Chapter 701: Extra 1: The Tale of A Yun (Part One)

PS: A heads-up — I need to apply for book completion here, otherwise the readers who invested when the book launched will get burned. The remaining extras will move to the gong zhong hao "July Old Tales," two updates a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays — no Mondays.

……

From the eighth month of the eleventh year of Wude (AD 35), A Yun had been stationed at Yandao.

Coming to this place, the vast openness of the western Sichuan plain suddenly drew in. The terrain gradually rose, the mountain vistas growing steadily more imposing — to the west, towering snow peaks, their glaciers burying the old traces of the landscape's past; to the east, the clear waters of the Qingyi River, history tangled among the vines.

After the Wei dynasty destroyed Gongsun, Diwu Lun issued an edict abolishing Gongsun Shu's "Colonel Director of Retainers" office. Chengdu remained part of Shu Commandery, while the five counties and circuits to the southwest — Qingyi, Yandao, Zuodu, Maoniu, and Xi — which had been the former jurisdiction of "Shenli Commandery" under Emperor Wu of Han, were designated the "Dependent State of Shu Commandery."

There were many similar administrative border adjustments — for instance, the Di soldiers' homeland of Wudu Commandery was transferred from Yizhou to Liangzhou. This reflected Diwu Lun's principle for adjusting provincial boundaries: "Ensure that each province's borders interlock like dogs' teeth, so that centuries hence, no local magnate can exploit the natural barriers of mountains and rivers to easily carve out a separatist regime."

It was said that His Majesty the Wei Emperor even considered, on the grounds of "strengthening the root and restraining the branch," cutting Hanzhong out of Yizhou and assigning it to Yongzhou...

In any case, ever since the Dependent State of Shu Commandery was established, the Di brigade under A Yun's command had become the largest garrison force in the region. The area was further divided into north and south — north of the Qionglai Mountains, most inhabitants were registered commoners; south of the mountains lived the Maoniu Qiang and Zuodu Yi peoples. The magnates of both circuits had already surrendered the seals and ribbons granted by three successive regimes — the Former Han, Wang Mang, and Gongsun Shu — and offered tribute and allegiance to the State of Wei.

By all reason, there was no longer any enemy presence in the region, yet A Yun remained exceptionally vigilant. He believed that "remnant diehards of Western Shu" still roamed the territory — they moved like ghosts, had once attempted to assassinate the two Grand Generals Ma and Cen, and with His Majesty the Emperor personally touring Yizhou this year, every precaution had to be taken.

Thus the Di soldiers conducted strict inspections everywhere. A Yun issued a secret order: any suspicious individual who might be a "Gongsun death-sworn" could be executed on the spot by officers and soldiers — no need to report up! Better to kill a hundred innocents by mistake than let a single one slip through!

Only by doing so could A Yun's heart find some measure of ease. He had already burned the scrolls and bamboo slips documenting Gongsun Shu's death-sworn training program, and eliminated every local who might have had contact with him. The only ones who might still know his secret were those former comrades still at large.

And so time passed, until the seventh month of the twelfth year of Wude (AD 36). According to Diwu Lun's plan, Yizhou's year-long "military administration" was about to end, and a new Colonel of the Dependent State of Shu Commandery would soon arrive with a cohort of court officials to take up their posts. A Yun's garrison duty was nearing its end, when suddenly he received a summons from the Grand General of Agile Cavalry, Ma Yuan, ordering A Yun to come to Chengdu for an audience.

A Yun was overjoyed and could not help indulging in fancy: "Could it be that His Majesty the Wei Emperor, after touring Ba Commandery and Jiangzhou, has returned to Chengdu and wishes to see me?"

Having thoroughly cast aside his past, A Yun had his own career plans.

Back in the day, he had served in Wu Han's army, followed him to Hexi to strike the Hu with all his might, earned merit and was enfeoffed as "Baron," and promoted to Deputy Colonel.

After the Hanzhong campaign, when he personally executed his former benefactor Jing Han and used the man's head as a gift to secure promotion and wealth, A Yun was enfeoffed as "Viscount," formally became a Colonel, gained command of a brigade, and also earned Ma Yuan's regard.

After he crossed Yinping by stealth last year, then volunteered to seize the western frontier of Shu Commandery at Yandao, he was finally enfeoffed as "Count" and promoted to Lieutenant General.

But though his official rank and noble title had risen, the troops under A Yun's command remained the same understrength Di brigade — a mere two thousand or so men. This made him wonder, had his career path reached its limit?

Betraying the Gongsun Emperor, striking a killing blow against his former benefactor, slaughtering former acquaintances and fellow death-sworn — the more of these deeds he committed, the fiercer A Yun's desire to keep climbing grew.

As a Di person, no matter how deeply Sinicized, there were ultimately limits. This identity meant he was fated never to receive the court's full trust. For instance, the cannons already issued to every division in the Western Army — not a single one was given to them to try out...

If he could gain an audience with Diwu Lun and win the Emperor's favor, perhaps he could still rise another step in the future — that would make all his "sacrifices" worthwhile.

A Yun thus took this trip to Brocade City to heart and instructed his subordinates: "Go at once to the Orange Overseer of Yandao and have him prepare the finest citrus for me!"

Yandao had once been a copper mountain. After the surface veins were mined out, it had gradually declined over the past century, but the region still had one specialty renowned across the land: oranges...

The climate here was uniquely blessed, with abundant sunlight, extremely suited to fruit trees. Yandao had once maintained a dedicated "Orange Office" that, after autumn, would send the finest-looking citrus as tribute to the court. Later, Yandao's unemployed miners cleared barren slopes to plant citrus, or filled the plots in front of their houses and the yards behind with orange trees, delivering the fruit in autumn as their annual tax. When A Yun was on Mount Qionglai, the mountainsides of yellow-orange and green citrus had been the young death-sworn's favorite fruit.

From what A Yun had heard his Western Army colleagues mention — perhaps because the Imperial Tutor Yang Xiong was a man of Shu — the Emperor was extremely fond of Ba-Shu fruits. As early as the conquest of Cheng, Diwu Lun had ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guards accompanying the army to search for bitter orange and citron — two fruits very similar to citrus.

If he hauled two ox-carts of Yandao citrus into Chengdu, might he win the Emperor's favor? To keep the citrus from spoiling, A Yun had the men specially cut them with branches still attached, then covered them with a thick layer of orange leaves to keep them fresh.

After traveling three days and three nights, as he neared Chengdu, A Yun grew anxious again. It was early autumn, and the golden oranges of the six counties — Chengdu, Guangdu, Pi, Fan, Jiangyuan, and Linqiong — were about to be harvested in abundance. This fruit resembled a tangerine but was not one, like a pomelo yet fragrant; it flowered or bore fruit through summer, autumn, and winter, some large as ritual peaches, some small as slingshot pellets, with a very sweet flavor. Compared to them, Yandao's green citrus carried a hint of sourness, and their color was not as pleasing. This Diwu Emperor — did he love sour, or sweet?

"The Emperor had people searching for bitter orange and citron — bitter orange is sour, while citron is mild and sweet..." A Yun could not be sure either.

He did not know that Diwu Lun had people searching for those two things in order to establish an official orchard in Shu, where gardeners would crossbreed them to artificially produce another, even more sour member of the citrus subfamily: the lemon. Wild lemons had existed since ancient times, perhaps originating and spreading from Shu to the world, but in their homeland they had failed to flourish and had instead grown increasingly rare.

With a nervous heart, A Yun arrived in Chengdu, only to learn that the Emperor, after touring Ba Commandery and Jiangzhou in the summer, had changed his plans and decided not to return to Chengdu, instead heading directly north to Hanzhong and back to Chang'an.

A Yun had made a wasted trip. His heart instantly went cold — citrus might keep fairly well, but in this sweltering post-autumn heat, by the time it reached Chang'an, it would all have rotted long ago!

He could only swiftly collect himself and present the two carts of citrus to Grand General Ma instead!

"I have heard that the Grand General favors sour flavors. A Yun has specially brought Yandao citrus here, and invites the Grand General to sample them."

A Yun had not gotten it wrong this time — Ma Yuan truly did love sour food.

In his early years, Ma Wenyuan had ridden free beyond the frontier as a knight-errant, and also raised cattle and sheep. After years of rich meats and heavy foods, as age crept up on him, Ma Yuan's stomach gradually grew overburdened. Past fifty, he was especially fond of something sour to aid digestion. It was said that in the army, even when the camp cook made a bowl of water-drawn noodles, the Grand General would have to add vinegar and eat it with garlic.

But in this era, Shu cuisine leaned sweet. At the banquet held for A Yun, Ma Yuan specially had them serve a sweet sauce long famous in the region: Shu citron sauce.

This was made from a common Shu fruit — fresh citron — washed, chopped fine, steamed and boiled together with malt sugar until the citron was thoroughly softened, then a bit of honey added and blended into a sauce. It could be preserved for a very long time.

"The people of Shu love sweetness — the recent Imperial Tutor Yang Ziyun, the ancient Sima Xiangru, all were like this."

Halfway through the meal, Ma Yuan had not touched a drop of wine. He dismissed his attendants, leaving only himself and A Yun. The Grand General of Agile Cavalry then used this small citron sauce as a lead-in to discuss serious matters.

Ma Yuan told A Yun that during the time of Emperor Xiaowu of the Former Han, there was a Han envoy named Tang Meng. He was dispatched on a mission to the Southern Yue kingdom — what is now Jiaozhou — and in its capital, Panyu, he actually tasted the Shu-exclusive citron sauce!

Tang Meng was greatly astonished. At the time, the Han people believed that Southern Yue and Shu were separated by impassable mountains and rivers, with no direct route between them, and the border passes of Changsha Kingdom and Yuzhang Commandery had absolutely no record of Shu citron sauce being resold southward. How could the Southern Yue people have gotten hold of this?

"Yet the Southern Yue people also did not know this was a product of Shu, saying only that it was shipped from the kingdom of Yelang."

Ma Yuan looked at A Yun: "Lieutenant General Yun, tell me — what is the reason for this?"

Though A Yun had never read the histories, he could guess the general idea: "Could it be that from Shu, through Zangke and Yelang, there is a road leading straight to Jiaozhou?"

"Exactly." Ma Yuan dipped his finger in water and drew a map on the table: "To the northwest of Jiaozhou, in Cangwu and other places, there is a great river, the Zangke River — the Nanpan River — several li wide. The citron sauce came by this route, and the Yue people called it Zangke sauce."

"When Tang Meng returned to the Han dynasty, he asked the Shu merchants living in Chang'an. The merchants said: 'Only Shu produces citron sauce; many smuggle it out to trade in Yelang. Yelang lies beside the Zangke River, which is over a hundred paces wide — sufficient for boats to travel.'"

Only then did Tang Meng confirm that from Shu into Yelang, following the Zangke River, one could go directly to Lingnan! This was a new route the Han people had never known before.

At that time, the Zhao clan of the Southern Yue kings had ruled for nearly a hundred years, with yellow canopies and left-side pennants, their territory stretching over ten thousand li east to west — nominally an outer vassal, in truth the master of a whole province. Emperor Wu of Han had long planned to raise troops and unify Lingnan, but if a great army marched from Changsha and Yuzhang, they would be blocked at every turn by the Five Ranges, with most waterways cut off. The Ling Canal that the Qin army had used to march south in former days had also been severed by the Southern Yue army and was impassable.

Tang Meng therefore submitted a proposal: if the Han dynasty could win over Yelang, dispatch its elite troops, and float boats down the Zangke River to strike directly at Panyu, this would become a surprise force to destroy Southern Yue...

"And thus Tang Meng was sent to persuade Yelang to submit. Though it gave rise to the joke of 'Yelang's arrogance,' the King of Yelang ultimately pledged allegiance to Han, and the two commanderies of Qianwei and Zangke were established there."

By this stage, Tang Meng's plan to use Zangke to strike Lingnan should have been a matter of course, but in the end it was never realized, because... Southern Yue fell too quickly!

Emperor Wu of Han had originally dispatched the Marquis of Chiyi, leading eight Colonels with Ba-Shu convicts and Yelang men as the main force, to sail straight down the Zangke River and coordinate with the other four columns. Unexpectedly, a rebellion broke out in Zangke, and the fifth column had to quell the unrest. By the time they succeeded, they learned that the other four columns had already taken Southern Yue with ease...

Ma Yuan stopped recounting the past. He trusted that A Yun had already understood.

"Tang Meng's unfulfilled stratagem — though it could not be used to pacify Southern Yue, it can now be used to cut off the King of Wu, Liu Xiu!"

A Yun jolted. Understanding why Ma Yuan had summoned him for this secret talk, he immediately sat up straight and attentive.

It turned out that recently, spies hidden in Jiangdong had been sending back frequent reports, saying that Liu Xiu had appointed his trusted confidant Zhu You as Governor of Jiaozhou, stationed at Panyu, and dispatched the two senior generals Wang Ba and Zang Gong with twenty thousand troops to Jiaozhi to campaign against the Luo tribes.

One had to know that the Wei army was already building ships in great numbers at various points along the Yangtze. According to Diwu Lun's plan, once the time was ripe and the soldiers were adept at river warfare, in the year after next — at the turn of spring and summer in the fourteenth year of Wude (AD 38) — two to three hundred thousand troops from Yizhou, Jingzhou, Xuzhou, and Yangzhou could launch the campaign to pacify Wu!

At this critical juncture, instead of hurrying to consolidate the Yangtze defense line, Liu Xiu was splitting his forces and sending them to Jiaozhou — no matter how you thought about it, it defied logic.

Unless Liu Xiu was preparing an escape route to the south for himself!

Ma Yuan said: "His Majesty believes that Liu Xiu likely intends to emulate Zhao Tuo, using the land of Lingnan to make a desperate, dying struggle!"

The mission of the Liang and Yi western armies under the Grand General of Agile Cavalry was precisely to prevent this from happening.

In Ma Yuan's plan, in the spring of the year after next, his main force would advance from Peiling south of Ba Commandery straight into Wuling Commandery, then seize Lingling and Guiyang in southern Jing, enveloping Feng Yi's forces at Changsha and cutting off his escape south to Lingnan.

That was not all — Ma Yuan had another killing move.

"A'Yun."

Ma Yuan said to A'Yun, "I intend to make you a Lieutenant General, expand the Di brigade into a ten-thousand-man division, and train them at the Bo Road in Qianwei Commandery. Once winter sets in and the southern heat and miasma temporarily abate, you will lead this detached force down the Five-Chi Road, pass through Zhuti east into Zangke, garrison at the Yelang Colonel's post, then locate the Zangke River, find a way to build boats, and raid Feathered Forest Guard Commandery along the river!"

Whether or not Liu Xiu truly intended to flee south to Jiaozhou, the western army's A'Yun would become the first nail the State of Wei drove into Lingnan!

With that, official business concluded, Ma Yuan ordered wine to be brought. The Grand General of Agile Cavalry toasted the overwhelmed and flattered A'Yun with a goblet and spoke words that set his heart racing with longing.

"If you can take Zangke and seize Feathered Forest Guard for His Majesty,"

"that will be a deed worthy of a marquisate!"

A jolt ran through him. A'Yun rose at once, drained his wine in one gulp, bowed toward the direction of Chang'an, and declared with deep emotion, "Trusted by His Majesty and the Grand General, on this campaign south, this humble man is willing to be your vanguard foot-soldier. Even into fire and water, I would die a hundred deaths without flinching!"

These words were every bit as sincere as the pledge A'Yun had made to Jing Han when he was ordered north to assassinate a Wei general.