Chapter 39: Generating Power Through Love

A Palace Gentleman is a three-hundred-bushel post, and a capital official at that; a County Inspector is only a two-hundred-bushel equivalent, a mere commandery clerk.

Diwu Lun had no need to bow with clasped hands to the County Inspector — a cupped-hand level salute would suffice. It was Ma Yuan, rather, who had to rise and descend the hall to receive him.

When he saw Ma Yuan's appearance, Diwu Lun could not help stealing a couple of extra glances.

This County Inspector was tall and powerfully built — standing, he was at least seven feet five inches. He was in his thirties, his beard and hair jet-black, his brows and features as fine as a painting.

Ma Yuan was the most handsome man Diwu Lun had seen in this life… he only wondered whether Ma Yuan still had any sisters at home.

Inspector Ma was observing Diwu Lun as well. After staring at him for a moment, he clapped his hands and laughed. "You have presence. No wonder they call you 'the Filial and Righteous Diwu Lad.'"

It seemed the reputation he had cultivated earlier was worth something after all. Diwu Lun gave a light cough. "Inspector Ma, just now my grandfather…"

Ma Yuan, however, waved a hand. "The matter has already been thoroughly investigated."

He said, "It was indeed that servant-concubine of the Xianyu household who remembered wrong. What your family sent was pears, not coin or silk. After all, nearly half the right-side-of-the-village households in the entire county have had illicit profit dealings with Xianyu Bao. One or two errors in recollection are quite ordinary."

This was something Diwu Lun had not anticipated. He had just gone to the trouble of memorizing several Spring and Autumn adjudication cases, intending to debate them with Ma Yuan — and it was over before it even began?

Diwu Lun understood at once: since Ma Yuan could send someone to summon Diwu Ba for questioning, the evidence was ample. As for whether it was conclusive, and whether it should be reported to the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties — that truly hung on the Inspector's whim.

And Ma Yuan had chosen to help his family. This filled Diwu Lun with puzzlement.

Ma Yuan saw it too. After dismissing his attendants, he said, "Boyu is wondering why I stopped pursuing your family's bribery case?"

"Didn't the Inspector say my family had committed no bribery?"

Diwu Lun worried this was a deliberate ploy by Ma Yuan, precisely to trap him into an admission.

Ma Yuan sighed. "If you are this guarded, then Boyu falls short of his fine reputation — far too dull."

Diwu Lun spread his hands and smiled. "I am a Palace Gentleman; my rank and salary exceed the Inspector's."

"But with Inspector Ma's family background and pedigree — a household of a full six thousand bushels — he surely would not set his sights on a mere three hundred bushels."

Having said this, he saw Ma Yuan smile without answering. Surely he wasn't like Yuan She or Wan Xiu, looking to burnish his own reputation off him?

Yet his manner did not quite fit that mold. After a moment's reflection, Diwu Lun recalled hearing Jing Dan mention outside that Ma Yuan had repeatedly refused court summons, even more resolutely than himself — he would not even enter the Imperial Academy, let alone serve as a Palace Gentleman. Could it be he harbored discontent with the present dynasty?

Besides, he remembered this man's title, "General Fubo Ma Yuan" — that should not belong to the Xin Dynasty. Very possibly he was another latent rebel.

With a turn of thought, Diwu Lun decided to probe Ma Yuan a little, and so he began to tell a story.

"When I was in Chang'an, I heard about the affair of Sun Bao, the former dynasty's Governor of the Capital, and I remembered one line."

Diwu Lun lowered his voice. "When jackals and wolves block the road, it is not fitting to ask again after foxes!"

"Fine words, Diwu Lad! If your family is the fox, then who are the jackals and wolves?"

Ma Yuan's expression, which had begun to seem a little bored, instantly lit up with renewed interest.

Diwu Lun, watertight, smiled and said, "The Inspector may take it that I spoke of Xianyu Bao."

Ma Yuan was satisfied. But such was his nature: meeting and conversing with Diwu Lun was like gathering for a drink — once the wine passed down the throat, the pleasure ended and he stopped. He said no more, merely waving Diwu Lun away.

"Say no more. Leave, quickly. If you don't, this Inspector may have to arrest even you!"

…

"So in the end, I owe Ma Yuan an enormous favor first."

After walking out of the county office, Diwu Lun let out a breath of relief. The matter had, at least, passed without disaster. He immediately went to share the good news with Diwu Ba, Jing Dan, and the others waiting outside — only to hear a burst of wailing.

He turned his head: it was the family of Xianyu Bao. During his tenure as County Magistrate, they had lived in the spacious rear courtyard of the county office, enjoying treatment fit for a lord. Now, under the pressure of the clerks, they were being driven out of the county office.

Only after his own family's affair was settled did Diwu Lun have the leisure to concern himself with others. What crime was bribery, anyway?

There was still that Zuo Pingyi, Xue Xuan, who persuaded his subordinates not to work 996 and to hurry home on rest days to hold their wives and children.

When Xue Xuan was in office, the Magistrate of Chiyang in his commandery recommended a prison clerk as an incorruptible official. Before Xue Xuan could summon him, someone reported that the prison clerk had taken bribes from a prisoner's family.

How could such a man be recommended as incorruptible? Xue Xuan was furious and ordered the Inspector to investigate thoroughly. In the end, it was discovered that the prison clerk's wife had taken the money — sixteen thousand in all — and the prison clerk had known nothing of it.

Yet even so, he was still stripped of his incorruptible-official qualification for the crime of "family members privately receiving bribes," and his liability was pursued. Under the twin pressures of public opinion and the law, the prison clerk, shamed and terrified, committed suicide.

Had he not killed himself, he would likely not only have lost his post, but both husband and wife would have suffered flogging.

And Xianyu Bao had certainly taken far more than that sum. If strictly investigated, at worst he would be executed in the marketplace and his property confiscated; his family would most likely be reduced to government slaves.

From this, one could see that whether in the Han Dynasty or the Xin Dynasty, the penalties for corruption and bribery were severe. Yet from what Diwu Lun had observed, in the entire commandery, the incorruptible were probably limited to a mere handful like Zhang Zhan and Jing Dan. The rest all regarded taking bribes as routine, until Wang Mang suddenly launched this campaign, and the hornet's nest exploded.

What surprised Diwu Lun even more was that Jing Dan, as a representative of the commandery's honest officials, actually felt considerable sympathy for the corrupt Xianyu Bao.

Diwu Ba and the others went home, but Diwu Lun still had to remain in the city to observe the aftermath. He was still lodging at Jing Dan's house. Once inside, Jing Dan heaved a long sigh and said, "You cannot lay all the blame on Xianyu Bao."

"In this dynasty, if an official from a poor family does not take bribes, he truly cannot survive."

Speaking of that period he had personally experienced, Jing Dan's words carried bitterness: "From the second year of Shijianguo until the sixth month of the year before last — a full six and a half years. The Son of Heaven, on the grounds that 'the regulations are not yet settled and the state's resources are insufficient,' ordered that from the highest dukes and marquises down to the lowliest clerks, none were to receive their salaries."

What? Wang Mang didn't even pay wages?

Diwu Lun nearly sprayed out a mouthful of water; only one phrase flashed through his mind.

"Generating… generating power through love?"

…

"In the Former Han, official salaries were kept thin to fatten military spending; minor clerks' salaries were low to begin with."

No matter the dynasty, grassroots workers had it hard. Western Han officials' salaries, from the nominal ten-thousand-bushel Three Excellencies down to the county's sub-hundred-bushel accessorial clerks, comprised over twenty grades. The closer to the base, the thinner the salary. Minor clerks, drawing meager pay, struggled even to support their families while doing the most grueling work; local governance naturally grew slack.

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, in order to solve the problem of minor clerks living beyond their means, salaries for those below one hundred bushels were even raised once — by a full fifty percent.

Yet come the Xin Dynasty, that progress was reversed.

Only after Jing Dan's detailed explanation did Diwu Lun learn that the officials of the Xin and Wang Mang era did not entirely generate power through love. To keep them from starving, the court did distribute a few things.

From the ministers down, officials received one bolt of silk each month; clerks received one to two bolts of hemp cloth. Converted into coin or grain, it was barely enough for three to eight mouths to survive — no more than that.

Jing Dan said, "Compared to the Former Han salaries, it was far less than half. Officials across the realm groaned with resentment. I have a few qing of land back home to rent out, so I still have food and clothing, but landless minor clerks had it hard. There were those who served as bureau heads yet went ten months without a blanket, sleeping at night on bundles of straw — how wretched."

"There were even some village marquises, noble as Inner Lords, who, because their salaries could not support their families, worked as hired hands in the city of Chang'an."

And so the encroachment and fleecing of the common people grew ever more frequent.

"Rural officials and departmental clerks hold low posts with meager pay. Since carriages, horses, clothing, and food cannot come from above, they are extracted from the common folk below. Those who take only enough bribes to get by are already good officials; but the wicked officials, greedy by nature, flay skin and suck marrow, heedless of whether the people live or die."

As for those who colluded with local powerful families to profit and multiply their wealth, they were beyond counting.

And so six years passed, until the third year of Tianfeng (AD 16), when Wang Mang finally remembered — oh, right, it was time to pay the officials of the realm their salaries!

Jing Dan still recalled the joy of the officials at the time, and said with a smile: "His Majesty declared: 'Whenever I reflect that the officials do not receive their salaries, my heart has never been without sorrow. Now that the hardest season has passed, though the treasuries are still not full, we can barely manage to issue salaries. Therefore, from the first day of the sixth month of the third year of Tianfeng, all official salaries shall be according to regulation.'"

"From the Four Supports, ministers, grand masters, and servicemen, down to the subordinate clerks, salaries were divided into fifteen grades in all. The lowest-grade subordinate clerk received sixty-six shi of grain per year, increasing slightly by grade, up to the Four Supports, who received as much as ten thousand shi."

So it turned out that salary did not necessarily match rank grade.

Diwu Lun had not yet received his first month's salary after taking office, and his grasp of this concept was still rather weak, so he asked: "Compared to the Former Han, is it more or less?"

When it came to his own livelihood, Jing Dan had calculated it very clearly: "After Emperor Xuan of the Former Han, a subordinate clerk's monthly salary was eight shi, but in this dynasty it is six shi. As officials of the three-hundred-shi rank, had we been in the former dynasty, our monthly salary in hand would have been forty shi; in the present dynasty, it is thirty-eight and a half shi."

Not only had payment been suspended for six and a half years with no back pay, but it was actually less than the former dynasty — this Xin Mang was simply courting death. Diwu Lun had been a corporate slave before; if the boss of any company pulled something like this, one could imagine how deep the resentment of the bottom-rung employees would run.

Right, and what about the salaries of the high officials?

Jing Dan said: "They rose. In the former dynasty, the Chancellor, Imperial Counselor, and Grand Commandant had a monthly salary of three hundred and fifty shi. In this dynasty, the Four Supports receive ten thousand shi a year, with a monthly salary reaching over eight hundred shi!"

Just as expected — stripping the bottom to fatten the top. It really was a pity Wang Mang hadn't gone and started a company.

Jing Dan added: "Furthermore, for all officials of the realm at the rank of equivalent-to-two-thousand-shi and above, those who retire in old age may still receive one-third of their original salary until the end of their lives."

Was this... a pension?

Although the wages of the bottom-rung petty officials had not risen but fallen, at least it was better than those hardest six years, wasn't it? And what was issued was not those bizarre currencies that depreciated severely and might be abolished any day, but solid, tangible grain — at least enough to feed oneself, right?

Yet that was not the case...

Jing Dan grew angry just speaking of it: "We rejoiced far too soon. Issued together with it was another edict."

"'Under the whole of Heaven, every land is the sovereign's land; to the borders of those lands, every man is the sovereign's subject. The hundred officials and subordinate clerks are all sustained by the common people. It is said that in the time of the Three Dynasties, the sages would increase salaries when they encountered a year of abundant harvest, and decrease them when they encountered a year of poor harvest. Therefore, in this dynasty, salaries are also not fixed. If the year's conditions are good and the common people's harvest is sufficient, more is issued; if the year's conditions are poor and the common people's harvest is meager, less is issued. This is called sharing sorrow and joy with the common people.'"

It sounded rather good on the surface — setting KPIs and performance metrics for officials, brimming with creativity. Only, Diwu Lun's smile was rather strained. Wang Mang, oh Wang Mang, you never fail to deliver surprises.

Wang Mang was indeed doing this in earnest. According to Jing Dan, the court had also drawn up an exquisitely detailed allocation: the Grand Preceptor and the General Who Establishes the State were to guarantee the three provinces, one division, and twenty-five commanderies of the east; the Grand Mentor and the Front General were to guarantee the two provinces, one division, and twenty-five commanderies of the south; the State Preceptor and the General Who Brings Peace to the Beginning were to guarantee the one province, two divisions, and twenty-five commanderies of the west; the State General and the Guard General were to guarantee the two provinces, one division, and twenty-five commanderies of the north.

"The one who mutually guarantees our Liewei Commandery is the Grand Minister of Works. As for the Six Supervisors and the Six Ministers, they all follow the minister to whom they are subordinate in guaranteeing the disasters of their commanderies and counties, and their salaries are reduced according to the annual harvest and the surplus or shortfall of tax revenue."

This was... linkage? Diwu Lun rubbed his chin and told himself he ought to get used to it — never be surprised at anything Wang Mang did.

"The Son of Heaven's original intent was perhaps to hope that the officials of this dynasty, from top to bottom, would be of one heart, urging forward agriculture and bringing peace to the common people. Only..."

Jing Dan shook his head: "In the third and fourth years of Tianfeng, for two years running, floods and droughts were unseasonable throughout the provinces and commanderies. Especially in Liewei Commandery, the Jing River became blocked north of Changping Lodge and changed its course, causing a great disaster. That year, this commandery's tax revenue was halved, and so from the Commandery Governor down to the County Magistrate, and even to petty officials like us, all were halved!"

And it was only then that Diwu Lun learned that, as a Palace Gentleman, his salary was also to be increased or decreased according to the reserves in the Grand Provisioner's granaries. Based on last year's national harvest, his first month's salary would likely also be halved, and he could not help but silently greet Wang Mang with a XXX in his heart.

Jing Dan concluded: "Heavenly disasters are hard to withstand. Because their salaries were insufficient, the officials' old maladies flared up again; each, availing themselves of their office, practiced corruption, taking bribes and gifts to supply themselves. Xianyu Bao was merely one among them, but he only took a little in petty bribes and was still diligent in governing his county — he was a capable official."

After hearing Jing Dan's account, Diwu Lun had sorted it all out in his mind.

Wang Mang truly wanted to lead all the officials under Heaven to become sages alongside him. No sooner had he advocated frugality and called on everyone to wear coarse clothes and patches than he threw himself into fighting corruption. Perhaps, besides wanting to harvest the leeks of corrupt officials and powerful magnates to replenish the state treasury, he also hoped to use harsh punishments and severe laws to eradicate corruption?

"He wants the horse to run, yet he wants the horse not to eat grass."

Diwu Lun shook his head. Corruption was of course a great evil, but given the circumstances of Xin Mang, at least a small half of the corrupt officials had been forced into it by this bizarre salary system.

That was why Jing Dan could still feel a measure of sympathy for Xianyu Bao, and he sighed: "This is what is meant by 'above, there is no standard of principle; below, there is no observance of law.'"

Mencius had put it well. Xin Mang had no fixed standards, changing orders overnight, yet expected those below to fulfill their duties and abide by the law — was that not absurd?

He asked again: "Boyu, how do you think this matter will end in the end?"

Diwu Lun pondered. Among the two-thousand-shi officials of the realm, aside from a rare few like Zhang Zhan, how many were clean?

And this Xin dynasty's control over the grassroots was so poor; fighting corruption relied on a bunch of Inspectors at the equivalent-to-two-hundred-shi rank, whose own salaries were not high either. Thinking of the infamous reputation of "Inspectors" in later ages, there were probably not a few corrupt officials among them.

Even with exchanged jurisdictions of law enforcement, why would anyone risk their neck, braving the danger of offending powerful magnates and two-thousand-shi officials, to sell their life for Wang Mang?

That Ma Yuan, Inspector Ma, had probably seen the reasons behind all this clearly, and so did not wish to get involved. Thus, it was best not to go back and question the foxes, and he let the Diwu clan off the hook.

But the Inspectors in other commanderies would probably do the opposite — seizing the small fry and letting the big ones go, so as to give both the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties and Wang Mang an explanation, while not offending the powerful magnates and high officials.

"I fear it will be 'questioning only the foxes, not the jackals and wolves!'"

"You and I think alike, Boyu." Jing Dan sighed: "This time, it will surely be a case of 'the more one tries to prohibit villainy, the more villainy flourishes; the more one seeks to govern corruption, the fiercer the lust for corruption!'"

In a word, the current situation of Xin Mang was this: if they did not fight corruption, the dynasty would perish; if they did fight corruption, it would likely also perish — and perish swiftly!

Wang Mang's previous institutional reforms had already offended the powerful magnates, the merchants and artisans, the common people, and even the slaves and bondservants. The salary system had long chilled the hearts of the officials, and with this latest stroke of genius, he was about to drive not a few officials into the opposing camp.

Aside from a handful of diehard loyalists and that crowd of Imperial Academy students, every stratum of society across the realm would probably become alienated and disaffected from the Xin.

It was no longer only Diwu Lun; even Jing Dan could sense how perilously close this great edifice was to collapse: "Mencius has a saying: 'When the court does not believe in principle, and the artisans do not believe in standards, when gentlemen transgress against righteousness and petty men transgress against the penal law — that the state survives at all is mere good fortune.'"

Jing Dan looked at his beloved wife sifting grain beneath the tree, and at his son holding a bamboo scroll and reciting from memory, and his heart was not without worry: "But how many more years can this good fortune and peace be maintained?"

By noon the next day, Diwu Lun had returned to Diwu Village. As soon as he was outside the fortified courtyard, several people hurried over and surrounded him — they were men of the Disi clan.

They had seen Diwu Ba come out safe and sound, yet their own clan head was still detained in the county office, and they could not help growing anxious. They could only pin their hopes on Gentleman Diwu to help.

But the Diwu clan itself had only gotten out intact thanks to Ma Yuan's leniency, and Zhang Zhan had shut his gate and refused all visitors — what avenues were left to go and plead their case?

Before Diwu Lun could offer any words of comfort to his kinsmen, another person came sauntering over. Upon entering, he bowed low and touched his head to the ground before Diwu Lun, performing a grand ritual.

"I hope that Boyu, mindful of our kinship as the same clan, can also help my father!"

It was none other than the Diyi clan's legitimate heir, Diyi Guan.

Their family had finally stopped playing dead. Diwu Lun kept his composure, addressing him only as "Clan Brother" and inviting the Diyi and Disi families into the courtyard to talk. Inwardly, he thought to himself that it seemed Wang Mang's high-stakes anti-corruption campaign was not entirely a bad thing.

After these several months of observation, having witnessed with his own eyes Wang Mang's various strokes of genius, Diwu Lun had grown ever more certain that this realm would, within the next few years, plunge into unavoidable chaos.

Some people, in a world of turmoil, would be dragged violently downward by the collapsing dynasty, doomed beyond redemption. But for Diwu Lun personally —

"Chaos is also a ladder!"

PS: Begging for recommendation tickets!