Chapter 387: The Northern Lands

Before Hei Fu set off for his post, he heard that Beidi Commandery had the Huizhong Road and that travel was convenient, and for a time he was secretly pleased.

But when he reached the post station at the confluence of the Jing and Ni rivers in early September, he discovered that the smooth Huizhong Road continued upstream along the Jing River. His party, however, had to follow the Ni River along a small track heading north. The commandery seat of Beidi, Yiqu City, still lay over a hundred li away…

Roads in the highland and mountain regions mostly followed these river valleys large and small, and farmland and villages were also mostly distributed along these valleys. The Ni River lived up to its name: one measure of stone, six dippers of mud. It was late autumn, the runoff was broad, and the turbid river water raced downstream. In many places along the banks the yellow earth was eroded and crumbling; in some spots the road had collapsed as well. Their progress was extremely difficult.

And the further north they went, the higher the terrain rose — only now were they truly entering the "Loess Plateau." Yet unlike the barren plateau of Hei Fu's impression, where faces face the yellow earth and backs face the sky, the air was more humid and far more livable than in later ages. The vegetation here was extraordinarily rich. Looking out, at least half the land was covered by withered yellow forests and grasslands, where hunters — impossible to tell whether Hua or Rong — chased herds of deer across it.

Though the vegetation was more abundant than in later times, the yellow earth underfoot was just as thick and solid as it would be two thousand years later. And it was crisscrossed by ravines and gullies; places that looked close at hand might well require climbing up and down many times over, greatly affecting their speed. The local people, trapped among these ridges and knolls, had also developed the saying: "Five li, different customs; ten li, different speech."

When they rested at the counties along the way, Chen Ping, as usual, made a tour of the markets at each stop. He found that Niyang was probably the last county dominated by farming. Continuing north, not only did the price of millet begin to rise, but the scenery before their eyes also changed dramatically…

There were still farmlands along the river, where farmers with white headscarves tied around their heads gathered stover from the fields. Occasionally, herdsmen draped in sheepskin furs appeared in twos and threes, waving whips in their hands, driving black goats from the loess tablelands down to the riverbank to drink and graze.

Sometimes, seeing them with braided hair and riding horses skillfully, Hei Fu assumed they were Rong people. But when he drew near and asked, they claimed to be descendants of Qin people from several decades ago. At other times, spotting someone in a small town with a topknot slanting right and wearing a right-lapped robe, he assumed they were Qin people — yet the moment they opened their mouths, they could speak fluent Rong tongue…

After traveling another day, when they reached a small town built on a tableland called "Northern Bin," Hei Fu was even more astonished.

"This is the place where the Zhou people dwelt before they migrated to Bin?"

Hei Fu found it somewhat hard to believe. Looking around, this truly was a place of barren mountains and harsh waters, with shrubs and loess tablelands everywhere. The soil quality was poor as well. In such a sterile place, if you scattered a handful of millet seeds, half a year later you would harvest very little. How did the Zhou people live?

Chen Ping said, "I have heard that when the Xia declined, Gong Liu's ancestor Buzhu abandoned the calling of Houji and fled among the Rong and Di. It was probably here. I imagine they emulated Rong and Di customs and lived here by herding and hunting?"

The Zhou people dwelt here intermixed with the Qiang and Rong, forming a small tribe. Several hundred years later, under Gong Liu's leadership, they resumed an agricultural life and established a city-state.

Hei Fu thought to himself, "No wonder Jiang Shang and those ancient Qiang chieftains threw their full weight behind Zhou to oppose Shang. After centuries of living together, the Ji Zhou and the Qiang had long intermarried and mixed bloodlines, becoming one family…"

But come to think of it, the ancestors of Qin and Zhao had also once lived herding horses and driving chariots in the wild lands of the Rong and Di. Tracing back, everyone's distant forebears had undergone similar experiences.

Here, farming and herding, Hua and Rong, did not seem as sharply divided as Hei Fu had imagined. Rather, they were like two rivers flowing together into one.

"Hua and Rong dwelling intermixed, farming and herding coexisting… So this is Beidi Commandery!"

He understood even more deeply the meaning of the first phrase Neishi Teng had given him.

At this thought, Hei Fu urged his party to quicken their pace. In early September, after a trek of some ten days, they finally drew near the capital of Beidi Commandery: Yiqu City!

…

Ye Zijin once again lifted the curtain of the carriage. This was a post station still ten li from Yiqu City. By custom, all the officials great and small of the Beidi Commandant system, without exception, were here to welcome Hei Fu…

The post of Commandant was responsible for assisting the Governor and presiding over military officers and armored troops. It was related to military affairs: in peacetime, managing bandit-catching, public order, border defenses, garrison duty, and training; in wartime, directly commanding troops in battle. The officials directly subordinate to it included the Military Section Head, the Bandit Section Head, the Commandant Clerk, and others, as well as the County Commandants of each county.

After the officials had formally paid their respects, Hei Fu also boarded the carriage to discuss the arrangements after entering the city with his wife. Ye Zijin, seeing the pleased look on his face, asked, "What is my husband pleased about?"

Hei Fu smiled. "There are four great joys in life. Does my wife know what they are?"

This saying did not yet exist at the time, so Ye Zijin shook her head. Hei Fu then said, "A timely rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a distant land, the night of the wedding candles, the golden roster — ahem, the moment one is enfeoffed as a marquis or appointed a general. I have just happened upon one of them."

"My husband has met an old friend here?"

As Ye Zijin saw it, her husband was a man of Nan Commandery and had never before been to Beidi. He should not know any local officials. Where would an old friend come from?

"It is a comrade-in-arms from the first campaign against Chu, with whom I fought together at Tongyang — named Zhai Chong!"

The Battle of Tongyang was the battle where Hei Fu won fame and success. Ye Zijin had heard of it, but Hei Fu rarely spoke of it. Only when he returned to Anlu and his Nan Commandery comrades from the same hometown came to visit, as he watched the lively feast and the toasts going back and forth, Hei Fu had suddenly sighed with emotion:

"If Huaimu were still alive, how fine that would be…"

Upon hearing this, her husband's loyal and devoted driver Sangmu rose from his seat, prostrated himself, and wept tears. Only then did Ye Zijin learn that Huaimu was Sangmu's elder brother, who had died in battle at Tongyang, his bones buried in the "Martyrs' Cemetery" in Yan County.

She knew what that battle meant to her husband and also understood that Hei Fu was a man who valued bonds deeply. She smiled and said, "To actually run into an old comrade-in-arms — what a coincidence indeed!"

Hei Fu nodded. "Of the centurions who fought the Chu people together that day, besides myself there were three others. Man is serving in Nan Commandery. Tu Si is a clansman of Tu Ju and was transferred to Changsha, where he works with Zhao Tuo. Only Zhai Chong is from Shang Commandery. He now holds the rank of Grand Master, serving as Left Clerk of the Military Section in Beidi Commandery — exactly my subordinate."

"Left Clerk of the Military Section — wasn't that my husband's post a few years ago?"

After all, he was not part of the Anlu inner circle and had not caught the express train of Hei Fu's rise, so Zhai Chong's advancement had naturally not been as good as that of the old Anlu comrades.

Although this man had never shown any extraordinary performance, he was at least someone with whom Hei Fu had shed blood and risked his life. Having an acquaintance would also help Hei Fu quickly familiarize himself with the local situation and advance the plan the First Emperor expected of him…

Just as they were speaking, a loud clamor came from outside.

"Our road was blocked, so we are late in coming to welcome you — we hope the Commandant will not take offense!"

Hei Fu was a senior commandery official of the two-thousand-dan rank, equivalent to a deputy provincial governor, and also oversaw the provincial military command, public security department, and other agencies. When officials came to welcome him, they were all deferential and respectful. Who would dare make a racket outside?

He stepped out of the carriage and saw two tall, powerfully built men prostrating themselves by the roadside at the post station. One wore Rong clothing and had braided hair; the other was clad in a full set of armor and spoke with a muffled, booming voice. When they raised their heads, Hei Fu noticed they somewhat resembled each other — both had leopard-like heads, round eyes, swallow-like jaws, and tiger-like whiskers, as if they were brothers.

"Who are these men?"

Hei Fu pointed at the two and asked.

He had changed into a crimson robe, with a silver seal and blue sash at his waist. After two years of experience in Xianyang, his speech carried an authority that was imposing without anger.

Zhai Chong was about to answer on their behalf, but Hei Fu said, "Let them speak for themselves."

"This subordinate official, Gongsun Bailu! County Commandant of Yuzhi!" said the man in armor, stealing a glance at Hei Fu and discovering that he was so much younger than himself — he could not help but be envious.

"This subordinate official, Yiqu Bailang! Cavalry Commander of Dayuan!" said the man in Rong attire, his accent very thick and sounding quite strange.

Yuzhi County was a small county not far north of Yiqu City, while Dayuan was a vast loess tableland between the Ni and Jing rivers, known in later ages as "Dongzhi Tableland." That area was a mix of various Rong groups and was the main recruiting ground for the Qin army's Rong cavalry.

Hei Fu looked at the two men and saw that they were indeed drenched in sweat from running, not as if it were deliberate. He said, "The statutes do not prescribe any punishment for the offense of arriving late to welcome a superior official. But if, during a march or in battle, you two were to miss your appointed time and arrive late as you have today…"

His face hardened. "Then this Commandant would have to behead you to make an example for the three armies!"

The two commanders repeatedly kowtowed in acknowledgment, then withdrew to one side.

"I thought my husband was going to kill someone to establish his authority."

When the convoy started moving again and Hei Fu entered the carriage, Ye Zijin mentioned how, when her father went to take up his post in Nan Commandery, he had found an excuse to behead a minor official who had been late in coming to welcome him for some reason.

"Even to establish authority, I could not pick these two to make an example of."

Hei Fu had done some homework before coming, especially regarding Beidi's local power factions, and had committed the general picture to memory.

He said to his wife, "This Yiqu Bailang and Gongsun Bailu — do you know who they are?"

Ye Zijin shook her head. "I do not."

"Both are Rong lords and great chieftains of Beidi. If I killed them without cause, half of Beidi would erupt in chaos. And that aside, they have yet another layer of identity."

Hei Fu's next words immediately ignited the woman's curiosity.

"Do you know that Queen Dowager Xuan bore two sons for the Yiqu Lord back then? After Yiqu fell, the Yiqu Lord's clan was slaughtered to the last, and only those two sons survived. Of these two, one took Yiqu as his clan name, to show he did not forget his father's line. The other was ashamed of that identity and acknowledged only his mother's line, so he took Gongsun as his clan name… That is the origin of the Yiqu and Gongsun clans!"

Ye Zijin understood at once. This was a huge piece of gossip that the Qin court kept strictly hushed up! She said excitedly, "That being so, this Gongsun Bailu and Yiqu Bailang must be the great-grandsons of Queen Dowager Xuan?"

PS: The *Correct Meaning of the Records of the Grand Historian*, citing the *Gazetteer of Encompassed Lands*, states: The three prefectures of Ning, Yuan, and Qing were the territory of the Yiqu Rong; in Zhou times, Buzhu and Gong Liu dwelt there. The three prefectures of Ning, Yuan, and Qing refer to parts of present-day Qingyang and Pingliang in Gansu Province, along with small portions of Ningxia and northern Shaanxi to their north. That is, the later Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region.

(End of chapter)