Chapter 481: Impartial and Selfless

From the start of winter, Wang Mang had stayed in Huaiyang, overseeing the land distribution in the Liang and Chen regions.

"The well-field system and the abolition of slavery are sound policies. We cannot let only Runan and Nanyang enjoy a land of bliss and a realm of joy — we must spread and extend them into areas controlled by the Red Eyebrows."

Wang Mang believed that the root of all chaos since the Han dynasty lay in land, and the people on that land. So long as the conflict between people and land was resolved, all problems would be solved with ease. By repeating this process, he could help the Red Eyebrows consolidate their foundation, transforming them from roving bandits into a true army of righteous kings, until they swept across the realm, utterly overthrew the imperial system left by the tyrannical Qin, and set the world back on its proper course.

But in the Liang and Chen regions, which were deeply hostile to the Red Eyebrows, Wang Mang did not even have coerced helpers like Zheng Xing, Liu Gong, or Liu Penzi. The scholars had all fled to join Wei. Implementing the well-field system and abolishing slavery was even harder there than in Nanyang. Two months had passed, and everything was still a complete mess.

Amid his overwhelming troubles, Wang Mang was also closely following the fighting on the front. It was laughable, really — he had once hoped that Lian Dan and Wang Kuang would crush the Red Eyebrows and hold the Guandong region, yet now he was pinning his hopes on the Red Eyebrows smashing the Wei army and advancing west into Luoyang.

The only difference was that Wang Mang could no longer, as he had in the past, casually issue orders to his generals telling them how to fight. Within the Red Eyebrow Army, Wang Mang had heard plenty of assessments of that great battle at Chengchang. The Red Eyebrows' crude, barely literate Elders, while cursing the "General of Renewal," also wondered why the Xin army had been in such a rush to push east, sending exhausted troops to throw their lives away.

Wang Mang, however, knew the reason.

He had once sent an urgent edict to Lian Dan, rebuking him: "General, you bear the heavy trust the state has placed in you. If you do not sacrifice your life for the nation in the wilderness, how can you repay the sovereign's grace?"

It was meant to spur Lian Dan to be braver and end the war sooner — he never imagined it would prove so prophetic.

Now that Wang Mang was wholly absorbed in institutional reform and could no longer interfere in military affairs, would things improve?

Yet what came instead was dire news: the Red Eyebrow Army had been dealt a heavy blow by Ma Yuan at Aocang, losing tens of thousands of men. The Fifth Duke, Yang Yin, had barely escaped with his own life, and his remnant forces would be lucky to regroup two or three tens of thousands. This crushing defeat forced even Fan Chong to lift the siege of Chenliu and withdraw east to Dingtao.

"As expected, it's not so easy." Wang Mang, whose chosen side always lost, sighed inwardly. At the same time, he was certain that Diwu Lun, that traitor, was the greatest stumbling block on the road to universal peace!

"Diwu Boyu — does he mean to trip me up a second time?"

Just as Wang Mang was losing heart, two more reports arrived. The Third Duke, Pang An, had marched south, leading his troops back into the Sishang region. Since the previous year, Liu Xiu's strategy had been very strange — he showed no eagerness to advance into Xu Province, occupying only the key stronghold of Pengcheng and leaving the rest for Liang, Qi, and the Red Eyebrows to fight over. Moreover, the main force of the "Wu Han" army was currently in Jingzhou, led by Feng Yi and Deng Yu, heading to southern Jing to "rescue the Emperor." The long-offline Gengshi Emperor, Liu Xuan, had barely found a foothold in the south before coming under attack by the Chu-Li regime and was now besieged in Changsha.

Meeting little resistance, Pang An swept across Huaibei with ten ten-thousand-man battalions, trapping Liu Xiu's senior general Wang Chang and several thousand men in Pengcheng.

The Fourth Duke, Xie Lu, took only fifty thousand troops north into Yanzhou. In Dongping Commandery, with the cooperation of the City Head Zilu, he routed the allied forces of the King of Qi, Zhang Bu, and the Han Emperor, Liu Yong. Zhang Bu withdrew his troops back to Qingzhou, while Liu Yong fled in panic to Qufu. In just half a year, this Emperor had gone from "holding one of the four corners of the realm" to being left with a single commandery — from this point on, he would likely never recover.

Set against these brilliant victories, Dong Xian, who under Ma Yuan's orders had gone to the Great Wild Marsh to wage guerrilla warfare, was not even worth mentioning. Even if that traitor had scraped together over ten thousand men, he could do no more than tickle the colossal Red Eyebrow Army.

The Red Eyebrow Army was like a touchstone — the true quality of every power in the realm, whether pure gold or base iron, was revealed the moment it was tested. They had some difficulty fighting the Wei army and had yet to truly test themselves against Liu Xiu, but thrashing Liu Yong and Zhang Bu was effortless.

Thanks to those two men's great victories, although the Red Eyebrows had failed to enter Luoyang, they had secured a batch of grain from the east and south. By shifting position to find food, they had barely managed to keep most of their people alive.

Chen County, already on the verge of running out of provisions, finally received supplies. Wang Mang, too, was given a batch of grain from Yanzhou. To his surprise, it was delivered personally by the Second Duke, Xu Xuan!

Ever since that suspicion had taken root in his mind, Xu Xuan's misgivings about this "Old Farmer" had only deepened. He had intensified his search for officials of the Xin dynasty, but unfortunately, he had started too late. The Greenwood men had massacred them once, and the Red Eyebrows had slaughtered them again. Most of those still alive had fled west into Wei and were very hard to find.

While searching for witnesses, Xu Xuan also stepped up his probing of Wang Mang and his servant. But Juwuba, for all his apparent simple honesty, was in truth deeply guarded and tight-lipped. The men Xu Xuan sent to abduct him never returned — their heads had been twisted right off.

Xu Xuan was running out of patience, so he went in person to pay Wang Mang a New Year's visit.

Juwuba opened the door and stared at him coldly. Wang Mang, however, was impeccably courteous. After inviting Xu Xuan inside, Xu Xuan looked around. This dwelling was a former villa of a prominent Huaiyang clan, but after Wang Mang had lived there for two months, all the ornate decorations had been stripped away. When he went out, he rode only in a plain wooden cart. He had freed all the slaves and servants, keeping only one old man who was grateful to him to tend to his meals.

As soon as Xu Xuan arrived, he told Wang Mang a major piece of news.

"The Grand Duke saw that Chenliu was too hard to crack, so he moved east into Dingtao, then advanced his army into Dong Commandery. The outer walls of Puyang have already been breached. The Grand Duke met there with the City Head Zilu, who is willing to abandon Liu Ziyu's banner and rejoin the Red Eyebrows. From now on, he will be the Red Eyebrows' Sixth Duke!"

"Six is better than five." Wang Mang had once regarded five as the Xin dynasty's auspicious number, but now he detested that numeral.

Xu Xuan spoke at length: "The City Head Zilu has no desire to proclaim himself emperor or king. Liu Ziyu and Liu Yong both offered to make him King of Jibei, but he paid them no heed. His only thought is to avenge his former leader, Chi Zhaoping… Does the Old Farmer know of Chi Zhaoping?"

Wang Mang certainly did. He nodded. "A remarkable woman. She stood alongside Duke Fan and Dong Xian in fame, and fought together with them in the great battle of Chengchang."

"Indeed!" Seeing that Wang Mang showed no flicker of emotion when mentioning that catastrophic Xin defeat, Xu Xuan continued: "Chi Zhaoping hated Wang Mang to the bone. In the Shijianguo era, the Great River breached its banks. To protect his ancestral tombs, Wang Mang forbade blocking the breach, causing the river to flood and change its course, washing away Pingyuan Commandery and turning Chi Zhaoping and countless other commoners into famine refugees."

"Therefore, Chi Zhaoping, the City Head Zilu, and the Red Eyebrows on both banks of the Great River all share one long-cherished wish: to attack Yuancheng in Wei Commandery, dig up and destroy the Wang clan's ancestral tombs at Shalu, cast out the bones of Wang Mang's forefathers, and burn the sacrificial temple to the ground. They believe that by doing so, they can make the Great River return to its old course…"

Xu Xuan kept probing, watching Wang Mang's expression. The white-haired old man's face remained impassive as he listened in silence, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

So Xu Xuan played his trump card: "After the City Head Zilu met with the Grand Duke, he proposed that since the Wei army's defenses are concentrated on Luoyang and Henan, rather than battering themselves bloody against the strategic strongholds of Chenggao and Aocang, the Red Eyebrows should take advantage of the Great River being frozen solid and march their army north, striking straight at Wei Commandery and Henei!"

Hebei had yet to recover from the great chaos. Remnants of the Tongma were still putting up stubborn resistance in various places, and Zhang Feng's rebellion in Zhuo Commandery had further tied down the troops of Youzhou and Jizhou… But all these strategic advantages were, in truth, secondary. Together, they did not outweigh a single reason: Wei Commandery and Henei were islands of peace amid the chaos — and they had grain!

After saying his piece, Xu Xuan asked Wang Mang: "What does the Old Farmer think of this plan?"

"I do not understand military matters. Matters of ritual vessels and ceremony — those I have heard of; but matters of armies and campaigns — those I have never studied." Even at over seventy, Wang Mang had grown. After playing trump cards like Chengchang and Kunyang, he finally admitted this point, stating that in military affairs he would defer entirely to Grand Duke Fan.

"Strange, isn't it?" Xu Xuan rose to his feet and tightened the bear-skin coat around him. "Ever since the Xin's Shijianguo era, the winters have grown colder year by year, and the Great River freezes ever more solidly each year!"

Unlike in Chi Zhaoping's time, when the river could only be crossed on foot at scattered spots, limiting where troops could be deployed, this year in the twelfth month, the Yellow River was sealed in ice for a thousand li. In the lower reaches where the Red Eyebrow Army operated, there were at least hundreds, if not thousands, of places where the river could be crossed.

"The Grand Duke and the City Head Zilu will enter Wei Commandery with ease."

"Yuancheng has no natural defenses to hold, and the Wang clan's ancestral tombs at Shalu, located outside the county seat, are even less likely to be defended to the death by Wei soldiers!"

Xu Xuan turned back and looked at Wang Mang with a smile. "In my view, the fire that Chi Zhaoping never managed to light is finally about to blaze."

"Wang Mang's ancestors will be burned to ashes. Compared to Wang Mang himself being beheaded and kicked around like a ball at the feet of Red Eyebrow warriors — which fate, I wonder, is worse?"

"Old Farmer, what do you say — how does this fire burn?"

Juwuba was on the verge of losing control, ready to wrap Xu Xuan in a crushing embrace and throttle the life out of him. But Wang Mang, trembling, leaned on his staff and rose to his feet. A look from his eyes stopped Juwuba's motion. Two words burst from his lips.

"Burn it well!"

Xu Xuan had assumed the old man was merely playing along with empty words. He never expected Wang Mang to launch into a furious tirade against "Wang Mang" right in front of him.

"I have heard that in that year, the Great River breached its banks at Guantao and the Gold Embankment in Dong Commandery, flooding Yanzhou and Yuzhou, pouring into Pingyuan, Qiancheng, and Jinan. In all, it inundated four commanderies and thirty-two counties, submerging hundreds of thousands of qing of farmland and homes. In places, the water was three zhang deep, destroying some forty thousand government pavilions, stations, and dwellings. A million residents of Dong Commandery, Pingyuan, and Bohai were left homeless and displaced."

"But because the river had burst eastward, if they rashly tried to block it, the waters might turn and flow north — and Wang Mang's ancestral tombs lay to the north!"

Wang Mang was filled with righteous indignation: "Wang Mang blindly believed the words of alchemists and occultists, convinced that Shalu was an omen of the Earth virtue, and that if it were submerged, the Xin would likewise decline. And so, for the petty, selfish interests of his own clan and household, he disregarded the welfare of a million lives and the greater good of the realm, standing by and watching the Great River run wild for a decade. This is the great crime of Wang Jujun!"

Of course, aside from that reason, another factor behind that muddle-headed act was that ever since the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the Yellow River had repeatedly burst its banks and been repaired, yet the great scourge could never be rooted out. One year it would be calm, and the next the disasters would resume. On the question of whether to spend enormous manpower and resources to control it, not only Wang Mang but the entire court had been torn.

A popular line of rhetoric at the time held that the Great River was the central artery of the realm. When a sage king arose, it produced charts and writings; when the kingly way decayed, it dried up and broke. The reason it was now overflowing and surging wildly, sweeping away hills and mounds, was that the Han dynasty's governance had gone wrong. If Wang Mang wished to control the river, he need not grapple with the floods themselves — he need only cultivate good government in response, and the calamity would naturally vanish…

And so, with the court turning a blind eye, the Yellow River twisted and writhed across the great plain for over a decade. Why did Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Jizhou, and Youzhou become hotbeds for the Red Eyebrow and Tongma uprisings? At the end of the Han, the population of just Dong Commandery and Pingyuan Commandery had totaled 2.32 million. How many were left now?

Those millions of refugees — were they not forced out by the floods?

During that time, whenever Wang Mang occasionally heard news of the flooded regions, he had secretly reproached himself, wondering whether he should follow Yu the Great's example and rid the people of this scourge. He had sent men to solicit opinions from all the realm's capable experts, but his ministers argued endlessly, none of the proposed plans were reliable, and in the end, the matter was dropped.

The old Wang Mang had not given up. He had planned to "pacify the Red Eyebrows, then control the river." But the Xin dynasty was destroyed first, and this matter became one of his great crimes.

This charge, Wang Mang willingly accepted. Though there were many reasons, in his heart at the time, there had indeed been a desire to "preserve the Shalu auspicious sign and the ancestral tombs." Wang Mang reproached himself and reflected deeply on this. The dynasty he had built with his own hands had probably, at that very moment, had its foundations swept away by the surging waves — sealing its fate to collapse, had it not?

"The Xin did not fall because of Diwu Lun or the various Han claimants."

Wang Mang had learned from his bitter pain: "In truth, it fell because of the river!"

This was not shifting blame onto a natural disaster, but a penetrating, incisive reflection. It left Xu Xuan stunned — these did not sound like words that "Wang Mang" could utter.

Xu Xuan indeed did not understand Wang Mang. In this "Living Sage's" heart, he had always felt that the reason his first reform attempt had failed, aside from "my ministers misled me," was that he had harbored selfish motives, which had soured what was originally a fine intention.

Wang Mang thought to himself: "When the Great Way prevails, all under Heaven is shared by all — that is precisely why I chose the character 'Gong' as the name for the Red Eyebrows' leader!"

Having been granted a chance to start over, Wang Mang resolved to forget family for the sake of the state, and forget self for the sake of the common good.

Xu Xuan had still miscalculated. The Wang Jujun of this moment was utterly devoid of selfish desire — he had become a noble man, a pure man, a man who thought of nothing but all under Heaven with his whole heart...

At least, that was how he saw himself. A messiah complex that styled him a sage appearing once every five hundred years made it all too easy for Wang Mang to fall into self-intoxication.

So how could Xu Xuan possibly move him to anger with a mere matter of the ancestral tombs at Yuancheng?

Wang Mang cared nothing for his descendants, casually killing off four or five at a time, and after his thorough awakening, he was not really that concerned about his ancestors either. The Shalu ancestral tomb at Yuancheng was the very symbol and embodiment of his own selfishness — a dark chapter of his past.

Destroy it, and be quick about it!

This exchange instead threw Xu Xuan into confusion. After leaving Wang Mang's residence, he scratched his head in bewilderment: "Old Man Tian denounced Wang Mang and so deeply hated the Yuancheng Wang clan's ancestral tomb that he wished to smash their bones and scatter the ashes — it did not seem feigned. Could I have guessed wrong?"

But once Xu Xuan's suspicions were aroused, his methods would not stop at this slight probe. Returning to the Prince of Huaiyang's mansion, an Attendant Official, his clothes flecked with snow, was waiting in the hall.

"How did it go?"

The Attendant Official's nose was red from the cold; he had clearly traveled a long way. He reported: "Lord Xu the Second ordered us back to Nanyang, first to interrogate Zheng Xing once more, and second, to secretly arrest another trusted confidant of Old Man Tian — the so-called Magistrate of Wancheng, Cui Fa."

"We have now succeeded. The Wancheng Magistrate is being held outside the city and put to torture. In a few days, I expect we can make him spill everything about Old Man Tian!"

"Excellent." Xu Xuan was very satisfied. "And what of that disciple of Liu Xin, Zheng Xing?"

If Old Man Tian truly was Wang Mang, how could Zheng Xing, as a follower of Liu Xin, not recognize him? Xu Xuan felt he might have been deceived.

The Attendant Official hastily prostrated himself to beg forgiveness: "We arrived a step too late."

"Over half a month ago, Zheng Xing used the pretext of going to the northern counties of Nanyang to assist the Elders in organizing grain requisition, and seized the opening to escape!"

At the same time, Chang'an, having completed the funeral rites for the "Supreme Grand Emperor," was gradually returning to normal.

The departed had gone, but alongside death, this month also saw new life born.

The second child of Diwu Lun and Empress Ma Chanchan — Diwu Lun's third child — was born at the end of the twelfth month. Premature by half a month, this baby girl was somewhat frail, and the entire palace was ceaselessly busy tending to her.

Having just lost his grandfather, Diwu Lun cherished his family all the more, and so he rushed between state affairs delayed by mourning and the child. Yet in his stolen leisure, he also summoned the Superintendent of Ceremonial, Wang Long, and bid him prepare for one matter.

"Wu Han has braved the wind and snow and entered Lintao. This means that Wei has now fully seized Longyou."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

Diwu Lun smiled. "Don't be hasty — there is another happy matter. At Lintao, Wu Han also found someone."

Unlike his past habit of making his ministers guess for a while, Diwu Lun paused only briefly today before impatiently announcing the answer:

"Liu Xin did not follow Wei Ao south into Shu. He actually stayed behind."

Wang Long was somewhat surprised. "Could it be that he was too old and frail to make the journey?"

Diwu Lun said: "Wu Han's memorial enclosed a letter from Liu Xin. He is advanced in years, the weather is cold, and his handwriting trembles a little. He merely said that the reason he did not go south was that he wished to come with his aging bones to pay an audience to me, and to consult on the matter of 'pi.'"

Diwu Lun did not believe it was that simple. Liu Xin surely had other things to say.

Wang Long asked: "How does Your Majesty intend to deal with Liu Zijun?"

Diwu Lun sighed. "He is not a captive, but a guest — and an elder. After all, he is an old friend of my teacher, and twice he extended a helping hand to me."

"Twice?" Wang Long was taken aback. One time was when Diwu Lun was arrested and taken to the Master of Fates of the Five Majesties — but what was the other? Surely it was not when Liu Xin and his pig-like teammates plotted rebellion? That time they had clearly exposed themselves early, nearly dragging Diwu Lun down with them and ruining everything at the last moment.

"Had Liu Xin not, out of the guilt in his heart, stubbornly insisted on enthroning the child Ying as emperor, thus beginning the chaos of the many Hans disrupting the realm, I would not have been able to defeat them one by one with such ease."

So, Diwu Lun ought to thank Liu Xin then?

Diwu Lun said: "But Liu Zijun is, after all, old and frail. Winter travel between Longyou and Guanzhong is difficult. I have told Wu Han to send him back once spring begins — it can be considered returning fallen leaves to their roots. Wenshan, make preparations and go to Chencang in my stead to welcome him."

Wang Long assented, but there was one person who was already hurrying toward Chang'an, already halfway there, and would not need to wait for the weather to warm and the snow to melt before meeting.

The Colonel-Director of Retainers, Dou Rong, had sent word that a disciple of Liu Xin — the former high-ranking student of the Imperial Academy, Zheng Xing — had come from Nanyang to offer allegiance, saying he had a "major matter" concerning the secrets of the Red Eyebrows and requesting an audience.

Diwu Lun had already forgotten who Zheng Xing was. Probably someone he had once briefly met at Liu Xin's residence? He paid the man little mind, only thinking that if old Liu Xin could see his beloved disciple, then perhaps in this Chang'an of changed banners and vanished faces, he might live a few more years.

Though their ideals differed, Diwu Lun kept in his heart the protection Liu Xin had once given Yang Xiong and himself in those early years. This debt of gratitude truly had to be repaid.

Diwu Lun was already somewhat looking forward to after spring, to sitting together with old Liu Xin, setting aside grievances, and simply discussing mathematics.

"I could even earnestly discuss with him what posthumous name to bestow upon Wang Mang." Regrettably, the Rules of Posthumous Names contained neither "Chuan" nor "Yue."

Ever since his grandfather passed away, Diwu Lun had begun to cherish old acquaintances — especially those few "old acquaintances"!

Diwu Lun gazed westward, his look ardent, just as that white-haired old man, reborn to new life in Chen County, often gazed west with lingering attachment toward him!

How did that saying go again?

"Every parting in life is for a better reunion the next time!"

PS: Only one chapter today.