Chapter 588: The Late Emperor's Enterprise, Half Undone

The brilliant and ambitious former Han Sons of Heaven — men like Emperor Gao of Han and Emperor Wu of Han — could never have imagined that the vassal kingdoms they enfeoffed far and wide to keep the Han realm secure forever would, when Wang Mang usurped the Han, offer barely a whisper of resistance, collapsing almost at the first rumor of his approach. Some unworthy descendants even took up the shovel themselves to help Wang Mang bury the Han ancestral altars.

The vassal lords were all deposed; the people gone, the halls empty. The princely palaces that Liu-surnamed kings had poured their kingdoms' wealth into building, merely to gratify their vanity, were now seized by regional warlords. These self-styled kings replaced the Liu clan, living lives of bell-ringing, cauldron-feasting luxury within those walls.

The Prince of Lu's palace was the most typical case. Think how overbearing Prince Gong of Lu had once been: to expand his palace chambers, he even demolished the wall of the neighboring Confucius family residence — and in doing so unearthed a great cache of ancient texts, which gave rise to the Old Text school of classical learning.

Now, however, the Prince of Lu's palace had long been occupied by the Red Eyebrows. Xu Xuan had turned it into his seat of governance, and it was in the palace hall that he received Fang Wang, who had come from afar.

By early October, Qufu in Lu Commandery was already bitterly cold. After removing his shoes and entering, Fang Wang could even feel the icy chill of the floorboards. He had heard that the servants who managed the palace underfloor heating had either died or fled, leaving the Red Eyebrow Army unable to operate the complex warming system. Once the pottery pipes buried underground cracked, there was no saving it; it seemed they would have to get through this winter burning wood for warmth.

Of course, what they burned might also be precious bamboo slips.

This was what Fang Wang had witnessed with his own eyes after entering Lu. No matter how much Xu Xuan displayed respect for the Lu region's gentry and Confucian scholars — even forcing marriages with them in hopes that the Red Eyebrow leadership would be accepted by the local literati — he could not restrain his men from their inveterate plundering. One Red Eyebrow squad, while seizing grain, killed an old Confucian scholar who resisted, then burned the man's bamboo-slip collection — enough to fill a house to the rafters — as firewood...

Among Confucian scholars, this was a supreme taboo. Cries of "burning books and burying scholars alive" were already being hurled as curses. The local Kong, Yan, and other families outwardly bowed and scraped before the Red Eyebrows, but behind their backs they surely harbored no few secret schemes. Earlier, some had even sent envoys to contact Liu Xiu, weeping and wailing, begging the Han Emperor to come swiftly and deliver them.

Fang Wang only shook his head inwardly. He watched Xu Xuan, seated high in the hall, draped in finery and pretending to be an aristocrat, yet bungling even the basic ritual of hosting a guest with a feast. "The Red Eyebrows truly never shed their bandit nature," he thought. "A monkey wearing a cap."

As it happened, Xu Xuan now styled himself "Duke of Lu" — sharing a title with Xiang Yu.

But Fang Wang had no intention of admonishing him for it. This remnant Red Eyebrow force was merely a minor power to be used in a moment of urgency; its rise or fall was no concern of his.

This was not the first time Xu Xuan had met Fang Wang. At summer's end, the strategist Fang had slipped into Lu, intent on drawing him into the alliance as well. But Xu Xuan had never agreed. Now, with King Zhang Bu of Qi collapsing utterly and Diwu Lun fiercely attacking Liu Xiu, the so-called anti-Wei coalition was on the verge of defeat — and Xu Xuan naturally had even less of a pleasant face for Fang Wang.

He did not even offer him a seat or set out a table, leaving Fang Wang to stand there dryly and watch him drink wine and eat meat. Only when he was done did Xu Xuan wipe his mouth and say:

"Does Master Fang know what we call a strategist like you, back in my home of Donghai Commandery?"

Fang Wang, well aware of his own reputation, smiled. "One who peers covetously into palace chambers, fond of stirring up rebellion?"

"Master Fang thinks too highly of himself!" Xu Xuan pointed at Fang Wang and laughed to those beside him. "We call such a man a dung fork!"

A dung fork was the pitchfork farmers used to stir the night-soil pit, the aim being to mix the settled excrement and urine evenly so it could be used to irrigate crops. This technique of composting and fertilizing had spread widely with Han-dynasty agricultural advances. The term could also be extended to describe a person fond of stirring up trouble, a foul meddler who went everywhere stirring the pot.

Yet Fang Wang did not grow angry. He merely returned the salute and said, "A dung fork may stink, but a village cannot do without one — just as Lord Xu, though you loathe Fang Wang and see me as a latrine pit, as the ancients said, 'When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold.' If the King of Qi is destroyed and the Han Emperor defeated, the next to suffer calamity will be the Lu region. Lord Xu detests me, yet does not kill me."

Fang Wang's hands moved in a gesture. "Is it not because you are hoping I will stir this situation up a little?"

Fang Wang had indeed read Xu Xuan's mind. The Red Eyebrows shared a blood-deep feud with Diwu Lun; even if Xu Xuan wished to surrender, many stubborn Red Eyebrow officers under him would refuse to submit to the Wei Emperor. On the other hand, Xu Xuan harbored no great ambitions — he sought only to succeed Fan Chong and secure a path of survival for the Red Eyebrow remnant. His thinking, therefore, closely mirrored Fang Wang's: the longer this realm remained in chaos, the better! One more day of war outside meant the Red Eyebrow remnant could enjoy one more day in Lu.

His secret thoughts laid bare, Xu Xuan spat out the bone he had been chewing and glared at Fang Wang with hatred. "If Elder Fan were still in charge, men like Master Fang would be killed on sight — every last one!"

"But now, the Red Eyebrows answer to the Duke of Lu."

Fang Wang presented Liu Xiu's letter of credence. "The Han Emperor is willing to recognize Lord Xu. He does not even demand that the Red Eyebrows declare themselves Han vassals. But the ancestral graves of Lord Xu's family in Donghai Commandery — the Han Emperor has ordered them carefully tended. Should Donghai fall to the Wei army, I fear..."

Xu Xuan read it, then burst out laughing. "Master Fang has misjudged. From the day I followed Grand Duke Fan in raising troops and smeared the Red Eyebrows on my brow, I severed all ties with my native soil, my kin, and my ancestors. Such petty favors cannot buy me."

Fang Wang said urgently, "Lord Xu need only order the Red Eyebrows to march north and strike the Qi region, threatening Linzi. Once Geng Boyang turns back to relieve it, you can withdraw to Mount Tai. For the Red Eyebrows, this is hardly 'carrying Mount Tai to leap over the Northern Sea' — it is merely 'breaking a branch for an elder.' It would keep the war in Xu and Yan provinces deadlocked. Why not do it?"

Xu Xuan was not so foolish. He cut off Fang Wang's further persuasion. "Liu Xiu and Zhang Bu want me to act, to tie down the Wei army for their sake. To be frank, if the Red Eyebrows could defeat the Wei army, we would not have had to hide in Mount Tai and Lu Commandery!"

He would not commit his troops. Xu Xuan did not believe the paltry forces he had left could turn the tide of battle. If Liu Xiu won and Diwu Lun lost, keeping the realm fractured — that, of course, would be best. But if the reverse happened, and Diwu Lun swept across Huaibei, then the Red Eyebrows' actions would become the gravest of crimes...

Xu Xuan decided to wait a while longer. But events would not let him be.

After driving Fang Wang away, Xu Xuan returned to reading the classics he had demanded from the Kong family. Though he lacked noble blood, back when he served as a prison clerk in Donghai Commandery, he had made a special study of the Book of Changes.

As for the Red Eyebrows' failure, Xu Xuan had always believed it was because Fan Chong had mistakenly trusted Wang Mang, thrown everything into chaos, and abandoned the old cry of "kings, dukes, generals, and ministers." So he not only imposed strict ranks within the Red Eyebrows and tried to integrate with the local gentry, but also, learning from past pain, began taking up the Five Classics again, hoping to find a method of statecraft in the wisdom of the ancients. Occasionally, he would summon scholars from the Kong and Yan families and humbly consult their views.

But today, Xu Xuan's eyes skimmed ten lines at a glance without taking in a single word. His heart was already more disordered than the situation between the seas and Mount Tai.

Just then, a Red Eyebrow officer burst in hurriedly.

"Grand Duke."

"The Wei army at Linzi has dispatched troops and is closing in on Mount Tai Commandery!"

As for this war unfolding beyond the main theater, its origin lay in Diwu Lun's paranoia.

Though Xu Xuan personally had no intention of meddling in this great conflict, his blood-deep feud meant he had never sent anyone to communicate with Diwu Lun either.

Diwu Lun, however, did not ignore this force. Given the geographical position of the Red Eyebrow remnant, the wise Wei Emperor made the decision to strike first...

"So long as our army moves before the Red Eyebrow remnant does, there will be no risk of Linzi coming under attack!"

Whether the Red Eyebrows actually intended to act was irrelevant. What mattered was that they indeed posed a threat!

Thus it was that Li Zhong, the Inspector of Qing Province, took the lead, joined by Juwu Ba — whom Diwu Lun had titled "Colonel of Meng Ben" — as his deputy, and led ten thousand men on a campaign into the Lu region.

But Li Zhong was, in truth, rather unwilling. Over the past months, Linzi had largely returned to its former peace. Li Zhong did indeed possess administrative talent and had put the place in good order — which in practice meant letting local magnates like Dongguo Chang'an manage affairs on his behalf, prioritizing military supply and the war effort, and leaving everything else for later.

Li Zhong knew full well that Linzi's peace was only a surface illusion. The power brokers in each commandery had merely "submitted upon receiving the proclamation" and could turn at any moment. Beyond the powerful families biding their time, the common people's hearts were not with them either. An occupying army inevitably inflicted a certain trauma on the region, and what was more, the Youzhou shock cavalry under young Geng were notorious for their loose discipline and love of plunder, leaving a very poor impression on the people of Qi.

To shift troops southward at such a time was truly unwise. Li Zhong had submitted a memorial laying out his case, but it was rejected; the Emperor ordered him to act according to the edict.

The first stop of the Wei army's southern detachment was Laiwu, where they reached the ancient battlefield of "Changshao" on the Qi-Lu border. Searching among the withered, dead grasses, one could still find rust-flecked dagger-axe heads and arrow points.

"One drumbeat rouses the spirit, a second sees it flag, a third exhausts it." Li Zhong thought of the famous Battle of Changshao. "The Red Eyebrows today are at that third, exhausted stage — indeed, a strike now could break them."

"That may be so, but it is winter, and this Mount Tai terrain is easy to defend and hard to attack."

Li Zhong shook his head to himself. What was more, speaking of Cao Gui brought to mind the man historians had long debated might be the same person: "Cao Mo."

"In the Spring and Autumn period, Qi was strong and Lu was weak. Qi had seized vast tracts of Lu's territory. When Duke Huan of Qi threatened the Lord of Lu at a covenant assembly, Cao Mo accompanied him. He drew a dagger and seized Duke Huan hostage, demanding that Qi return the Lu lands it had previously annexed. Duke Huan, at another's mercy, had no choice but to agree."

Li Zhong's gaze flicked toward that silent, tight-lipped "Colonel of Meng Ben" — Juwu Ba, who stood out like a crane among chickens as he walked through the encampment.

Though the campaign against Lu was a minor affair, Li Zhong still could not fathom why Diwu Lun had made this man his deputy commander. Juwu Ba had been Wang Mang's trusted confidant, after all. Wang Mang had died on the Dragon-Slaying Platform in Weiyang Palace. To kill a man's lord and then employ his servant — this too was unwise.

Perhaps wary of this very point, Diwu Lun did not keep Juwu Ba at his side, but instead sent him to Geng Yan and Li Zhong. Though Juwu Ba had contributed during the assaults on Zhu'e and Lixia, Li Zhong still felt uneasy.

"Juwu Ba also spent time among the Red Eyebrow Army with Wang Mang. If he were to harbor malicious intent and seek to imitate Cao Mo's deed, he would not even need a blade or dagger — a single arm would be enough to seize me hostage."

Every time Li Zhong met this man and looked at those thick, powerful arms, he could not help swallowing nervously. When Juwu Ba walked behind him, an icy, bone-piercing chill crept up his back, and he lived in dread that the giant might, in a careless moment, twist his neck clean off.

Perhaps sensing Li Zhong's misgivings, while the army was encamped at Changshao, Juwu Ba took the initiative to speak with him.

"Inspector Li need not fear me."

"What makes Colonel Ju say such a thing?" Li Zhong feigned surprise, refusing to admit it. He thought he had concealed it well.

Juwu Ba, however, smiled, revealing thick lips beneath his heavy beard. "In this world, too many people fear Juwu Ba. Whether a man is afraid of me — I can tell at a single glance."

Now Li Zhong was embarrassed. Though Juwu Ba spoke slowly and in a rough voice, his speech was in the Donglai dialect that Li Zhong found quite familiar — both men were from Donglai in Qing Province, fellows from the same commandery. This was probably their only common ground.

No, there was one more thing they shared.

Juwuba pointed at Li Zhong and said a blunt truth he was even less inclined to hear.

"Inspector Li and I both once served other masters before we surrendered and switched allegiance."

Li Zhong tried his best to keep his expression from crumbling, but his fists clenched tight — having been Chancellor to Liu Ziyu was a dark stain on his past he could never erase, and his tone turned stiff: "General, what exactly are you implying?"

"I hear Inspector Li was once a trusted confidant of Liu Ziyu. Why you later chose to aid the Wei Emperor, and with such zeal — that I do not know."

Juwuba, however, went right on jabbing at Li Zhong's sore spot, and then revealed a great secret.

"But the reason Juwuba is willing to work for the Wei Emperor is because I swore an oath to the late Emperor!"

"The late Emperor…"

Li Zhong froze for a moment before it dawned on him who the man meant.

"Wang Mang!?"