Chapter 489: Shifting Customs and Changing Habits

"Floating Hill Elder?"

Liu Ji paused at the name, then clapped his hands as it came to him. "Isn't that the master my younger brother Liu Jiao studied under in Lu years ago!"

Liu Jiao was the child of Grand Sire Liu's concubine, the complete opposite of Liu Ji in temperament — naturally bookish and mild, fond of study, and talented in many arts. Grand Sire Liu doted on this son the most and sent him to Lu to pursue learning. In those years before Qin had yet to destroy Chu, Confucian scholars were still a profession much in demand in Zou, Lu, and the Si River region — far better off than that wastrel Liu Ji, at any rate.

But Liu Jiao hadn't studied long before returning home. According to him, Floating Hill Elder had left Lu to escape Qin governance. Who would have thought he'd ended up all the way in Jiaodong...

Though Liu Ji had always disliked Confucian scholars — back in Pei County he'd enjoyed tormenting some poor Confucian, snatching his scholar's cap and pissing in it — the old man was still his brother's teacher, so he asked Cao Shen one more question. "Brother Cao, what did the Commandery Governor do with that Floating Hill Elder?"

Cao Shen had just returned from work and happened to run into Liu Ji, who lived next door, playing sword-toss with a few of the Commandery Governor's retainers. Liu Ji had now also been "taken on as a retainer" by Heifu, though Heifu didn't seem to have figured out what to do with him yet, merely hosting him with fish and wine.

These past days, Xiao He and Cao Shen had each been assigned duties, busy here and there. Only Old Liu idled about in boredom, yet he didn't dare act out — when they'd first arrived in Jiaodong, what Heifu had said in the courtyard had thoroughly frightened Liu Ji. It was as if that swarthy fellow were a worm in his belly, or perhaps knew the legendary art of mind-reading?

Cao Shen also sensed that the Commandery Governor seemed to value Liu Ji highly, so he suppressed his impatience and answered.

"What else could he do? Floating Hill Elder is a great Confucian of Qi and Lu, a renowned scholar of Jimo, and I hear he's even the Chancellor's senior fellow-disciple. He came to apologize and plead on behalf of his students. The Commandery Governor didn't grant the plea, but he didn't make things difficult for Floating Hill Elder either — just had me take those dozen or so Confucian students into temporary custody."

Liu Ji had also heard about the incident at the village academy. It was truly laughable — trying to use flowery, bookish words to stir the people of Jimo into petitioning the authorities with them to restore private academies? They'd drunk too much ink.

After he finished laughing, Liu Ji asked, "Will that bunch of sour pedants be executed?"

Cao Shen replied, "Whether they live or die rests entirely on the Commandery Governor's whim."

Having once served as a prison clerk, Cao Shen knew that although Qin law was strict and clear, there was plenty of room to maneuver when defining guilt.

Those dozen or so Confucian students who'd stirred up trouble could, at the heaviest, be convicted of inciting disorder and sentenced to public execution, with the ringleaders even having their three clans exterminated. At the lightest, they could be convicted of gathering to debate and slandering the authorities, with the ringleaders Lu Musheng and Shen Sheng sentenced to "hard labor" — that is, exile, thrown onto the little islands off the Jiaodong coast or into the salt works to perform penal servitude. The rest could be slapped with a heavy fine and sent home into their families' custody.

"The Commandery Governor has detained the Confucian group and received Floating Hill Elder at the commandery residence. They're probably in detailed discussion right now."

Cao Shen had been navigating officialdom for a few years himself and understood that the Commandery Governor's target wasn't that group of Confucian students, but Floating Hill Elder!

Floating Hill Elder had previously refused official summons. Now, for the sake of his disciples' lives, he'd likely have no choice but to agree. According to Xiao He, if Floating Hill Elder agreed to take the nominal post of "County Triarch," and the foremost of the great Confucians bowed his head, then the majority of Confucian scholars in Jiaodong Commandery could be smoothly won over!

"Will Floating Hill Elder really yield?" Liu Ji was skeptical. Although most Confucian scholars were weak and useless, there were always a few hard-boned ones among them.

"The Commandery Governor says he will agree."

Cao Shen smiled. "The Commandery Governor says it's because Floating Hill Elder is a good teacher!"

Inside the Commandery Governor's residence, Heifu had a banquet prepared and invited Floating Hill Elder to the seat of honor, his manner deeply respectful.

"Zhang Cang once told me that when he entered the academy at Lanling, among Master Xun's disciples, Floating Hill Elder was the senior, and he looked after Zhang Cang greatly. I am friends with Zhang Cang, so I ought to treat Floating Hill Elder as an elder brother..."

Heifu sighed again. "Master Xun's learning encompassed all nine schools and ten houses, inclusive and all-embracing, and his disciples were men of talent in every generation, never rigidly bound to one school of thought."

"There is Chancellor Li, foremost among the hundred officials, charged with assisting the Son of Heaven and managing the myriad affairs of state, overseeing the realm's punishments, campaigns, bestowals, and seizures. There is Master Han, who brought the Legalist school to its culmination, writing books and establishing doctrines. There is Zhang Cang, of vast learning and powerful memory, skilled in mathematics and the arts. And there is a great Confucian like Floating Hill Elder, renowned throughout Qi and Lu... It's only a pity Heifu was born a dozen or so years too late. Otherwise, I would have gone to Lanling, not seeking to enter the inner chambers, but just to sit on the periphery and audit a single lecture by Master Xun — Heifu would have been content."

This was the honest truth. The learning of China for two thousand years — that is Xun learning. You can't argue with it.

Heifu lavished praise on the Xun school. The corners of Floating Hill Elder's mouth twitched, but he said nothing.

He was in his sixties. As a distinguished disciple of Master Xun, he had spent his entire life studying the Odes, and his nature was gentle, mild, and kind. Though he had previously been unwilling to cooperate with the authorities, he also hadn't incited his disciples to cause disorder, so Heifu had no reason to make things difficult for him. If he pushed the old man to his death, it would be detrimental to future governance.

Xiao He, seated to the side as company, saw the awkward atmosphere and rose to toast Floating Hill Elder. "Now that Floating Hill Elder is willing to speak the cultivated tongue and serve as County Triarch, this is a blessing for the scholars of Jimo."

Just as Cao Shen had said, the crimes of those young Confucian students could be judged lightly or heavily. For the sake of his disciples' lives, Floating Hill Elder reluctantly agreed to serve as "County Triarch," in exchange for the authorities handling his disciples leniently.

It was a nominal post, ostensibly responsible for moral edification, but in truth it held no real authority — merely a symbol.

Heifu's goal was simply to select a person of high virtue and great renown to serve as his chairman of the preservation society. The Qin official needed a banner to rally the Confucian scholars of Jiaodong, bringing them under the jurisdiction of the "Commandery Libationer." That way, Heifu would control education and public discourse.

After a long silence, Floating Hill Elder finally spoke. "Does the Commandery Governor truly believe these measures can govern Jiaodong?"

This old man — he could clearly speak the cultivated tongue perfectly fluently!

Heifu gestured with his hand. "What guidance does Floating Hill Elder have to offer? Please, speak freely."

Floating Hill Elder said, "I wonder if the Commandery Governor has heard a certain story. Eight hundred years ago, Grand Duke Wang and Bo Qin were enfeoffed in Qi and Lu respectively. The Grand Duke arrived in his state, and after five months, reported on his governance to the Duke of Zhou. The Duke of Zhou asked, 'Why so swift?' The Grand Duke replied, 'I simplified their rites and followed their customs, hence the speed.'"

"Bo Qin, in Lu, did not report on his governance to the Duke of Zhou until three years had passed. The Duke of Zhou asked, 'Why so slow?' Bo Qin replied, 'I altered their customs and reformed their rites, hence the delay.'"

"Thereupon the Duke of Zhou sighed and said, 'Alas! The descendants of Lu shall face north and serve Qi! If governance is not simple and easy, the people will not draw near; if it is fair, easy, and close to the people, the people will surely cleave to it.'"

He cupped his hands toward Heifu. "Indeed, in the centuries that followed, Qi was strong and Lu was weak. Tracing the cause, it must begin with the difference between the Grand Duke's governance and Bo Qin's governance. This is what is meant by governing according to custom!"

"Now the Commandery Governor has just arrived in Jiaodong, yet already wishes to change Jiaodong's old customs and speech, to reform its private academies, making governance burdensome and complicated. This old one fears the Commandery Governor will spend much time with little result. To seek good order this way is no different from driving the chariot south when one means to go north!"

Heifu understood. Though Floating Hill Elder had bowed his head to save his disciples' lives, in his heart he still refused to submit, believing Heifu's measures were utterly and completely wrong!

So Heifu smiled. "From what Floating Hill Elder means, customs cannot be changed?"

"Indeed!"

Floating Hill Elder spoke with great conviction. "The Royal Regulations states: Broad valleys and great rivers differ in their forms, and the people living among them differ in their customs — in hardness and softness, in gravity and levity, in slowness and speed, they are not uniform. The five flavors harmonize differently, implements are made to different standards, and clothing suits different needs. Therefore, when the sage governs a state, he cultivates their teachings but does not change their customs; he unifies their governance but does not alter what suits them..."

Heifu pondered briefly, then suddenly asked in return, "I have heard that Master Xun once entered Qin to observe its governance. Did Floating Hill Elder accompany him?"

"At that time I was at home observing mourning for my mother. I did not enter Qin."

On Floating Hill Elder's face, there was no sense that missing Qin had been any great loss.

Heifu said, "Then Floating Hill Elder must know Master Xun's appraisal of Qin?"

Floating Hill Elder certainly remembered it. It was not long after Master Xun had returned from Qin, when he discussed with his disciples why Qin had been able to achieve victory for four generations, its armies the strongest in the realm, its might imposing upon the feudal lords.

At that time, Li Si, who had entered the academy at nearly the same time as him, rose and said, "Master, Qin's victories are because it cast aside benevolence and righteousness, and was able to act expediently, putting the strengthening of the state and its armies above all else!"

Master Xun, however, rebuked Li Si's interpretation. He held that Qin's ability to achieve victory for four generations was due, in part, to the simplicity and honesty of its people's customs. Master Xun praised the Qin people's simplicity and respect for the law, the Qin officials' deference, frugality, loyalty, and trustworthiness, the scholar-officials' refusal to form cliques or factions, the court's administrative efficiency, and he even regarded Qin governance as a model of the ancient ideal polity, extolling it as "the ultimate in governance."

Hmm, the one blemish was that it "lacked Confucians." It could strengthen the state, prosper the nation, and campaign across the realm, but it would be difficult to sustain.

Although this was completely at odds with the impression of Qin as "tigers and wolves" held by people of Qi and Lu like Floating Hill Elder, it was, after all, the Master's words. There had to be some truth in them, and Floating Hill Elder would not deny it.

After he finished speaking, Heifu laughed. "Does Floating Hill Elder know? If Master Xun had entered the Pass a hundred years earlier, the Qin he saw would have been utterly different!"

"The Qin people of over a hundred years ago had no learning in rites and music, but they had the teachings of the Rong and Di barbarians. Father and son made no distinction, dwelling together in the same chamber. They were fond of private feuds, often gathered in bands as robbers and thieves, and knew not what law was."

"Qin's officials were mostly sons of the old clans — bold and martial enough, but lacking in refinement. Many could not even write their own names. How could they govern the people?"

"Qin's scholar-officials also held sinecures and formed cliques for private gain. The old庶长 clans were too powerful to rein in, and several times they assassinated the ruler and installed another."

"Qin's court was also the least efficient in all the realm, still using the system from the time of Duke Mu — suffering repeated defeats abroad, mired in poverty and destitution at home!"

Heifu listed them one by one, then continued.

"However, when Duke Xiao adopted Lord Shang's laws, he shifted customs and changed habits. Ten years later, the Qin people did not pick up lost articles on the road, the mountains were free of robbers and thieves, and every household was well supplied and content. The people were brave in public warfare and timid in private feuds; the villages and townships were in perfect order. After one sexagenary cycle, the people had grown prosperous, the state rich and powerful, the common folk gladly served, and the feudal lords came to submit. Qin captured the armies of Chu and Wei and seized a thousand li of territory. After a hundred years of governance and strength, it then unified all within the seas and brought the realm under its rule!"

With that, Heifu spread his hands toward Fu Qiubo. "Fu Qiubo, this is the result of Qin's reform of customs and habits!"

Fu Qiubo held his breath for a long moment, then argued, "Not so. Abolishing the teachings of rites and righteousness, relying on the methods of punishment and names — this corrupts customs and harms moral transformation…"

Heifu understood Fu Qiubo's view. The Confucians believed that changing customs required a cautious attitude; to avoid causing social upheaval, the traditional habits formed in each region should be respected. Whether good or bad, they all became part of what they called the "institutions of high antiquity."

But the Legalists cared nothing for that. Their perspective focused more on the overall wealth and power of the state and victory in war! So they were quite fond of using administrative orders and legal statutes to advance the reform of customs and reshape society.

At root, the so-called old customs were simply the village ward organization and mode of production centered on the "clan." Reforming customs meant change, and it would inevitably meet resistance. But only by destroying old customary habits could new things emerge from the womb, thereby driving overall social transformation.

So Heifu pressed him step by step: "This you call corrupting ancient customs? According to Fu Qiubo's argument, customs cannot be changed. Then should the Qin people's custom of loving private feuds, their custom of gathering in mobs to become bandits and thieves, be preserved?"

"The custom of sharing the ways of the Rong and Di barbarians, the whole family crowded together living in a narrow hut, being lazy and poor together — should that custom be preserved?"

"To make no change, to accumulate poverty and weakness, and finally decline and perish — is that the fated destiny of a state?"

For a moment, Fu Qiubo was questioned into speechless silence by Heifu. Faced with the living, successful example of Qin, the reform of customs truly seemed to have immense efficacy.

Yet deep in the old Confucian's heart, he still could not accept it. He could only stubbornly say:

"The people of the Central States, the Rong, the Di — the peoples of the five directions all have their inherent natures, which cannot be forcibly shifted. What suits Qin does not necessarily suit Qi…"

Heifu, however, smiled. "The Mohist of Qin, Cheng Shang, told me that Master Mo once said: Unify all under Heaven."

"The Erudite Shusun Tong once told me that Master Meng once said: All under Heaven will be settled in unity!"

"Zhang Cang also told me that Master Xun once said: Unify all under Heaven, manage the myriad things, nurture and sustain the people, and bring benefit to all under Heaven!"

"Looking at it this way, unifying all under Heaven is the consensus of the Mohists, the Meng Confucians, and the Xun scholars?"

No matter how fiercely the various schools of thought fought one another, they had all realized, amid the brutal warfare, that only unification was the remedy to all this.

But they had only empty ideas and could not produce real results, because the only thing that could unify all under Heaven was the Way of Arms! Only the military powerhouse forged by the Legalists!

"The Great Unity, where the six directions share the same customs and the nine provinces are threaded together — this is clearly the common ideal of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Yet when the matter falls upon your own heads, why do you stubbornly refuse to make changes? Could it be that each school's concept of unity is merely lip service, with no desire to put it into practice?"

For a moment, Fu Qiubo was left with no reply. Xiao He, who had been listening in, also recovered from his shock and glanced at Heifu in astonishment. He hadn't realized the Commandery Governor had such eloquence!

Indeed, reforming customs would certainly mean losing much — the scripts, histories, and customs of the six states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei. But that was the price of unification…

Because they were the defeated, they had lost the chance to choose and could only endure the rules imposed by Qin!

Either choose to accept, or erupt and shatter these shackles with violence!

But no matter what, once the gears of unification began to turn, they could never be stopped again! Painful as it might be, uncomfortable as it might be, individual emotions, before this great tide, all seemed utterly insignificant…

Seeing that Fu Qiubo was now utterly speechless, Heifu instead sat back down and smiled:

"However, Fu Qiubo is not wrong. Regions differ, and to wholly transplant Qin customs here is of course unworkable. Therefore I have decided that, alongside the reform of customs, I will also preserve some of Jiaodong's native old customs."

Fu Qiubo looked up in astonishment. He saw Heifu raise two fingers. "First, private academies will not be completely banned, only placed under the jurisdiction of the Libationer and required to teach using the Qin script."

"Second, the village school in Jimo City used for discussing governance may also be preserved!"

This greatly startled Fu Qiubo, and he quickly asked, "Truly?"

"Absolutely true."

Heifu stopped Xiao He, who was about to dissuade him, and said, "Chen Ping told me that several hundred years ago, Zichan of Zheng did not tear down the village schools. He even said, 'What they approve of, I shall carry out; what they detest, I shall amend. They are my teachers.' That being so, why must the village school be abolished?"

"Only… the scholars will no longer have the right to strike the drum. On the first and fifteenth of every month, this Commandery Governor will personally strike the village school drum, assemble the people, promulgate government decrees, and listen to the opinions of scholars and community elders."

Blocking the people's mouths is more dangerous than damming a river — Heifu understood this principle. That being so, it was better to surround on three sides and leave one open, leaving a window for the intellectuals to vent. As for whether he listened or not, that was his own affair.

In this way, the village school would become a window for dialogue between the authorities and the people of Jimo. The situation where the people did not trust their officials and the officials did not know their people might perhaps be improved.

No sooner said than done. Heifu struck the table and laughed: "Tomorrow is the fifteenth of the first month. After the morning meal, the village school drum will be struck once more. This official will announce three matters."

"First, the matter of Fu Qiubo's appointment as County Thrice Venerable."

"Second, the punishment of the various Confucian scholars."

"Third! A call for the Confucian scholars and men of learning of Jiaodong to enter the public academy. On the first day of the second month, there will be an examination in Qin speech and Qin script. Those with outstanding results will be awarded fifty taels of gold by the authorities, and their names will be painted in red lacquer on a wooden placard, hung at the village school for all the people of Jimo to see!"

Heifu knew that, different from the Qi of old, and also different from the Qin within the Passes, when the sun rose tomorrow morning, a system blending Confucianism and Legalism with Jiaodong characteristics would emerge from the womb!

(End of chapter)