Chapter 15: The Twenty-Eight of the Cloud Terrace

"Wine?"

Everyone froze for a moment, then caught on.

Right — though drinking at the autumn community sacrifice was perfectly reasonable, the Xin Dynasty modeled its laws on Zhou governance, so group drinking was illegal. And the Diyi clan was narrow-minded — could they have brought the commandery clerk here on purpose to stir up trouble?

At once everyone grabbed their wine and scurried home. The scene turned chaotic; some even fell to the ground.

Diwu Lun, however, stayed calm. He first picked up a bowl of hot bean broth and downed it in one go. Then he broke off a twig, grabbed a pinch of salt to scrub his teeth, breathed into his hand, and sniffed — the smell of alcohol was nearly gone.

He said to Diwu Ba, "Grandfather, leave this to me. Hide the wine as best you can and send the hamlet folk home. I'll go meet the township Bailiff and the commandery clerk and try to stall them an extra half moment."

With that, Diwu Lun led some men toward the hamlet gate. He asked the hamlet gatekeeper, "Did that commandery clerk give his name, and what office does he hold?"

The gatekeeper said, "He called himself a commandery Literary Clerk. He didn't give his name, and this humble one dared not ask."

A Literary Clerk was a three-hundred-bushel bureau head in charge of a commandery's education and ritual affairs — the equivalent of a city education bureau chief. For a little village like Diwu Hamlet, that counted as a major superior.

But even if the Diyi clan resented the Diwu for setting up their own ancestral hall and wanted to report them for group drinking and other offenses, it wasn't the job of a Literary Clerk to come search and inspect.

Reflecting on the clerk's official duties, Diwu Lun thought of one possibility.

"Could it be that the education bureau chief has come in person to persuade me… not to drop out of school?"

…

Jing Dan, courtesy name Sunqing, was a native of Shiting County (Yueyang County) in Shiwei Commandery. He was no stranger to the kind of walled hamlet where an immigrant clan like the Diwu lived together as a group.

That was because the Jing clan was originally one of the three great Chu noble houses — Zhao, Jing, and Qu — known in the Warring States period as "the Three Households of Chu," with deep roots in the Jing-Chu region. One of his ancestors, Jing Ju, had even declared himself King of Chu, only to be killed by the Xiang clan.

After the Han united the realm, Liu Bang, to strengthen the Guanzhong region, forcibly relocated the great Qi and Chu clans westward. The Jing clan was settled along the banks of the Jing River at that time, and could be counted as fellow sufferers with the Diyi through Diba clans.

But as descendants of Chu people, the Jing found it easier to break into the circles of the early Han rulers, who were fond of Chu culture. Compared to the decline of the various Di clans, the Jing had fared rather well. After Wang Mang founded the Xin Dynasty, they even got a chance to soar: one clansman, Jing Shang, became the Xin Dynasty's "Grand Preceptor's Xi Zhong" — that is, the deputy to the Grand Preceptor, one of the Four Supports — a man of high rank and great authority.

The Jing clan rose again, but that had little to do with Jing Dan, for he was born into a minor, humble branch of the line and could only rely on his own efforts, taking the path of study and official service. In his youth, Jing Dan was selected as a student at the Imperial Academy. Unfortunately, he spent several years in Chang'an but never passed the imperial examination. In the end, rather than return home, he came to Liewei Commandery, was recruited as commandery Literary Clerk, and became a trusted aide of the commandery Grand Governor.

Now, arriving at Diwu Hamlet, the layout of the settlement was all too familiar to him. Not long after he called at the gate, a youth of modest stature, dressed in crimson clothes, came out — courteous and poised, a faint smile on his face, and he bowed properly to Jing Dan.

"A superior clerk from the commandery office and the township Bailiff have honored our humble hamlet with their presence — a true privilege! This junior, Diwu Lun, greets you both!"

Though he needed to stall for time, he could not simply block them from entering — that would be far too rude.

After listening to Diyi Xian's advice at noon, Diyi Liu had indeed done some reflecting. And when he saw that the commandery office had sent someone to Diwu Hamlet, he grew even more alarmed.

But now, seeing Diwu Lun, who had stood him up a few days earlier, his anger flared up uncontrollably. For a moment he could not hold back and said in a barbed tone, "Diwu Lun, is your house the Thin Willow Camp or something? When a superior clerk from the commandery arrives in person, why does it take calling at the gate for ages before anyone comes out?"

Diwu Lun glanced at Diyi Liu and merely smiled. "Only because today is the autumn sacrifice. The hamlet is busy gathering for the rites and honoring the gods — so noisy that even the hamlet gatekeeper has gone off to join the fun, which is why word reached us a bit late. I beg the superior clerk's forgiveness… But Bailiff, does your own household not observe the community sacrifice today, that you have the leisure to come to Diwu Hamlet?"

"The autumn community sacrifice day was set for today?"

Jing Dan was taken aback. Diyi Liu had not mentioned it on the way. Only now did he realize: these people were Qi immigrants, and it was perfectly normal for their festival dates to differ from those of the Yong Province natives. As descendants of Chu people, the Jing clan still kept the custom of observing the Chu-calendar New Year.

He knew very well why he had come today. He stopped Diyi Liu, who still wanted to pick a fight, and said with a smile, "No wonder. Had I known in advance, I would not have come to disturb the people's autumn sacrifice. I am the commandery Literary Clerk, Jing Dan, courtesy name Sunqing. Diwu Lun, your courtesy name is 'Boyu,' is it not? Truly a young talent."

Jing Dan? Diwu Lun certainly did not recognize the name. Like most modern people with limited historical knowledge, he only remembered Wang Mang and Liu Xiu — and he didn't even know where Liu Xiu's home was.

Oh, and he had heard of the "Twenty-Eight Generals of the Cloud Terrace." But as for which twenty-eight they actually were, he had no idea whatsoever, and merely assumed it was some organization like the "Eighteen Riders of Yan and Cloud."

Naturally, he was even less aware that, in history, Jing Dan was indeed one of the Twenty-Eight Generals of the Cloud Terrace, ranked tenth.

But that did not prevent Diwu Lun from forming an extremely good impression of this commandery clerk at their very first meeting.

Jing Dan was in his early thirties. Though his looks were unremarkable, he had considerable official bearing, spoke pleasantly, and put on no airs of a superior clerk — impossible to dislike.

He was in no hurry to state his purpose. After being welcomed into Diwu Hamlet, he simply called Diwu Lun to walk beside him.

While speaking with Diwu Lun, Jing Dan, standing close, seemed to catch a whiff of something and understood at once.

After a moment's thought, he decided not to hurry toward the ancestral hall. He slowed his pace and looked unhurriedly left and right.

As he looked, he truly did notice something unique about Diwu Hamlet.

"Boyu, in other hamlets, the granaries are all inside each household's courtyard walls. Why is your family's granary built in the center of the hamlet?"

Beside the hamlet's large well stood a granary that Diwu Lun had ordered built a few days earlier. He had been looking for ways to stall, and seeing Jing Dan ask, he immediately launched into an enthusiastic explanation.

"Literary Clerk, this is our hamlet's charity granary."

"Charity granary? In what sense is it charitable?"

Diwu Lun said, "The ancients held that three years of tilling should yield one year's surplus, nine years of tilling three years' surplus — all emphasizing the importance of storing reserves against famine. Yet in recent years, floods and droughts have been unpredictable, and poor folk in the hamlet are often driven to starvation. My family, as the leading household of the hamlet, is not wealthy either, but we can scrape by."

"So I proposed to my grandfather that we take from our surplus to supplement the shortfall. We contributed a hundred bushels of our own grain and stored it in this charity granary to meet unforeseen needs. If a household's fields are struck by pests and their crop is wiped out, they may petition the main lineage. Once the situation is verified, they can receive ten days' rations to help them survive the lean season, so that no one starves to death — a tragedy we wish to avert."

Diyi Liu, standing to the side, was stunned. His own hamlet also had great disparities between rich and poor, but he had never entertained such an idea. These two, Diwu Ba and his grandson, were indeed wildly ambitious — buying hearts and minds inside and out.

Jing Dan, however, grew interested. "When afflicted clansmen use the charity granary's grain, is it a loan on credit? Do they pay interest?"

The reason he asked was that the "Five Equilibria" policy promoted by the Emperor Wang Mang was rather similar to Diwu Lun's charity granary: in Chang'an and several other major cities, cash-office assistants were set up to provide loans to the common people.

Short-term, small-amount loans were called "credit," with no interest charged, to help people meet urgent needs for weddings and funerals. Long-term ones were called "loans," with longer terms, meant to help city dwellers start businesses in trade and manufacturing, with an annual interest of one-tenth of the borrower's net profit… It sounded fine in theory, but word was that the underlings had already corrupted it.

Diwu Lun had also heard about this policy from Diyi Xian and had found it uncanny at the time. If Wang Mang had gone a step further and named the institution a "national bank," Diwu Lun might almost have believed he really was a transmigrator!

But those Five Equilibria credit and loan schemes existed only in the big cities and had nothing to do with counties and townships.

Diwu Lun explained to Jing Dan, "No interest. This is an act of the main lineage aiding its kinsmen. Moreover, with my family taking the lead, the hamlet's somewhat better-off households — such as the hamlet chief and the hamlet elders — have also been willing to each contribute five bushels of grain to the charity granary. We will run it this way for a year. In the future, when there is a bumper harvest and grain is cheap, hamlet residents may also bring their surplus grain here — one bushel of millet or wheat, with the poor and rich contributing according to their means. If a household has a wedding or funeral and urgently needs grain, they may receive twice the amount and simply repay it within a year, with no need to go outside and borrow at high interest."

This charity granary was also a standard feature of the later southern clan system — essentially a clan fund. Diwu Lun had already agreed with Diwu Ba to set aside five qing of land as charity fields, to be rented to poor clansmen. The rent collected would go into the charity granary, and together with "persuading" wealthy households and hamlet residents to donate voluntarily, the granary would not run dry.

As long as no one embezzled from within, and as long as the main lineage's credibility held, it should not collapse. With it as a financial safety net, things like establishing charity schools, training charity militia, and reinforcing the hamlet walls could then be carried out.

But his family's grain shortfall had grown even larger — he had to quickly think of a way to gather grain at speed.

"Who manages this charity granary?" Jing Dan was growing more and more interested.

"For now, I do." Diwu Lun patted the key at his waist.

Jing Dan nodded, admiration in his eyes, but he offered no lengthy comment. He continued forward and, before long, stopped again.

They had reached the low-lying area of the hamlet, where the manure pit was. Now, on either side of the pit, a latrine had been built.

But unlike ordinary latrines, these had words written and pictures drawn on the walls.

Jing Dan covered his nose and walked over. On the latrine walls, the left one read "Male," with a drawing of two circles joined by a straight line. The right one read "Female," with two circles each containing a dot — those who knew, knew.

Nearly everyone in the hamlet was illiterate; asking them to recognize characters was too much, and remembering left from right was not easy either. But with these concise — if somewhat inelegant — pictures, no one would walk into the wrong one.

This, too, was something Diwu Lun had ordered built. For no other reason than that the hamlet residents' toilet habits were far too open and wild. Many households had no latrine at all; the men would come to the manure pit to relieve themselves, lifting their lower garments and urinating directly, even squatting for ages without regard for passersby's eyes, some even chatting while borrowing toilet sticks.

Every time Diwu Lun passed by and saw this, he would frown deeply — accustomed to the sanitation and civility of later ages, he could no longer stomach such a sight.

As for the women from poor families, too embarrassed to do the same, they would go together into the fields and grass to relieve themselves, walking a long way and nearly bursting — and if by chance someone stumbled upon them or some rogue spied on them, it became yet another mortifying scene.

Diwu Lun was not doing this for composting or anything like that; he simply felt…

This is China, not India — how can it be allowed to go on like this!

So Diwu Lun had people build these two rooms, with a wall erected between the men's and women's privies — three squatting pits in the men's, and five in the women's.

To him, this was an ordinary trifle, but Jing Dan revealed a strange expression. He sent Diyi Liu off to the side, summoned only Diwu Lun, and with a solemn look and lowered voice said: "Diwu Lun, I ask you — how did you come to know of an imperial decree that has not yet been promulgated?"

What decree? Diwu Lun looked utterly baffled.

Jing Dan said: "Has someone lately returned from Chang'an and spoken to you of court secrets?"

Diwu Lun denied it: "Some days ago a merchant kinsman did come to visit, but how would we dare recklessly discuss court affairs?"

Seeing that Diwu Lun's expression did not seem feigned, Jing Dan grew even more astonished. In truth, this matter would be known to all in another two or three days, so speaking of it now would do no harm.

After pondering, he said: "His Majesty just yesterday issued a decree, saying that when Confucius first took office as Magistrate of Zhongdu, he established rites for nurturing the living and sending off the dead — the old and young ate differently, the strong and weak bore different tasks, men and women walked separate paths, no one picked up lost articles on the road, and utensils were not carved with deceitful ornament. Now His Majesty wishes to emulate Confucius's governance and promote moral instruction. One item among these is the separation of men and women on the roads!"

"It is not only that men and women must walk separate paths — His Majesty, while on an inspection tour, saw that the roadside privies in Chang'an mixed men and women together indiscriminately, a thing prone to breeding lewdness and moral filth, and so issued a decree that all roadside privies in Chang'an and in the commandery cities throughout the empire must be converted into separate privies for men and women! There must be a dividing wall within the privy."

This matter was naturally known to Jing Dan, the Literary Clerk charged with overseeing moral instruction and a trusted aide of the commandery's Grand Governor — only Wang Mang had not required that words and pictures be written on the privy walls.

The sage-like intent of the Emperor Wang Mang, and what Diwu Lun had done in the hamlet — could they truly coincide without prior consultation?

Jing Dan still did not believe it. He asked him one last time: "Diwu Lun, speak truthfully — from where exactly did you learn of this news? Just tell me; I will never betray the secret, still less pursue the matter."

"Literary Clerk, I truly did not know. These men's and women's privies in Diwu Hamlet were built ten days ago — the hamlet folk can bear witness. I imagine that at that time, the decree had not yet been issued…"

As Diwu Lun explained, inwardly he was crying out in shock.

"A coincidence — Wang Mang cannot possibly be a transmigrator predecessor. This must be a coincidence!"

Meanwhile, seeing Jing Dan draw Diwu Lun aside for a private word, Diyi Liu paced idly nearby, growing bored, when he suddenly noticed a puddle of water and some pottery shards on the ground, as though someone had hurried past, dropped something, and failed to clean it up.

He walked over, sniffed it, and his eyes instantly widened. He then reached out, dabbed a little, tasted it, and at once made a major discovery.

As if he had seized upon a heaven-shaking crime of the Diwu clan, Diyi Liu completely forgot Diyi Xian's admonitions and strode over aggressively. Right in front of Jing Dan, he confronted Diwu Lun.

"Diwu brat, I smell a whiff of liquor, and there are traces of wine on the ground. Has your household openly violated the prohibition and gathered the hamlet folk for mass drinking?"

Just then, a great laugh rang out from the distance — it was Diwu Ba, bringing his clansmen over to greet them: "Bailiff of the Township, you are mistaken. What we drank was not wine."

"It was li!"

……

PS: A "green-glazed pottery privy" from Wang Mang's period has been excavated in Hanzhong — it is the earliest archaeological proof of separate men's and women's privies in China.

Begging for recommendation tickets.