Chapter 274: Political Correctness

Wei Ao kept to a side courtyard of the manor, yielding the main compound for Liu Xin and the child Ying to live in. Old Liu Xin's chief task these days was teaching the child Liu Ying to speak.

"The 'Urgent Primer's' rare tablets stand apart from the rest, listing the names and designations of every object… Your Highness, I shall point to an item and speak its name — you must remember it well."

Old Liu Xin had already lost two sons and a daughter. His eldest, Liu Die, was beguiled by Wang Mang and, caught between sovereign and father, chose loyalty to the sovereign, denouncing their planned uprising. Liu Xin simply counted that son as dead to him.

Now he plainly treated the child Liu Ying as his own grandson, instructing him with devoted care. No matter how the child stared wide-eyed, shrieked, or refused to cooperate, Liu Xin never took offense, his smile as kindly as an old neighbor's.

Wang Mang had wasted fifteen years of Liu Ying's life — Liu Xin meant to make them up in a year or half a year, as if atoning for his own sins.

When Liu Gong returned, this was the scene he found. He bowed to Liu Xin: "Diwu Lun sends his nephew to ask after your health, Uncle."

Liu Xin had the maidservant lead the child Ying away, then rose leaning on his pigeon-headed staff. "A month ago, Wang She and Dong Zhong proved incompetent, forcing this old man to flee west. It was only thanks to Boyu's resolute uprising that Wang Mang still has not been driven from the capital."

Liu Gong recounted everything he had seen and heard in the capital. Liu Xin nodded repeatedly as he listened. "I have read Boyu's proclamation. He is young and never served as a Han minister — a moment's confusion is no great matter. I believe what he says now is the truth. Boyu is willing to enthrone the Crown Prince as Emperor in Chang'an and join forces with Long — that is the proper path."

Liu Xin was now the most ardent advocate for enthroning an emperor. To outsiders, he might seem merely distrustful of the Gengshi faction, afraid of a purge. But in his heart, Liu Xin simply wanted matters to take their proper shape — for the child Ying, who should have succeeded to the throne fifteen years ago, to ascend. Nothing more.

On this matter, he was Diwu Lun's natural ally.

"Where is Diwu Lun's envoy, Feng Jingtong?"

"He is paying his respects to the Supreme General, debating with Fang Wang."

"Oh? What are the two of them arguing about?" Liu Xin's impression of Fang Wang was very poor. Though the man had saved the child Ying, Liu Xin always felt he was an opportunistic scoundrel.

"They are arguing whether to enthrone the Crown Prince as Emperor, or as King."

Liu Xin frowned and rose at once. "No need to wait for the banquet and joint council — let us go listen as well!"

When they entered the Wei clan hall, Fang Wang was fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan and discoursing freely: "How can the imperial enthronement ceremony be handled hastily? We should wait for the three armies to escort the Crown Prince back to Chang'an and hold it at the High Temple."

Feng Yan, however, shook his head. "Master Fang is far too rigid. In former times, Emperor Gao of Han defeated Xiang Yu and then assumed the imperial throne on the north bank of the Fan River — the rites were only added later at Dingtao."

Fang Wang laughed. "At that time, the capital had not yet been formally established at Chang'an, nor were there ancestral temples. Naturally, it was different."

Feng Yan offered another example. "Emperor Wen of Han entered Chang'an from Dai. He too did not ascend the throne at the High Temple, but received the Son of Heaven's seal at Wei Bridge, then proceeded to the Dai residence to accept the officials' exhortation and assume the imperial throne. The rites were only added at the High Temple the following day."

"Why? Because remnants of the Lü clan still remained — exigency demanded expediency. Today is no different."

Fang Wang spread his hands. "May I ask, Master Feng, what exigency exists? What makes General Diwu so impatient that he cannot even wait for the Crown Prince to set out east for Chang'an, insisting that we enthrone him here in Long at once? There is a saying — 'turning one's back on kind and defying reason' — that describes this very matter."

Of course they could not wait for Liu Ying to be leisurely escorted to Chang'an, because in five or six days at most, the truth from Kunyang would reach Long. By then, the Wei clan might well reverse course again.

Feng Yan therefore replied: "How can there be no urgency? Wang Yi has triumphed at Kunyang. Once his great army returns to rescue the sovereign, the Pass and Long may be crushed one by one. Gengshi can no longer be relied upon. We must promptly establish a Son of Heaven of the Han house to command the Pass and Long and resist the Xin's counterattack!"

But Fang Wang had doubts about this matter, so he merely smiled and said nothing. Even if it were true, the one who ought to be anxious was Diwu Lun. They, who held the fastness of the Long Slope, were in no hurry at all!

He therefore said: "If that is so, then all the more reason not to cling to ceremony. Swiftly honor the Crown Prince as King of Han — a king's authority is still enough to command the various commanderies."

And so the matter circled back again. Feng Yan, though ordinarily somewhat unreliable, had this time — perhaps spurred by Diwu Lun's encouragement to be a "Zhang Yi or Su Qin," or perhaps because he had encountered Fang Wang — become thoroughly earnest, his rhetorical skills at their finest. He retorted: "One rabbit runs, a hundred men chase it — because ownership is not yet fixed. Pile rabbits in the marketplace, and men pass by without a glance. It is not that they do not wish to take a rabbit, but that ownership is fixed; the rabbit has its master, and none may contend for it."

"The Xin has collapsed, Wang Mang has fled, and Gengshi has suffered defeat. The realm's people, adrift and masterless, yearn only for a true Son of Heaven of Han to reappear. Longyou could clearly enthrone the Crown Prince as Emperor, letting him occupy the supreme sovereign's throne with orthodox status — yet instead you would leave it vacant. That is like setting a rabbit loose in the wilds, stirring every ambitious man in the realm to eager action! Consider the various Lius north of the River — there is Liu Lin, Prince of Zhao, and Liu Yang, Prince of Zhending. They too are kings. How can a king command a king? Only the Son of Heaven can do so!"

Amid the two men's dispute, Liu Xin naturally inclined toward Feng Yan. But Wei Ao, the Supreme General of Longyou seated in the host's place, inclined more toward Fang Wang.

Wei Ao's temperament carried a strain of conservatism and caution. Had Diwu Lun been asked to assess him, he would likely have said Wei Jimeng was a "house-guarding dog" — a man who wanted first to secure his own small patch of Longyou, then sit and watch how the situation developed.

Yet the next words Feng Yan spoke made Wei Ao unable to remain seated!

"Hahaha." Seeing that Liu Xin had also arrived, Feng Yan suddenly laughed, then waved his informal fan and said: "Master Liu, you have come at just the right moment. Today's scene puts me in mind of the first year of Jushe!"

It was in the year before Jushe that Emperor Ping of Han passed away. Wang Mang, after meticulous selection, made Ying, great-great-grandson of Emperor Xuan, the Crown Prince, and styled himself "Acting Emperor," ascending the throne to act as regent.

Feng Yan said: "Though the Crown Prince was only two years old, Wang Mang could perfectly well have followed precedent and enthroned him as Emperor. But Wang Mang harbored wicked designs and deliberately refused to complete that final step — it was preparation for usurping the Han, done on purpose!"

Liu Xin certainly remembered. They had originally hoped Wang Mang would be a Duke of Zhou. From this unusual arrangement, they too sensed something amiss and began to feel inward dread.

Feng Yan drew closer to Wei Ao and suddenly asked: "Does the Supreme General not fear that the realm will say the Wei clan refuses to enthrone the legitimate Crown Prince as Emperor, making him merely a King, only to use him as a puppet — the more easily to depose and replace him later?!"

"Supreme General, does your house wish to become a second Wang Mang?"

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Everyone knew Liu Ying was a puppet, but why say it aloud! Feng Yan's words struck straight at the heart. Wei Ao started up in alarm: "Master, do not speak such reckless nonsense."

He then looked toward Liu Xin, who, though living under another's roof, was regarded as an "elder of the imperial clan": "The Wei clan has received Heaven's mandate and followed the people's will, rising in arms to aid the Han. We harbor absolutely no other intent!"

Liu Xin said slowly: "The Supreme General's loyal sincerity is something I, Xiu, naturally know. Yet Master Feng's words still hold reason. The great unity of the Spring and Autumn is the constant principle of Heaven and Earth, the universal duty of past and present. If those above lack the means to uphold unity, laws and institutions will repeatedly change, and those below will not know what to uphold. Therefore, the great succession should be settled early, to calm men's hearts, unite the officers and people of the Pass and Long, and strike at the remnant scoundrels of the Xin and Wang Mang!"

When it came to debating statecraft, Fang Wang could have gone back and forth with Feng Yan for days and nights. But with Feng Yan and Liu Xin, one after the other, pinning him down with the heavy charge of political correctness, Wei Ao could not withstand it, and Fang Wang was made to seem as though he harbored ulterior motives. He therefore fell silent.

Still, Fang Wang signaled Wei Ao with his eyes, feeling that this matter remained dubious and suspect, and that there was no need to give an answer within a matter of days.

Wei Ao therefore coughed once and said: "Master Feng is weary from his journey. Rest for a few days. The White Tiger General has already crushed Anding and will return shortly. We can hold a joint council then — there is no hurry."

It was not that Wei Ao wished to stall deliberately, but rather a bitter truth: never mind Liu Xin — even he, the nominal Supreme General, did not have the final say in Longyou!

The man truly in charge was the White Tiger General, Wei Cui, who held military power!

Feng Yan saw it clearly too. The man who made the decisions was absent — his own urgency was useless.

And Wei Ao's remark that the Longyou magnate coalition army had already taken Anding Commandery was also an important piece of intelligence. The Grand Governor of Anding, Wang Xiang, was Wang Mang's cousin; his authority held considerable sway within the commandery, and none of the subordinate counties had revolted. Wei Ao sent a letter to persuade him, but Wang Xiang refused and stubbornly resisted. Wei Cui therefore dispatched troops northward. The advance went smoothly, and now the commandery seat had been crushed, with all the counties surrendering.

"Anding, Tianshui, Longxi — the three main commanderies of Longyou have fallen. West of the Long Slope, no one can threaten the Wei clan any longer. I wonder whether our lord has already taken Shiyu?"

The expansion of the two powers, the Pass and Long, seemed to stand on the same starting line, but in truth the Wei clan and other magnates had been building their influence for generations, while Diwu Lun was a sudden rising force.

Fortunately, Feng Yan did not have to wait two days. Wei Cui returned together with Yang Guang of the great Longxi lineage. Accompanying them were not only spoils from the Anding commandery seat, but also a piece of news that boded ill for Longyou.

"The Xiongnu Chanyu has enthroned Liu Wenbo, a man of Sanshui in Anding, as Emperor, establishing the capital at Jiuyuan City in Wuyuan Commandery. The dynastic name: Han!"

…

On the twentieth day of the sixth month, again at the Wei clan manor in Chengji County, in addition to Feng Yan and the others, today also saw the participation of Wei Cui, whose beard was streaked black and white like a tiger's stripes, and Yang Guang of Longxi.

Today, Feng Yan did not even need to open his mouth. Old Liu Xin had already been speaking at length on the great principle of distinguishing Hua from Yi.

"This so-called Liu Wenbo — his true name is Lu Fang. He is nothing but a remnant spawn of mixed barbarian stock, falsely claiming the Liu surname. I have examined the Longyou imperial clan, and there is absolutely no such person!"

"And the Xiongnu enthroning him as Emperor is merely a repetition of Modu's old trick of propping up King Xin of Han in the early Han. In name it is Han, but in truth he is a barbarian puppet! Barbarians with a ruler are still worse than the Central States without one."

Old Liu Xin was truly filled with righteous indignation. He pointed to heaven and declared: "From ancient times, the border peoples have not plotted against the Central Lands, nor the barbarians thrown Hua into chaos. If that scoundrel Lu succeeds and usurps the imperial throne, the people of the Central Plains will loosen their hair and fold their robes to the left! This old man and his fellows share no sky with the scoundrel Lu and the Xiongnu!"

The faces of the Longyou magnates were equally grim. Toward Lu Fang's "Xiongnu Han," these sons of the six commanderies, whose forebears for generations had fought the Xiongnu and campaigned in the Western Regions, had but a single word: "Pah!"

How had the Li clan, the foremost great lineage of Chengji, declined? Because Li Ling surrendered to the barbarians. Yet those of the Li clan whom Emperor Wu of Han executed were only the line of Li Guang; the rest remained. Still, the people of Tianshui and Longxi all regarded the matter as a disgrace. Retainers and followers departed one after another, and the various families would not even intermarry with the Li clan. Over a hundred years, the Li clan thus fell into ruin.

From this, one can see the depth of loathing the people of the six Longyou commanderies held for those who went over to the barbarians. When Wei Cui captured men Lu Fang had sent back to Sanshui in Anding, he had them directly torn apart by five horses!

This was an unexpected assist. Feng Yan seized the moment: "Gentlemen, Lu Fang has now allied with the Xiongnu, seized Wuyuan, and sent proclamations to every commandery in Bing and Liang provinces. Anding is his homeland — at the earliest this year, at the latest next, Lu Fang will surely lead the Xiongnu south into Longyou!"

"The enemies in Guan-Long today are not merely the remnants of the Xin — there are also the Xiongnu and Lu Fang!"

"The false lineage Lu Fang has fabricated still finds believers among ignorant women and men — how much more so if he borrows the name of a Han Emperor? Master Fang, if Guan-Long does not contend for the title of the Han house's legitimate Son of Heaven, the commanderies will likely be settled by Lu Fang's proclamations alone. When that day comes, regret will be too late!"

Though the Great Han had long since perished, several of its political orthodoxies — denouncing Qin, ruling All Under Heaven through filial piety, the Spring and Autumn ideal of grand unity, and, beyond these, striking the Xiongnu — still held force! At least in Longyou they did. If the people here were made to choose between Wang Mang and a Xiongnu-backed Han, they would absolutely swear allegiance to the former.

Fang Wang offered no further argument today, remaining silent. The time for leisurely deliberation was indeed past. Proclaiming an emperor must be pressed forward, and quickly! For they needed to rush out a proclamation in the name of "Han Emperor Liu Ying" to counter Lu Fang's forged mandates across Bing and Liang provinces!

Given the haste, the ceremony could only be simplified. It was fortunate that Liu Xin had once managed even Wang Mang's extraordinarily intricate abdication rites flawlessly — an ordinary enthronement ceremony was nothing in comparison.

The elder Liu Xin was playing a role much like Shusun Tong's, one he was most adept at. He merely said: "Rites allow for reduction and increase; substance and ornament are never fixed. Pare back the land to open the omen, use thatched roofs and earthen steps, and thereby attain solemn reverence. Though the ritual objects are incomplete, if the spirits accept them, this is sufficient."

Following Liu Xin's guidance, the Wei clan dispatched men at once to prepare the ceremony at the Temple of Emperor Gaozu, which had been repaired when the troops were first raised, and made offerings to Taizu, Taizong, Shizong, and Zhongzong.

As for the hastily made Son of Heaven's robes, after much persuasion, they were draped onto Liu Ying. No Imperial Heirloom Seal? No matter — they had the Snake-Slaying Sword sent by Diwu Lun to meet the crisis, allowing the Son of Heaven at least to hold an ancestral sacred relic.

At the hour when the water-clock marks daylight, the sky fully bright, Liu Xin arranged the nine ushers and stood outside the temple. He had Liu Gong lead the generals of this petty "Western Han" court to face north, exactly as ancient rites prescribed. Wei Cui, Wei Ao, and the others donned auspicious robes, all declaring themselves ministers and officiants. Holding jade tablets, they announced the rite, then faced Liu Ying — who stared blankly back at them — prostrated themselves and knocked their heads to the ground, intoning: "Ten thousand years for Your Majesty."

Feng Yan, of course, was among them, going through the motions and performing obeisance to Liu Ying along with the rest.

And he noticed that when Liu Xin prostrated himself, tears streamed down his aged face — he wept aloud.

"The Great Han — restored!" Liu Xin's heart surged with turbulent, complicated emotion.

Wang Mang's misrule, the Great Han's collapse — it had begun when he sought ancient scriptural authority for it. Now, it ended with him raising Liu Ying to reclaim the throne!

"In the unseen workings of fate, all is ordained!" Liu Xin now suddenly understood: what he had been so painstakingly seeking in "the circle's ratio" was never the simple number Diwu Lun had given him.

These dozen-odd dreamlike years were like the circle Liu Xin had tirelessly cut at his whole life — after tracing an enormous arc, what he arrived at was not completion, but the point where he began.

The ceremony was nearing its end. By custom, the Snake-Slaying Sword, which Liu Ying's hands had barely warmed, was to be handed to the Supreme General Wei Ao, signifying the delegation of punitive military authority.

But Liu Ying, docile for half the morning, finally erupted. He clutched the Snake-Slaying Sword in a death grip and refused to let go — anyone who tried to take it got bitten! Even Liu Xin received a bite, the tooth marks sinking deep into his old hand.

None of those present had ever enthroned an emperor before. They were at a loss before this scene — neither beating nor scolding would do. Should they just snatch it?

And at that very moment, someone hurried in and whispered a few words into Fang Wang's ear. The Wei clan strategist's face changed dramatically!

Fang Wang, now thoroughly alarmed, stepped forward at once, pointed at Feng Yan — who was standing by with folded hands, enjoying the spectacle — and declared: "Supreme General, I petition that Feng Jingtong be executed!"

…

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