Chapter 510: When the False Is Taken as True, the True Becomes False

"'The black-haired people are at peace, and benefits endure long' — those are His Majesty's own words from the Yishan stone inscription. You probably only heard them from Fifth Rank Yang Qiu just before your audience with His Majesty. You do learn to parrot things quickly."

A voice came from behind. Heifu turned his head and found that the fat man behind him had stopped walking again and was now plopping his rear down on a large rock, panting heavily.

The fat man speaking was of course Zhang Cang. Whether because he was already forty or because he ate too many sweets, he was even fatter than when Heifu had left Xianyang — probably a two-hundred-jin fatty by later standards. His round, moon-like face had swollen a full size larger; fortunately, he had grown a rather bold, sweeping beard, which just managed to hide his fleshy chin.

Carts and horses could only reach the foot of the mountain and could not cross the ridge. The whole way here, merely keeping up with Heifu's pace had left Zhang Cang exhausted and out of breath.

Heifu did not rush him. He let the whole party rest among the mountain ravines and said to Zhang Cang with a smile, "What else could I do? Should I have imitated the governors of Linzi and Jibei and presented flood dragons and spirit turtles? I would not wish to deceive the sovereign."

"Deceive the sovereign? They wouldn't dare deceive the sovereign."

Zhang Cang sneered. "Does His Majesty not know that those so-called auspicious omens are mostly fake? It is simply a case of Duke Huan of Qi loving purple robes, and the whole state wearing purple; King Ling of Chu loving slender waists, and many in the palace starving to death — those above set the example and those below follow! If His Majesty did not wish the commanderies and counties to present auspicious omens, he need only severely punish one or two people and say, 'Enough of this — we are not fond of auspicious omens.' Then within a single day, no minister would dare present auspicious omens; within a single month, no one under heaven would dare speak of auspicious omens again!"

To put it bluntly, one hand cannot clap alone. First there was the emperor's tacit approval, and only then did officials vie to outdo each other in scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Zhang Cang pointed a plump finger at Heifu. "The way I see it, you thought the governors' bootlicking was too crude and wanted to teach them a lesson. Sure enough, after His Majesty heard your words, he praised them highly. The difference in skill is plain to see."

He then turned serious. "Still, though your words were flattery as well, they were not wrong. The way of Heaven is tied to the hearts of the people. What Heaven sees comes from what the common people see; what Heaven hears comes from what the black-haired people hear. True auspicious omens are the praise of the common people, not some unicorn, phoenix, or the Five Spirits."

Heifu knew that Zhang Cang was an "atheist," deeply influenced by his teacher Xunzi's saying: "Heaven's course is constant; it does not persist for Yao nor perish for Jie." In Zhang Cang's view, auspicious omens and disasters were all deceptions. Heaven and earth and nature had their own laws — respond to them with good governance and there is good fortune; respond to them with chaos and there is calamity.

So in front of Heifu, Zhang Cang unceremoniously pointed out the absurdity of this nationwide presentation of auspicious omens to build momentum for the emperor's Feng and Shan sacrifices.

But what could be done about it? Speak out in blunt remonstration like Fusu? His Imperial Majesty was in high spirits; playing the role of an outspoken remonstrator would do Heifu no good at all.

So he dropped the subject and instead asked Zhang Cang, "His Majesty's Feng and Shan sacrifices are imminent. The auspicious omens are done with — no need to mention them further. Let's talk about something else."

"From what I know, anyone who reads books is extremely keen on the Feng and Shan. Your senior fellow disciple, the great scholar Fu Qiubo of Jiaodong, has always been unwilling to take office, yet when he heard of His Majesty's Feng and Shan, he even regretted being too old to come witness the grand occasion. The assembled scholars and hundred officials are all at the traveling palace at the foot of Mount Tai, fervently debating the procedures and rites of the Feng and Shan, each hoping to be the one to establish them and thus leave their name in history for a thousand ages. Yet you, Zhang Zihu, the eminent disciple of the Xun School well-versed in rites, music, and law, deliberately sought out this assignment to perform sacrifices at the yin-yang watershed of Mount Tai, purposely avoiding it all. Why is that?"

Zhang Cang was about to speak but, glancing at the Court of Ceremonials official urging them to move on, lowered his voice instead. "Once we're up on the Qi Great Wall, I'll tell you."

Before the Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai, there was a complex set of procedures requiring worship at all the surrounding mountains and streams, great and small. Naturally, the emperor could not perform every one himself, so ministers were dispatched in his stead. The lot that fell to Heifu and Zhang Cang was the sacrifice at "Mount Tai's yin-yang watershed."

On Mount Tai's sunny side, the Wen River flows west; on its shady side, the Ji River flows east. The streams of the sunny valleys all feed into the Wen, and those of the shady valleys all feed into the Ji. The dividing line between the northern and southern valleys was the Qi Great Wall before them.

The Qi Great Wall was built through the undulating Tai-Yi mountain range. Though there were flat valley lands along its length, it was mostly mountain ridges. Built by rammed earth or by piling brick and stone, the wall followed the mountain contours. Though its construction was not particularly tall, linked together it coiled and stretched along the mountain ridges like a stone serpent — a truly spectacular sight.

"It extends east from the Defense Gate near Pingyin, passing through Stone Gate, Jiagu, and Muling Pass, all the way to the seashore at Jimo — nearly a thousand li from east to west."

Having finally managed to climb onto the Qi Great Wall, Zhang Cang let his gaze travel into the distance. The shut-in fatty, who had not left Xianyang in ages, could not help but exclaim in admiration.

Heifu, however, laughed at him, saying that if he went to Shuofang or Yunzhong north of the frontier and saw the "Ten-Thousand-Li Great Wall" that Meng Tian was building by linking the walls of Yan, Zhao, and Qin — that would truly be called spectacular!

As for this Qi Great Wall, back in its day it had served to defend against Jin and Chu, but now it had lost its military function and was reduced to a useless stone wall.

Heifu even had a theory: "Walls within the Central Plains cannot be called Great Walls — they can only be called barrier fortifications, hindering the passage of merchants and travelers. Only those standing on the desolate frontier beyond the passes, defending against alien tribes and Rong and Di barbarians, protecting the people of the borderlands — only those can be called Great Walls!"

"Yes, yes. As you say."

Zhang Cang sent the Court of Ceremonials officials off to prepare the complex sacrificial rites, then said to Heifu, "You asked me earlier why I have so little enthusiasm for the Feng and Shan?"

"I'll tell you then. It's because this Feng and Shan sacrifice at Mount Tai is not something that has existed since antiquity at all — it is a lie fabricated by the people of Qi and Lu!"

…

"The Feng and Shan is fake?"

Heifu was actually taken aback. He was not very clear on the intricacies of the matter, but everyone around him had repeatedly told him that the Feng and Shan had existed since ancient times.

Zhang Cang's senior fellow disciple, the great scholar Fu Qiubo of Jiaodong, had tirelessly explained that ancient sage kings such as the Wuhuai Clan, Fuxi, Shennong, the Flame Emperor, the Yellow Emperor, Yao, Shun, Yu, and others had all performed the Feng and Shan rites.

Yet today, on the Great Wall near Mount Tai, Zhang Cang was puncturing this lie.

"Although Fu Qiubo is my senior fellow disciple — a kindly and generous elder who looked after me quite a bit back then — he only learned the surface of our master's teachings and never grasped the true essence!"

Thereupon, Zhang Cang launched into a tightly reasoned piece of textual research, proving that the "Feng and Shan" was not something that had existed since antiquity.

"In the Censorate, I am in charge of all the books under heaven. I have combed through every historical record I could find and discovered that the Zhou Son of Heaven once ordered an examination of institutions at the Four Peaks, but Mount Tai was merely one of the Four Peaks — there was nothing special about it. And up until the time of Confucius, although the various states had practices of sacrificing to their own mountains and rivers, absolutely no one ever mentioned a Feng and Shan at Mount Tai. Even the Analects never once refers to it. At most, the Marquis of Lu or the Ji clan traveled to Mount Tai, but that was only Lu's own minor sacrifice."

"It is only in the last two hundred years, especially after the founding of the Jixia Academy, that the theory of the Feng and Shan has sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain. At first they only dared say that Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, and King Cheng of Zhou performed the Feng and Shan. Later they grew bolder and gradually said that Fuxi, Shennong, the Flame Emperor, and the Yellow Emperor had also performed the Feng and Shan at Mount Tai. And now, out of thin air, they have added many 'ancient sage kings' even more remote than Fuxi and Shennong — the Wuhuai Clan and the like — until the total has reached as many as seventy-two kings…"

"Did those ancient sage kings really come to Mount Tai to perform the Feng and Shan? Why is there not a single word about it in the historical records? Why did it have to be 'rediscovered' only in recent times?"

Heifu listened but did not commit to an opinion. Instead, he smiled and said, "Fu Qiubo says that the Guanzi records Guan Zhong advising Duke Huan of Qi not to perform the Feng and Shan, enumerating the seventy-two kings who had performed the Feng and Shan at Mount Tai before him. How do you explain that?"

"Also fake."

Zhang Cang flicked his sleeve dismissively. "Although the learning in the Guanzi is broad, that book was written by the various masters of Jixia under Guan Zhong's name. The language is relatively easy to understand, nothing like the archaic simplicity of Spring and Autumn period texts. The episode it mentions of Duke Huan of Qi intending to perform the Feng and Shan is a fabrication by the masters of Jixia, not a fact."

"This sort of thing — using the past to talk about the present — is not an isolated case. Take the abdication of the throne, for example. This business of Yao and Shun abdicating — it also did not exist in antiquity. It was trumpeted by the Mohists and the Zizhang school of Confucians. They fabricated ancient events, wrote texts like 'The Way of Tang and Yu,' and spread them among the various states, arguing that only abdication could end the chaos. In the end, King Kuai of Yan fell for it, abdicated to Zizhi, and the result was the great chaos of Yan… My master said at the time that the abdication of Yao and Shun was empty talk — the tradition of the shallow, the doctrine of the ignorant!"

"Stop, stop."

Seeing Zhang Cang's verbal barrage sweep from the Feng and Shan to the abdication, about to launch into a lengthy critique, Heifu hurriedly made him halt.

"Today we're only discussing the Feng and Shan, not the abdication. Just explain the former clearly."

The fat man Zhang spread his hands. "The facts are as they are — what more is there to say?"

In a word, based on his textual research and his understanding of the Jixia masters, Zhang Cang knew that this crowd of Confucian scholars and men of service from Qi and Lu would fabricate anything to promote their political ideals. The Feng and Shan was not something that had existed since antiquity; it was a fabrication of the last two hundred years by the people of Qi and Lu, especially the people of Qi.

That was why the story of Duke Huan of Qi's Feng and Shan appeared, and why Mount Tai was chosen as the site for the Feng and Shan.

"Is Mount Tai tall? Tall enough that once you climb it, you feel all other mountains under heaven are small?" Zhang Cang asked Heifu this one question.

Heifu shook his head and laughed. "Anyone who thinks that probably hasn't traveled widely enough and is a bit lacking in experience…"

In terms of elevation alone, Mount Tai was actually not tall at all — not as tall as Mount Hua, and even less comparable to the Helan Mountains Heifu had seen beyond the frontier. Compared to the snow-capped peaks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau west of Qin, it was not even in the same league.

But in the eyes of the people of Qi and Lu, Mount Tai, situated at the border of Qi and Lu, stood out like a crane among chickens amid the plains and hills — it was the tallest mountain in "all under heaven."

Why did Zeus and the Greek gods live on Mount Olympus? Because it was the mountain of the Greeks.

By the same logic, the reason the Feng and Shan was held not at Mount Hua, not at Mount Song, but at Mount Tai, was simply because over the last two hundred years, the cultural center of all under heaven had been in Qi and Lu, at the Jixia Academy. Thus, the regional deities, mountains, and rivers of Qi and Lu were proclaimed as the faith of all under heaven since time immemorial.

This was something the Jixia masters had prepared for the ruler they believed most likely to ascend to the Son of Heaven's throne, to oversee all under heaven and pacify the four barbarians — the Tian clan kings of Qi. It was an enthronement ceremony prepared for a future unified state.

Later, a declining Qi lost that qualification, but the Feng and Shan theory was spread by more and more men of service emerging from Jixia, transmitted across the Nine Provinces, until it finally became established truth!

"Since antiquity, what emperor who has received the Mandate has ever failed to perform the Feng and Shan?" This lie, repeated countless times, had been accepted by the intellectuals of all under heaven, who stubbornly believed it to be true. Even the peerless Qin Shi Huang had to, in turn, accept this set of theories.

Heifu acknowledged Zhang Cang's words and sighed. "When the false is taken as true, the true becomes false as well."

He was not so foolish as to ask Zhang Cang why, knowing that the Feng and Shan was a recent fabrication, he did not tell Qin Shi Huang the truth.

Because the emperor did not need the truth.

Just as with the ministers presenting auspicious omens — one hand cannot clap alone. Whether the ancient sage kings' Feng and Shan was real or fake no longer mattered. What mattered was that the men of service under heaven believed it to be true, and Qin Shi Huang needed the Feng and Shan to package his empire, to have his achievements "recognized" by Heaven and Earth.

Qin has always been a nation of "take-and-use." Anything beneficial to its rule, it adopts without hesitation — so it was with the Legalists, so it was with the Mohists, so it was with the Yin-Yang School's Five Virtues Cycle, and so it is with the Confucian scholars' Feng and Shan sacrifices.

If you truly are the Son of Heaven, one who receives the Mandate of Heaven in accordance with the cycle of virtue, then there must be a sign of that mandate — an auspicious omen must appear. Only with such visible proof can one be qualified to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices. And only by performing the Feng and Shan sacrifices can one be qualified to "receive Heaven's mandate and carry out its fortune" in ruling all under Heaven…

The First Emperor needed to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices so that the people of the realm would acknowledge this fact. This was beneficial for the great unification.

Therefore, even though Zhang Cang understood the Feng and Shan sacrifices perfectly well in his heart, he was still happy to see them proceed.

Moreover, the fangshi and magicians were whispering in the First Emperor's ear, emphasizing that whether searching for the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West or seeking immortals to the east, the Feng and Shan sacrifices were an indispensable step toward longevity…

Having said this, Zhang Cang shook his head and said, "So in the end, it may well be that His Majesty will become the first person in all history to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices!"

"I understand now why you wanted to stay far away from this matter."

Heifu laughed. "Although the Confucian scholars claim the Feng and Shan sacrifices have a long and storied history, this is in fact the first time they are being performed. There is no precedent whatsoever. Three hundred men, seven or eight schools of thought — that means at least seven or eight different opinions. If I'm not mistaken, by the time you and I return, those Confucian scholars still won't have produced a workable sacrificial plan… It seems the trouble with this Mount Tai Feng and Shan sacrifice has only just begun!"

……

Heifu was not mistaken. On the fourteenth day of the eighth month, when he and Zhang Cang had finished their duties and returned to the traveling palace at the foot of Mount Tai, they found that the lively atmosphere of the Confucian scholars debating the Feng and Shan ceremony had, as if swept away by a cold wind from the mountaintop, turned deathly silent. All the officials and ministers were trembling with fear, not daring to breathe loudly, communicating only with their eyes…

"Fifth Rank Grand Master, what has happened?" Heifu asked, though he already knew the answer.

Fifth Rank Grand Master Yang Jiao was utterly vexed by this matter and sighed:

"Junior Chief of the Multitude, you may not be aware, but yesterday and today, when the Confucian scholars debated the Feng and Shan ceremony, each stubbornly clung to his own opinion. There were over ten different proposals, and more than three hundred men quarreled without end. In the end, they even came to blows. In his fury, His Majesty drove them all out!"

PS: Ack, got the chapter title wrong. Will fix it tomorrow.

(End of chapter)