Chapter 96: Impossible to Guard Against

Normally, an execution is a quick affair — a head falls and it's done. But because the blades weren't that sharp, and most of the Boar-Rush Braves hadn't eaten their fill and were weak, a proper execution turned into outright butchery. Some men were stabbed over ten times and still not dead.

Others among the Boar-Rush Braves, remembering the abuse and beatings they'd suffered, saw red. Even after the condemned were dead, they kept raising their blades and stabbing the corpses.

Diwu Lun cursed his own miscalculation. Human bone is hard — what if the ring-pommel blades got damaged? He ordered the execution halted and had the Seventh Squad take up spears and step forward, to give a quick end to those still clinging to life.

After sixty-odd corpses had been thrown into a pit and buried together, the three-hundred-some Boar-Rush Braves remaining in the fort looked at Diwu Lun with changed eyes — both respect and fear. From junior officers down to common soldiers, every man bowed his head and obeyed. To cut down one in seven at the slightest clash — it was ruthlessness beyond measure.

Some junior officers recalled how Ruchen had often mocked Diwu Lun in front of the officers as too "soft and tender-hearted," sure to be scorned by the rank and file. They should have retrieved his head and pried his eyes open to see this blood-soaked ground. You call this the soft heart of a woman?!

Through this great purge, Diwu Lun absorbed several hundred men in one stroke. In particular, the several dozen Boar-Rush Braves who had stepped forward to carry out the execution were appointed Sergeants and Corporals on the spot.

But Diwu Lun seemed to think the numbers were still too high. He ordered those soldiers who were natives of Tewu County to step forward. After questioning them and confirming that most had been forcibly conscripted, Diwu Lun simply waved a hand. "Ruchen seized conscripts unlawfully. This Major does not follow his example. If any of you wish to return home, then go."

The soldiers were stunned. Several dozen of them, overjoyed, kowtowed repeatedly to Diwu Lun and left. They had families in this area, and their hearts had always been tied to their wives, children, and parents.

But several dozen more looked at each other in hesitation and decided to stay. They were mostly impoverished herders and tenant farmers whose homes Ruchen had already stripped clean, down to the last grain of rice. Going back meant waiting to die. They had heard that Diwu Lun was kind-hearted — on a march of two thousand eight hundred li, the auxiliary conscripts under him had lost barely a few dozen men. Following him might offer a better chance to live.

Of course, the main reason was that these fellows were all single dogs, with no ties to hold them back.

After one killing and one release, the fort was pared down to just three hundred men, and every one of them knelt before Diwu Lun in submission. "We are willing to serve the Major unto death!"

That slaughter not only won the submission of the newly absorbed men — even the Boar-Rush Braves of the Fifth Battalion now looked at Diwu Lun with sidelong glances. Before, they had mostly held their Major Diwu in affection and esteem. After today, a great deal of fear had been added to the mix.

So it turned out that when Diwu Lun did not draw his sword, all was calm — but once it left the sheath, the ditches ran red!

The most uneasy were those who had abandoned that thousand dan of "grain," letting it be burned by the bandits. Zang Nu in particular was both terrified and ashamed. He came forward cautiously to ask for orders, believing he too deserved punishment.

Diwu Lun laughed. "What crime have you committed?"

Zang Nu scratched his face and said, "Apart from abandoning the fodder and grain, we also lost Company Commander Dai."

True enough — if you applied the military law that the Xin army inherited from the Han army, which the Han army had inherited from the Qin army, he really did deserve death.

Diwu Lun had been reading the Wei Liaozi that Yan You had given him, and he had noticed a line: "In antiquity, those skilled in using troops could kill half their soldiers; the next best could kill three in ten; the lowest could kill one in ten. He who could kill half would overawe all within the seas; he who could kill three in ten would overawe the feudal lords; he who could kill one in ten would make his orders obeyed by his troops."

In his commentary, Yan You interpreted this as the ratio of losses an army could sustain in wartime without collapsing. But given the Xin army's character, there were still plenty of men who could kill half their own troops.

Major Ruchen, for example, had achieved just such a miracle. On the march, he had worked over four hundred Boar-Rush Braves to death through abuse and exhaustion, and afterward, no military judge ever came to investigate. That was what it meant to hold the power of life and death.

In the army, the ultimate punishment to cow the troops is nothing more than death. But who to kill, and how to kill — that is a profound art. Who would turn around and strike down his own trusted men first?

Besides, if you went by your Great Xin's rules, wasn't the one who most deserved to die Diwu Lun himself — the mole who colluded with bandits to strike his own comrades?

"You do deserve punishment, and so does the Seventh Squad!" Diwu Lun glared at Seventh Squad, the only one who knew the truth, and rebuked them harshly. "But not for losing Company Commander Dai, and not for losing the fodder and grain. It's because when the bandits attacked, you fled without fighting!"

His tone softened at once. "But knowing shame is close to courage. I am willing to give you all one more chance. Tomorrow, escort another shipment of grain to the main camp at Shanghe City. When you return, train diligently, so that the next time you meet the enemy, you can wash away your former disgrace!"

At that moment, Xuan Biao also arrived at Qujian Fort with men escorting Diwu Lun's baggage and armored troops from the north of the county. Those carts were loaded with cart after cart of "fodder and grain." Diwu Lun personally supervised as they were sent straight into the granary and mixed in with the several thousand dan of grain Ruchen had plundered.

The next morning, a proper one thousand dan of grain was hauled out of the granary once more.

Diwu Lun watched the supply carts disappear into the distance, not the least bit worried about another bandit attack on the road. He turned and inspected the granary again. Around four thousand dan remained. Setting aside the portion Diwu Lun planned to secretly funnel to Ma Yuan in batches, it was still enough to feed these thousand-odd men until after the autumn harvest.

However, Diwu Lun had made a promise to General Swallow-the-Hu — he had pledged that after the autumn harvest in the eighth month, he would levy another four thousand dan of grain and deliver it to the main army. The common folk of Tewu County had already been stripped clean by Ruchen; there was no more fat to scrape. And besides, Diwu Lun had never intended to squeeze money and grain from the poor.

But where was so much grain supposed to come from?

"Take it from whoever has the money."

Diwu Lun gazed toward the county seat, but he was in no hurry to pay a visit. First, he needed to stir up a little commotion. Otherwise, they'd still think they could stay out of it.

He laughed. "Bandits run rampant — impossible to guard against. Though they fear me and no longer dare plunder army grain, who knows when they might suddenly raid a wealthy household, kidnap a family head or a legitimate son?"

Five days later, the local magnate Zhang Chun was in his courtyard, hands behind his back, watching his wife and daughters feed mulberry leaves to the silkworms in their trays, when he saw his son Zhang Fen burst through the gate, face full of alarm. Zhang Chun frowned and walked over, had the courtyard gate closed, and asked in a low voice, "What's happened now? You look like a chicken flying and a dog jumping."

Zhang Fen said, "Father, the bandits at White Earth Ridge on the Bitterwater River have struck again!"

Zhang Chun was unconcerned. "Oh? Whose army grain did they rob this time?"

Zhang Fen said, "Diwu Lun's defenses along the Han Canal are extremely tight, and he's been reorganizing and drilling his troops day and night — they're actually starting to look like a real army. The bandits didn't dare provoke him, so they turned their eyes to the wealthy households beyond the Han Canal. The young master of the Wu family in South Township was on his way to get married. Halfway there, the bandits intercepted them."

"Fortunately, Major Diwu has kept men patrolling beyond the canal. He dispatched a company commander who rushed to the rescue in time and saved the bride, but the Wu young master was carried off by the bandits!"

Zhang Chun was unruffled. Stroking his beard, he said, "What would they want with a man, carrying him off like that?"

"They're demanding grain and money as ransom. A little while later, a letter was stuck into the Wu family's main gate — demanding one thousand dan!"

Zhang Fen said, "The Wu family has a hundred qing of good land, sets their tenant rents high, and lends money on the side. They can still come up with that much grain."

But once this precedent was set, the wealthy households of Tewu County were all uneasy, especially those living in the townships beyond the Han Canal. Though their homes all had fortified compounds and they didn't fear the bandits coming to their doors, they still had to travel sometimes. And the bandits were mostly mounted, coming and going like the wind — impossible to guard against!

Zhang Fen said, "So the wealthy households of South Township are already discussing joining forces to raise a cavalry troop, as large as two or three hundred riders, specifically to keep watch on the bandits."

Every powerful family in the county kept retainers, anywhere from a few dozen to over a hundred. And since Tewu was close to the frontier, the locals had gradually adopted barbarian ways — wearing riding trousers and carrying bows, nearly all of them able to ride. A single family might fear the bandits, but if they pooled their strength, they could form a formidable armed force and see who feared whom then.

"But for something this important, without your nod, Father, they wouldn't dare decide on their own." Zhang Fen laid out the thinking of the wealthy households.

"They want me to take the lead?" Zhang Chun laughed. His own family was extremely secure — nearly a thousand retainers. Whether it was Ruchen or the so-called bandits, whoever dared lay a finger on the Zhang clan would face the gravest consequences.

But as the preeminent surname of the county, he could not refuse to step forward.

"Very well." Zhang Chun said, "I imagine that even if I don't show my face, Major Diwu will soon be calling on the County Magistrate of Tewu to discuss measures against the bandits!"

Zhang Chun had been watching Diwu Lun's every move since he took control of the county's south. The man was young, but he could keep his nerve — he hadn't come knocking first, but was waiting for the best moment.

There was no need for Diwu Lun to make the first move. Zhang Chun instructed his son, "Send out a visiting card at once. Invite the County Magistrate and Major Diwu to the estate for a talk!"

"Truly tall."

When Diwu Lun rode up to the Zhang clan's fortified manor, he found that its walls were taller than the county seat's, and its area many times larger than his own fort.

The court classified households by property rank. The highest tier was the "Great Households," with assets of a million cash or more. After two years of management, the Diwu clan had reached that standard.

But even among Great Households, there were tiers within tiers — some had assets of ten million. And the Zhang clan was even more staggering; this family's wealth could only be described as "a myriad myriad."

How much was a myriad myriad? One hundred million!

Diwu Lun had heard that within the Qin Canal, half the farmland was Zhang family property. And in far-off Guanzhong, their family still held several hundred qing of land, five or six workshops, and seven or eight hundred bondservants managing it all.

The reason they could amass such colossal wealth was simply that the Zhangs were not some nouveau riche bumpkins, but a genuine "great lineage."

Diwu Lun had inquired. The Zhang clan's ancestor was the famous harsh official Zhang Tang from the time of Emperor Wu of Han. This family had bet on the right political horse during the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han and soared to prominence in one leap. Not only did they rise to Grand Marshal and General of Chariots and Cavalry in the inner court — one man beneath only the Emperor himself — but later generations married Princesses, and the Emperor repeatedly bestowed further enfeoffments. The Marquis of Fuping held a household count of over ten thousand! That meant an entire county was their private property.

The turning point came with Zhang Chun's father, Zhang Fang, the last Marquis of Fuping.

Zhang Fang had grown up alongside Emperor Cheng of Han as a Palace Gentleman companion and was deeply favored. When he married, Emperor Cheng bestowed tens of millions in cash in a single gift. The emperor loved slipping out of the palace incognito, always using the name "Marquis of Fuping" — he delighted in the role-play.

But the relationship between the two had gone beyond normal friendship. Zhang Fang was handsome in appearance, open and quick by nature — "he rose and retired with the sovereign, favored beyond all others." They were as close as lacquer, a pair of male birds flying wing to wing.

The old Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun was conservative by temperament. Emperor Cheng's boundless debauchery, bringing in Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede to wallow day after day in a bower of soft delight, she could just about tolerate — but the matter of her son being a two-way plug was something she absolutely could not accept.

And so, under the Empress Dowager's pressure, Zhang Fang was driven from the palace, packed off to the provinces as a Governor, and later returned to his fief. When word came that Emperor Cheng had passed away, Zhang Fang was so devoted that he pined for him, wept, and died.

It seemed Heaven, too, had taken note of Wang Zhengjun's loathing for two-way plugs — for the next emperor it sent her was Emperor Ai of Han, a man interested only in rolling in the sheets with Dong Xian and playing the cut-sleeve, utterly indifferent to women.

Such was the great gossip of the Zhang family. Setting aside this palace-bedchamber romance, the eminence of their pedigree was more than enough to thrash most of the realm's powerful houses.

Yet from what Diwu Lun observed, Zhang Chun was nothing like his extravagant father. He had likely learned his lesson and kept an exceedingly low profile — no soaring towers with carved beams and painted pillars. Instead, all his funds went into building a tall, thick, solid fortress. With the special military zone pressing close to the Xiongnu and the new army unreliable, should the barbarian horsemen sweep south, the Zhang clan could at least rely on this to survive.

He had also heard that Zhang Chun was quite compassionate toward his tenant farmers — the land rent was light, the interest on loans fair. He was that rare thing: a "conscientious" great landlord.

Diwu Lun silently reminded himself: "Though the Zhang family has lost its marquisate, its connections in the Chang'an court, behind the scenes, are far from few."

When dealing with this foremost power in the special military zone, he had to get his approach right. Treat the other side as a mere country moneybags and start shouting for blood the moment he arrived — the first to die might well be himself.

The Zhang clan, for their part, accorded Diwu Lun the highest courtesy. The central gate swung wide open, and a middle-aged man strode out, bowing with clasped hands to Diwu Lun — the family head himself had come to welcome him! The humility of the gesture told Diwu Lun at once: he had met his match.

"A commoner, Zhang Chun, pays his respects to Major Diwu!"

…

PS: Chapter 2 at 13:00.