Chapter 395: The Grand Lord

"The age of the Three Dynasties was an era of Great Peace; even Xia, Shang, and Zhou were all excellent ages of Rising Peace. But later, starting with the Spring and Autumn period when rites collapsed and music fell into decay, we entered an age of Decline and Chaos. The people of the realm contended with one another, and thus inequity arose — the rich possessed vast lands, while the poor owned nothing at all. Men sank into slavery, and women became bondmaids."

"By the time of the brutal Qin, morality was trampled into the dirt, and men were treated worse than beasts. Qin officials actually set up markets for slaves, penning them together with cattle and horses. Wicked and abusive men, seeing profit to be made, then began abducting and selling people's wives and children. This utterly defies the heart of Heaven, violates human ethics, and runs contrary to the principle that 'among all things between Heaven and Earth, humanity is most precious'!"

If one were to translate this into the language of later ages, it would be: "Yao, Shun, Yu, Xia, Shang, and Zhou had no slavery — all were equal. The peak of slavery was Qin and Han!"

After all, he was only a fake transmigrator; Wang Mang naturally understood nothing of historical progress. His knowledge of antiquity was based entirely on idealized imaginings from the classics, and it was just this set of rhetoric that he now preached to Fan Chong.

"Since the Han began, slaves have grown more numerous day by day. Ministers and grandees keeping household slaves has long been common practice; powerful clans and great families casually own hundreds or even thousands of slaves. These slaves have lost their freedom, must submit to their masters' beatings and scoldings, and cannot contribute tax revenue to the state."

That was precisely why they must return to antiquity! For the affairs of the world grow more beautiful the older they are, and more wretched the nearer they draw.

"Confucius, too, supported the abolition of slaves."

Wang Mang even summoned the words of Confucius to endorse his own position: "When Confucius served as Grand Minister of Justice, the state of Lu had a law: if a person of Lu fell into bondage as a slave abroad, whoever ransomed them could claim the ransom money from the state treasury. And did he not curse those who used human burial sacrifices, saying: 'The one who first fashioned figurines for burial — did he not die without posterity?'"

Since he could not figure out the origin of the slave system, Wang Mang naturally also could not figure out whether live burial sacrifices or figurine sacrifices came first. In any case, he took that passage of Confucius as his guiding principle. Back when he was still a marquis of the Han dynasty, he had forced his own son to commit suicide for beating a slave to death. It was only because the entire court of ministers and grandees kept too many slaves that Wang Mang had been forced to settle for second best, issuing the "Private Dependents Ordinance" to halt the buying and selling of slaves.

But now, looking back, Wang Mang felt that he had still been far too timid!

Better to accomplish it in one stroke — not only must all past slaves be freed, but henceforth such a status would no longer be permitted to exist at all!

Fan Chong approved of Wang Mang's proposal. Nearly half of the Red Eyebrow Army had been slaves in the past, and all along their march, wherever they went, they had in fact been absorbing field slaves into their ranks. Wang Mang was merely formalizing this into regulations.

In Fan Chong's view, since the Liu clan and the powerful magnates were already locked in a fight to the death with the Red Eyebrows, if they could win the slaves' support for the Red Eyebrows, they might truly be able to gain a firm foothold in Nanyang. He therefore assented to Wang Mang's proposal.

After this policy was agreed upon, the great army continued its advance. Yet in just two short days, the more than one hundred thousand residents of Wancheng had already fled completely. Only a few dogs roamed the streets searching for food, and these were quickly clubbed to death by Red Eyebrow soldiers and slung over their shoulders.

There was no help for it. The Red Eyebrows' notoriety preceded them. The Greenwood sovereign and ministers feared being slaughtered; the powerful magnates feared being butchered; the middling households feared being robbed. And in the eyes of the utterly destitute poor, these outsiders from the east were not their own clan or faction, and were not to be trusted.

As for the slaves — they naturally fled together with their masters. In these chaotic times, when one could not even be certain of remaining a slave, to find a powerful clan to attach oneself to as a slave and receive their protection for one's life was, for a person born human, an exceedingly great stroke of fortune.

The city was already empty. The slave-emancipation proclamation drafted by Wang Mang was spoken to nothing but the air and dead dogs.

Wang Mang had entered the city full of enthusiasm, only to find it deserted, and his spirits could not help but flag. He had always been strict with himself and even stricter with others. Now that the blade of reform could not, for the moment, be brought down upon the enemy's heads, he would first revolutionize his own side.

"Lord Fan, within the Red Eyebrow Army, there are also many who are called 'retainers' but are in truth slaves. Those above act, and those below follow. I believe we should first lift all of their bonds!"

The moment these words were spoken, the Red Eyebrow chieftains Xu Xuan, Xie Lu, and others, who arrived in Wancheng a short while later, immediately exploded.

Xie Lu cursed, "Elder Fan has been bewitched by that old Tian! Without even discussing it, he forbids the keeping of slaves. What are we to do with all the many slaves we've taken in along this whole march — throw them away, or kill them?"

When the Red Eyebrow commanders attacked cities and seized territory, they naturally did not hesitate to strike down the powerful magnates and devour every grain of food in their households. But as for the slaves under those magnates, they were not exactly "liberated" — they merely changed masters. Aside from Fan Chong, everyone else, from the Elders down to the Attendants, acted exactly the same!

Many fine-sounding words, though spoken by all, were believed by Fan Chong alone.

As for the rest of the lords, even if they regarded their Red Eyebrow followers as brothers and sisters, they cared nothing for the lives of outsiders. The notion of making the two million souls of Nanyang — and even the tens of millions of common people across the realm — into the slaves of the Red Eyebrows' three hundred thousand, held far more allure for them. After years of campaigning, who did not wish to rise above others? Did they still want to swing sickles and harvest grain themselves?

But they only grumbled in private; on the surface, they were still willing to obey. Fan Chong's prestige remained the highest. Though the Red Eyebrows practiced a "joint rule of the Five Lords," there were still distinctions of rank.

Fan Chong was addressed as the "Grand Lord," his status above that of the other four lords.

Moreover, among the Red Eyebrow fighters, those of slave origin were quite numerous, and they too strongly supported the abolition of slavery.

However, where there are policies from above, there are countermeasures from below. Xu Xuan was a cultured man who had studied laws and ordinances and was versed in the Book of Changes. Since he regarded old Tian as a major foe, he had also been observing and studying the man.

Upon studying him, he discovered that old Tian was very much like those foolish superiors he had toyed with back when he served as a prison clerk in Donghai Commandery.

He came from the high levels, constantly quoted the classics, produced ideas in endless profusion, and spoke with perfect logic when expounding theories. But when it came to concrete implementation, he would simply stare blankly, at a complete loss.

In the end, how a matter was actually carried out was still decided by the men below!

Did he truly think the affairs of the world were so easy — that a mere flap of the upper and lower lips could turn words into law?

The Red Eyebrows were not one man; they were three hundred thousand men, three hundred thousand hearts, three hundred thousand different ideas.

Xu Xuan had an idea: "In my view, the private slaves under our command can be fooled simply by changing their names."

"Men will not be called 'slaves,' but 'household men'; women will not be called 'bondmaids,' but 'household women'; children will not be called 'servant boys,' but 'foster sons' and 'foster daughters.'"

"Of course, it's just a change of name. They'll still do the work of oxen and horses, be given a mouthful of gruel so they don't starve to death, and be beaten when they should be beaten, killed when they should be killed."

The Red Eyebrow Army had looted Wancheng's granaries clean. Since each camp still had to continue marching and separately attack various districts, the grain was then distributed into the hands of the various lords, Elders, and Attendants. The lives of the ten thousand or so men in each camp were thus naturally controlled by them.

Xie Lu was somewhat worried: "What if the Grand Lord Fan sends someone to investigate? Can we really deceive him?"

Xu Xuan laughed: "The Grand Lord's own subordinates are all men from his home district, and they too disapprove of this proposal. Give them a few favors, send them a beauty, and they will naturally cover for us. Even if old Tian comes in person — that seventy-year-old codger, can he really inspect every camp one by one?"

"And we'll issue strict orders to the slaves under our command — no, to the household men and household women — that if anyone dares to speak out of turn, they and their entire family will be thrown out of the camp to fend for themselves."

"Don't they want freedom? We'll give it to them. Leave the camp, become refugees bound by no one, and gain the freedom to starve to death within ten days to a month!"

"My younger brother, quickly, quickly kowtow to old Tian."

"If not for old Tian's deliverance, you would still be a slave right now!"

Had it been a few years earlier, when he was still the eldest son and heir of Marquis Shi, Liu Gong would certainly not have supported this "abolish slavery" proposal. That men have high and low, noble and base, was a principle ordained by Heaven.

But after the brothers had spent several years as slaves to the Red Eyebrows, Liu Gong's thinking had changed. Now he pressed down on his younger brother Liu Penzi's head, making him kotow to old Wang Mang in gratitude for his fine policy.

Wang Mang's mood at this moment was complicated. On one hand, he was dejected. His original intent had been to accomplish in one stroke the slave abolition he had failed to achieve while on the throne. Who could have expected that the first to be delivered would be that flock of Liu-surnamed marquis' sons in the prisoner-of-war camp?

This scene perfectly mirrored how he had incessantly proclaimed himself a loyal subject of the Great Han, and then, after replacing the House of Han for over a decade, the people of the realm had indeed gone from loathing the Han to longing for the Han! Truly worthy of the Duke Who Pacifies the Han!

The affairs of the world truly make one laugh and cry at once; between what one intends and what one obtains, there is often a vast gulf.

But on the other hand, Wang Mang was also secretly rather pleased with himself. In his view, this slave-abolition reform had already achieved an enormous success.

In just a few days since entering Wancheng, the various lords had actively embraced the abolition policy. Every camp had obeyed Fan Chong's order, reformed its abuses, and done away with the slaves they had seized.

Henceforth, in every camp, aside from the Red Eyebrow fighters and their family dependents, there would only be "household men," "household women," "foster sons," and "foster daughters." All were equal, living in such harmony that they seemed like one great family!

But Liu Penzi, after all, was young — only fourteen — and did not grasp the situation. After finishing his kowtow, he raised his head and asked in confusion: "Old Tian, the Red Eyebrow Attendants said that we of the Liu imperial clan brutalized the common people and enjoyed wealth and rank, so we must be punished by being made slaves and herding cattle to atone for our sins. All day we never got enough to eat, and we were often scolded and beaten by the Attendants."

"But now we are no longer slaves; we are Red Eyebrow soldiers too. Yet we still herd cattle. With my elder brother's help, I manage, but the others still don't get enough to eat, and they are still beaten and scolded by the Attendants. I asked to go to Pei to seek out Master Huan, and that was not permitted either..."

Of course it wasn't. If they left, who would herd the cattle, cut the grain, husk the rice, gather the dung, and collect the firewood? The Red Eyebrow fighters were busy attacking the various counties and pursuing the Greenwood forces — where would they find the leisure for such tasks? Their own families had suffered for most of their lives; it was time they enjoyed themselves a little.

This was what Liu Penzi could not understand: "Then what difference does it make whether we are slaves or not?"

Like an ignorant child pointing out "the Emperor's new clothes," Wang Mang's hand, which had been stroking his white beard, stopped. This question actually stumped him, and for a moment he did not know how to answer.

It was Liu Gong who turned and gave his younger brother a sharp rap on the head: "You even need to ask? In the past, you bore the name of a slave. Now that the slave name has been removed, you are no longer a slave. You little brat — how can you not understand such a simple truth!"

How was he supposed to understand? In substance, they were still ordered about, slaves without freedom. Liu Penzi scratched his head and retorted: "Isn't this just the name not matching the reality?"

"You are quite right — name and reality must indeed correspond."

Wang Mang finally spoke, still using the words of the sages to answer all questions: "Confucius said, if names are not correct, speech will not flow smoothly — one must first rectify the names."

"When names are correct, they can be spoken; when spoken, they can be acted upon. First, remove the name 'slave.' As for the rest, things will gradually improve with time."

They had barely papered over the huge hole, but Liu Penzi's innocent, unfiltered words had nonetheless given Wang Mang a reminder.

"Yes — I cannot be as I was before, valuing only the name and not the substance."

He had Ju Wuba help him up, then leaned on his pigeon staff and went to where Fan Chong was.

Whether it was the former slaves now in the Red Eyebrow Army, or the slaves yet to be freed from the counties of Nanyang — if they were to shed not only the name of slave but also the reality of it, a second thing had to serve as the foundation.

That, too, was something Wang Mang had once pushed with great force, only to push it into lonely regret…

Wancheng was already occupied by the Red Eyebrows. The various lords and attendants scrambled to lodge in Liu Xuan's former palace. Fan Chong alone kept to simplicity, staying only in the Wancheng commandery office, which at once shamed the crowd so deeply that they reluctantly left the palace halls — but not before looting everything inside clean to decorate the wards and lanes each had seized.

By the time Wang Mang reached Fan Chong's quarters, he heard quite a commotion within. Aside from Xie Lu and Yang Yin, who had been ordered to attack other counties, Xu Xuan and Cui Fa — now appointed Magistrate of Wancheng — were all there, gathered around an object on the table in the hall, pointing and commenting.

Only Cui Fa was pale, his smile rather awkward. When he spotted Wang Mang, he was even more alarmed and moved to go out and urge him not to enter.

"The old farmer is here!"

Fan Chong, however, beckoned Wang Mang inside and pointed at the object on the table for him to see.

"Old Farmer, come take a look — the 'national treasure' that Liu Xuan and the Greenwood men were keeping."

Wang Mang looked. What sat in the middle of the hall was neither a jade seal nor a treasured sword, but rather a dried… human head? Cured by some unknown technique, sprinkled with some substance — not the least bit foul, even faintly fragrant. The dried skin clung to the bone, and there was still some grizzled white hair upon it, thicker than what was on Wang Mang's own head.

Fan Chong slapped his thigh and roared with laughter:

"This is the very head we burned to hack off when we first raised our troops — the head of Wang Mang!"

…

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00, Chapter 3 at 23:00.