Chapter 247: Entering the Capital

By the time Diwu Lun reached the city of Chang'an, it was midmorning on the thirtieth day of the fifth month.

"Wang Mang slipped out on his 'southern inspection tour' before dawn?"

This caught Diwu Lun off guard. It seemed Wang Mang was pinning his hopes on Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi, far in the east, to crush the Greenwood rebels, wheel his army back to rescue the throne, and forge the realm anew.

The man was still dreaming.

Yet for some reason Diwu Lun felt a quiet relief. He singled out only Cheng Zhong, the former colonel of the Yue Cavalry Camp, with whom he had a history: "Colonel Cheng, take the Yue Cavalry and pursue south."

Cheng Zhong had been dismissed because he handled assignments alongside Diwu Lun. After Diwu Lun crossed the Ba River, Cheng Zhong, confined at his home in Duling, was put forward again. Diwu Lun let him resume command of the Yue Cavalry. The Garrison Cavalry Camp at Lantian had withdrawn toward the southern Wu Pass, and the Changshui Hu Horsemen south of the Wei had fled west, so the Yue Cavalry became the first — and the only — formed cavalry unit under Diwu Lun's command.

Cheng Zhong acknowledged the order, then asked cautiously, "Grand General, this Wang Mang — do you want him alive, or …"

"Catch up with him first, then we'll talk." Diwu Lun's tone alone was enough; Cheng Zhong understood at once.

From the moment he chose to leave Chang'an, Wang Mang's political life was already dead. What Diwu Lun needed was the moral authority of having executed Wang Mang, not the act of killing him with his own hands. Whether Wang Mang died in the chaos of battle, at the hands of a confidant, or out in the wilds — to Diwu Lun it made no difference.

Chang'an had twelve city gates. The one Diwu Lun chose to enter was the first gate north of the eastern wall: Xuanping Gate. Because the Welcoming Spring Shrine stood outside it, Wang Mang had renamed it "Spring King Gate."

No sooner had Diwu Lun given the order than flattery poured forth from the mouth of the Pacifying Beginning General Shi Chen, who had surrendered and turned guide: "In the first year, spring, the king's first month — proclaiming peace to all under heaven. The Grand General's choice of this gate is deeply meaningful!"

Diwu Lun smiled and did not answer. He merely stood on his chariot rail, taking in the sights to left and right. He still remembered his first entry into Chang'an several years ago. Though he had fancied himself a man who had seen grand spectacles in his past life, this ancient capital had left a deep impression on him. Back then it was an autumn evening growing chill, the roadside trees rustling, withered lotus leaves on the ponds behind, the mighty walls of the great city ahead.

Today he arrived in high summer, yet the wards outside the city were even more desolate. Everywhere doors were barred and shut tight, for fear of being plundered and harmed by the invading army. What truly enraged Diwu Lun was that some vanguard troops had indeed failed to restrain their men. In defiance of his repeated, emphatic orders, they had raided the Welcoming Spring Ward outside the gate, fighting over the silk offerings stored in the shrine, even kicking down the doors of commoners' houses to demand food and drink, and attempting to violate the women.

"You break military discipline and ruin my reputation — how are you any different from the Xin army or roving bandits?"

And this was supposed to be comforting the people and punishing the wicked? This was supposed to be forging a new heaven and earth? It was a slap in the face of the Grand General Who Pacifies the People.

Diwu Lun was furious. In no hurry to enter the city, he had the military judges who had followed him from Wei territory bind all fifty offenders — from junior officers down to common soldiers — in front of Xuanping Gate. Many of the new recruits still felt wronged. They raised their heads and shouted, "Weren't we told that once we entered the capital we'd share out goods and riches? Now you block us from going in — what's wrong with us taking it ourselves?"

To boost morale, such things had indeed been said, but it had also been made clear that rewards would be distributed according to merit after the government storehouses were seized. They had never been encouraged to take things on their own. Diwu Lun did not bother with the principle of "no punishment without prior instruction," nor did he care whether he chilled the soldiers' hearts. He simply ordered the centurions, junior officers, and sergeants who had failed to make military discipline clear to be beheaded. The plundered goods were returned to the Welcoming Spring Ward, and the common soldiers were all executed as a warning to the rest.

Officers like Qin He, who had reined in their greed and not harmed the wards and hamlets outside the city, looked at each other in dismay and secretly rejoiced.

"How stupid. If you want to loot, you wait until you're inside the city! The rich people are all in the city!"

"I heard the Emperor has already fled — wouldn't it be better to just loot the imperial palace?"

Their experiences in Wei territory had taught the veterans that while Diwu Lun forbade plundering commoners, he often turned a blind eye when his soldiers butchered wealthy households — taking from those who had too much to supplement those who had too little.

Hard as it might be to believe, these were already the elite of the elite among Diwu Lun's troops — otherwise they would never have been chosen as the vanguard. And yet this was the level of their awareness.

Diwu Lun had once heard a phrase: entering the capital to sit the imperial examination.

When a wild-born regime enters the imperial capital, it truly faces a great test on every front: organization and discipline, the official corps, vision and perspective, and the ability to handle complex contradictions.

Of all these, how many did they possess?

He looked at the great army behind him, cobbled together barely a month ago, at the long ranks of men with hardly a literate soul among them. The troops chosen to enter the city were still the "elite." But once inside, to what degree the evil in their natures, the blood boiling after killing, could be restrained by military discipline — already exceedingly harsh, with execution a constant threat — remained utterly unknown.

A dread heavier than before any battle settled in Diwu Lun's heart: "This entry into the capital of ours …"

"Is walking into the exam hall stark naked!"

…

Even when you're thrust into a hasty, naked exam with no time to review or prepare, you still have two choices.

You can smash the pot because it's already cracked — let the soldiers run wild, butcher Chang'an, and hand in a blank paper. But if you do that, all that righteous posturing before becomes a joke. And after that, would you still have the standing to put Wang Mang on public trial?

Or you can make an effort, and see if you can scrape a passing grade.

Diwu Lun therefore selected twelve Majors who had followed him since the days of New Qinzhong. He personally gave them face-to-face instructions, sending them with troops to hurry to the twelve city gates. They were to promise the soldiers rewards, accept the surrender of the Five Majesties Central City troops, and secure every gate. Not only were the powerful clans' forces from north of the Wei forbidden to enter, but the troops arriving in the rear were also not to enter Chang'an on their own authority without his orders.

By this time, word had spread that Wang Mang had fled and Diwu Lun had arrived. A contingent of officials, hastily assembled inside the city, now came to surrender and kowtow. They clustered inside Xuanping Gate, forming long lines on either side, bowing their heads incessantly toward the Grand General Diwu.

And there before Xuanping Gate, Diwu Lun once again proclaimed the discipline for this entry into the capital.

Given the wretched nature of his feudal army, the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention were a pipe dream. Better to play the game that suited the age.

"Long ago, when Emperor Gaozu of Han entered the Pass, he made a covenant of three articles. Today, I make a covenant of five articles with the officials, soldiers, and common people of Chang'an."

"Any who enter the city without orders to deploy shall be dealt with by military law."

"Murderers and violators of women shall die."

"Those who wound others, steal, or plunder shall receive punishment to fit the crime."

"During a three-day curfew, entering or leaving the wards and hamlets is forbidden. After three days, the markets shall resume their trade, and the people shall resume their livelihoods."

"For officials of the Xin and Mang regimes, those of rank two thousand shi and below shall retain their posts."

The first three articles needed no explanation. The last two were to preserve order in the greatest city under heaven. In the countryside, people had their own fields, but the city relied entirely on markets and wards to buy grain. Not every household had surplus stores; cut off for three days, some families would go mad with hunger. If he did not want these several hundred thousand people to turn into refugees as well, order could not be allowed to collapse.

And Diwu Lun had only eight hundred military officers under him, most of them illiterate, and themselves refugees just a year or two ago. Relying on them, he could barely manage thirty thousand soldiers into this sorry state — let alone govern a great city of three or four hundred thousand.

He would have to keep using the Xin dynasty's capital administrative staff to maintain order for the time being. That was better than total chaos. Settling accounts could wait until after autumn.

If he wanted to slaughter fat sheep, he had to start by butchering a few of those ranked two thousand shi and above. Then he would throw open the government storehouses and swiftly deliver the first wave of rewards to his tens of thousands of soldiers — otherwise, he feared, they would be impossible to hold down.

Diwu Lun swept his gaze over the crowd that had come to surrender. There were indeed many familiar faces.

At their head was the State-Establishing General, one of the "Four Generals," a man named Zhao Hong, who had been responsible for public security in the city. He had not fled with Wang Mang, but instead chose to seal the palace complex and government storehouses and kowtow in surrender to Diwu Lun.

After Shi Chen whispered a few words in his ear, Diwu Lun shook his head and smiled. "Though the State-Establishing General once denounced me harshly before Wang Mang, I imagine that was all feigned compliance. His turning to the right side now — that is his true heart."

"Exactly as the Grand General says! I have long admired the Grand General's cause, along with Wang She and Dong Zhong. I wished to join you, but when they were captured, I could only lie low in secret — until this very day!"

Zhao Hong kowtowed without cease, styling himself an inside agent. He added that both Wang She and Dong Zhong had been killed by the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties before Wang Mang fled, their bodies dismembered and stuffed into bamboo baskets.

A good death! Diwu Lun wished all his pig-headed allies would drop dead, but he still had to put on a mournful face and weep for the two men.

Looking past Zhao Hong, though the Eleven Upper Dukes were absent, there were quite a few of the Nine Ministers and Six Supervisors. Many among them had been among the four hundred and eighty thousand signatories who had kowtowed before the Northern Watchtower, urging Wang Mang to ascend the throne. Now they brought out those same old skills to welcome the victor.

But Diwu Lun searched for a long time and could not find one particular figure.

"Where is the Minister of Public Works, Song Hong?"

Song Hong was not only a friend of Huan Tan and renowned for his worth and ability, he had also served as Governor of Bing Province and managed the Privy Treasury — one of the few officials who could actually get things done. If Diwu Lun had his way, he would execute every last one of Wang Mang's surrendered officials and keep only Song Zhongzi. Had the man fled with Wang Mang? If he had died in the chaos of battle, that would be a great loss.

"Song Hong is stubborn and deluded. He neither followed Wang Mang nor was willing to come and greet the General." Zhao Hong said only this, but added that they had a great gift to present to Diwu Lun.

When Diwu Lun's chariot wheels rolled along Sunset Street and reached the gate of Xuanming Ward, where he and Yang Xiong had once lived, what greeted him there were not only his old neighbors but also a prisoner bound hand and foot. The man was pinned down in front of Xuanming Ward, straw rope tied into his hair, a hempen cloth gagging his mouth. He stared at Diwu Lun's approach in terror.

The moment he saw that man, all of Diwu Lun's anxiety about walking naked into the capital exam evaporated. He drew close and studied him carefully. There was no mistake — it was Chen Chong, alive!

Diwu Lun clapped his hands and laughed. "Master of Fates Chen — so you're here too!"

……

"The Grand General says that the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties alone has over a hundred kinds of cruel punishment, enough to make a man suffer agony beyond death. And you used these methods — who knows how many innocents you have killed, how many you have tortured into false confessions."

"Master Chen, as Master of Fates of the Five Majesties, was charged with investigating treachery and deceit, yet never knew that he himself was the greatest traitor of all. Since many in the Master of Fates' office are willing to surrender, come with me — take Chen Chong back, and let him sample every one of those hundred punishments. Wring out every crime of these past ten-odd years, so we may properly fix his guilt."

Under Diwu Lun's orders, Chen Chong was carried into Xuanming Ward. Diwu Lun gave special instructions: keep Chen Chong alive. Let him thoroughly enjoy this one night. Tomorrow, bring him to the Tianlu Pavilion in the palace.

Having done this deed in Xuanming Ward, Diwu Lun felt a great satisfaction in his heart. As he rode south along Xiyin Street, he looked into the distance and saw a palace compound standing north of the Shoucheng and Changle Palaces, a self-contained complex, seeming somewhat forlorn.

This was the Mingguang Palace, which Wang Mang renamed the Ding'an Lodge — the residence of Wang Yan, the Huangshi Imperial Princess. Its great gates were now tightly shut. Word was that when Wang Mang made his southern inspection tour, he did not take this former Han empress dowager with him.

Diwu Lun cast a few more glances at that palace compound, then assigned a Major and ordered him to guard it, on no account letting the soldiers disturb its occupant. The card of the Han Empress Ping — in the hands of a man like him who meant to build a new fire from scratch — was a worthless card, tasteless as chewed wax. But if someone with intent got hold of it, it could spoil things. For now, he would keep it.

Diwu Lun also asked after another place: "Send men at once to the former Han Court of State Ceremonial to protect the Young Liu Ying."

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The Young Liu Ying was the "Crown Prince" installed by Wang Mang after Emperor Ping of Han died. He never even waited for a formal accession before the Han was gone, so he does not count as the last emperor. In this way, as the former dynasty's Crown Prince, he was enfeoffed as the Duke of Ding'an.

In name, he was forever a guest of the Xin, receiving the treatment of the ancient state of Song under the Zhou. In truth, he was imprisoned within a courtyard. From childhood to adulthood, no one was permitted to speak a single word to the Young Liu. It is said he has now become a simpleton, unable even to speak clearly.

Like Wang Yan, this was a man Diwu Lun could afford not to use — but could not afford to let fall into another's hands.

Yet when his column reached Hengmen Avenue, the official dispatched to the Court of State Ceremonial came hurrying back with this report:

"Grand General, the people at the Court of State Ceremonial say that last night, when Wang Mang fled and chaos broke out inside the city, the mansion guards scattered on their own and the slaves ran off. Someone claiming to be under the Grand General's command took the Young Liu Ying away!"

……

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00. (Still likely one or two hours late — visiting relatives for the New Year, you know how it is.)