Chapter 107: News of War

By mid-September, north of Anlu County seat, at the Ten-Li Pavilion, the willows along the road had already withered, their leaves on the verge of falling bare, exuding a sense of desolation.

Watching from a distance as the cart carrying Du Xian and his scant luggage slowly departed along the dirt road, the minor officials who had come to see him off also took their leave of one another, preparing to mount their horses and return.

Heifu was about to leave as well when someone called out to stop him.

"Chief Heifu."

Heifu turned back and smiled. "Captain Chen, is there something else?"

Captain Chen looked at the crude hair-tied cap on Heifu's head, his feelings somewhat complicated.

When they first met a year ago, Heifu had been nothing more than a lowly conscript who had just obtained a rank, pinned to the ground by others, his fate hanging by a thread. Yet a year had passed, and before he knew it, Heifu's current rank was now equal to Captain Chen's, only his official post slightly inferior.

But now was not the time for jealousy, for with Du Xian's departure, both had lost their patron and had plainly become grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

"I didn't understand the statutes before and thought the Right Commandant would take Captain Chen along with him."

As they led their horses back toward the county seat together, Heifu remarked with such feeling. After all, Captain Chen had been able to rise from a study-hall disciple to captain in one step entirely thanks to the Right Commandant's recommendation. Over the past year, the Right Commandant might have shown Heifu special favor, but the one he trusted most was still Captain Chen.

"That is absolutely impossible."

Captain Chen, however, seemed to have long foreseen this day and shook his head. "The Statutes on Appointing Officials state that if an official is transferred elsewhere, he must depart alone and may not take his former subordinates with him. This applies even to commandery officials being transferred, let alone a mere county commandant."

"I only understand the statutes on apprehending thieves and catching criminals. On the court's matters of appointing officials, my knowledge is rather incomplete."

It was only gradually that Heifu came to understand that Qin's system of appointing officials was vastly different from the retainer politics of the Six States east of the mountains.

In states like Chu and Wei, from princes and high ministers like Lord Xinling and Lord Chunshen down to local petty officials like Zhang Er, the magistrate of Waihuang County, all were fond of keeping retainers.

The retainers were mostly impoverished scholars roaming in search of office, kept by their masters and serving their patrons, thereby seeking opportunities for personal advancement and realizing their own worth. Between them and their masters was a personal dependency relationship of "lord" and "vassal," emphasizing loyalty to the individual.

Thus, whenever some Wei or Chu official set out from the capital to take up a local post, he would depart with dozens or even hundreds of retainers in a great bustling entourage. Upon arriving at his post, he would install these men one by one into key positions to facilitate contending with local powers. When his term ended, he would take all these "vassal-guests" who were dependent on him away with him, leaving not a single one behind. His successor would naturally arrive with a fresh batch of retainers in turn.

If such an official could no longer get by in his home state and had to flee abroad to seek his fortune, those retainers loyal to him unto death would follow him all the way.

Only Qin, with its own unique national circumstances, had formed a system of its own that thoroughly prevented the emergence of this kind of retainer and old-tie politics.

Not only were the several senior officials in a commandery or county required to serve in posts away from their native places, but when they left office or were transferred, no matter how much they appreciated a particular subordinate, they could not take that person with them. Everyone had to remain in their original posts. Their promotions and transfers were all arranged for by the statutes, allowing no personal interference.

Qin law was extremely vigilant against forming cliques for private gain. This rule was clearly intended to prevent the emergence of factionalism. Even if a superior had shown a subordinate the favor of promotion, the two remained in a superior-subordinate relationship, both merely hired hands of the government. It was rare for a subordinate to regard his superior as his "lord."

That was why, over thirty years ago, after Lord Wu'an, Bai Qi, left office, not a single friend or old associate accompanied him, and he walked alone to Du Post to cut his own throat — a desolate scene.

Bai Qi was certainly an outstanding great general, but without him, the war machinery of Qin continued to turn all the same. For Qin's strength did not rest upon the personal charisma of some prince, nor upon the momentary gathering of several thousand retainers, but was rigorously upheld by statutes, thus able to endure a century without decay.

Of course, there had been unusual times — for instance, Lü Buwei and Lao Ai, those two foreigners, brought the eastern fashion for retainers to Xianyang, keeping thousands of them and appointing people by favoritism, so that the official administration and statutes were corrupted for a time.

It was only a pity that neither lasted. After Marquis Wenxin and Marquis Changxin fell in succession, their thousands of household guests and retainers were either arrested or exiled, or else, like Li Si, swiftly threw themselves into Qin's original institutional framework and pledged direct loyalty to the King. Nowadays, only royal in-laws like Lord Changping and Lord Changwen were permitted to keep a small number of guests.

Thus today, when the Right Commandant of Anlu County was transferred, he too could only set out on the road as alone as when he had arrived...

Such a system was naturally beneficial to the state, but for Heifu and Captain Chen, once Du Xian was gone, their good days had come to an end.

Senior officials came and went, but their deputies and assistant clerks held long-term sway over the local government offices — this too was a problem brought by posting officials away from their native places. The tug-of-war between the central and local authorities was forever ongoing, and those caught hardest in the middle were trusted men like Heifu, promoted by an outside official. Unable to leave, they could only grit their teeth and stay, pinning their hopes on the next Right Commandant continuing to employ them.

Such an outcome was quite possible; after all, no senior official arriving from elsewhere would willingly be sidelined by local powers. Since he could not bring his own trusted men to his post, employing the people left behind by his predecessor became the only choice.

"But the new Right Commandant probably won't take up his post until mid-October. Until then, the Anlu County Commandant's office will be the Left Commandant's one-man show. Chief Heifu, you and I must be extra careful..." Captain Chen spoke with a heavy heart. He knew perfectly well that the Left Commandant, Yun Man, was not a magnanimous man and might well exploit this window of time to carry out a great purge of the Right Commandant's trusted men.

"Even the Left Commandant wouldn't dare openly violate the statutes to carry out personal vendettas."

Heifu, however, was not so fearful. Over the past year and more, although he had deeply made an enemy of the Left Commandant and offended many people while handling cases — many of those he had sent clanking into prison hated him and wished him dead —

at the same time, Heifu had also gotten to know a large number of Qin's grassroots officials, such as Xi, Nu, and Yue, as well as the county Granary Overseer, the County Artisan Master, and others. Though he could not claim deep friendships with them, a true gentleman like Xi would even step forward to speak for Heifu if he suffered unjust treatment.

Among the common people, Heifu's reputation was also quite good. Giving money to buy a horse had earned him a name for "benevolence and righteousness" and "incorruptibility." Even if the Left Commandant hated him to the bone, when dealing with Heifu, he would still have to consider popular sentiment.

So Heifu took it in stride. "The most the Left Commandant can do is drag out that business of the bandits escaping last time, accuse me of dereliction of duty, and force me to resign. If it comes to that and the pressure gets too much, I'll just quit. Going home to farm the land is better than living in constant fear." With his current rank, whether he held office or not, when war came, he could at the very least serve as a platoon leader.

That said, in the days that followed, Heifu still heightened his vigilance and demanded that his subordinates not act out of line either. Heifu could already sense that the Yun clan had its eyes on him, and at such a sensitive moment, he did not wish to hand anyone a handle against him.

They passed ten days in such cautious fashion, and by late September, the county Left Commandant's retaliation had still not arrived. Instead, Ji Ying, who had gone to the county seat, brought back news that shocked everyone.

"Gentlemen, grave tidings!"

No sooner had he entered than Ji Ying raised high the dispatch sent by the County Commandant and shouted, "Qin and Chu have gone to war!"

(End of chapter)