Chapter 505: Ruin Precedes Renewal

"The Commandery Governor's Yintang¹…"

The lengthy speech Shi Sheng had long prepared got stuck in his throat the moment Heifu threw him off with that quip.

He couldn't help staring at Heifu's forehead for a moment. This was awkward — he could neither say it was dark nor say it wasn't. He could only clear his throat lightly, skip that part entirely, and cut straight to the point.

"This commoner heard in Lu Village that the Commandery Governor, charging Tian Guang with rebellion and sedition, brought him to justice, expelled Tian Du, and seized his lands, houses, coin, and silk. Truly a display of awe-inspiring might that has shaken the entire commandery!"

"But what the Commandery Governor has failed to see is the peril that lies right before your eyes!"

At this point, he fell back into his old tricks, hesitating as if about to speak, hoping Heifu would dismiss his attendants.

Heifu, however, said, "Everyone present is either kin or trusted friend of mine. Sir, speak plainly."

Shi Sheng had no choice but to continue: "Seeing the Commandery Governor's actions, this commoner cannot help but think of two men!"

He paused again, and seeing that Heifu did not press him, awkwardly continued on his own: "One is Wu Qi, the other is Shang Yang!"

Heifu, hearing this, looked around at his companions and laughed. "How curious! In waging war, my favorite reading has always been the Wuzi. In governing a commandery, I delight in borrowing from the Book of Lord Shang. And now, here is someone actually comparing me to Wu Qi and Shang Yang — such flattery, I hardly know how to respond."

Everyone laughed, but Shi Sheng shook his head and said, "This commoner is not flattering the Commandery Governor. Though those two lords left behind great deeds and great names, they did not meet good ends!"

His tone suddenly grew urgent: "In those days, King Dao of Chu, having long heard of Wu Qi's worth, made him Prime Minister of Chu. Wu Qi clarified laws and scrutinized ordinances, cut away superfluous offices, and abolished the privileges of distant royal clansmen. Though he made Chu powerful, the interests of Chu's noble houses were harmed, and they all wished to destroy Wu Qi. When King Dao of Chu died, the royal clan and great ministers rose in revolt and attacked Wu Qi, shooting him dead right inside the mourning hall! His body was pierced by dozens of arrows!"

"The same with Shang Yang. As chancellor of Qin for twenty years, he abolished the privileges of the Qin ducal house and punished Prince Qian by cutting off his nose. The Qin nobles hated him to the marrow of their bones. When Duke Xiao died, they all cried that Shang Yang was a rebel. They seized him and tore him apart by chariots in the market of Xianyang!"

Commandant Wei Yang and the others were enraged to see him using the deaths of Wu Qi and Shang Yang to curse Heifu, but Heifu stopped them all: "Let him speak."

Shi Sheng bowed deeply once more and said, "The reason Wu Qi and Shang Yang met their downfall was that they abruptly changed the laws of Chu and Qin, thereby offending the powerful noble houses. As the proverb goes, 'He who governs a state well does not alter its old ways, nor change its established norms.' Now the Commandery Governor governs Jiaodong, yet you imitate Wu Qi and Shang Yang, overhauling the old system on a grand scale and using harsh laws and severe punishments to strike at the various Tian lineages."

Gong Ao, blazing with fury, pointed at Shi Sheng and cursed: "You alchemist, after all this talk, are you here to plead for Tian Guang and his son? Do you wish to die alongside them?"

Shi Sheng hurriedly said, "How dare I? I have heard that Tian Guang plotted rebellion — his house is certainly deserving of death a hundred times over. But the Tian clan of Ye County are, after all, the descendants of Tian Dan, Lord of Anping, and are deeply revered throughout the Qi lands. Now that the Commandery Governor has seized Tian Guang, executed his clan in Ye County, and confiscated their wealth, it will surely shock the entire two thousand li of this territory. The seventy-odd sons of Tian Chengzi are spread across seventy-odd cities. The various Tian lineages of Qi are one family — pull one hair and the whole body moves. They too will grow fearful, believing the Commandery Governor intends to exterminate every last one of them…"

"In short, everything the Commandery Governor does is accumulating resentment and piling up calamity. The Odes say, 'He who wins the people prospers; he who loses the people perishes.' Now when the Commandery Governor travels, behind you follow dozens of war chariots, each carrying armored and helmeted guards. Men of mighty strength serve as your personal escort, while spear- and halberd-wielding soldiers clutch tall shields and sprint close beside the chariots. Should even one of these defenses be lacking, my lord could not venture forth!"

"As the proverb says, 'He who relies on virtue flourishes; he who relies on force perishes.' Seen in this light, the Commandery Governor's situation is as precarious as morning dew that will soon vanish. If this continues, every Tian lineage in Qi will regard the Commandery Governor as a mortal foe. If this persists, I fear the calamity of a Wu Qi or Shang Yang awaits — this is the great disaster I spoke of, looming over your head!"

After this lengthy discourse, Shi Sheng bowed low until his head touched the ground before Heifu: "If I have spoken amiss, I hope the Commandery Governor will not take offense."

Heifu, however, applauded. "Well said. That immortal Lu truly has a fine disciple. If you hadn't told me, I would have taken you for a Political Strategist or a Confucian scholar, not an alchemist."

Shi Sheng smiled. "In my youth, this unworthy one did indeed study the teachings of Confucius and read some works of the Political Strategists. Only when I reached thirty did I follow the Master."

"So that's how it is."

Heifu sized Shi Sheng up once more. He had initially thought this was just some alchemist trying to swindle him, but unexpectedly, the man had genuine insight, able to lay out with perfect clarity the predicament Heifu was about to face in the Qi lands.

"If he's not a fraud, then what exactly is his purpose?"

…

In truth, Shi Sheng had been watching Heifu closely for a long time. He had carefully studied every single one of Heifu's administrative actions. The reason was that his master, Lu Ao, far away in Xianyang, had written instructing Shi Sheng to find a way to get close to the Governor of Jiaodong and earn his trust…

Heifu still did not fully understand the alchemists. The alchemists of the present day were divided into two schools: the Han school and the Yan-Qi school, also known as the "Stove-Sacrifice and Elixir-Ingestion School" and the "Overseas Immortal-Seeking School."

The representative figures of the Han alchemists were Han Zhong and Hou Sheng, whom the First Emperor had recruited into the Privy Treasury and treated with the rank of Imperial Physician. They advocated "stove-sacrifice and elixir-ingestion." The two believed that immortals achieved longevity by consuming gold and drinking pearls year-round until their lifespan matched that of Heaven. Thus, they attempted to sacrifice to the stove to summon spirits, refining pills in cauldrons and furnaces over many months and years. The intended effect was that after consumption, one would become as imperishable as gold…

But the First Emperor was an exceedingly cautious man. Having survived repeated assassination attempts, he always tested medicines on others first. Han Zhong and Hou Sheng, for their part, dared not guarantee they had refined an elixir of immortality. They could only casually concoct some aphrodisiacs to muddle through, all the while exaggerating the difficulty of refinement and begging the Emperor for more funds to seek out rare and precious materials from across the world.

The other school consisted of the Yan and Qi alchemists, led by Master Lu Sheng and his disciple Shi Sheng. These men's technical skills fell short of the Han alchemists, but they lived off the sea, recounting to the First Emperor the tales of the "Three Divine Mountains" widely circulated in Jiaodong, Jieshi, and other places. They described Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou as having immortals and immortal herbs that required no refining — one need only gather them and consume them.

Of course, the reason Lu Sheng extolled the overseas immortal mountains in such dazzling detail was, in the end, still just one thing: money.

In the original course of history, both schools of alchemists, with their broad learning, ethereal bearing, and silver tongues, had won the Emperor's favor and enjoyed unending grace. But in this timeline, the alchemists were faring rather poorly.

The root of it all could be traced back to the Western Inspection Tour of the twenty-seventh year, when, at Heifu's instigation, the shrine maiden Wu Zhi of the Chen Bao Shrine had spoken to the First Emperor of the Queen Mother of the West, diverting the Emperor's interests.

After that, the Qin Empire campaigned against the Xiongnu and then attacked the Yuezhi. Wave after wave of merchant envoys were dispatched by the Emperor to the Hexi Corridor, attempting to open a route to the Western Regions and find the Kunlun Paradise, the realm of the Queen Mother of the West — just as illusory and elusive as the immortal mountains at sea.

With so much investment poured into the west, attention toward the overseas naturally waned. Thus, the alchemists at court were doing rather poorly. It was just that the First Emperor had not put all his eggs in one basket and continued to maintain this group…

Han Zhong and Hou Sheng could at least use the cinnabar sent as tribute from Ba Commandery to refine elixirs, with smoke billowing endlessly from their furnaces. But the Overseas Immortal-Seeking School was left dumbfounded. Every day the Emperor did not grant them coin and silk to go to sea was a day they had nothing to do.

After much thought, Lu Sheng concluded that Heifu, the advocate of western expansion, was the instigator of all this. As it happened, this man had come to serve as an official in Jiaodong, the very headquarters of the alchemists. If they could win him over and change his mind, perhaps there was still a turning point for the matter of seeking immortals overseas!

Thus, Shi Sheng, having received this mission, first assigned a few disciples to help Heifu search for clues to gold mines. Now he had personally stepped forward, using a series of warnings to make Heifu remember him.

Of course, he had another objective: to exert influence over this Commandery Governor. After all, the various Tian lineages were also major patrons of the alchemists. If Heifu kept stirring things up like this, it would do the alchemists no good either…

His learning was eclectic, and he was quite confident in himself. He waited only for Heifu to say, "What is to be done?"

He waited a long while before Heifu finally asked, "In your opinion, what should I do to escape this 'perilous situation'?"

Shi Sheng immediately replied, "Force and harsh laws have sufficed; what comes next must be governance by benevolence and virtue. The Commandery Governor might do well to employ worthy talents secluded in the mountain forests, honor men of virtue, and use the wealth and grain seized from Tian Guang's household to support the old and weak, nurture widows and orphans. Then distribute the lands and houses to the lesser branches of the local Tian clan, to show that you have no intention of exterminating every Tian lineage. Only thus can you preserve a measure of safety…"

It sounded quite reasonable, but Heifu easily spotted the trap within.

Supporting the old and weak and nurturing widows and orphans was fine, but "worthy talents secluded in the mountain forests, honor men of virtue"? These worthy talents and virtuous men — aren't they just people from your own alchemist circles?

As for distributing those hundred thousand mu of land to those minor landlords surnamed Tian?

Heifu shook his head. "Kill the great serpent, then use its flesh to feed the little serpents — that is raising vipers to become full-grown snakes…"

Heifu understood very clearly that his very identity was an original sin. From the moment he entered Jiaodong, he was the public enemy of all the Tian lineages. People had tried to assassinate him even before he had done anything — how much more so now? He could not afford to be soft-hearted toward potential enemies.

But he also had to be strategic about dividing and striking. As early as the day before, Heifu had already sent men to Jimo and the various counties to issue a proclamation: Tian Guang and his son had plotted to assassinate a high official, gathered a mob, and concealed weapons in rebellion. The Commandery Governor had no choice but to execute them. As for the other Tian lineages, so long as they did not rise in revolt, the authorities would not touch a single hair on their heads, and would even recruit their sons and younger brothers as clerks — those willing could register at the public academy.

For now, he would first placate and stall them. The time to sweep them all away in one stroke had not yet come.

As for those hundred thousand mu of farmland? He had no need for Shi Sheng to offer ideas — Heifu already had a plan in mind!

He rose and said, "The two thousand soldiers who came from Linzi will garrison Ye County, Pingdu, Huang County, and other places to protect the salt works and gold mines. The commandery troops of Huang County also contributed greatly to putting down the rebellion of Tian Guang and his son. This official will allocate thirty thousand mu of land for the soldiers to open military farms, exempt from land tax. All harvests will go entirely toward their provisions and clothing…"

Military farming was Heifu's old specialty from the Northern Lands. Now that he had large tracts of land in hand, he could not let the practice lapse. It would serve as a benefit for these garrison troops.

"As for the remaining seventy thousand mu of land…"

In Shi Sheng's eyes, these lands were a hot potato seized from the Tian Guang household, a source of calamity that stirred fear among the various Tian lineages. They should be thrown away quickly, lest the Tians rise up en masse to attack.

But to Heifu, they were the very foundation for changing everything.

At last, he was no longer the empty-handed, hollow-title Commandery Governor who had arrived with nothing at all!

Looking at the large stack of wooden title deeds before him, Heifu revealed a faint smile. "Assistant Magistrate of Ye County, draft a proclamation for me at once. Say that to defend against pirate raids, Jiaodong needs to recruit a batch of soldiers."

The Assistant Magistrate of Ye County froze, lifting his head, thinking he had misheard.

"You heard correctly. Paid recruitment, not unpaid conscription!"

¹ Yintang (印堂): The area between the eyebrows, traditionally read in physiognomy to assess fortune. Here it refers to Heifu's dark complexion, which Shi Sheng had intended to use as an omen-based opening.

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, Heifu clasped his hands behind his back and said: "Throughout Jiaodong, in every commandery, county, and village — the left-side alley dwellers, hired farmhands, live-in sons-in-law, merchants, artisans… in short, anyone without land, aged seventeen and above and forty and below, shall, by their inspection tallies, report to their respective county offices to be tested for recruitment."

"Send the public academy disciples down to the townships and villages to spread the word. Let everyone know: whoever can pass the government's simple preliminary assessment, and is free of disease, injury, or disability, may be recruited as a military colonist soldier. Their entire family will move to Ye Town, which is so rich it drips with oil, and be granted fifty mu of land! They get to take, for free, the entire harvest from fields that are about to yield a bumper crop this year, and next year's land rent will also be waived!"

At these words, Shi Sheng listened, stunned. He now understood — Heifu had utterly disdained the words he had just spoken. Far from offering conciliation, he was going to do the exact opposite! Thinking of the terrible consequences this might bring, Shi Sheng's legs went weak, and he said:

"Commandery Governor, you are repeating the deeds of Wu Qi and Shang Yang! You are poking a hornet's nest!"

"Is that so? A pity I am no Wu Qi or Shang Yang, and His Majesty is no Duke Xiao of Qin or King Dao of Chu!"

But there was one thing this Shi Sheng had gotten right: the crux of Jiaodong's malady, much like the Qin and Chu of old, lay not in how to curry favor with the old aristocracy and preserve the status quo, but in…

"No destruction, no construction!"

Heifu turned his head and looked back at this alchemist. In Shi Sheng's eyes, his features were ferocious — he looked exactly like a greedy black bear!

"If there are bees that don't know enough to stay alive and come to sting me, this official might just get to taste whether their honey is sweet or not!"

(End of chapter)