Chapter 536: The Victor Becomes King, the Vanquished Becomes Bandit

In the winter of the thirty-second year of the First Emperor of Qin, in the last ten days of the tenth month, Zhi County, where Zhifu Island lay, welcomed the Governor of Jiaodong Commandery, Heifu, and his retinue.

This was Heifu's second visit to Zhi County since his inspection tour the previous year; the local officials were no longer strangers to him. After ordering the county magistrate to assemble his staff, he set about assigning tasks with a stern air.

"As you all know, His Majesty's eastern tour will soon reach Zhi County and ascend Zhifu Island…"

When the First Emperor traveled, high ministers and grand officials would often ride ahead bearing the Emperor's tally, awaiting the imperial carriage at famous mountains and scenic spots. As Governor of Jiaodong, Heifu naturally took the lead every time, guiding the way ahead and making preparations to receive the imperial procession.

Heifu assigned Chen Ping and Cao Can to handle the specific arrangements. Chen Ping was meticulous and methodical; he was to confirm the Emperor's itinerary and prepare all the various matters. Cao Can was responsible for tightening local security and defense to prevent any petty criminals from stirring up trouble.

These travel preparations would be handed over to the Prefect of the Imperial Carriage and the Gentlemen Guards once the main party arrived. But if anything went wrong, Heifu would not escape responsibility, so the kind of incident that had yet to occur—a "Bolangsha"—absolutely must not happen in Jiaodong.

While Heifu was busy with reception duties, Zhang Cang, who had traveled with him, was quite at leisure. He called upon Heifu's nephew, Wei Yang, to accompany him, and they strolled aimlessly through Zhi County. Passing a tall, conspicuous grand temple, his eyes lit up and he pulled Wei Yang inside.

Once inside, they discovered that Cao Can's men had already cordoned off the area. It turned out this temple was also a place the First Emperor might pass through. They saw that the temple's layout was vastly different from those of the Central Plains; it actually had eight separate sections, each with its own independent shrine hall.

When they reached the first section, Zhang Cang suddenly asked Wei Yang:

"Wei Yang, do you know why Qi is called Qi?"

Wei Yang scratched his head. "Uncle Zhang, I've only heard you tell the story of the Qi man's good fortune, but I don't know where the name 'Qi' comes from."

"The Qi Man and His Wife and Concubine" was a story Zhang Cang had casually recounted a few days earlier in Linzi. On the surface, it was just a tale for Wei Yang, but the implication was: if a destitute commoner of Qi could have both a wife and a concubine, why would Heifu—a Grand Superior, Governor of Jiaodong, with a household fortune in the millions—live with only one wife?

Zhang Cang was naturally fond of women and took a new concubine every year, never touching the women of his household again after they gave birth. Of course, he had his own theory for this peculiar lifestyle:

"Desire is bestowed by Heaven; emotion is the substance of desire; lust is the response of emotion. To seek what one desires as if it were attainable is an unavoidable part of emotion. My master Xun Qing's meaning is that humans are by no means creatures of meager passions and desires by nature. Human desire is to seek all kinds of pleasure, and the more the better—this is human nature!"

Unlike the later Neo-Confucian principle of "preserving Heavenly principle and extinguishing human desire," Xunzi regarded human desire as a matter of course and a part of human nature.

He also called desire "the tool of nature." Hmm, just looking at the literal meaning of the words makes it understandable.

Thus, Zhang Cang prided himself on following human nature, never restraining his "tool of nature," determined to be a scumbag who bedded a hundred women. Correspondingly, he could not understand Heifu's desire-restrained lifestyle and so mocked him for it.

"Xunzi only said this is human nature; he didn't advocate for it, did he?"

Heifu retorted, "Though desire cannot be eliminated, its pursuit can be moderated. Besides, you are not me; how do you know what I enjoy?"

The two laughed it off and thought nothing more of it. Zhang Cang never brought it up again, but Wei Yang remembered it.

Returning to the subject, Zhang Cang cleared his throat lightly and pointed at the temple, saying to Wei Yang, "The origin of Qi is connected to these Eight Gods Temples!"

In this era, every region had its own unique beliefs. The Qin people believed in the Three Shamans; the Chu people believed in the Eastern Emperor Taiyi, the Greater Master of Fate, and the Lesser Master of Fate; and the Qi region believed in the "Eight Gods."

"Some say the worship of the Eight Gods only began after the Grand Duke of Qi, but more people believe that the local Yi people already worshipped the Eight Gods long before the Grand Duke's fiefdom was established. The reason the state of Qi was named Qi is because of the foremost of the Eight Gods, the Tianqi God."

The "Tianqi God," also called the Lord of Heaven, was likely a phonetic translation of "Heaven" in the Eastern Yi language. This deity's altar was located at the Tianqi Abyss south of Linzi city.

Where there is Heaven, there is naturally Earth. After entering the temple, Zhang Cang pointed to the spirit tablet ranked second and said to Wei Yang, "The Lord of Earth, ranked second among the Eight Gods, is worshipped at Mount Liangfu, beneath Mount Tai."

"Mount Liangfu—isn't that where His Majesty performed the Shan ritual?"

Although Wei Yang could not attend the ceremony up close like his uncle, he still remembered that long, drowsiness-inducing ritual.

Zhang Cang nodded. "Exactly. The Shan ritual at Liangfu was for the Lord of Earth."

"Then why is Heaven not worshipped in Linzi, but at Mount Tai?"

Wei Yang was somewhat puzzled. He did not know that this was due to political factors. The Tianqi Abyss was where the rulers of Qi had worshipped Heaven. Now that the Qi people had lost their state and their altars of soil and grain were destroyed, it was abolished by the First Emperor, and even the temple was razed. Aside from the great Qin Emperor, no one else had the right to worship Heaven anymore!

As they talked, the two stepped into the third shrine hall. It was then that Wei Yang noticed that the spirit tablets for Heaven and Earth had no concrete images. But the deity in this hall was different: it was actually a monster with a human body and ox hooves, four eyes and six hands, ears and temples like sword-halberds, and a long horn on its head. Its eyes were wide and glaring, and it held a weapon—exquisitely sculpted…

"What god is this?" Wei Yang stared, dumbfounded.

Zhang Cang smiled. "Chiyou."

"Chiyou!?"

Wei Yang was even more stunned. The advisors and aides around his uncle, like Xiao He and Chen Ping, were all learned men, so Wei Yang had also heard stories about Chiyou. Moreover, with the court recently planning to recompile the history of the Five Emperors, Heifu and Zhang Cang had also discussed it.

In the legends, Chiyou was basically a villain. It was said he was originally a subordinate of the White Emperor Shaohao, but he disobeyed Shaohao's orders and rebelled. He also fought a great war with the Flame Emperor, eventually defeating him and tyrannizing the people. So the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor joined forces to resist Chiyou, and the two sides fought in the wilderness of Zhuolu…

Of course, this was the role assigned to Chiyou in Central Plains legends, but in the Qi region, the story was completely the opposite.

Here, Zhang Cang did not need to be guarded and said, "Chiyou is the Lord of Arms, one of the Eight Gods. He is a deity who presides over matters of war."

"In the legends of the Qi people, Chiyou was the lord of the Eastern Yi, who stood as an equal to the Yellow Emperor. He once raised arms to campaign against the Yellow Emperor to seize the position of Son of Heaven."

The word used was "campaign." According to the usage of this era, only those in a higher position and on the righteous side could "campaign." From the perspective of the Yi people of Qi, Chiyou was their ancestor and hero, fighting an open and honorable war. Although he ultimately lost regrettably, it was a glorious defeat.

The battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou also went back and forth several times before the Yellow Emperor barely won. From the legends, the Yellow Emperor hated Chiyou intensely. He made Chiyou's stomach into a ball and had his soldiers kick it—this was the origin of cuju. However, after Chiyou's death, the world was again restless and unsettled. The Yellow Emperor then had Chiyou's image drawn to overawe the world. Everyone under Heaven said Chiyou was not dead, and all the myriad states submitted in awe…

This was also why Chiyou was revered as the Lord of Arms by the local Yi people in Qi. Although the Eastern Yi states had all been destroyed by the descendants of the Flame and Yellow Emperors, the Jiang and Tian clans, and the last Lai state had fallen three hundred years ago, the Yi and Qi people had merged and were now largely indistinguishable. But their beliefs were inherited and took root among the common people. Even the Qi state authorities could not uproot them and had no choice but to acknowledge them.

Thinking carefully, one would realize that Chiyou was the only human god among the Eight Gods of Qi, with a status second only to Heaven and Earth. His altar was located at Pinglu, and at the beginning of the year, sacrifices were made using herons, an extremely grand ceremony.

"So is Chiyou a good guy or a bad guy?"

Wei Yang was confused, but Zhang Cang was perfectly clear in his mind. Regardless of what the descendants of the Qi Yi people thought, in the "National History" the court was about to compile, Chiyou had to be a villain, a heinous and unforgivable wretch!

One of the purposes of compiling the national history was to promote the idea that "all the Huaxia share the same ancestors," and these ancestors were the "Five Emperors."

Although the book had not officially begun to be compiled, the First Emperor had already selected the candidates for the Five Emperors based on the "Altars of the Four Emperors" that had long existed in Qin.

The first was definitely the White Emperor. The Qin lineage came from the Ying clan, and the White Emperor Shaohao was the ancestor of the Ying clan, thus honored as the head of the Five Emperors, the Qin's paternal clan. As long as the Qin dynasty existed, Shaohao would be regarded as the foremost of the Five Emperors and the most ancient, thereby proving that Qin's legitimacy was from time immemorial.

Next was the Yellow Emperor, the direct ancestor of the Ji clan Zhou people and also considered by the Tian clan of Qi as their distant ancestor. He was also the maternal clan of the Qin ancestors. According to legend, Emperor Zhuanxu was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, and Emperor Zhuanxu's (Gaoyang's) daughter, Nüxiu, was the ancient matriarch of the Qin people.

Correspondingly, and unlike historical accounts, Emperor Zhuanxu had recently been honored by the First Emperor as the "Black Emperor." As an ancestor recognized by Qin, Chu, and Zhao, Zhuanxu certainly had the qualifications.

Besides these, there were also the Flame Emperor and Emperor Ku. The Flame Emperor was the ancestor of the various Jiang clans. Emperor Ku, also known as Gaoxin, though his origins were unclear, was later claimed to be a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, and the Yin-Shang dynasty regarded him as their ancestor.

Although the generational relationships felt utterly chaotic, the lineage of the Five Emperors was finally arranged. Taihao, who was more widely celebrated, was instead squeezed out of the Five Emperors' ranks, because the descendants of the Feng clan Yi people had nearly vanished, and their influence on the world was negligible.

Correspondingly, Chiyou, the hero of the Eastern Yi, was inevitably cast in the role of the loser and the villain. Although the Qin ancestors also originated from the Eastern Yi and might have once fought alongside Chiyou, none of that mattered anymore…

He sighed, knowing that saying more was useless. Compared to the ancient legends no one could clarify, reality was always paramount: to maintain the unity of the world, the people must share the same ancestors and origins. Shaohao must be wise and virtuous, the Yellow Emperor must be bright and magnificent, the Flame Emperor must be senile in his old age, Emperor Zhuanxu must be the son of destiny, and the direct descendants of the Five Emperors must possess a godlike charisma—only they were qualified to ascend the imperial throne…

And Chiyou must be a demon king who committed every evil, threw the world into chaos, and was struck down by the virtuous—the common enemy of all under Heaven!

Seeing Wei Yang's dumbfounded expression, Zhang Cang found it amusing. A child was a child, after all, far less composed than his uncle Heifu had been upon hearing all this.

A few days earlier, when Zhang Cang had told Heifu about these origins and allusions, Heifu had casually uttered a single sentence.

"The victor becomes king; the vanquished becomes bandit!"

So true that it was impossible to refute.

But Heifu's next sentence sent a chill down Zhang Cang's spine.

At that time, Heifu gazed at the bared-fangs-and-claws statue of Chiyou in the Temple of the Eight Gods inside Yeyi City and said, "Brother Zihu, have you ever thought — if one day the Great Qin suddenly fell, a thousand years from now, in the history books of later ages, would Qin's image be even more hideous and dreadful than this Chiyou?"

"And those two words — Qin official."

Zhang Cang still remembered the look in Heifu's eyes then, the pupils distinctly black and white, the corners of his mouth carrying a trace of mockery and self-derision: "Would also become a byword for cruelty and heartlessness!"

……

PS: Really sorry, after getting back last night I planned to just rest my eyes a bit before writing another chapter, but ended up sleeping straight through to morning. These past few days I've been handling matters in the capital, leaving early and returning late, so the second chapter still won't be up until tonight. Now that I've rested enough, I shouldn't be that tired tonight…

(End of chapter)