Chapter 514: Annexation Is Easy, Consolidation Is Hard

The hand reaching for his sword dropped. Qin Shi Huang suppressed his fury toward Heaven, shaking his head beneath the clouds, and thought to himself:

"I am neither Wu Yi nor King Kang of Song…"

Wu Yi, the third-to-last ruler of the Shang dynasty, resented the ghost-shamans' grip on the court. To prove the Heavenly Gods' impotence, he made a pouch of beast hide, filled it with blood, hung it high, and shot it, calling it "Shooting Heaven." The result: Wu Yi blasted a great hole in the hide pouch, blood streamed out, yet Heaven gave no reaction at all. Wu Yi then declared that the "Heaven" the shamans and diviners used day after day to browbeat him was a worthless coward.

But later, while on a hunting excursion by the Wei River, Wu Yi was struck dead by lightning. People all said it was misfortune brought on by his irreverence toward the Heavenly Gods.

King Kang of Song, a descendant of the Shang, seemed to have inherited his ancestor's madness and did similar things. But the state of Song was soon destroyed by Qi, and the Zi clan's altars were extinguished forever. People also said this was punishment brought on by irreverence toward Heaven.

Qin Shi Huang, though immensely arrogant and overweening, was no madman.

If a person offended the emperor, a single light word could exterminate their three clans and erase every trace of their existence.

If a state defied the emperor, he would dispatch a great army to punish it, destroy its state, raze its altars, and let the world know what is meant by the Son of Heaven's wrath — corpses strewn for a hundred li, blood flowing for a thousand li!

If Mount Tai itself angered the emperor, he could even order tens of thousands to chop down every tree on the mountain, leaving it utterly bald as if it had suffered the Kun punishment of head-shaving.

But the one thing the emperor could do nothing about was Heaven itself.

Could brandishing a short sword at the vast sky, howling and cursing in rage, make the wind and rain stop? It would be just as futile, and in the eyes of onlookers, truly no different from a Shu dog barking at the sun. Doing such a thing would also turn the Feng and Shan sacrifices — already far short of expectations — into an utterly thorough farce…

He could only endure. For the sake of these Feng and Shan sacrifices, Qin Shi Huang had already endured many things.

Qin Shi Huang placed great hopes on the Feng and Shan sacrifices. Apart from wishing to speak directly with "Heaven" and report his achievements, he also had practical aims.

His son Fusu was constantly murmuring in his ear that "the realm is newly settled, the black-headed commoners are not yet gathered." Did he think the emperor did not know?

Gao Jianli's assassination attempt, the commoners' fear during his inspection tours, the bandit activity everywhere that was hard to suppress, the restorationists surging in the shadows — all of it showed that his realm seemed not so secure after all.

How to solve this problem? After driving out the Xiongnu, this was the most important matter occupying Qin Shi Huang's mind. Qin was no longer a feudal state tucked in the western corner, but a dynasty that had unified the realm. Integrating the newly conquered eastern regions was the urgent task of the moment.

To this end, he did not hesitate to transfer Heifu to the east of the passes as a commandery governor, wanting to see what new tricks this minister who always surprised him could cook up.

Beyond that, Qin Shi Huang had also dug out a memorial submitted many years ago, when Han Fei had first entered Qin.

"Annexation is easy to achieve; only consolidation is difficult. Qi could annex Song but could not consolidate it, so Wei snatched it away. Yan could annex Qi but could not consolidate it, so Tian Dan snatched it away. Han's Shangdi region, several hundred li square, fully intact and prosperous, went over to Zhao; Zhao could not consolidate it, so Qin snatched it away…"

Han Fei had relayed the original words of Xunzi: annexation is easy, consolidation is difficult. Was this not the greatest problem facing the Qin dynasty right now? They had unified the territory but not the hearts of the people. The estrangement between Qin and the six states remained. Some scholars east of the passes even regarded Qin as bandits, and restoration movements were brewing in secret.

Relying solely on violent suppression could hardly produce good results. Fortunately, Xunzi had also proposed a fine remedy for this difficult problem: in ancient times, King Tang of Shang rose from the land of Bo, and King Wu of Zhou rose from the land of Hao — both places barely a hundred li square — yet they could annex the realm and make the feudal lords their vassals. There was no other reason: they could consolidate the scholars and the commoners!

Xunzi also said: "Consolidate the scholars with ritual; consolidate the commoners with good governance. When ritual is cultivated, the scholars submit; when governance is equitable, the commoners are content!"

Over these few years, the emperor had also come to understand: if he could not win over the scholars east of the passes and make them serve him, the Qin officials parachuted in from outside had no way at all to govern the people.

And so, Qin Shi Huang planned to start with "ritual." Heeding the advice of Confucian scholars and fangshi, he set aside Qin's old sacrifices and prepared to stage the "Feng and Shan" sacrifices that the easterners loved to extol, turning them into a grand court sacrifice. In this way, he would strengthen the scholars' identification with Qin and also legitimize the imperial rule in terms of belief — Qin was no savage state of tigers and wolves, but a dignified heir of the Huaxia, carrying on the enterprise of the seventy-two sage rulers of high antiquity.

This approach was similar in purpose to the Yuan and Qing dynasties' later sacrifices to Confucius, except that in this era, Confucius had not yet been canonized as a sage, and Confucianism was merely one prominent school among many.

For the supremely arrogant Qin Shi Huang, this was, of course, a compromise.

What pleased him, however, was that once this proposal was made, it drew cheers from everyone. Even the famed scholars of Qi and Lu who had been unwilling to enter court as Erudites came, drawn by its reputation. The commanderies and counties, having received the hint, vied to present auspicious omens. Everything seemed to be developing on the right track.

But Qin Shi Huang had underestimated the degree of the Confucian scholars' incompetence. This group of people could bicker for days over what ritual vessels to use for a single ceremony or how high the earthen altar mound should be, utterly unable to produce a workable plan. The emperor found all those multifarious and motley proposals impossible to implement after reading them.

He might make concessions, but only half a step. If the other party failed to take the hint and did not hurry to follow up, the emperor would kick them aside with one foot!

Fury rising in his heart, Qin Shi Huang dismissed the Confucian scholars in rebuke and refused to use them. He took his civil and military ministers up Mount Tai to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices himself, and the rites used were also the old rites from Qin's past sacrifices to Heaven.

Let that pack of useless Confucians grumble! Qin Shi Huang did not care.

To hell with the seventy-two sage kings, to hell with the ancient rites! Henceforth, for ten thousand generations, all rites must follow my way!

But just as the Feng and Shan sacrifices were underway, the wind and clouds atop the mountain suddenly changed, and it looked as if rain was about to fall — this was something the emperor had not anticipated. The astrologers and invocators in charge of observing the stars had all given him their absolute guarantee that the fifteenth day of the eighth month would absolutely be a cloudless sky stretching for ten thousand li.

But the weather is unpredictable. Even later ages' weather forecasts are not necessarily accurate, let alone astrologers and invocators relying solely on naked-eye star-gazing?

And so, Qin Shi Huang's mood became as overcast as the black clouds above his head.

Yet he could only watch helplessly as the clouds grew denser and denser, powerless to do anything about it. Only at this moment, this very moment, did Qin Shi Huang feel the insignificance of being human. Even as the Exalted One of the Nine and Five, possessing all within the seas, he was still just a mortal.

"Is what I wish to do truly so difficult? Is it truly not something Heaven delights to see?" He put away his anger and earnestly asked the heavens.

Peal after peal of thunder — this seemed to be the azure sky's answer to Qin Shi Huang.

"Your Majesty, it would be best to descend the mountain at once!"

At this moment, Left Chancellor Wang Wan offered his counsel: "The Feng and Shan sacrifices are already complete. All that remains is to carve the stone and inscribe the words, to extol Your Majesty's achievements and Great Qin's might. Your Majesty, please observe: these clouds are drifting from the southeast, but they can hardly cross the high mountain to reach the northern side. Your Majesty might as well follow the original route, descend the mountain tonight via the shaded slope, and go to the temporary palace at Liangfu. Perhaps you can avoid this rain…"

What Wang Wan meant was: as long as Qin Shi Huang left quickly and dodged the rain on the mountaintop, the Feng and Shan sacrifices would not count as having been rained on.

"Deceiving oneself…" Heifu, standing further back, muttered inwardly. But Wang Wan's proposal drew the agreement of a great many people.

"We beg Your Majesty to take shelter from the rain at once!"

But a flash of anger appeared in Qin Shi Huang's eyes. "The Chancellor means that I should hide from these clouds and rain like a wild beast fleeing in panic?"

The original plan was for the emperor and his ministers to spend the night in the crude temporary palace hastily built on the mountain, descend the next day, and perform the Shan sacrifice at Liangfu the day after. Once he fled in haste, this Feng and Shan ceremony would become a grand beginning with a feeble ending, laughed at by the whole world.

"Your servant had absolutely no such intent, it is just that…"

Wang Wan said hurriedly, "It is just that for the Feng and Shan sacrifices to encounter the hindrance of wind and rain — this matter is inauspicious. I fear the people of the realm will criticize it…"

But unexpectedly, just at this moment, a great peal of laughter rang out atop the mountain.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Qin Shi Huang frowned, and the assembled ministers were also greatly astonished. In unison, they all turned to look toward where Heifu stood!

Heifu had been exchanging glances with his father-in-law, brewing words and preparing to declare his stance, when he was caught off guard by the laughter erupting behind him. Seeing everyone's gaze immediately turn his way, his scalp tightened. He hastily stepped aside, revealing the large fat man behind him…

The one laughing loudly was none other than Zhang Cang!

Right Chancellor Li Si pointed at this junior fellow disciple and demanded with a stern face, "Zhang Cang, the Feng and Shan sacrifices are not yet complete. Why do you suddenly laugh? If you cannot give a reason, I will certainly request the Commandant of Justice to deal with you severely for the crime of ritual impropriety!"

Zhang Cang stopped laughing and cupped his hands toward the visibly angered Qin Shi Huang. "Nothing special. Cang merely recalled a few teachings of our master. Your Majesty, may I speak?"

Qin Shi Huang raised his eyes to glance at the sky and said flatly, "Speak."

"I thank Your Majesty."

After rising, Zhang Cang seemed to become a different person. Solemnly, he said:

"The arrayed stars revolve in their cycles, the sun and moon alternate their radiance, the four seasons govern in succession, yin and yang effect the great transformation, wind and rain are bestowed broadly — these are the great Dao of Heaven and Earth, the laws of nature. They do not exist because of a sage ruler like Yao, nor do they vanish because of a tyrant like Jie… These are the words of our master Xun Qing. Zhang Cang has not dared forget them for a single day."

Heifu watched in astonishment as the fat Zhang, who had been half-dead on the way up the mountain, now stood with a spirited and vigorous expression. Beneath the black clouds and fierce wind, his sleeves fluttered and flew as he pointed at the sky and declared in a loud voice:

"As for eclipses of the sun and moon, untimely wind and rain, and the occasional appearance of strange stars — these are merely rare phenomena. One may find them strange, but one must not fear them."

"As for clouds gathering and scattering, rain falling and stopping — these things happen countless times every year on Mount Tai. As far as today is concerned, whether Your Majesty comes or not, whether the Feng and Shan sacrifices are performed or not, Mount Tai will still turn overcast. Even if it rains, it is no different from the countless other rains that fall across the realm — nothing remarkable, and what has it to do with Heaven's will?"

"At this very moment, any common farmer on the sunny slope of Mount Tai can steady his bamboo hat and cheerfully watch the rain fall upon the wheat fields and into the ditches. Young lads and lasses, oxen, horses, and wild beasts will all be at ease in the rain. Why then do you lords and grandees fear it like a ghost and flee from it? Are you not even the equal of commoners, youths, oxen, and horses? Is that not laughable!?"

(End of chapter)