Chapter 532: Trembling with Rage from Head to Toe

Lately a saying has been circulating in the Guanzhong region: with the Xin dynasty of Wang Mang destroyed and the realm plunged into chaos, the greatest beneficiaries are the Five Tombs.

Just look — that White Emperor Gongsun Shu in Shu is a man of Maoling. Although his regime has also employed many local officials from Ba and Shu, a great number of Gongsun Shu's in-laws, old friends, and clansmen have flocked to him from the Five Tombs and been given important posts.

As for the State of Wei, that goes without saying. The Diwu Lun family rose from Changling, and among the civil and military officials at court — men like Ma Yuan, Geng Yan and his son — the greater half hail from the noble houses and bold knights-errant of the Five Tombs.

Apart from those local magnates whose lands Diwu Lun purged and seized, the youths of the Five Tombs have eagerly thrown themselves into the new regime, either enlisting in the army as officers or sitting the civil service examinations to become court gentlemen. People of the time all feel this is the fruit of a century of quiet accumulation by the Five Tombs under the Han: from old families devoted to letters and ritual, to bold heroes who consorted with knights-errant — as long as they are willing, both civil and military paths offer them a chance to rise to prominence in Wei.

Yet in Anling County, one of the Five Tombs, there happens to be a man who gained a place at court early on, only to resign midway and withdraw from office.

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Ban Biao had resigned from his post in the Ministry of Ceremonies over a year ago and had shut himself away in his study ever since. But in that year, the world outside had been turned upside down. Apart from the collapse of Liu Ziyu's "Northern Han," the Western Han regime in Liangzhou that Ban Biao had once regarded as the "legitimate succession" had also been attacked and destroyed by Diwu Lun. Street talk had it that the child Ying had been presented by Wei Ao to Gongsun Shu, and that even old Liu Xin, who had propped up the child Ying, had seen the light and come to believe that Diwu Lun was the true Son of Heaven, and so had come alone to offer his allegiance, only to die of illness in Luoyang...

As a diehard partisan of Han restoration, with no real-world cause to cling to, Ban Biao could only pour his anguish into bamboo slips and wooden tablets — he still refused to use the paper that had become fashionable in Chang'an, and he sneered even more at Diwu Lun's use of woodblock printing to mass-produce screeds like "The Virtue of Han Is Exhausted" and scatter them across the realm, dismissing them as soulless, rigid texts.

Truly soulful writing could only come from the slow-moving brush of a scholar, just as Ban Biao was doing now: he was making final preparations to compile a "Continuation of the Records of the Grand Historian."

"In the time of Emperor Wu, Sima Qian composed the 'Records of the Grand Historian.' From the Taichu era onward, because the Grand Historian passed away, the record was left blank and unrecorded. Later, busybodies have occasionally patched together the events of the times, but their work is mostly vulgar and unworthy to follow in that book's footsteps. Moreover, it at most records the affairs of Emperors Zhao and Xuan; as for the reigns of Yuan, Cheng, Ai, and Ping, and even Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han, it rarely touches upon them."

As a historian with a sense of duty, Ban Biao naturally had to shoulder the heavy task of filling in the gaps and supplying what was missing.

And so, relying on the convenience of his work at the Tianlu Pavilion in Wei, he had continued to collect surviving historical records and, in the countryside, had broadly gathered variant accounts. Now that his materials were initially complete, he could begin writing.

But Ban Biao not only looked down on Chu Shaosun and the others who had written sequels to the Records; he was also quite critical of Sima Qian himself, feeling that the Grand Historian's worldview was deeply flawed!

"When Sima Qian discusses the Great Way, he places the Yellow Emperor and Laozi first and the Six Classics last."

"In his preface on knights-errant, he disparages retired scholars while heaping praise on the treacherous heroes of the Warring States."

"And then there is his chapter on the biographies of money-makers — the whole piece worships power and profit and shames poverty and low station. This world bustles and hustles, but is it not the sage sovereigns and emperors who, by providing all things and putting them to use, create this momentum? What has it to do with the common people?"

The thing that dissatisfied Ban Biao most of all was that Sima Qian had clearly lived in the glorious age of Emperor Wu, when the Han was at its zenith, yet when he wrote his history, he merely placed the Han at the end of the hundred kings, lumping it together with the Qin and Xiang Yu — it was simply incomprehensible.

In Ban Biao's heart, the Han inherited the mandate of Yao and established its imperial enterprise; its achievements were not only unprecedented, but would never be surpassed!

Wang Mang's restoration of antiquity was a restoration of the pipe dreams of the Three Dynasties.

But in Ban Biao's consciousness, the best ages were those of Wen and Jing, Zhao and Xuan — never to be regained. Writing a history of the Han was also the only way Ban Biao could resist reality.

However, although Ban Biao intended to treat the Han as a separate book, he would not call it the "Book of Han," because Ban Biao still harbored a sliver of hope.

"Aside from the Hu Han, which is a mere puppet of the Xiongnu and not worth mentioning, although the Xuan Han, Northern Han, Liang Han, and Western Han have either been destroyed or collapsed, the house of Han is not yet entirely extinguished."

Ban Biao turned his gaze to the southeast: "I hear that Liu Xiu, the King of Wu in Huainan and Jiangdong, has already defeated the Red Eyebrows and controls two provinces, with a hundred thousand fierce tiger guards under his command and a hundred battle-tested officers. Is this situation not better than when Emperor Gao was trapped in Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong? Diwu Lun may have seized the north by luck, but who is to say that in the future, the King of Wu cannot resolutely launch a northern campaign and use the weak to defeat the strong?"

Just at that moment, a clamor arose from the street outside his house — a noisy, endless hubbub. Greatly annoyed by the disturbance, Ban Biao opened his door and went out to look, only to see a crowd gathered on the main street outside, buzzing with discussion.

"Elder brother, what has happened?"

Ban Biao asked Ban Si, his elder clansman, who had stepped out earlier and already made a round outside. Both brothers had chosen to live in seclusion among the common people, but for different reasons: Ban Si truly had no interest in fame or fortune and was indifferent to all official careers, while Ban Biao's seclusion was due to his political leanings.

But no matter how much distance they kept, as members of the Five Tombs community, even if they did not ride the waves of the changing times, they would still be brushed by the ripples — it was very hard to remain untouched.

Ban Si shook his head and told Ban Biao: "It's the men from the county who went to Chang'an for the metropolitan examinations — they've returned."

Since the first civil service examination the year before last, holding the exam every other year had become the established rule. Because Diwu Lun was following the old precedents of the Imperial Academy examinations and Emperor Wu of Han's testing of scholars across the realm, it was not considered particularly jarring. Moreover, in these chaotic times, the old patronage chains that had relied on the Filial and Incorrupt recommendation system had been shattered, so there were not many opponents. After the disorder of the first examination, participation this year was even greater — after all, the top three tiers of the examination all led to real official posts.

Due to the warfare, the examination date had been postponed from the third month to the fifth, giving the scholars of the Five Tombs ample time to prepare. No longer fumbling in the dark as lone fighters, they now formed groups based on family or master-disciple lineage, "reviewing" and "guessing the questions" together on ordinary days, and when the time came, they set out as a group and returned together.

As long as a single person passed, it was a victory for the entire family or school.

And so it was that scholars who, due to age or other reasons, had been unable to sit the exam, were now crowding around the returnees, asking about the questions!

"In this year's classics section, what were the proportions for each of the Five Classics? Which master's lineage got to set the questions?"

"In mathematics, did they test on 'millet and rice' or 'volumes and integrals'? Was it hard?"

"What was the general knowledge question about? Last year it was on planting winter wheat — this year they wouldn't test on how sows give birth, would they?"

The crowd burst into laughter at this. The classics questions were the turf of the Erudites of the Five Classics, but every year the various schools would come to blows — literally — over whose interpretation would be the standard. It was said that one old Gongyang scholar, a peaceable man for many years, had, over the issue of who would set the standard for the "Spring and Autumn Annals" questions, raised fists and feet against two old Guliang scholars and beaten them so badly they had to see a doctor.

As for mathematics, the proportion of marks had been raised a little this year — this was the key to widening the gap between candidates, forcing scholars to take it seriously whether they liked it or not.

But the thing that best reflected the direction of the examination, and which was said to determine the rankings across the three tiers, was still the policy essay!

What exactly was the policy essay topic? This was something everyone cared deeply about before the exam, and unlike the other sections, it was easy to remember!

A scholar with a loud voice and a good memory cleared his throat a few times and loudly proclaimed:

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"Jia Yi of the Han wrote 'An Essay on the Faults of Qin,' discussing the rise and fall of Qin."

"Now the Xin has been abruptly destroyed, having held the realm for fifteen years — comparable to the Qin. And Wang Mang has been captured, with all under heaven judging his crimes. You gentlemen are hereby tasked with writing for me an 'Essay on the Faults of Xin,' to elucidate how the Xin lost the realm."

"That is the policy essay topic!"

For a moment, clamor once again filled the street. Inside their courtyard, the Ban brothers looked at each other. Ban Si laughed in spite of himself, thinking the Emperor certainly knew how to play games, while Ban Biao was greatly shocked.

"Diwu Lun is far too arrogant!"

Ban Biao said: "In the early Han, the reflection on the faults of Qin did not begin with Jia Yi alone, but originated with Lu Jia. Yet even Lu Jia only roughly recounted the signs of Qin's rise and fall, producing twelve chapters of writing, the 'New Discourses,' which he presented to Emperor Gao of Han — and that, too, was only after the realm had been unified."

He reined in his astonishment and thought to himself: "The realm is not yet settled, and Diwu Lun already wants to sum up the lessons of the Xin dynasty's rise and fall — does he think that the matter of securing the throne is already his for the taking?"

Ban Biao was furious. The very reason he wanted to write a history of the Han was that he felt Diwu Lun, in order to establish his own legitimacy, had deliberately denigrated the Former Han far too much, and that he himself must set forth the facts and tell the world the truth!

Yet before he could even lift his brush, what was Diwu Lun doing? Impatiently turning the page and beginning to sum up the destruction of the Xin dynasty.

Recalling how his own "Discourse on the Mandate of Kings" had been drowned out by those shoddily printed articles, Ban Biao could not help but feel that he was always one step behind. Stubborn as he was, Ban Biao would never fabricate things; he had already poured his heart and soul into collecting historical facts.

And Diwu Lun? With a mere few dozen words, and using official rank as bait, he had tricked the scholars of the realm into speaking on his behalf for the sake of profit.

Ban Biao was quite literally one man against the cacophonous tongues of the world. His conscientious work would, he feared, once again be drowned out by the printed policy essays that would spread across the realm.

This matter sent a rush of angry blood to Ban Biao's heart. In the sweltering heat of the fifth month, his whole body broke out in a cold sweat, his hands and feet turned icy. Could this world not be set right?

"The Xin was an illegitimate intercalary dynasty, a false regime — it can only be condemned, what 'rise' is there to speak of?"

Trembling with rage from head to toe, Ban Biao turned around, shivering, and resolved to shut himself in his study for three years, determined to speed up and produce his work.

"I shall add a 'Biography of Wang Mang' to my 'Continuation of the Records of the Grand Historian,' denouncing him as a traitorous minister who usurped the Han, in order to critique right and wrong!"

However, only Ban Biao, with his deep-seated prejudice against Diwu Lun, thought this way. As for the policy essay in this examination, the scholars who sat it were full of praise.

The previous topic, "The Virtue of Han Is Exhausted," had still carried a whiff of forcing people to pick a side. Now, as the situation shifted and Diwu Wei controlled most of the northern provinces and commanderies, the momentum toward unification was strong. As for the former Xin dynasty of Wang Mang — when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; when the wall topples, everyone gives it a push. In discussing its faults, no one would have any psychological burden at all!

Moreover, with the fall of Xin still so recent, most people had lived through the chaos and suffering of its final years. Even if their grasp of history and classical scholarship fell short, they could still write with a strong sense of personal investment. Word had it that on the day of the examination, the halls of the Imperial Academy rang with the furious scratching of brushes. When the authorities officially sanctioned political commentary, who wouldn't throw themselves into it?

Diwu Lun was rather pleased with this stratagem of his.

"Letting the common people vote on Wang Mang's life or death is borrowing the will of the masses."

"Ordering the examination candidates to debate the Xin Dynasty's gains and faults is making use of the scholars' hearts."

In this way, public opinion from both the upper and lower strata was tightly bound by Diwu Lun. Only with their support could he gain the confidence needed to turn the page on the Xin Dynasty's history once and for all!

Of course, to his ministers, Diwu Lun never told the whole truth. He merely said, "I appear to be inquiring into Xin's faults, but my real purpose is to see how the realm's scholars believe a great Wei should govern."

This policy essay was also a fact-finding survey. Naturally, no one could possibly feel nostalgia for the Xin Dynasty, but Wang Mang's fifteen years of institutional reforms had dug countless deep pits for Diwu Lun. The failures of those policies had inflicted too much suffering upon the people. For some of those pits, even if Diwu Lun felt Wang Mang's original intent was sound and wished to fill them back in, he first had to test the depth of the waters and see whether doing so would provoke a fierce backlash.

The test proved no small matter. Once the examinations were over and the Office of Ceremonials had completed its preliminary screening, the essays qualifying for the top three tiers were brought before Diwu Lun. As the Wei Emperor read them, he felt only a headache coming on.

His prediction had been correct. Reflection on the former dynasty was certainly a good thing, but it also gave rise to an unavoidable phenomenon.

Overcorrection.

In the early Han period, it was believed that the Qin Dynasty had fallen so swiftly because it abolished feudalism in favor of commanderies and counties. Wishing to strengthen the trunk by spreading its branches, the Han first enfeoffed kinsmen. Thus, after its founding, it reestablished feudalism and enfeoffed the various lords on a grand scale.

Now, the scholars taking the examination clearly held the same "overcorrection is necessary" mindset. On matters such as currency reform, land equalization, the abolition of slavery, state control over the economy, and external expansion, they disparaged the Xin Dynasty as utterly worthless.

Take currency, for example. Many scholars who had suffered deeply from Xin's reckless tampering with the coinage system actually proposed that, since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors had maintained peace under heaven without currency, and since people were bartering anyway, in their view there was no need to issue new coinage. They should just carry on like this!

If only there were no currency, there would be no host of economic problems. What talents, truly fit to wrestle with Wang Mang himself!

Diwu Lun marked a large cross right across those policy essays. He read on for a while, but found not a single piece that fully matched his intent. Heaving a sigh, he stopped reading and had someone pack up the dozen or so passable essays, preparing to set out from the palace.

Zhu Di acknowledged the order. "Where does Your Majesty wish to go?"

"Where Wang Mang is."

Diwu Lun said, "Judging examination papers is no easy task, especially these policy essays. I cannot settle them alone. I must find the man involved and have him help me weigh them."

He then laughed. "If the First Emperor of Qin had seen Jia Yi's 'The Faults of Qin,' with its line 'It failed in benevolence and righteousness, and so the balance of offense and defense shifted,' what would the Dragon Progenitor have thought?"