Chapter 517: Reunion

After receiving Zhang Yu's message, Diwu Lun, with a seemingly casual gesture, sent Dou Rong to "welcome" Wang Mang.

After all, Dou Rong had been the dignified General of Wave Water in the Xin Dynasty, a man who held military power and was quite trusted by Wang Mang.

But the more that was true, the more awkward this reunion became. Dou Rong was utterly bewildered — how exactly should he treat Wang Mang now? How should he address him? Should he perform a salute? These were all huge questions. When Dou Rong cautiously asked Diwu Lun, Diwu Lun smiled with deep meaning and said:

"Duke of Zhou, suit yourself."

How was he supposed to suit himself? It was said that Yi Yin had once served as a minister of Xia, but after Tang of Shang destroyed Xia, what the scene was like when Yi Yin saw Jie of Xia again — the history books never recorded it.

The situation they faced was an unprecedented marvel of the ages; no precedent could be found at all. Dou Rong could only be forced to the front and improvise on the spot.

"Perhaps I should still present myself as a former subject, and address Wang Mang as 'the Former Emperor'? Even weep a bit?"

That would fit Dou Rong's consistent persona as an honest and generous elder. If he did so, he would appear "loyal and true to old ties," clearing himself cleanly — but wouldn't that make Diwu Lun even more awkward later? One must remember, back then Wang Mang had ranked Diwu Lun and Dou Rong side by side.

Mulling this over, Dou Rong finally understood the deeper meaning behind the Emperor sending him here, and recalled an incident from the time of Emperor Zhao of Han, when the Governor of the Capital, Jun Buyi, arrested the false Wei Crown Prince.

At that time, someone impersonated the son of Emperor Wu of Han, the long-dead Wei Crown Prince, appearing at the Northern Watchtower of Chang'an. Tens of thousands of commoners gathered to watch, and the Chancellor, the Imperial Secretary, and officials of the two-thousand-bushel rank all went to identify him, but none dared to state their position. It was Jun Buyi who decisively arrested the man. When some said the truth was hard to discern and urged him not to be too rash, Jun Buyi replied...

"In the Spring and Autumn period, Crown Prince Kuai Kui of Wei fled the state for defying his father, Duke Ling of Wei. After Duke Ling died, Kuai Kui's son inherited the throne. When Kuai Kui then requested to return to Wei, the Marquis of Wei refused his own father. Confucius praised this act in the Spring and Autumn Annals. Now, this so-called Wei Crown Prince also once offended the late Emperor. If he is genuine, he fled abroad and did not submit to execution — he remains a criminal of our dynasty!"

Therefore, he was to be treated as a criminal, not as "the Former Crown Prince."

Similarly, Diwu Lun's verdict on Wang Mang had been set as early as the uprising at Hongmen. It was not about "purging evil ministers from the sovereign's side," but a direct denunciation of Wang Mang's evils — it was to comfort the people and punish the tyrant! To exterminate the unprincipled!

Though he had missed that earlier campaign, Dou Rong now had a clear sense of how to act.

He pondered this matter, and when he raised his head again, the uninvited guest who had returned from the dead was drawing nearer. Dou Rong threw caution to the wind — as long as he himself was not embarrassed, the embarrassment would be someone else's!

And so, the moment he made out the white-haired old man on the secure carriage, Dou Rong strode over with solemnity, bowed to him with clasped hands, but offered no form of address whatsoever.

"General of Wave Water." After his ideals had shattered once more, Wang Mang truly sought death single-mindedly, lashing out at whomever he caught. Now he fixed his gaze on Dou Rong and sneered: "When the General followed the Grand Minister of Works to campaign against the Greenwood, I personally bestowed upon you banners, drums, music, and a crimson bow. Do you still possess them?"

His intent was to shame Dou Rong. If he remembered correctly, when Duke of Zhou Dou first had an audience with him, he had been an honest man...

"That did indeed happen."

Dou Rong was, as expected, very amiable and honest. He merely said: "That bow just now was on behalf of my self of yesterday, paying respect to a former lord."

Then his tone suddenly changed: "But the self of yesterday is no longer the self of today!"

Dou Rong, before the eyes of all, spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Though I once received the Grand Minister of Works' favor and was appreciated by the former dynasty, as I traveled among the armies, I witnessed the common people with not even wild greens to fill their bellies, fields lying fallow and unplowed, grain prices soaring in the capital region to thousands per hu, officials and people plunged into boiling water and fire, and constantly sent on distant corvée — to the point that the Hu and Mo invaded the northern frontiers, and the bandits of Greenwood and the Red Eyebrows entered our very chambers. I could not help but be deeply distressed. Yet I was a man of mediocre ability; I could only stir the mud and raise the waves, drifting along with the foul current."

"But though my heart was utterly sincere, I was suspected by the court and the Grand Minister of Works, wrongfully imprisoned. Then came the great defeat at Kunyang, and I understood that the Xin could not be saved. A tree rots first at the root, a state perishes first from above! A benighted ruler and chaotic ministers, greedy and cruel within, recklessly altering institutions — the common people, suffering hunger and cold alike, wished for nothing more than the instant annihilation of the Xin. How could we not be defeated?"

"At that time, I was lost and helpless, wanting only to end my life, when I was startled to hear that Your Majesty had raised troops at Hongmen, broken the formations of the Eight Colonels, shattered the army of the Nine Tigers, awed the lands within the passes, expelled calamity and chaos, driven out the unprincipled ruler, and delivered the realm from hanging upside down!"

At this, Dou Rong's hand pointed straight at Wang Mang's head: "When I was a minister of the Xin, I was aiding a tyrant in his cruelty, tossing and turning unable to sleep, my conscience ill at ease — a living death!"

With that, he cupped his hands behind him: "Since becoming a minister of Wei, I have assisted a sage sovereign, blessed by his fortune and relying on his will, joining strength to purge the realm of turmoil and rebuild the order of heaven and earth!"

"The self of yesterday could still call you 'Deposed Emperor' once."

"But the self of today can only call you 'the Tyrant Mang'! Were it not for the sage sovereign's benevolence, ordering your protection, I would take up a white blade myself and rid the realm of a scourge!"

What a fine "Tyrant Mang" — Zhang Yu, who had endured no small amount of Wang Mang's foul temper along the road, could not help but laugh aloud, though he worried the white-haired old scoundrel on the secure carriage might not withstand the shock and die of rage on the spot.

Yet to the astonishment of both Zhang Yu and Dou Rong, under such a fierce denunciation, Wang Mang's expression remained perfectly composed. Instead, he looked at Dou Rong with a strange gaze — could that be...

Pity? Sorrow?

Indeed, in Wang Mang's own view, he was like a sage who, having experienced the vicissitudes of life, had thoroughly comprehended the ways of the world. And Dou Rong? He was merely a laughable performer, shrewishly cursing in the street in a desperate rush to pledge loyalty to Diwu Lun and sever ties with the Xin Dynasty.

And so, with immense self-possession, old Wang Mang sighed and said: "The Da Dai Li Ji states: Of the Way of Man, nothing is greater than the bond of father and son, the duty of lord and subject. The Way of the father is sagely; the Way of the son is benevolent. The Way of the lord is righteous; the Way of the subject is loyal."

"And when a worthy subject serves his lord, from the day he accepts office, he takes his lord as father, the state as family. In any matter that can secure the state and benefit the people, he does not shirk its difficulty, does not fear its toil, in order to fulfill his duty. Thus his lord also aids and protects him, to perfect his virtue."

This was what Wang Mang demanded of his ministers — he hoped every one of them would be a perfect subject, utterly without selfishness.

Wang Mang looked at Dou Rong: "As you say, I was indeed misled by others in those years, acting with obstinate self-regard and doing many wrong things. But Duke of Zhou Dou, you who claim to be a loyal and good servant of the state — when you and Diwu Lun entered the palace for an audience back then, why were your words all flattery and sycophancy, without a single word of honest remonstrance?"

Dou Rong immediately retorted: "Did not Yan Erudite and others also forcefully remonstrate with you? Was that of any use?"

"Yan You was a true loyalist. It was I who concealed my illness and refused treatment." Wang Mang was deeply sorrowful; it was only after the fact that he had seen clearly who had truly had his interests at heart. "But though I did not fully heed his words, I never wrongfully killed a single one of them! What I detest most are those who flatter to one's face and stab one in the back!"

Even by Mencius's doctrine — if the lord treats his ministers like dirt and weeds, then the ministers regard their lord as a foe. Wang Mang asked himself: he had given Diwu Lun important posts, placed great hopes in him, and treated him as a brother. Yet how had Diwu Lun repaid him? By plunging a knife into his very heart! This was something Wang Mang would never forgive.

The old man raised his face to the sky and sighed: "Heaven sends down the great constants to order human relations. It establishes the duty between lord and subject, manifests the bond between father and son. The noble man governs human relations to accord with Heaven's virtue; the petty man disrupts the heavenly constants to defy the great Way. Diwu Lun is such a one."

Wang Mang then mocked himself: "But then, it figures. If the lord does not act as a lord, naturally the subject does not act as a subject."

"Just as when there is an unfilial son in the family, the father, of course, also bears fault! It is I who failed to set a proper example!"

Wang Mang was, as expected, a great Confucian scholar of the age. When it truly came to debating the classics, Dou Rong was no match for him at all.

Dou Rong was instantly filled with deep regret. Though Wang Mang had changed greatly from those years, he was still just as obstinate, utterly impervious to reason. He had intended to fiercely denounce him to establish a preemptive stance, but unexpectedly found himself on the back foot, allowing Wang Mang to take advantage of Diwu Lun right to his face.

Zhang Yu was also grinding his teeth, but the old man could neither be beaten nor, even more so, killed. It was truly a difficult matter.

Dou Rong grew even more embarrassed. He merely sneered, flicked his sleeves to salvage some dignity, and then ordered the convoy to continue forward, while simultaneously reinforcing the escorts on both sides to prevent onlookers from gathering.

"As expected, dying at the hands of the 'Red Eyebrows' would have been the cleanest. Your Majesty, oh Your Majesty, why must you see this living Wang Mang?"

Inside the county seat of Jiyang, ministers like Geng Chun thought the same. Wang Mang was a hot potato, with a hide especially thick and tough — no matter how you handled him, there was no benefit.

Yet Diwu Lun had left only a single remark:

"The world likes to call the struggle for the realm 'chasing the deer.'"

"Now that the Xin has lost its deer and all under heaven chase it, yet halfway through the hunt, we find the deer's former owner is still on the field, shouting and clamoring there. Gentlemen, do you not find this... rather interesting?"

Not amusing in the slightest. Geng Chun and the others, not knowing Diwu Lun's specific plan, could only harbor secret worries as they watched the carriage bearing Wang Mang approach the Jiyang Palace where Diwu Lun resided.

This Jiyang Palace was not large; it was a traveling palace built during the time of Emperor Wu of Han. Because no emperor had visited for many years, it was often sealed shut. Later, a Magistrate of Jiyang named Liu Qin was serving there. It happened that his wife was about to give birth, and Jiyang was suffering from floods — only Jiyang Palace was still somewhat dry. So he opened the rear hall of the palace to live in. Not long after, his wife gave birth to a boy. Because that year Jiyang had a fine grain stalk with multiple ears, the child was named "Liu Xiu."

But the Liu family soon moved away. After the chaos of war began, the place was plundered in turn by the Greenwood and the Red Eyebrow Army, becoming a thoroughly ruined and empty palace. Now, however, it housed Diwu Lun and his vast retinue of accompanying officials.

After the procession arrived at Jiyang Palace, Zhang Yu stopped Ju Wuba and invited him to rest at the county guesthouse — the implication was clear without being spoken.

Ju Wuba did not move; he only looked at Wang Mang.

Wang Mang then said: "Shun had five worthy ministers and could govern the realm, while King Wu of Zhou said, 'I have ten ministers to quell chaos.'"

A rare softness crept into his voice: "My worthy ministers were not equal to King Wu's, but more than Shun's. In the early years, there were men like Wang Shun; later, there were men like Yan You, Tian Kuang, and Wang Yi. And you, sir, are the loyal one who followed me to the very end."

Wang Mang actually bowed toward the giant who had protected him all along, lowering his head: "The lord employs his ministers with propriety; the minister serves his lord with loyalty. The loyalty you have rendered is boundless, but I can no longer give you any recompense."

"You, good minister, have fulfilled all the duties of a loyal subject. From this moment on, you are free to go your own way. Leave now — return to Donglai."

Wang Mang waved his hand, bidding farewell to the last loyal minister of the Xin Dynasty. Paying no heed to Ju Wuba, who remained prostrate on the ground, Wang Mang descended from the carriage on his own and walked toward the Jiyang Palace.

He refused anyone's support. Though hobbling on a lame leg and leaning on a staff — a rather comical sight — in Wang Mang's own mind, his bearing carried the heroic grandeur of one marching to meet his doom.

He held his head high. Though the old man's frame was gaunt, his robes filthy, as wretched as a beggar, within his heart still dwelled the pride of the Son of Heaven, of a Great Sage.

He went to see Diwu Lun fully prepared to face death with dignity. He was determined to let this despicable scoundrel witness the true bearing and presence of a king! The virtue innate to Heaven's chosen!

The palace guards in Jiyang Palace cast sidelong glances at this demented old man — their gazes a mix of curiosity and hatred.

Some among them were orphans from Jingzhao; others had once been Boar-Rush Braves. They stared at this man who had plunged the world into chaos. Some recalled the great upheavals at the end of the Xin Dynasty, the farces that had destroyed their homes and families. They could only forcibly restrain themselves from driving the halberds in their hands through the old man's chest!

Yet just as Wang Mang, carrying the conviction of certain death, stepped into the main hall of Jiyang Palace, the doors swung open — and what unfolded before him was a banquet already laid out. Sliced venison sizzled over a brazier. A young man sat behind the table, dressed in plain clothes and wearing a traveling cap from afar. His sleeves were rolled up as he personally turned the roasting meat and sprinkled salt. Beside him, cleaver and chopping block stood at the ready.

Seeing his guest arrive, he set down the iron tongs — a family heirloom — and rose to his feet. He did not bow, merely nodding at Wang Mang.

"Old Wang, it has been a long time."

Diwu Lun showed none of Dou Rong's awkwardness or anxiety. Instead, he was thoroughly at ease, addressing Wang Mang in just this way — as if Wang Mang were nothing more than an old neighbor out for a stroll and dropping by.

"The rivers and mountains have suffered great ills. Have you, sir, remained unharmed?"

…

PS: Chapter two coming in the middle of the night.