Chapter 98: The Xiongnu Han

"Chief Ma, every word I've said is true!"

Lu Cheng simply assumed Ma Yuan's surname was Ma — why else would they be called the Ma Bandits? And 'chief' was just the northwestern term for a Qiang or Hu lord. Seeing Ma Yuan's face full of doubt, he felt deeply wronged and raised his voice.

"If you don't believe me, send someone to Sanshui County and ask around! My elder brother Wenbo is an imperial kinsman of the Great Han — there's no one in those parts who doesn't know his name!"

Lu Cheng was only twenty this year. He still remembered how, ten years ago, after their father died, his second brother Lu Fang had grown silent and withdrawn, sunk in gloom. Then Lu Fang made a trip to the commandery seat, and when he came back he was bursting with energy. He dragged the eldest, Lu Qin, and the third, Lu Cheng, into the cattle shed and laid bare the family secret — that they were descendants of the House of Han! He even said his true name was Liu Wenbo!

The eldest, Lu Qin, was stunned. The Anding Dependent State was a mix of Han and Hu; it was true their family had Xiongnu Hunye King blood on the ancestral side, but they had never intermarried with the Han imperial line. He blurted out on the spot, "Our family are imperial kinsmen of the House of Han? How come I never knew?"

Lu Fang spoke with forceful conviction. "Because we feared it would leak out and bring retaliation — and besides, the Great Han has fallen now anyway. This matter has been passed down only among the legitimate sons who became family heads. Father told me on his deathbed. You are a son of a secondary wife — how could you possibly know?"

Lu Cheng had always been his second brother's shadow, believing whatever he said.

From that day on, Lu Fang began spreading this secret to the people of Left Valley Township in Sanshui County.

News traveled slowly in those days, and Sanshui was a poor, remote backwater. The Qiang and Hu could barely even speak proper Han speech. The locals knew of Emperor Wu of Han, knew his Crown Prince had been killed, and knew of General Huo — beyond that, they knew nothing. Lu Fang's story sounded like it all checked out, and so they were taken in.

But at first this tale brought Lu Fang no advantage. Ten years ago, the Xin had just been founded, a hundred undertakings awaited revival, and no one yet missed the Great Han.

Yet things slowly began to change. As Wang Mang blundered from one folly to the next, everyone — from commoners and peasants to the Qiang and Hu 'Return-to-Righteousness' marquises of the Anding Dependent State, stripped of their titles — felt their interests had been harmed. Add to that the court's war with the Xiongnu, crushing corvée labor on the frontier, and unpredictable levies, and in the last couple of years a longing for the former dynasty had gradually stirred.

"The Former Han was better."

Lu Fang seized the moment to fan the flames. His identity as an 'imperial kinsman of the House of Han' grew prized, and through it he won a considerable following. The Lu clan had originally been merely a prominent family in Left Valley Ward, their influence about equal to Diwu Lun's family, but gradually they took on the swagger of a county-level power. Lu Fang also had some martial skill and recruited wandering bravos, destitute farmers, and Qiang and Hu herders on all sides. In just a few short years he gathered three hundred mounted followers, and his power expanded across the whole of Left Valley Township.

Lu Cheng was perfectly satisfied, but Lu Fang had still greater ambitions.

"Since our family are descendants of the House of Han, we must take the restoration of the Great Han as our duty!"

This was the sort of thing that got you executed for rebellion. Though his family had expanded rapidly, they were still far behind the sixteen great clans of Longyou, led by the Wei clan of Tianshui. The Wei and the rest scorned Lu Fang's shallow pedigree and his Hu blood, and had no interest in bringing him into their games. Lu Fang's story could fool no one once you left the Anding Dependent State.

So the method Lu Fang hit upon to 'restore the Great Han' was to borrow troops from the Xiongnu!

"Our family are the descendants of a Han Son of Heaven and a Xiongnu Empress — we are kinsmen of the Xiongnu Chanyu as well. Now that the Great Han has been usurped by Wang Mang, relying on our maternal relations, the Xiongnu Chanyu, to restore the state is only right and proper!"

So at the start of the year, Lu Fang secretly sent Lu Qin beyond the frontier to establish contact with the Xiongnu Prince Goulin. At the same time, he conserved his strength in Left Valley. In early summer, hearing of great chaos east of the passes, Lu Fang could not resist the urge to rise up himself, but just then the Swallow-the-Hu General's army arrived in force, and he dared not make a move.

Lu Fang was in no hurry. The Xin troops were even more brutal to the common people than the Xiongnu; the more they ravaged the frontier, the more people came over to his side. He simply kept gathering intelligence on the Xin army and sent men beyond the frontier to pass it to the Xiongnu.

Just at this moment, startling news arrived: a band of 'Ma Bandits' operating along the middle reaches of the Bitter River, flying the banner of 'executing Heaven's justice,' had attacked an official grain convoy. Lu Fang was greatly stirred, believing them to be kindred spirits, and sent his younger brother to feel them out, to see whether he could absorb this small force under Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu.

After rambling on at length about his family background, and only when Ma Yuan impatiently cut him off, did Lu Cheng finally state his purpose. "Our forces and Chief Ma's are neighbors. Last year there was a small misunderstanding and a clash. We dwell on the upper Bitter River, you on the middle reaches, with Seven-Li Gully as the boundary, each keeping to our own side."

"Now I see it was a case of 'no acquaintance without a fight' — so we both loathe the Xin!"

Though they lived along the same river, mountains and waters lay between the two sides, putting two hundred li of distance between them. They had only made contact today. Lu Fang still thought Ma Yuan was an ordinary bandit, so he sent his younger brother, figuring their family's patter would be more than enough to handle things.

Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu exchanged glances. "Are you saying this Liu Wenbo wants to join forces with us?"

"Exactly!"

Lu Fang assumed an uncouth bumpkin like Ma Yuan couldn't read, so he sent no letter, only having Lu Cheng present a gift — a fine palace lantern, though how he had come by it was anyone's guess. Ma Yuan was never one to refuse what came his way; he toyed with it idly and asked offhandedly, "How does your family propose to cooperate?"

Lu Cheng's spirit soared. "Chief, join your army with my family's! Together we'll follow the Bitter River north and burn the granary at Qujian Fort!"

Qujian Fort — wasn't that where Diwu Lun was now stationed? What was this about? Ma Yuan stopped playing with the lantern. "And then?"

Lu Cheng said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world, "Burn all their grain and fodder, and throw the Xin army's rear into chaos!"

Wan Xiu frowned. That wasn't right. Diwu Lun might want to take out a few army officers with blood debts, but the grain that was supposed to go to the Swallow-the-Hu General's main camp was still being requisitioned and delivered in full.

Ma Yuan laughed. "What good does throwing the Xin army into chaos do us?"

Lu Cheng hesitated, but after Ma Yuan mocked him a few times for lacking sincerity, he grinned and said, "Once the Xin army is thrown off balance, the Xiongnu Chanyu will seize the chance to defeat the Swallow-the-Hu General and drive straight in. We'll go to the banks of the Yellow River to welcome him."

"Then the Xiongnu will enthrone my elder brother Wenbo to inherit the ancestral temple of the Great Han. All the land from New Qinzhong in the north down to Anding Commandery in the south will become Han territory. When the realm is recovered, can the two of you possibly be denied the titles of king or marquis?"

…

By the following evening, when Diwu Lun arrived at the agreed meeting place with Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu, Lu Cheng's story had become a joke told around the campfire.

"Hahaha, so there really are people like that in the world."

Only then did Diwu Lun learn that so close to him there was such a bizarre household — relying on a clumsy fraud of pretending to be Han imperial kinsmen, they had actually managed to raise a force. Absurd. It seemed the Xin had truly lost the hearts of the people.

The more he listened, the brighter his eyes grew. He pressed them, "Where is this Lu Cheng now?"

Ma Yuan pointed at Wan Xiu. "Junyou nearly cut him down on the spot!"

Wan Xiu looked a little embarrassed. "That Lu Fang gathering a crowd to resist the Xin authorities — that's one thing. But to actually want to invite the Hu in through the passes — that is utterly unacceptable."

"We agreed long ago: internal strife is internal strife, external war is external war. On a matter of such fundamental right and wrong, once Boyu explained it clearly, Wan Xiu could still tell the difference."

"It's a pity there aren't many as clear-headed as Junyou," Ma Yuan sighed. "I hear this Liu Wenbo has quite won the people's hearts in Sanshui and already gained a large following. His momentum is built. If the frontier collapses, he'll be the one to exploit it."

So after all that talk, what exactly had happened to Lu Cheng? Was he dead or alive?

"I've locked him up." Ma Yuan still hadn't decided what to do with him.

"Keep him securely locked away — he's of great use!" Diwu Lun let out a breath of relief. It was like a pillow delivered just as he was nodding off. The Swallow-the-Hu General Han Wei's worries were not unfounded; it turned out there really were collaborators with the Xiongnu inside the Anding Dependent State, even if they hadn't yet made their move.

Diwu Lun then laid out for the two of them the new situation they now faced.

"Dong Xi, the one who's been the most vicious in killing and abusing the people along the road, has been dispatched south by the Swallow-the-Hu General to suppress the 'bandits.' He'll reach Tewu any day now. Once he moves in with over a thousand men, Tewu County won't be under my say anymore."

"I was just worrying he wouldn't come," Wan Xiu said, unafraid. "Boyu, do you want us to ambush him on the road, the way we killed Ruchen?"

Ma Yuan, however, pondered. "Regulars aren't like the Boar-Rush Braves — they do have some fighting strength."

Diwu Lun nodded, though he was too polite to discourage Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu outright. After that last battle, the hundred-odd riders under their command were still a loose collection of stragglers, good for nothing more than bullying auxiliaries. If they ran into regulars with better equipment who could at least form ranks and fight, they would absolutely take heavy losses.

And although Diwu Lun had reorganized over a thousand men, the Boar-Rush Braves had been training for too short a time to be relied upon. Nor could he coordinate a pincer attack with Ma Yuan — that would mean he had no choice but to rebel outright, and this was not a good moment for that.

So, far from taking the initiative to strike at Dong Xi, Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu now needed to hurry and pull their forces out of Baitu Ridge, shift into the mountains, and evade his sharp edge. If the great Northwest had one thing going for it, it was space — burrow into the deep ravines, and even the gods would have trouble finding you.

Diwu Lun's original plan had been to have Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu lure Dong Xi into pursuit, then slowly wear the enemy down in the mountains with guerrilla fighting and look for a chance to kill Dong Xi. But that would mean Ma Yuan's forces would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

Fortunately, a better strategy had now presented itself.

"What clever scheme does Boyu have?" Ma Yuan asked, seeing Diwu Lun silent for a long while — he must have thought of something.

"Since neither Dong Xi nor Lu Fang is any good, why not…"

Diwu Lun picked up a stone from the ground and smashed it hard against another. "Drive the tiger to devour the wolf!"

…

After the three talked it over, they felt that if Diwu Lun simply captured Lu Cheng and presented him as a prize, it would seem a little too contrived and might arouse his superior's suspicion.

So, following Diwu Lun's plan, once Dong Xi had gone south, he and Zhang Chun would together urge him to march swiftly into the mountains to exterminate the bandits. Then, "by chance," they would discover Lu Cheng abandoned at the deserted Baitu Ridge, thereby exposing that behind the "Hemp Bandits" were none other than the three Lu brothers, who were secretly conspiring with the Xiongnu to restore the House of Han!

In this way, every strange detail — the bandit attacks on the grain convoys and all the rest — would be perfectly explained.

If the Swallowing-the-Hu General, whose loyalty to the Great Xin is absolute, were to learn of this, why would he bother exterminating mere bandits? He would certainly dispatch his forces at once and join with Anding Commandery to strike at Liu Wenbo's anti-Xin, pro-Han restoration clique in Sanshui.

And as Dong Xi advanced deep into Sanshui along the Kushui River, his column would inevitably grow very scattered over the three- to four-hundred-li journey. During the time he was locked in combat with Lu Fang, Diwu Lun — serving as an auxiliary soldier and supernumerary conscript — along with Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu, who were lying hidden in the mountains, would have ample opportunity to strike.

But plans cannot keep pace with change. Diwu Lun had calculated everything, yet he alone had failed to foresee one thing: this "tiger" simply would not heed his goading. Dong Xi's heart was never set on exterminating bandits at all.

The very first thing Dong Xi did after leading his troops to Tewu County was to order Diwu Lun to get out of the Qujian Fort.

The Swallowing-the-Hu General had commanded Diwu Lun to obey Dong Xi's orders — could he openly defy that? He could only slink away dejectedly with his Boar-Rush Braves. Fortunately, Diwu Lun had long since transported three thousand dan of grain from the granary to the north of the county and had also tampered with the account books, leaving Dong Xi with only a single month's worth of provisions.

A shortage of grain was no problem; Dong Xi had his own methods — he would simply make the wealthy households donate grain again.

"Gentlemen, as you well know, my troops were stationed at the Hunhuai Fort in the north for two months. Exposed to wind and sun, they are utterly exhausted, and on the march they have suffered hunger, thirst, and fatigue. We must rest and recuperate for one month, then train for another month before we can send out the troops. Haste makes waste — there is no need to rush."

This line of reasoning was exactly the same one Diwu Lun had used earlier when he wanted to "nurture bandits to bolster his own importance." It seemed that Dong Xi, having rarely had the chance to return from those desolate frontier forts to this rich and fertile land, had no intention of budging now that he was here. Exterminate the bandits? Let them be nurtured a while longer! Drag things out for two or three months, thoroughly fleece the fat sheep of this county, then casually march into the mountains for a skirmish or two, pretend the bandits are too strong, and withdraw. Keep stalling until winter sets in, and then he could spend the new year in this fine place — wasn't that far more pleasant than eating sand out at Hunhuai Fort?

And as for those who repeatedly urged him to exterminate the bandits at once, Dong Xi decided to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys. In a flash, he did something that left both Diwu Lun and Zhang Chun utterly dumbstruck!

Old Wu, whose son had been carried off by the Hemp Bandits, came weeping to the fort to beg Dong Xi for help, hoping he would swiftly launch a campaign and rescue his son.

But after Dong Xi confirmed with others that the Wu family possessed a fortune of a million in wealth and several thousand dan of stored grain, he turned hostile on the spot. Drawing his blade, he cursed: "You old scoundrel! Why would the bandits pass over everyone else and rob only your family? You are clearly in collusion with the villains, inside and out! First you claim your son was carried off to dispel suspicion, when in truth you sent him to the bandit camp to pass information, all so you could goad this major into entering the mountains and falling to a bandit ambush!"

Then he had Old Wu seized. After a night of torture and interrogation, Old Wu could endure no more and "truthfully" confessed.

Dong Xi announced with smug satisfaction: "The Wu clan has colluded with the bandits — the evidence is conclusive. Confiscate the Wu residence; all wealth, valuables, and grain are to be seized for the public coffers. Then drag this old wretch to the marketplace, carry out the sentence in full view, and report the merit to the Swallowing-the-Hu General: say that we have captured a great traitor — a major victory!"

After this show of force, who would dare urge him to enter the mountains? Even Zhang Chun shut his mouth. Dong Xi had settled into Tewu and was not leaving.

Even Diwu Lun had no choice but to offer insincere flattery: "Major Dong, you truly live up to your surname — a keen eye that spots treachery!"

That very night, when Diwu Lun made contact again with Ma Yuan and Wan Xiu, he said only this: "The plan to drive the tiger to devour the wolf can still be used, but before that…"

"Dong Xi must die!"

……

(First subscription bonus chapter 5/8)