Chapter 293: The Virtue of Arms

Legend has it that when Emperor Wu of Han traveled to Hefen, midstream he drank with his ministers and composed the "Autumn Wind" verse. Suddenly overcome with melancholy, he then spoke these words: "Han shall suffer the calamity of six and seven... He who replaces Han shall be Dang Tu Gao." The ministers all rushed to flatter him: "Our great Han receives Heaven's mandate, enduring ten thousand generations without end — why would Your Majesty utter such words of a fallen kingdom?" Emperor Wu of Han also regretted it and said: "I spoke in drunkenness! Yet from ancient times to now, no surname has ever been heard to dominate the realm forever. Even if our great Han should perish, let it not perish in the hands of my father and son!"

The tale in Ai Zhang's mouth — even if Diwu Lun had Wang Long and Diba Jiao comb through every official record gathered from the palace, they would never find it, nor did it match the character of Emperor Wu of Han.

Because this was merely unofficial history, born of rumors spread by alchemists and vulgar scholars. They knew a few matters of the court and then, using that as a blueprint, recklessly wove in prophecies — this is what is called "chenwei," the prophetic-apocryphal texts.

Yet Ai Zhang himself believed without a doubt in this prophecy, likely fabricated by his peers at the end of the Former Han: "Wang Mang also once ordered this humble one to interpret this prophecy, and in the end concluded that 'Dang Tu Gao' refers to the two watchtowers beside the road!"

Oh, Han watchtowers. Earth spread flat is a road; earth piled high becomes city watchtowers. It sounds perfectly reasonable — but what does that have to do with Wei?

Ai Zhang said: "In the 'Kings Who Have Yielded' chapter of the Zhuangzi, it is said: 'Though the body dwells above the rivers and seas, the heart resides beneath the Wei watchtowers.' The two lofty watchtowers towering high — this too is 'Wei.'"

"Wang Mang believed his family originated from Yuancheng in Wei Commandery, and so he gladly concluded that 'Dang Tu Gao' referred to him. At the time, this humble one was also deceived by that false image. Only upon hearing that Your Majesty has named your kingdom Wei did I suddenly see the truth!"

The great Han indeed perished by Wei — it sounded as though Ai Zhang had blundered his way to the right answer. Yet Diwu Lun only sneered coldly and said nothing.

It is often said that a single utterance becomes prophecy, but that is only because people remember the one that came true. The thousands upon thousands of prophecies that never came to pass have long since been drowned in the long river of history.

Whoever in the end actually replaces Han — he is Dang Tu Gao. Even if he is not Dang Tu Gao, he can still cite the classics, draw on extensive evidence, and twist interpretations to force him into Dang Tu Gao!

Wang Mang could do it, Diwu Lun could do it, Yuan Gonglu could do it, Cao Cao could do it. Whoever wins becomes the man spoken of in the prophetic-apocryphal texts.

Yet Ai Zhang was still ceaselessly presenting mandate omens: "In the third year of Shijianguo, the river burst at Wei Commandery, flooding several commanderies east of the Qing River. This was a heavenly portent. The Xin thereafter fell into great decline. The Wang Mang clan originated in Wei, and it shall also perish by Wei!"

"In the second month, on the wuchen day of the third year of Tianfeng, the western bank at Changping Lodge in Changling County collapsed, damming the Jing River so it ceased to flow, destroying it and forcing it northward. Wang Mang took this as an omen that the Xin's virtue of Earth was overcoming the Xiongnu's virtue of Water, and he rejoiced greatly. Little did he know that Changling County is Your Majesty's homeland — this signified that Your Majesty rising from Changling would cause the Xin to crumble like earth!"

"In the seventh month of the first year of Dihuang, a fierce northwest gale destroyed the Hall of the King's Path. 'Fierce' symbolizes Liewei Commandery, and the King of Wei was at that time in the new Qin heartland to the northwest — yet another portent."

"In the fifth month of this year, Wang Mang dreamed that the golden man in Changle Palace rose up, and the Emperor first united all under heaven. The ministers all declared this an auspicious omen, but in truth it was a foretelling of Your Majesty raising your troops!"

"Three days after Your Majesty raised your troops, on the night before crossing the Ba River, the Taibai star flowed into the Taiwei enclosure, illuminating the earth like moonlight. The Xin holds the virtue of Earth; earth engenders metal. Your Majesty's virtue is Metal — beyond all doubt! It seems the 'Emperor first uniting all under heaven' that Wang Mang dreamed of in truth referred to Your Majesty. Seizing it by this, even the imperial throne is attainable!"

"That mouth of yours." Diwu Lun was amused despite himself. Truly a man who, by presenting mandate omens, had risen from an ordinary academy student to a top-ranking duke — he could spin it all so smoothly. Yet Diwu Lun countered with a question: "The cycle of the Five Virtues, the succession of dynasties — this was the rationale Liu Xin devised to justify the Xin as the virtue of Earth. But what if what I desire is not mutual engendering, but mutual conquest?"

Like King Wu conquering the Shang? Ai Zhang then said: "Then Your Majesty holds the virtue of Wood!"

He was still racking his brains, trying to find auspicious signs for Diwu Lun that would signify the virtue of Wood and connect to him — things like a dead old tree in Diwu Hamlet sprouting anew, or ten thousand trees racing to ferry Diwu Lun's great army across the river. But Diwu Lun had grown weary of listening.

"Ai Zhang, back in the Gentlemen's Office, when I heard you speak of the Xin's twelve sacred vessels, I already sensed you were no ordinary man. A pity..."

In any case, the various lines of thought Ai Zhang provided had already been recorded by Zhu Di and the other Gentlemen of the Masters of Writing at his side. The man himself was now utterly useless.

Diwu Lun's face suddenly hardened: "The former State General of the Xin, the Duke of Meixin, Ai Zhang — charged with overseeing the stars, the calendar, and observing the weather, he recklessly fabricated prophetic-apocryphal texts, took perilous portents for auspicious ones, threw the heavens into disorder, and misled the state and the people. He too is one of the brigands of the people. He evaded the execution that Chen Chong and the others suffered on the first day of the month, but he shall not evade this fifteenth day!"

"Seize him!"

At Wang Mang's side, there were indeed a few capable men — Yan You, Tian Kuang, Song Hong, and others — who tried with all their might to turn back the tide, but to no avail. For besides Wang Mang, the court contained three kinds of people:

The stupid, the wicked, and the stupidly wicked.

Which kind did Ai Zhang belong to? Probably just the stupid. Yet he fancied himself very clever, believing that the tricks he used to fool Wang Mang could fool any ambitious man.

Ai Zhang's will to survive made him still cry out toward Diwu Lun: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this humble one truly received the guidance of a heavenly messenger and came to present mandate omens. Please, let this humble one finish speaking."

Diwu Lun was delighted. He clapped his hands and said: "Then I must trouble Master Ai to send his ethereal soul up to the Ninth Heaven, or his earthly soul down to the Ninth Spring, and deliver the message to that heavenly messenger on my behalf!"

"Tell the heavenly messenger and the August Heaven, the Supreme One God whom you all serve: Diwu Lun desires to seize all under heaven, but unlike Wang Mang, I do not believe in any cycle of the Five Virtues."

Virtue of Metal, virtue of Wood — Jinzha, Muzha — better to be a Nezha!

Diwu Lun drew close to Ai Zhang and said with solemnity: "I believe only in the 'Virtue of Arms'!"

Ai Zhang's death, like that of the other "brigands of the people" executed by Diwu Lun in Chang'an, was highly ritualized.

Had he not said that whenever he tried to hang himself, the branch always snapped on its own? Diwu Lun had men personally test this. They found a very sturdy beam and hanged him upside down from it.

Had he not said that when he threw himself into the water, a white carp buoyed him up — the very one released by King Wu of Zhou after the white fish leaped into his boat? They submerged him in a great water vat filled with fish, holding him under until he was nearly unconscious, yet not a single fish swimming inside came to breathe air into his mouth.

Finally, they had the executioner sharpen his blade with vigorous strokes, step forward, and draw it across his neck. This time, the blade did not miraculously snap.

Even if Ai Zhang styled himself the spokesman of August Heaven and repeated it ten thousand times to others, it could never become truth. And so it was with the golden caskets, the prophetic-apocryphal texts, and the mandate omens he presented. Old Wang Mang had used these hollow things to bolster his own Heavenly Mandate — no matter how lavishly adorned, they were all illusion.

And on the third day, Ai Zhang's head was delivered by Diwu Lun's envoy to the desk of Wang Kuang, the Duke Who Stabilizes the State of the Greenwood Han, on the opposite bank.

Wang Kuang narrowed his single eye. To his left were platters of meat and fine delicacies; to his right was Ai Zhang's head, eyes bulging wide. Not the least bit disgusted, he grabbed it directly by the dripping wet hair and turned the dead man's face toward the Grand Preceptor Wang Kuang, who knelt below the hall in ochre prison garb, eating swill fit for pigs and dogs: "Is this truly Ai Zhang?"

Wang Kuang shuffled forward on his knees, took one look, and kowtowed like a pestle pounding garlic: "It is indeed this man."

This left Wang Kuang somewhat puzzled: "What is Diwu Lun's meaning?"

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Wang Kuang, under Liu Xuan's orders, was marching north to attack Luoyang. He led an expanded force of fifty to sixty thousand troops, half of them the former "Xiajiang troops," the rest being defeated soldiers and surrendered officers of the Xin army absorbed after the great battle of Kunyang. Under his command were three great generals, all former chieftains of the Xiajiang troops:

One was called Zhang Ang. Back when the Greenwood faction enthroned Liu Xuan and Liu Bosheng proposed delaying and taking the title of king first, it was Zhang Ang who drew his sword and struck the table, forcing the matter to be settled on the spot. For this crowning achievement, his status was very high, and Liu Xuan enfeoffed him as "General of the Guards."

The second was Wang Chang of Yingchuan. As one of the defending commanders at Kunyang, he had taken part in the post-battle pursuit and reaped great spoils. His power had swelled enormously, with at least twenty thousand men under his command, and he was enfeoffed as "General of the Commandant of Justice." He came from a petty landowning family and was the first to propose that the Greenwood forces join hands with the Liu clan of Chongling. He had considerable insight, and his army's discipline was the best.

Only because his ties to Liu Bosheng and his brother were too close had he recently suffered some marginalization.

There was also a man named Cheng Dan. His power was less than the other two, and he was enfeoffed as "General of the Privy Treasurer," ranked last among the Nine Ministers of the Greenwood Han. Aware that his own strength was insufficient, on this campaign into Henan, Cheng Dan's troops were the most ruthless in their plundering. When he attacked Goushi County, because the defending commander resisted, Cheng Dan in a rage massacred the city! This act so terrified many local powerful families and scholars that they fled with light packs to Henei.

One duke and three ministers had seized Luoyang and wiped out the last power of the Xin Dynasty. But what should they do next? Though Wang Kuang's rank was high, his vision was not great, and he was suddenly lost in confusion.

Only when they heard from the people of Luoyang that in the region of Handan in Hebei, someone claiming to be the son of Emperor Cheng of Han had been enthroned by the Hebei imperial clan as emperor — the so-called Northern Han — did they finally find a new enemy!

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The Guanzhong region to the west was for Liu Bosheng to conquer with his Chongling troops — it was no concern of theirs. Chenliu to the east had already submitted. Only the north remained! Wang Kuang and the others did not recognize any Liu Ziyu. The Gengshi Emperor they had enthroned was the one true Son of Heaven of the Han!

Yet between the Greenwood Han and the Northern Han still lay a Yellow River, as well as Henei and Wei Commandery, which were under Diwu Lun's control. This made the relationship between the two sides rather delicate.

"We should send an envoy with a summons, ordering Diwu Lun to hand over Henei and Wei. If he refuses, we cross the river and attack him!" Zhang Ang was hot-tempered, and the Greenwood forces' sweep against the remnants of the Xin had gone so smoothly that he had grown quite arrogant.

"Hold."

Wang Chang considered the matter more deeply and stopped him: "Now, not only has the Wei clan in the west enthroned Liu Ying, but Hebei has also set up an emperor, seeking to rival Nanyang. From the moment those people declared themselves emperor, they became mortal enemies to us. Diwu Lun, on the other hand — though he calls himself King of Wei, he has not submitted to either side. He likely intends to play the game of 'rare goods worth hoarding.'"

"He took the initiative to send us Ai Zhang's head, whom we were pursuing. He does not wish to be our enemy, so there is still room to talk. If we turn our blades against him and drive Diwu Lun to throw in with the Northern Han, we will have to divide the realm along the river."

Wang Kuang nodded: "In Minister Yan's opinion, what should we do?"

Wang Chang said: "The most urgent matter at present is nothing less than to stabilize the three commanderies of Henan, Hongnong, and Chenliu, put a stop to the plundering, and secure the autumn harvest, so that we may await the Son of Heaven's arrival after autumn."

That damned Wang Yi had burned the grain stores at Aocang, making the autumn harvest all the more critical. Otherwise, feeding their tens of thousands of men would become a problem.

Wang Chang was the most far-sighted of the Greenwood chieftains. He believed that rather than rushing to seize cities and territory, it was better to consolidate the territory that had already submitted. Gengshi could not remain in Wancheng forever — that was merely a regional hegemony. Chang'an was not very safe. To advance and seize all under heaven, Luoyang was still the most suitable.

"Courtesy demands reciprocity. Since Diwu Lun has taken the initiative to show goodwill, we should send an envoy to win him over. We must dispatch someone back at once to request an edict from the Son of Heaven in Nanyang, agreeing that if Diwu Lun submits, we will not stint on the position of High Duke — we can even recognize his royal title!"

Apart from Zhang Ang and Cheng Dan muttering a few words about Diwu Lun getting off too lightly, Wang Kuang raised no objection.

The "Western Han," which claimed legitimacy, strictly observed the White Horse Covenant and enfeoffed no kings of different surnames — but this backwoods "Green Han" cared nothing for such restrictions.

Wang Kuang and Wang Chang had heard that the Gengshi Emperor was already planning to make kings of his meritorious officials! Not only the Chongling imperial clansmen, but also many kings of different surnames — the four men present, by virtue of their role in plotting the destruction of Xin, would each get a share! One extra King of Wei meant nothing at all to the Green Han!

…

The Greenwood chieftains had no wish to make an enemy of Diwu Lun, and Diwu Lun likewise wanted to settle his internal troubles first. That was why, after taking Hedong, the first place he came to was Henei.

Apart from wanting to fetch his wife and children from nearby, it was because the Green Han's military edge had already reached the south bank of the Great River, setting hearts in Henei astir. To the north, Shangdang's Bao Yong had submitted to the Northern Han, leaving Henei caught squarely in the middle like a sandwich biscuit. To keep them from defecting to the enemy every few days, he needed to gather up the hearts of Henei's powerful families and prominent clans.

As Diwu Lun searched the map for a suitable place to convene Henei's power brokers for a meeting, he made an unexpected discovery.

"What a coincidence — Henei Commandery really does have a county called 'Wude County'!"

…

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00.