Chapter 695: The Twelve-Year Dream

Chengdu was built during the Qin dynasty. The main administrative city lies to the east, shaped like a tortoise — neither square nor round. To the west is the "Lesser City," where residents and commerce are concentrated; "lesser" means small, and its scale is smaller than the main city.

But by the Han dynasty, Chengdu's population had multiplied several times over, second only to Chang'an and Linzi and surpassing Luoyang. With every trade flourishing and merchants from distant regions pouring into Shu, the cramped Lesser City became hard to dwell in, so they began expanding the outer ward.

Since the Pi River bounded it to the west and south, expansion could only go north. In the second year of Yuanding under Emperor Wu of Han, Chengdu's northern outer ward was established. After Gongsun Shu declared himself emperor, he made Chengdu his capital and built a high wall to enclose the outer ward. Using the Willow Pond, Heavenly Well Pond, and Thousand Autumns Pond — created from the excavated earth — as a foundation, he channeled the Pi River to link them, forming a moat system encircling the city's north.

If one stands atop the northern outer ward wall of Chengdu and gazes outward, a small hill comes into view — this is "Wudan Hill."

When Ma Yuan arrived before the city walls, he spotted this hill at once. The locals told him a romantic legend of Shu: in high antiquity, a mountain spirit from Wudu, originally male, transformed into a woman of stunning, bewitching beauty. This cross-dressing beauty roamed Ba and Shu, and the King of Shu, captivated at first sight, took her as a consort. But the mountain spirit could not acclimatize, and after a time she wished to leave. The King of Shu, however, had grown deeply attached. To keep her, he composed the "Song of Dongping" and performed it himself to delight her.

The mountain spirit's heart softened, and she stayed a few more years. In the end, unable to bear the plains climate, she passed away. The King of Shu, deeply grieved, dispatched five stout warriors to Wudu to carry back earth and stone to build his consort's tomb. Ever since, there in Chengdu's northern outskirts has stood Wudan Hill — covering several hectares and rising seven zhang high...

Beautiful as the legend is, and though Wudan Hill became a must-visit spot for gentlefolk on spring outings, for present-day Chengdu, this little hill, a mere two hundred paces from the northern wall, was deadly!

"Occupying the heights and bombarding from above — Chengdu can be taken in ten days!"

Ma Yuan set his sights on it. He mounted cannons atop Wudan Hill, aimed them at the northern outer ward, and let the great guns roar — blast his mother!

But the primitive cannons, after all, had limited power and could not bring down Chengdu's walls. Yet the earth-shaking din, a dozen or more bombardments each day, was enough to terrify the soldiers and civilians of the northern outer ward.

And the counterweight trebuchets that could directly threaten the Lesser City and the main city were nearly finished being built east of the city. The officials and people, desperate and cornered, rose up. On the night of the fifteenth of the seventh month, instigated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a group of Chengdu men clashed with the garrison. That very night they opened the northern outer ward's "Little Luocheng Gate" and let the Wei army in.

Gongsun Shu had been hiding all along in the White Emperor Palace within the main city, listening from afar to the unceasing cannon fire. When he heard that the northern outer ward had swiftly fallen to Ma Yuan and that the Lesser City had surrendered the next morning, he sighed and said: "When We first resolved to prosper the West, it was as the Metal phase. Since Wang Mang esteemed yellow, We made white the color of Our vestments and took the title White Emperor."

"Yet Fire overcomes Metal. To be defeated today by fire-weapons — it is fitting."

Though he was growing senile, Gongsun Shu still stood a head above the other warlords of the late Xin — he could win men's hearts. Even now, several thousand fought day and night for him against the Wei army, but they too were nearly all dead or wounded.

A minister begged Gongsun Shu: "Your Majesty, the Lesser City and the northern outer ward are both lost. Why not break out from the Jiangqiao Gate in the south, cross the Pi River by the Jiang Bridge, and head south to join the Crown Prince and the Chancellor?"

But Gongsun Shu once more refused to flee. He would die in his own palace if die he must. The ministers could not understand. Gongsun Shu only said: "The twelve-year term has arrived. No matter where We go, We cannot escape it."

It turned out that back when Gongsun Shu was hesitating over whether to declare himself emperor, he had a dream.

In his slumber, he suddenly heard a voice say: "Eight si, son tie — twelve is the term."

"Eight si, son tie" spells Gongsun. When Gongsun Shu awoke, he was deeply stirred. He had the dream divined. Some said it meant he had twelve more years of life; others said that if the Gongsun clan declared themselves emperor, their dynasty's allotted span would be twelve years.

Gongsun Shu pondered at the time: "If the former, a mere twelve years of time — how bitterly short! If I do not taste what it is to be emperor, would that not be a pity?"

"If the latter, Confucius said, 'Hear the Dao in the morning, die content in the evening' — let alone twelve years! Even if I cannot defy Heaven's decree, my descendants might yet prolong the Gongsun clan's altars."

And so Gongsun boldly declared himself emperor, a full year earlier than Diwu Lun and Liu Xiu. To this very day, it was exactly the "twelfth year of the Dragon Rising."

"Twelve years — the dream is over."

"Heaven's fortune cannot be defied. Our life draws to its close; the dynasty shall fall."

Gongsun Shu had steeled himself for death, yet still harbored a sliver of hope.

"But the Imperial Heirloom Seal has already been given to the Crown Prince. If he can reach the Chancellor and hold out in Nanzhong, announce Our passing and ascend the throne, and change the clan name back to our ancient surname 'Ji,' perhaps the Chengjia altars can evade the twelve-year limit and endure!"

Having his son change his surname to evade a prophecy — it had the same flavor as Emperor Ai of Han changing his reign title to "Chen Sheng Liu Taiping Emperor" to prolong the fading virtue of Han...

As morale collapsed and defectors streamed in, the main city fell by afternoon. Wei soldiers surrounded the White Emperor Palace, and the last loyalists of Chengjia, Gongsun Shu's sworn men, scattered like birds and beasts...

Gongsun Shu understood: his final hour had come! Before the Wei troops could storm the White Emperor Palace, he took out something he had long prepared.

It was an utterly unremarkable pottery jar. When he opened the lid, a flowing metal gleamed inside: quicksilver refined from the cinnabar of Shu.

Attended by the last few eunuchs and sworn men, Gongsun Shu raised the pottery jar and drank it down in one draught!

Quicksilver is lethally poisonous. Agony soon seized him. When the Wei soldiers burst through the palace gates, the hall was empty save for Gongsun Shu, his imperial crown and robes perfectly arrayed, his head lolling — dead upon the throne...

The White Emperor of the Metal virtue, dead at last by swallowing metal!

For Ma Yuan, his friendship with Gongsun Shu had ended at the second assassination attempt. When the Grand General entered the city and heard that the White Emperor was dead, he only sighed: "Crossing the river and dying — what can be done for you?"

His energy was soon devoted to maintaining order in the city and sorting through the Chengjia government's documents, tax registers, and household records. First, he expelled all the Di people who had followed the Wei army to loot; Di soldiers were forbidden to enter the city wards, and plundering was strictly prohibited. Diwu Lun appointed Feng Yan as acting Inspector of Yizhou, issuing proclamations that surrendered officials would retain their posts.

But just as they were sealing away the seals, ribbons, and treasures, Feng Yan discovered that one of Gongsun Shu's imperial seals was missing.

By the Qin and Han system, the Emperor has six seals, all of jade with chih-tiger knobs, sealed with the purple clay of Wudu. They are: the Emperor's Walking Seal — used for enfeoffing and appointing vassal kings and officials; the Emperor's Seal — used for bestowing letters upon vassal kings; the Emperor's Trust Seal — used for mobilizing troops; the Son of Heaven's Walking Seal — used for summoning ministers; the Son of Heaven's Seal — used for matters concerning foreign states; and the Son of Heaven's Trust Seal — used for serving Heaven, Earth, and the spirits.

Beyond these six, there is one special seal: the legendary "Imperial Heirloom Seal," said to be made from the Heshibi jade!

This object passed from the Qin dynasty to the Xin of Wang Mang, was lost when Wang Mang fled south, and later fell into Gongsun Shu's hands, fueling his ambition to declare himself emperor.

Feng Yan rigorously interrogated the Keeper of the Credentials and Seals and thus learned that Gongsun Shu had given the Heirloom Seal to Chancellor Li Xiong, ordering him to deliver it to the Crown Prince. The remnant troops and officials of Chengjia were also among those fleeing south with the two.

"Li Xiong has always vigorously advocated advancing south — they intend to go to Nanzhong, set up a separate court, and prolong this false dynasty!" Feng Yan was not surprised. Their Grand Herald's "Nanzhong Office" had long been established; it had not only incited the warlord entrenched at Dianchi to rebel against Gongsun Shu, but had even sent gifts to the King of Gouding. Nanzhong was favorably disposed toward the State of Wei — there was no fear of Li Xiong gaining momentum.

The only trouble was the Heirloom Seal...

After Feng Yan informed Ma Yuan, before the Grand General of the Agile Cavalry could even dispatch troops in pursuit, good news arrived from Cen Peng in the south:

"We, bearing the imperial mandate to attack Shu, are like men hunting a deer. The Grand General of the Agile Cavalry locks horns with it, while I, Peng, assist by seizing it from the flank. Though Chengdu was stout, the Grand General's army could settle it with a single step. I, Peng, therefore performed the labor of a detached force, intercepting the false dynasty's south-fleeing multitudes for the General. Earlier I led troops west, pressing the advantage straight toward Jiangyang, attacking and breaching Bodao. I also deployed numerous decoy troops, then divided my forces to go up the Min River to Nan'an. At Yufu Ford on the Dadu River, I encountered the Shu Chancellor Li Xiong and the Crown Prince. I routed them utterly, capturing several thousand; the rest all perished or fled in disarray. I also obtained one jade seal, inscribed with 'Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may it endure and ever prosper.' Interrogating Li Xiong confirmed it is indeed the Imperial Heirloom Seal stolen by Gongsun Shu."

"This is a vessel of state. I, Peng, dare not keep it a moment, nor dare I send it by water. I have ordered men to escort Li Xiong and the false Crown Prince, bearing the Heirloom Seal, via Ba Commandery with all haste to Chang'an. I hope the General, who holds Hanzhong, will inform all concerned to let them pass..."

There it was — Gongsun Shu's dying wish utterly shattered. The last remnant of Chengjia was annihilated on the banks of the Dadu River, never even reaching Nanzhong.

This was inherently good news, but the lieutenant generals under Ma Yuan were not too pleased. They felt Cen Peng's luck was too good — he had actually gotten the Heirloom Seal, stealing the thunder of Ma Yuan's capture of Chengdu and destruction of Gongsun, slicing off a huge chunk of the credit that should have belonged solely to the Western Army.

Someone grumbled: "Since Cen Peng styles himself a detached force, whether it's the Heirloom Seal or that false Crown Prince and Chancellor, they should all be sent to the General first, then forwarded to the capital."

Ma Yuan first glared at these fools. This was the Imperial Heirloom Seal — even if Cen Peng dared send it, would he dare accept it?

But the two generals sharing the credit for conquering Shu was a fact. Drawing on the lesson of the Huaibei campaign, Diwu Lun had stipulated: when the various armies attack a state, whoever captures a commandery or county governs it temporarily until the court-appointed local official arrives. Two armies may not co-garrison a single city, to prevent clashes and infighting.

The situation in Yizhou was now a bit delicate: Cen Peng called himself a detached force, but he had already successively taken Ba Commandery and Qianwei Commandery, and was about to push south to accept the surrender of Yuesui Commandery — seizing three commanderies in all.

Meanwhile, Ma Yuan's Western Army, though undeniably the main attack in terms of troop strength, had, apart from Chengdu, only captured the single commandery of Guanghan.

In the State of Wei's merit evaluations, besides capturing capitals, taking heads, and seizing prisoners, the number of commanderies and counties taken was also a metric. To spread the credit around more, Ma Yuan's subordinates petitioned him one after another: swiftly dispatch troops west to accept the surrender of the dozen or so counties on Shu Commandery's western frontier — do not let the Jingzhou army get there first!

Ma Yuan was not as strict in army discipline as Cen Peng. It was common for his troops to privately pocket government granaries and funds and divide up the spoils of war. Thus the great western Shu cities of Pi County and Linqiong became juicy morsels that the lieutenant generals and colonels scrambled over.

Even A Yun, who had missed out on the great merit, disregarding his troops' exhaustion from crossing the Yinping track, joined this scramble for assignments. But the place he wished to go and pacify was entirely different from the others.

"In the southwest of Shu, there is Yandao, where Rong and Xia dwell intermixed. Your humble officer wishes to go and subdue it!"

Yandao (present-day Ya'an, Sichuan) was, in the time of Emperor Wen of Han, a great copper mountain renowned throughout the empire; nearly half the realm's copper cash was minted there. But after Emperor Wu of Han, the easily mined copper deposits of Yandao were gradually exhausted. Like all cities drained of their resources, Yandao swiftly declined. By the time of Emperor Xuan of Han, the copper-digging craftsmen and the great merchant houses that transported the copper had all left. Yandao languished into a place for exiling convicts.

Since Yandao had no more profit to be squeezed and the roads were far, no one wanted to go. A Yun's petition was immediately approved by Ma Yuan.

Unlike Ma Yuan, who praised A Yun for "sharing the army's burdens," the Di soldiers on the march were grumbling endlessly. A Yun had promised to bring them to Shu to win merit and make their fortunes, but Yandao already bordered the endless snowy mountains, and further south lay the Dadu River and the lands of the southwestern Yi — places like Zuodu and Maoniu.

"Even poorer than Wudu!" a bunch of Wudu Di men griped.

But military orders were not to be disobeyed. In the eighth month of the eleventh year of Wude (AD 35), the men steeled themselves and followed A Yun south. When they reached the clear waters of the Qingyi River, the plains of Shu came to an end. What followed was a tangle of hills and streams, the elevation slowly climbing. Under A Yun's design, on a rugged mountain ridge, he successfully overturned the carriage of the Palace Gentleman stationed with the brigade as army overseer. The Palace Gentleman was injured in the fall and had to return to Chengdu to recuperate.

The last imperial eyes and ears around A Yun were gone. In the middle of the eighth month, the Di soldiers glimpsed a range of snowy mountains stretching across the horizon.

"Colonel, what mountains are those?"

"The Qionglai Mountains," A Yun replied, his tone indifferent, though his heart was full of sighs. That was where he had grown up — the secret place where Gongsun Shu had men trained as death warriors.

There was no fighting at Yandao. When word came that Chengdu had fallen and Gongsun had taken his own life, the local officials had long since been scared out of their wits. Even if A Yun had not come, they would have gone on their own to surrender to Ma Yuan.

At the banquet welcoming the "royal army," the atmosphere was perfectly harmonious. A Yun, highly sinicized, exchanged toasts with the Yandao officials and earnestly asked each about their career experience. He paid particular attention to those clerks who had been born and raised in Yandao, and even, as if by chance, inquired about the rumored death warriors Gongsun Shu had kept and trained in the Qionglai Mountains…

Two of the officials, well into their cups, began to boast, claiming they had been to the Qionglai Mountains to deliver grain and vegetables to Gongsun's death warriors there, and had met several of them face to face.

One of them, tongue thick with drink, fixed his gaze on the bearded A Yun and studied him carefully. "I find the Colonel somewhat familiar," he said. "I wonder where I might have seen you before?"

A Yun laughed it off. "In your eyes, don't all Di and Qiang people look the same?"

With that, A Yun suddenly rose and raised his cup with everyone toward the northeast, toasting long life to His Majesty the Wei Emperor. That night, guests and army officers celebrated Yandao's return to Great Wei, and all made merry. Only at the end did A Yun request that a few men stay behind to help the Di soldiers guard the county office, so that no household registers or records would go missing.

The two officials who had claimed to have visited the Qionglai Mountains were naturally among those named. Not daring to offend A Yun, they drunkenly agreed. Before sleep, one of them kept muttering, "I really have seen this Colonel Yun somewhere before…"

That night, a great fire suddenly broke out at the Yandao county office. It not only burned to ashes over a hundred years of household registers, documents, and records from three dynasties, but also burned to death every one of the minor clerks who had stayed behind to guard the place.

A Yun, having been "dead drunk" the night before, slept until afternoon before hurrying to the scene of the fire. He sighed deeply at the county office reduced to charcoal, and conveniently pinned the blame for the guards' deaths on "careless use of fire," making them bear this enormous blame.

But behind his show of regret, A Yun's heart was full of secret delight.

A month earlier in Chengdu, he had learned that after Jing Han died in battle and the Cheng family treasury grew ever poorer, the last batch of Gongsun's death warriors had left the Qionglai Mountains, and the secret base there was soon abandoned. Without Jing Han, that ringleader of assassins, to manage things, the Cheng family officials Gongsun Shu had assigned to tie up loose ends were rather slipshod. The relevant documents, astonishingly, had not been burned, nor sent to Chengdu to be sealed away. They had simply been left to pile up and gather dust at the Yandao county office!

What utter dereliction of duty! But it also gave A Yun a chance to completely destroy his past — and to conveniently silence the two minor clerks who might have recognized him…

A Yun looked once more at the eternally frozen, gleaming white snow atop the Qionglai Mountains. In the place where he had become a Gongsun death warrior, he had at last completely severed his past.

"From this day forward, my secret — no one will ever know!"