Chapter 38: A Young Man Devoid of Benevolence and Virtue

Governor Zhang Zhan of Liewei Commandery might have been a bit lacking in governing ability, but in moral character, he was truly beyond reproach. As Jing Dan had said, Zhang Zixiao, that model of integrity for the Three Adjuncts, kept himself unsullied amid this turmoil.

This meant that Diwu Lun, who had come to plead on his grandfather's behalf, got a face full of dust at the commandery office gates.

"The Grand Governor has closed his doors to visitors and sees no one."

The clerk at the gate certainly recognized Diwu Lun, and with an apologetic salute, he said, "With County Magistrate Xianyu arrested, many powerful families in the commandery have been implicated. Too many people have come today to plead their cases, and the Governor is turning them all away. I hope the Palace Gentleman will understand."

Diwu Lun did not know what to say. If this matter did not concern him, he would surely praise Zhang Zhan for refusing to bend to personal ties, a truly upright official. But since it did concern him, he could only resent Zhang Zhan for guarding his own reputation so jealously.

Left with no choice, Diwu Lun had to think of another way. He at least held the title of Palace Gentleman and had met all the commandery officials face to face. After visiting them one by one, he finally got a bit of news from the Commandery Merit Evaluator.

"His Majesty believes that the realm's officials have lost all moral sense, colluding for illicit gain, and that Governors and County Magistrates have amassed fortunes for their families. Hence the strict investigation. The Master of Fates of the Five Majesties' order is here — Boyu, see for yourself..."

Diwu Lun took it and looked it over. On it was written: "Thoroughly investigate, from the second year of Shijianguo when the barbarian caitiffs wreaked havoc upon the Xia onward, all officials, including those on the frontiers ranked Grand Master and above, who have engaged in illicit gain to increase their wealth. Confiscate four-fifths of all their household property to aid the frontier emergency."

He thought to himself, "The second year of Shijianguo — that was nine years ago. They mean to get to the very bottom of this. Is Wang Mang playing for real?"

The Xin Dynasty was at war on three fronts — south, north, and west: in the west, they had just lost the Western Regions, while Qiang rebellions in the Western Sea Commandery erupted endlessly; in the south, they were fighting the kingdom of Gouding, in what would later be the Yunnan and Guangxi region, and the barbarian tribes of Western Shu were stirring too.

The largest-scale fighting, however, was in the north, where they had been battling the Xiongnu off and on for several years. By the look of it, Wang Mang still wanted to thoroughly subjugate the Xiongnu and make them accept the title of "Surrendered Slaves." But lately the state treasury had run empty, and who would have thought — Wang Mang had actually set his sights on the corrupt officials.

If his own family were not implicated, Diwu Lun might even have applauded this.

And at this moment, Jing Dan had also hurried over from Chang'an and told Diwu Lun the news he had gathered: "The one investigating corruption in the Six Lieutenants and Six Columns is the Right Master of Fates, Kong Ren. This man is His Majesty's trusted confidant, the deputy of the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties, and has always been known for daring to strike down high ministers."

Jing Dan glanced at the commandery office with its gates tightly shut. "Seeking out the Commandery Lord is actually useless. Although Lord Zhang is incorrupt, he cannot escape the charge of failing to detect corruption afterward and will likely be reprimanded. Therefore, he cannot lend a helping hand."

Diwu Lun nodded. What truly puzzled him was this: his family were neither commandery nor county officials and had no opportunity to embezzle. Why, as soon as County Magistrate Xianyu was arrested, were they immediately implicated?

Could someone be scheming in the shadows, the Diyi clan, for instance? Diwu Lun had thought so at first, but upon arriving in the commandery, he learned that the Diyi clan had fared even worse than his own. For colluding with the Disi clan in illicit gain to increase their wealth, and for bribing Xianyu Bao, Diyi Liu and Disi Xian had also been arrested and brought to the commandery city, locked away in the jail.

But his own family's bribery of Xianyu Bao had been fairly secret — why had it been exposed so quickly?

Jing Dan sighed and said, "Because the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties specially issued an order permitting subordinates to accuse their superiors, and slaves to accuse their masters."

Ever since the Qin dynasty, a child accusing a parent, or a servant accusing a master, had been classified as a non-public accusation, which the authorities would not accept. The Xin Dynasty had inherited this statute — Diwu Lun had even studied it when learning law at the Gentlemen's Office. Yet this time, that precedent had been broken. The result was that many intimate slaves and servants close to county magistrates and commandery governors suddenly turned on them, biting their masters viciously.

Xianyu Bao had been denounced by his own servant, who had also kept many receipts as evidence. This was what led to all the powerful families in the county who had financial dealings with Xianyu Bao being caught in one sweep.

In this era, embezzlement was called "taking bribes to pervert the law," while offering bribes was "seeking illicit favor."

"The crime of seeking illicit favor is punished as theft by concealment, the same as robbery. The amount of the bribe is calculated as the amount stolen. The punishment is likely shaving of the hair and beard, and penal servitude as a bondservant. In addition, four-fifths of the household property is to be confiscated."

Diwu Lun recalled the statutes he had learned at the Gentlemen's Office. If all of this fell upon them, the Diwu clan would suffer a devastating blow — it was practically driving him to rebellion.

But the matter might not be without room for maneuver. Diwu Lun knew well that the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties did not have enough personnel to handle every case personally. At most, they would send one senior clerk per commandery. The ones truly rushing about on the front lines were still the Inspectors.

"Inspector" was the abbreviated title for Inspectorate Clerk. A commandery had several of them, responsible for supervising the subordinate counties, conveying instructions and decrees, overseeing lawsuits and prisons, and hunting down fugitives.

Diwu Lun thought, even if Zhang Zhan cherished his reputation too much to intervene, he himself was at least a Filial and Incorrupt Palace Gentleman. He had met all the commandery Inspectors face to face, and might be able to trade on personal connections to get them to stay their hand.

But the Commandery Merit Evaluator told Diwu Lun some bad news.

"To prevent favoritism, the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties has ordered the Inspectors of each commandery to be exchanged for oversight. The one now come to investigate Xianyu Bao's case is the Northern District Inspector of Jingwei Commandery..."

"A man from Maoling — Ma Yuan!"

Ma Yuan, courtesy name Wenyuan, came from a great clan of Maoling.

The Ma lineage could be traced back to Lord Mafu, Zhao She, of the Warring States period. During the time of Emperor Wu of Han, the Ma clan produced two Marquises and enjoyed great favor. Only after the Witchcraft Calamity, when their ancestors Ma Heluo and Ma Tong attempted to enter the palace to assassinate Emperor Wu of Han and were exterminated, did a single son born of a concubine survive by chance, hiding among the common folk.

As the descendants of traitors, the Ma clan languished in obscurity for a full hundred years, turning instead to the study of the classics. By Ma Yuan's generation, the House of Han had declined, and no one pursued the matter of treason from a century ago anymore. The accumulated efforts of several generations finally bore fruit.

The Ma household had several brothers, none of them ordinary: the eldest, Ma Kuang, rose to Governor of Henan; the second, Ma Yu, to Colonel of the Central Ramparts; the third, Ma Yuan, to Regional Chief of Zengshan (Shang Commandery) in the Xin Dynasty.

For one family to produce three officials of the two-thousand-bushel rank was extremely rare, even in the Five Tombs, where officials' carriages were said to cluster like clouds.

Only the youngest, Ma Yuan, was an anomaly. His elder brothers hired renowned teachers to instruct him in the Qi Odes, but after reading the original text, the lad refused to study the commentaries and glosses, deeming it a waste of time. He turned instead to browsing through all the books in the household, yet stubbornly refused to go to the Imperial Academy for advanced study.

His family thought he wanted to become an official. After Ma Yuan had completed a year of mourning for his eldest brother, the commandery wished to nominate him as Filial and Incorrupt. Ma Wenyuan flatly refused, abandoning a splendid career path, which drove his family frantic with frustration.

Ma Yuan, however, acted as if nothing were the matter. He went alone to Shang Commandery to seek refuge with his third brother, Ma Yuan. He did no proper work there, merely mingling with the local Xiongnu and mixed barbarian tribes. After spending a few years raising horses as if it were a game, he finally returned to Maoling and became an Inspector.

Though an Inspector's authority was great, the rank was no more than a clerk of two hundred bushels — a vast gap compared to his three elder brothers.

It was this very fellow, whose actions left people utterly baffled, who, because of Wang Mang's anti-corruption campaign, had been exchanged to Liewei Commandery to investigate the case of Xianyu Bao's bribe-taking.

When interrogating the other implicated persons, such as Diyi Liu and Disi Xian, Ma Yuan had remained seated. Only when Diwu Ba stepped into the hall, and Ma Yuan saw the staff in his hand, did he immediately rise and salute Diwu Ba.

"I did not know beforehand the venerable elder's age. Otherwise, I should have come to your door to inquire in person. This is truly discourteous."

During the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Former Han, there was the Imperial Edict on Royal Staffs. The current dynasty had adopted it in its entirety, bestowing pigeon-staffs upon the elderly over seventy. The staff was nine feet tall, topped with a wooden pigeon — the pigeon being a bird that does not choke, signifying the wish that the elderly not choke and remain in good health.

But the enforcement of this statute was somewhat lacking. Diwu Ba's pigeon-staff had only been granted by the county after Diwu Lun was nominated as Filial and Incorrupt and entered court as a Gentleman.

Now that County Magistrate Xianyu had been arrested and half the subordinate clerks had been seized, who still had the mind to verify the list of pigeon-staff recipients?

An elder bearing a pigeon-staff enjoyed special privileges: treatment equivalent to the six-hundred-bushel rank, entering government offices without hastening his pace, and not having to bow before a County Magistrate. Ma Yuan immediately ordered a seat to be provided.

"Discourteous indeed!"

Diwu Ba appeared extremely frail, his back hunched, both hands leaning on the pigeon-staff as if he meant to hang his entire body upon it. Coughing as he spoke, he looked at Ma Yuan, who was barely past thirty, and said, "You young fellow have no benevolence or virtue, sending men to escort a seventy-year-old elder here in the dead of night."

"Escorted?" Ma Yuan glanced at the assistant clerk beside him. "Did I not tell you to go and invite him in a comfortable carriage?"

The assistant clerk protested his innocence, insisting it had indeed been an invitation. But Diwu Ba said, "You call that an invitation? The whole way was a jolting ordeal, the clerks and soldiers rough and clumsy — this old man nearly lost his life."

Diwu Ba clutched his chest and said, "Inspector, I too once served as a village clerk. I know that any official or commoner who dares to strike or insult an elder bearing a pigeon-staff has committed the crime of impiety. There was a case back then — a commoner, a man surnamed Wang, beat a staff-bearing elder and was sentenced to beheading and public exposure in the marketplace. Say no more. I want to see the Commandery Governor. I want to accuse you of mistreating an elder!"

He was simply exploiting his age for advantage, seizing the moral high ground first and muddying the waters, so that his family might slip free of this case.

Ma Yuan, however, met him with nothing but a smile throughout. When Diwu Ba had finished, he said, "The venerable elder has seen military service, hasn't he?"

These words made Diwu Ba freeze. He heard Ma Yuan say, "The way the venerable elder holds that pigeon-staff — it is like gripping a spear or halberd. The statutes say that those over seventy may even strike corrupt local officials with their staff. If I were to take a blow from the venerable elder, I fear my bones would break."

Ma Yuan had spent these years traveling through the lower rungs of the commanderies and kingdoms, seeing all manner of people. With a single glance, he could tell that Diwu Ba's frailty was entirely feigned — but the way his stance was rooted to the ground, steady as a boulder, could not be faked.

Moreover, he had already made inquiries. This old man had once felled a strong man with a single punch and kicked a young gallant's ribs broken. What was he pretending for?

"Young fellow, your eye is not bad."

Diwu Ba was somewhat embarrassed. He still had some sense of shame. All of a sudden, his back no longer ached, his legs no longer sore, and he sat as straight as the pigeon-staff itself!

"Let the venerable elder have no worries. I asked you here merely to pose a few questions."

Ma Yuan then inquired about the accusation brought by Xianyu Bao's servant, saying that the Diwu clan had sent money and silks to Xianyu Bao in the autumn.

"When our family sent it over, it was clearly pears — how did they turn into money and silk?" Diwu Ba looked utterly wronged. "Inspector, Xianyu Bao's father and this old man were colleagues. When the pears ripened, I sent some for his son and nephew to taste — does that count as bribery too?"

A junior clerk beside him said urgently, "But beneath the pear basket, quite a lot of money and silk was found. According to the servant who made the accusation, the Diwu clan was seeking a quota for the Imperial Academy…"

"Absurd." Diwu Ba burst out laughing. "Inspector, you come from another commandery, so you may not know how things work around here."

"My grandson Diwu Lun ranks first in the official academy and was originally eligible to go to the Imperial Academy, yet out of filial piety and fraternal duty, he yielded the place to his elder clansman. Everyone in the commandery knows this."

"More than that."

Diwu Ba was on a roll. "Later, the County Magistrate summoned our Boyu as a recommendation for Filial and Fraternal, and he declined that too."

"When the Commandery Governor heard of it, he appointed Boyu as Chief Clerk of Records, and he still declined!"

"Inspector, tell me — Boyu won't even take an official post handed to him on a platter. Why would our family bribe a County Magistrate just for a mere Imperial Academy quota?"

Ma Yuan smiled. "And then Diwu Lun was recommended as Filial and Incorrupt?"

Diwu Ba's face darkened. "What does one have to do with the other? Filial and Incorrupt was recommended by the Commandery Governor — it has nothing to do with the County Magistrate."

Any other family would have long since brandished Diwu Lun's status as a Palace Gentleman to crush this petty inspector, but Diwu Ba avoided mentioning his grandson as much as possible. Even if he himself came to grief, he must not implicate him.

At that moment, another minor functionary came over, leaned close, and whispered a report. Ma Yuan nodded. "I understand."

Then he waved a hand. "The questioning is done. You may leave, old sir."

Diwu Ba was taken aback. His account was indeed watertight, but this Ma Yuan was no simple man — he had expected more wrangling. Why would he let him go so readily?

After Diwu Ba had left, the junior clerk was puzzled. "Inspector, you're just letting that old scoundrel walk away? If you handed him over to me, I wouldn't even need to beat him — just lock him up for one sleepless night, and he'd confess for sure."

"Are you trying to get yourself executed?"

Ma Yuan looked at this foolish subordinate and said, "The statutes say: those aged seventy and above are to be treated with reverence. Unless they are the principal offender in a killing or wounding, they are not to be indicted, nor implicated. There was a case in the former dynasty — a village clerk detained an old man with a turtledove staff on suspicion of breaking the law, without authorization, and the old man fell ill and died. Though there was no beating, in the end that clerk was sentenced to public execution."

An old man with a turtledove staff is best left alone if you can help it. Push too far, and if they raise a ruckus, the one who ends up in the wrong and behind bars might well be yourself.

The clerk, bent on earning merit, retorted, "The old statutes forbade slaves from accusing their masters — hasn't that been changed now? Inspector, in extraordinary times, one must use discretion."

Ma Yuan said nothing more, merely fixed the clerk with a cold stare. In this whole affair, the most zealous were the lowly petty functionaries — men with bare feet who did not fear those wearing shoes, always hoping to make their name on a big case and leap to glory overnight.

"Are you telling me how to do my job?"

……

When Diwu Ba walked out past the county offices, he saw Diwu Lun already waiting outside.

"Boyu, what brings you here?"

"When I heard the news in Chang'an, I came straight home." Diwu Lun asked with concern, "That Inspector Ma — he didn't give you any trouble, did he, Grandfather?"

If he had, pushed to the wall, he really might have pulled a Zhang Yide from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and given that inspector a good thrashing.

"He wouldn't dare!"

Diwu Ba swaggered again, hoisting his turtledove staff onto his shoulder. He drew Diwu Lun aside and told him what had happened inside.

"This old man laid it all out with righteous indignation, left that young Inspector Ma with nothing to say. He rose from his seat, apologized and begged my pardon, then personally saw me out."

To spare his grandson any worry, Diwu Ba glossed over the whole affair, making it sound as if everything had been firmly in hand.

But on the crucial points, he still told the truth — for instance, that Ma Yuan had seen through his act of playing the doddering elder at a glance, and was indeed extremely hard to deal with, yet for some reason had let him off lightly in the end.

Diwu Lun could not figure out why either. The one thing he was sure of was that the name Ma Yuan actually rang a bell.

To be precise, he had first known of the Five Tiger General Ma Chao — there were far too many Three Kingdoms games in his past life… and through that, he had heard the name of Ma Chao's ancestor, "General Fubo, Ma Yuan."

But as for Ma Yuan's specific deeds, his native place, even the era he lived in — Diwu Lun, that historical illiterate, had no idea. Only now, hearing it, did the realization dawn.

If it was not just a coincidence of names, then besides the Emperor Wang Mang and the State Preceptor Liu Xiu, he now had a third person he recognized in this era.

Just then, a minor functionary hurried out and bowed to Diwu Lun.

"Palace Gentleman Diwu."

"Inspector Ma requests an audience!"