Chapter 541: Lun and Xiu (Part Two) — End of Volume Three

"Today is the twenty-eighth of the fifth month. By our agreement, has Wenyuan already marched east and attacked Pei County?"

Far away in Chang'an, Diwu Lun stood before a map, watching with keen interest the "grand surprise" he had prepared for Liu Xiu.

The news that Liu Xiu planned to ascend the imperial throne on the twenty-eighth of this month, fulfilling the prophecy "At the four-seven juncture, fire shall rule," was in fact no secret — to build momentum, young Xiu had long since sent men to spread the chenwei prophecies.

As early as last month, Diwu Lun had already learned from urgent reports sent back by frontline spies. Although Ma Yuan, who oversaw military affairs in Yu Province and Yan Province, had limited mobile troops and tight grain supplies, Diwu Lun still issued three consecutive edicts ordering Ma Yuan to march within the next few days.

Because his expansion had been too rapid — after destroying the Red Eyebrows he swallowed over a dozen commanderies in one gulp — Diwu Lun's forces were stretched thin, but Liu Xiu was surely in an even harder spot than he was.

"Liu Xiu is now pulled in four directions at once: one force is stationed at Ming'e in Huainan to guard against Cen Peng; one force, commanded by Feng Yi, is garrisoned in E and Changsha; he must also leave garrison troops in Jiangdong; and in the end, the army he brought to Pei County in Xu Province numbers no more than twenty or thirty thousand."

So Diwu Lun had Ma Yuan deploy thirty to forty thousand men to probe eastward in a tactical test, with the objective of seizing Pei County — even a temporary occupation would suffice.

Feng and Pei belong to the great Huang-Huai plain. There are no strong cities like Pengcheng, nor the interwoven river networks of Huainan. It will not be easy for Liu Xiu to hold.

Diwu Lun's calculation was this: "If Liu Xiu avoids battle and easily abandons his Sishui Pavilion, then even if he successfully proclaims himself emperor, giving up the land where the Liu clan's dragon arose will deal a severe blow to his prestige."

"And if Liu Xiu does not retreat…"

Then the Wei army would have seized upon his weakness. In his secret orders, Diwu Lun instructed Ma Yuan to carry out continuous tactical feints — to threaten Pei County without truly attacking — pinning Liu Xiu's main force at Feng and Pei, while another army dispatched from the Central Plains would be more than enough to sweep through Huaibei, which was virtually undefended. With luck, they might even sever Liu Xiu's communications with Huainan and Jiangdong.

But Diwu Lun also knew the caliber of his opponent. As he saw it, Liu Xiu would most likely retreat. He only wondered how he would retreat, and how he would minimize the negative impact.

News from the front was still unknown. It was in the evening that Huan Tan, whom Diwu Lun had just appointed as "Guanglu Dafu" and put in charge of Wang Mang's posthumous name, came to report that it had been decided.

"So quickly?"

If this matter had been handed to the old Erudites of the Six Classics, they would have wrangled over it until next year. Even with Huan Tan given full authority, Diwu Lun had expected him to agonize for ten days or half a month. He never imagined he would be so decisive.

Diwu Lun asked in surprise, "In a single day — Junshan, surely you did not choose it at random?"

Huan Tan replied, "After all, Old Wang was once this subject's former master. As early as when the realm mistakenly believed Old Wang was dead, I was already pondering his posthumous name. Now, I have merely written it down."

Although addressing each other as lord and subject felt strange, Huan Tan had to get used to it. In the present realm, Diwu Lun was the man most likely to end the strife.

With that, he solemnly presented the chosen posthumous name to Diwu Lun.

"Yi?"

"'Fond of altering and changing the old is called Yi.'"

Diwu Lun laughed. "It does suit Old Wang's style. But these two words, 'altering the old' — does it mean overturning the established and changing the constant, or restoring antiquity?"

"Both are possible," Huan Tan said. "Old Wang claimed to restore antiquity, but in truth he had no idea what antiquity was really like. In many matters, he relied purely on fanciful imagination — appearing old, but in reality new."

Diwu Lun nodded, yet still felt it was somewhat insufficient. "Though I executed Old Wang on behalf of Heaven's will and the people's hearts, his life was far too complex. A single posthumous name, I fear, cannot encompass it."

Huan Tan had come prepared. He presented another sheet of paper, and on it was the character "Kua."

"'Grandiose words devoid of substance is called Kua'…" Diwu Lun sighed with emotion. "That is Old Wang, without a doubt."

Thus, Wang Mang became "Xin Kua Yi Emperor." These two posthumous names, while not malicious, were not favorable either — Diwu Lun and Huan Tan could be said to have shown restraint.

After this matter was tentatively settled, Diwu Lun brought up another subject. "Junshan, have you read the essay that placed first in policy discourse in this civil service examination?"

Huan Tan was a man quite curious about new things and often able to accept them. Upon first arriving in Chang'an, he had taken great interest in the techniques that had emerged in recent years, such as paper and woodblock printing. Diwu Lun's newly established civil service examination was no exception. Huan Tan praised it, saying, "Selecting scholars by examination not only nets talent for the realm, but the authority rests with the sovereign. Those who pass owe no private favor; those who are rejected harbor no resentment. A great good."

However, the man Diwu Lun had placed first in policy discourse this time had drawn some quiet criticism at court, because the examinee's essay could not be called brilliantly written, and its classical citations were somewhat lacking. A casual reading gave the impression of a very ordinary piece.

Some even speculated that the father of this first-place examinee, Liang Hong, had been a guard at the north gate of Chang'an during the Xin dynasty and had once made it convenient for Diwu Lun's family to sell coal briquettes — hence the favor. Later, Liang Hong's family met with chaotic times; his father died of illness, and he wrapped him in a mat and buried him. Afterwards, he sought refuge with Diwu Lun and was taken in at the Diwu clan charity school…

But Diwu Lun did not even show favoritism to the sons of the imperial Wu clan — he even deliberately held them back a step. How could he have specially elevated Liang Hong because he was the son of an old acquaintance?

In front of Huan Tan, Diwu Lun praised him: "Although Liang Hong's writing style is still somewhat immature, in writing, substance surpasses form!"

He explained the reason. "Countless scholars attacked Wang Mang's governance, but Liang Hong alone pointed out that the root of Wang Mang's ills lay in his obsession with restoring antiquity. Yet the Three Dynasties are like shadows in a pond — their reality is hard to see. Governing in such a manner, how could chaos not ensue?"

Huan Tan understood. Every one of Diwu Lun's measures had a purpose. "Your Majesty wishes to criticize the discourse of restoring antiquity?"

"There is no need to criticize it," Diwu Lun sighed. "After Old Wang's failure, the restoration of antiquity has already been declared bankrupt. Yet when scholars reflect, they tend to focus on Wang Mang's personal virtue, his wisdom or folly, while glossing over the matter of restoring antiquity itself. With such a superficial reckoning, how can one get to the root of it? When jackals block the road, why ask about foxes!"

He looked at Huan Tan. "Junshan, you are not tolerated by the conventional Confucians, but you too once supported Old Wang. You should know — why are the crowd of Confucians so obstinately fixated on restoring antiquity?"

Huan Tan smiled bitterly. "This subject also grew to manhood reading the books of the sages, and once thought the same. The reason, in the end, is that from its very beginnings, Confucianism took self-restraint and the restoration of ritual as its duty, emulating the virtue and institutions of the sage kings of antiquity. Every word must invoke Yao and Shun as ancestors, and take Wen and Wu as models."

"As Mencius said: 'The compass and square are the ultimate of circles and squares; the sage is the ultimate of human relations. To wish to be a ruler, fulfill the way of the ruler; to wish to be a minister, fulfill the way of the minister. Both need only model themselves on Yao and Shun. To not serve one's ruler as Shun served Yao is to disrespect one's ruler; to not govern the people as Yao governed them is to harm one's people.' This is what is meant by 'modeling the Former Kings.'"

This was the core of the Confucian canon: imagining that in antiquity, during the time of Yao and Shun, the rulers were sage and enlightened, the people simple and honest, society peaceful and stable — that was the Age of Great Peace. Then, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties were the Age of Approaching Peace. After that, the Spring and Autumn, the Warring States, and the Qin were the Age of Disorder. And these three ages cycled endlessly.

No wonder, then, that even during the Zhao and Xuan reigns of the Han, when the realm was at peace, the Han Confucians were still dissatisfied, feeling that the present was not sufficiently "kingly" and always hoping to govern purely by virtue, to move from the Age of Approaching Peace back into Great Peace. As the Han dynasty decayed, this current of thought grew ever more radical, directly leading to the rise of Wang Mang and Liu Xin and their reforms — it can be called the source of all evil.

Though Wang Mang was destroyed, this theory of the three ages is still held as the supreme standard. The dogmas of the classics are still chanted over and over. Yao, Shun, and the Three Dynasties remain the lodestar of history. In their bones, many Confucian scholars still do not believe that restoring antiquity was wrong — only that Wang Mang was wrong.

But Diwu Lun hoped that the maverick Huan Tan might have a different view. After all, this was a man who openly denied the chenwei prophecies and even said things like "When a man dies, it is like a candle extinguishing." Although Diwu Lun himself was an anomaly, he still felt that Huan Tan was the person most likely to share a common language with him.

Diwu Lun thus asked, "Then how does Junshan now regard the restoration of antiquity?"

Huan Tan sighed. "In the time of Han Emperor Xuan, after the Crown Prince had read the Confucian classics, he openly criticized Emperor Xuan for not dismissing the Confucian scholars and for failing to use the governance of Zhou. Emperor Xiaoxuan rebuked him, saying, 'The Han house has its own institutions, rooted in a mix of the way of the hegemon and the way of the king. How could one purely rely on moral teaching and use the governance of Zhou?'"

"Looking back now, restoring the Three Dynasties of antiquity is truly out of step with the times — esteeming the past and denigrating the present."

Huan Tan offered Diwu Lun several suggestions he considered important, which amounted to: balancing the kingly and the hegemonic, honoring the worthy and loving the people; clarifying laws and regulations, purifying the administration of officials; making rewards and punishments certain, and commands and orders effective; honoring the sovereign and humbling the ministers, with authority unified under one.

It seemed as though he had said a great deal, and yet as though he had said nothing, for these were largely the governing methods of the Wen, Jing, and Zhongzong reigns of the Han.

After Diwu Lun gladly accepted the advice, he shook his head. "These are all old institutions of the Han. Junshan, you say restoring antiquity is improper, but in my view, you have merely shifted from 'taking the way of Yao and Shun as the ancestor and expounding it' to 'taking the institutions of Wen and Wu as the model and displaying them.' That is all!"

"If I am not mistaken, Liu Xiu in the south will likely also take the restoration of the institutions of Emperors Wen, Jing, and Xuan as his governing way when he proclaims himself emperor."

Huan Tan was taken aback by Diwu Lun's words.

What else could there be?

If the Former Kings are hard to model, then model the Later Kings. He had already transitioned from the learning of Confucius and Mencius to the heterodox learning of Xunzi. Any further deviation and he would become one of the Legalists and the School of Names — he had to stop there.

Be that as it may, the "Later Kings" in Huan Tan's mind were none other than the various emperors of the Han. Although more realistic compared to Wang Mang, was this not itself a form of restoring antiquity?

Huan Tan was already the most maverick Confucian in the world, yet he still had his limitations.

Diwu Lun merely shook his head with a smile and gestured that Huan Tan could take his leave.

Huan Tan walked halfway out of the hall, then abruptly turned back, staring at Diwu Lun — this man he had once taken for a mere "village scholar."

"Could it be that, apart from modeling the Former Kings and modeling the Later Kings, Your Majesty has another path?"

Diwu Lun nodded slightly.

"What is it?" Huan Tan was quite stirred. Was Diwu Lun truly that anomaly? He bowed deeply to Diwu Lun. "I beg Your Majesty to instruct me!"

Diwu Lun, however, kept his lips sealed and instead said with a smile, "I am the opposite of that 'new-style Yi-exalter Emperor.' He had flowery words but no substance; I put substance first and flowers later. It's too early to speak of this — when I am ready to put it into practice, you'll understand, Junshan!"

……

After Huan Tan left, Diwu Lun was alone again in the vast hall.

"Ah."

That sense of emptiness and solitude struck his heart once more — not because, as Emperor, he stood too high and the heights were cold, but a loneliness of the mind.

In this present age, Diwu Lun could find a faint resonance with Wang Mang, that false transmigrator, because although Wang Mang had taken the wrong direction, at least he possessed ideals.

Diwu Lun had thought he could converse freely with Huan Tan, but he had underestimated the brand of the era.

Whether Huan Tan would gradually and imperceptibly change in the future, Diwu Lun did not yet know, but if Huan Tan learned what Diwu Lun intended to do, he would probably still regard it as something shocking and outrageous — perhaps even think him madder than Wang Mang!

"I want to remake the theory of the Three Ages, and utterly destroy this delusion that the present is inferior to the past!"

But this could not be achieved merely through scriptural debate, nor through a single administrative decree. If he became obsessed with those means, how would he differ from Wang Mang?

It had to be done through real, tangible change — just as water-powered machines, erected one after another along the rivers, saved time and labor and eventually made people take them for granted, even beginning to seek more convenient methods of production; just as paper and woodblock printing, slowly replacing bamboo slips and wooden tablets in Chang'an, let knowledge no longer be confined to the Five Classics, no longer monopolized by a handful of scholar-official clans and academic magnates.

It also had to be done by using epoch-making tools of dissemination to cultivate a group of new Confucians like Liang Hong, who would slowly compete with the old Confucians and ultimately replace them entirely.

This was a task that would take decades, perhaps even a lifetime, to complete.

Only then could Diwu Lun's thoughts and reflections be spread throughout the world, and only then could he truly make the world believe one point:

"The Three Ages do not lie in the past."

"The Three Ages lie in the future!"

If one finds the wrong direction, no matter how hard one strives, like Wang Mang, it all comes to nothing.

But before that, Diwu Lun had to first deal with his enemies.

He returned to the map. Of the vast realm under Heaven, Diwu Lun already occupied nearly half. The territory of the State of Wei stretched from the four commanderies of Hexi in Liang Province in the west to the Liaodong Peninsula in You Province in the east — the entire north was dyed in his color.

But the entire south was still carved up by emperors and kings great and small. In the southwest was the Gongsun Cheng family; in the southeast was Liu Xiu… Diwu Lun had already named the regime Liu Xiu established after proclaiming himself emperor the "Eastern Han."

Diwu Lun still regarded Liu Xiu as his greatest enemy and obstacle.

Diwu Lun greatly respected this opponent and did not stint on giving him the highest praise: "Liu Xiu might truly be able to return the realm to the days of Wen and Jing, of Zhao and Xuan, letting the people enjoy a few decades of peace and quiet once more."

But it still could not escape the cyclical law of history. In the long days that followed, it might even prove inferior to the Han…

Of course, this iron law was one that Diwu Lun's own dynasty could not escape either.

"But I, at least, can lead the realm to skip a few cycles, accelerate forward, and take a few more steps!"

Therefore, this was not merely a struggle between dynastic clan names — this was also a struggle over the realm, over which direction the future would take!

"Whether Gongsun Shu or Liu Xiu, no matter how brilliant and wise, they are still no more than spokes on the wheel, turning with the wheel without knowing it."

"But I…"

Diwu Lun made a vow. He and Wang Mang shared the same starting point, but their directions were diametrically opposed. Diwu Lun's gaze would not look to the Three Ages of Yao and Shun, nor to Han Wen or Xiao Xuan — it would forever fix only on the direction from which he had come!

His eyes blazed with light.

"I shall guide this wheel of history, find the correct bearing, and move forward!"

……

PS: End of Volume Three.

(Volume Four is the final volume of the main story. It won't be too short — all plot threads will be tied up — nor will it be too long; it will go until the story reaches a complete conclusion.)

Content with too long a timeline for the follow-up will be placed in the Volume Five extra collection. The extras should still be free.