Chapter 24: The Childless Are Guilty

Regrettably, the two lines of verse Diwu Lun recited yesterday stirred no sensation in the hall.

Instead they drew laughter and perfunctory cheers. Seven-character verse was rare in this age, appearing only occasionally within fu rhapsodies; to Xiao Yan and Wang Long, Diwu Lun's effort was nothing more than… doggerel.

And no one connected it with rebellion. Only a handful of people caught the meaning beneath.

Jing Dan was one of them.

The next day, the sun was already high by noon before Diwu Lun opened his eyes. He stared blankly at the unfamiliar furnishings around him.

Then he remembered: after the banquet at Changping Hall ended last night, he had been unable to refuse Jing Dan's warm invitation and had stayed the night at his home.

He rose, dressed, and put on his cap. Glancing at the plain vessels in the room, he pushed open the door. Outside was a modest courtyard. In the yard, bathed in autumn sunlight, a middle-aged woman was sweeping up last night's fallen leaves. Seeing Diwu Lun emerge, she quickly composed herself, bowed, and called to her husband.

"Husband, the guest is up."

This was Jing Dan's home in the commandery seat. With his post as Literary Clerk — equivalent to a city education director — he could have lived quite comfortably if he wished. Yet it seemed he was honest to the bone; he even had to borrow a four-horse white team from a neighbor. The man who was truly the same inside and out, Diwu Lun reflected, was probably Jing Dan.

Jing Dan sent his wife to tell the servants to prepare the morning meal, then called over a boy of twelve or thirteen to pay respects to Diwu Lun. "This child went to bed early last night and never got to meet you, Boyu. Shang'er, call him Uncle."

"Jing Shang?"

Diwu Lun recalled something. "Sunqing, your clan cousin, that 'Grand Preceptor Xi Zhong' at court — isn't his name also Jing Shang?"

He couldn't help smiling. "Sunqing, are you deliberately taking advantage of your clan cousin?"

"You misunderstand, Boyu. In truth, my son was given the name first."

Jing Dan smiled wryly. "That cousin of mine originally had a two-character name. It was only in the time of the Former Han's Emperor Ping, when His Present Majesty was Regent and reforming the rites, that an edict commanded that people of the Central States must not bear two-character names. So he changed it to a single character, and by coincidence it ended up identical to my son's."

A "two-character name" meant a given name of two syllables; under the Xin Dynasty, such names were regarded as a mark of low status, used mostly by slaves and commoners. Anyone with a bit of standing or learning favored single-character names, and those who didn't quickly changed them.

Diwu Lun found it absurd. Of all Wang Mang's decrees, this ban on two-character names had actually been enforced the most smoothly. And it wasn't just the people of Huaxia who had to switch to single-character names — according to Jing Dan, Wang Mang had even ordered the leaders of the surrounding barbarians to change theirs.

For example, the Xiongnu Chanyu was named "Nangzhiyasi." Wang Mang sent envoys who used both pressure and persuasion to make the Chanyu submit a memorial declaring his admiration for Chinese rites and his wish to follow the times by changing his name to "Zhi." But Xiongnu names were phonetic transliterations to begin with. The whole operation was as ludicrous as solemnly ordering the president of the Beautiful Country to formally change his name to Trump — it made you want to laugh and cry at the same time.

After this digression, Jing Dan sent his son back to his studies. Then he turned to Diwu Lun and cupped his hands solemnly. "Yesterday, after you recited your poem, everyone laughed. They thought it lacked polish and literary grace. But in those two lines, I heard your ambition."

Diwu Lun started. "Oh? And what did you hear, Brother Sunqing?"

Jing Dan said, "I am a little older than you, Boyu. I witnessed the perilous signs at the end of the Han. Decades ago, a Confucian scholar named Jing Fang once asked Emperor Yuan of Han whether the present age was one of order or chaos. Even Emperor Yuan could only answer helplessly, 'It is utter chaos — what more is there to say!'"

"That chaos has lasted to this day. It reminds me of the description of King Li of Zhou's time in 'The Turn of the Tenth Month.' Sun and moon foretell calamity, abandoning their proper courses. The four quarters lack good governance, discarding their worthy men. When the moon is eclipsed, it is a common thing; but this eclipse of the sun — what evil does it not portend?"

So I'm not the only rebel here? Diwu Lun smiled. "Brother Sunqing, are you comparing the present dynasty to the times of Kings Li and You? Even at home, you should speak with caution."

Jing Dan explained, "The time of the Former Han's Emperor Ai was the true reign of a King Li. The present is more like the Gonghe Regency — only that the 'Duke of Zhou' has received the Mandate of Heaven and firmly seated himself on the throne of the Son of Heaven."

He continued, "Though this has brought the realm a measure of calm, the shifting decrees are like blazing lightning, bringing no peace, no order. The Xin's usurpation of the throne is like a hundred rivers boiling over, the mountain peaks crumbling. And the rise and fall of the powerful families in the commanderies and counties — that is the high banks turning into valleys, the deep valleys becoming hills!"

"Have you not seen how the Han's Liu-surnamed nobles have all been demoted by one rank, while countless commoners and nobodies have been enfeoffed as Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron — even as Neighborhood Lords — merely by presenting mandate omens, or through classical learning, or by quelling rebellions?"

He expressed his disdain for the old guard: "The Xiao, the Fan, and the rest are nothing but leftover remnants of the former dynasty. Their family enterprises may be large, but they make no effort to advance. They are yesterday's summer flowers — one sweep of the autumn wind and they all wither."

"But you, Boyu, come from a humble family. Though a commoner, you carry the realm in your heart and have made your name known throughout the commandery. In ten or twenty years, when you return to Changping Hall, all those families will have fallen and been destroyed. You alone will stand proudly in bloom, taking their place!"

"That is the ambition I heard in your lines of verse!"

And was this not Jing Dan's own heartfelt wish as well?

After Jing Dan finished, Diwu Lun expressed only admiration. "The one who knows me is you, Brother Sunqing — not a single detail wrong!"

But inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief. Jing Dan didn't catch it. What I really meant was… I want to take their lives!

…

After eating at Jing Dan's home, Diwu Lun took his leave. Seeing him off, Jing Dan urged him that ordering one's clan and ordering the state need not be separate pursuits. If a good opportunity arose, he must not keep declining — he should actively seek office.

"I know your ambition, Boyu, but without a black-and-green official cord, trying to strengthen your clan in the county, trying to accomplish anything — it remains too difficult."

When Diwu Lun returned home, he learned that the assassin who had come to "kill" him two days earlier still had not been found. There was no unusual movement from Diwu Biao's side either, though Diwu Bao had vanished without a trace.

Diwu Ba then questioned Diwu Lun in detail about his confrontation with the assassin that day. After hearing the account, he cursed him a few more times. "Utter disgrace. An arrow or two in the body won't kill you. If I had been the one to meet that man, I would have…"

Slid in and slit the killer open from belly to chest?

Diwu Lun nodded meekly. That was probably what the old man meant. He believed it, too — but people were not all the same.

In any case, from now on he would simply bring a couple more fighters when he went out. Diwu Lun returned to his room and pondered the gains from this trip to Changping Hall.

It was not just the many cups of chrysanthemum wine he had drunk. The journey had expanded Diwu Lun's horizons from the tiny Linqu Township in the south of the county to the whole of Changling County.

The Wang Yuan family was indisputably the dominant power in the north of the county, possessing absolute strength. The eleven former-dynasty remnant families, led by the Xiao clan, were mostly in the east. He had heard that in the west of the county there was also a great magnate named Shangfang Jin, who had been too advanced in age to accept the invitation to the banquet.

Even if you singled out Fan Zhu, the descendant of Fan Kuai, he was a county magnate who owned hundreds of qing of land with over a thousand clan members and retainers. Compared to them, the Diwu clan was a tiny ant. Diwu Lun might talk about "when I bloom, all other flowers perish," but if chaos erupted ahead of schedule and open conflict broke out, it was far from certain who would kill whom.

"My family's strength probably accounts for about one percent of the whole county." After a rough calculation, he had a clear sense of his own measure.

Even if he united the clans from Diyi to Diba, that would only be eight percent — still less than half the strength of the Marquis of Qiongcheng's or Marquis of Xiaoxiang's families.

This made Diwu Lun somewhat anxious. Development had to accelerate. Grain and funds had to be stockpiled. The fortified compound had to be expanded and reinforced. Training had to be put on the schedule. The iron tools had to arrive quickly.

While doing all this, he also had to develop the charity granary and charity school, planning for the long term — and he could not kill the goose for its eggs and lose the people's hearts, for that would run counter to the original ideals behind his ambitions.

It was simply too difficult.

The thousand threads and myriad strands gave Diwu Lun a headache. Simply grinding reputation was so much easier. He had the fame now, but he could not immediately convert it into tangible benefit. In this official-rank-centered society, a commoner with no status trying to get things done was truly troublesome.

Several days passed like this, and the time entered the middle of the ninth month. Diwu Lun was organizing the villagers, free from farming, to build a waterwheel by the canal, when a minor clerk from the city paid another visit. He said that the Grand Governor of Liewei Commandery, Zhang Zhan, had returned from Chang'an and was summoning Diwu Lun to the commandery office for an audience.

…

The commandery office was located in the north of the city, opposite the county office in the south. It was considerably larger than the county office — a sprawling compound with deep residences, towering walls, and carved ornamentation.

The last time Diwu Lun had come, it had been for private business, and he had knocked at the small eastern gate of the commandery office. This time it was official business, so he went straight to the main gate.

Outside the main gate, armored soldiers stood guard with halberds. Under the eaves by the entrance, there were also some "waiting stools" where minor clerks coming to handle affairs at the various section offices queued up. The line was quite long.

Diwu Lun, however, did not need to wait. Jing Dan was already at the gate waiting for him and could bring him straight inside.

"Brother Sunqing, you look radiant. Is there some happy news?"

"You'll find out soon, Boyu." Jing Dan kept his lips sealed, only smiling as he told Diwu Lun to follow.

After they entered the main gate, Jing Dan told Diwu Lun that the small compound on the east side was the residence of the Grand Governor, his family, and his household guests — the equivalent of the rear private quarters. The west side was the working quarters of the various section heads — the equivalent of the front court.

Every small courtyard they passed was a separate section office. There were the Theft Section, the Merit Section, the Counsel Section, the Household Section, the Finance Section, the Waterworks Section, the Regulations Section, the Granary Section, the Military Section, and the Five Offices Section — equivalent to the various municipal departments of later ages. Each section had its own head clerk.

Black-robed, small-capped assistant scribes and clerks hurried in and out, documents in hand. If Diwu Lun had accepted the appointment as Chief Records Clerk last time, he would probably be bustling among them right now.

Jing Dan led Diwu Lun all the way to the largest courtyard in the compound, where a tall screen wall stood before them — built of rammed earth, much like the spirit walls of later ages, painted in blue and black with cloud vapors, birds, and beasts to display the commandery office's authority.

They circled around it and stepped into the hall. Diwu Lun removed his shoes, kept on his foot-wraps, and followed Jing Dan as they hastened inside — only to discover, to his surprise, that Xiao Yan and Wang Long, who had shared the same mat with him at Changping Lodge days before, were already seated within!

Wang Long, the clan nephew of the Marquis of Qiongcheng — Diwu Lun's impression of him was that "Autumn Chrysanthemum Rhapsody." But aside from when he was composing rhapsodies, the man always seemed dazed, head tilted as if lost in thought, probably mulling over the phrasing for his next masterpiece.

Xiao Yan had already grown impatient from waiting; now, seeing his nemesis arrive as well, he could not help his astonishment: "Clerk Jing, what is Diwu Lun doing here?"

Jing Dan replied, neither servile nor overbearing: "Boyu is also among those summoned by the commandery lord. As to the matter, you will learn shortly."

Only then did Wang Long notice that someone had arrived. He glanced at Diwu Lun and Jing Dan, then went back to his dazed indifference as if it were none of his concern.

Jing Dan and Diwu Lun took seats on the eastern side. Diwu Lun surveyed the room — though the hall was large, its furnishings were exceedingly plain. Xianyu Bao's county office had been more lavish than this, to say nothing of the Marquis of Qiongcheng's mansion.

By now the sky had dimmed somewhat, yet no lamps or candles had been lit inside the hall. When Xiao Yan asked about it, puzzled, Jing Dan told him: "The commandery lord has given an order: before dusk falls, no lamps may be lit."

For Xiao Yan, a scion of hereditary nobles who had lived his life upon the clouds, burning candles was like burning firewood — he could hardly comprehend it. He pursed his lips, his heart surely full of disdain. Diwu Lun, however, nodded to himself in secret: "At least on the surface, this Commandery Governor Zhang Zixiao is frugal."

But that was of no damn use. A filial son and an incorrupt official did not necessarily govern a commandery well — just look at the swaggering arrogance of the Marquis of Qiongcheng and the Xiao clan. Zhang Zhan could not stiffen his spine and had no way to deal with them at all.

Not long after, Zhang Zhan arrived. He was a man in his forties, sporting a three-pronged beard, his face solemn — fully worthy of his reputation as a model of decorum in the Three Adjuncts. He wore a somewhat worn official robe, a kudzu belt at his waist, and hemp shoes on his feet. Was this his everyday appearance, or was he carrying out Wang Mang's campaign of austerity?

"Greetings, Commandery Lord!"

The four rose and saluted Zhang Zhan. Zhang Zixiao disliked elaborate ceremony and came straight to the point: "The ancients said: the duty of ministers and grandees is to oversee the general strategy, unify the categories, broaden moral instruction, and refine customs. Since the former dynasty, commandery governors and officials of the two-thousand-bushel rank have been required to select worthy men from among the clerks and commoners, recommending two each year to enter the court as Palace Gentlemen — these are the Filial and Incorrupt."

"The Xin governs the realm by filial piety, and so it remains. Those who fail to make recommendations are guilty of an offense!"

The moment he heard this concerned the recommendation of Filial and Incorrupt candidates, Xiao Yan's expression changed. He stared at Diwu Lun across from him, deeply suspicious.

He had long since heard from his father, the Marquis of Xiao District, that this year's two Filial and Incorrupt nominees were himself, Xiao Yan, and Wang Long, who held the nominal post of "Gate Clerk" in the commandery. The list had already been submitted; once it passed through the proper channels, they would enter the court as Palace Gentlemen in the tenth month.

Now that Zhang Zhan had summoned them here, it ought to be for the formal announcement. Jing Dan, as an official in charge of moral instruction, could be said to have the standing to attend as an observer — but what was Diwu Lun called here for?

Could it be that Zhang Zhan had some screw loose and meant to have Diwu Lun replace one of them?

At this thought, Xiao Yan could not help his fury — behaving exactly as Wei Ao had mocked at that day's banquet: an owl clutching the rotting rat beneath its talons, convinced the phoenix meant to snatch it away!

Fortunately, before he could erupt, Zhang Zhan finished what he had to say.

"This year, however, is different. His Majesty has issued an edict: even a hamlet of ten households must have the loyal and trustworthy; where three walk together, one shall be my teacher. The Xin has been established for ten years; this year we shall broaden the path for advancing worthies, selecting outstanding and learned men of letters, so that the worthy may examine and participate in governance, and so draw the hearts of the people closer. Therefore, this year the two Filial and Incorrupt places are changed to four special-category places!"

"Special category?"

The four seated exchanged bewildered glances. As it turned out, as far back as the Former Han, the recommendation system had, in addition to the regular Filial and Incorrupt category, also recruited irregularly through special categories — such as the Worthy and Upright, the Worthy and Lettered, and even the Classics-Proficient, the Law-Proficient, the Exceptionally Outstanding, the Crisis-Managing, the Courageous and Strategically Astute, the Yin-Yang and Portents Expert, and so on… roughly equivalent to specially recruited students with particular talents.

Wang Mang, however, had turned the blade of reform upon the path of official advancement, combining the special categories with the regular category to create an unprecedented "Four-Category Selection of Officials."

"The Son of Heaven commands all two-thousand-bushel officials to recommend, from among the clerks and commoners under their governance, one man each of virtuous conduct, proficient in governance, capable in speech, and brilliant in letters."

"The first is called 'Brilliant in Letters.' Wang Long, your learning is comprehensive and your conduct cultivated; you possess considerable literary talent. You may fill this post."

Wang Long had by now roused himself from his literary world. He rose and accepted the charge. Judging from that rhapsody, it was indeed a title well deserved.

"The second is called 'Capable in Speech.' Xiao Yan, your family has been worthy and good for generations; you have studied the classics under Erudites and can speak forthrightly and remonstrate bluntly. You may fill this post."

The first two were reasonable enough, but "speak forthrightly and remonstrate bluntly" was utterly wide of the mark — unless it referred to his talent for picking quarrels? Xiao Yan had clearly gained entry on the strength of his clan's prestige and pedigree.

Xiao Yan merely cupped his hands in silence. It was plain to see he was deeply dissatisfied with this arrangement.

"The third is called 'Proficient in Governance.'"

Zhang Zhan looked toward Jing Dan, whom he had always trusted. He had long promised Sunqing a proper path to becoming a Palace Gentleman, and now that promise was fulfilled.

"Sunqing, during your tenure as Literary Clerk, you have shown clear mastery of laws and ordinances, sufficient to resolve doubts; you can also review case files and re-examine them — a censor on paper. You may fill this post!"

Jing Dan accepted the charge, his heart full of emotion. After completing his studies at the Imperial Academy, he had failed the targeted examination; moreover, in Shivei Commandery he had been suppressed by the great clan and found it hard to rise. He had resolutely left his homeland and come to Liewei to seek refuge with that rare honest official, Zhang Zhan.

Although he had become a three-hundred-bushel Section Clerk, it was ultimately not the proper path of official advancement. Jing Dan still yearned for a recommendation, to become a Palace Gentleman, so that later he could take charge on his own and serve as a County Magistrate.

"The fourth is called 'Of Virtuous Conduct.'"

Zhang Zhan looked toward Diwu Lun. As it happened, although he had long heard the name, this was the first time Commandery Governor Zhang had met Diwu Lun in person.

He saw that this young man was not tall, yet possessed a certain bearing, and was the youngest of the four seated there. And when he recalled what Jing Dan had told him of Diwu Lun's words and deeds that day at Changping Lodge, his fondness grew all the more.

This last place — Zhang Zhan had reserved it specifically for Diwu Lun, under enormous pressure.

"Diwu Lun, your virtuous conduct is lofty and admirable, your resolve and integrity pure. Confucius said: when a gentleman serves his parents with filial piety, that loyalty can be transferred to his lord. When he serves his elder brothers with fraternal respect, that obedience can be transferred to his superiors. When he manages his household well, that governance can be transferred to office. Thus, conduct is perfected within, and a name is established for posterity."

"This 'Virtuous Conduct' category — you shall fill it!"

Zhang Zhan spoke rapidly, his gaze fixed on Diwu Lun, fearing he might refuse. Beside him, Jing Dan was the same, his eyes darting repeated hints at Diwu Lun, urging him to accept quickly, dreading that the young man might pull another triple refusal.

Diwu Lun parted his lips slightly, but before he could speak, someone beside him could hold back no longer.

Xiao Yan suddenly rose, cupped his hands, and declared with ringing finality: "This young man's talent is shallow and meager. This 'Capable in Speech' category — I truly cannot shoulder it. Let the Commandery Governor seek some other worthy instead!"

…

PS: Begging for recommendation tickets.