Chapter 241: Youth of the Five Tombs

【Red Envelope】 Reading bonus is here! You have up to 888 cash red envelopes waiting to be claimed! Follow the WeChat official account 【Book Friend Base Camp】 to draw your red envelope!

Not counting the likes of the Changyi Prince Liu He or the child Ying, the Former Han had eleven emperors in total, and eleven imperial tombs. Except for Emperor Wen's Ba Tomb and Emperor Xuan's Du Tomb, the rest are all laid out in a straight line upon the Xianyang tableland north of the Wei River.

Changling is not the easternmost, but it was the first tomb town to rise here, so the people of Changling often pride themselves as the foremost of the "Five Tombs."

Time returns to the early morning of the twenty-fifth day of the fifth month, in the fourth year of Dihuang, in Linqu Township, south of Changling County, cut through by the Chengguo Canal.

With the rise of the Diwu clan, practically all official posts in Linqu Township could be filled by "their own people": Diba Zhi became the township Elder, Diyi Guan became the township Bailiff, Diliu Du became the township Land Steward, and the Patrol Officer post in charge of local security fell into the hands of Zheng Tong, Company Commander of the Boar-Rush Braves.

The several township officials living in the town were still sound asleep when they were each roused by someone — it was Zhang Yu and Zhu Di. When they hurried to the township temple, behind the desk they saw a person they had not expected: an old master with a thick, graying beard, travel-worn and weary.

"Old clan head?"

Diba Zhi, Diyi Guan, and Diliu Du were stunned. "Isn't the old clan head enjoying his retirement in Chang'an? What brings you back?"

Diwu Ba had been "invited" by Wang Mang to Chang'an for several months already. The afternoon before last, taking advantage of the turmoil in Chang'an, he was extracted by Zhang Yu and Zhu Di, whom Diwu Lun had arranged to receive him, and immediately rushed north. Because all three Wei bridges were guarded by the Archers' Battalion, and the Ba Bridge was also impassable, they found a ferry to cross the Wei River and hurried back to Linqu Township. He hadn't even had time to change his clothes before summoning everyone for a meeting.

"A major event has occurred in the capital."

Diwu Ba had been traveling for a day and two nights, but after a sip of wine, he was spirited again. Looking at the crowd, he opened with huge news: "The Emperor wants to kill Boyu and exterminate our entire clan!"

"Ah?" Diliu Du went pale with fright on the spot. He was merely a landlord skilled in farming, quite satisfied with the position he had managed to reach. He could never have anticipated such calamity and was completely stupefied.

"How could it come to this?" Diyi Guan was equally shocked and pressed repeatedly, "What exactly happened? Could there be some misunderstanding?"

Diwu Ba sneered. "Didn't I just say? The Emperor wants to kill our entire clan. Does the Emperor need a reason to kill people?"

Diba Zhi, however, while astonished, still had his mind turning. He recalled that over these past months, his son Diba Jiao had maintained correspondence with the Wei region, and together with Patrol Officer Zheng Tong, had frequently used the pretext of bandit outbreaks to assemble and train the able-bodied men of the various Di clans to "guard against thieves." When asked, he wouldn't say a word — it had likely been premeditated all along.

Diba Zhi therefore asked, "Old clan head, now that things have come to this, what is to be done?"

Disi Xian, who had also taken part in the planning, said, "We estimate that by daybreak, the Emperor's envoys will arrive with troops to make trouble for our clan."

Diwu Ba said in a deep voice, "Boyu has already raised his troops at Hongmen. We must respond immediately as well!"

This — this is rebellion! Everyone's hearts quaked with fear.

Diwu Ba had long since thought it through. "All of you, go back and muster your clansmen. Bring the weapons distributed earlier, and those who have armor, put it on properly. At daybreak, assemble in the township."

Diba Zhi and Disi Xian acknowledged the order, but Diyi Guan and Diliu Du were still standing there in a daze. Diwu Ba gave them a thorough scolding: "What are you waiting for? Do you expect an old man like me to do the running around for you? When it's time to divide up the profits from the mines and trade, every one of you fights tooth and nail for a share. Now you've all wilted."

Diyi Guan fell to his knees and, with a mournful face, said, "Old clan head, what on earth is going on? If we truly rebel and are defeated by the government troops, the enormous family fortune we've built up over all these years will be destroyed in a single day!"

Before Diwu Ba could get angry, the quick-witted Disi Xian went over and gave the fellow a kick. "If we don't rebel, are we to sit and wait for death, to bring our whole families and stretch our necks out for the soldiers to chop? Follow the clan head and rise up, and there might still be a sliver of hope. If we win, will any of you lack for wealth and rank?"

This was his heartfelt thought. Disi Xian knew that from the moment they elected Diwu Lun as clan head, their several families had long been bound together — glory for one, glory for all; destruction for one, destruction for all! In this rotten world, business was hard to do anyway; they might as well stake everything and fight for it once.

"Exactly. Tian Heng dared to stand against the entire Han with a mere five hundred men. We, as descendants of Prince Tian, number in the thousands — what have we to fear?" Diwu Ba said to the Patrol Officer standing by with a blade: "Zheng Tong, beat the drums! Summon the able-bodied men of the town!"

"Aye!"

Zheng Tong had married a distant niece of the Diwu clan, so he was practically one of their own. He had entered service at the same time as Zang Nu, but because Diwu Lun often assigned him to run errands — one moment going to the Western Sea to rescue Diba Jiao, the next staying in Linqu Township to train the clan troops — over the years his status had fallen far behind Zang Nu's. He had been bottling up his frustration for a long time; this time, he was determined to earn real merit.

Changling was a heavily populated county, with a full 170,000 people — one township could match a county of ten thousand households. Although Wang Mang had already conscripted from it once, the able-bodied men of the entire township still numbered in the thousands. Whenever joint training was required, the drum was beaten as the signal.

As the drumbeats thudded out, Diwu Ba ascended the township watchtower. In the deep night, he saw the official road cutting through vast fields of millet, like a pitch-black ribbon stretching outward from nearby and winding away across the fertile land.

The clan heads departed hurriedly, bearing torches. They were like scattered sparks, and as they reached their respective hamlets, the candlelight there gradually lit up in succession, like kindling catching fire.

Half a shichen later, nearly every hamlet had lit its lamps, churning a quiet night into the bustling clamor of a daytime market.

In the Guanzhong region, people are many and land is scarce; the hamlets are dense, close enough that cocks and dogs can hear one another. For a time, the air was filled with crowing and barking. By the time the sky began to lighten, the able-bodied men making their way toward the township — the sound of hoofbeats and footfalls coming from all directions, unceasing — ground the silence of the night to dust.

Ground to dust along with it was the peace that the land of the Five Tombs had maintained for two hundred years!

"The age of chaos is coming." These were the words Diwu Lun had spoken to Diwu Ba that night at the North Watchtower mansion, when laying out his plan.

"The Xin is about to fall. Your grandson will either climb the steps upward or perish along with it. For the sake of the clan, I have decided to choose the former!"

"Grandfather, I want to take a step forward — to erect for our family the highest gate-pillar of merit in all under Heaven!"

Diwu Ba had been astonished, but upon careful reflection, he found it unsurprising. Hadn't his "hiding his light and raising dogs" at the mansion been precisely for this day?

Diwu Ba naturally followed his grandson's lead, but thinking of Emperor Wang Mang, who had treated him with considerable courtesy, Diwu Ba couldn't help feeling he had somewhat let him down...

And now, at this very moment, as the age of chaos truly arrived, another emotion churned within his heart.

Diwu Ba said to Zhang Yu beside him, "Back then, Colonel Chen Tang led us on the expedition to the Western Regions, where we cut off Zhizhi's head. On the return journey, the Confucian officials used the charge of 'forged edict' to harass us at every turn. The spoils were all confiscated, and the rewards were long delayed. By the time we returned home, we were utterly disheartened."

"I was young then, and indignant. I once said to myself: If I, Diwu Ba, had been born in an age of chaos, with a three-chi sword at my side and a fierce horse beneath me, following a wise lord into battle, would I have been a mere Platoon Commander? I might well have been enfeoffed as a marquis — a marquis of ten thousand households!"

But aside from those few years in the Western Regions, Diwu Ba's long life had been spent in solid, genuine times of peace — at least in the Guanzhong region. A life of peace was truly dull, and before he knew it, he had grown old.

He never imagined that at an age when one foot was already in the coffin, the age of chaos would come rushing headlong at him, catching him off guard and sweeping everyone into its current.

The clash of steel and the charge of warhorses he had yearned for in his youth had arrived, yet Diwu Ba found he could not feel joy. Why was that?

He was muttering to himself, and Zhang Yu, not knowing how to respond, could only say, "The General has also said, better a dog in times of peace than a man in times of chaos..."

"Bah! The spirit of old age!"

Unexpectedly, Diwu Ba spat, though it was unclear whether he was cursing himself or Diwu Lun. In any case, he put away that touch of melancholy.

Just then, a cart drove up to the township — it was Zhu Di, returning from notifying the Diwu hamlet. Behind him were the people of the Diwu hamlet. It was not just the able-bodied men who came; even the old hands with graying hair had all turned out! They were the first contingent to reach the township.

Over the years, with the communal granaries, communal funds, and communal fields, Diwu Lun had shared the benefits with his clansmen and protected them from harsh taxes and property levies. Everyone kept this in their hearts. The moment they heard the drum, they responded instantly.

Zhu Di carried an object into the township temple. "Old clan head, the armor has been fetched!"

The armor was of a very old style, older than the ages of Zhu Di and Zhang Yu combined — surplus goods from the Former Han. But Diwu Ba had specifically asked for it.

This was the lamellar armor he had worn as a young ruffian on the expedition to the Western Regions, kept at home all this time.

Rusted plates were replaced, broken leather straps were sewn back together, and last year it had received a fresh coat of lacquer, so at least it didn't look quite so old.

Seeing it, Diwu Ba seemed to glimpse an old comrade. He smiled. "Come, help an old man put it on."

Zhang Yu and Zhu Di helped Diwu Ba don the armor. The old master closed his eyes, feeling the weight upon him, as if reflecting on the greater part of his life.

Though they dwelt by the Jing and Wei rivers in Guanzhong, the bloodline of the Diwu clan carried the salt taste of the sea, from the distant east.

The Eastern Sea was too cold; it needed to be steeped in copious wine. Floating at the bottom of the cup was his family tree.

The wailing cry of his birth perhaps carried something of the roar of Tian Heng's five hundred warriors.

The eyes of his youth were filled entirely with the idle amusements of the Five Tombs — cockfights and horse races.

Later on, what came rushing to meet him were the windblown sands of the Western Regions, stinging his face raw.

Though he did not know how many years had passed, his ears still seemed to ring with the drumbeats atop the heavy wooden towers of Zhizhi City, the Han great yellow crossbows piercing the fish-scale formations of foreign troops from distant lands, and someone shouting: "Those who dare offend the mighty Han, though far away, shall surely be put to death!"

But later, the ring-pommel short blade snapped in the farmland, the piebald horse grew too old to ride and wept in its stall, even the thousand-plate iron armor slowly rusted and flaked away, and the warrior's hair turned white.

But now, those things once laid down, those things that had drifted far from Diwu Ba, were being donned again, piece by piece.

His courage, his deeds of merit, and his worn-away ambition!

"Old Patriarch, it's a bit tight."

"A little tight is fine."

Though the armor was heavy, it brought peace of mind. Diwu Ba, with the two young men, pushed open the gates of the township temple. All three thousand able-bodied men remaining in Linqu Township had assembled outside the settlement. Though they had trained in secret for nearly a year, they were still a motley crowd, their hearts not yet one. They needed a leader to rally them with a single cry.

"I am Diwu Ba, grandfather of Diwu Lun!"

Diwu Ba stood atop the settlement wall. The old man could still straighten his back, and speaking in the manner of his grandson, he could still win the cheers of the crowd. After all, the name of the Filial and Righteous Boyu was known throughout the county and revered by all in the township.

Though it is said, white hair cannot turn black again, and a man cannot be young twice.

Wωω ⊙Tтkā n ⊙Сo

Though it is said, he did not know what future awaited the family, or to what heights Diwu Lun wished to raise the clan's gate-pillar honors.

But in this moment.

He, Diwu Ba, was no decrepit old man.

He was still that youth of the Five Tombs, who followed Chen Tang and Gan Yanshou, a blade at his waist, galloping across the Western Regions!

When midday came, and Diwu Biao and Diba Jiao — who had been ordered the day before to lead over a hundred men across the Wei River and back to Changling to prepare the uprising — arrived at Linqu Township, what they saw were three thousand township comrades, horses fed and blades sharpened, ready at any moment to do great deeds.

All raised the five-character banner, yellow cloth bound about their foreheads. The morale of these township clan soldiers was far higher than that of the thirty thousand raw recruits Diwu Lun had stranded by the banks of the Ba River. They had also seized several Embroidered Uniform Envoys who had come to investigate after receiving the edict, and killed the hundred-odd men following them as practice.

"Ah Biao, Ah Jiao, only just arriving?" Diwu Ba looked at the two youngsters with a grin. The two had not expected the response here to be so swift. They exchanged glances, immediately dismounted to pay their respects, and separately reported on Diwu Lun's uprising at Hongmen.

Diwu Ba listened and nodded repeatedly, then asked, as if in jest:

"Tell me, if this old man takes Changling, even half of Liewei Commandery, will Boyu be willing to enfeoff me as a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households later on!?"

"This is His Majesty's edict!"

Some of the Embroidered Uniform Envoys who had found no advantage at Linqu Township still managed to flee. They immediately headed north into Changling City. By the hour of bu, in the afternoon, they slammed Wang Mang's edict onto the desk of Commandery Grand Governor Zhang Zhan.

The ever-loyal Zhang Zhan was greatly shocked: "Diwu Lun has always been loyal in service to the state. Why would he rebel without cause?"

Zhang Zhan had thought Diwu Lun was a man just like himself!

The envoys were also panicked. The situation was far too chaotic now. News of Diwu Lun's uprising would soon spread throughout Guanzhong. Ba Bridge was already burned, the Northern Army and the rebels faced off across the Ba River, and Wang Mang was still awaiting the loyalist armies from the Six Lieutenants.

Among them, Diwu Lun's home territory, Liewei, was a critical link. They could only hope that Zhang Zhan would continue to serve loyally.

"Grand Governor Zhang, His Majesty has enfeoffed you as a marquis! As Diwu Lun's recommender, only by arresting his clan can you clear yourself of suspicion! When we passed Linqu Township, it had already revolted. Please immediately dispatch commandery troops to exterminate them!"

But the Liewei Commandery troops had mostly been transferred away by the Grand Minister of Works. There were not many left.

Before the words were finished, a clamor and confusion arose outside. The commandery Bandit Bureau Clerk rushed in to report: "Grand Governor, a great calamity has occurred!"

"What is it?"

"Linqu Township has gathered several thousand men, led by Diwu Ba, who styles himself 'General of the Five Tombs.' They are at the city walls!"

PS: Happy New Year. Tomorrow's update will be at 13:00.