Chapter 512: The Confucian-Legalist Conflict

"Within and without, all is clearly set apart, pure and undefiled, to be passed down to posterity. May this transforming influence extend without limit; revere and uphold the testament left behind, and ever bear its weighty precepts…"

That night, the musical program scheduled to be performed on Mount Tai the following day was drawing to a close. After the assembled officials finished rehearsing the Feng and Shan rites under the ritual officers sent by the Chamberlain for Ceremonials, each returned to their lodgings outside the traveling palace to rest and prepare for the main event the next day.

Heifu, however, personally escorted the Commandant of Justice, Ye Teng, back to his quarters, and supported him by the arm as he alighted from the carriage.

Stationed far away in Jiaodong, although letters frequently traveled back and forth with Xianyang, a single round trip took at least two months, and much of the news was already outdated. Thus, on many matters, Heifu had to consult his father-in-law in person.

Ye Teng had also received an assignment from the First Emperor, ordering him to perform sacrifices at the Eastern Mount Tai, which was why he had arrived late. After not seeing him for a year, Ye Teng seemed to have aged considerably further; the commandery governor who had once been decisive and resolute in Nan Commandery a decade ago had now become a doddering old Commandant of Justice.

Only the gleam in his eyes remained as sharp as ever, and the words from his mouth were still as piercing as swords and blades, often drawing blood with a single thrust.

"Do you think this is merely a factional struggle among a bunch of Confucians?"

After they sat down facing each other inside the dwelling, Ye Teng chuckled darkly. "Others can only see the Confucian scholars pointing fingers at one another, incurring His Majesty's displeasure. But they fail to notice that the Right Chancellor, Lord Tonggu, has been fanning the flames from the shadows. Revoking the Confucians' right to deliberate on the Feng and Shan rites, adopting the Qin's old system for sacrificing to Heaven and Earth, arresting the old scholars who brawled in private, and not bringing a single Confucian up Mount Tai — all of these were proposals Chancellor Li had others put forward to His Majesty!"

"And as for that Zhang Cang, who keeps insisting he wants no part in this trouble, I'm afraid he also understands full well that his senior fellow apprentice would never sit idly by and watch the Confucians have their way!"

"Father-in-law, you mean to say the Chancellor was also involved in this matter…"

Heifu recalled Li Si's behavior over the past few days: the old fox had been mostly silent, rarely voicing any opinion on the Feng and Shan rites. But analyzing it after the fact, every time someone close to Li Si spoke, their words struck right at the Confucians' vital points, deepening the Emperor's loathing for them all the more. It was practically driving them to their deaths, ultimately leading to this crushing defeat for the Confucian scholars.

Ye Teng greatly enjoyed testing his son-in-law. "Heifu, tell me, why would Li Si, a lofty Chancellor, stoop to quibble with a bunch of armchair Confucians full of empty rhetoric?"

Heifu, quick on the uptake, immediately thought of three possibilities. "The Xun-Meng dispute? The Right-Left struggle? The Confucian-Legalist conflict?"

He knew that Li Si, Han Fei, Zhang Cang, and others had all studied under Xunzi. Although Xunzi was generally considered a Confucian who revered Confucius, he was a heretic within the Confucian school.

In the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought, there were five great famous debates: the debate on Heaven and Man, the debate on human nature, the debate on righteousness and profit, the debate on kingly rule versus hegemonic rule, and the debate on names and actualities.

The Confucians, Mohists, Daoists, Legalists, and the School of Names — every school put forward its own views on these five great debates, each with its own emphasis, sometimes even diametrically opposed. These fundamentally embodied their "outlook on life, values, and worldview."

And Xunzi, aside from the debate on names and actualities, held views on the other four that were vastly different from those of the Qi-Lu Confucians and the Zisi-Mencius school.

He said that rather than trembling with fear in sacrifices to Heaven, it was better to actively transform and utilize it; he believed human nature was inherently evil, not good…

With such fundamentally different worldviews, how could they possibly see eye to eye? The Xunzi school was thus denounced as heretical by the Confucian orthodoxy. Xunzi, in turn, had no regard for them, mocking them as pedantic Confucians, base Confucians, and vulgar Confucians.

Although this academic struggle had taken place decades ago, now that Li Si held supreme power, it was only natural for him to throw a little dirt in the eyes of his school's old enemies.

As for the "Right-Left struggle," that involved the personal grudges between Right Chancellor Li Si and Left Chancellor Wang Wan…

Ye Teng lowered his voice slightly. "Although His Majesty detests factional strife, during these years you've been in the Northern Territories and Jiaodong, the Li faction and the Wang faction at court have become as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers."

Although Li Si had leapfrogged to become Right Chancellor, placing him above Wang Wan, Wang Wan had not fallen from power either.

"The Qin officials who graduated from the Study Chambers have basically rallied around Li Si, while the worthy and learned scholars who came from the former lands of the six eastern states look to Wang Wan as their leader."

"It's rather interesting, actually."

Heifu smiled. "Father-in-law, if I recall correctly, Chancellor Li was also a scholar who came from the east back then. It was because he wrote an excellent hand and outstanding essays that he entered Lü Buwei's mansion as a retainer. Later, when His Majesty issued the great expulsion order against foreigners, he was nearly implicated and driven out, only to become famous overnight with his 'Petition Against the Expulsion of Foreigners.' At that time, everyone east of the pass knew it was Li Si who made His Majesty change his mind, and they were all very eager to pay him court…"

"That was then, this is now."

Ye Teng gestured for Heifu to pour him more wine. "Li Si's greatest skill is knowing what to abandon."

"He gleaned the principle of rising above others from observing rats, and decisively abandoned his status as a petty clerk to study under Xunzi in Lanling."

"After mastering the art of emperorship, he decisively abandoned his motherland, Chu, and switched his allegiance to Qin."

"When the Qin court was on the verge of upheaval, he abandoned Lü Buwei, who had recognized and elevated his talent, and switched to His Majesty, successfully leaping off that sinking ship to ascend into the halls of power and soar to prominence."

"And now, he has chosen to embrace whatever His Majesty favors, regarding Xianyang as his native home and the Qin people as his compatriots, having long forgotten that he himself was a scholar from the east. Besides, after the unification of the realm, regional origin no longer matters; what matters most is whether one believes in law or believes in Confucianism."

Ye Teng's analysis of Li Si was thorough. Heifu said, "So when it comes down to it, the essence of this matter is still the Confucian-Legalist conflict?"

When the Qin dynasty first unified the realm, the First Emperor summoned over seventy Confucian scholars from east of the pass to Xianyang, appointing them as Erudites to serve as consultants. From that moment on, the Confucian-Legalist conflict at court had begun.

From the mutual probing over the imperial honorific title, to the divergence over the fengjian versus commandery-county systems. It ultimately concluded with Li Si's proposal to completely abolish fengjian and not enfeoff even an inch of land being adopted. His position as Right Chancellor was, to a large extent, the spoils of victory in that struggle.

And now, with the eastern inspection tour and the Feng and Shan sacrifices as the catalyst, the Confucian-Legalist conflict had once again erupted into a clamorous uproar, becoming the primary contradiction at court.

"Exactly."

"Do you think what they're fighting over is whether to use the old rites of Qin or the rites of the east? Whether it's about how to slaughter the ox during the sacrifice, how to ascend the mountain, or how to dress and adorn themselves?"

Ye Teng drank the warm wine Heifu had poured for him, brushed the droplets from his beard, and sneered. "No. What they are fighting over is the very constitution of the state!"

…

From what Heifu understood, the Confucian-Legalist conflict, setting aside their enormous differences in worldview, centered on two major political questions: "how to found a state" and "how to govern a state."

The Confucians had already lost on "founding the state." In the subsequent "governing the state," they would strive to participate, for ever since the era of Confucius, Confucianism had been a school actively engaged with the world.

Qin had founded its state on law and unified the realm through law, which fully demonstrated the correctness of this system. The First Emperor himself was the greatest beneficiary of this state constitution, and he would certainly make governance by Legalist Qin officials a fundamental state policy, unshakable for ten thousand generations.

But the Emperor had not completely discarded all other possibilities either; otherwise, he would not have co-opted the Confucians and Huang-Lao adherents as Erudites, nor allowed the Mohist school to continue existing.

Other schools still had their own space to survive. The Confucians, relying on Left Chancellor Wang Wan as their patron, were very eager to secure a certain standing for themselves both at court and among the common people.

Ye Teng analyzed, "That is why Wang Wan and the Erudites painstakingly urged His Majesty to conduct his eastern inspection and the Feng and Shan sacrifices. The great affairs of state lie solely in ritual and war. This ceremony was crucial for elevating the Confucians' status at court and in the realm."

Wang Wan, Zhou Qingchen, and the others had already recognized their position: in governing the state, the Emperor would, for the time being, only trust the Legalist Qin officials; the Confucians would get no share of that pie. They could only strive in the area they were most adept at, which was "ritual."

This was also the area most foreign to the Legalists. The Confucians assumed that these law officials, who knew no poetry or history and did not model themselves on the ancient kings, would have no way to meddle at all!

Wang Wan and Zhou Qingchen's original plan was to use the Feng and Shan sacrifices, brimming with eastern characteristics, to pull the First Emperor away from the "Four Altars and Four Emperors" sacrifices controlled by the spirit mediums and invocators west of the pass. They wanted the Emperor to fully embrace the eastern pantheon of Heaven and Earth, thereby reconstructing the entire empire's sacrificial system from east to west…

This aligned with the goals of the fangshi and occult practitioners, so men like Lu Ao and Hou Sheng also actively cooperated.

As long as the Emperor consented, and completed the Feng and Shan rites under the design and accompaniment of the Confucians, it would be tantamount to acknowledging the Confucians' status as the chief officiants of ritual both at court and in the realm.

First, they would hold the ground of the state's ritual canon, then slowly extend their reach into secular affairs, thereby reversing their weak position in the Confucian-Legalist conflict…

Heifu nodded repeatedly, feeling that he had truly broadened his horizons. So the Feng and Shan sacrifices involved this many layers of confrontation.

At this point, Ye Teng could not help but laugh. "But what Wang Wan and Zhou Qingchen never, ever anticipated was that although Li Si and the various law officials were not adept at sacrificial rites and ceremonies, they understood the human heart very well. Li Si knew that His Majesty also desired to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices, so he did not dissuade him. Instead, he did the opposite, saying that the Feng and Shan rites were of such great importance that relying on just seventy-odd Erudites might lead to omissions. Would it not be better to broadly summon the Confucian scholars of Qi and Lu to Mount Tai to deliberate on the ceremonies together…"

"That is truly letting loose in order to capture."

Heifu also laughed. "After all, Chancellor Li spent some time in Jixia and Lanling; he probably understood the divisions among the Confucians better than anyone. He knew that the more of them gathered together, far from accomplishing anything, they would only ruin things."

Of course, everyone knew what happened next. A situation arose that even Wang Wan and Zhou Qingchen could not control.

After all, this was the first Feng and Shan sacrifice, with no records to consult. The Confucian scholars, each based on their own understanding, presented a bizarre hodgepodge of rituals. They first fell into utter chaos among themselves, infuriating the impatient Emperor…

The Feng and Shan rites that Wang Wan and the Erudites had painstakingly planned for years were thus easily unraveled by Li Si with a simple little trick. The Confucians suffered a crushing defeat on the very ground they excelled at. But who could they blame? They could only blame themselves for having too many pig teammates.

Heifu, however, did not gloat. Instead, he furrowed his brow and thought to himself:

"Winning the second round of the Confucian–Legalist dispute and striking a blow against his rivals certainly made Li Si happy, but in the long run, this is rather detrimental to the unification of the whole realm…"

He knew well that unification is by no means limited to politics and territory — it also encompasses ideology.

Even a husband and wife cannot live together if their core values clash, let alone a country so vast, with so many people. The Mohist ideal of 'universal love' is very hard to achieve, but it is essential that the people under governance develop a sense of belonging to the new dynasty.

The Qin dynasty has already united all within the seas; by standardizing axle widths and the written script, it has made communication possible across the regions. Yet the unification of ideology has only just begun. It is still far too early for 'the Nine Provinces sharing one thread, the Six Directions sharing one custom.' Across the vast former Six States, with over twenty million people, those who identify themselves as Qin subjects are exceedingly few.

A mere paper decree obviously will not suffice. Winning over hearts and minds requires subtle influence, like the silent moistening of things by rain.

The stern-faced Legalist officials of Qin are not good at this kind of work. The Confucian scholars, on the other hand, are quite suited for it. Although the good and the bad are intermingled among them, one has to admit that they are masters at conducting moral edification.

The Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai are an excellent opportunity — a state ritual acknowledged by all under Heaven, something only a sage sovereign or a benevolent king may perform. And the object of the Feng and Shan sacrifices is 'Heaven,' the supreme deity in whom everyone believes.

The Feng and Shan sacrifices could have won the goodwill of the intellectuals east of the Pass for the Qin dynasty and brought them into the fold. But now, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, it has instead become the beginning of division. The Confucian scholars, by now, are probably thoroughly alienated from the court…

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing that Heifu had been silent for a long while, Ye Teng asked him.

Heifu ceased his musings and smiled. "I was wondering — in this struggle, which side does my father-in-law stand on?"

"I am the Commandant of Justice, in charge of the realm's laws, ordinances, punishments, and prisons. Naturally, I must stand on the Legalist side."

Indeed, after Han Fei's death, Legalism was no longer merely a school of thought — it had expanded to encompass the entire body of Qin officialdom. From the lowly petty clerk Xi, who copied legal ordinances onto bamboo slips every day, to the exalted Chancellor Li Si and Commandant of Justice Ye Teng — so long as one acknowledged the laws and recited the statutes of Shang Yang, one could be regarded as an adherent of Legalism. This group was so vast; it was the pillar that sustained the empire's rule.

Although Ye Teng was a meticulous and astute politician, he had not thought as far ahead as Heifu had. He said:

"Ever since he became Chancellor of the Right, and after His Majesty married his daughters to several of the princes, Li Si's competitive spirit toward this old man has lessened considerably. His words have been most courteous. When I think it over, perhaps the proposals you put forward earlier — consolidating the Guanzhong heartland and opening up the northwest — happened to help Li Si. Without the western expansion, without the impetus to search for the land of the Queen Mother of the West, His Majesty would surely have taken a far greater interest in the east, and the Confucian scholars and fangshi would have had many more opportunities."

Heifu laughed in spite of himself. "So, in other words, although I am physically in Jiaodong, the Confucian scholars and fangshi already regard me as an enemy?"

"Surely you don't intend to turn foes into friends with them? To lend them a hand in the matter of the Feng and Shan sacrifices?" Ye Teng fixed his gaze on his son-in-law. Heifu seemed to have plans of his own.

Heifu, however, shook his head. "Matters have reached this point; there is no turning back. Besides, unlike Chancellors Li and Wang, my battlefield lies neither in the imperial court nor on Mount Tai…"

A smile spread across his face. "It lies in Jiaodong!"

"What His Majesty will get from Mount Tai is only anger and disappointment. But I guarantee that the new policies in Jiaodong will be a refreshing sight for him!"

(End of chapter)