Chapter 192: Reactionary Forces

On the first day of the tenth month, Diwu Lun had just taken in the routed soldiers who crossed the river. By the fourth day, he sent men to summon every prominent local magnate family of the commandery — the Ximen of Yecheng West, the Xu of Ping'en, the Chai of Wei County, the Tang of Chiqiu — all gathered to Neihuang County.

Some came as family heads in person, such as the Marquis of Ping'en, Xu Jing; others sent sons or juniors in their stead — Ximen Yanshou, too old and infirm to travel, dispatched his son Ximen Ping to attend.

No sooner had they reached the outskirts of Neihuang than they saw the broken remnants Diwu Lun had organized and settled there. Though winter clothing had been distributed, their expressions remained despondent, their morale wilted and listless, and order was utterly chaotic as they crowded outside the porridge sheds waiting to eat.

At this sight, the magnates of Weicheng exchanged glances. "So it is true — the news that the imperial army of a hundred thousand was crushed by the Red Eyebrows!"

"Absolutely true. I saw it with my own eyes." And Geng Chun, cooperating with Diwu Lun, served as witness to the Battle of Chengchang. At the hastily arranged banquet, he vividly described his firsthand experience to the magnates.

Geng Chun first bitterly denounced the imperial army, expounding at length on the atrocities they committed at Wuyan: "Wuyan's wealth was famed throughout Yanzhou, yet it suffered such ravages at the hands of the government troops. Thousands were slaughtered daily. Throughout the city, whether noble households and wealthy families or humble alleys and common folk, every home streamed with blood as if from gushing springs, and everywhere cries of grievance shook heaven and earth."

Then he recounted the great battle to the powerful families: "At Chengchang, the entire hundred-thousand-strong government army was annihilated. Even General of Renewal Lian Dan died in battle. The Grand Preceptor fled west in defeat, routed for a thousand li, no longer able to protect Yanzhou, let alone Ji Province. You, gentlemen, have seen outside the city — the imperial army's remnants have already reached Hebei, and it is only thanks to the commandery lord's restraint and reorganization that they are in hand."

Hearing this, Commandery Merit Evaluator Ximen Ping broke out in cold sweat and stole a glance at Lord Diwu, seated upright in the place of honor.

The month before, the Ximen clan, displeased that Diwu Lun had distributed the Li family of Wu'an's lands to the outsider Boar-Rush Braves, had hoped to trip Diwu Lun up a little while the imperial army was in the Guandong region. But those forces had been annihilated in an instant, the situation had undergone a massive reversal, and Diwu Lun, having taken in routed soldiers said to number "five thousand," had seen his strength greatly increase.

What Geng Chun emphasized most was the Red Eyebrow Army's policy toward the powerful families.

"The Red Eyebrows are mostly refugees and lawless bandits. Though they proclaim death for murderers and compensation for wounding, their numbers exceed a hundred thousand, with no unified command, and their chieftains cannot restrain them. Add to that their lack of productive labor, sustaining themselves solely by plunder — all along my journey, I saw them constantly launching large-scale raids, burning markets and shops, slaughtering people until the streets ran red."

Geng Chun swept his gaze over the assembled magnates and officials: "The Red Eyebrow brigands bear a particular hatred for prominent surnames, powerful families, and officials — all who fall into their hands are killed!"

"Yanzhou had no shortage of powerful families. They built fortresses, trained retainers, stockpiled grain — were they any less than you gentlemen of Weicheng? Yet even the strongest fortress could not withstand tens of thousands of bandits besieging it day and night. One after another they fell. The Red Eyebrow bandits seize men's wives, daughters, and slaves, while wantonly slaughtering the family heads and their sons, dividing up their wealth, silk, and grain. I have even heard of bandits who, in their hatred of the powerful, threw noblemen onto great mortars and pounded them to pulp alive, then devoured them, bones and all. Such is the depth of their venom and cruelty! They are absolutely not people with whom one can negotiate and coexist."

Diwu Lun knew that Geng Chun was demonizing the Red Eyebrow Army. Yet aside from a few sensational, exaggerated horrors, the broad picture was not far off. The imperial army killed the middle and lower strata; the Red Eyebrows killed the middle and upper. After one comb and one fine-toothed comb had passed through, Yanzhou lay shattered and broken. The flood had swept through, destroying the old order, but no new order had arisen. The fortunate survivors who ventured out saw only owls crying, not a trace of human presence.

"The flowers and trees of gardens have been hacked down for firewood. Every splendid mansion, every piece of brocade and fine silk, has been seized by filthy, disheveled bandits. The great vermilion-gated houses of wealth and rank are ruined and spent. The prosperity of the past has vanished. Everywhere the eye looks, the people and things of old are gone."

As the magnates listened to Geng Chun's account, they whispered incessantly among themselves. Some of them had ties of marriage or old friendship with Yanzhou's powerful families. From the descriptions of relatives who had fled piecemeal from that region, they judged that Geng Chun's words were broadly accurate. After all, in the eyes of the powerful families' sons who had fled, this was exactly what the Red Eyebrows were!

He, too, was of a great and powerful clan; his class position was the same, which made his words all the more credible. Seeing the magnates' faces turn pale as they began to worry about their own futures, Retainer of the Gate Huang Chang rose at the appropriate moment and declared loudly:

"Gentlemen, the opposite bank of the great river is now utter chaos. The road to Qingzhou and Jinan is cut off. Word has come that the bandits are about to besiege Dingtao. The countryside and riverbanks are strewn with the corpses of broken soldiers."

"At this moment, when chaos surges like a flood across the four seas and eight directions, the land of Weicheng Commandery alone remains flat and smooth as a whetstone."

Huang Chang cupped his hands toward Diwu Lun: "Lord Diwu possesses a divine power to suppress bandits and shows loving kindness to the various families as if they were his own children. He has readied the troops for war, exterminating remnant bandits within and defending against the Red Eyebrows without. The people of Yanzhou, hearing of Weicheng's stability, all wish to flee here for refuge. At Baima Ford, those waiting to cross the river stretch as far as the eye can see."

These words drew a chorus of agreement from the magnates, who all bowed to Diwu Lun: "To have Lord Diwu guarding us is Weicheng's good fortune — our good fortune!"

Days earlier, rumors had swirled through the commandery that Diwu Lun intended to distribute all the magnates' lands to incoming refugees and the commandery's convict laborers, stirring considerable discontent against him. Soon after, those rumors were drowned out by the news that "the Red Eyebrows and the imperial army will cross the river one after another." But that had only been a cry of wolf — and now, the wolf was truly coming!

The powerful families promptly changed their tune, once again pinning their hopes on Diwu Lun as Weicheng's protector.

Diwu Lun, however, sighed and shook his head. "I have not done enough."

"The city walls are in disrepair, the moats too shallow, funds and grain insufficient. That I have failed to make Weicheng Commandery an impregnable fortress is my fault. I wish to guard against the Red Eyebrows crossing the river to harry us, yet I am painfully short of troops. Truly, I am at my wits' end…"

Diwu Lun put on a pained expression. At these words, the assembled men looked at one another. Was it not clear enough? In summoning them all here, Diwu Lun wanted them to provide grain and men.

Many of the magnates were shortsighted sorts. Flattery cost them nothing, and they were all generous with words. But the moment they were asked to bleed, every last one of them hesitated.

Then Geng Chun rose again. "Defending Weicheng — how can it rest solely on the commandery lord and the soldiers? Every man bears responsibility."

He swept his gaze over the crowd and said sternly: "Now there is no one left who can stop the Red Eyebrows. If they cross the river, what is Yanzhou today will be Ji Province tomorrow. None of Weicheng's prominent families can stand aloof and unscathed. The next to be slaughtered to the last by the Red Eyebrows may well be you — or me!"

Would they pool some money, grain, and troops to resist the common foe, or wait for the Red Eyebrows to cross the river, pick them off one by one, and perish together?

At these words, the first to rise and respond was none other than Feng Qin — the very man who, just two days earlier, had quarreled fiercely with Geng Chun over whether to take in the routed soldiers.

"The Feng clan of Fanyang may be small and weak, but my family's eight branches are willing to contribute four thousand dan of grain and three hundred retainers."

Ximen Ping had long since received his father's instructions: although Diwu Lun's attitude toward the commandery's magnates was ambiguous, the Red Eyebrows were the common enemy. The Ximen clan must give the commandery lord its full support — ideally, take the lead in responding.

Ximen Ping had already half-risen from his seat and was just choosing his words when Feng Qin beat him to it. Startled, he hastily upped the bid: "As Commandery Merit Evaluator, how dare I shirk? The Ximen clan of Yecheng is willing to contribute five… six thousand dan of grain, and five hundred retainers."

Diwu Lun loudly praised Ximen Ping for his high-minded grasp of duty, which let Ximen breathe a sigh of relief. His only worry was…

The letter his family had sent to undermine Diwu Lun, reporting him to the imperial court — by this very moment, it should have already reached Chang'an and been delivered into the hands of Ximen Junhui, retainer to the General of the Guard, Wang She.

Ximen Ping knew that his father was probably already secretly regretting it. But who could have foreseen that the imperial army would be defeated so swiftly, so disastrously!

"I didn't say anything too excessive — only mentioned that Diwu Lun intercepted grain and fodder, privately retained his old subordinates, and acted arbitrarily in commandery affairs with considerable ambition. Surely that won't ruin the greater scheme of things?" Ximen Ping could only console himself thus.

With two families setting an example, the remaining magnates grew enthusiastic. Those closer to the great river, more proactive, contributed more troops and grain; those farther away, still harboring wishful hopes, contributed less. The family of the Grand Mentor Tang Zun, for instance, was only willing to offer a thousand dan of grain and a hundred foot soldiers.

Diwu Lun reflected that when the time was right, such magnates could very well be attacked by a "Red Eyebrow splinter force" that the government troops had carelessly let slip across the river.

In the end, Diwu Lun secured pledges of several tens of thousands of dan of grain, and the various families together contributed three to four thousand foot soldiers — roughly a third of the magnates' total private armed forces. They were still holding something back.

Combined with Ma Yuan's two thousand refugee militia and the two thousand commandery troops garrisoned at Yuancheng, though uneven in quality and lacking unified command, they could at least spread out along Weicheng's thousand-li river defense and not sit idly by while large Red Eyebrow forces crossed the river with ease.

After the crowd dispersed, Diwu Lun silently mocked himself: "The bureaucratic landlords and other reactionary forces of Weicheng Commandery have colluded together, planning to obstruct the toiling masses' Red Eyebrow uprising army."

There was no help for it. Born into such an era, you couldn't mobilize the people — but you had to mobilize the magnates!

Faced with the immense threat posed by the Red Eyebrows, Weicheng Commandery, long fragmented, finally gathered its strength, rallying tightly around Diwu Lun. The magnates of the six counties east of the commandery all bowed their heads and obeyed orders. Lord Diwu's decrees were promulgated to every county.

This reminded Diwu Lun of the miserable state of affairs over a year ago, when he had first entered and left Weicheng, and "government orders did not leave the office."

Through building a leadership team, bringing in shareholders, mixing in sand, introducing catfish, killing a chicken to warn the monkeys, rooting out internal traitors, and externally defending against the Red Eyebrows — through all these measures, waging both civil and martial struggles with the magnates, he had leapt up several rungs and barely reached the stage where "government orders extend throughout every county of the commandery."

Of course, the "Three Zhao" to the direct north, near Handan, were an exception. For now, Diwu Lun's main energy was devoted to dealing with the Red Eyebrow incursion; he absolutely could not fall out with the Zhao and Liu clans. He could not withstand enemies at both front and rear.

And as Ma Yuan, acting on Diwu Lun's orders, led troops into neighboring commandery counties such as Liaocheng, taking over local defenses that had nearly collapsed after the Grand Governor of Shouliang was killed by the Red Eyebrows, Lord Diwu's government orders formally extended beyond the commandery, beginning to expand his influence outward.

Diwu Lun thought to himself: "Right now, I'm at least on the same level as Gongsun Shu, the Daoshui Company Commander in Shu, whom I met once."

"The next objective."

"Spanning provinces and linking commanderies!"

…

In the tenth month of the third year of Dihuang, at that very moment, Chang'an was a scene of celebration. The Shoucheng Chamber had been repaired after the previous year's gale damage, and the Ba Bridge had been restored from the fire, all in readiness to welcome the imperial army's victorious return.

Because of the two-thousand-li distance, news of the disastrous defeat at Chengchang had not yet arrived. What Wang Mang knew was still the victory bulletin of "a great triumph at Youyan" from the General of Renewal and the Grand Preceptor.

"Those two ministers have indeed not disappointed me! Truly the pillars of the Great Xin!" The Emperor felt he had not misjudged them. This was the rare piece of good news this year, and in his delight, his rewards were exceedingly generous.

"Both are promoted in rank to Shanggong!"

"Grand Preceptor of the Eastern Marchmount, Wang Kuang, is made the Duke of Baoxin."

"General of Renewal, Lian Dan, is made the Duke of Xianxin!"

He also dispatched a General of the Gentlemen of the Household, bearing an edict stamped with the imperial seal, to convey his appreciation to Lian Dan and Wang Kuang, and at the same time to bestow rewards on more than ten meritorious officers under their command.

And the assembled ministers and nobles likewise congratulated one another: "Surely before the third year of Dihuang ends, the two Excellencies will sweep away the Red Eyebrows and restore peace to the lands east of the passes!"

And just at this moment, when the court's prestige was greatly resurgent, Chen Chong, Master of Fates of the Five Majesties — who had obtained certain inside information from Ximen Junhui, a retainer of the Guard General — egged on Kong Ren, General of the Master of Fates, to launch an impeachment with perfect timing.

"Those who disobey orders are the root of chaos; great cunning and villainy are the foundation of brigandage. When gratitude is rendered at private gates, emolument departs from the public house, and governance follows it to ruin! Recently, Diwu Lun, Grand Governor of Weicheng and Marquis Who Subdues Rebels, has committed these three crimes, throwing the state's laws and discipline into disorder. Your servant is pained to the heart and sick to the head — may Your Majesty see clearly!"

……

PS: Chapter 2 at 13:00.

(Chapter 3 at 18:00.)