Chapter 528: Watch Closely — I'll Only Demonstrate This Once

"Wang Weng, Tian Kuang, the great loyal minister of the Xin, was defeated not far north of the Capital Granary and ultimately took his own life, dying for the dynasty."

As they disembarked to change boats at the Capital Granary in Huayin County, Diwu Lun patted the boat's railing and pointed north as he spoke.

These words stung Wang Mang, who had been staring blankly, into fury. He cursed, "I only regret my eyes were blind back then, unable to tell the loyal from the treacherous."

Diwu Lun's face was as thick as a city wall. Hearing this, he burst out laughing instead: "From what Wang Weng implies, am I a villainous hero of a chaotic age?"

Wang Mang sneered: "Indeed. As Xunzi said: 'Hear him speak, and his words are glib yet without principle; employ him, and he is full of deceit yet without achievement. Above, he cannot serve an enlightened ruler; below, he cannot harmonize the common people. He manipulates power to deceive the world and steals high office — this is what is called the chief of villains.'"

"Wang Weng may curse me for being unlearned and unable to follow your will — fair enough. But as for harmonizing the common people..." Diwu Lun shook his head. "Between Wang Weng and myself, the gap is likely quite large."

With that, Diwu Lun simply boarded his own imperial boat, while Wang Mang took the one behind, with the Privy Treasurer Song Hong assigned to "look after" him.

They traveled by water along a canal called the "Cao Canal," built during the time of Emperor Wu of Han. As the name suggests, it was constructed to facilitate grain transport from east of the passes into the capital. Starting from Kunming Pond southwest of Chang'an, it channeled the Wei River past the north of Chang'an, cut through the northern foothills of Dragon Head Plateau and ran eastward, collecting the Chan and Ba rivers along the way, then passed Hongmen and the Capital Granary at Huayin before rejoining the Wei — over three hundred li in length. Compared to the winding Wei River, this canal was far straighter, shortening the grain transport journey from the Capital Granary to Chang'an from six days to three.

Beyond facilitating transport, the canal water also irrigated over ten thousand qing of land in places like Xinfeng and Huayin, making this region the third-largest granary in Guanzhong, after Weibei and Zhouyuan. Now, with war raging east of the passes and grain shipments cut off, Guanzhong not only had to be self-sufficient but even had to supply military provisions, making this area all the more vital. As the imperial boats sailed eastward, one could see the households on both banks all busy at work: it was the fourth month, the sprouting millet shoots needed tending and weeding, and the wheat was beginning its slow shift from green to yellow — a time when water was desperately needed.

Apart from manual water-lifting, since last year, the water-powered machinery that had sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain across Guanzhong had also been built along both banks of the Cao Canal. Of course, the trees of Shanglin Park and Shaoliang Mountain in Weibei suffered heavy damage yet again. Even Diwu Lun mocked himself, calling it "drinking poison to quench thirst," but it had to be done. With large numbers of able-bodied laborers heading east to transport grain and fodder to support the wars in Nanyang and Yan-Yu, the labor gap in the rear had to be filled by water-powered machinery.

Song Hong had also overheard the exchange between Wang Mang and Diwu Lun earlier. Now he simply said, "Does Wang Weng still recall the land surveys of the Shijianguo years?"

Wang Mang nodded. Of course he remembered. That was when, after taking power, he realized that all problems were land problems and launched the project with great enthusiasm. Figure out how much farmland the realm held, and he could redistribute it according to the well-field system he had designed — then all under heaven would be settled... Yet over fifteen years, this matter was never accomplished.

Song Hong had been involved in that effort and sighed: "For the land along the Cao Canal alone, it took several years, and the total reported was eleven thousand qing — only a thousand qing more than in Emperor Wu of Han's time."

He then told Wang Mang a tragic fact: "But in reality, in the first year of Wude, when Guanzhong's land was resurveyed, the fertile fields along the canal were measured at seventeen thousand qing!"

Six thousand qing had appeared out of thin air — not newly opened in the intervening decade, but concealed. The discrepancy in numbers was not outrageously large, but this was the Guanzhong capital region, right under the Son of Heaven's feet. If concealment could happen here, then in other provinces and commanderies, the reported acreage differing from reality by several times, even ten times, was commonplace.

Although Song Hong oversaw the Privy Treasury, he was also quite familiar with the land under the jurisdiction of the Grain-Seeking Colonel Ren Guang. He said, "Now, land surveying is only being carried out in Guanzhong, but both Weibei and Youfufeng are the same — the actual acreage is often nearly half again what was reported by local authorities under the Xin."

Truly, comparisons are infuriating. Back then, when Wang Mang wanted to resurvey the land, it provoked opposition across the entire court, and he had to shift the blame onto the ministers in charge, forcing them out of office. The plan to redistribute land according to the well-field system also shifted from government compulsion to "calling upon virtuous gentry to do so voluntarily" — the result was predictable. Not only did they refuse to divide their land, they were unwilling even to pay the full land rent, casually fabricating numbers that weren't too outrageous for the officials to report upward. Wang Mang had no recourse; the interests of high and low were bound together — pull one hair and the whole body moved. He could kill a few Liu imperial clansmen who sought to restore the Han, but he could not touch these local powerbrokers.

If even the most basic survey could not be done, how could there be talk of equalizing land? Wang Mang had no other options and dared not overturn the table outright, so he could only try to hollow out the powerful families and fill the state coffers through currency reform and the Five Equalizations and Six Monopolies — which backfired.

Now, the land that had been impossible to survey clearly no matter what was easily measured in Wei. Had the awareness of the Guanzhong powerful families suddenly risen?

Naturally. Song Hong had seen it with his own eyes: those Guanzhong powerful families with low awareness had, in the early days of Diwu Lun's enterprise, been purged and wiped out in wave after wave of mass cleansings under various charges like "colluding with Liu Bosheng," "colluding with the Greenwood," "colluding with Wei Ao." Their family properties were confiscated by the Wei army, their fortified manors smashed and seized. The vengeful spirits of the thirty-two Weibei families still drifted over the Five Tombs.

Because such deeds were done too often, the Commandant of Justice's office, under Peng Chong's management, was nicknamed the "Land-Seizing Commandant of Justice" by the common people. Several powerful families openly rebelled over this, but lacking outside support, they were usually suppressed at the plotting stage, conveniently sparking major cases that implicated a batch of their in-laws.

Song Hong pointed to the vast, unbroken stretches of large fields along the canal, often ten or twenty qing wide, with manors beside them. In the past, these had been the private property of powerful families; now, official banners were planted at the field edges, marking confiscated land. Farmers toiled within, heads down, while on the ridges sat supervising garrison-farmer soldiers wearing straw hats against the sun.

Song Hong said, "These large fields, after being confiscated by the authorities from convicted powerful families, are granted to soldiers with meritorious service. They need not work the land themselves; the authorities recruit tenant farmers from among the refugees to cultivate it for them, and a special Agricultural Commandant is appointed to manage matters like coordinating water diversion and irrigation."

The final harvest was divided into three: the tenant farmers took four-tenths, the minor officer households who acted as small landlords took three-tenths, and the authorities also took three-tenths as land rent.

Under Wang Mang, faced with powerful families who concealed land and refused to cooperate, not even one-tenth in land rent could be collected. Diwu Lun's official tax collection efficiency had undoubtedly improved considerably.

Apart from confiscated and granted land, little of the remaining farmland in Guanzhong belonged to small independent farmers. It was either held by the Five Tombs powerful families who had risen in revolt alongside Diwu Lun — they not only kept their family estates and lands but even received households as fiefs and rewards, making them firm vested interests who, for now, would not quibble with Diwu Lun over minor matters like land surveys.

Additionally, there were powerful families with "high awareness" who actively embraced the new regime, hoping to get their sons into the army or court. Faced with land-surveying officials arriving with troops, they could only let them pace through their fields.

Thus, land that had been concealed for over a hundred years since Emperor Wu of Han was finally clarified under the military coercion that followed the great chaos. Although Guanzhong had suffered great turmoil and its population had dropped by ten percent, refugees poured in from outside, and abandoned land was immediately reclaimed. Song Hong had examined it: with tax rates unchanged, the land rent Wei collected across the Guanzhong commanderies was actually three times what it had been in the Xin's best years!

This was far better than Wang Mang's approach of imposing temporary surtaxes whenever he ran short of money and grain, which ultimately fell only on the common people.

"With this source of grain, this is why the Wei Emperor can continuously dispatch troops to Hebei, Liangzhou, and Yu-Yan."

Song Hong had to admit that although Diwu Lun had problems of being overly bellicose, overusing civilian labor, and the "inhumanity" of turning large numbers of prisoners of war into serfs and tenant farmers, this emergency "wartime economy" did indeed sustain the frequent military campaigns.

Through the chaos brought by dynastic change, Diwu Lun relied on poor soldiers, mainly the Boar-Rush Braves, to seize the opportunity to reclaim land on a massive scale, solving the root problem in one stroke — at least, that was how it seemed for now.

Wang Mang watched all this. Having experienced the "overthrow the landlords, divide the land" campaign alongside the Red Eyebrow Army, he of course knew that reclaiming land could only be done through violence. Diwu Lun's actions bore a striking resemblance to his own conduct in Nanyang.

But the old man still would not relent, only sneering: "Diwu Lun may have gained the acreage, but instead of dividing it equally among the people, he imitates the brutal Qin's system of granting land and houses by military merit. Let him beware — he too may perish in the second generation!"

When the boats stopped at Hongmen in Xinfeng, Diwu Lun heard of Wang Mang's assessment of him and could not help but smile.

"To perish in the second generation is still better than perishing in the first."

Diwu Lun even seriously calculated an account in front of Wang Mang: "If we count from when the First Emperor of Qin swept through the six states and unified the realm, to when the Han founder entered Xianyang and Ziying surrendered and perished, it was exactly fifteen years."

"And the Xin, from the first year of Shijianguo to the fourth year of Dihuang, also perished after fifteen years."

"Wang Weng always wished to disparage the Qin and praise the Xin, wanting the Xin dynasty to be the opposite of Qin, yet the dynastic lifespan is quite similar. And the people of the realm often list Qin and Xin together, viewing them as illegitimate, tyrannical intercalary regimes. Wang Weng laughs at Qin? Is that not the pot calling the kettle black?"

The old Wang Mang was so furious he could not speak, only managing: "It is only because of the likes of you — Zhao Gao and Zhang Han!"

Diwu Lun, however, shifted his tone: "Still, Wang Weng is better than the Second Emperor of Qin in one respect. At the moment of national ruin, though many 'Zhang Hans' appeared, you at least had a few loyal ministers."

With that, he fixed his gaze ahead. A funeral procession was also approaching Hongmen, of considerable scale, bearing mourning banners. A four-horse large cart pulled a heavy catalpa-wood coffin, flanked by over a hundred black-armored soldiers escorting it in formation. A cold rain drifted down, turning the red tassels atop the soldiers' iron helmets a dark crimson, like congealed blood.

Diwu Lun stood there in the rain, silently watching the coffin draw near.

Wang Mang was initially puzzled, thinking some great general under Diwu Lun had died in battle abroad. Judging by the direction it came from, it should be the south — could it be that "General Who Pacifies the South" Cen Peng? His heart surged with a moment of joy. Nanyang was where Wang Mang had poured his heart and soul into reform. Although the Red Eyebrow main force had been destroyed at Heji, several tens of thousands of remnants remained there. Perhaps, now bound by ties to the land, they had inflicted a great defeat on Cen Peng?

But soon, this hope was shattered, for he saw that Diwu Lun was wearing mourning garments with a hemp sash. Judging by the specifications, it was unmistakably the second degree of the five mourning grades, "unhemmed sackcloth." He led his ministers in bowing before the coffin.

A ritual official cried out loudly: "We reverently welcome the spirit of the Imperial Tutor, Lord Yan Bogong, back to the capital!"

Wang Mang was instantly shaken, barely able to stand. So what was being brought back was Yan You's remains!

It was only in the last two years that he had learned: when Diwu Lun rose in revolt, after the great defeat at Kunyang and the fall of the Xin dynasty, apart from Wang Yi, only two men had carried the Xin banner to the very end. One was Tian Kuang, defeated by Diwu Lun at Shaoliang Mountain; the other was Yan You, trapped in Wancheng, who took his own life upon learning of the Xin's fall.

Now, with the collapse of the Red Eyebrows, the General Who Pacifies the South, Cen Peng, acting on Diwu Lun's orders and with the assistance of local powerful families like the Yin clan of Xinye, had entered Nanyang and captured Wancheng. Following that, Cen Peng found Yan You's grave, which he himself had buried outside the city back then. He carefully placed the long-decayed bones into a catalpa coffin and transported them to Guanzhong.

Diwu Lun personally stepped forward and gently placed his hand on the coffin of Yan You — the man who had been his matchmaker and had taught him military strategy without reservation. His expression was sorrowful. He spoke a few soft words to his departed teacher, then had the coffin join the imperial procession to return to the capital together. Diwu Lun intended to bury Yan You in a carefully chosen cemetery.

Wang Mang's expression was also quite complex. Yan You had been his classmate; they had studied together in their youth at the Dunxue Ward in Chang'an. He had also early on recognized Yan You's ability and, after taking power, boldly employed him, making him Grand Marshal, the highest military officer in the realm, and sending him to pacify Goguryeo.

Only in the later period, as Wang Mang grew increasingly obstinate in formulating military strategy, did Yan You's repeated remonstrations go unheeded, and they gradually grew apart. Yet Yan You still fought for the Xin dynasty to the very last moment.

Diwu Lun, in his hemp mourning clothes, passed by Wang Mang. Perhaps influenced by the occasion, his gaze upon him was much colder.

"Yan Bogong did not fail Wang Weng."

"And does Wang Weng feel he failed Yan Bogong?"

Diwu Lun indeed knew Wang Mang's sore spots. These words seemed to tread on Wang Mang's tail, stinging him into immediate retort: "You little wretch! Back then, when Bogong was trapped in Wancheng, I was about to send a great army to rescue him. Had you not struck at Hongmen, Bogong would not have been trapped in that endangered city. If I failed him, did you live up to Bogong's nurturing and teaching?"

Diwu Lun raised his head to the sky and sighed: "That I could not save my late teacher, that Lord Yan could not see with his own eyes the might of the Wei army at Hongmen, could not watch me use the arts of military authority and strategy he taught to sweep across the realm — this is my lifelong regret."

"But that was helplessness, for even if I had led my forces to Wancheng back then, I fear we would have been defeated and destroyed as well."

"Afraid before even fighting?" Wang Mang immediately perked up, glaring at Diwu Lun: "You little wretch had the guts to plot treason, but no strategy to pacify the rebels?"

Diwu Lun, however, turned the words right back on him: "Exactly. Under Wang Weng's command, even if the enemy were only rabble like the Greenwood and the Red Eyebrows — never mind myself or Yan Erudite — even if Sun Wu, Wu Qi, or Bai Qi were reborn, they could not win!"

"The art of war weighs five factors, assesses by calculation, and seeks the truth of the situation. The first is the Way. The Way is what makes the people share the ruler's will, so they will live and die with him without fear. Under Wang Weng's rule, the people hate the Xin day and night; they would rather throw in their lot with the Red Eyebrows and Greenwood, rather yearn for the house of Han. Even if one won a lucky victory for a moment through military skill, defeat would be certain in the end!"

"When the Xin army met the Red Eyebrows, it suffered the defeat at Chengchang. When it fought the Greenwood again, it was the utter rout at Kunyang — three hundred thousand men, smashed by Liu Xiu with a mere three thousand cavalry. The greatest farce under heaven."

"And after turning against Wang Weng?" Diwu Lun pointed at the soldiers drawn up in formation at Hongmen to receive Yan You's coffin. "The main strength under my command was originally reorganized from the Xin army's Boar-Rush Braves. Yet when they fought the Greenwood, they destroyed Liu Bosheng at the Wei River and smashed the bandit horde at Tong Pass. When they met the Red Eyebrows, they won the resounding victory at Heji — Fan Chong was taken alive."

The same soldiers — under Wang Mang, utterly worthless; under him, battle honors piled up. The difference speaks for itself.

After needling Wang Mang into speechlessness, Diwu Lun waved a hand. "I have no interest in comparing myself with Wang Weng. Let us drop this."

"But as for Wang Weng's crimes — aside from recklessly debasing the coinage, the Five Equals and Six Monopolies, and standing by while the great river flooded — there is one more: exhausting the army in endless war!"

"Leaving the chaos at home ungoverned, you dispatched troops in every direction. Three campaigns against Gouding, no success. Five strikes at the Xiongnu, no victory. You opened a frontier war at the Western Sea and stranded the Central Plains army in Kucha in the Western Regions. Apart from my teacher Lord Yan pacifying Goguryeo, fires blazed on all four fronts. Over a hundred thousand troops were lost, without a single victory. You dragged Yizhou to ruin and set the border of Bingzhou ablaze with beacon fires. Lord Yan warned you again and again, but you would not listen. In private he told me he could not fathom what Wang Weng was thinking."

"Today, before the coffin of my late teacher, I will ask plainly."

Diwu Lun said, "Why did Wang Weng insist on sending armies against the four barbarians? Was it truly only to win their momentary submission, to receive their lowered titles, and to have them honor you as the orthodox Emperor?"

At any other time, Wang Mang would have scorned to answer Diwu Lun's interrogation. But today, facing Yan You's coffin, his throat moved, and he spoke the thing he had kept hidden in his heart for years, something he could not easily confide — because it ran counter to the orthodox Confucian Way.

He raised his head, gazing into the distance, and murmured:

"At the time, I had studied the maps made under Emperor Wu of Han, and I thought… since the Central Plains has surplus people but not enough land — overpopulation, ceaseless annexation — while the four barbarians have surplus land but not enough people, why not recruit the surplus people to go forth on campaign and seize land from the four quarters? Then extend colonization, and in the end, transform the barbarians through the Xia?"