Chapter 577: A Decision That Goes Against the Ancestors

Just pin all the blame on Deng Yu — that's the right move!

After this battle, quite a few Han officers who had fought in it harbored exactly that thought. Wang Chang was one of them; he even drafted a very, very long impeachment memorial, determined to denounce Deng Yu in the harshest terms!

Yet the blame-apportioning assembly Wang Chang had envisioned never came. When he and a bare-shouldered, guilt-laden Deng Yu returned to Jiangxia to pay their respects to Liu Xiu, they were summoned aboard a warship pitching and rolling under the pounding of the Yangtze tide. Liu Xiu, with evident anguish, reviewed the great defeat — and laid the primary cause of failure upon himself!

"In the Jing-Xiang campaign, over ten thousand soldiers perished, scattered, or deserted. General Ma met a tragic end. The grief weighs constantly upon my heart. Chancellor Deng indeed bears the fault of misusing the troops, yet when I search deeply for the root of this calamity, the blame rests with me alone! The offense lies upon my own person; I dare not absolve myself."

Liu Xiu's self-reflection came from the depths of his heart: "I flattered myself on my mastery of strategy, believing I was ever-victorious. From hundreds of li away, I relied on the maps and troop dispositions you all sent back, devised the plans, and ordered you to execute them — thinking there could be no error. Little did I realize that the shape of battle is like water, unpredictable and ever-changing. War is a realm of death; it must never be taken lightly! To carve a notch on the boat to find a fallen sword — how could that ever succeed? That was my first mistake."

He continued: "The Jingzhou forces were originally under the command of the Grand General Who Guards the West, Feng Yi. Yet I also ordered Grand Chancellor Deng Yu to bring reinforcements. The reinforcements outnumbered the main army, and Chancellor Deng's rank and title were higher than Minister Feng's, yet I never explicitly stated under whose command the three armies should unite. Thus the two generals each fought on their own. That was my second mistake."

At this point, Liu Xiu stopped and lowered his gaze to Deng Yu, who knelt on the deck, his pale shoulders bared. Sweat was already beading on Deng Yu's back. He knew the Emperor's unspoken words: Liu Xiu had believed Deng Yu's talent was equal to the great task, yet the result had been utter defeat — a grand "surprise" delivered to Liu Xiu. Misjudging the man for the post — that was the third mistake.

Liu Xiu took the blame upon himself, shouldering a catastrophic defeat that no single minister could bear. But punishment still had to be meted out. He accepted Deng Yu's plea for punishment, stripping him of the post of Grand Chancellor and demoting him to Remonstrant, yet he rejected the request to surrender the marquisate, merely docking a thousand households from his fief and letting the matter rest.

Deng Yu was naturally overwhelmed with tearful gratitude, but Wang Chang seethed with indignation, feeling that Liu Xiu was playing favorites with Deng Yu — punishing a crime without real punishment. How could that be worthy of Ma Wu, who had died in battle?

But Liu Xiu's very next act left Wang Chang with nothing to say.

Liu Xiu made a decision that went against the ancestors!

"Posthumously enfeoff Ma Wu as King of Minzhong, with the posthumous name 'Zhongwu.' Select a site at Jinling Settlement in Jiangdong to construct his tomb and a shrine for his soul. All necessary goods and provisions shall be supplied by the state, without burdening his family. The royal title shall extend its grace to three generations of his line!"

At these words, the assembled ministers erupted in uproar. The Great Han had its own ancestral precept: the Oath of the White Horse — if any not of the Liu clan were made king, all under Heaven should unite to strike him down!

Setting aside the Lü clan kings of the early years, from Emperor Wen of Han to Emperor Ping, this oath had been steadfastly upheld. Powerful ministers like Huo Guang and Wang Mang had never crossed this forbidden line. After the fall of the orthodox Han, the regimes of Liu Ziyu in Hebei and Gengshi in the south had briefly "reversed the course of history," recklessly enfeoffing many a bush-league king.

But Liu Xiu, having also established a latter Han, had restored the Han system and refused to recognize Gengshi's indiscriminate enfeoffments. Not only were there no kings of a different surname, even among kings of the same surname, he had only posthumously enfeoffed his elder brother Liu Bosheng. None of the close kin of the Chongling Liu clan had been made kings.

Until this very day, when Liu Xiu suddenly posthumously recognized Ma Wu as a feudal prince — and judging by the manner of it, this was a substantive enfeoffment from the outset! It must be understood that although men like Wang Chang had muddled their way to royal titles under the Gengshi regime, what they got was nothing more than an empty name.

Hearts began to stir with restless ambition. Faced with the ministers hypocritically trotting out the Oath of the White Horse in opposition, Liu Xiu's words rang with resolute force!

"Though I speak of restoring the Han, in name it is a revival, but in truth it is a refounding! Times have changed, the world has moved on. Can the mark the Former Han carved upon the boat be used to find today's sword? My mind is made up; no further remonstration is needed."

Liu Xiu had his reasons: "From the moment Zizhang raised his troops in the Greenwood, to the great battle of Kunyang, he performed great deeds. He chose death over surrender to Wei Ao. Such meritorious virtue cannot be comforted in the afterlife by anything less than a royal enfeoffment!"

The real truth was that nothing less would suffice to steady people's hearts. With the failure to capture Xiangyang, the Eastern Han was already perilously close to collapse! The actual losses were substantial enough in themselves, and after this defeat, those whose loyalty was never firm grew restless, while even those still loyal to Liu Xiu found it hard to shake off the shadow of failure.

Hence Liu Xiu's action — using a major piece of news to blow away the mood of defeat. If Diwu Lun were to assess it, he would say...

"Xiu, my boy, you're turning a funeral into a celebration!"

Liu Xiu was thinking of more than just the dead. Looking at Wang Chang and the others, he said: "Naturally, for those who can aid me in resisting Diwu Lun, who can restore the Great Han and return us to the old capital, how would I be stingy with carving out territory and enfeoffing domains? Exert yourselves, all of you!"

He now fully understood the helplessness his ancestor Liu Bang had felt in the early years, generously granting royal titles to generals and casually giving away a dozen commanderies at a time — all because of a position of weakness! When Liu Bang had been utterly routed by Xiang Yu, he once asked Zhang Liang: "The feudal lords will not follow me; what is to be done?" Zhang Liang's counsel was: "If you can share the realm with your ministers, their allegiance can be secured at once." In the end, forced by unavoidable circumstances, he employed the strategy of "sharing the realm" to win over the allies watching neutrally and the ministers harboring treacherous designs, securing their efforts to destroy Chu.

History always has its parallels. As Liu Xiu put it: "My founding enterprise is harder than that of Emperor Gao! And Diwu Lun is stronger than Xiang Ji!"

The seals and ribbons in Liu Xiu's hands could no longer be clutched tight; he had to properly distribute some of them to give his ministers the motivation to fight fiercely for the Great Han. Otherwise, he had no idea when his throne and altars might be overturned and destroyed by Wei.

But Liu Xiu was, after all, somewhat more sincere than Liu Bang, and his control over his subordinates far exceeded that of his ancestor. He had no intention of someday, after victory, turning on them to strip the kings and slaughter the meritorious. There was simply no need. Ever since arriving in Jiangdong, Liu Xiu had keenly felt one thing: the south was simply too vast, too sparsely populated.

Take, for example, the Minzhong (Fujian) region posthumously enfeoffed to Ma Wu — clearly the territory of an entire commandery, where the powerful Minyue Kingdom had once been established, yet it had only a single county. After Emperor Wu of Han destroyed Minyue, he relocated all the inhabitants from the walled cities away from this mountainous, coastal region. For two hundred years, it had remained occupied by wilderness, roamed by Shanyue tribes, while the registered Han commoner households numbered no more than ten thousand.

A place like that — if not enfeoffed, was keeping it going to lay eggs? Granting it to feudal lords to establish states would, on the contrary, spare the court a considerable recurring expense for maintaining stability.

Whatever the purpose, Liu Xiu's move did indeed somewhat lift the wilting morale. Wang Chang ceased his silent grumbling about Liu Xiu's favoritism, and the rest of the ministers, with greater hope for the future, all kowtowed and sang loud praises.

"Jie and Zhou blamed others; their downfall came swiftly. Yu and Tang blamed themselves; their rise surged mightily. Your Majesty's virtue may be looked upon in the same light as Yao and Shun!"

"Zhonghua, now that Xiangyang cannot be taken, the strategy for dividing the realm into three that you previously laid out for me at my bedside has also become a notched-boat sword. What is to be done now?"

After the assembled ministers had withdrawn, Liu Xiu kept Deng Yu alone on the ship. With no outsiders present, he suddenly raised this matter.

Deng Yu, still stripped to the waist, lowered his head in shame: "Your servant has lost the army and the general. I am a man awaiting punishment, unworthy to speak again of military affairs."

"Nonsense!"

Liu Xiu had been suppressing his anger in front of others, but now it erupted completely. Pointing at Deng Yu, he scolded: "You indeed lost a battle, consigning ten thousand soldiers to their graves in the Han River, and costing me my beloved general. But if we speak of the greatest loss from this campaign, it is that the Deng Zhonghua who once dared to expound the great trends of the realm now cowers in fear, not daring to utter a single word!"

After his tirade, Liu Xiu draped one of his own garments over Deng Yu's bare back, helped him up, and said with earnest gravity: "In Emperor Gao's time, there were the Three Excellencies. Zhang Liang devised strategies within the command tent to decide victory a thousand li away; Han Xin commanded a host of a million, ever-victorious in battle, ever-successful in assault. In leading troops in combat, you are far inferior to Feng Yi, but in determining strategy and court planning, Feng Yi is inferior to you. The ruin of this campaign came precisely from my using Zhang Liang as though he were Han Xin."

"But I am convinced that even if 'Zhang Liang' lost battle after battle, when it came time to decide great affairs and set the state's policy, Emperor Gao would still bow and ask that single question: 'Zifang, what is to be done?'"

Liu Xiu said to Deng Yu with utter sincerity: "Now Wei has triumphed and Han has been defeated; the situation is more perilous than Emperor Gao's disaster at Chenggao. Zhonghua, what is to be done?"

Deeply moved, Deng Yu wiped the tears from his face, then laid out for Liu Xiu the projection of the future situation he had long since formulated in his mind.

Their contest for Jing and Xiang had been intended to extend the Huai River defense line westward, denying Diwu Lun any gap to invade southward, dragging the situation out until the realm saw a change.

But now, Diwu Lun already controlled the gateway to Jing-Chu. He could come and go as he pleased, greatly compressing Liu Xiu's strategic space.

Deng Yu said: "This being the case, Sui County becomes critically important. If Sui County holds, Jiangxia can still be defended for a time. If Sui County falls, the lands north of Jing will be nearly impossible to recover. Once Diwu Lun gains a firm foothold there, he will share the natural barrier of the Great River with Your Majesty!"

This was Liu Xiu's greatest fear. His base was in the southeast, and to protect the southeast, he had to contest the upper reaches.

But now, for some of those upper-reach territories, they had the will but not the strength.

"Previously, we concluded an alliance with the Emperor of the Cheng family, Gongsun Shu, granting Han Jiangling and the north of Jing, while Han granted him the three commanderies south of Jing, including Changsha. Now that Jing-Xiang cannot be held, Jiangling has no screen whatsoever. Once the Wei army drives south, it will repeat the Qin-Chu battle of Yan and Ying. Therefore, your servant believes Jiangling can well be abandoned."

This was Deng Yu's proposal. Correspondingly, the three commanderies south of Jing could no longer be given to Gongsun Shu either. They had to prepare for the worst-case scenario: when Cen Peng's blade proved unstoppable, there would still be the broad natural moat of the Yangtze and the vast expanse of southern Jing as strategic depth...

Having suffered a great defeat, Deng Yu was indeed far more conservative than before; all his proposals were defensive. Liu Xiu nodded. He had already left the senior general Zang Gong to defend Sui County. Feng Yi's forces were to be redeployed to Jiangxia and Changsha. Together with Wang Chang, the three of them were to build more warships and leverage the strengths of the southern soldiers.

"Now the Cheng family has marched east and already seized Jiangling. Their envoys come east in quick succession, wanting to exchange this empty city — plundered bare, its populace even relocated by the Shu army — for Changsha and the other commanderies." Liu Xiu looked somewhat vexed. "The situation has changed; I naturally can no longer exchange territory, but it is also not good to sever ties and break the alliance with Cheng. In the future, we must still stand together with the Shu army in Jing-Chu to resist mighty Wei."

As he finished, he looked at Deng Yu, who immediately understood.

Liu Xiu lacked someone who could analyze the grand strategic picture and persuade the short-sighted Gongsun Shu to temporarily "swallow a loss" in service of the greater cause of resisting Wei!

"Since your servant has been demoted to Remonstrant, undertaking diplomatic missions is precisely my duty. I am willing to travel to the White Emperor City, pay my respects to Gongsun Shu, and lay out the stakes, so that the alliance between the Cheng family and the Great Han may become stronger than ever before!"

This was exactly what Liu Xiu had been waiting to hear. His favoritism toward Deng Yu was indeed real. This was both a mission of great importance and an opportunity for Deng Yu to atone for his crimes through meritorious service. He immediately promoted him from Remonstrant to Commandant of Cavalry and ordered him to prepare a ship and journey west at once.

As he saw Deng Yu off, Liu Xiu encouraged him, and encouraged himself as well.

"Exert yourself, Zhonghua. What seems remote and hard to unite — where there is a will, there is a way!"

Yet no sooner had Deng Yu departed than Liu Xiu received dire tidings from the east!

After reading the urgent report from Lai Xi, his general-in-chief north of the Huai, Liu Xiu could only wring his hands and heave a long sigh.

"As I thought — I wished to mend the pen after the sheep were lost, to remedy the ills of a great defeat, but Diwu Lun strikes with ruthless ferocity, unwilling to grant me any time!"

He passed the urgent report to Wang Chang and the other generals. From those hastily written characters, they learned that while Han and Wei had been locked in bitter combat at Jing-Xiang, in the distant east, a momentous event had occurred!

"The King of Qi, Zhang Bu — his end is near!"

To tell clearly what happened in Qing Province, we must turn back the clock two months, to the beginning of the fourth month of the third year of Wude (AD 27).

As the most populous city under Heaven, the Qi capital Linzi had a long history, with two walled enclosures, a larger and a smaller, nested together, and thirteen city gates in all.

Among them, the southeastern corner held the "Deer Gate," which on this day was still bustling with carts and horses, travelers and merchants passing in and out in constant streams, showing not the slightest shadow of war.

A scholar with a feather fan and silk headscarf, travel-worn and dusty, also arrived before the Deer Gate. Looking up at the towering city wall, Fang Wang brushed the dust from his clothes and let out a long breath:

"Cheng and Han have already joined forces against Wei — they are evenly matched. The great battle in Jing-Xiang may well drag on another year or half. Once I persuade the King of Qi, Zhang Bu, the grand alliance will be complete!"