Chapter 199: The Horse That Harms the Herd

By mid-eleventh month, the days grew colder by the day. Snow had yet to fall, but on sunless days the temperature neared freezing — ice thickened, the earth began to crack.

Yangping (Shen County, Shandong) and Dongwuyang were only thirty li apart. After the Red Eyebrows withdrew from the opposite bank, Diwu Lun moved his field headquarters here, making it easier to assemble troops from all directions and suppress the Five Towers bandits within his jurisdiction.

"When our lord arrived in Yangping County, every prominent local surname bowed their heads to the ground in homage — only this Wang Mo failed to come even once, and instead had to be invited by our lord's own messenger before he deigned to attend the banquet. It's simply outrageous."

Huang Chang was indignant about this. Incidentally, as Diwu Lun's sphere of influence expanded once more, the address these subordinate clerks used for Diwu Lun, led by Huang Chang, had all changed to "my lord." Every one of them eagerly hoped to land a high post in the Shouliang commandery administration Diwu Lun was building.

"You can't put it quite like that."

Diwu Lun, however, showed no anger — at least on the surface. He said, "This Yangping Marquis Wang Mo is, after all, of the imperial clan."

The Wang family's rise began when Wang Zhengjun entered the palace and became Empress. Her clan soared to power and wealth from that point on. Her father was enfeoffed as Yangping Marquis, and under Emperor Cheng of Han, the Grand Marshal and Grand General Wang Feng inherited this title. It had now passed down five generations to Wang Mo.

By seniority, Yangping Marquis Wang Mo was a distant grandnephew of Wang Mang's, but unlike Wang Yi, Wang Kuang, and others who ranked among the Four Supports and Three Dukes, the Yangping Marquis line had never been given important posts after the Xin Dynasty was established. And because Wang Mang kept the imperial clan under extremely tight control, this Wang Mo had simply returned to his fief in his old home of Yangping, content to be a local strongman.

Since Diwu Lun entered Shouliang, the local magnates had all eagerly welcomed the imperial army — only Wang Mo, though his fortified manor had also been besieged by the Red Eyebrows in the first half of the year, still clung to his imperial clan status even now and refused to humble himself by paying a visit to Diwu Lun.

Even so, Diwu Lun borrowed the county office's premises and hosted a banquet to invite him. He was mainly curious: how did the power of the current dynasty's imperial clan members in the provinces compare to that of the former dynasty's imperial clansmen, who had spread everywhere like blooming flowers?

Before the banquet, Diwu Lun had someone fetch the land registers and cadastral maps for him to examine. A local minor clerk pointed out on those charts — incomprehensible to ordinary people — which fields and residences belonged to Wang Mo.

You don't know until you look. After seeing it, Diwu Lun was astonished. "Are you certain? Only thirty qing?"

"Exactly thirty qing. For imperial house members in the commanderies and counties, whether marquis, earl, or viscount, this is the only amount — they may not exceed it."

Diwu Lun almost felt sorry for Wang Mo. Three thousand mu of land — less than what the Diwu clan had owned in the very beginning. If measured by landed property, this grand Yangping Marquis was in truth just a small landlord. Compared to the various Liu clans of Hebei, who routinely held three or four hundred qing, even over a thousand, he was practically a little brother.

It turned out this was the result of Wang Mang strictly enforcing the land-nationalization and land-limitation edicts among his own family. Though the policy was nearly impossible to implement nationwide, that did not stop Wang Mang from running a pilot program among his own imperial clansmen, keeping each one under rigid control. Gone entirely was the arrogance and extravagance of the former dynasty's five Wang marquises, who had "breached the Gao Canal and linked estates all the way to Outer Du." Wang Mang would strike down even his own sons at will; the imperial clansmen all walked on eggshells.

By contrast, the various Liu clans of Hebei had fields stretching from ridge to ridge and had even hollowed out the commandery and county governments. Truly, comparing people only drives a person mad with rage.

"Worthy of the Great Xin indeed — the sword of the former dynasty can, it seems, still cut down officials of the present one."

However, probably because he had been suppressed too long, after Chi Zhaoping retreated in the first half of the year, the Yangping Marquis had begun a frenzy of land-grabbing. Using his imperial clan marquis status, he wantonly enclosed land around his fortified manor. Whenever the local government, short-staffed as it was, dared utter half a word against him, Wang Mo would trot out a great host of high-ranking and noble relatives in Chang'an to crush them.

This, in turn, clashed with Diwu Lun's plan to take unclaimed land as public fields.

As he pondered, a shout came from outside: "The Yangping Marquis has arrived!"

Diwu Lun rose to greet him. He saw that Wang Mo was in his twenties, wearing a tall cap and a broad sash. Wang Mo cupped his hands toward Diwu Lun and had even brought him gifts.

They were two little dwarfs, kept especially to perform comical variety acts at banquets. This, it seemed, was how Wang Mo usually whiled away the empty, tedious life of a rich man at home.

Wang Mo exchanged formal greetings with Diwu Lun, then glanced sidelong at Huang Chang standing nearby and remarked with surprise, "So Lord Diwu also keeps dwarfs."

Diwu Lun's expression turned stern. "The Yangping Marquis is mistaken. This is my subordinate clerk, Huang Menggao of Neihuang."

Wang Mo stared wide-eyed at the little short man, then looked back at the two small entertainers behind himself. He could not help laughing, though he only covered it by hiding his smile behind his sleeve, saying it was a slip of the tongue and apologizing to Huang Chang. Huang Chang, for his part, gave a dry laugh as if he took no offense — but inside he was seething with fury, and throughout the entire banquet he glared balefully at Wang Mo.

After chatting a few lines, Diwu Lun discovered that this Yangping Marquis was indeed utterly incapable of reading the situation. Diwu Lun had called upon the various surnames of Shouliang to contribute grain and men for joint defense and bandit suppression, yet Wang Mo actually wanted special treatment too, making the excuse that his fields were narrow and small and his household dependents few, and instead asked Diwu Lun to send men to protect him!

As for the land he had privately seized during this period, he absolutely refused to let go of it.

Diwu Lun set down his chopsticks and said, "His Majesty has always been strict with the imperial clan. If what the Yangping Marquis has been doing were to become known in the capital…"

"These times are not those times. I have already submitted a memorial to His Majesty through the Grand Minister of Works." Wang Mo was utterly unafraid and said with a laugh, "In my view, the reason Ji Province and Yan Province are in such chaos is precisely that the imperial clan is not strong enough. We should emulate antiquity — enfeoff kinsmen to serve as Zhou's fence and screen. The time has come to put the imperial clansmen to important use!"

This Wang Mo was probably even hoping to become a commandery Grand Governor, just like that Wang Hong in Puyang who took poison!

His speech was full of name-dropping and clinging to the powerful — either how His Majesty the Emperor sent people several times a year to bestow rewards, or how the Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi doted on him so, since by lineage seniority, his family was the senior branch of the Wang clan.

So utterly clueless — no wonder he could not get ahead even among that pack of good-for-nothing Wang family members.

After Diwu Lun, all smiles, saw off the thoroughly drunk Wang Mo, Huang Chang immediately sidled up to him.

"My lord, I have lately been reading the 'Xu Wugui' chapter of the Zhuangzi and have gained some insight."

"'Is governing all under Heaven any different from herding horses? It is simply a matter of removing those that harm the herd!'"

The implication was clear: Wang Mo was that one horse harming the herd in Shouliang Commandery. Moreover, with this man at one's side, relying on his imperial clan status, he could file secret reports to the court on every matter great or small, and even let the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties know — which would prevent Diwu Lun from acting freely.

But no matter how Huang Chang urged him, Diwu Lun would not declare his stance. As soon as it grew dark, Diwu Lun announced that he had been drinking today and would handle no official business; yawning, he retired to rest.

Each day, one of the accompanying section clerks had to be on duty at the field headquarters. Today it fell to Huang Chang. Still brooding over Wang Mo's humiliation of him before the banquet, he seethed with lingering resentment, his mind turning over countless ways to take revenge on Wang Mo.

When the sky had gone completely dark, Diwu Biao, whom Diwu Lun had promoted to Bandit Section Clerk of Shouliang, came hurrying in to report.

"There's been an incident — the Yangping Marquis's carriage was attacked on the way back to his fortified manor!"

"What!"

Huang Chang was both shocked and delighted. Which hero had done this fine deed!

Diwu Biao said, "The Red Eyebrows, of course. Some Red Eyebrow bandits crossed the river by some unknown method. By the time I led men to the scene, it was already too late."

The Yangping Marquis had died on the spot. Over ten of his household dependents were also killed or wounded. Eyewitnesses all testified that they had seen several dozen fully armed Red Eyebrow bandits, their foreheads stained with brown earth, come under cover of night and leave again in the dark. Now the entire Yangping garrison had been mobilized to hunt down the Red Eyebrow bandits.

But how was that possible? Ma Yuan kept the river defenses absolutely watertight. Even if a small band of Red Eyebrows had swum across, why would they single out the Yangping Marquis? Unless…

A jolt ran through Huang Chang. He looked toward Diwu Lun's tightly shut bedchamber door, and a bold thought arose.

He had merely offered a suggestion — who would have thought that before the banquet was even over, once my lord decided Wang Mo could not be worked with, he directly arranged for men to act!

And as for striking at friendly forces, Diwu Biao had already done plenty of that for Diwu Lun back in New Qinzhong — he was thoroughly practiced at it.

When the two gently knocked on Diwu Lun's bedchamber door and informed him of the matter, Diwu Lun did not exactly break down weeping on the spot. He merely sighed and said, "Alas, the Yangping Marquis."

Even as he lamented, Diwu Lun also ordered Huang Chang to immediately draft a memorial: "The Red Eyebrows have grown so brazen as to take the Yangping Marquis's life — it was likely done with the aid of the Five Towers bandits from Liaocheng. When the court learns of the Yangping Marquis's death, they should be able to understand just how severe the Red Eyebrow menace in Shouliang has become!"

Huang Chang gladly assented, but Diwu Lun then called him back alone. "Menggao, you were wronged today."

"My lord!" Huang Chang prostrated himself directly on the ground. Could it be that Lord Diwu had done this partly to vent anger on his behalf? For a moment he was overwhelmed with tearful gratitude.

Diwu Lun smiled and said, "In the future, though, do not speak that line about 'the horse that harms the herd' in front of Ma Wenyuan. If he heard it, I fear he would be angry with you."

…

Regarding the Yangping Marquis's death, every clever person knew who had done it, but all could only keep silent as winter cicadas. With Wang Mo gone, no one in Shouliang Commandery could communicate directly with the court anymore. Black or white, bandit or official — was it not all for Diwu Lun to decide?

If the time were not yet ripe, Diwu Lun would have liked to join Chi Zhaoping on the opposite bank and dig up the Wang family ancestral graves in Yuancheng.

If I can't touch Yuancheng, can I not touch a mere Yangping Marquis? Seeing that Wang Mo was truly beyond reasoning, Diwu Lun had no patience to play a slow game with him and directly instructed Diwu Biao to act. This one killing — it was clean and decisive, thoroughly satisfying.

Wang Mang could not even be bothered when his own grandsons died; how would he care about this trifling distant grandnephew? He was unlikely to reprimand Diwu Lun; instead, he would likely conclude that the Red Eyebrow menace was indeed severe.

With the lesson of the Yangping Marquis's violent death, the various prominent families in the commandery also embraced Lord Diwu's new government with greater enthusiasm — grain was actively donated, and for manpower, each contributed half their household dependents. The four counties yielded over two thousand men; added to the three or four thousand scraped together by the magnates of Wei Commandery, a motley army of local strongman forces was thus born under the Diwu Corps' banner.

Diwu Lun commanded this group personally — after all, apart from him, no one else could easily order the magnates around.

The main force was still Ma Yuan's two thousand refugee soldiers. Geng Chun had also brought two thousand Gengshi remnant troops, reorganized for over a month. By late in the eleventh month, a great host had gathered near Yangping County — banners like clouds, encampments like hills. Only because they were not under unified command did things seem somewhat chaotic. It still took Diwu Lun's arrangements to get each unit into its own camp and restore a measure of order.

On the surface, Diwu Lun was steady as an old dog, but inside, he was panicking hard.

"Nearly ten thousand men — this is the biggest battle I've ever fought."

When it came to political maneuvering and reading people, after all his years navigating the official circles of the Great Xin, Diwu Lun would not claim mastery, but he had at least entered the hall.

But in warfare, Diwu Lun was still a little unsure of himself. He recalled the first time he had organized a large event in Diwu Village — the autumn sacrifice — when his grandfather Diwu Ba had mocked him, saying his grandson was only fit to be a "Platoon Commander."

After slowly training him up, Diwu Ba said he could manage a "hundred-man commander" or a "Company Commander." It was only after Yang Xiong's death, when Diwu Lun volunteered for the frontier to save his own skin and became a Major of the Boar-Rush Braves, commanding a thousand men, that he truly kept everything in perfect order.

But since striking the Xiongnu at New Qinzhong, Diwu Lun had not directed any combat for over two years. Did he now possess the ability to command ten thousand?

He clasped his own hands and thought: "Everything depends on the man. I must use the chance, while my opponents are only petty bandits, to practice. Otherwise, what will I do when I face stronger enemies later? My green recruits and broken troops are like this — and so am I."

Though men like Ma Yuan and Geng Chun were useful, Diwu Lun was unwilling to rely on them too heavily. That was why he had overruled everyone's requests to fight and taken the role of overall commander himself.

No one raised any objection. After all, that Duke of Zhou, Dou, had puffed Diwu Lun up as the flower of famed generals, and Yan You had taught him all he knew of the art of war. Add to that Diwu Lun's reluctance to act lightly, and no one imagined that this fellow was, in truth, just another Zhao Kuo.

This uneasy mood did not settle until word arrived from the south.

"The Li clan of Wancheng in Nanyang, together with the Liu clan of Chongling, have plotted rebellion. The Li are now besieged. Liu Bosheng has also raised troops, and calls himself…"

"Han soldiers!"

Though the report did not contain a single word about that man — as if he did not exist — Diwu Lun would absolutely never forget Liu Wenshu, who had used a false name and shown him up so thoroughly.

Though the realm now quaked and churned, the various Liu lineages were still watching and waiting. Those who dared to openly rise could be counted on one hand — if one did not count Lu Fang north of the frontier. Yet the Liu Bosheng brothers dared to be the first under heaven and raise that banner. This made Diwu Lun all the more certain.

"Found you!"

For some reason, at this moment, Diwu Lun felt not the slightest annoyance at having brushed past this man. Instead, he felt a touch of delight.

How to describe this feeling?

A thousand times I searched for him in the crowd.

Suddenly turning my head — there that Xiu was, where the lamplight was dimmest!

No mistake. Liu Xiu — it was Liu Xiu!

A surge of fighting spirit rose in Diwu Lun's heart. Wasn't it just commanding close to ten thousand men? He absolutely had to direct this battle.

After all, this name was the only one Diwu Lun truly knew besides Wang Mang. It was his signpost in this obscure era. Even if the man was now just a minor figure, a faint speck of light, that did not stop Diwu Lun from marking him as a potential future archrival.

"Wenshu's side has already opened for business."

"I, too, cannot stand still!"

……

PS: Something urgent came up. I can only get home to write this evening. The second chapter is postponed to 23:00 today.

Truly had no choice — hope you understand. As punishment for delaying the update into the night, there will be an extra chapter tomorrow, and it won't count toward the 17 chapters I owe the Alliance Masters. A pigeon must not be indulged!