Chapter 619: Entirely Unnecessary

In the spring of the fourth year of Wude (AD 28), Diwu Lun stayed almost continuously in Qufu, often strolling along the Si River with his ministers to enjoy the spring, singing on the wind-swept rain altar and returning home in song.

It was not that he truly liked this conservative, tradition-bound "holy city of Confucianism" — behind the sightseeing and leisure, the Wei Emperor was nurturing a long-brewing plan that could only be carried out in the Lu region.

To this end, Diwu Lun did not hesitate to summon his junior fellow apprentice Wang Long, the Minister of Ceremonies who oversaw state sacrifices and culture, and along with him he also summoned the Erudites of the Imperial Academy and even the various schools and sects of Confucianism. The Gongyang School, the Guliang School, the Old Text classics, the Han Odes, the Lu Odes, the Qi Odes — the old Erudites either hurried over in person, panting for breath, or, if truly too frail to travel, sent their most capable disciples.

Minister of Ceremonies Wang Long had no idea beforehand what the Emperor was up to and was inwardly full of misgivings. Beside him was a court historian — not Ban Biao, of course — who one day on the road had a sudden wild notion and said to Wang Long, "Minister of Ceremonies, His Majesty is summoning the Imperial Academy Erudites and all the Confucians of the realm to the Lu region — could it be that he intends to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices?"

This bold thought instantly gave Wang Long a great fright, and in his heart he could only exclaim in alarm, "Surely not! That is a grave taboo!"

Yet the scale of it did somewhat resemble such an event. Setting aside the legendary ancient sage-kings, since the Zhou dynasty only two rulers had ever performed the solemn Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai: the First Emperor of Qin and Emperor Wu of Han.

When the First Emperor of Qin performed the Feng and Shan, it was in the third year after he had pacified the realm. He erected a shrine and made offerings on Mount Yi, then conscripted seventy Confucian scholars and Erudites from Qi and Lu as his retinue and came to the foot of Mount Tai to discuss the rites. Because the various Confucians each had their own arguments and were stubborn and inflexible, they angered the First Emperor of Qin, who simply abandoned them and ascended the mountain himself to complete the sacrifices.

Although nearly a century had passed, when Emperor Wu of Han performed the Feng and Shan, he replicated the First Emperor of Qin's approach. He first summoned all the Confucians of the realm to plan the event, but this crowd bickered endlessly and after several months had produced no result. Emperor Wu of Han grew impatient and so personally decided the rites, dismissing all the Confucians and ascending the mountain to complete the great ceremony — this was a grand occasion since the founding of the Han, and Sima Qian's father even fell ill and missed the ceremony, dying in dejection.

Although these two rulers were criticized for dismissing the Confucians' opinions, they absolutely possessed the qualifications to perform the Feng and Shan. The First Emperor of Qin destroyed the six states and unified the realm — his achievements surpassed the Three Sovereigns and his virtue exceeded the Five Emperors. Emperor Wu of Han, with his grand vision and great strategy, drove back the mighty barbarians in the north and annexed the powerful Yue in the south; the state's power flourished, and the surrounding peoples submitted.

But apart from these two, which other Han emperor would dare speak lightly of performing the Feng and Shan?

Emperor Wen of Han already had the finest reputation among the Former Han emperors. He abolished the crime of slander, eliminated mutilating punishments, practiced frugality personally, refused tribute, did not punish the families of criminals, and did not seek private profit. After his death he received the temple name "Taizong," and the common people, cherishing fond memories of the Rule of Wen and Jing, elevated his status ever higher. Had Emperor Wen insisted on performing the Feng and Shan, presumably no one would have objected, and indeed he once intended to do so, employing the fangshi Xin Yuanping and vigorously promoting prophecies and apocryphal texts. But after Xin Yuanping's tricks were exposed, Emperor Wen abruptly awoke and halted the preparations for the Feng and Shan.

In addition, there was Emperor Xuan of Han, with the temple name Zhongzong, regarded as comparable to Wen and Jing. During his reign he achieved the Han restoration and thoroughly resolved the Xiongnu problem that had plagued several generations — the Chanyu personally came to Chang'an to pay homage! But perhaps because his allotted years were too few, no intention to perform the Feng and Shan at Mount Tai was ever heard of.

If even Emperor Wen and Emperor Xuan dared not speak lightly of the Feng and Shan, then the remaining emperors like Yuan and Cheng naturally had even less qualification. Only old Wang Mang was obsessed with this, yearning with all his heart to ascend Mount Tai just once. He prepared four times, but each was interrupted by war and uprisings, and in the end it came to nothing.

As a disciple of Yang Xiong and having served as Minister of Ceremonies for many years, Wang Long had mastered the subtle uses of ritual to perfection. He knew very well that the Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai were the symbol by which an emperor inherited the ancient orthodox lineage and reported back to Heaven. Done well, they could greatly increase the stability of the state.

"But if one's virtue does not match the position, one will surely suffer backlash, just like Wang Mang!"

It was not that Wang Long thought Diwu Lun's virtue was too thin or that he lacked qualification, but rather that he believed the time was not yet right.

"Now the realm is divided into three. Although the Central Plains have been pacified, Wu and Shu are not yet stabilized, and refugees within the country still form bands and groups. Not to mention that the surrounding barbarians are still disaffected — the Xiongnu support Lu Fang's Hu-Han regime, constantly threatening the Guanzhong region; the various Qiang in Xiliang stir up trouble; Gouding holds a region on its own; and Fuyu, Sushen, and Goguryeo do not send tribute. The current situation is not even as good as when Liu Bang first founded the Han — how can one speak of the Feng and Shan?"

Before he had even reached Qufu, Wang Long had already made up his mind. Whether it was sycophantic ministers like Feng Yan and Zhang Yu deceiving the Emperor, or the Emperor himself being momentarily muddled, he would risk death to remonstrate and awaken Diwu Lun!

However, Wang Long had steeled himself and prepared psychologically, but upon arriving at Qufu he found no one to confront. Diwu Lun had also heard the rumors spreading outside that he "intended to perform the Feng and Shan" and, laughing, dispelled Wang Long's worries.

"I do not wish to perform the Feng and Shan."

"Let alone not doing it now — even if the Nine Provinces were unified, it would still be entirely unnecessary!"

"The Confucians all consider the Feng and Shan at Mount Tai to be a grand imperial undertaking, but I do not see it that way. Heaven hears through the hearing of our people. If the realm is stable and the common people prosperous, even if one does not come to perform the Feng and Shan, would Heaven be enraged and send down punishment? Moreover, 'all under Heaven' means everywhere under Heaven. In serving High Heaven, why must one ascend the summit of Mount Tai to demonstrate sincerity?"

Diwu Lun's words made the stone in Wang Long's heart drop to the ground, but he still found the Emperor's attitude dismissive. Glancing at the shadow of Mount Tai north of Qufu, Wang Long thought to himself, "His Majesty only says this now. In twenty or thirty years, once Wu and Shu are purged and the surrounding barbarians submit, I, Wang Long, will certainly use all I have learned in my life to arrange for Great Wei a Feng and Shan ceremony no less grand than those of the First Emperor of Qin and Emperor Wu of Han."

It was only upon arriving at Qufu that Wang Long could feel the tempestuous waves stirred up in this hometown of the sage.

"Minister, come and look at Huan Junshan's successive memorials."

Diwu Lun handed the paper scrolls submitted by Huan Tan for Wang Long to see. It turned out that Diwu Lun had ordered Huan Tan to refute, one by one, the falsehoods in apocryphal and prophetic texts such as the "Chunqiu Yan Kong Tu." Huan Tan was full of fighting spirit and within a month had submitted memorial after memorial.

Diwu Lun said to Wang Long, "I originally thought that the Lu region could uphold the orthodox lineage of Confucianism, but led by the Yan clan, they have actually taken the initiative to endorse and promote the apocryphal diagrams, making a complete mess of things."

He waved his hand in front of his nose to show his deep loathing: "They have forcibly submerged Confucius's teachings — which do not speak of strange phenomena, feats of strength, chaos, or spirits — into a vat of strange phenomena, feats of strength, chaos, and spirits! It stinks!"

Wang Long nodded. His teacher Yang Xiong also detested the apocryphal diagrams, but Yang Xiong merely used the "Yi Wei" to refute the prophetic symbols, somewhat like using a spear to attack a shield, and was far less resolute than Huan Tan.

After reading Huan Tan's memorials, he praised them: "Huan Junshan truly deserves his reputation as a master of scriptural debate. These memorials refute the apocryphal and prophetic texts one by one, successively demolishing the Confucius of false legends, the Confucius who is divine and foreknowing, and the Confucius whose every word is beyond reproach."

Diwu Lun nodded: "Indeed. Therefore, every time Huan Tan submits a memorial, I have it printed and promulgated throughout the realm."

These so-called later Confucian scholars had elevated Confucius from an exemplar of the human world to a savior in the divine world.

And Diwu Lun and Huan Tan were pulling him back down again!

"Since Dong Zhongshu, the deified Confucius is a false Confucius! Let him vanish like smoke, just like the false Liu Ziyu!"

With that, Diwu Lun took out another memorial and had Wang Long examine it.

Wang Long could not refuse, and after one glance he was so startled that he stood up.

"An edict to prohibit and eliminate the apocryphal diagrams?"

This edict adopted Huan Tan's memorials, enumerating the absurdities of various apocryphal diagrams since the Han, refuting them, and also pointedly naming old Wang Mang as the greatest "victim" of the apocryphal and prophetic texts, dismissing the many apocryphal texts of the Xin Dynasty as fabrications concocted after the fact by those with ulterior motives.

"The weft texts are false texts! They are like a painter who hates drawing dogs and horses but loves painting ghosts and demons — truly because real things are hard to depict, while falsehoods are inexhaustible."

Diwu Lun pronounced a death sentence on the various prophecies and strange theories still circulating throughout the realm: "All apocryphal diagrams and weft texts shall be sealed and eliminated completely, lest false and deceitful men distort the classics, plot treason, and deceive the common people!"

"Your Majesty!" Wang Long hastily remonstrated: "This minister believes that for any thing, where there are drawbacks, there must also be advantages. The rise of our dynasty was also accompanied by the fulfillment of many apocryphal diagrams and weft texts — it is not appropriate to ban them all indiscriminately."

This was precisely why Diwu Lun had deliberately shown him the edict. Although Wang Long had inherited Yang Xiong's views and did not believe in the apocryphal and prophetic texts in his heart, he was also quite pragmatic and had been rather attentive to propagating various "miracles" to deify the course of Diwu Lun's rise — such as the Yellow River bursting its banks at Wei Commandery during the Xin Dynasty as an omen that the Wei Emperor would rise and destroy the Xin-Mang earth virtue, or Wang Mang dreaming of five Qin dynasty golden men standing up before he was driven out.

Therefore, he felt that it was only necessary to eliminate those parts unfavorable to Wei; as for the favorable parts, they could well be retained for their own use.

"Wenshan, those who use the apocryphal and prophetic texts will surely suffer their backlash." Diwu Lun did not yet know that in the south Liu Xiu was being driven by prophecies to the point of relocating his capital; he only said to Wang Long with earnest gravity, "When the early Han used Liu Bang slaying the white serpent as a prophecy, how could they have foreseen that two hundred years later Wang Mang would fabricate the apocryphal golden tablets and steal the Han ancestral altars?"

"Now that Liu Xiu in the south esteems the apocryphal diagrams, I have two counter-strategies. One is to compete in boasting — if he forges the Red Cinnabar Talisman, I will bring out the 'Five Virtues Talisman.'"

If it truly came to fabricating stories, ten Liu Xius would be no match for Diwu Lun, but Diwu Lun disdained to do so.

"The second is to do the exact opposite. No matter what prophecies Liu Xiu fabricates, even if he makes them sound dazzling, I will simply and resolutely disbelieve them and denounce them as absurd. Only thus can the hearts of the scholars and common people be settled."

Of course, Diwu Lun could not tell Wang Long plainly that his reason for first cutting away the apocryphal diagrams — these derivatives of the Confucian classics — was actually to prepare for suppressing those tedious textual exegeses and commentaries. Only by chopping off the strange and supernatural elements and the complicated and useless derivative branches could he graft on new learning that would be of use to the state and the people's livelihood!

"If Confucius's words and deeds are to be twisted, they can only be twisted by me. Do you lot think you are worthy?"

Diwu Lun kept these thoughts hidden in his heart and said with a smile, "Of course, this is also in keeping with our late teacher Master Yang's intention of opposing the apocryphal and prophetic texts. Wenshan, as the inheritor of the Master's learning, you surely cannot turn around and advise me to go against his principles, can you?"

As expected, once Diwu Lun invoked Yang Xiong, Wang Long, who had always revered his teacher like a father, had nothing more to say and could only reluctantly assent. But in this way, the work their Ministry of Ceremonies could do was suddenly reduced by a large chunk.

But Wang Long need not worry. After deciding to prohibit and denounce the apocryphal diagrams and weft texts, Diwu Lun was also preparing to make a big move in the Lu region, which was why he had summoned Wang Long and even the Imperial Academy Erudites.

"Confucius said, 'He who governs by virtue is like the North Star, which stays in its place while all the other stars revolve around it.'"

Diwu Lun pointed at the Confucian temple towering over Qufu: "But now within the Confucian temple, there is only the 'North Star' and no surrounding stars."

He said, "I wish to build a Confucian temple in Chang'an as well. In addition to enshrining Confucius, I also wish to have the later worthies among Confucius's disciples honored with places in the temple!"

Wang Long's eyes, which had been somewhat dim, suddenly lit up!