Chapter 542: The Diwu Encirclement Net

The land of Shu comprised two commanderies: Shu Commandery to the west, and Guanghan Commandery to the east. The territory of Guanghan was in truth the collar and lapel of Chengdu, and within it, Mianzhu County was the most critical. As the thoroughfare linking north and south in Shu, now that the Cheng family regime was gradually consolidating and the people's livelihoods were recovering, Mianzhu was once again growing bustling and lively.

It was the third year of the Cheng family's Longxing reign, the sixth month. Outside Mianzhu County, emerald bamboo groves lined the great road leading to Chengdu, and an endless stream of carriages, horses, and travelers moved along it. Yet at a small pass, beside the post station, a checkpoint had been set up, and every southbound cart and horse had to stop and submit to inspection.

Seeing himself blocked, and with quite a few dignitaries and nobles ahead of him still being meticulously questioned, a grandee who had traveled south, travel-worn from the north, grew impatient and had his attendants present his tally of office:

"I am an honored guest of the Gongsun Emperor, the Grandee of the Palace of Glorious Fortune, Fang Wang! I have urgent business proceeding to Chengdu. Let me pass at once!"

This was the title Gongsun Shu had bestowed upon Fang Wang to facilitate his mission of persuading the Xianlian Qiang kings on behalf of the Cheng family. But now that the table had been wiped clean, was the rag still of any use?

The moment he heard this name, the black-clad official in charge of the pass checkpoint felt his eyes light up. It's you I've been waiting for!

At the official's summons, a squad of Shu soldiers, with the utmost politeness, "invited" Fang Wang and his party to the lodge beside the pass. Ignoring Fang Wang's threats, they merely urged him to be patient: "There are bandits running rampant ahead, the roads are unsafe, and the sky is growing dark. Sir Grandee, you would do better to rest a night at the lodge and travel on tomorrow."

Fang Wang, who had traveled through many commanderies and was widely experienced, sensed something deeply amiss in this affair. The fact that his attendants were being separated from him made it all the more ominous. And as a clamor arose outside, and every last person in that large lodge was driven away, a possibility occurred to Fang Wang, and his face instantly drained of color.

At nightfall, just as he was peering out by the window, planning to find a way to escape, the door was suddenly thrust open — and before that moment, Fang Wang had not heard a single footstep!

Fang Wang was horrified. He spun around, only to see a scholar in brocade robes and a tall cap walking in with a smile: "Master Fang, in the dead of night, what fine view does the window afford?"

"So it is Zidan."

The newcomer was none other than Gongsun Shu's trusted confidant, the Assassin-Suppressing General Jing Han, who claimed descent from Jing Ke and had trained many assassins.

Although Jing Han was a subordinate general of Gongsun Shu, as a man of Pingling in Youfufeng, he and Fang Wang happened to be from the same hometown and had associated in their youth. When Fang Wang had acted as liaison between Wei Ao and Shu, making several trips between Liangzhou and Chengdu, it was Jing Han who had provided the introductions.

Seeing it was an old acquaintance, Fang Wang breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart immediately seized again. He probed with a testing remark:

"Zidan, have you come here today to take my head?"

Jing Han looked astonished: "What makes you think so, sir?"

Fang Wang said: "I concluded my mission for the Gongsun Emperor among the Qiang and returned to Wudu, only then learning that Feng Yan had already gone south. Reckoning the time, he entered Chengdu at least half a month before me."

"That man bears a grudge against me. I have long known his character — he excels at persuasive rhetoric, his tongue as cunning as a spring. Half a month's time, if he has been granted an audience with the Gongsun Emperor, he will surely achieve the same effect as Li Si persuading King Huai of Chu. Watching the 'mighty Qin' campaign against the Central Plains, he will wish to kill 'Qu Yuan'!"

Jing Han burst out laughing: "What virtue or ability does the gentleman possess, to style himself as Qu Yuan?"

Fang Wang, however, showed not a shred of modesty: "Now that Diwu Lun has concentrated heavy troops in Guanzhong and Liangzhou, Shu's forces are likewise compelled to deploy to Hanzhong and Wudu, without a single day's respite. Seeing no hope of advancing north, His Majesty may well be inclined to adopt Li Xiong's counsel and turn south, desiring peace with Wei. At such a moment, if Diwu Lun sends an envoy making my death a condition, His Majesty would likely agree."

"Yet if Fang Wang dies, it will be enough to chill the heart of King Wei and sow doubt among the Qiang. The death of one man could disrupt the Cheng family's state policy — its effect would be comparable to Wu killing Wu Zixu or Zhao executing Li Mu."

He fixed his gaze on Jing Han, guessing at Gongsun Shu's possible course of action: "The Gongsun Emperor understands this as well. Fearing that killing me outright would make King Wei suspicious, it would be best to have assassins strike midway and shift the blame onto bandits."

Jing Han spread his hands: "You have said it all, sir."

Fang Wang composed himself, sat back down, and stroked his beard: "But if you meant to kill me, a single soldier would suffice. Since Zidan has come in person, might I still have a sliver of hope?"

Jing Han also took a seat and lowered his voice: "The gentleman is indeed one of the cleverest men under heaven. Feng Yan has indeed had an audience with the Gongsun Emperor, urging a peace between Wei and Shu, and the condition was the gentleman's head."

"But His Majesty is brilliant and divinely martial. To kill a meritorious man like you now for the sake of a temporary peace would be falling right into Wei's stratagem of sowing discord, and would surely chill the hearts of all scholars. That is why he specially sent me to see you."

Jing Han, however, was quite protective of Gongsun Shu. The real reason their emperor refused to kill Fang Wang was more a matter of face — doing so would feel too much like being coerced by Diwu Lun. You are an emperor, and I am an emperor too. On what grounds should I?

"So he sent Zidan to inform me? To tell me not to enter Chengdu?"

Jing Han had his personal trusted attendant present a batch of gold: "His Majesty dares to request that Master Fang leave the territory of the Cheng family for a time…"

So they wanted him to flee. Once Fang Wang fled, Gongsun Shu would be able to give a satisfactory account to both Wei and Wei Ao.

Fang Wang found it utterly laughable. A ruler who resorted to such petty cleverness was indeed fit only to hold a corner of the realm. If he aspired to contend for all under heaven, he would never amount to anything.

Looking at those gleaming yellow ingots of gold, Fang Wang knew he could not stop Gongsun Shu, much less persuade him to kill Feng Yan and break the alliance with Wei.

Yet Fang Wang still wanted to make one last effort. He looked only at Jing Han and heaved a long sigh: "Though the Gongsun Emperor's peace with Wei may temporarily ease the threat from the north, in my view, it is nothing but drinking poison to quench thirst!"

"At present, the Wei Fifth is at the height of his power, making the annexation of all under heaven his personal mission. Though the Gongsun Emperor has lost Liangzhou and been defeated at Ziwu, his strength remains. If he does not rise up now to contend for the Mandate of Heaven, but instead retreats, wishing to be a Western Count, honoring teachers of textual exegesis, befriending recluses as guests, laying down arms and halting warfare — that is serving Wei with self-abasing words. In this way, Diwu Lun can eliminate his southwestern worries and devote himself entirely to eastern campaigns."

"Of the realm today, Diwu Lun holds two parts out of four. Give him a few years to unhurriedly sweep away the King of Wu, Liu Xiu, and the King of Qi, Zhang Bu, and he will surely turn back to plot against Yi and Jing. By then, it will be seven parts, with Wei holding six, and the Cheng family alone holding one — isolated and helpless, doomed to repeat the tale of the Warring States, when Qi sat on the fence and was ultimately destroyed by Qin."

Fang Wang cupped his hands and said: "In my foolish reckoning, the Cheng family, possessing the natural defenses of the Shu roads and the Three Gorges, is fully capable of defending itself. Even if Diwu Lun had several hundred thousand crack troops, he would find it hard to invade. If, while the realm is not yet utterly hopeless and heroes can still be recruited, you resolutely execute the Wei envoy Feng Yan, it will surely shock all within the seas, and the Gongsun Emperor will be revered by all the lords of the realm!"

"And Wei, unable to make peace with Shu, would have to maintain the dignity of a ten-thousand-chariot state internally and supply the three armies externally. Besieged by the various lords, it would mass great armies in Yong, Liang, Bing, and other provinces. The burden would press upon the common people; officials and folk alike would grow distressed and weary, unable to bear the orders from above. Should the Yellow River burst its banks once more, the danger of a collapse like the Xin Mang's would reappear before long!"

After all was said and done, Fang Wang still wanted Feng Yan dead. But seeing Jing Han shaking his head repeatedly, he tempted him: "Zidan is a loyal minister of the Cheng family. Did you not also support the northern campaign to contend for Yong and Liang in the beginning? I have heard that you have trained many death-sworn warriors for the Gongsun Emperor. You need only dispatch men to assassinate Feng Yan in the desolate wilds on his journey back to Wei, and that would be enough to wreck the peace treaty!"

"Hahaha."

Jing Han could not help himself: "As expected of Master Fang — your own life is in peril, yet you still brood unrelentingly on taking your enemy's life. You are not wrong: making peace with Wei is indeed drinking poison to quench thirst. But if we do not drink this poisoned wine now, the first to die of thirst will surely be Yizhou!"

Diwu Lun possessed the fertile lands of the north, while Yizhou, having supported the war against Gouding during Wang Mang's reign, was already quite exhausted. Although Gongsun Shu governed the commandery ably, he had not managed much recovery. Moreover, Hanzhong and Wudu were separated from Ba and Shu by towering, precipitous mountains. Maintaining heavy troops there, or even plunging into war, consumed an immense amount of manpower and resources.

Therefore, they absolutely could not rashly break with Wei. Restoring national strength and firmly controlling the commanderies south of Ba and Shu, such as Qianwei, was the superior strategy.

Jing Han glanced at Fang Wang and said: "Though you and I are from the same hometown, and now serve the same court as ministers, my sole devotion is to the Gongsun Emperor, and in every matter I put the interests of the Cheng family first. As for you, sir, perhaps you act for the sake of King Wei, or perhaps to settle a personal score with Diwu Lun and Feng Yan. This is the greatest difference between you and me."

"The Gongsun Emperor has already resolved to request that you leave the state. If you remain obstinate and still seek to sabotage the Wei-Shu peace treaty, then I, Jing Han, fear I will no longer be so courteous to you."

This left Fang Wang quite discomfited. It meant that in his struggle against Feng Yan, he had lost yet another round.

But just as Fang Wang, head hanging, was about to leave, Jing Han stopped him once more.

"Where does the gentleman intend to go?"

Fang Wang raised his head and straightened his frame: "To the east! To Huainan and Jiangdong!"

Under Jing Han's astonished gaze, Fang Wang declared loudly: "The present situation closely resembles the Warring States period. Diwu Lun is like mighty Qin, having annexed the north — his state is strong and his people numerous. The remaining lords are like the six states, their balance of power long since shattered. And Feng Yan is exactly like Zhang Yi, peddling Horizontal Alliance rhetoric everywhere, sowing discord, hoping the lords will submit to Wei so they can be picked off one by one."

"At a time like this, the only thing that can counter the Horizontal Alliance is uniting the weak to attack the one strong!"

"In the past, I was able to hasten to Nanyang and persuade the Gengshi Emperor, Liu Xuan, to join forces with the Western Han against Diwu Lun — thinking what others had not thought. Today, I can likewise hasten to the east, seek an audience with Liu Xiu, and expound the situation under heaven, so that the King of Wu does not turn against the Cheng family over Jingzhou and fall into Diwu Lun's cunning trap!"

This was Fang Wang's conjecture: among Feng Yan's terms, there was surely some trick like ceding Jingzhou to the Cheng family, precisely to make Gongsun Shu become obsessed with seizing a few impoverished commanderies, while allowing the Wei army to free its hands to deal with the east first and the west later.

Since he could not persuade Gongsun, he could only go and persuade another man. He hoped that one would be a clever man.

"Since Zidan doubts Fang Wang's loyalty to the Gongsun Emperor, very well. I have just returned from among the Qiang, and now, without pausing to rest my horse, I shall continue to serve as His Majesty's envoy to the various lords. This gold shall serve as my traveling expenses."

Fang Wang said: "Not only Liu Xiu."

"The King of Qi in Qingzhou, Zhang Bu."

"Even the Hu-Han Lu Fang, and the Xiongnu Chanyu."

"I shall go to them all, and in the end, bring the lords into a Vertical Alliance, with the Gongsun Emperor as its supreme leader and hegemon!"

Under Jing Han's astonished gaze, Fang Wang laid out his "grand plan" in its entirety.

He intended to weave, across the whole realm, a grand coalition aimed at Diwu Lun.

Even if Diwu Lun were a true dragon, he would still find his limbs bound and his flight checked within this vast encircling net!

……

"Fang Wang has fled in secret, his whereabouts unknown?"

A few days later, Feng Yan, who was in Chengdu, finally learned of this. He understood at once what the Cheng family's ruler and ministers were planning. Instantly flying into a towering rage, he sneered: "Does the Gongsun Emperor take me for a three-year-old child? I have tarried in Chengdu for nearly a month, and this is the result I get?"

Right in front of Li Xiong, who had been tasked with handling him, Feng Yan sighed heavily: "It seems these peace talks between Wei and Shu are impossible!"

Li Xiong knew about Gongsun Shu releasing Fang Wang. He neither supported nor opposed it — it was the most suitable choice. Although Li Xiong favored advancing south, his disagreements with Jing Han were all for the sake of their own lord.

Feng Yan's words grew sharper and sharper: "I will not hide it from you, Lord Li. His Majesty the Wei Emperor once said that men suffer from never knowing contentment — having gained Long, they then covet Shu. It was only thanks to my utmost persuasion, pointing out that Shu's terrain is perilous, that every campaign turns one's hair white, and that the south is low-lying and sweltering, that His Majesty finally let the matter drop."

"Yet the Cheng family has secretly released Fang Wang, a fugitive criminal wanted by our court. I, Yan, must regard this as gross disrespect toward the Wei Emperor! The Cheng family has no sincerity whatsoever regarding peace talks! Once word of this reaches Chang'an, I fear the war hawks will once more clamor to use troops against Shu."

Feng Yan threatened: "If the Gongsun Emperor wants war, then let there be war!"

"Right now, His Majesty personally commands a hundred thousand troops massed in Guanzhong. Should he strike south, he could flood the Ziwu and Chencang routes and swallow Hanzhong whole. There is also the Rear General Wu Han, commanding a hundred thousand troops in Liang Province — crossing Mount Qi and following the Western Han River, he can take Wudu. And there is General Cen Peng, also with a hundred thousand troops stationed in Nanyang, advancing west to press upon Shangyong!"

Yet the louder the roar, the more it betrays a hollow heart. Diwu Lun's state policy was east first, west later, and he would not easily change it.

That was why this diplomatic mission — which Feng Yan had begged and pestered to be sent on — was entirely dispensable. He had hoped to borrow a knife to kill a man: by executing Fang Wang, he could shake Wei Ao and tear a huge hole in the Cheng family's northern defenses. If Wei Ao, out of fear, then defected to Wei, the Cheng family and the various Qiang would find it far harder to join hands, which could ease the "festering sore" on the State of Wei's western flank.

In the end, his mission bore no fruit, and he would lose face returning home.

Over on that side, Fang Wang felt he had lost a round, but over here, Feng Yan did not feel he had won either. This time, both men had plainly lost.

And so, Feng Yan began engaging in strategic bluff, hoping to extract some concessions to make it easier to report back.

For instance, he demanded that the Cheng family hand over Qiang Circuit, where Wei Ao was stationed, on the grounds that it was a county under Longxi's jurisdiction. If they did so, the two states could demarcate their borders and refrain from aggression.

But however much Gongsun Shu dreaded war, he knew that Qiang Circuit was the passageway linking the Western Qiang, and that it lay on the upper reaches of the White Dragon River, vital to his outer perimeter's security. He absolutely refused.

Feng Yan settled for the next best thing, demanding that the Cheng family's Jia Fu division in Nanyang pull back to the traditional border pass between Hanzhong and Nanyang — Yun Pass.

Li Xiong haggled with him for several days and finally agreed that, of the two counties in the western part of Nanyang commandery controlled by the Cheng family, one could be yielded and handed over to the Wei General Cen Peng, Defender of the South…

A single paltry county — far too little, its impact on the overall situation negligible. Thus, the two sides remained locked in a standoff, neither at war nor at peace. Feng Yan's mission to Shu was likely to end in failure, with nothing to show for it.

He knew he could extract nothing more on the diplomatic stage, so he could only look for gains elsewhere — such as requesting to pay respects at the tomb of Diwu Lun's teacher, Yang Xiong, and, while he was at it, extorting a bit more tea, cinnabar, and the like from Shu to take back and inflate into "tribute of apology."

Of course, the greater task was gathering intelligence on Chengdu. With the routes between Ba-Shu and Chang'an severed, it was hard to send spies in. The diplomatic mission was the eyes and ears for learning the recent situation in Yizhou. Feng Yan knew that Diwu Lun's feigned civility with Gongsun Shu was only temporary; sooner or later, he would still come to swallow Ba-Shu.

As it happened, he had arrived at an opportune moment. A few days before Feng Yan was to head north, a servant who had been out gathering information returned and presented several coins, saying they were the new currency Gongsun Shu had recently ordered issued.

Recalling that His Majesty the Wei Emperor had also been pondering the reissue of coinage some time ago, Feng Yan was instantly intrigued.

He saw that the coins were black, of the traditional square-holed shape. He picked one up and weighed it in his hand — it had considerable heft. Examining its composition more closely, Feng Yan was immediately dumbfounded, then burst out laughing.

"Iron coins?"