Chapter 644: The Han Soul

Almost at the same moment, in Yongcheng in the Guanzhong region, the Front General Wan Xiu, who had been left to guard the heartland, was reporting to Diwu Lun on the advances and retreats along every front in recent days.

"After the Grand General of the Agile Cavalry drove off the Xianlian Qiang, the Hehuang and Jincheng areas have been roughly stabilized. In the Hexi region, the Rear General Wu Ziyan has retaken Wuwei and is now only locked in a standoff with the Xiongnu's Right Worthy Prince's forces at Zhangye and Jiuquan. The key lies in whether we can recapture the Juyan Fortress. In Bing Province, the Grand General of the Chariots and Cavalry has led his army to Xin Qinzhong. Should the Xiongnu royal court and Lu Fang raid southward, we can seize the chance to counterattack."

Wan Xiu paused and glanced at Feng Yan, who had regained his confidence and stood to one side. "Coupled with the Grand Herald's brilliant stratagem that turned the Wudu Di people against Shu, Wei Ao is now beset by enemies front and rear and can barely save himself. The Shu armies on the Hanzhong and Nan Commandery routes are all surrendered generals and troops unwilling to give their all for Gongsun Shu. The situation has been somewhat stabilized."

He then pointed out his deepest worry: "The only variable is Liu Xiu in the south."

With Cen Peng holding the Jing-Xiang front, there would be no problem even if Feng Yi's Han army forces attacked. But north of the Huai River, it was Geng Chun, not particularly adept at warfare, who had been left in charge. If Liu Xiu personally launched a northern campaign, with the court unable to dispatch a large relief force for an extended period, the outcome would be truly hard to predict.

Diwu Lun, however, was very confident. "North of the Huai must indeed be well defended. But the southeast has its own internal troubles. There was previously a fifty percent chance Liu Xiu would hold his troops for now."

"If he receives my letter, that chance likely rises to seventy percent!"

At these words, not only Wan Xiu but even Feng Yan grew curious, wondering what exactly was written in that letter sent several months ago.

"If this matter succeeds, Your Majesty will have taken a city amidst wine cups and ritual vessels, repelling the foe from the banquet mat — a deed worthy of the history books and the praise of generations. Might I ask if the letter's contents can be made known?"

"This letter was precisely meant to be known by all the scholars under heaven; only then can it achieve its full effect." By now, calculating the time, the letter should have arrived. Diwu Lun no longer needed to keep it secret and brought out a copy, letting Wan Xiu and Feng Yan be the first to read it.

The letter, they saw, did not bear the long, exalted titles of the two emperors. It was entirely a private correspondence. Diwu Lun called himself "Wu Lun of Changling" and addressed Liu Xiu as "my friend Wenshu."

It began with personal reminiscences, but then the subject shifted: "I have already destroyed two or three states that falsely claimed the name of Han. The so-called 'Western Han' colluded with the Qiang slaves; the 'Northern Han' was brazenly impersonated by a different surname; the 'Barbarian Han' is but a puppet of the mixed barbarians, clinging to the Xiongnu and still capering about. All of these possess only the name of Han, but none of its soul!"

These regimes were Diwu Lun's enemies, and also the "heretics" in Liu Xiu's eyes. Having found this common ground, Diwu Lun took the opportunity in the letter to discuss at length with Liu Xiu his understanding of the "Han soul."

"The Han inherited the failings of a hundred kings. Emperor Gao of Han destroyed Qin and executed Chu, remedying chaos and restoring order. By the time of Wen and Jing, the focus was on nurturing the people, bringing great peace to all under heaven. Emperor Wu of Han gathered the realm's worthies and talents, working with one heart and mind to establish institutions, reform the calendar, change the color of vestments, and set up the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth. Later still came the flourishing governance of Zhao and Xuan, which the elders of the villages still praise and cherish to this day."

"Though the Han had many flawed policies, its successive reigns largely blended the way of the hegemon and the king — nothing to reproach. Yet what forged the great Han's soul, apart from 'honoring the king,' was also 'repelling the barbarians'!"

"It was because of the surplus wealth stored in treasuries and granaries that Emperor Wu first conceived the ambition to drive out the barbarians abroad. Thus he bound the Wuhuan in the east, trampling the Yemaek; established the Western Qiang Protectorate, hammering and driving out the Di and Bo; tethered the Dian Kingdom in the south, striking Minyue by water; set up commanderies and counties at Rinan, drifting warships to Zhuya; stationed commandants in the southeast, extending sway to Huangzhi. And so, the domains of those who share caves and wear furs, the kingdoms of those who share rivers and drink with their noses — none failed to bare their shoulders, go barefoot, bow their heads, and prostrate themselves in submission, their spirit broken."

This was ghostwritten by the court's foremost pen, Du Du. Feng Yan recognized the style at a glance and secretly curled his lip — partly out of petty jealousy that Diwu Lun trusted this man, and partly out of the prideful thought, "I could certainly write better than him."

Then came a long passage copied wholesale from Yang Xiong's "Memorial Advising Against Granting the Chanyu an Audience" — but when a disciple copies his teacher's writing, can that be called copying? It is called paying homage!

In any case, it recounted in full the relationship between the Central Plains and the Xiongnu from the Zhou and Qin onward. From the humiliation at Baideng in the early Han, when the Han was forced to treat the Xiongnu as an elder brother, forfeiting sovereignty and national honor. Though Emperor Wu avenged a grudge nine generations deep, plunging deep into Xiongnu territory, splitting apart their royal court, sweeping across the northern deserts, knocking at the Qilian Mountains, dividing the Chanyu's realm, and slaughtering the hundred barbarian tribes in a magnificent feat — the Xiongnu, though terrified and fleeing far north, still refused to submit and would not declare themselves subjects. It was not until the time of Emperor Xuan of Han that the Chanyu was finally compelled to come to court. This great northern barbarian power, which five emperors could not make submit and three kings could not control, at last bowed its stubborn head.

Copy or not, Diwu Lun had indeed copied well. The entire piece was remarkably coherent in its logic.

Nor was he arrogant about it. He merely remarked with feeling to his two ministers: "Back when Du Du, Fu Long, and the others sat the civil service examinations, the essay I required them to write was 'The Han's Fortune Is Exhausted.' Most of the candidates wrote of the muddled chaos of the late Former Han, seeing only its darkness and not its light — not comprehensive enough..."

Feng Yan inwardly grumbled again: Who back then would have dared to speak well of the Han dynasty on an exam paper? Did they not want to pass and become officials? They might have been marked for special "attention" by the court's hawks the moment they left the examination hall. After all, Diwu Lun was a ruthless man; as soon as he entered Chang'an, he sent dozens of Former Han loyalist elders in the city to meet Liu Bang...

Whether something was "subjective" or "objective" — Diwu Lun determined it entirely according to his own needs. He could tear back the curtain of history and loudly proclaim to the world the "darkness" of a certain period, and he could also whitewash and embellish that very same matter, praising it with sighs and laments.

A born master of statecraft! Ever since his great awakening, Feng Yan no longer dared to regard his boss as a mediocre man. This was the cleverest man under heaven — no wonder he could achieve great things.

Thick-skinned as ever, Diwu Lun continued unabashed: "And this letter is my final verdict — my definitive judgment — on what was praiseworthy in the Former Han!"

He intoned: "In the Spring and Autumn period, when the southern barbarians and the northern Di pressed in from both sides, the Central States were as tenuous as a thread. Duke Huan rescued the Central States and repelled the barbarian Di, taking this as the work of a true king. Confucius too cried out: 'But for Guan Zhong, we should now be wearing our hair loose and folding our robes to the left!'"

"The Former Han fought the Xiongnu for a hundred years, from start to finish, and at last achieved success — pushing the frontier far afield, establishing over ten commanderies. Its merit in repelling the barbarians was ten times that of Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong! It was thus, through unending flames of war, that the fine steel of the many Huaxia peoples was tempered and fused into a single whole, forging the Han soul."

"Therefore, what is the Han soul?"

By the time the letter was read to this point, even Wan Xiu felt his blood begin to boil and could not help but recite aloud:

"The Han soul is this: Those who offend the mighty Han, though distant, shall surely be put to death! Wherever sun and moon cast their light, wherever the great rivers reach — all is Han soil!"

Wan Xiu was not the only one stirred. When Liu Xiu, aboard a tower ship on Pengli Marsh, read to this point, he too was roused to surging excitement by Diwu Lun's rhetoric. It was this that prompted his exclamation: "No one understands the Great Han better than Diwu Lun."

"This statement of Diwu Lun's — We deeply concur. The Chanyu guarding the borderlands, the hundred barbarians submitting — no merit in repelling barbarians surpasses this."

"Were it not for the flourishing age of the Great Han, borrowing the richness of Yong's lands and mastering the arts of governing the outer and ordering the inner, who could have achieved such merit! Emperor Wu and Emperor Xuan truly surpassed the Three Kings in their Way and exceeded the Five Emperors in their achievements!"

These two were indeed Liu Xiu's idols and goals. The irony was that not one of his friends or ministers could fully grasp this. In the end, it was his enemy who spoke his heart's deepest thoughts. Liu Xiu did not know whether to be pleased or to lament, and for a moment he felt the tower ship swaying violently.

However, after this rare passage of praise for the Han dynasty's barbarian-repelling achievements, the final part of the letter was far less pleasing to the ear.

It turned out that Diwu Lun had shamelessly declared: As the new central heavenly dynasty, Great Wei had already inherited the Mandate of Heaven, was destined to unify all into one, and had taken up the "Han soul" dating back to Emperor Wu, exercising the mission of lord of all Huaxia and continuing to honor the king and repel the barbarians. He would therefore pacify the ceaseless Qiang and barbarian revolts and keep the Xiongnu Chanyu beyond the Great Wall. As for Gongsun Shu of Chengjia, who colluded with them, he was plainly a "traitor" to Huaxia, and Diwu Lun announced the revocation of his Huaxia status!

Finally, he posed Liu Xiu a sharp question: "Wenshu calls himself Emperor of Han, yet recent rumors say you intend to attack the Central Plains from north and south in concert with the Xiongnu and Lu Fang. I only wonder — does your 'Eastern Han' still possess even a shred of the Han soul?"

The dagger was revealed as the map was unrolled. A dilemma was placed before Liu Xiu: Your ancestors were so perfectly correct in repelling barbarians. If you now send forth your troops, then your so-called "Han legitimacy" collapses on its own. You, Liu Xiu, would be no different from that false emperor Lu Fang.

Deng Yu, too, caught on. "Indeed, this campaign differs from the earlier battles in Jing-Xiang and north of the Huai. It touches upon the struggle between the Yi barbarians and the Xia. Wei and Han may be enemy states, but both contend for the legitimate succession of the Central Kingdom. The ancients said: The border peoples do not plot against the Xia; the barbarians do not bring chaos to the Hua. We must not act rashly and give Diwu Lun a pretext."

But General Yangwu, Ma Cheng, held a diametrically opposite view. "Zhongzi has read too many books and grown muddled, falling right into the shackles Diwu Lun has set! If we hold our troops back for this reason and sit watching while Diwu Lun repels the Qiang, barbarians, and Shu armies — that is truly falling for his wicked scheme!"

Ma Cheng had been a mere county clerk in the past and was not highly cultured, yet he pierced through Diwu Lun's trick with a single remark: "Your Majesty, when Diwu Lun sent spies infiltrating the south to stir the Shanyue into rebelling against the Han, why did he not think then of 'the border peoples do not plot against the Xia'? If the Qiang and barbarians must be repelled, are the Shanyue not barbarians too?"

Absolutely right! Diwu Lun was a colossal hypocrite. Yet how could Liu Xiu not know such a simple truth?

Although he had studied the Book of Documents at the Imperial Academy, as an emperor fond of Confucian arts, Liu Xiu had also delved into the Spring and Autumn Annals. He sighed with emotion: "General Yangwu, 'honor the king and repel the barbarians' is a superb banner. In the Spring and Autumn period, Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong wielded it, and thus assembled the feudal lords nine times and brought order to all under heaven. The state of Jin, which inherited their hegemony, also used it many times."

"Yet Jin, while mouthing the words 'the kindred Xia states are dear and cannot be abandoned,' had already, as early as the time of Duke Xian of Jin, annexed seventeen states and subjugated thirty-eight. The states it destroyed, such as Yu and Guo, were not only Xia states but even shared the same clan surname. The Jin people felt not a shred of pity when they razed their altars of soil and grain and swallowed their territories. As for Duke Wen of Jin and Duke Dao of Jin, while they outwardly honored the king and repelled the barbarians, they also seized the chance to extinguish over fifteen states, many of them Xia states and some sharing their surname."

And so Liu Xiu understood, and was suddenly enlightened! That "honor the king and repel the barbarians" so rhapsodized by Confucian scholars — though it appeared to be a radiant and supreme principle, was in truth also a business!

Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin were no righteous, pure-hearted heroes. They were shrewd politicians who used this banner to rally all under heaven, pointing to a common enemy, or else denigrating rival states as "Rong and Di barbarians." For instance, Qi denounced the gradually civilizing state of Chu as barbarian. Once Jin's honeymoon with Qin was over, it branded Qin as the Western Rong. Nor did they hesitate to join hands with the uncivilized Wu and Yue, granting them the status of "Huaxia" in order to strike at fellow Huaxia states that refused to submit.

And in the time of Emperor Wu of Han, he too relied on "repelling the barbarians" to unify the chaotic and contentious internal ideologies, making opponents of the policy, such as the King of Huainan and his ilk, into laughable jesters.

This truly was a fine business! Liu Xiu coveted it.

The only pity was that now, this great banner of repelling the barbarians had long since been seized by Diwu Lun, who clamored for war with the Xiongnu and loudly proclaimed the defense of the Central Plains. Whoever held it held political correctness.

"This is an open conspiracy," Liu Xiu said helplessly. "The great divide between Hua and Yi — since Diwu Lun has taken the initiative to write to Us, judging by his past conduct, he will surely publicize it far and wide and seize the initiative. If the Great Han dispatches troops, we will fall into his trap. The scholars and commoners of the northern provinces, who have suffered keenly from the Qiang and barbarian incursions, will surely believe that the Great Han, like Gongsun Shu, is aiding the barbarians to ravage the Central Plains. The southern scholars, too, will hold us in contempt."

"Moreover, to act according to Gongsun Shu's treaty and have the Great Han share the Central Plains with Lu Fang — that is absolutely out of the question."

Though the realm was vast, it could not hold two Han. Liu Xiu could not stand shoulder to shoulder with Lu Fang — not only because of the pride of the "Han soul" in his heart, but also because he still cared for his reputation.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Deng Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Whether from a practical standpoint or considering this open-conspiracy trap, the Great Han should not wade into these murky waters.

Ma Cheng, however, found it a great pity. "Then we simply sit and watch the war in the north, letting Diwu Lun defeat all parties and turn peril into safety?"

Deng Yu offered a plan: "Your Majesty could neither agree nor refuse, but merely pretend to assemble the three armies, massing them at Huainan and Jiangxia to pin down the Wei forces. Let Chengjia, the Western Qiang, and Wei slowly wear each other down. Furthermore, when Emperor Wu of Han punished the barbarians, he spent a full forty years without achieving his goal. When Emperor Xuan of Han struck the Xiongnu, five armies returned empty-handed. Now the Xiongnu have risen again, stronger than in the time of Huhanye, while the false Wei holds only half the realm and is distracted on too many fronts. Once Diwu Lun is fully at war with the Xiongnu Chanyu, the beacon fires in the north will burn for ten, twenty, even thirty years! The Great Han can just use this time to rest and recuperate."

Liu Xiu agreed. This was a cooperation without alliance, far more sophisticated than Gongsun Shu's open pact with the Xiongnu.

He instructed Ma Cheng: "We cannot let Diwu Lun reap all the benefits from this banner of 'honor the king and repel the barbarians.' In the coming campaigns to clear out the Shanyue, the various governors and generals must also raise the name of repelling the barbarians, so that the world may know that We, inheriting the Han soul of Emperors Wu and Xuan, are likewise driving out the barbarian Di."

After Ma Cheng assented and withdrew, Liu Xiu beckoned Deng Yu closer and instructed him in a low voice: "Zhongzi, though it is said we should rest and recuperate, We cannot hold a short weapon and await a distant arrow — sitting and waiting for death."

"Since the northern campaign is postponed for now, we can draw ten thousand troops from along the Great River and send them south. The strategy you previously proposed — advancing by both water and land to conquer the Jiaozhi Regional Inspector's division and eliminate the threat at the Great Han's back — can now be put into action!"