Chapter 565: Correct Severity with Sternness

"We have already been exceedingly lenient toward the lands of Qi…"

On the fifteenth day of the fourth month of the thirty-second year of the First Emperor, in Pengcheng, Sishui Commandery, within the traveling palace renovated from the former palace of the King of Song, when certain ministers suggested that the rebellion in Linzi Commandery might have been a backlash triggered by the court's use of the Jiaodong Commandery Governor Heifu's advice to relocate eight Tian clans of Jiaodong in one stroke, they were rebuked by the First Emperor.

"In former days, the King of Qi used Hou Sheng's stratagem, severed ties with Qin envoys, and sought to foment rebellion. We ordered General Wang Ben to punish him with troops and officers, took their King Jian captive, and thus pacified the lands of Qi. That campaign was not protracted like the destruction of Chu; it took no more than two months, involved no major engagements, and we did not indiscriminately slaughter the various Tian lineages of Qi. We even allowed them to register their own lands, hoping they would each remain content in their station and stabilize the region. Yet how have the various Tian lineages of Qi repaid Us? Trafficking illicit salt, colluding with sea bandits, preying upon the countryside, and even attempting assassination in Ju'nan!"

To the disappointment of many, the assassination attempt in Ju'nan did not harm the First Emperor; he merely bumped his foot when the carriage overturned. The Emperor, whose legs and feet were already not in the best condition, now walks even more slowly.

The Emperor did not even alter his itinerary because of this sudden assassination attempt. After issuing verbal edicts to all regions to overawe the unruly, he continued on, leaving Donghai Commandery and arriving at Pengcheng. He had originally intended to send men into the Si River to search for the great tripod said to have sunk there, but suddenly received word that the Tian brothers of Di County in Linzi Commandery had risen in revolt…

The First Emperor merely furrowed his brow and, as was his custom, sent the matter to his assembled ministers for deliberation. However, among the ministers, opinions differed on the nature of this unrest.

Some held that subjects must absolutely never raise troops and muster multitudes; whoever raises troops and assembles crowds is committing rebellion, all the more so since Tian Jia has already brazenly declared himself king! This is a counterattack by the Qi nobility seeking to restore their kingdom. Those who rebel can never be pardoned and should be immediately struck down by forces dispatched from the imperial court.

Yet another faction of ministers believed that, with all under heaven now unified into one, the city walls of every commandery and county have been razed, and all weapons among the common people have been melted down, demonstrating they will not be used again. Moreover, with an enlightened sovereign above and laws and ordinances established below, with dispatched officials all loyal to their duties, and with all directions unified under the court like spokes converging on a hub, under such circumstances, who would still dare to rebel?

Thus they held that, just as the Governor of Linzi Commandery had reported, the rabble causing trouble in Qiancheng and Di County were nothing more than a gang of chicken-thieving, dog-sneaking bandits, unworthy of mention. Presumably, the Governor and Commandant of Linzi would very soon be able to arrest them and bring them to justice; the court need not rush to conscript troops.

Those who called it a rebellion feared that Qi would truly descend into chaos; those who called it a bandit gang sought to curry favor with the Emperor by deliberately belittling the rebels. As for the Governor of Linzi Commandery, if a major rebellion broke out within his jurisdiction, he would be held accountable; a bandit gang, however, was different — as long as he dealt with it quickly enough and shifted the blame to Jiaodong, he might escape censure.

In the end, the First Emperor made the final decision.

"Whether a bandit gang or a rebellion, neither is pardonable!"

This eastern journey had been deeply disquieting for the First Emperor. The feng and shan sacrifices met with rain, the Confucian scholars mocked him, the fangshi and magicians deceived him, and then came an assassination attempt that nearly succeeded — though, of course, the First Emperor, safe and unharmed, while rewarding Zhao Gao, became all the more convinced that he was protected by Heaven and thus came to no harm.

In short, on this inspection tour, the Emperor had encountered far too many vexing matters. Now, with only a single strongman dead among the assassins and the mastermind still uncaught, a fire smoldered in his heart. Merely imprisoning those wandering swordsmen suspects arrested in Donghai and Langya could not quench his fury.

And now the rebellion in Di County was pouring oil on the flames, thoroughly igniting the Emperor's rage!

"Among the former Six Kingdoms, those who hated Qin most bitterly were none other than Zhao and Chu! We personally visited Handan and buried alive several hundred of those who bore enmity, yet now no one in Zhao dares to rebel. Later, the old general Wang Jian swept through the lands of Chu, killed Xiang Yan, and took a hundred thousand heads and captives, and no one in Chu dares to rebel either. Yet it is precisely the lands of Qi, which surrendered without a fight, that have produced endless troubles!"

The First Emperor held that this unrest had nothing to do with court policy; it was because the people of Qi were undisciplined and reckless, and the cause of this state of affairs was precisely that the Qin army had not been intimidating enough during the unification back then…

Mencius held that all under heaven would settle into unity, but only one who does not delight in killing could unify it.

The Qin dynasty's unification, however, cast aside the Kingly Way and instead took the Hegemonic Way and the Way of Arms, taking killing as merit.

When the First Emperor performed the feng and shan sacrifices at Mount Tai, he had also shown some intention of taking up the Kingly Way of governance and cooperating with the scholars and nobility east of the passes, but all he reaped was disappointment.

It seemed necessary to let the people of Qi witness what they had missed during the war of unification…

"Our will is decided!"

Sweeping his gaze over the assembly, the First Emperor decreed: "When fire blazes fierce, the people gaze upon it and fear it, and thus few die thereby; water is weak and yielding, the people trifle and toy with it, and thus many die…"

"Where governance is too lenient, correct it with severity. Now, for the chaos in the lands of Qi, it must be scorched with fire, and then ruled with harsh punishments and stern laws!"

He had never been a benevolent and kind sovereign; it was necessary to let all the people of Qi know…

The wrath of the Son of Heaven: corpses strewn for a hundred li, blood flowing for a thousand li!

Thereupon the First Emperor decreed: "A gentleman does not halt his journey because of the clamor of petty men, nor shall We stop this carriage that bears all under heaven just because a few mantises block the road ahead! Any who dare stand before the carriage shall be ground to powder!"

He immediately dispatched men to the various counties neighboring Linzi, notifying the governors and commandants everywhere to strictly prevent the local Tian lineages from rising in response to the bandit rebellion. After securing their own territories, if they had strength to spare, they could send troops to support Linzi…

Especially Jiaodong!

"Heifu swore with absolute confidence that he would exterminate the sea bandits within the year and subdue the evil waves of the Eastern Sea. Now half a year has passed, and not only has he failed to contain the sea bandits, he has even allowed them to flee and plunder hundreds of li into Linzi Commandery to cause chaos. What are Heifu and Ren Xiao doing?"

"Send men to deliver Our edict: this matter shall first be suppressed by the joint efforts of the three commanderies of Linzi, Jiaodong, and Jibei. Then issue the tiger tally, ordering Ren Xiao to take the naval forces and Heifu to lead the chariots, cavalry, and foot soldiers, advancing by both water and land. If it cannot be pacified within one month, then have the Tongwu Marquis Wang Ben lead the great army into Qi!"

The First Emperor also had an unspoken meaning: Heifu and the others had best exterminate these so-called "bandit gangs" before the Tongwu Marquis's great army arrived!

If they could not… then these governors and commandants could join the Governor and Commandant of Langya, who had been implicated in the assassination case, in handing over their official seals and entering prison to await judgment!

And the Jiaodong Governor Heifu would be dealt with alongside them, and moreover…

The First Emperor struck the table and declared: "That second son of his, Fubo, can also change his name!"

…

"Well, now we can't wash our hands of this either."

On the twentieth day of the fourth month, this urgent dispatch sent by eight-hundred-li express reached Heifu's hands. After reading it, Heifu shook his head and said:

"His Majesty is truly enraged. The people of Qi are going to suffer terribly. This suppression of the rebellion will likely cost many lives…"

Heifu shared Chen Ping's view that the court's governance was too harsh and ought to be somewhat relaxed. Although he had been utterly ruthless toward the various Tian lineages of Jiaodong, toward the common people, especially the most impoverished left-side alley dwellers, he had been exceedingly lenient. In seeking to pacify the chaos in the Eastern Sea, he had also hoped that thereafter, Jiaodong could rest and recover, properly developing its productive capacity. Once productive capacity rose, many problems would cease to be problems.

But he had never imagined that this rebellion would cause the First Emperor's antipathy toward the lands of Qi to surge so violently. It seemed the central government's pressure on Qi would be even heavier than before!

In the long run, this would be harmful rather than beneficial to Jiaodong's new policies, and it was also unfavorable for dividing the rebel forces…

Heifu could only feel a toothache coming on. This was the downside of history deviating from its original track: wanting to foresee everything like a prophet and seize every advantage? Impossible now. What he could do now was mostly adapt to circumstances as they arose.

But what made him even more uncomfortable was that, in suppressing this rebellion, he would also have to cooperate with the imbecile governor of Linzi Commandery.

A fearsome enemy is not terrifying; a pig of a teammate is the most terrifying. As could be seen from the Linzi Commandery Governor's attempt to shift the blame onto Jiaodong, that brat was not worth conspiring with.

Thinking thus, Heifu also asked Chen Ping: "Is there any new news from Linzi?"

Chen Ping reported: "My lord governor, there is none yet today."

The unrest had already passed the half-month mark. Following the fall of Qiancheng and Di County, the rebel army had also captured Le'an County north of the Ji River. The Tian brothers enjoyed very high renown in that area, and for a time, four or five counties north of the Ji River in Linzi Commandery had successively changed their banners. The army the Tian brothers had assembled from sea bandits, retainers, and wandering braves had already grown to a hundred chariots, several hundred cavalry, and ten thousand foot soldiers…

Such was the situation of the rebel forces. On the side of the Linzi government troops, the Governor of Linzi Commandery could no longer bear the blame for losing territory. He therefore split his seven thousand commandery soldiers into two groups: two thousand to defend Linzi, and the remaining five thousand, led by the Commandant, to advance into Bochang County, fifty li northwest of Linzi, to monitor movements along the Ji River. It appeared they intended to first hold the line south of the Ji River and wait for reinforcements from various regions to arrive before attacking…

"Not rashly charging across the Ji River to attack, and not pitting the few against the many — that is still a wise move."

Heifu had been a commandery governor for over a year, but he had not lost the fundamentals of marching and fighting that he had honed in the northwest back in the day. After scanning the map, he nodded slightly.

The longer this dragged on, the stronger the rebel forces would become. At any moment they could receive a response from the various Tian lineages, and with wandering braves constantly joining them, their numbers would only grow. Meanwhile, the Qin army, uncertain whether the people of Qi would switch sides, could only use garrison troops from outside to suppress the rebellion, and would also have to divert attention to guard against the locals.

Now that the First Emperor's edict had been issued, every commandery in Qi was to strictly guard against the various Tian lineages. Only in Jiaodong had the various Tian lineages already been removed. Before the court's great army could assemble, the Jiaodong troops had become the main force for suppressing the rebellion. Since the Emperor himself had designated it so, Heifu, as commandery governor, also had the opportunity to personally command the land forces — Ren Xiao specialized in naval warfare, and in Qi at present, the only one capable of commanding a large land army was Heifu.

"However…"

Heifu felt irritated just thinking of the Linzi Commandery Governor's face.

"I really don't want to go save him!"

…

In the last ten days of the fourth month, Heifu fed the horses and sharpened the weapons, leaving Chen Ping and others to hold the rear, and taking along Gong Ao and Cao Can, and even dragging Liu Ji into the army, he led a force of five thousand westward.

Just as they reached the border between the two commanderies, they heard new news coming from Linzi:

"The rebel army has marched south and intends to force a crossing of the Ji River to engage the Linzi commandery troops!"

"Ah!"

Gong Ao immediately cried out, "The Commandery Lord told us that forcing a crossing to attack is a great taboo of warfare. Those rebel bandits truly don't know how to fight. If Linzi struck while they were mid-crossing, wouldn't the bandits suffer a crushing defeat? Have we arrived too late?"

"No."

But Heifu, after reading the written report from another scout squad, furrowed his brow. "Stop worrying about the Tian brothers. What worries me most right now is, when we arrive, whose flag will be flying over the walls of Linzi — Qin's or Qi's!"

PS: Got home too late, did my best. Hitting eight thousand words today was impossible, unless I wrote random crap or copy-pasted the Records of the Grand Historian... Anyway, I'm frustrated and sorry. I'll push through a bit longer, try to hit the target from the 3rd to the 6th.

(End of chapter)