out Dou Rong was much like Diwu Lun: sitting at home when "joy" descended from the heavens. The Emperor had urgently appointed him "General of the Wave Waters" and summoned him to the palace for a question-and-answer session, intending to make him Yan You's deputy, to go to Yuzhou to transfer troops and commanders, and then proceed to Jingzhou to quell the unrest.

After the two parted, Geng Chun said curiously, "I thought Duke Dou Rong's face looked utterly mournful — no auspicious omen at all."

"Have you not heard, 'The northern horse leans into the northern wind; the Yue bird nests on the southern branch.'"

Diwu Lun laughed. "Dou Rong, I suppose, is like you and me — loath to leave home!"

…

After they left the city, the sky had already darkened. The two rested at the Ba Bridge post station, sending the servants and carters aside. Diwu Lun and Geng Chun rode their horses to a deserted spot to talk.

"It is Weicheng Commandery that has trouble!"

Weicheng Commandery was the former Wei Commandery, located at the southernmost edge of Jizhou. This commandery held a special status, because Wang Mang's hometown was Yuancheng County in Wei; Wang Mang had even spent a few years there in his youth.

So the dialect Wang Mang used when chatting with Diwu Lun in the palace was certainly not the common tongue, but precisely the speech of Wei.

"Someone reported to the Deputy Shepherd Inspector of Jizhou that Li Yan, the Grand Governor of Weicheng Commandery, was plotting treason, having had people copy out strange prophetic-apocryphal texts, many of which contained matters that ought not to be spoken."

Diwu Lun had seen part of the apocryphal contents — things like "The house of Han shall revive," and "Li portends fire and shall be Han's support." In short, Li Yan had believed these prophecies and prepared to rebel, having people copy out these words to serve as propaganda slogans when the time came, only to be informed upon.

When this matter reached the capital, Wang Mang was greatly shocked. This was the second rebellion by a commandery chief since Zhai Yi's uprising in Dong Commandery over a decade ago. Moreover, it was a clear-cut case of opposing the Xin and restoring the Han. It was even said that after raising the banner, they planned to go to Yuancheng County to dig up Wang Mang's ancestral graves and sever the Old Wang family's earth veins.

How could this be tolerated? In Wang Mang's view, the gravity of this affair far surpassed the bandits of Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Jingzhou, who had no manifestos, banners, or slogans and merely roamed and plundered. It was a matter demanding priority handling.

Thus he singled out Diwu Lun by name, ordering him, in his capacity as Grand Master of the Palace bearing a tally, to proceed to Weicheng Commandery in Jizhou, to deal with Li Yan jointly with the Shepherd of Jizhou and the Deputy Shepherd Inspector, and then to remain in the locality as Acting Grand Governor of Weicheng. He was to hunt down every last one of Li Yan's confederates and exterminate them utterly!

The reason Wang Mang trusted Diwu Lun so much was, first, that Diwu Lun had taken part in suppressing Lu Fang's "Great Han" and was seen by Wang Mang as someone who would never defect to the Han restorationists; he also understood military matters, enough to handle the complex situation in Weicheng.

Second, Diwu Lun had performed his last assignment very well, and Dou Rong's praise of him had raised Wang Mang's estimation, which was how he could be entrusted with such a weighty task.

Thank you, Duke Dou Rong!

The latest news from the east was ten days old. The situation in Jizhou was now unclear; no one yet knew the state of Weicheng Commandery. Li Yan might have been brought under control by the Shepherd of Jizhou and the Deputy Shepherd Inspector — a shock but no danger — or he might already have rebelled, linking commanderies and provinces and tearing a great hole in the Xin realm.

Diwu Lun looked at Geng Chun and said, "In short, this journey to Weicheng is fraught with uncertainty, fortune and disaster alike hard to predict. I have laid out the truth in full. Is Mount Bo still willing to accompany me?"

This did give Geng Chun some pause, but in the end he gritted his teeth. "Does Boyu take me for a coward? On this journey together, I shall let you see the gallantry of a son of Yan and Zhao!"

"Magnificent!"

And did Diwu Lun himself not hesitate? His new bride's embrace was warm and soft — who would willingly, after so short a time, travel-worn and dust-stained, go labor for Wang Mang again?

But for him, Weicheng Commandery was both a challenge and an opportunity to legitimately control a commandery's military and civil administration before the realm descended into chaos… perhaps the only opportunity!

After a spell of hesitation and inner struggle, Diwu Lun resolved to ride the current and go give it a try.

This journey was destined to be nothing like the leisurely, refined trip south last time — now he would face open blades and hidden schemes, where one careless move could mean dying far from home.

Diwu Lun was of course not traveling alone. Wang Mang had agreed he could bring a hundred private retainers, but the urgency of the matter meant they were practically rushing him out the door. Diwu Lun could not even go home; he could only send Zhang Yu hurrying back with a letter for his new wife, and orders for Zang Nu to bring a hundred-man company — half clan retainers, half officers from the Boar-Rush Braves.

He had assumed his followers and private retainers would only catch up by the time he reached Hangu Pass, but he had underestimated their eagerness to protect their patriarch and general.

The next day, when the two men rode at full speed to Zheng County in Yiwei Commandery to rest, before dawn had even broken, Zang Nu arrived with men on horseback and driving carts — and with him came someone Diwu Lun had not expected to follow.

Phoenix-eyed and gallant of bearing — it was his father-in-law, Ma Yuan!

It turned out that Ma Chanchan had received the letter Diwu Lun had dashed off, which said only that he was under imperial orders to hurry to Jizhou, without a word of where he was going or what he was to do, only mentioning that once he was settled he would send for his wife.

This deeply distressed the new bride, whose feelings for Diwu Lun were deepening day by day. After watching the clan retainers ride off in full kit to catch up with him, she had only time to pack his spare clothes and some of his favorite foods to send along.

After much thought, Ma Chanchan turned to her own father for help, hoping he would go with Diwu Lun to see what was happening. Ma Yuan had been idle lately anyway, spending his days at home racing horses and fighting cocks — he might as well treat it as a stroll outside the city.

Ma Yuan, long accustomed to roaming the wilds, was happy enough at the prospect of going out, but when it came to this long journey his daughter had begged him to make, the thought of her tearful eyes made his anger flare.

Now a generation senior, Ma Yuan no longer bothered to give Diwu Lun face. He simply wiped the rain from his face — the residue of riding hard through the storm — and cursed: "Diwu Boyu, what exactly do I owe you?"

If he did not owe him, then why had he given him his daughter in marriage, and why must he now come to lend Diwu Lun a hand? Was he a father-in-law or a bodyguard?

But you were the dowry!

"Father-in-law…" Diwu Lun felt both moved and amused. For the journey to Jizhou, having Ma Yuan's martial prowess and striking presence as support was like adding wings to a tiger. He had been about to tease Ma Yuan a little, but his father-in-law waved a hand impatiently.

"Enough. I still am not used to that form of address."

Ma Yuan said, "When we are in private, just call me Wenyuan!"

……

PS: Chapter 2 at 13:00.

Hello everyone, our public account gives out cash and coin red packets every day — just follow to claim them. Last year-end bonus, please seize the chance. Public account 【Book Friends Base Camp】

(Chapter 3 at 18:00.)