Chapter 557: Returning Home

In times of chaos, one wrong step, one misjudged person, often means utter ruin beyond redemption.

Yet in this world, there still exists a man who, after taking three wrong paths in a row, remains a regional "warlord" to this very day.

Whenever Li Tong, courtesy name Ciyuan, looks back on the past, his heart still pounds with lingering fear. Back then, Diwu Lun came to Nanyang on official business by Wang Mang's order. Li Tong, as a local magnate, received him, but he dismissed Diwu Lun as merely "a passerby." Who could have guessed that Diwu Lun would seize leverage over him and extort him thoroughly?

If it had ended there — out of blows, friendship grows — and he had pledged himself to Diwu Lun, it would have made a fine tale. With his family's resources and manpower offering fuel in snowy weather, by now his standing would be no lower than Ren Guang's, would it? But the Li family saw that the Xin dynasty's days were numbered and busied themselves plotting rebellion with Liu Bosheng and Liu Xiu of Chongling. The news leaked ahead of time, however, bringing ruin to the family and annihilation to the clan. Only Li Tong and a few of his brothers fled fast enough to survive.

If he had stuck firmly and faithfully to Liu Xiu, he would now be a founding hero of the "Eastern Han" petty court, wouldn't he? Who could have guessed that Li Tong and his brothers would instead choose to bow to Greenwood and prop up the incompetent Liu Xuan? Though they scrambled their way to princely titles, within a few years Liu Xuan himself was fleeing south in panic — let alone the empty princely fiefs of the Li brothers, utterly useless.

Facing the blade of the Red Eyebrows, they could only abandon their estates and lands and, with a handful of private followers, flee in terror once more to Liu Xiu.

Because Li Tong had married Liu Xiu's youngest sister as his second wife, Xiuer treated him rather well — not only enfeoffing him as a marquis but also granting him the post of Grand Minister of Agriculture. But Li Tong had arrived far too late, and without bringing assets into the group, his ranking naturally had to fall to the back; he held no real power. During Liu Xiu's decisive battle with the Red Eyebrows at Pengcheng, Li Tong stayed behind in Guangling, soothing the populace, repairing the palace walls, building schools, and running Jiangdu city in perfect order, laying the foundation for Liu Xiu to establish his capital.

Afterward, Li Tong felt that victory or defeat in the realm was hard to predict and that his family had better not charge to the very front again. He wished to submit a memorial pleading illness and requesting retirement, begging to go to Jiangdong to recuperate. But Liu Xiu would not agree and issued an edict:

"The Marquis of Gushi ruined his family for the state, devised the grand stratagem, aided the divine, and assisted Our sagely virtue. He has rendered great merit to Han. Yet now the realm is not yet settled — how can Ciyuan modestly decline and resign his post?"

Liu Xiu turned around and appointed Li Tong as "Governor of Yuzhou." Li Tong could only obey the order and set out with a bitter face.

Liu Xiu's brother-in-law Deng Chen traveled with him and encouraged Li Tong, saying: "Ciyuan, you and I are both kinsmen of His Majesty. Liu, Deng, and Li are like the Ji and Jiang of old. The Grand Duke Wang and the four peaks of the Jiang clan aided King Wen and King Wu, and only thus was the eight-hundred-year Zhou mandate established. Now that the great Han is in peril, how can you and I not give our all to assist His Majesty?"

Li Tong answered with mumbled assent, but he also knew that the degree of trust placed in him and in Deng Chen was not the same. Deng Chen had truly ruined his family to aid Liu Bosheng and Liu Xiu, never once betraying them from start to finish. The Li clan, however, bore a certain responsibility for Liu Bosheng's death. One must know that the one who had originally egged Liu Xuan on to dispatch Bosheng to the Guanzhong region to fight Diwu Lun to the death was none other than Li Tong's cousin, the Greenwood-Han Prince of Wuyin — Li Yi!

Liu Xiu seemed to hold no grudge whatsoever over this matter. He still enfeoffed Li Yi as a marquis and packed him off to Jiangdong, which amounted to house arrest in the Wu and Kuaiji region. And toward Li Tong, he appeared to still trust and employ him.

But Li Tong knew…

"I must prove anew the Li clan's loyalty to the Liu Han."

Though he understood he had no choice but to go, Li Tong did not know whether this step of his was right or wrong. After all, Liu Xiu wanted them to go to Nanyang to confront Diwu Lun head-on. They would inevitably give deep offense, and from then on, whether in victory or defeat, there would be no more room to turn back!

Recently, however, he had heard about the land policy the Wei army was implementing in Nanyang — they actually recognized the land the Red Eyebrow bandits had parceled out to poor peasants, tenant farmers, and slaves. Cen Peng had even dispatched a large number of officials to take over and carry out the Red Eyebrows' plan, riddled with holes as it was. This meant that even if the powerful families who had fled abroad surrendered to Diwu Lun and returned to Nanyang, they would have not an inch of ground left to stand on!

Abandon your illusions — the chance to turn back was long gone!

Thinking thus, Li Tong could only grit his teeth. After returning behind the three passes of Ming'e, he set about laying out Liu Xiu's plan.

In Liu Xiu's strategy, the forces to seize Xiangyang were divided into four routes. Generals like Feng Yi were responsible for "attacking the army." Deng Chen was tasked with "attacking the alliances" — he was to go and persuade his nephew Deng Feng to aid the Han. Li Tong was in charge of "attacking the stratagems": he planned to set a fire behind the southern front of the Wei army!

One must understand that Nanyang is a large basin, and within Nanyang there is a smaller basin. To the west and south of Sui County and Chongling lies Greenwood Mountain; to the east and north lies the Tongbai range. This made the area somewhat isolated from Wancheng and from Jiangxia to the south, forming a semi-independent geographical unit. It connects to Mian'e in the east and shields the Han and Mian rivers in the west, lying between Xiang, Ying, Wan, and Ye — truly a place of strategic importance.

Li Tong was naturally more than familiar with this region: "In the Spring and Autumn period, when King Wu of Chu sought to extend his sway over the Central Plain, he first subjugated Sui and Tang, and only then struck at the State of Cai. Thereupon, all the Ji-surnamed states of Hanyang were utterly extinguished."

In his view, this was undoubtedly a giant fissure in the Wei army's defensive line. Although the powerful families of Nanyang had fled if they could, and those who hadn't had mostly been wiped out along with their fortified manors by the Wei army, they had intermarried and entangled their roots over centuries. There were always fish that slipped the net, hiding in the mountain forests and turning into bandits. As the foremost surname of Nanyang in former days, Li Tong was the ideal candidate to be sent to liaise with the local "heroes."

After the family steward whom Li Tong had sent back to his hometown to gather intelligence returned, he swore an oath and told him: "The Wei rebels have inherited the Red Eyebrows' governance, seizing the lands and houses of the various families. Part is used for military colonies; the rest is divided up and rented out to landless commoners. Occasionally, a powerful family returns home, but the land to be restored to them is met with layers of stonewalling. The gentry are all seething with indignation, rubbing their fists and waiting only for the great Han royal army to fight its way back!"

The situation looked splendid. Li Tong relaxed a little. He only needed to send men in to make contact and negotiate, and with Han army support, get the participating Nanyang powerful families to rise up, and he could throw this whole area into chaos. Once that momentum was built, there was a chance to spread the flames from the flank all the way to Wancheng. By then, Cen Peng would need to dispatch heavy troops to suppress the unrest and would have no leisure to concern himself with Jing and Xiang.

"In Sui County there are ninety-nine ridges among the hills. The remnants of Greenwood and the heroes of Nanyang, fleeing the calamity of the Red Eyebrows, have mostly taken shelter there."

"And Chongling, bordering Greenwood, also has a great number of Liu clan descendants who have fled into the mountains, awaiting the right moment to counterattack and reclaim their homeland!"

"As long as we make both counties rise simultaneously, and the various villages link up into one stretch, we can trap the Wei officials inside the county seats. That way, the local Wei troops will become trees without roots, water without a source, and will have to wait for relief from Wancheng."

The plan looked quite fine while it remained on the bamboo slips. However, after Li Tong sent the first batch — several hundred clansmen, sworn men, and private followers — along the hill paths near Sui County into Nanyang Commandery, the anticipated blossoming everywhere and uprisings on all sides did not materialize. The thousand-man rising in Sui County held out for seven or eight days before being beaten back step by step into the hills.

The men sent to Liu Xiu's old home, Chongling County, fared even worse. In barely three days, they were wiped out by the local garrison. Several of Liu Xiu's nephews were either killed or captured. The men who managed to flee back, weeping with snot and tears, sobbed their tale to Li Tong:

"The tenant households and slaves of Nanyang — not only do they refuse to recognize their own village folk and kin, they even forget kindness and betray righteousness! For the sake of a few mu of land, a few rooms, they pick up iron pitchforks and help the Wei troops strike down their former masters!"

……

In late January of the third year of Wude (AD 27), in Chongling County, Nanyang Commandery, the last Chongling Liu clansman holding out in stubborn resistance was captured by peasants who turned their faces and refused to recognize their former masters. He was trussed up tightly and delivered to the county office to face interrogation by the Assistant Magistrate.

When he learned that the Assistant Magistrate before him was named Liu Gong, and that the young constable at his side was called Liu Penzi, he could not help but stare in shock, then burst into fury, cursing them bitterly.

"I do not understand. You also bear the surname Liu — why do you aid the tyrant and abet his crimes?"

Liu Penzi, dressed in a thief-catcher's uniform, felt rather aggrieved and explained: "We are descendants of Prince Jing of Chengyang. You are descendants of Prince Ding of Changsha. It's not the same."

"Can one brush write two different Liu characters? Are you not descendants of the Exalted Emperor? Prince Jing of Chengyang in former days slew the Lü and restored the Han — how could he have such unworthy posterity?" The Chongling Liu scion grew angrier still and began to let his tongue run wild:

"Could the rumor be true — that Prince Liu Fei of Qi was not the Exalted Emperor's son, but a bastard whelp sired by who-knows-who with Widow Cao…"

Before he could finish his tirade, Liu Gong waved a hand and had the county runners stuff his mouth shut.

"Enough."

Liu Gong sighed: "We'll get nothing out of this interrogation. Take him out and hand him over to the gentlemen of the army."

Touching the seal and cord at his waist, and then looking at this Wei official's robe and cap, Liu Gong felt only absurdity: "Indeed — how is it that I, a descendant of the Liu clan, have become a Wei official, bearing arms against my own kin?"

He and his younger brother had originally lived quiet lives in Shi County at the foot of Mount Tai, enjoying a life of plenty. But all of that changed after they were abducted by the Red Eyebrows.

The two brothers were forced to work for the Red Eyebrows — the elder brother helped with the accounts, the younger went to herd cattle. Liu Penzi even became a student of Huan Tan! Although, with the reforms of that "Old Farmer," slavery was nominally abolished within the Red Eyebrows and Liu Penzi gained his freedom, they still had to assist the number-illiterate Red Eyebrow army in measuring land…

There is no need to recount what happened afterward. The Red Eyebrows' land distribution became a complete mess. With the great battle at Heji, Fan Chong was captured, and the Nanyang Red Eyebrows receded like the tide. When the locals abandoned them and welcomed the Wei army, they did not hesitate in the slightest.

Liu Gong and his brother had no time to flee. With the Qing-Xu-Haidai accent the two of them spoke, they would certainly be regarded as Red Eyebrow "remnants" and be hunted down and killed by the locals. Better to surrender to the Wei army.

After being locked up for a few days, the two were both released and even received an audience with Cen Peng.

It was not on account of their Liu surname, but because the brothers had once worked for the "Old Farmer." Before Wang Mang died, his final wish was that Diwu Lun would pardon those "good men" in the Red Eyebrow army who had aided him.

Diwu Lun did not break his promise. Moreover, Cen Peng was under orders to re-divide and grant land in Nanyang, to carry out and complete what the Red Eyebrows had wanted to do but failed to do well. The two brothers were thus able to find employment again, and Liu Gong even rendered some minor merit. After the land reform ended, he was assigned to Chongling County and actually became "Acting Assistant Magistrate." Liu Penzi held no official post, merely following his elder brother and doing odd jobs — after living through the unspeakable chaos of the great turmoil, the two brothers never wished to be parted again.

Reflecting that he had personally sentenced these "Restore the Han" righteous men to death, Liu Gong still felt rather ill at ease. It was Liu Penzi who consoled him, saying: "Elder Brother, just think — everyone says Wang Mang usurped the Han, yet he twice saved you and me. Once, he made me no longer a slave; the other time, he beseeched the Wei Emperor to grant us clemency. As bearers of the Liu surname, should we hate him, or should we be grateful?"

Liu Gong nodded. Indeed, had they not encountered enough such mismatches of name and reality? The only thing that made him uneasy was: a hundred years hence, when the brothers went down to the Yellow Springs, how would they face Prince Jing of Chengyang?

"Master Huan said that when a person dies, it is like a candle flame utterly extinguished — there is not even a soul left."

Liu Penzi said: "That being the case, the Yellow Springs naturally do not exist. Elder Brother need not worry at all."

"You little brat." Liu Gong sighed with deep feeling. Looking at his younger brother, who now had a bit of yellow fuzz at the corners of his mouth, he turned a thought over in his mind: "At present, though the State of Wei is strong and flourishing, we are stationed in a border county where victory or defeat is hard to predict. If by chance the Han army and the local heroes fight their way back, I will surely die!"

"My younger brother is clever — there is no great need for him to stand with me beneath a perilous wall. His teacher, the Grand Master Huan Tan, has already returned to the Wei Emperor's side and is still trusted and valued. I have long wanted to send Penzi to Luoyang — at the very least, it would be safer than in Chongling."

This thought had arisen more than once. Liu Gong only hoped that Huan Tan could receive his letter soon.

That being said, Liu Gong still did not quite believe the Wei army would be defeated. General Cen Peng was a man skilled in warfare; he had stationed quite a few garrison troops at key points like Sui County and Chongling. Beyond that, to prevent the powerful families returning home from stirring up trouble, the court had also taken precautions months in advance, launching a massive propaganda campaign among the local people: If Liu Xiu and the civil and military officials under him were to "return home," the common folk who had benefited from the Red Eyebrows and the Wei army and received land would suffer utter catastrophe!

"The Liu clan of Chongling, the Deng clan of Xinye, the Lai clan, the Fan clan of Huyang, the Li clan of Wancheng — if those people return with the false Han army, they will not only demand back the land you till and the estates you live in, but will also pursue old debts. Those who were slaves before will be slaves once more!"

After being plowed through twice by the Red Eyebrows and the Wei army, the class structure of Nanyang Commandery, once teeming with powerful families, had undergone a tremendous change. At the grievous cost of halving the registered population, the people who now propped up the entire commandery were no longer the great households, but the small landowning peasants whose land grants had been recognized by the Wei state's officials.

Simply shouting "the wolf is coming" at them was not enough. Under the direction of the Embroidered Uniform Guard branch stationed in Wancheng, they even arranged for a troupe of traveling performers to "put on plays" in each county.

It was no longer a plotless acrobatic display, but a story with flesh and blood, telling of a certain slave in Nanyang who lived a life worse than a beast of burden in the household of a great magnate named "Liu Wenbo."

Then the Red Eyebrows came, but his days did not improve — called a foster son, he remained a slave. Only when the Wei army drove out the Red Eyebrows was this slave finally allowed to be a man. The land distribution the Red Eyebrows had promised but never delivered was granted; he even took a wife, and the land tax was far lower than the tribute he had once paid to his magnate master.

Just as life was about to turn sweet, the false Han army came charging back!

In the hundred-plays, the first thing the Han army did after returning to Nanyang was settle old rents and reverse accounts — tying slaves back up with ropes, sending men door to door to settle scores and collect back rent, stripping the poor tenant farmers' homes of anything of the slightest value. Many households were left without so much as a pot, bowl, ladle, or basin; even newly wedded beloved wives were seized away.

The hundred-plays spared no effort in vilifying Liu Xiu and his ministers. The most classic episode was when the great villain named "Liu Wenbo" returned to Chongling and bellowed a single line at everyone:

"We Lius are back!"

This line successfully stirred the righteous fury of the lower classes. They truly could not bear to lose what they now had. In the past, the Chongling Liu clan had been a mix of good and bad — Liu Xiu and his brothers had treated their tenants and slaves tolerably well, but Liu Xuan and the main branch of Chongling would casually maim and kill.

Every time he recalled this line, Liu Gong felt deeply uncomfortable, yet he could not help but admire how the Wei Emperor and his ministers had precisely grasped the minds of the Nanyang people: when Liu Bosheng and his brothers, along with Li Ciyuan, rose against Wang Mang, after their victory, only the great magnates and Greenwood bandits grew fat; the lower classes gained nothing. Now that they had finally received land after the great calamity, who would willingly hand it back? And so they actively assisted the Wei army, and in three days the counterattacking Chongling Liu clansmen were beaten to the ground.

As Assistant Magistrate, Liu Gong could only steel his conscience and carry out the order to "kill the body and slay the soul," personally directed by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, against the captured members of the Chongling Liu clan.

"Liu Xiu boasts of blazing fire-virtue. These rebels must naturally also be dressed in red convict's garb, sent up onto the very platform where Liu Xiu and his brother first raised their troops, made to suffer stoning by tiles, and only then executed and their heads hung on display!"