Chapter 408: Historical Figures Must Be Viewed by Dividing One into Two

"This concubine dares not speak for other deities, but the Great Sinking Marsh at Chaona Marsh is truly quite efficacious."

Ye Zijin stroked her slightly swelling belly with great satisfaction. When Heifu toured the counties in the second month, he went to Chaona County and, by the First Emperor of Qin's command, performed sacrifices at the shore of Chaona Marsh to the Great Sinking Marsh, one of the Three Witches worshipped by the Qin people for generations. He also secretly added a few private offerings, praying for children...

Decades ago, when Qin and Chu fought bitterly, King Huiwen of Qin, seeking divine aid, had shamans carve three stone drum inscriptions: the "Proclamation to Shaman Xian," the "Proclamation to Yatuo," and the "Great Sinking Marsh," collectively known as the "Curse Against Chu Texts." That war ended in Qin's victory, and ever since, annual sacrifices to the Three Witches have been held.

As it happened, after Heifu returned and he and his wife toiled for several months, results came. Last month, the Ye family was confirmed pregnant by a physician, which immediately brought joy to Heifu's brow. And Ye Zijin felt that this was Heifu's prayer for children at Chaona Marsh being answered.

Who would have thought that the county-tour sacrifices would have a follow-up? The First Emperor of Qin ordered his ministers to debate whether the Li Mu Shrine in Yanmen should be kept or abolished, and the matter came to Heifu. The reason: Heifu had been rectifying illicit shrines in Beidi Commandery in the first half of the year, with considerable results.

"What results?"

Heifu grumbled inwardly: "How could folk worship possibly be banned by a single decree? Even two thousand years from now, Earth God temples and Mazu — local deities — are still everywhere."

The Chinese view of gods has been utterly pragmatic since ancient times. The state-recognized Five Peaks and Four Rivers, however lofty and exalted, are of no use to me; I still sacrifice to the little hill and small stream beside my home, because they bear on my livelihood and life.

So a one-size-fits-all approach is useless. What Heifu did was merely consult with the Commandery Governor and the Adjutant, abolishing those illicit shrines where sacrifices were too frequent, the offerings exceeded proper rank and station, or where, like the witch in "Ximen Bao Governs Ye," they brought disaster upon the people. For the rest, he turned a blind eye.

Similar situations were playing out in every commandery across the land, but the Li Mu Shrine in Yanmen Commandery was indeed a special case, because it touched on a historical problem...

Ye Zijin also felt this was truly a difficult problem. Li Si and Meng Tian were both men Heifu could not afford to offend.

Still, she had always had faith in her husband's wisdom. Seeing him gnawing on his brush handle in thought, she did not disturb him, only leaving behind a lamp and a cup of heat-dispelling sour plum drink — because brown sugar was used instead of white sugar, its color and taste were rather odd.

In the eyes of the Qin people, Li Mu could be called "a sinner who obstructed the unification of all under heaven."

In the eyes of the Zhao people, Li Mu was "a patriotic general who defended Zhao's independence and died unjustly."

Different standpoints determined the Qin and Zhao people's utterly different attitudes toward Li Mu. Thinking of it this way, Meng Tian's ability to respect Li Mu and insist on proposing the preservation of the Li Mu Shrine was truly rare and commendable.

However, Li Si clung to the principle of "their hero is our foe," wishing he could smash every Li Mu Shrine and erase the memory of Li Mu from the minds of the Zhao region's common folk. The later book burnings were also born of this purpose. The Legalists sometimes acted too crudely, which could backfire. Some things, the more you try to obliterate, suppress, and conceal them, the more curious people become, and the more deeply they are etched into memory.

Heifu thought of later ages, where similar situations seemed to have occurred. The Qing emperors actually made a great show of sacrificing to Shi Kefa, who had resisted the Qing, and renovated Yue Fei's shrine. Though they knew it was theater, if the Qing could do that, and Qin put on a performance even worse than the Qing's, that would be far too degrading.

However, this matter could not be judged solely by right and wrong. Heifu had been promoted by Li Si and his son, but Meng Tian would be the main force in next year's campaign — neither could be offended.

He watched the dark plums bobbing in the cup and recalled a phrase often heard in politics classes in later ages.

"Any historical figure must be viewed by dividing one into two!"

That Li Si had repeatedly defeated Qin's armies and was a great enemy of Qin was true enough. But what if one set aside Qin and Zhao identities and considered it solely from the perspective of the Huaxia?

Li Mu was a national hero who resisted Xiongnu incursions and safeguarded the border peace of the capped-and-sashed people!

Following this line of thought, Heifu pondered briefly, then sneered: "If they think I'll fall into this pit, they underestimate me far too much. Just watch — my reply will neither breed ill will with Ministers Li Si and Meng Tian, nor fail to satisfy His Majesty!"

The First Emperor of Qin would not simply stay put waiting for his ministers' deliberations. He soon left Mayi, proceeding east along the Ye River (Sanggan River) on an inspection tour, reaching Dai Commandery, then traveling south for several hundred li. At the border of Dai and Hengshan Commanderies, he performed sacrifices to Mount Heng, recognized by Qin as one of the "Twelve Peaks."

It was the end of the sixth month, the weather fine and clear, and the First Emperor of Qin was able to ascend the mountain along the path opened by the Zhao people.

Though Mount Heng lay to the north, it held many historical traces, such as the "Wuxu Terrace." It was said that in the Spring and Autumn period, when Zhao Jianzi, Zhao Yang, was choosing a successor, he summoned his sons and said: "I have hidden a precious token on Mount Heng. The first to find it will be rewarded."

So the sons searched for the precious token on Mount Heng, but all returned empty-handed. Only the least favored youngest son, Zhao Wuxu, said: "I have found the precious token." Yet his hands were also empty.

Zhao Jianzi bade him explain. Zhao Wuxu said: "Using Mount Heng's strategic heights to attack Dai, the state of Dai can belong to the Zhao clan!" These words struck Zhao Jianzi's heart, and he thereupon deposed the heir apparent, Bo Lu, and established Wuxu as his successor.

Standing on Wuxu Terrace, the First Emperor of Qin saw only layered crags piled ten-thousandfold, strange and monstrous, vast and hard to fathom. To the mountain's north lay Dai; to its south lay the Zhao heartland.

"Though Zhao Xiangzi was greedy, ruthless, and shameless, marrying his elder sister to the King of Dai only to treacherously kill him at a feast, his annexation of the Dai Rong and his being the first to open up barbarian lands still counts as a service to the Huaxia."

Though he disliked the Zhao clan, the First Emperor of Qin had to admit that Qin and Zhao, both bearing the bloodline of the Ying surname, seemed to share a drive for outward expansion. Qin had dominated the Western Rong and extended its territory a thousand li; Zhao Xiangzi and King Wuling of Zhao had likewise successively smashed Dai, Zhongshan, Loufan, and other Rong states, expanding northward for several thousand li.

But the First Emperor of Qin did not take this too seriously, because the territory he was about to open up would be several times, ten times that of Zhao Xiangzi and King Wuling!

After staying several days on Mount Heng, the First Emperor of Qin traveled north to Dai City, inspecting Gaoliu Fortress on the border with the Xiongnu and Eastern Hu. Passing through Pingcheng, he arrived in mid-seventh month at the capital of Yanmen Commandery, Shanwu...

This inspection tour had lasted exactly one month, and Heifu's reply, sent from Beidi Commandery, had also reached the First Emperor of Qin's desk.

The First Emperor of Qin opened it and saw that Heifu, right at the start, righteously and sternly declared that the Commandant of Justice was correct — where law is not established, there lies the path to chaos and ruin! Qin officials must abide by the law without fail and enforce it strictly; folk illicit shrines absolutely must not be tolerated!

The village heads and group elders who permitted illicit shrines could each be fined two suits of armor. This way, the village heads and group elders would actively stop private folk sacrifices.

The First Emperor of Qin shook his head. He could see clearly that Heifu was avoiding offense to Li Si while conveniently advertising his own political correctness!

However, Heifu then shifted his tone and spoke of the story of Yu the Great controlling the flood — "channeling is better than blocking." He held that General Meng Tian was also not wrong. The people north of Dai cherished Li Mu's memory because Li Mu had defended the common folk against Xiongnu incursions. This memory was hard to erase. Therefore, merely banning private folk sacrifices was not enough; the people must also be given a place to vent their feelings.

Heifu brought up the "Loyal Soldier Cemeteries" in Nan Commandery and Beidi. Buried there were the loyal Qin soldiers who had died in the unification wars since the First Emperor of Qin's ascension, whose remains could not be identified. The Commandery Commandant had personally inscribed the four characters "Eternal and Imperishable"...

"Yet the ancients said: The Rong and Di are wolves; one can never be sated. The Huaxia are kin; one must never be abandoned. In your servant's view, the wars among the capped-and-sashed Huaxia states were truly conflicts among brothers. Now that the realm is unified and the seven states are joined as one family, there should no longer be distinctions of Qi people, Zhao people, Yan people, Chu people, Han people, or Wei people. All under heaven are Qin subjects, and may also be called the people of Huaxia!"

Qin certainly acknowledged Hua and Xia, and even called children born of Qin and Rong-Di unions "Xia children" to distinguish them from pure Rong-Di descendants. Heifu's argument had no flaw.

"Brothers may quarrel within the walls, but together they resist external insult. Now the capped-and-sashed states have been unified under Your Majesty; internal war has ceased, but external war is just beginning..."

"The Xiongnu, the Eastern Hu, and their ilk — the Yi and Di people are greedy and covetous, their hair unbound and their robes lapped to the left, human in form but beastly in heart. They differ from the Central States in ceremonial garb, in customs, in food and drink, in speech. They dwell secluded in the northern wilds of cold and dew, following the grass with their herds, living by bow and hunt, cut off by mountain valleys, blocked by sand deserts — this is how Heaven and Earth separate the outer from the inner."

"Your Majesty desires to avenge upon the Hu and Rong the century-long grievance of their incursions into the realm, so that from the Di and Qiang on, none dare fail to come pay tribute, none dare fail to come acknowledge your kingship. Just as Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong defended Yan to the north against the Mountain Rong incursions, with the feudal lords following, this campaign is no longer a war of the Qin people west of the passes, nor a war of a few northern border commanderies — it is a war of all under heaven!"

"If Your Majesty wishes to unite the strength of all under heaven to strike the Xiongnu, nothing would be better than to establish a new public shrine in the border commanderies, named the 'Pacify-the-Frontier Shrine,' to sacrifice to the outstanding Huaxia figures of the past thousand centuries who resisted Rong-Di encroachment and humiliation, and who opened up territory! Guan Zhong of Qi, You Yu of Qin, Li Mu of Zhao — all may be included. Let the commanderies and counties lead the common folk in seasonal worship of these lords. In this way, the black-headed people may know that the Huaxia are truly one family, while the Rong and Di are foreign foes!"

The entire essay ended with a passage of earnest words:

"Honor the King, repel the barbarians — keep the Huaxia within, the Yi and Di without! This is your servant's wish!"

"Keep the Huaxia within, the Yi and Di without — well said!"

After reading it in one breath, the First Emperor of Qin looked at Li Si, then at Meng Tian, and also at Zhao Gao standing to the side. He sighed, handed them the memorial, and then spoke a line that secretly delighted Zhao Gao, startled Li Si, and astonished Meng Tian:

"Heifu has never disappointed me!"

(End of Chapter)