Chapter 378: Wushi Luo

The winding mountain ridges, the rivers rushing endlessly, the river valleys now wide now narrow, flanked on both sides by towering loess plateaus — for the past half month, the First Emperor's imperial carriage had been traveling along the Great Wall through terrain just like this. Only after inspecting it in person did he understand: "Ah, so this is what Our northwestern frontier truly looks like."

Vast and savage, yet brimming with vigorous life. Standing atop the Great Wall and gazing into the distance, the Emperor realized that to the west there still lay such boundless lands, waiting for him to conquer…

The Qin Great Wall, stretching northeast from Lintao, was forced to yield when it reached the towering Mount Jitou (Mount Liupan), making a long detour around it, passing along the mountain's southern foothills until it reached the Wushi Fortress.

Only after arriving here did the terrain finally open up wide and clear. In the height of summer, amid pastures where the grass grew tall and orioles took flight, there also sat a new traveling palace: the Huizhong Palace.

This was a unique traveling palace blending Qin and Rong styles, built entirely in imitation of the Linguang Palace on Mount Ganquan. The objects placed inside were all exquisite and precious; apart from Central Plains ritual vessels, there were also gold cups and silver goblets full of exotic flair. Aside from the main building, the remaining quarters were felt tents of the Hu and Rong, enough to accommodate the Emperor's two thousand attendants.

"Wushi Luo has truly put his heart into this."

The Emperor verbally praised the man who had funded this traveling palace. Wushi Luo hurriedly protested that he dared not accept such praise. He had already shed his everyday Rong attire and changed into full court robes and cap, holding a jade tablet, every inch a court minister and enfeoffed lord.

"That Your Majesty could grace the Northern Lands with your presence, coming to a remote little county like Wushi, is truly our good fortune!"

Wushi County was the westernmost county in Beidi Commandery, situated at a vital east-west communication hub. Southeastward, it passed through the Jing River valley and the "Huizhong Road" straight into the Guanzhong heartland; westward, it crossed Mount Jitou via the Boluo Valley and headed straight for the lands of the northwestern Hu and Rong. It was the Qin Empire's largest gateway for foreign trade.

Though Wushi Luo was of Rong origin, he had seized upon Wushi County's unique geographical advantage, raising cattle and horses, trading them for Guanzhong silk and cloth, and then reselling those to the Rong. At the time when Qin was sweeping away the Six States and needed great numbers of cattle and horses, the Court Chamberlain and the Privy Treasurer had brought Wushi Luo under official control, making him a government-protected merchant specifically responsible for Qin's transit trade with the Hu and Rong. By now it had been ten years. While amassing enormous wealth, Wushi Luo had also obtained countless cattle and horses for Qin in return.

Wushi Luo also knew how to conduct himself. He understood that although the First Emperor treated great merchants with leniency, the Qin legal code was fundamentally physiocratic and anti-mercantile. The wealth in his hands could just as easily turn around and destroy him. After the Six States were extinguished, he began continuously volunteering his own funds to widen the Huizhong Road and to build the Huizhong Palace for the First Emperor, all to demonstrate his loyalty.

While flattering the Emperor, Wushi Luo also had his men present for the First Emperor's inspection the rare treasures and exotic goods obtained from trading with the Yuezhi, the Rong kings, the Qiang chieftains, and even the Xiongnu Chanyu since the beginning of spring.

Jade from Khotan, famous horses from Hexi, white wolves and white deer of the Qiang and Rong, jueti horses of the Xiongnu — the First Emperor merely glanced over them cursorily before inquiring about the matter that concerned him most.

"You, Minister, have led merchant caravans beyond the frontier, traveling among the various Qiang and Rong states, north as far as the Ordos Loop, west as far as Hexi. When it comes to the man most familiar with the terrain of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, none surpasses you. What counsel do you have regarding the strategy of westward expansion?"

Since Wushi Luo enjoyed treatment "equal to an enfeoffed lord" and could attend court audiences alongside the court ministers, he naturally had the standing to discuss state policy — all the more so when it concerned the frontier circumstances he knew best.

Well-informed, he had also heard about the proposal made last month by Right Chief of the Masses Heifu at the Qinian Palace.

Compared to previous years, this spring the goods of Wushi Luo's caravan had included a new commodity called "brown sugar." Unlike honey and malt syrup, which were difficult to transport and preserve, brown sugar came in horseshoe-shaped blocks, dry and easy to store. Two thousand jin of brown sugar, carried over mountains and rivers to the sweet-toothed Yuezhi of Hexi, had been greatly prized by the Yuezhi king and the five Xihou lords, who bought it at high prices, earning Wushi Luo many more cattle and horses in exchange.

Because of the brown sugar, Wushi Luo had a rather favorable impression of this man Heifu.

But as for Heifu's proposed "westward expansion" strategy, after careful consideration, Wushi Luo felt that if this proposal were implemented, it would be nothing less than digging up his own family's roots!

The reason he had been able to amass a fortune of ten thousand gold pieces and treat with grandees as an equal was precisely because he had played both sides between Qin and the Hu and Rong, doing transit trade and reaping the profits, while the Privy Treasurer and the Court Chamberlain exercised only loose control over him.

But now, once the westward expansion strategy was implemented, first, many settlers from the interior would pour into Beidi and Wushi, competing for profit with the Wushi Rong people. Second, if Qin dispatched troops to strike the Hu and Rong, wiping out the Qiang, Xiongnu, and Yuezhi beyond the frontier, and seized the rich pastures of Hexi and the Ordos Loop for itself, the government would directly raise cattle and horses there.

In that case, what use would a transit merchant like him be? He feared his clan would decline within a single generation.

Therefore, when the Emperor ordered the assembled ministers to deliberate on this strategy, Wushi Luo had clearly and unequivocally voiced his opposition.

But things turned out contrary to his expectations. Acting on the principle of "choose the lesser of two evils," the old Qin aristocratic clans of Guanzhong, unwilling to send their sons and younger brothers to rot in the southern marshlands, had almost all supported westward expansion.

What was even more fatal was that the Emperor had actually had a strange dream on Mount Long. Once Chen Bao's shaman Zhi interpreted the dream, it was seen as an omen of westward expansion, further steeling his resolve. It had already been set as a state policy, to be vigorously pursued in the coming years.

So when the Emperor now posed his question, he was no longer asking for Wushi Luo's opinion, but rather wanted to see what role Wushi Luo could play in this westward expansion state policy…

Wushi Luo dared not voice direct opposition again, and could only speak in a roundabout way of the many difficulties in conquering the lands of the Hu and Mo.

First was the difficulty of military conquest.

After deliberating for a moment, Wushi Luo said in fluent Xia speech: "I venture to tell Your Majesty that the Qiang and Rong beyond the frontier are weak and not worth worrying about. The Xiongnu and Yuezhi, however, are both great nomadic states of the steppe, with populations in the hundreds of thousands and those who can draw the bow numbering a hundred thousand…"

"Among the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, children can ride sheep and shoot birds and rodents with the bow; when a little older, they can shoot foxes and hares for food. Grown men are strong enough to draw powerful bows, all wear leather armor, and ride warhorses. Their custom is that in ordinary times without warfare, they roam freely with their herds, making a living by shooting and hunting birds and beasts; when the situation is urgent, every man practices the skills of attack and warfare in order to raid and plunder — this is their innate nature. Their long weapons are the bow and arrow; their short weapons are the saber and short spear. They advance when it profits them, retreat when it does not, feel no shame in fleeing, and come and go like the wind."

At that moment, a voice rang out from behind: "Over twenty years ago, did not the Zhao general Li Mu, with thirteen hundred chariots, thirteen thousand picked cavalry, fifty thousand warriors worth a hundred gold pieces each, and a hundred thousand archers, utterly rout over a hundred thousand Xiongnu who were raiding the border?"

Turning his head, he saw it was none other than the Grand Artificer Qiang Lei, who had made a special trip from Jingyang County to have an audience with the First Emperor…

Although nearing sixty, Qiang Lei was a bellicose man. After a year of rest following the destruction of the Six States, he felt ill at ease all over. Toward the westward expansion proposal, he was wholeheartedly in favor: Heifu was not the only one who wanted to be enfeoffed as a marquis; the old man also wanted to advance one more step and earn himself a Marquis Within the Pass!

After bowing to the First Emperor, he fixed his gaze on Wushi Luo and said: "In that campaign, Li Mu not only inflicted a great defeat on the Xiongnu, but also destroyed the Chanlan, routed the Eastern Hu, and subdued the Forest Hu. The Xiongnu Chanyu fled. For more than ten years thereafter, they dared not approach the Zhao border cities."

Though Li Mu had once been an opponent of Wang Jian and Qiang Lei, Qiang Lei still respected him.

"Li Mu, with the troops of Zhao alone, was able to crush the Xiongnu. Now that Your Majesty has united the forces of all under heaven, and has officers and men who swept away the Six States at your command, why worry about being unable to seize Hexi and the Ordos Loop?"

Although both were leading chieftains of the Qiang and Rong in Beidi, the Wushi and Qiang clans were not on good terms. Before Qin ruled this land, their tribes had been mortal enemies. Now, though they served as ministers at the same court, their opinions were often at odds.

Wushi Luo knew that the First Emperor deliberately maintained a balance of power between the two leading clans in Beidi and would never sit by and watch one overwhelm the other. Thus he had his own confidence; his status "equal to an enfeoffed lord" was no less than that of a Grand Artificer. So he said:

"Not so. Li Mu relied on the border passes, luring the Xiongnu to attack before counterattacking. But now Your Majesty wishes to take the offensive — the circumstances are not comparable. The Xiongnu and Yuezhi both inhabit the vast open lands of the steppe, terrain that favors cavalry warfare. If infantry encounter them there, ten are no match for one…"

Qiang Lei, however, was somewhat disdainful: "The Xiongnu and Yuezhi have cavalry — does Qin lack cavalry? The cavalry of Longxi, Beidi, Shang Commandery, Yunzhong, Yanmen, and Shanggu, added together, number no less than several tens of thousands! This old general, and Li Xin as well, are both adept at cavalry warfare!"

Wushi Luo still shook his head and said: "The cavalry of the Central States, I fear, cannot match the cavalry of the Hu and Mo. The horses of the Ordos Loop and Hexi can ascend and descend mountain slopes, enter and leave streams and gullies, galloping at full speed — in this, the horses of the Central States are inferior. The cavalry of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, on treacherous and slanting paths, can shoot while galloping — in this, the cavalry of the Central States are inferior. The people of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi endure wind, rain, and fatigue, hunger and thirst without distress — in this, the people of the Central States are inferior. These are the strengths of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi. To enter Hu territory would be nothing other than using one's own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths. Does the Grand Artificer dare claim he would certainly be victorious?"

Although what he said was all true, Qiang Lei's fiery temper flared up, and he declared on the spot that if the First Emperor let him lead the troops, he would surely capture the Xiongnu Chanyu and the Yuezhi king.

The First Emperor, however, said: "The military affairs of Beidi will naturally not be without you, old general. But before the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, first sweep away the Quyan Rong north of Mount Jitou for Us."

The Quyan were the tribes beyond Beidi, in the area of later Ningxia. Although the First Emperor was fond of quick gains, in the final analysis he was still a mature statesman, knowing that westward expansion had to proceed step by step. Within three years, the first priority was to bring the state borders into contact with the Xiongnu and Yuezhi. As for the Xiongnu and Yuezhi's strength of a hundred thousand archers, he had long been aware of it — which was why he had previously entertained the idea of south first, north later.

The Emperor then looked toward Wushi Luo, bidding him to continue.

Banking on being the man most knowledgeable about the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, Wushi Luo pressed on with renewed effort and continued:

"Your servant has also said before: the Hu people eat meat and drink milk, wear furs and hides, and have no walled cities, fields, or houses to return to as a settled home. They are like birds and beasts on the open plain, stopping where the grass is sweet and the water good, moving on when the grass is exhausted and the water runs dry. Seen in this light, coming and going, shifting and migrating, now here, now gone — this is the way of life of the Hu people."

"The people of the Central States, however, are not like this. They must establish walled cities and devote themselves to farming as their livelihood. If they go to the Ordos Loop and Hexi, what livelihood will they pursue?"

"Furthermore, your servant has been to the Ordos Loop and Hexi. My deepest impression was… the cold!"

He raised his head and said: "The lands of the Hu and Mo are places where yin accumulates. Tree bark is three inches thick, ice is six chi thick. One must eat meat and drink milk, and drape oneself in the thick furs of birds and beasts, only then can one withstand the cold. If people of the Central States go in spring or summer, it is still manageable, but if they pass the winter there, unable to acclimate to the climate and environment, I fear three or four out of ten will die…"

"Therefore, your servant believes that consolidating the three commanderies, seizing the lands of the Qiang and Rong, and opening up new territory is harmless. But using troops against the Xiongnu and Yuezhi is still open to debate. Destroying these two states is no easy matter, and even after seizing Hexi and the Ordos Loop, holding them would be difficult. At that point, garrison soldiers would die at the frontier, and supply transporters would collapse on the roads — the outcome would be far from desirable."

After a long speech about the difficulties of using troops against the Xiongnu and Yuezhi, Wushi Luo seized the opportune moment to put forward his own suggestion:

"Your servant believes we can lure them with the grain and fodder the Xiongnu lack, and the silk, cloth, and brown sugar the Yuezhi lack. Let your servant send merchant caravans deep into Hexi, far across the shifting sands, to search for the elusive Kunlun Mountains. Once the caravans have found the realm of the Queen Mother of the West, they will also have grasped the strategic communication routes of Hexi — then it will not be too late to use troops!"

Since he could not stop it, then he must make himself useful in this westward expansion — this was the only solution Wushi Luo could think of…

Thus he leaned toward using merchant caravans to solve the problem, while Qiang Lei simply rolled up his sleeves and wanted to resort to force!

But the First Emperor did not immediately make a decision. While Wushi Luo and Qiang Lei were arguing, he had been continuously leafing through the memorials just delivered by the receptionists.

The memorials came from beyond the Longxi frontier, a thick stack of them, jointly signed by Heifu and Li Xin…

Only when Wushi Luo and Qiang Lei had argued themselves hoarse and dry-mouthed did the First Emperor say: "You two ministers each have your reasons, and there is no need to argue further, because…"

He raised three memorials and said with a smile: "Our black hound and white horse, even while praying to the river for Us, have not forgotten to concern themselves with state affairs. These three memorials have already completely resolved the three matters that Wushi Luo worried about: cavalry, garrison defense, and protection against the cold!"

Wushi Luo and Qiang Lei looked at each other in bewilderment. With the First Emperor's permission, they were each able to read the three memorials in turn.

Among them, the one the two could read together was the "Memorial on Military Colonies," which concerned military secrets; the one shown only to Qiang Hui was the "Memorial on High Saddles and Stirrups."

And the memorial related to foreign trade and commerce, given only to Wushi Luo to read, was called the "Memorial on Shearing Wool for Clothing"!

(End of Chapter)