Chapter 415: Slapping the Desk in Admiration

On the outward journey of three thousand li, Chen Ping dismounted at every stop to observe closely, committing to memory every path, road, and tribe along the way. He also learned enough Xiongnu speech for daily communication. The trip took four full months.

On the return, from Yunzhong to the seat of Beidi Commandery — a journey of seventeen hundred li — Chen Ping took only twenty days…

He ignored the slow-moving merchant caravan altogether. Using the Beidi Commandery military dispatch tally Hei Fu had given him, he commandeered the best horse-carts along the direct post roads and raced without pause, scarcely ever alighting to rest. When hungry he chewed dried meat; when thirsty he drank fermented mare's milk. He pressed on day and night to hurry back.

At last, in the last third of the eighth month, a travel-worn Chen Ping returned to Yiqu City in Beidi Commandery. Hei Fu could barely recognize him: the fair-faced, refined young scholar who had set out was now nearly as sun-blackened as Hei Fu himself, haggard and gaunt, his lips cracked and bleeding, his hair matted from days without washing…

Hei Fu stared at Chen Ping, who was gulping water like a wolf, for a long moment before saying, "If you went home now, your wife would surely not recognize you…"

Chen Ping did not know whether to laugh or cry. "This humble officer is hardly Yu Rang, disfiguring his face and swallowing charcoal. It is not that bad."

"However, this humble officer's resolve to aid the Commandant in slaying the Xiongnu is no less than Yu Rang's resolve to avenge the Zhi clan!"

The words he left unspoken, Hei Fu understood perfectly in his heart. A scholar will die for the one who appreciates him, just as a woman adorns herself for the one who delights in her. Those words carried immense weight, only a shade short of Li Xian kowtowing and hailing Hei Fu as "Lord"…

Hei Fu truly could be called Chen Ping's Bole. Without Hei Fu, Chen Ping would still be merely a minor village clerk in Yangwu County. This journey was also Chen Ping's way of proving his ability, so that Hei Fu's close associates like Gong Ao would have nothing to say against him.

After gulping down several mouthfuls of water, Chen Ping immediately pulled two items from his traveling bag.

The first was the primary objective of his journey: a map of the Xiongnu territory's routes, mountains and rivers, and tribal distribution.

The second was the "grand gift" he had presented to Chanyu Touman before leaving the grasslands. During rest stops on the road, Chen Ping had written it out again from memory, and now he laid it before Hei Fu's desk.

Hei Fu picked up the letter first, read it through, and could not help slapping the desk in admiration!

"A brilliant stratagem!"

When Chen Ping had volunteered to accompany the merchant caravan beyond the frontier to scout the Xiongnu's true situation, Hei Fu had initially disagreed. In his impression, Chen Ping was a strategist-type talent, and it would be a terrible pity if he perished among the Xiongnu.

But Chen Ping argued forcefully, and with no one else at hand capable of undertaking such a mission, Hei Fu finally consented — he would treat it as a trial by experience for him.

Yet the results of Chen Ping's journey far exceeded Hei Fu's expectations!

Several things had caught him off guard. First: Chen Ping had actually encountered Modun at Helan!

Hei Fu had heard the name Modun. This era was strange that way — the First Emperor of Qin had just unified the Central Plains, and a dozen or so years later, Modun would unify the grasslands. That great Xiongnu Chanyu would exploit the chaos of the late Qin and the Chu–Han contention to ride roughshod over the Central Plains. At the Siege of Baideng, Emperor Gaozu was brought to dire straits and had no choice but to make a marriage alliance with the Xiongnu. Empress Lü, mocked by his letter, could fume but dared not speak out. The Han dynasty endured a full sixty-year cycle of humiliation before Emperor Wu of Han repaid it all in one breath.

Learning that Modun was already grown and present on the Helan Mountain grasslands, Hei Fu was naturally both startled and delighted.

That said, this fellow was also a famously ruthless character. Even if Hei Fu did not know the story about giving away horses and wives but not land, he had at least heard the tale of the whistling arrow and patricide. But before he could even ponder how to deal with this son, Chen Ping had conveniently resolved the matter for him…

"Forging a letter in Modun's tone, respectfully inquiring after the Emperor's health, and stating Touman's intention to depose the elder and establish the younger — proposing a joint attack on Touman with the Central Kingdom? Chen Ping, ah, Chen Ping, only you could have thought of this!"

Chen Ping then recounted what he had seen and heard at Modun's wedding on the Helan grasslands.

"The grasslands are like the Central Plains — the eldest son is the heir…"

If Hei Fu remembered correctly, the Mongols practiced something like youngest-son inheritance? But the Xiongnu seemed different. According to Chen Ping, Xiongnu custom dictated that when a father died, the son married the father's wives — something only a grown eldest son could do. A youngest son could hardly marry a bunch of old women.

Still, it came back to that question: Does even a husband love and dote on his youngest son more?

When the youngest son can still play charmingly at his father's knee and looks more and more like him, the eldest son has already become a resented adult. Add the pillow talk of a beautiful consort at his side, and even a boulder will waver.

It seemed that whether in the Central Plains or among the Xiongnu, this was always the case… Hei Fu could not help thinking of how the First Emperor of Qin favored Huhai and distanced Fusu.

A pity, then, that Fusu and Modun were two extremes. Faced with similar circumstances, they made diametrically opposite choices!

As Hei Fu pondered, Chen Ping said, "Touman sent his eldest son to pasture at Helan, seeing him not once in a year. Father and son were bound to grow estranged. This is exactly the same as when Duke Xian of Jin ordered his three sons — Shensheng, Chong'er, and Yiwu — to leave the capital and garrison distant territories."

"And at his wedding, instead of bestowing a silver-tipped eagle crown and formally establishing him as heir, he gave him a common leopard-skin cap. How is that different from Duke Xian of Jin giving Shensheng a partisan robe and a split-ring jade? Touman's meaning was clear: 'I have sons, but I do not yet know which shall be made heir.' He was signaling to all the Xiongnu tribes that he secretly intended to depose Modun!"

As it turned out, among the Xiongnu, the appointment or removal of an heir was not the Chanyu's sole prerogative — it also required the support of the various tribal chiefs and lords. If Touman lacked proper justification and acted willfully, he risked sparking a rebellion. This was likely what had been troubling Touman all along.

But now, Chen Ping had delivered a justification straight into Touman's hands…

He said modestly, "This is but a petty scheme from this humble officer — no different from the slanders of Li Ji or the poisoned sacrificial meat!"

Hei Fu, however, disagreed. "This is no petty scheme — it is an open scheme!"

Touman already harbored the intent to depose Modun; a rift had already formed between father and son. A stratagem like Chen Ping's — men like Ju Wu would see through it as false at a glance. But Touman could not be certain whether his wolf-cub of a son truly harbored resentment and rebellious intent…

"That being the case, Touman has roughly three choices."

Only now did Chen Ping have time to wipe his face. After washing away the dust, he held up three fingers and said, "First, he could dismiss it. But from this humble officer's observation, Touman is not a man of broad mind who trusts those he employs without suspicion. Otherwise, he would have heeded Ju Wu's words long ago and detained us."

"Second, he could believe it to be true and immediately send men to execute Modun! However, this humble officer further believes that Touman hesitated at length over whether to detain or release the Qin merchants. On a matter of this magnitude, he will find it even harder to decide."

Chen Ping was indeed skilled at reading people's hearts. Despite the language barrier and having met Touman only twice, he had accurately guessed his most likely course of action:

"Touman will probably summon Modun to the Chanyu's royal court for questioning. By this humble officer's estimate, if Modun goes, he will inevitably be placed under house arrest and will never return to Helan Mountain!"

Through Modun's attempt to have Wushi Yan abduct iron-office slave artisans from the Central Plains, Chen Ping had judged that this man's vision far surpassed his father's. Leaving him at Helan might create obstacles when Hei Fu launched his campaign against Helan the following year, so he laid this venomous scheme to drive him away!

Hei Fu outwardly lavished praise, but inwardly he felt that Chen Ping's move was slightly superfluous — drawing legs on a snake…

Regarding Modun's presence at Helan, he was both startled and delighted. The delight lay in the fact that this time, with half the Qin Empire's strength brought to bear against the Xiongnu, it was like weighing gold against feathers — an absolute advantage. Though there would be local difficulties, overall, a straightforward push would win. If he could conveniently eliminate Modun during the Helan campaign, it would also rid the Central Kingdom of a great scourge.

Like the Central Plains, the grasslands would sooner or later be unified by a fierce hero, but without Modun, that might be delayed by decades or even a century…

But now, Modun would likely be recalled to the Chanyu's royal court, and Hei Fu would find himself grasping at empty air when the time came.

This was also the butterfly effect, beyond his control. Hei Fu could only feel regret.

Still, Chen Ping's quick wits deserved encouragement. Without Modun, next year's battles in Beidi Commandery would be much easier. And in that letter, Modun was not the only one Chen Ping had conveniently slandered — that was what truly made Hei Fu slap the desk in admiration for this stratagem. The pitfalls Chen Ping had dug for the Xiongnu were simply too numerous…

"'To the south, ally with the Xuyan, Loufan, Baiyang, and Linhu; to the west, join with the Yuezhi; to the east, unite with the Eastern Hu'…" Hei Fu picked up the letter again, read this line, and could not suppress a laugh.

"It would be fine if Touman never saw these words, but once he learns of them, he will inevitably grow suspicious of the four tribes of the lands south of the river. He will be even more afraid that Qin truly intends to ally with the Yuezhi and the Eastern Hu — the Xiongnu's two age-old enemies — to deal with him!"

If he could not even trust his own son, how much less these vassal tribes forced into submission by the Xiongnu? In Touman's heart, the Loufan and Baiyang people must be bending their bows and grumbling at every moment!

Good heavens — before the battle had even begun, if the Xiongnu took Chen Ping's underhanded blow, their internal cohesion would be largely shattered. Once Touman grew suspicious of the four tribes and began suppressing and punishing them, it would inevitably provoke a backlash. The Xiongnu would then find it difficult to organize the tribes south of the river to resist the Qin army's advance.

The Qin dynasty, on the other hand, could seize the opportunity to win over these factions and turn the false into the true. If they could win over the four tribes, next year's war would become far easier!

Hei Fu encouraged Chen Ping, saying, "This is a masterful stratagem of sowing discord, worthy of great merit. This Commandant will certainly secure you promotion in rank and title!"

The First Emperor's carriage was slow; at that moment he was still in Shang Commandery inspecting the border troops, so Chen Ping had beaten him to it. But thinking it over afterward, Hei Fu realized that if Chen Ping had been driven by a hunger for merit, he might well have used his connection with Wushi Yan to request an audience with the Emperor and claim credit for himself in person…

That he did not do so, but instead continued to report back to Hei Fu, showed that the unspoken words — "a scholar will die for the one who appreciates him" — held some genuine sincerity. Hei Fu naturally could not be stingy in return.

As expected, Chen Ping bowed his head and said, "Ping raced back in a light carriage not to claim merit, but to inform the Commandant of this matter in time. Chanyu Touman's envoy will likely reach Helan soon. The Commandant can ready the troops and sharpen the weapons, quietly watching for changes. If internal strife breaks out among the Xiongnu, seize the chance to advance and take the Huama Salt Lake first!"

He pointed out the location of the Huama Salt Lake on the map for Hei Fu. "The Xuyan Rong serve as salt laborers for the Xiongnu and suffer constant plunder; the Xuyan people have long been discontented. Moreover, the Huama Salt Lake interlocks with Helan like the teeth of a dog — it is the strategic throat of the lands south of the river and also yields the profit of salt brine. Once we take this place, we can use it as a strongpoint. When the great army marches next year, eastward we can link up with the Shang Commandery forces, and westward we can plot against the Helan grasslands. The greater part of the lands south of the river can then be settled!"

"This strategy is excellent."

Hei Fu nodded. While Chen Ping had been toiling beyond the frontier, he had not been idle either. The sons of good families and the garrison conscripts and commandery troops had all been training for half a year. In a few days, at the eighth-month military exercises, they could be assembled for a probing attack beyond the frontier…

But Heifu considered more than Chen Ping, and mused further, "However, this Commandant believes there is still one variable in this matter."

"What variable?" It was Chen Ping's turn to ask. He prided himself that this plan was flawless, that everything would proceed according to his predictions.

"Modu."

Heifu did not underestimate in the slightest this ruthless man who had killed his father with a whistling arrow. Staring at the position of the Helan Mountains on the map, he murmured, "Faced with Touman's recall, what choice will Modu make? That is the greatest variable in this matter!"

(End of chapter)