Chapter 848: Like Oxen and Horses, They Are Oxen and Horses

The land of Wa, Heijo-kyo — now it should be called the Kingdom of Yan and the city of Dongning.

The name Dongning was chosen by Murong Xinzhang. At a glance it bears some relation to Chang'an in the west, and it also signals Murong Xinzhang's intention to move the capital from Hanseong in Korea to Dongning in Chosen.

Murong Xinzhang did not yet know that his mother, Lady Sanniangzi Yannai, was about to come to the Kingdom of Yan. He was still busy trying to keep Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Yanjin from leaving.

There was no helping it — the Kingdom of Yan needed talent too badly. Although Murong Xinzhang had promulgated the Land Survey Law and the Land Rent Tax Law, which had won broad support in the capital region and in the nearby prefectures of Owari, Ise, and Mikawa,

in the more distant prefectures and counties, the common people could not read a single character and could not even speak the same language as their Great King. Their understanding of the benevolent policies issued by the court was extremely limited, and many of them, under the influence of local strongmen, even abandoned their fields and fled in all directions for fear of being killed.

And when he entered Dongning, Murong Xinzhang had killed every official of the Wa court from top to bottom, so he could now rely only on his own administrative system and could not borrow the original Wa system.

Therefore, relying on powerful men to carry out military administration was the most suitable choice at present.

The Kanto region especially — the Kanto Plain was still a wasteland.

Floods were frequent, seawater flowed backward, the soil was acidifying, and so on. It would require great effort from Murong Xinzhang to develop it.

Then in the two prefectures of Mutsu and Dewa, north of Kanto, which faced the Emishi people and the fierce commoners of the Kanto armed settlement corps, Murong Xinzhang was bound to be unable to attend to everything at once.

Moreover, Murong Xinzhang could not stay in Chosen and Horai for long. Korea was not very stable either, and he needed to go there from time to time to hold the fort. He even had to keep an eye on the situation in Lelang.

With so many complicated circumstances, even splitting Murong Xinzhang in half might not be enough, so he absolutely needed a few trustworthy, powerful men to share his burdens and solve his problems.

And in his Kingdom of Yan, those with this ability numbered only one and a half. Wang Jing counted as one; Xiang Xun could only count as half.

Of these, Wang Jing was already sixty-four years old. At such an advanced age, no one knew how many more years he could live. Throwing him into Mutsu and Dewa, with their extremely complicated situations — never mind whether Wang Jing was willing, even if he were willing, it would be like pushing a man into a fire pit. Unless there was truly no other way, this could not be done.

As for Xiang Xun, never mind that he was responsible for garrisoning Wonsan in Korea — even by ability alone, Murong Xinzhang would still be somewhat uneasy placing him in the two prefectures of Mutsu and Dewa.

Only Zhao Kuangyin, accomplished in both civil and military affairs and able to draw men to him. The month before last, when he was in Sendai, he shamelessly slaughtered twenty-one Emishi chieftains and absorbed several thousand Emishi warriors — proof enough that he was thick-skinned and black-hearted.

Only such a man could govern Mutsu and Dewa well and keep expanding northward.

Zhao Kuangyin sighed. Just from Murong Xinzhang's expression and the formation he had laid out, he knew that extracting himself from the Kingdom of Yan was most unlikely.

After all these years, this was the first time Zhao Kuangyin had seen a fawning look on this benefactor-brother's face.

One had to understand that this benefactor-brother of his had a mother who was the Emperor's cherished consort through hardship, and a maternal aunt who was the Empress. Although he was not the Emperor's own son, the Sage absolutely treated him better than his own flesh and blood.

At the same time, he had married the daughter of the later dynasty's Mingmiao Emperor, and among the warriors of Hedong and Daibei he was regarded as the leader of the next generation — on top of his own peerless command ability in both civil and military affairs.

One could say that his benefactor-brother Murong Xinzhang had soared above the ninth heaven his entire life. Never mind ordinary commoners — for many sons of meritorious officials, their final destination was merely Murong Xinzhang's starting point.

And now, this benefactor-brother who had given Zhao Kuangyin a second life was deliberately putting on a fawning manner. If Zhao Kuangyin still failed to take the hint, never mind going back to serve as a general or minister — the flood of public scorn alone would drown him.

Besides, Zhao Kuangyin himself could not get past the barrier in his own heart!

Murong Xinzhang clapped his hands, and a line of women dressed in Han-style straight-hemmed robes filed in like flowers.

Zhao Kuangyin was briefly distracted — not because these women were very beautiful, but because the straight-hemmed robes they wore were, to Zhao Kuangyin, somewhat unfamiliar.

It took him a good while to recall the origin of this kind of clothing.

The straight-hemmed robe was no longer very popular in the Central Plains now. Only in the beizi and in certain details of certain garments did traces of the straight-hemmed robe remain.

"Could this garment be a thing of the two Han dynasties? Why do the Wa people not wear Great Tang robes, but instead the straight-hemmed robes of the two Han?"

"Xianghai'er actually recognizes this as a straight-hemmed robe — you've done quite a bit of reading these years!" Murong Xinzhang first laughed at Zhao Kuangyin, then walked up to an obedient Wa girl, reached out and pinched her chin, displaying her lovely face before the eyes of Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Yanjin.

"These Wa people are cunning indeed. They deliberately dug the two Han straight-hemmed robes out of old papers precisely to wear less Tang clothing, and thereby begin slowly detaching themselves culturally from the Central Plains. Look here."

Murong Xinzhang pointed at the sleeves and hem of the straight-hemmed robe on this Wa girl and said:

"They have already begun modifying it in small ways, and they have even given the straight-hemmed robe a name — wafuku — to confuse people.

I imagine that in another few decades or a century, this two Han straight-hemmed robe will have become their own garment."

"Good heavens — truly a second Goguryeo! Their hearts deserve death!" Zhao Yanjin shouted in fury, brows knitted and eyes glaring.

His cultural level was a bit higher than Zhao Kuangyin's, and he immediately grasped the Wa people's sinister intent.

At his words, Zhao Kuangyin slowly savored the implication as well. He cupped his hands toward the empty air.

"The Great Man is truly a sage who appears once in five hundred years. Without his venerable self, how would we know that on these islands east of the sea, another Goguryeo is growing?

This place is far across mountains and seas, with high winds and fierce waves, even harder to conquer than the great marshes of Liaoxi that Goguryeo relied on. Several hundred years from now, it will be a great calamity for our descendants!"

The three men spoke of Wa in such grave terms both to praise Zhang Zhao's far-sightedness and to elevate their own achievements.

Destroying an ordinary kingdom — how could that compare to destroying a mortal threat like Goguryeo?

"Even with ten thousand petty schemes, what of it? The superior kingdom has its heavenly soldiers and divine might, and will send down thunderous wrath to set things right."

Softly, in standard Tang pronunciation, with a trace of sorrow, the words came from the mouth of this fair-faced Wa girl.

This girl was Yuki, daughter of the Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Motokata, thirteen years old, able to speak fluent Tang pronunciation.

Although Wa now had the impetus to begin cutting itself off from the Great Tang and forming its own distinctive character, among the cultural classes high and low, Great Tang devotees still made up the great majority of the entire class, so not everyone liked this localization.

Had it been fifty years later or so, waka and kana would have begun to become mainstream — but not yet.

And moreover, in the Heijo-kyo massacre, never mind the localization faction within Wa's cultural class — even the staunch pro-Tang faction was slaughtered to the last person. The problem was very quickly solved.

What remained now were roughly thirty thousand of these Wa women.

They were not only precious reproductive resources, but every one of them understood Tang pronunciation, could write some Chinese characters, and were also locals. One could say these women were the perfect match for the warriors under Murong Xinzhang.

Like this Yuki — ask her whether she is pained that her father and brothers were killed, and she would certainly be very pained, but life must go on.

And unlike women of later ages, who possess greater personal autonomy and the ability to survive independently, and are therefore more independent in character and personhood,

in this era, women were entirely appendages of men.

They almost never possessed independent personal autonomy, nor did they have the ability to survive independently.

For an appendage, avenging one's family, avenging one's kin, or choosing a heroic death for one's country when the state is destroyed and the family ruined — such cases were very, very rare.

Because in this era, that right belonged to men. Only men were qualified to swear vengeance or die heroically for their country. Only men were qualified to take part in this contest between males.

At this time, women did not have that qualification.

And even among men, the majority chose to cling to life in disgrace — to say nothing of women.

And this was Wa, moreover. Although they had imported Great Tang culture, in essence they were still in the stage of a slave society.

Extreme worship of the strong, and ignorance of propriety and virtue, were extremely common. Women under the power of the strong being snatched back and forth was nothing but an everyday, commonplace occurrence.

Thus, Murong Xinzhang now no longer killed many people. Without those so-called men of culture hopping up and down, the remaining Wa people were docile beyond measure.

Hearing Youji say this, Murong Xinzhang took her hand and led her before Zhao Kuangyin. "You're a lucky brat. Youji just turned thirteen and hasn't yet undergone her coming-of-age ceremony.

Let her bear you a few more sons in the future. With an estate that large, too few heirs won't do."

Zhao Kuangyin took a serious look. Youji was indeed very beautiful.

And in the present-day Wa country, finding a few beauties among a crowd of noblewomen was truly no easy task.

This isn't to say Wa women are all ugly, but rather that the current Wa feminine aesthetic is utterly deranged — it prizes hair hanging to the ground, brows like distant ink-wash hills, powdered and jade-carved faces, and blackened teeth.

Hmm, sounds like, apart from the blackened teeth, the rest are all fine-sounding phrases, right?

Bullshit!

"Hair hanging to the ground" isn't elegant description — it's literal. In the Heian period, a noble Wa woman's hair had to be grown to roughly the length of her body, long enough to trail on the ground when she stood.

"Brows like distant ink-wash hills" refers to their fashionable silkworm-brow makeup. Specifically, they pluck out their original eyebrows completely, then paint two fake eyebrows above where the real ones used to be.

The result is that the original brows are barely visible but quite slender and long, while the fake brows are conspicuous — thick, black, and short — producing a bizarre four-eyebrow look.

"Powdered and jade-carved" means slathering lead powder onto the face with reckless abandon, until one is whiter than a corpse — as white as the putty used to plaster walls in later ages.

The blackened teeth are the most outrageous part. After a Wa noblewoman comes of age, the very first act of her coming-of-age ceremony is to dye her teeth completely black.

Imagine it: a Wa noblewoman walks toward you. She's only one meter fifty tall, but her hair is over one meter sixty, dragging along the ground behind her — or held in her hand like a snake.

And on her face is a thick layer of lead powder, whiter than a corpse, with four eyebrows — two faint, two bold — and cheeks painted with freakish paper-doll rouge. She smiles faintly at you, revealing pitch-black teeth.

Ugh... In any case, the first time Murong Xinzhang saw one, he was so revolted he nearly drew his blade in the street and stabbed every Wa woman before him to death.

Even the herdsmen of the steppe couldn't bear the sight — which is why, when Dongning (Nara) fell, miraculously few rapes occurred.

The Wa people used their deranged aesthetic to protect their own women.

So that was why Murong Xinzhang said Zhao Kuangyin was lucky — because Youji was already thirteen, already an adult, and adulthood meant her teeth would be dyed black.

The lead-powder face, the plucked brows, the overlong hair — all of that could be reversed. But once teeth were dyed black, there was no undoing it. As it happened, because of the war, she never got to undergo the ceremony.

Hearing Murong Xinzhang say this, and seeing him bring out a top-grade Wa woman he hadn't even been willing to enjoy himself,

Zhao Kuangyin first rose to his feet, then — like a mountain of gold toppling, a pillar of jade falling — crashed to his knees before Murong Xinzhang with a boom, and spoke in a voice thick with emotion:

"I, Zhao Kuangyin, have risen this far only through your constant support, Elder Brother. Otherwise I would long since have died in the chaos of these times. Now that you show me such regard again, this Fragrant Child is willing to carry the jade dragon for my gracious brother and subdue Sendai."

The great stone in Murong Xinzhang's heart finally fell to the ground. He took Zhao Kuangyin's hand and laughed heartily.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yanjin had already begun picking and choosing without the slightest hesitation among a crowd of twelve- and thirteen-year-old Wa girls.

Before long, Zhao Yanjin had selected two stunning beauties and contentedly pulled them over to his seat to snuggle.

Murong Xinzhang shot his sworn younger brother a disdainful look. "Sixth Brother, aren't you afraid Fourth Sister will scratch your face to ribbons when you get back?"

Zhao Yanjin chuckled, then looked at Murong Xinzhang with mock grievance. "No fun. With Big Brother Zhao you bare your very heart, but when it comes to me, your own younger brother, you have to trot out Fourth Sister's name just because I picked two Wa girls."

Zhao Yanjin had married Murong Xinzhang's cousin Fourth Sister, a woman of ferocious temper who kept Zhao Yanjin on a very tight leash at home — which was exactly why Zhao Yanjin had developed the habit of sneaking tastes whenever he was away.

"If you were willing to stay in Yan as a vassal lord, I'd bare my heart to you just the same," Murong Xinzhang snorted coldly.

Zhao Yanjin, as the Emperor's adopted sixth son, was a man accomplished in both letters and arms, a talent Sage Zhang was deliberately cultivating — and a whole crowd of the Zhao family was waiting for him to make his name. There was simply no way he could remain in Yan.

Even if Murong Xinzhang kept him now, he could hold him for three to five years at most. Once the situation in the Penglai Province stabilized, Zhao Yanjin was certain to leave.

So baring his heart to Zhao Yanjin would be less useful than simply writing to the Sage himself and asking him to permit Zhao Yanjin to stay a while longer.

Seeing there was nothing more to be gained from Murong Xinzhang, Zhao Yanjin immediately laughed it off. "Elder Brother, say what you will, but you'll have to put in a word with Fourth Sister about these two little beauties — I'm taking them back with me."

Murong Xinzhang's nose twitched with fury at his shamelessness, but he could only nod in helpless amusement. "Rest easy. I'll write to Fourth Sister myself.

But you must handle the Penglai affairs properly for your elder brother. You can't just manage Dazaifu alone — the various prefectures of the rest of Penglai Island (Kyushu) and of Fangzhang Island (Shikoku) must all be led by you."

While Murong Xinzhang up above was recruiting great talent, the soldiers below had begun selecting wealth of their own.

In the eastern market of Dongning City, one thousand one hundred and thirty-seven estate owners from Chaori and Penglai stood by the roadside, each holding up a wooden board.

On the boards were written the size of their estates, their populations, locations, per-mu yields, and other information. Like cattle and horses, they stood in the eastern market awaiting selection.

Only if chosen by an inspection commissioner could they earn the right to return home from Dongning City and keep their family estates.

So each of them truly behaved like livestock. The moment they spotted a red-robed inspection commissioner coming to pick people, they immediately began hawking themselves with all their might.

And if they were merely like cattle and horses, then the tens of thousands of Wa women in the western market — those who understood Tang speech and could barely read and write Chinese characters — were truly no different from cattle and horses.

These Wa women had survived only by luck under the butcher's blade, and were therefore extremely obedient.

The only drawback was that most of them had already come of age. Any who had come from a household of even slightly higher status had already had their teeth dyed black, and it was very hard to restore them.

So when the inspection commissioners came here to pick people, the first thing they did was pry open the women's mouths to see how black the teeth were. Whiter teeth made a woman hot merchandise; fully blackened teeth meant she was hard to select.

Hai Sanxia strutted about in his purple robe, thoroughly pleased with himself. Though at the Battle of Osaka he had despaired, thinking there was little merit to be won fighting the Wa, the Wa country had a full three million people — far wealthier than Korea.

So even though the Wa couldn't take a beating, Great King Murong had still set a high reward for them.

The purple-robed Hai Sanxia was no mere inspection commissioner now. At the Battle of Morinomiya, he had slain the son of the Wa commander-in-chief Tachibana no Toyasu in the line of battle, and together with five comrades had scattered an entire Wa brigade (one hundred men).

After that, he had fought fiercely at the Battle of Sendai and had been selected to take part in the massacre of twenty-one Emishi chieftains.

Each of these was a deed of great merit, and so Hai Sanxia had donned the purple robe that marked a count. From now on he was no longer Hai Kaka, but Count Hai.

Only the details of the enfeoffment remained to be settled. Hai Sanxia had already been confirmed for enfeoffment in Tosa Province, and in all of Tosa there was only one baron besides Hai Sanxia.

So Hai Sanxia's territory roughly corresponded to the Tosa Domain of the Tokugawa shogunate era.

In the shogunate era, the Tosa Domain had a kokudaka of over two hundred thousand koku, and Tosa was also relatively developed at this time.

Ki no Tsurayuki, the master of waka who escaped the Nara massacre only by dying early, had written the famous Tosa Diary of Japanese history.

So even at this time, Tosa Province had a kokudaka of one hundred twenty or thirty thousand koku and a population approaching one hundred thousand — a fairly wealthy fief.

Meanwhile, Hai Erxie, at Hai Sanxia's side, was as steady as ever in his role as the super-unlucky one among the three brothers.

At the Battle of Osaka, during the siege of Minamoto no Tsunemoto and his son, he had been shot in the thigh by Wa imperial guards armed with bamboo crossbows. He'd had to fight the Wa with a crippled leg, and in the end was knocked unconscious by an enemy iron hammer. By the time he woke again, the battle was already over.

In the subsequent Battle of Morinomiya and Battle of Nara, Hai Erxie hadn't recovered enough to get a chance to take the field, so he earned little merit.

Fortunately, he had performed brilliantly in the naval battle that routed Ono no Yoshifuru, and in the end barely managed to earn a red robe and the post of inspection commissioner.

It was said he was to be enfeoffed in Mino Province, with ten manors under him, an income of two or three thousand koku, and four or five thousand people under his rule.

Though still far behind his elder brother, the viscount Hai Dayu, Hai Kaka, who had remained in Korea, it was still a great leap upward in class.

Today the two brothers went first to the West Market and then to the East Market, purely to pick out property.

So although he was somewhat envious that his younger brother had become a count, a joy he could not suppress still surfaced on Hai Erxie's face.

(End of Chapter)

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