Chapter 194: Ambition and Conscience

"A lowly officer who merely labored, gaining a few minor merits, would be fully content with a single rank of nobility. How would I dare be insatiably greedy and claim great merit as my own?"

Hei Fu spoke these words with the utmost trepidation, then bowed his head and fell silent. If strictly according to the statutes and military law, this great merit, which should have been counted entirely to him, was thus carved up, the greater part offered before Li You.

It was extraordinarily tempting.

Ever since Li You became Commandant, he had been diligent and conscientious, governing the Southern Commandery troops quite well. At the Battle of Xiangcheng, he could have withdrawn his entire force, but because that damned Meng Tian designated him for the rearguard, he had no choice but to obey orders and form ranks. In the end, he was scattered by the Chu army and suffered a total defeat. That battle was not his fault; this blame was truly borne unjustly.

Along this journey, aside from his wounds, what troubled Li You most was the military law sanctions he would face upon returning home.

Qin law would not show leniency just because his father was the Commandant of Justice, or because he himself had married a Qin princess, nor would it listen to his explanations. The punishment Li You deserved would not be lessened one bit; at most, he could offset part of it with his noble rank. Ten years of bitter toil would instantly be wasted.

Even though Hei Fu had won a great victory over the Chu army, since this battle had basically nothing to do with Li You, it could only offset part of his culpability. If he were still punished and demoted while his subordinate was promoted two ranks in a row, that would be an exceedingly awkward affair.

But now, an opportunity lay before Li You.

By accepting this "gift" from Hei Fu, he could be absolved of all culpability!

Capturing a Chu county duke, seizing a large number of army banners, taking four or five hundred heads, and rescuing two hundred captives from other units — four merits rewarded together, he even had a chance to be promoted one rank instead! From Five Grand夫 to Left Commoner Chief!

His heart was stirred at once.

But looking at the deeply respectful Hei Fu before him, Li You also began to re-evaluate this man. To the labels young, of humble birth, capable, clever, enterprising, and tactful, he added a new one.

"Ambition!"

This naked ambition, hoping to pledge allegiance to Li You — or rather, to attach himself to Li You's father Li Si — and thereby advance his own career, was glaringly obvious.

A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of Li You's mouth. So, this Hei Fu was still too young; he simply did not know how to hide it.

The Commandant of Justice Li Si and his son Li You did not detest ambition in the slightest. On the contrary, they liked subordinates who had ambition and were not lacking in ability.

Because this father and son were themselves the same kind of people: of lowly origin, and wildly ambitious!

Li You remembered a saying his father had once told him: "He who dwells in a lowly position yet makes no plans to rise is but a beast staring at meat — human in face yet merely capable of forced action!"

No disgrace is greater than lowliness; no sorrow is more bitter than poverty. In Commandant of Justice Li's eyes, if a person has no ambition, does not seek rank, fame, and wealth, and has no thought of changing his circumstances, can he even be counted as human?

He is merely a dog, swine, or deer walking on two legs, pretending to be human, that is all.

Having seen through Hei Fu's intentions, Li You did not respond directly, but instead brought up another matter that seemed completely unrelated.

"I hear that Xu Yang is dead?"

Hei Fu's shoulders stirred slightly. He acknowledged, "Yes. Xu Yang rebelled and has been executed according to law."

Li You heavily slapped the bed-couch. "A good death!"

Xu Yang had no ability, yet harbored empty ambition, and at critical moments did foolish things. By the standards of his father Li Si, this was the greatest crime! He truly deserved to die a thousand times over!

Coughing as he laughed, Li You said, "Today has truly been a bountiful harvest. I have lost one mediocre subordinate who could only ruin things."

"And gained a loyal, capable confidant. Most excellent!"

Both were clever men; they exchanged a look and a smile, a tacit understanding reached, and the matter was thus settled. In any case, as for whether Li You had secretly given Hei Fu instructions, as long as the two of them spoke with one voice, who could question it?

In Hei Fu's heart, he had his own little calculations.

His first reason for doing this was, of course, to latch onto Li Si, a thigh so thick it could not be thicker. Li Si was arguably the steadiest ship in the Qin dynasty before Qin Shi Huang's death, having served as Chancellor for many years, high in rank and heavy in power. More importantly, he and Hei Fu shared one identity:

Both were of Chu origin...

In Qin, the era of indiscriminately recruiting masses of retainers had passed forever. If a small figure wanted to find a patron, he could not just latch on randomly; he had to see whether their regions matched, because in these times, native-place ties were extremely important.

For example, among Wang Jian's former generals and staff, the majority were men from Guanzhong, because the Wang clan was from Pingyang in Guanzhong. The Meng clan's former generals and staff preferred to accept men from the eastern states, especially Qi men, because Meng Ao was originally a guest minister who came from Qi.

And the Li Si faction, aside from his junior fellow disciple Zhang Cang, also seemed quite willing to accept talent originating from Chu.

If Hei Fu could become Li You's trusted confidant and core subordinate, and incidentally climb the high branch of Li Si, he could at least guarantee his career prospects worry-free for the next fifteen years!

The price was merely one rank of nobility...

This was truly a deal yielding boundless profit for a pittance of investment.

Secondly, Hei Fu also had some considerations: how to maximize the battle achievements this time, making them more beneficial to the entire collective.

"Li Xin was defeated, Meng Tian was defeated, yet we, relying on a remnant force, won a great victory over the Chu men. Not counting Li Xin's initial triumphant advance, this is probably the sole bright spot in the latter half of this hasty campaign to destroy Chu..."

If this battle had been fought by a minor Hundred-Man Commander who did not even have a surname, the Qin authorities would likely have little interest in publicizing it too much. Apart from letting Hei Fu jump two ranks in a row, and incidentally pushing a small figure like him onto the cusp of envy and resentment, there would be no extra benefit.

But what if this battle had been won under the strategic direction of Li You, son of the Commandant of Justice and son-in-law of the Qin king?

The deeds of this army would probably be heavily publicized by the Qin authorities, becoming a fig leaf to cover up the great defeat!

One could imagine that, after Hei Fu yielded a portion of his own interests, as long as they could return to Qin, for these several hundred men, whether fallen in battle or surviving, every man being promoted one rank of nobility would only be the most basic reward. Beyond that, short-term benefits and long-term benefits would flow in an endless stream.

Thinking of this, Hei Fu bowed again to Li You and said, "This lowly officer has one more matter he wishes to request the Commandant's permission for."

Li You now looked upon Hei Fu with extreme favor. He bade him rise and said with a smile, "Speak freely."

"The matter is this. During the battle with the Chu men, a Platoon Leader of the Vanguard Warriors, Huai Mu, unfortunately died a heroic death. We several Hundred-Man Commanders and Platoon Leaders discussed it and wish to pool together some of the merits from taking heads and seizing banners, and place more of them upon him and the others who died in battle, so that they may receive more merit-based nobility..."

This was the result of everyone's discussion. For the living, ensuring a single rank promotion in nobility was enough; let the benefits be distributed more to the soldiers who sacrificed themselves. Let their families benefit more, so that perhaps the grief of their parents, wives, and children might be lessened a little.

For this purpose, Hei Fu had even specifically asked the army law officer: in Qin, if an elder brother died in battle, could a younger brother be established as the "heir" to inherit the noble rank?

The army law officer knew what he wanted to do and took the trouble to explain to him the principles of noble rank inheritance.

"If not born of the same mother, he cannot be made heir."

"If already living in separate households, he also cannot be made heir."

"He must share the same mother and the same household; only then can he be established as heir!"

Unlike the regulations of the Han dynasty, because warfare was even more frequent in Qin, many people died in battle before they could even father sons. To encourage these men to fight bravely, the rules on establishing an heir were thus somewhat more lenient than in Han times, allowing younger brothers to inherit.

Hei Fu thought for a moment at the time and said, "Huai Mu had no sons, but he had two younger brothers, both born of the same mother, both already of age. I remember him saying that both brothers were bondservants in Jingling County, and only after the campaign against Wei did they request to be redeemed. I do not know if they have been redeemed yet, nor how the household registration should be calculated."

"They should have been redeemed already; the commandery and county would not delay such a matter." The army law officer, named Qiu Xiao, had been a prison assistant in a county town before enlisting and was knowledgeable in the law. He said to Hei Fu:

"As for the household registration, the second brother, being older, should have established his own separate household. The third brother was still in the same household registration as Huai Mu, and until he or a son of Huai Mu comes of age, he need not establish a separate household. He can be established as heir and inherit the noble rank!"

With this, Hei Fu was reassured. He was resolute: even if it meant reducing his own share somewhat, he would scrape together enough merit for Huai Mu to be promoted three ranks in a row to Grand夫!

Because in Hei Fu's mind, the scene of Huai Mu's death lingered constantly — that hand stretched out, trying to grasp something...

Hei Fu's heart felt choked with distress. Yet as the commander, he could not possibly have gone personally to charge the enemy lines at that moment. This was truly a choice one could not let go of, a truly cruel era. Since ancient times, how many have returned from war?

Therefore, Hei Fu absolutely had to do something for the dead, only then could he feel a little better in his heart.

Just like a line he had read in some novel in his past life.

Ambition is ambition.

Conscience is conscience!

Heifu wanted to latch onto Li Si and his son, to let his ambition blossom wildly, to flower and bear fruit.

Yet he also wanted to keep his conscience, tucked against his chest, so he would never forget who he was, where he came from, and what he was fighting for.

"I fight to seize control of my own destiny."

"I fight to bring you all home!"

PS: To sum it up in modern terms, Li Si's philosophy of life is: if a person has no dreams, what's the difference between them and a salted fish?

(End of chapter)