Chapter 350: The Dynamics of Law, Statecraft, and Positional Power

Bamboo slips two feet four inches long lay neatly arranged on the low table. Morning sunlight streamed in through the window, and the smooth, kiln-dried bamboo strips caught a faint gleam.

Zhao Gao, Prefect of the Palace Livery Office, knelt before the table. He drew a soft breath, dipped his brush full of ink, steadied his mind, and began writing small-seal script stroke by stroke on the bamboo slip.

The three great calligraphers of Qin each had a distinct hand. Li Si was a man of Chu who had long traveled and studied among the feudal lords; his calligraphy drew widely from many strengths and blended in the traits of Chu script — forceful, unconventional, bold and unrestrained.

Humu Jing was a product of the classic Qin academy system; his calligraphy was balanced and natural, exceptionally steady.

Zhao Gao was different again. Illiterate as a boy, he had only thrown himself into rigorous self-study in his teens, and so his style verged on the unorthodox — delicate yet strong, spare and elegant. That was the hallmark of Zhao Gao's calligraphy.

Soon, as his wrist moved, three beautiful seal characters appeared on the first bamboo slip.

"The Yuanli Primer!"

This was the literacy primer Zhao Gao had been commanded by the Emperor to write. He wrote very slowly — partly because the matter was of great importance and he strove for perfection in every character, and partly because bamboo slips and a brush pen were inherently unsuited to fast writing: the left hand held the slip steady, the right hand wrote, one column of characters per slip, and after finishing each one he pushed it to the right and lined them up one by one.

If one wanted quick notes, one did not use bamboo books but wooden tablets.

Qin had always had regulations governing the material for official documents: commanderies, counties, and capital offices used willow wood or other soft, writable timber for tablets. Official documents were cut to two feet four inches; private correspondence was one foot long, hence the term "foot-long tablet." These wooden tablets were all bound with sedge, cattail, orchid grass, and hemp.

Bamboo books were a grade above foot-long tablets, because their production was far more complex. Only through cutting, trimming, and kiln-drying could they become slips. After writing a chapter, one arranged them, drilled holes, and bound them with wei — strips of cured cowhide. Accordingly, their price was several times that of wooden tablets!

So studying truly was an expensive pursuit. Only the sons of wealthy households worth a hundred thousand or of officials could fully equip themselves with brush, ink, and writing slips. In the academies, it was common for a single scroll to be passed around and read by everyone until the characters blurred and the sturdy cowhide bindings split.

In this age, to possess several scrolls of one's own was the mark of a "lettered gentleman." One did not lightly lend them out for others to read; one had to first formally enter his tutelage and address him as master. If, when moving house, a man could haul his book collection in several carts, he would be praised as "learned enough to fill five carts" and ranked alongside the erudite Wei Chancellor Hui Shi.

Bamboo books were hard to come by yet quickly used up. Zhao Gao had written only five or six hundred characters when the first chapter was finished. He had a servant come over, gently blow the ink on the slips dry, then take them away to be bound into a book — a task that would take no less than a quarter-hour.

He took the chance to accept the broth his younger brother Zhao Cheng handed him, drinking and resting.

Zhao Cheng was in full military dress. He was a Platoon Commander of Five Hundred, attached to the Outer Gentlemen-General, and was on duty guarding the Forest Light Palace. Now he came to serve Zhao Gao his broth and, lowering his voice, said:

"Elder Brother, have you heard what the Chief of the Inner Gentlemen Household Section, Heifu, proposed to His Majesty yesterday?"

Zhao Gao naturally knew. Heifu had presented clerical script on behalf of Cheng Miao, arguing that it could circulate throughout the realm alongside small-seal script — and the Emperor had approved.

He had further said that bamboo and wooden tablets were cumbersome while silk was expensive, and had volunteered to produce for the Emperor a writing material that combined the merits of both...

Zhao Cheng knew his elder brother well. Although Zhao Gao was outwardly all courtesy toward Heifu, in private he regarded him as a rival. He leaned closer and said:

"Elder Brother once admonished me: the laws of Qin state that when an enlightened sovereign keeps ministers, a minister must not overstep his office to achieve merit, nor make proposals that are inappropriate. Overstepping office means death; inappropriateness means punishment!"

"Now Heifu holds the post of Chief of the Inner Gentlemen Household Section, whose duty is to guard the forbidden palace. Yet he speaks of matters of craftsmanship and manufacturing — is this not overstepping his office? Shall I have the censors I know submit memorials to impeach him?"

"My younger brother, you have truly wasted all these years mixing in officialdom."

Zhao Gao set down his cup. His narrow eyes glanced at his brother, and he gave a cold laugh. "By your reasoning, I, as Prefect of the Palace Livery Office, am in charge of the imperial carriages, yet I regularly draft edicts and compile script standards — have I also overstepped my office?"

"That..." Zhao Cheng looked up. "That is different. Elder Brother has His Majesty's permission..."

"At last you've said something right."

Zhao Gao rose and clasped his hands behind his back. "Like the Hat Officer of Marquis Zhao of Han — doing something on one's own without informing the sovereign, that is called exceeding authority."

"But if one reports to His Majesty before acting, or receives His Majesty's assignment, then it is not exceeding authority — it is simply obeying the superior's command."

Zhao Gao was not only versed in script but also deeply learned in laws and ordinances. The more thoroughly he studied them, the more he realized that at the empire's lower levels, laws and ordinances were harsh and impersonal.

In a county, if a man did not diligently farm but wanted to be a merchant or artisan, he was not minding his proper calling and would be reprimanded by Qin officials.

In a commandery, if a petty clerk did not do his assigned duties well but spent his days on irrelevant things, that too was overstepping office and breaking the law, and would invite censure from the supervising censor.

Yet when a man's office rose to the court itself and he stood at the sovereign's side, the boundaries of his authority became blurred. The post of Grand Commandant had long been vacant; the Right Chancellor was a figurehead; the Commandant of Justice, Li Si, often did the chancellor's work; and Zhao Gao, Prefect of the Palace Livery Office, concurrently performed the duties of an usher.

Strictly speaking, these things did not conform to the laws and ordinances. They were done openly for only one reason: a single word from the Emperor.

Zhao Gao asked, "Do you know who previously occupied the prison cell that Cheng Miao now lives in at Cloudwall Prison?"

Zhao Cheng shook his head — he did not know.

"Han Fei. Han Fei was also imprisoned at Cloudwall back then, but his fate was not like Cheng Miao's."

Zhao Gao said flatly, "Han Fei's crime did not warrant death, but His Majesty discovered that this man's heart was set on preserving Han and could not be used by him, so he still decided to grant him death. Cheng Miao's crime, by law, warranted beheading, but His Majesty, considering that his script revision might one day prove useful, spared his life."

And then there was his own example. When Zhao Gao had committed a crime punishable by death, again a single word from the Emperor had overturned Meng Yi's verdict, and Zhao Gao was restored to his original post.

Was it lawful? Clearly not. But it was the embodiment of the sovereign's power, and no one dared utter a word of dissent.

In Great Qin, the Emperor could kill whomever he wished!

In Great Qin, the Emperor could employ whomever he wished!

The Emperor stood above the law! So whether an official had exceeded his authority was for His Majesty to decide; laws and ordinances had to step aside.

"You do not understand His Majesty's intent, yet you think to impeach Heifu on the charge of overstepping office. Apart from alerting the snake, what use would it be? Besides, such a trifling matter — if His Majesty simply transfers Heifu sideways to the Privy Treasury or the Works Office, is it not resolved?"

After lecturing his disappointing younger brother, Zhao Gao had him lay out fresh bamboo slips on the table, for he still had to write the next chapter.

Before setting brush to slip, he pointed at Zhao Cheng and said:

"Remember this well: ensuring that those who uphold the law and obey orders never lack reward, and that those who break the law and defy orders cannot escape punishment — that is called law. Discerning the loyal from the treacherous, making rewards and punishments unfathomable — that is called statecraft. Authority heavy, position honored, grasping the handle of life and death, possessing the means to dominate the multitude — that is called positional power!"

"His Majesty is an enlightened sovereign who takes Lord Shang's law as his foundation, blends in the statecraft of Shen Buhai and Han Fei, and wields the handle to occupy positional power! What an enlightened sovereign decides must never be questioned; watch carefully from the sidelines and that is enough."

Yet inwardly he secretly rejoiced: "That Heifu is so eager for merit, but he does not realize that by losing the post of Chief of the Inner Gentlemen Household Section, he will be distanced from His Majesty. Even if by luck he succeeds and gains promotion and rank, what of it? Truly, the loss outweighs the gain."

Han Fei put it well: the flying dragon rides the clouds, the soaring serpent swims the mist. When clouds clear and mist lifts, dragon and serpent become no different from worms and ants — for they have lost what they rode upon. When a worthy man bends before an unworthy one, it is because his authority is light and his position low; when an unworthy man can command the obedience of a worthy one, it is because his authority is heavy and his position honored.

And from where does the power of court ministers come?

It is merely the cold leftovers of sovereign power. The Emperor sits high above; he does not even need to shout "Come and eat!" for all under Heaven to grovel thirstily at his feet.

Zhao Gao had seen through the structure of power in Great Qin. Who cares how meticulous the laws and ordinances are? Who cares how rigid the rank hierarchy is? Who cares that chancellors must rise from the provinces and fierce generals must emerge from the ranks?

What ultimately determines the height of a man's power is solely the Emperor's trust and regard. That is the cloud-and-mist positional power upon which flying dragons and soaring serpents like them rely!

Bai Qi and Wang Jian — seemingly glorious in their slaughter of men and destruction of states — were in truth building castles in the air, like shadows drifting across a wall. Once the birds were gone and the wily hares dead, they lost everything.

But once one clings to imperial power, even a dwarf like You Zhan, with power in hand, can cast a shadow as vast as the Twelve Metal Colossi!

"Go on, go on then. Li Xin, Meng Tian, Li You, Heifu — all those court gentlemen hot for fame and achievement — let them flow away like water. I, Zhao Gao, alone shall firmly hold this position as close attendant."

As a close attendant, bearing no great merit, occasionally achieving small merits, shouldering hard toil, going ten or twenty years without promotion, staying tightly by His Majesty's side — that is the most secure path!

A smile appeared on his face. Continuing from the previous chapter, he wielded his brush and wrote on the bamboo slip: "Yao abdicated the throne and ceded the state to Shun of Yu and Yao of Tang."

But what Zhao Gao was thinking in his heart was:

"Yao, as a common man, could not govern even three people; Jie, as Son of Heaven, could throw the whole world into chaos. From this I know that positional power is sufficient to rely upon, while worth, wisdom, and meritorious deeds are not worthy of admiration!"

……

At the end of the sixth month of the twenty-sixth year of Qin Shi Huang, while Zhao Gao was practicing calligraphy in the Forest Light Palace and pondering the sources of a minister's power, Heifu was returning to Xianyang by light carriage.

The moment he alighted, he went straight to the office of the Capital Administrator and found Zhang Han, who had been transferred back to Xianyang the previous month and was serving as Left Minister of Works under the Capital Administrator.

After Fusu's failed remonstration, large-scale construction had already begun in the Guanzhong region. As Left Minister of Works, Zhang Han was responsible for supervising the building of palaces and had just returned to the office from the construction site. Exhausted by the sweltering heat, he was resting indoors.

Heifu had come in haste; when he pushed open the door and entered, he saw Zhang Han soaking his feet while being attended by two bondmaids, his hand already slipped inside the collar of one of them…

Heifu gave a light cough, said "Pardon the intrusion," then dismissed the bondmaids and told Zhang Han the reason for his visit.

After hearing him out, Zhang Shaorong nearly jumped to his feet. Wiping his feet, he cursed, "What? Three months! You want that thing you described made in three months! Or else we'll be punished? And you dragged me into this? Heifu… Director of the Gentlemen of the Household, I worked hard to earn my way back to Xianyang as an official, and just supervising the palace construction has me utterly overwhelmed. Why do you want to ruin me?"

Heifu shook his head. "Oh, Zhang Shaorong, I'm handing you a merit, and you accuse me of ruining you instead?"

With that, his expression turned stern. He clasped his hands behind his back and said, "I have been laterally transferred by His Majesty to be the Assistant of the Privy Treasurer, with a rank of one thousand shi. For the next three months, you will serve as this Assistant's deputy, commanding the convict laborers and craftsmen to help me complete the making of paper! This is an edict from His Majesty — there is no refusing it!"

After playing the stern-faced official, Heifu grinned and cajoled Zhang Han, "Shaorong, what you and I are about to accomplish is a timeless achievement no less than Cangjie's invention of writing!"

ps: There will be another chapter tonight.

(End of chapter)