Chapter 656: Heroes

As the imperial capital, Chang'an's prisons were not necessarily better than those in the empire's remote commanderies and counties — in fact, because they were packed full year-round, conditions were often worse.

That was why Zhou Bo, a founding hero of the Great Han who had once commanded a hundred thousand troops and been bold all his life, still shuddered at the memory of "the might of the prison clerk."

The prison clerks of the State of Wei outdid even those of Han times. Diwu Lun paid lip service to revering Confucius and honoring the Confucians, but inwardly, like Emperors Xiaowu and Xiaoxuan, he stressed the techniques of form-and-name law. The prisons under the Superintendent's jurisdiction were divided into several grades; those guilty of the most heinous crimes, whom they could not allow to die easily, were often confined alone in the Residence Prison, watched by dedicated guards to prevent suicide.

Even under such strict supervision, Fang Wang still had many chances to take his own life. Yet for the past half year he had endured meals fit for swine, survived the cold of night, and clung to a wretched existence — all to see the "north-south vertical alliance" he had single-handedly woven trap Diwu Lun like a net and deal the State of Wei a devastating blow!

If he could truly live to see that day, Diwu Lun would surely, in a rage, have him torn apart by chariots — but Fang Wang would be able to die content, laughing with joy before his end, delighted that he had at last beaten heaven by half a move!

Yet when the bells of New Year's Day in the fifth year of Wude (AD 29) rang out, Feng Yan, the Wei Grand Herald whom Fang Wang had not seen in a long time, visited the Residence Prison. He sat upright outside the cell and, through the cold iron bars, told Fang Wang one thing.

"Fang Wang, Wei Ao is dead."

Every word Feng Yan spoke struck Fang Wang's heart like a great bell, shattering the faith and hope that had sustained him through the dark prison until this moment!

The Xiongnu invasion of Hexi had been beaten back by Wu Han; the Western Qiang rebellion had been put down by Ma Yuan; Fang Wang's former lord Wei Ao had taken his own life. Not only had the State of Wei lost not a single county of territory, it had also seized Wudu, driving a wedge into the "mountain-and-river fastness" of the Cheng family in Shu. Even Lu Fang, the Hu-Han leader north of the frontier, had been defeated and killed, his body hacked into twelve pieces…

"Fang Wang, when you are taken out to be executed at Chang'an's Eastern Market, you will pass the Foreign Hostel on Gao Street — Lu Fang's head is hanging there right now!"

Feng Yan's words carried self-satisfaction: inciting the Di people of Wudu to turn against Shu had been his own scheme, and the defection of the Hu-Han generals was the fruit of years of effort by the Grand Herald. Fang Wang had once linked nearly every power under heaven to move jointly against Diwu Lun — and Feng Yan had used magic to defeat magic, unraveling each thread by similar means!

The scene was in no way inferior to Zhang Yi breaking the Six States' vertical alliance and causing the five-state coalition to collapse outside Hangu Pass!

As the ultimate victor in this contest of strategists, Feng Yan could now, with a victor's bearing, say to Fang Wang:

"Fang Zizhan, you have lost!"

Fang Wang's face turned ashen. Half a year of bitter waiting, and this was the result. The State of Wei had just ended its Huaibei campaign against Liu Xiu; its troops were weary and its people exhausted. With the west, south, and north all rising at once, even if Wei could not be destroyed in one stroke, it should at least have forced Diwu Lun to cough up Bing Province and Liang Province. Why, in the end, had it turned out like this?

He did not think the fault was his own; he only blamed Wei Ao for his incompetence, Lu Fang for his incompetence, Gongsun Shu for his incompetence, Liu Xiu for his incompetence, the Xiongnu Chanyu for his incompetence!

With this chance missed, it would be nearly impossible for the other powers to turn the tables again. But Fang Wang's heart still refused to yield, and he ground out a few words through clenched teeth: "What a pity — a pity that my brilliant stratagem was wasted. I can only lament that there are no heroes in this age, allowing that whelp Diwu to make his name!"

In the past, Feng Yan would have argued with him until his neck turned red, but this time he sat there with easy confidence and countered with a smile: "What is a hero? Do the First Emperor of Qin and the Han founder count?"

Fang Wang sneered: "Of course they count. Compared to them, Diwu Lun is as a candle flame to the sun and moon."

"Master Fang is wrong again!"

Feng Yan shook his head and said: "The First Emperor of Qin inherited the legacy of six generations, relied on the might of victorious battle, nibbled away at the realm, swallowed the Warring States, and united all within the seas into one. His lands were broader than those of the Five Emperors, his achievements equal to those of the Three Dynasties — a hero of true brilliance."

"But who were his opponents? King An of Han and King Jia of Wei were nameless nonentities; King Fuchu of Chu was nothing but a puppet of powerful ministers; King Qian of Zhao was a muddled mediocrity who employed eunuchs and put Li Mu to death; King Xi of Yan in his early years was keen to ally with Qin and fight Zhao, and in his later desperation knew only to send Crown Prince Dan to assassinate the Qin king — hardly brilliant; as for King Jian of Qi, he sat and watched Qin destroy the five other states, surrendered with folded hands, and starved to death among the trees, a laughingstock to posterity."

"And then there is the Han High Emperor. Liu Bang rose from among commoners, brandished his sword and won the realm — no abdication like Tang and Yu, no royal lineage like Tang and Wu. Like a dragon in motion, a tiger transformed, he rallied the winds and clouds, campaigned against chaos and punished tyranny, and swept the imperial domain clean. In three years he brought down Qin, in five he destroyed Chu — within eight years, all within the seas was settled. A figure such as this, from high antiquity to the records in the books, has never been seen before; it was as if the gods aided him. Had he not been a man of heroic and surpassing talent, how could he have achieved such deeds?"

Feng Yan continued: "Yet among Liu Bang's opponents, apart from Xiang Yu, whom the Grand Historian could still place in the 'Imperial Annals,' and Tian Heng and a few others who had some spirit, there were no outstanding men either. Wei Bao, Chen Yu, Ying Bu and the like were no more than bandits who got lucky in chaotic times."

"According to you, if the First Emperor of Qin and the Han founder had unworthy opponents, does that suffice to deny their heroic achievements?"

After demolishing Fang Wang's subjective fallacy with this argument, Feng Yan said: "To put it simply, one brilliant and outstanding is called 'wise'; one whose courage and strength surpass others is called 'bold.'"

Feng Yan cupped his hands toward the direction of Weiyang Palace: "My lord possesses great wisdom, devising stratagem after stratagem. With sagely virtue and numinous might, he rose like a dragon in the new land of Qin, soared like a phoenix from Wei Commandery, and at the most opportune moment resolutely turned against Xin. He led the multitude of his clan, rallied scattered troops, smeared blood on his lips at Hongmen, drove straight into Weiyang, smashed the enemy forces of the new Wang Mang, crushed the Eight-Colonel Army, and thundered across the four seas. Without great boldness of spirit, how could such resolve have been possible? Thereafter he swept across the realm, expelled calamity and chaos, executed the unprincipled — in eight years the north was largely settled. He abolished Wang Mang's tyrannical policies and promulgated the refined governance of Great Wei, saving the common people from fire and water, delivering the hundred surnames from hanging upside down. Looking back across the past, he is fit to be mentioned in the same breath as the Han founder."

"Gongsun Shu, Wei Ao, Lu Fang, and the rest of those capering clowns are indeed mediocrities; the Xiongnu's broken wings and the Western Qiang's flight are due to the Qiang and Hu's stupidity, unable to stand against the majestic royal army. But Liu Xiu is also a hero of his time, with the bearing of a hidden dragon. The reason he can do nothing and can only cling to the southeast is that my lord is more heroic than he, and thus can keep Liu Wenshu pinned down and unable to move!"

By the end, Feng Yan's face was utterly solemn: "The enterprise of heroes is to be recorded in the annals of history and judged by the ten thousand generations after us — how can it be slandered by a few words from you?"

This was the exhilarating rebuttal Feng Yan had long been denied, and the conclusion he had reached through bitter reflection during his years of obscurity. It left Fang Wang momentarily speechless, and Feng Yan pressed his victory, giving him no chance to retort: "I came here today only as an opponent, to see Master Fang off on his final journey."

As if understanding something, Fang Wang raised his head — and saw Feng Yan rise to his feet. Behind him, the prison clerk who had been waiting a long while stepped forward to open the door, the iron fetters and manacles in his hands clanking and jangling together.

"His Majesty said: Today is the New Year's festival of the fifth year of Wude. Yet with Wei Ao's head not entering the Pass, and Lu Fang's skull merely hanging at the Foreign Hostel, it seems a little too quiet. Common households, when the New Year festival comes around, know enough to slaughter a pig to liven things up. Today the government of Great Wei will also kill a man, see a little red, and add to the festivity of this new year's beginning!"

"Master Fang, please accompany me to the Eastern Market intersection to receive the Five Punishments!"

…

"The Eastern Market must be bustling today, no?"

Donning the Emperor's ceremonial robes and crown, preparing to go to the grand New Year's court assembly to share in the festivities with his ministers, Diwu Lun only then recalled that in a moment of good cheer today he had also issued an order to slaughter a pig.

Attending him was the Palace Gentleman Dou Gu, just in his teens but already quite sharp. When the Emperor suddenly asked, he paused a moment before answering: "The execution of the arch-villain Fang Wang — and by the rarely seen Five Punishments, no less — will certainly draw no small crowd of onlookers."

Apart from the bizarre tortures legend ascribes to Jie of Xia and Zhou of Shang, the Five Punishments can be called the ceiling of cruelty, notorious enough to rank alongside being torn apart by chariots. As the name implies, five types of punishment are applied in succession. First, the tattooing and nose-cutting: characters are branded onto the face, and while the convict is fully conscious, his crimes are inscribed word by word onto his cheeks and forehead — blood streaming down. Then the nose is sliced off. After that, the left and right feet are severed. Because Fang Wang relied on his mouth to persuade, his tongue must also be cut out. Then a wooden bastinado covered in barbs is used, blow after blow, to beat him slowly to death! Only at the end is his head chopped off and his corpse publicly minced into meat paste.

It sounds exceedingly cruel just to hear of it. In all of history, only two people have been subjected to the Five Punishments: one was Li Si, the Qin Chancellor, who fell victim to Zhao Gao's vicious scheme; the other was the wretched Peng Yue, whom Empress Lü tricked into coming to Chang'an and had killed on charges of rebellion.

"Fang Wang's crimes exceed those of Li Si and Peng Yue."

Toward his opponents, whether they were worthy or foolish, Diwu Lun bore no great hatred — but Fang Wang had long since disgusted him. He had held back until Wei's three-front victory before issuing the execution order.

Had the front lines lost, Fang Wang would have served as a target for the people to vent their fury; with the front lines victorious, Fang Wang's death became a joyous event that added flowers to brocade. Today the people of Chang'an would surely watch as thick as a wall.

"Yesterday, on New Year's Eve, we bid farewell to the old year. Besides the guards of Weiyang Palace lighting torches and marching out, every household in Chang'an beat drums to drive away pestilence and cast out the old. This Fang Wang is also an evil of yesterday, to be driven out thus. May this world see fewer men who fear no chaos under heaven."

But Diwu Lun himself had no great need to go watch that cruel spectacle or hear Fang Wang's screams — he could have Feng Yan describe it afterward…

Once he had donned the full regalia, he set out for the grand New Year's court. Weiyang Palace was already arrayed with Gentlemen of the Guard lining the steps, tiger halberds and crossed blades, dragon chariots filling the courtyard, cloud banners brushing the rainbow-hued sky.

Because they had just won several battles and turned Wei's situation from peril to safety, this occasion was to be conducted with extra solemnity. In concrete terms, it was nothing more than the hundred officials offering New Year's greetings, each rank felicitating the Emperor according to protocol. Those of two-thousand-dan rank and above ascended the hall and cried "Ten thousand years!", then raised goblets before the imperial seat. The Minister of Works presented the broth, the Minister of Agriculture presented the rice, the music for the food-offering was played, and the hundred officials received the imperial banquet and feasted, with grand music performed — everyone listening to music and eating a great feast together.

Of course, the various generals who could not be present also sent in their New Year memorials. Besides felicitating the Emperor, these fellows did not forget to take the opportunity to claim credit and request further campaigns.

Geng Bozhao, the Grand General of Chariots and Cavalry in Bing Province, after winning one easy battle, had relapsed into his old ailment! He began to think the Xiongnu were not as formidable as imagined and vigorously petitioned to march north and recover Shuofang, Wuyuan, and the other commanderies, lest the Xiongnu, once entrenched there, turn them into a base for southward incursions.

Ma Yuan, having occupied Wudu and gained a springboard in Longyou for attacking Hanzhong and the Shu heartland, had begun to entertain designs on Gongsun Shu. In his letter, he called his childhood friend a "frog at the bottom of a well" — General Ma wished to descend into the well, fish him out, and stew him.

As for the commanders in the south, the General Who Conquers the East, Zhang Zong, was fixated on Huainan, while Cen Peng, having repelled an attack by Qin Feng's old troops, hoped to counterattack into Nan Commandery, seize Jiangling City, cut off the link between Wu and Shu, and lure the two states into committing their main forces for a decisive battle on the Jiang-Han rivers, so as to finish the job in one campaign…

After reviewing them all, Diwu Lun held every battle request in the palace and issued only one ironclad order to his generals.

"This is the fifth year of Wude. Before the tenth year of Wude, no more major campaigns are to be lightly launched. Rest and recuperate."

"Only after five years, when armor and weapons are complete, grain and fodder are ample, and the common people yearn for unity, shall we again raise our armies, swallow Shu, and destroy Wu!"

The first light of dawn had appeared. Diwu Lun would now draw back his fist, accumulate strength, and wait only for five years before striking out with one blow!

Sweep clean the realm within the seas, and tidy up this mess that Wang Mang left behind!

…

PS: Only one final chapter remains in Volume Four. It won't finish this month; I'll aim to wrap it up before the New Year.