Chapter 252: How Did the Country Come to This?

Diwu Lun was not the only one who lay sleepless last night. Wang Yan, the Princess of the Yellow Emperor's House, was awake as well.

She resided in the Ding'an Lodge, which lay south of Xuanping Gate Avenue and east of Anmen Avenue. The day before, Diwu Lun had entered Chang'an and then gone out again to distribute pay to the troops, passing by several times. Every time the Grand General Diwu arrived, he would draw a roar of shouts from the soldiers all along the street, and the moment they raised a clamor, the palace maids and slaves inside the Ding'an Lodge would be terrified out of their wits.

"Do not be afraid."

Wang Yan comforted everyone, but she herself had no certainty in her heart.

This was the first time in two hundred years that Chang'an had been breached by outsiders. Few now knew the brutality of Xiang Yu's destruction of Xianyang back then, but who would believe that the filthy, disheveled soldiers outside were a righteous army that would not harm a single soul? What was more, Yin Lihua, who had suffered the calamity of a broken home in Nanyang, had told Wang Yan of war's cruelty.

Yin Lihua felt that she had been fortunate back then to be singled out for protection by a supply officer in Yan You's army named Ren Guang, who had a past connection to Liu Xiu, and who had also slipped bribes to the soldiers escorting her to the capital, and only thus had she escaped humiliation.

Wang Yan, who had kindly taken her in, now faced the same plight — they were the fish on the chopping block, and others held the knife.

"Even if I must die, I would rather die in Chang'an, die beside Emperor Xiaoping, than follow my father and perish in the wilderness."

Wang Yan's character held a streak of stubbornness and fierce resolve. These past two days, a dagger had never left her side. The moment any soldier burst in to molest her, she would raise the blade and take her own life!

Wang Mang had usurped the Han and founded the Xin; as the Han Empress, she had been powerless. Now that the Xin was on the verge of collapse, what could she do as the Grand Princess? The only thing she could do was preserve the last shred of her own dignity.

It was Yin Lihua who pleaded with Wang Yan not to throw her life away lightly: "When I was in Nanyang, I had a marriage contract with Liu Wenshu of Chongling. Only the final rites remained. And Diwu Lun has an old friendship with Wenshu."

When Diwu Lun had gone to Nanyang, although he had not been able to meet Liu Xiu, the story of the two men exchanging jade gifts was well known in the area. Though Liu Xiu was a minor figure, Diwu Lun had still sent men to summon him to office. Perhaps...

Yin Lihua thought, perhaps if she revealed her identity and came forward to make a request, she could persuade Diwu Lun to treat the Princess of the Yellow Emperor's House well. If she could do that, it would count as repaying Wang Yan's life-saving kindness.

But the trouble was, although Diwu Lun had sent men to guard the Ding'an Lodge, it was as if he had forgotten Wang Yan's very existence. He paid them not the slightest attention, and there was no channel through which to seek an audience.

Just then, a clamor rose again outside, throwing the Ding'an Lodge into fresh panic. Wang Yan once more gripped her dagger. Yin Lihua hurried out to see what was happening — since the chaos began, many of the officials and maids of the Ding'an Lodge had fled, and now Yin Lihua had instead become the person Wang Yan trusted most.

After a short while, she returned to report.

"Your Highness, someone has come from outside to proclaim an order. They say the curfew has been lifted, the soldiers have all returned to their camps, and starting tomorrow, the two markets will resume trade. The common people may go out to buy grain."

Wang Yan was suspicious. Even if the curfew was lifted, the people would surely be too terrified to believe it. It could not possibly cause such a great stir so quickly, could it?

Yin Lihua said, "General Diwu has ordered the neighborhood heads and squad leaders of every ward to assemble the people and come out to witness a punishment. He says there will be a public trial of the people's villains in the East and West Markets."

The public trial had actually begun just after daybreak, held in the former Han Chancellor's residence east of the Canglong Gate Tower.

The Grand General Diwu sat high upon the dais in the center. To his right were his trusted followers, men such as Diba Jiao, Ren Guang, and Feng Yan. To his left were the surrendered generals and representatives of the Weibei powerful families: General Who Establishes the State Zhao Hong, General Who Pacifies the Beginning Shi Chen, the Marquis of Qiongcheng Wang Yuan, and others among them.

Since the banner Diwu Lun had raised was "Punish the Tyrants," although the chief villain Wang Mang had fled, if he did not seize a few accomplices to denounce and execute, then would this entire entry into the capital not amount to punishing thin air?

And so Diwu Lun, who was most fond of keeping a little notebook, had drawn up a list of "people's villains," which Feng Yan now read aloud.

"The late Master of Fates of the Five Majesties, Chen Chong: wantonly fabricated unjust cases, flattered to curry favor, and blocked the truth from reaching the throne."

"The late Grand Mentor and Marquis of Pinghua, Tang Zun: used hypocritical words and deeds to steal fame and position, set a chaotic example, and led the young astray."

"The late Marquis of Mingxue, Zhang Han, and the Marquis of Geography, Sun Yang: devised the well-field system for Wang Mang and recklessly altered place names and official titles."

"The late Receiver of Words, Lu Kuang: established the Five Equalizations and Six Monopolies system, poisoning and brutalizing artisans and merchants."

These were the five men they had caught. Aside from Chen Chong, two had followed Wang Mang in his flight but fallen behind and been overtaken by the Rapid Cavalry Battalion, captured alive, and brought back. The Marquis of Geography, Sun Yang, had hidden among the wards and been reported and captured. The last, Lu Kuang, had long since retired from office and was living out his days in his hometown of Pingling County, but had been seized by Wang Yuan and brought in.

After Feng Yan finished reading, he inwardly grumbled to himself: "These are all men whom Gongsun Lu denounced in open court back then, demanding that Wang Mang execute them. His Excellency detested Gongsun Lu for wanting to restore the Han and ordered me to eliminate him, yet the men he himself hates are hardly different from those Gongsun Lu hated."

There were exceptions. For instance, Liu Xin, whom Gongsun Lu had listed as the foremost criminal back then, was a comrade who had rebelled alongside Diwu Lun and a "friend" who could be won over, and so for now he had been temporarily struck from the list. There were also the State General Ai Zhang, the Grand Preceptor Wang Kuang, and others, who were far away in Luoyang and could not yet be brought to trial.

But to speak of the men here today: the first to cry out his innocence was the Marquis of Geography, Sun Yang, who directly shifted the blame onto Wang Mang's head.

"The matter of altering place names and official titles was entirely His Majesty's wish! I merely carried out orders. How would I dare act on my own authority?"

Sun Yang began to ramble on about the matter that had baffled everyone under heaven: why Wang Mang was always so fond of changing names.

"His Majesty was single-mindedly set on restoring the Zhou system. Therefore, official titles and place names all had to correspond to the classics. He reduced the Han's thirteen provinces to twelve, and based on the allusion 'Dwelling, the Southern Crossing' in the Canon of Yao, changed Jiaozhi to Jiaozhou. He also, following the Tribute of Yu, merged Liang Province and the Sili region into Yong Province."

"His Majesty detested the Rong, Di, and Man barbarians, so frontier commanderies were mostly renamed things like 'Awe the Rong' or 'Subdue the Man.' His Majesty liked 'having' and disliked 'not having,' so Wuxi and Wuyan were renamed Youxi and Youyan. His Majesty was also partial to the character 'fu,' so Pei Commandery was renamed Wufu, and Dingtao was renamed Yingfu."

"In Yan Province there was a Kangfu County. His Majesty felt the character 'kang' was unfilial, so he changed it to Shunfu."

This was clearly a solemn public trial, yet Diwu Lun somehow felt the urge to laugh. He glanced left and right; quite a few others were struggling to suppress their laughter as well.

Having shifted the blame, Sun Yang once more cried out his innocence, arguing that his were only minor errors, a moment's muddled thinking. How had he become a criminal?

"'Causing inconvenience to officials and commoners' — how can that be called blameless?"

Ren Guang had served as a minor local official, and now he began to denounce Sun Yang on Diwu Lun's behalf. In some places, the name had been changed five times in a single year; there had not even been time to carve new seals, let alone use them in daily affairs. When the government issued documents and proclamations, they had no choice but to add parentheses after the place name, noting what place it had been under the Han. Even when Wang Mang issued edicts, he had been forced to add marginal notes saying "the former Han XX Commandery," or else no one could understand them.

At this point, the Marquis of Qiongcheng, Wang Yuan, rose, cupped his hands, and said, "Since Sun Yang is guilty, Grand General, in my humble opinion, it would be best to issue an order that all names changed by the Xin be restored to their former names."

First and foremost, Chang'an must be changed back to Chang'an!

Wang Mang had altered the place names and official titles of the entire realm — and now Diwu Lun was to change them back?

Would this change not simply return them to the old Han names? Let no one think this a trivial matter. In an age that revered the principle "must rectify the names" in all things, this held great significance. Diwu Lun shot a glance at Wang Yuan. Was he merely impatient and outspoken, or did he have some ulterior motive?

Therefore, Diwu Lun shook his head and said, "The people of the realm have only just grown accustomed to the Xin place names. To suddenly change them again — would that not cause the common folk further inconvenience? This matter is not urgent. For now, simply rescind Wang Mang's edict that the wrong use of a place name was punishable. Let the people and officials each choose the names they are used to. Later, we can follow the people's will and select based on what is convenient."

This matter was shelved for the time being. Next came Lu Kuang, who had helped Wang Mang manage the economy. The Five Equalizations and Six Monopolies system was this man's handiwork. He merely hung his head and said nothing, as if conceding everything. Only at the end did he speak: "The Five Equalizations and Six Monopolies that the State Preceptor and I devised were originally good policy. If implemented properly, they would have sufficed to fill the state coffers without raising taxes. The only fault was employing the wrong men."

Following Wang Mang's instructions, he had brought economic enterprises such as salt, iron, liquor, and coin minting under government monopoly, levied taxes on mountains and marshes, and even established Five Equalizations Market Masters in the five capitals to manage markets, prices, and the collection of industrial and commercial taxes. This was nothing more than Sang Hongyang's old trick from the Han, with only the addition of a new policy of government loans to artisans and merchants.

Yet the devastation caused by the Five Equalizations and Six Monopolies was far worse than the popular suffering under Emperor Wu of Han. Lu Kuang, however, did not believe the policy was at fault; it was merely his poor choice of personnel.

Diwu Lun immediately rebuked him: "When the men you recommend are guilty, the recommender shares the guilt. What is more, you fancy yourself a Guan Zhong or a Sang Hongyang, but in truth you are no more than the ilk of Duke Yi of Rong. You have caused countless people across the realm to abandon their livelihoods. If you are without fault, then who is?"

Next, Tang Zun and Zhang Han were escorted up. They were even more defiant. Though both were utterly bedraggled, they proved themselves worthy of being Wang Mang's die-hard loyalists. They still regarded Diwu Lun as a rebel, did not even cry innocence, nor did they search for the cause within themselves. They merely said, "We carried out His Majesty's command, emulating the good governance of antiquity. That is why we had the well-field system and the capital-region policies. They were already showing results. It is only a pity that the powerful families were short-sighted and the obstinate people obstructed them, and so they were abandoned."

They also said, "We served the people wholeheartedly and never embezzled a single piece of gold. According to the principle of 'judging by original intent' in the Spring and Autumn Annals, what crime is there?"

Feng Yan came over and whispered in Diwu Lun's ear. According to the results of the house searches, these two were indeed utterly incorruptible officials. Tang Zun, in particular, was consistent inside and out. He wore hempen clothes and used earthenware vessels in public, and when he returned home it was the same. They had found nothing at all. He was a far cry from that pack of filthy-rich former Han relics.

But there was a crime more detestable than corruption, and that was incompetence!

Diwu Lun rebuked them: "You boast of having had good intentions at the start, yet the reality is that you have killed the people. Today, we will not speak of judging by original intent from the Spring and Autumn Annals."

Just as Diwu Lun finished his rebuke, someone else let out a mirthless laugh. It was Chen Chong, who had tasted every cruel torture the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties could devise, had been tormented beyond human shape, and had also been taken by Diwu Lun's men to the Tianlu Pavilion, shoved from a height, and had his other leg broken in the fall.

He had been carried in on a wooden board. His eyes were swollen shut. Because he had heard Diwu Lun's words, Chen Chong struggled to raise his head and said in a hoarse voice:

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"Diwu Lun."

"Since you are not using the Spring and Autumn Annals to pass judgment, then what exactly are you using to condemn us — the new laws, or the Han code?"

"Not by the Xin code, nor by Han law — but by Heaven's will, and by the hearts of the people!"

Diwu Lun had no desire to debate scripture with them, nor did he even care for procedural justice. He simply had the gates of the Chancellor's residence thrown wide open. Outside surged a sea of heads — a roaring crowd that had been summoned.

The reason these men were condemned as "public vermin" was their utterly vile reputations among the common folk: the petty clerks most loathed Sun Yang, whose reckless renaming of places had multiplied their workload beyond measure; the commoners and merchants most bitterly resented Lu Kuang, who had thrown the realm's economy into chaos with the Five Equals and Six Monopolies while flooding the market with worthless coin; the gallant youths and street toughs detested Tang Zun with a passion, for he sent men out daily to entrap people on the streets and forbade men and women from walking together.

And everyone both dreaded and feared the Masters of Fates of the Five Majesties, who spied on the populace day in and day out. The Xin code was so harsh — whose family did not have a relative hauled off by the Masters of Fates?

Though they had not yet set their hearts at ease about Diwu Lun's army, since Diwu Lun had aimed his spear at these men, the common people were naturally delighted to see it. Having been summoned, they raised their voices and clamored for the harshest punishment of those wretches.

Diwu Lun had overused his hand the day before; today he could only clasp his hands behind his back and have someone loudly proclaim to the people of Chang'an.

"My friends, one who injures benevolence is called a brigand; one who injures righteousness is called a brute. A brute and a brigand is called a mere solitary wretch."

"Wang Mang is a solitary wretch. And Chen Chong, Tang Zun, and the rest — they are brigands and brutes!"

"Now that the solitary wretch has fled, let us first execute these public vermin!"

"Parade them down Hengmen Avenue to the Eastern and Western Markets and put them to death!"

If yesterday Diwu Lun had steadied the army's heart, today he was following the people's will. When the world had decayed to this point, someone had to shoulder the blame. Wang Mang could not escape it, and his die-hard loyalists could hardly shirk their share. Let the fury the common folk had pent up over these ten-odd years pour down upon them!

But Diwu Lun himself could not help thinking deeper: had the realm truly come to this state merely because of Wang Mang and a few worthless insects? Could it really be changed just by swapping them out?

Two hundred years of accumulated rot — when the whole organism, from inside to out, from top to bottom, was utterly decayed, what use was there in changing the head or replacing a few parts? And now, Diwu Lun and his tens of thousands of troops were right at the center of this festering mire. Should they try to make it clear, or…

Tear it all down and start anew!

But such long-term matters were for Diwu Lun alone to ponder. The people of Chang'an, who had been living in fear, were overjoyed today. As Chen Chong and the others were paraded down Hengmen Avenue, the crowd delightedly greeted them.

Vegetable leaves and chicken eggs they were loath to waste, but one thing they could well afford to throw: copper coins — the Xin dynasty copper coinage, a thousand of which could no longer buy a single dan of grain! They hurled them viciously at the public vermin, and some were even knocked unconscious.

When they reached the Eastern and Western Markets, the prisoners were roused with cold water. What awaited each of them was a different cruel punishment.

Zhang Han, who had concocted the well-field system, was carved into the character for "well" — his body divided into nine pieces.

Lu Kuang, of the Five Equals and Six Monopolies, was sentenced to be torn apart by chariots.

Sun Yang, who had recklessly renamed places, was ordered to have all the place names he had changed for Wang Mang carved into his skin. When they reached "Youyan," he died of blood loss.

The old Grand Mentor Tang Zun was bound shoulder to shoulder with a man and a woman, strips of cloth soaked in mud and water tightening around his throat until he was strangled alive!

All were savage punishments, but the more brutal they were, the more the people of Chang'an vented their rage.

As for Chen Chong, he enjoyed the treatment that Li Si and his son had received in the Qin dynasty: the Five Punishments!

First, tattooing and nose-cutting; then severing the toes of both feet; then beating to death with a bamboo rod; then displaying his severed head; then mincing his flesh and bones in the marketplace!

As Chen Chong's nose was sliced off, his face branded, his two crippled legs shorn of their toes, and he watched the executioner approach step by step with the bamboo rod, he also heard the words that the Seventh Biao, on Diwu Lun's orders, had been told to deliver to him.

"The reason you suffer the Five Punishments is simply so that you, Master of Fates Chen, will remember: the one who kills you is Yang Xiong's disciple — Diwu Lun!"

…

Diwu Lun did not take part in this frenzy that the people of Chang'an had been holding back for over ten years. He only heard that after these "public vermin" were cruelly executed, the crowd surged forward, tearing their corpses apart, dismembering them joint by joint, muscle by bone. The most hated of them all, Chen Chong, had his head battered by the people together, and some even sliced off and ate his tongue.

Meanwhile, Cheng Zhong of the Yue Cavalry Battalion, who had been ordered to pursue Wang Mang, had also returned — empty-handed, bringing back only the bodies of a few insignificant imperial bastards and daughters.

"Grand General, Wang Mang fled south into the Tangluo Road with several dozen men. Ju Wuba alone stood at the mouth of the pass, gripping a great axe. With a single furious roar, he scared one of my subordinates to death, then hacked apart the single-plank bridge. We could not pursue. By the time we circled around, Wang Mang had vanished without a trace."

This plot sounds a bit familiar… Was it real or not? Diwu Lun nodded. It seemed Wang Mang had fled toward Hanzhong. That place was still in the hands of the Wang clan's imperial kinsman, Wang Lin, the Grand Governor of Xincheng, but he had no more than a few thousand troops — hardly a threat.

The Ziwu Road was difficult to travel, and the Xie Valley mouth at Wugong was not even in his hands. Diwu Lun also lacked the troops to spare for seizing Hanzhong. He had sent Little Geng west to take Fufu Commandery — that is, the ten counties around Chencang — and Wan Xiu east, preparing to seize the ten counties of Yifu Commandery east of Xinfeng.

Compared to Wang Mang, Diwu Lun was now far more concerned about another man's situation.

He gazed longingly eastward, toward Yingchuan: "Xiu'er, where are you?"

…

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