Chapter 513: Executing Wang Mang

Unlike Fan Chong, who was peerless in his heroic spirit, the Red Eyebrows' Second Duke Xu Xuan instead looked thoroughly worn and weary. Conservative in his thinking, he simply wanted to follow the old path of nobles and ministers.

Yet on this northward relief march, Xu Xuan had also staked his life on it. After a bitter fight crossing the Ji River against the Wei army at Dingtao, he pressed on despite the danger of having no baggage train or supply line, and left over ten thousand troops behind to hold the Ji River ford at all costs.

"If we arrive in time and Duke Fan has won, all the better. Even if he has been defeated, as long as we link up with him, pulling back won't be difficult."

Though he said this, Xu Xuan was well aware of what defeat would mean. The reason the Red Eyebrows had been able to roll from a minor power holed up in a remote corner into the massive force they were today was largely thanks to victory after victory. Should they suffer a single defeat, their whole enterprise might come to an abrupt halt.

This worry became reality as they approached Boiling Dates. Wei army scouts? They had encountered those as early as the day before, shadowing them at a distance, never too far nor too near, harassing them from time to time and forcing the Red Eyebrows to slow their pace.

And at nightfall, what met them head-on were countless scattered soldiers and routed troops — all of them sound of limb. The wounded had long since been left behind near the battlefield, turned into ghosts beneath the spears of Wei army militiamen.

From their mouths, Xu Xuan learned of the two great defeats at the Pu River and Boiling Dates, and the news that Fan Chong was surrounded by the Wei army.

"We must go rescue Duke Fan at once!"

The Elders and attendants were instantly thrown into a panic. Learning that the location was barely a dozen li away, they were desperate to march through the night.

Xu Xuan, however, stopped them. Look at their own situation — that damned Dong Xuan had delayed them far too long. In their rush, they had been unable to rest, and straggling was severe; in some battalions, not even half had kept up. Their grain was exhausted too; some men had gone nearly a day on empty stomachs, with no food in sight.

By all rights, Xu Xuan could have gathered up the scattered remnants and defeated troops, enough to double the strength at hand. But either they had been beaten out of all spirit by the Wei army, slinking past Xu Xuan southward in utter dejection, utterly lacking the courage to fight again; or after drawing near and hearing that there was no food either, they cursed and grumbled as they moved off again to find somewhere to plunder, even saying: "Only with a full belly do we have the strength to rescue Duke Fan."

For all these reasons, Xu Xuan had managed to rally barely a few groups of routed soldiers. After contact, the reports from them — true or false, no one knew — instead stirred everyone's emotions into turmoil, and a mood of defeat swept through the entire army.

Seeing this, Xu Xuan could only think to himself: "Without Duke Fan, the Red Eyebrows truly cannot carry on."

That the Red Eyebrow Army had held together without scattering for eight years since rising in arms, without even a major internal feud, was already a miracle. At root, it was because Fan Chong could command universal respect. When disagreements arose over where the Red Eyebrows should go from here, at his most furious and despairing, Xu Xuan had even entertained the thought of "replacing him" — but he dismissed it at once.

Xu Xuan knew his own limits. Though he had read far more books than Fan Chong, he could serve as a chancellor, but he was absolutely not the stuff of a leader or an emperor. Without Fan Chong, none of the Red Eyebrows' other four dukes would submit to any of the others; they would surely be a heap of loose sand.

With such thoughts in his heart, Xu Xuan's resolve to link up with Fan Chong only hardened. But given their present condition, they could not immediately advance and strike the Wei army. He merely ordered everyone to withdraw another three li and encamp, hoping that Fan Chong could break out on his own initiative.

Meticulous in mind, as he tossed and turned unable to sleep, he summoned his trusted aides and gave them a certain order.

"Do you still remember the one I confined at Chuqiu Post, with several hundred men left to guard him — that Old Man Tian?"

Of course they remembered. At first, they had seen it as a sort of "coup" staged by Xu Xuan, seizing Old Man Tian, whom he had always found an eyesore. Only after bringing the Wang uncle and nephew from Puyang to identify him had they been shocked to learn that he was none other than Wang Mang, the Emperor of the Xin Dynasty — they had been scared senseless.

But strangely, though Xu Xuan had exposed Wang Mang's identity, he had not put him to death.

Xu Xuan never acted without purpose. At the time, he had declared that he would wait until after they defeated the Wei army between the Yellow River and the Ji, once the Red Eyebrows' ascendancy was assured, and then use Wang Mang's true identity to awaken Fan Chong, forcing him to stop the farce of a republic and properly become the Red Eyebrows' emperor.

Yet Xu Xuan also harbored a hidden thought in his heart.

"Should Duke Fan fare poorly in battle, the Wang Mang in my hands might still be used to bargain with Diwu Lun, to secure a good retreat for the Red Eyebrows."

However, any thought of negotiating peace with Wei had been utterly extinguished after witnessing the horrors of the prisoner massacre at Dingtao. Even if Xu Xuan were willing to surrender, the Red Eyebrow warriors, who had always regarded their comrades as brothers and sisters, would absolutely never accept it!

Xu Xuan did wish to become a noble or a minister, but he also understood that without the Red Eyebrows' strength, he himself was nothing.

This war had already made both sides see red with slaughter. The floating corpses at Dingtao had blocked any possibility of reconciliation. Now the situation had shifted, and the Red Eyebrows' great defeat was irreversible. In Xu Xuan's eyes, Wang Mang had lost his value.

He had instead become a dangerous object that could cause the Red Eyebrows to utterly collapse!

This was something Xu Xuan had come to realize in recent days: "The Red Eyebrows rose in the eastern Tai Mountains in the name of opposing Wang Mang. Only thus could they win a response east of the passes. The battle of Chengchang made their name known across the realm — this is the very foundation on which the Red Eyebrows stand."

Without a proper name, words carry no weight. The various Han, Wei, and Cheng houses all strove to prove their own legitimacy. Even roving bandits like the Red Eyebrows would uphold some kind of "righteousness."

And opposing Wang Mang was their greatest righteousness! Only thus could they sneer at the various Han claimants, and when faced with the assault of Diwu Lun, "a leftover minister of the Xin and Wang Mang," haughtily refuse to submit.

But if the truth were ever exposed — if it became known that everything the Red Eyebrows had done these past few years had been directed by Wang Mang — then outwardly, they would become the laughingstock of the realm; inwardly, the simple sense of righteousness of the Red Eyebrow warriors would also vanish without a trace!

"If it truly comes to that, even if Duke Fan breaks out and joins me, and we withdraw from the He-Ji region, it will be hard to rise again."

Leaders who trusted and heavily relied on Wang Mang — were they fools, or were they villains? How could they command the Red Eyebrows any longer?

The result would surely be adding frost to snow, total fragmentation!

Therefore, Xu Xuan had to prepare a contingency, to make Wang Mang truly vanish from the world before the truth came to light.

"The time has come."

Xu Xuan instructed his trusted aides to turn back at once: "Hurry to Chuqiu Post. Put Wang Mang — who should have died years ago — to death, along with his nephew Wang Hong and the giant Juwuba. And you must destroy the corpses and obliterate all traces; not a single word of this is to leak out!"

As the moon first rose, the assembled ministers also filed out of Diwu Lun's great tent, off to prepare for the night assault following the propaganda offensive — the Emperor called this "striking while the iron is hot."

"Colonel Director of the Retainers."

Dou Rong, riding back toward the rear army in his carriage, was hailed to a stop.

He turned his head — it was the Left Chancellor, Geng Chun.

Having broken his shoulder the year before, Geng Chun tilted his neck as he cupped his hands toward Dou Rong: "His Majesty has ordered me to coordinate with the Duke of Zhou in jointly defending north of the marsh. Though it was clearly laid out during the strategy session just now, you and I still need to confer further."

Dou Rong understood perfectly, but still said loudly to his attendants: "The Chancellor Geng and I are going to go over the battle-array arrangements for later once more. I will return to the rear army half a watch late. One of you, go to the rear army; the other, go inform His Majesty."

This was out of fear that someone might see them and say he and Geng Chun were "forming a faction"! Dou Rong and Geng Chun's political views were indeed rather similar, but they absolutely must not let the Emperor misunderstand.

Geng Chun merely thought to himself that Dou Rong was indeed meticulous. True enough, what concerned him was not the military operation, but that shocking "secret."

"What does the Duke of Zhou make of what the Embroidered Uniform Commandant said just now?"

Dou Rong replied: "The Embroidered Uniform Commandant's evidence is conclusive. Wang Mang should still be alive."

Both men, like Diwu Lun, had once served as ministers of the Xin Dynasty, and in no small posts. Even if Wang Mang was a fallen sovereign, in the final analysis he had once been their lord, their Emperor. Even if Diwu Lun raised the banner of Tang and Wu's revolution, the old hierarchy of superior and inferior could not be washed away.

So Diwu Lun had absolutely no need to lie about this — it would be gilding the lily.

"But it is still too astonishing." Dou Rong sighed with emotion. "Wang Mang, whose head the Greenwood men supposedly cut off long ago, is actually still alive, and under an assumed name joined the Red Eyebrows, even becoming Fan Chong's right-hand man." Who could have imagined that!

"Were it anyone else, that would be one thing," Geng Chun said. "But for Wang Mang to act this way is hardly surprising. After all, his behavior has always been bizarre and unfathomable. Unlike me, the Duke of Zhou served as a senior general in the Xin period and must have had no few audiences with Wang Mang; you would know his temperament."

Dou Rong nodded: "It is indeed so. Wang Jujun is truly a calamity. Even after losing his throne, he can still throw the realm into chaos. No wonder everything the Red Eyebrows did in Nanyang — whether dividing the land or abolishing slavery — was exactly the same as in the Xin period."

Since the two had reached a consensus that this matter was likely true, the next step was to weigh the pros and cons of revealing the truth.

Geng Chun said with certainty: "As far as our army is concerned, this matter will stir not the slightest ripple."

When it came to the righteousness of opposing Wang Mang, Diwu Lun shared it with the Greenwood and the Red Eyebrows, and he had also dealt the Xin Dynasty its final blow. Whatever bond of lord and minister there had been was cleanly severed as early as when he raised the axe and sickle at Hongmen. As for diehard loyalists to the Xin Dynasty? They had long since died out! Throughout the three armies, no one would be shaken by this matter in the slightest.

"The Red Eyebrows, on the other hand," Geng Chun said with a somewhat malicious smile, "I hear that Old Man Tian, the name Wang Mang assumed, enjoys a decent reputation within the Red Eyebrow Army. Yet the Red Eyebrows rose precisely on opposing Wang Mang. When they suddenly hear this news, I fear they will be dealt a heavy blow."

"When their morale is thrown into utter chaos, how will they band together and fight to the death? That will be the chance to smash their army in one stroke."

If the conversation ended there, wouldn't Geng Chun have spoken a heap of nonsense? Dou Rong kept his composure, and sure enough, Geng Chun leaned in and said in a low voice: "But has the Duke of Zhou considered — if, when this battle ends, our army captures Wang Mang alive? What then!?"

"There is a precedent for such a matter," Dou Rong said. "Tang the Completer saved the world, harangued his troops in the outskirts, and defeated the tyrant Jie of Xia at the ruins of Yousong. Jie fled to Mingtiao. After capturing him, Tang the Completer professed himself ashamed of his virtue and banished Jie to Nanchao."

Geng Chun, however, shook his head. "Jie of Xia committed great evils against all under Heaven, yet he lived long enough to meet Cheng Tang face to face, forcing that sage king to confess his own flawed virtue. When the lord is shamed, his ministers are disgraced — Tang's ministers, men like Yi Yin, what a disgrace they were!"

"Contrast that with King Wu's campaign against Zhou. After routing the Shang army at Muye, as they marched singing and dancing into Zhaoge, King Zhou of Shang had already taken his own life. Thus King Wu had no need to feel flawed virtue. He could calmly shoot three arrows from his scarlet bow into Zhou's corpse, then dismount, strike it with his light sword, sever Zhou's head with his yellow battle-axe, and hang it from the Great White Banner to proclaim it to all under Heaven."

What these two examples meant — Geng Chun no longer needed to spell it out. Dou Rong suddenly understood. Geng Chun was afraid that if Diwu Lun and Wang Mang met again, it would be unbearably awkward. If Wang Mang could make himself decent before that happened, well and good. If not, Geng Chun would likely help Wang Mang become decent!

Wait — after Geng Chun finished speaking, he looked at Dou Rong and smiled. What did that mean? Dou Rong felt a chill run through him and suddenly grasped it. "Is he hinting that I should send someone to help Wang Mang become decent?"

Earlier, he and Geng Chun had spoken in turn, openly and obliquely suggesting that Diwu Lun deal more ruthlessly with the Red Eyebrows. Dou Rong had even steeled himself to shoulder the blame for a massacre — he had no choice; the vacant post of Right Chancellor was simply too tempting.

But now, seeing how things stood — good heavens — he would not have to bear the blame for slaughtering the Red Eyebrows, yet they wanted him to bear the blame for killing Wang Mang? Was this Geng Chun's own idea, or a hint from Diwu Lun? The more Dou Rong thought, the more terrified he grew.

And besides — never mind men like Zhang Zong or Zheng Tong — this was something a single common soldier could handle. Why had Geng Chun come to him?

Dou Rong's realization came in a flash. "Because I was once a high minister of the Xin!"

Dou Rong had not guessed wrong. This was indeed Geng Chun's own thinking. One only had to consider it briefly: if Wang Mang lived to meet Diwu Lun face to face, it truly would be far too awkward. Better to follow the precedent of King Wu and King Zhou of Shang, leaving no talking point for later ages. Moreover, Geng Chun recalled that when Diwu Lun had set out westward from Wei Commandery years ago, he had made a point of bringing along Peng Chong, who bore a blood-debt against Wang Mang for his father's death. Why? Was it not precisely so that, should the need arise to kill Wang Mang, Peng Chong could step forward to do the deed, making it perfectly natural and proper?

But at the time, Wang Mang had fled, and that awkwardness was avoided. No one imagined they would encounter him again today. After turning it over in his mind, the most fitting course was still for Dou Rong to send someone to act.

Dou Rong fell silent. Only after a long while did he cup his hands and say, "As I see it, in the chaos of war, Wang Mang is a decrepit old man, and the Red Eyebrows hate him to the marrow. The moment his identity is exposed, he may well be hacked to death by Red Eyebrow blades in a frenzy, his head struck off to vent their fury!"

…

Back inside the encirclement, after the dirge had been sung several times through, most of Fan Chong's close followers had already resolved themselves to die. They waited only for the deep hours of the night to fight their way out in a death-or-glory breakout!

As for where they would go after that — they would decide later.

But just as the Red Eyebrow fighters were tearing strips of cloth to bind one another's wounds and taking stock of their weapons in preparation for the breakout, a clamor rose again from the Wei army surrounding them.

This time, it was no longer a call for the Red Eyebrows to surrender, but a rumor so shocking it made men's hair stand on end.

"Old Man Tian is Wang Mang?"

"Wang Mang is Old Man Tian?"

As the shouts traveled inward from every Wei army position, the Red Eyebrow fighters on the outer edge stared at one another, seeing the shock mirrored in each other's eyes.

How could that be possible? Wang Mang was the tyrant they had hated to the bone when they first rose in arms. Every misery the Red Eyebrows had suffered — the Yellow River floods, the corvée labor, and above all the currency that changed overnight and the ever-heavier Five Equalizations and Six Monopolies — the root of all evil was Wang Mang!

It was only a pity that the Xin Dynasty had been destroyed by Diwu Lun, and Wang Mang had been killed by the Greenwood men. The Red Eyebrow Army's "execution of Wang Mang" had come to nothing — a tremendous regret.

And Old Man Tian — he was the elder whom Fan Chong revered, the Red Eyebrow Army's outstanding revolutionary mentor, radical in his thinking, who had led them to crush the powerful houses, divide up the land, and push through the abolition of slavery. Though this had greatly displeased the Elders and Attendants who had already climbed into the upper ranks, it had won the gratitude of many Red Eyebrow fighters of slave origin.

And now the Wei army was saying they were the same person?

The Red Eyebrow Army was instantly thrown into turmoil. As one, they turned their eyes toward Fan Chong, hoping that the Great Lord Fan would step forward and say a few words, refuting this absurd rumor.

But what of their Great Lord Fan Chong? He had barely managed, under his fighters' funeral song, to pull himself out of the bewilderment of defeat, straighten his spine, and prepare to fight to the death. Even in death, he would fall on the road to the Promised Land — a worthy death!

Yet now, this rumor struck like a giant hammer against Fan Chong's spine, nearly felling this man of iron!

Though he refused to believe it, Fan Chong could not help recalling the suspicions Xu Xuan had once voiced to him.

"Lord Fan, could this Old Man Tian be some remnant minister of the Xin? Why do his various measures bear a certain resemblance to those of Wang Mang's time?"

In what way did they resemble them? At the time, Fan Chong had not understood, because every one of Wang Mang's measures had long since been twisted beyond recognition by the time it reached the localities.

But now, looking back, Xu Xuan's words, together with the Wei army's shouts, swirled in his ears, plunging Fan Chong into even greater confusion.

The Promised Land that Old Man Tian had pointed out, once so clear before his eyes, grew ever more blurred, until at last it transformed into a cascade of Xin-dynasty copper coins, the nightmare of taxes that had tormented his family.

Whether it was the shock and fury of this blow, or the heavy wounds that had drained Fan Chong's lamp of oil to its last drop — Fan Chong swayed, and the many-bladed battle-axe he held in his hand, the axe that had felled trees, cleaved mountains, and even sought to split the heavens wide open, the axe that had never once failed him in all these years — clattered from his grip and struck the ground!

And as Fan Chong collapsed, the Red Eyebrow Army's morale crumbled in an instant. Outside the encirclement, the unbroken call of attack horns had already begun to sound!