CH 128

In the end, Ge Hong’s Daoist temple ended up on an out-of-the-way mountaintop on the west side of the city. Two small, hastily constructed buildings served as temporary shelters while the rest of it was built up over time. It couldn’t be helped. It wasn’t easy finding a spacious, sparsely populated place for a highly classified gunpowder research facility, remote enough that no one would hear its commotion.

Ge Hong had no complaints. He moved right into the building right after construction and began his all-important research. And, Liang Feng transferred three children, intelligent, learned in maths, and literate, from the Liang Estate to Ge Hong’s Daoist temple. Truth be told, Liang Feng would’ve tried to shove people at him even if Ge Hong hadn’t asked for any. Wouldn’t it be such a waste if, after all he’d done to spur someone to conduct chemical research, there were no students of the subject?  

On the new grand administrator’s sudden and fantastical notion of building a Daoist temple, most nobles and officials had no opinion. It wasn’t uncommon to have a fascination with alchemy. Many even built alchemy chambers in their homes and practiced it themselves. In the first place, it was His Excellency’s fancy for Buddhism that they found objectionable. Him taking up the hobby of pill-making was an improvement; why, now they actually had more conversation topics to talk about. Who would make a fuss over a small little Daoist temple?

Besides, there were more important things weighing on their minds.

AD

“Your Excellency, two more noble families are gathering their belongings with the intent to evacuate Bing Province.” Cui Ji brought the news to him immediately after receiving it.

Unlike the other commandery officials, he was a native of Lu City and was familiar with the local aristocrats. A number of noble households had packed up and moved out of Shangdang in the course of the last month. The reason being no other than the steady proliferation of the news of Liu Yuan and the Five Xiongnu Division’s mounting rebellion. No one wanted to bet on the chance that Bing Province would remain safe and unharmed. They all had a few relatives, a couple of villas; they weren’t going to wait for war to come knocking on their door. 

“Let them leave, if that is their wish.” Liang Feng didn’t care. It was much better that the faint of heart left early now than in a panic during pitched battle, disrupting morale.

Cui Ji nodded, hesitated, then said, “The word from Lishi is that Liu Yuanhai wants to appoint my grandfather as Censor-in-Chief. My grandfather staunchly refused.”

That Cui Ji would tell him this was proof that the Cui family was still on his side. Liang Feng straightened up, “Mister Cui is moral and righteous. There can be no tolerance for Liu Yuan’s defiance against the court.”

It must be known, Censor-in-Chief was one of the Three Ducal Ministers. Liu Yuan’s attempt to confer his teacher a place among the Three Ducal Ministers could only mean that he was preparing to declare himself Emperor!

Cui Ji sighed, “That is not true of all nobles in Bing Province.”

This was their current situation: after a decade of internecine conflict and with no end in sight to the infighting in the imperial court, seditious self-proclaimed kings were cropping up all across the land and the regional aristocracy was beginning to get ideas. Choosing the right lord in a time of chaos was a matter of a household’s future prosperity and decline. To say nothing of the lowborn, even a few of the prestigious houses were raring at the bit. 

For instance, Wei Cao of Dai Commandery, who was promoted to Yamen General by the Zhengbei General, Wei Guan, later defected to the nearby Tuoba clan of the Xianbei tribe after they grew in strength. Such was the influence of the Xianbei, who were merely subjects of the Jin, and the Xiongnu were yet more powerful. In chaotic times, there was never any shortage of people who sought to climb the ladder! 

AD

Liang Feng frowned. That kind of behavior, which would have one labeled a “race traitor” in modern times, was extremely common here, if only because it’d become habitual to the aristocracy in the century or so since the end of Eastern Han, whence warring factions struggled for supremacy. Although the Sima clan achieved unification, they were unable to consolidate control in the central government. On the contrary, they went to great lengths to please and placate the “backwater emperors,” consequently, eminent families grew like weeds and countless fiefdoms were created. It was inevitable that, under these circumstances, familial interest outweighed national interest. 

Ccv rlcmf ybat atf Wljcyfl jcv Wlbcuce tjv yffc ugjcafv boolmlji jcv cbyif alaifr ys atf mbega, atfgf kjr cb vloofgfcmf yfakffc ulnlcu jiifuljcmf ab atfw bg ab atbrf qgbnlcmlji ubnfgcbgr bg mbwwjcvfgs qglcmfr. Ktf ibkybgc frqfmljiis, reoobmjalcu ecvfg atf clcf-gjcx rsrafw, kbeivc’a ifa atf bqqbgaeclas ab glrf qjrr atfw ys.

It was practically dangerous as having wolves to one’s front and tigers at one’s back.

“Under the Duke of Dongying’s watch, those who cleave to the Xiongnu will be in the minority,” Liang Feng finally said.

The world was descending into lawlessness, true, but the imperial court was still the legitimate authority. Political speculators had to weigh their options carefully before casting their lots. In the short term, the situation in Bing Province shouldn’t degenerate too badly. 

“As you say, Your Excellency. However, you should court the aristocracy as well, Your Excellency, before they might be used against you,” Cui Ji advised.

In his opinion, this grand administrator was almost perfect in every respect. After taking office, he’d overseen civil affairs, assigned responsibilities to those deserving of them, and even informed the counties to raise their alert level and stockpile grain in preparation for war, leaving nothing unaccounted for in his considerations. Except for one thing: his disregard towards the nobles.

He could understand his decision not to use noble descendants due to consideration of the commandery government’s security, but he couldn’t neglect the usual banquets, scholar’s gatherings, or social outings. There hadn’t even been a banquet held at the Grand Administrator’s Mansion during Chongyang Festival on the ninth of the ninth month, which was just too improper. 

Liang Feng, of course, understood what Cui Ji meant. China’s drinking culture was far downstream from a distant source. How were people to closen ties if they didn’t often gather to eat and drink? Considering what dire straits Shangdang Commandery was in though, he truly wasn’t in the mood to drink and make merry.

He thought for a moment and finally said, “Then I’ll host a banquet at Sushui Pavilion the day after tomorrow. As the new grand administrator, it’s about time I met the aristocrats of Lu City.”

Funnily enough, after being defeated by Sima Teng and fleeing back to Luoyang with the Emperor, Sima Ying didn’t even rebuke him; on the contrary, he promoted him from Ningbei General to Anbei General, obviously in hopes that he would defend Bing Province. Thanks to that, Liang Feng’s position and increased household limit were swiftly approved. He was now officially a grand administrator, formally appointed by the imperial court.

Cui Ji breathed in relief at his answer. He had no concerns about the new grand administrator’s competence, only about his unorthodox personnel utilization and the offense he might have given the nobles. Emperor Wu of Wei, for all his unyielding adamance, had to make concessions to the nobles as well. Enforcing meritocracy too strictly would only cause problems if the nobles coiled up here took issue with it. Keeping the balance was always a key political objective. 

The only reason he could do as he pleased was because Shangdang had recently seen conflict and wasn’t home to very many eminent families. If this were Taiyuan, the grand administrator’s orders would likely never leave his hall.

Cui Ji was very thorough in his considerations, but the Sushui banquet never occurred, all thanks to a military report that made its way to Liang Feng’s desk.

Five thousand Xiongnu cavalry were heading straight to Lu City!

“Enemy forces have passed Tunliu already. They will arrive at Lu City tomorrow,” Liang Feng said grimly to the person beside him. 

The enemy was just too fast. A few thousand light cavalry, carrying their own supplies, could instantly penetrate deep into their backline. If Liang Feng hadn’t made preparations beforehand, the sentry station in Tunliu buying them a day, they mightn’t even have time to close the city gates when the enemy came knocking, much less mount a defense.

And so what if they had enemy intel now? They didn’t have time to summon reinforcements from Huguan. The soldiers in the city were barely enough to hold the wall!

“Why would Liu Yuanhai attack Lu City first?” Duan Qin was befuddled, his brows were tightly furrowed. Why would five thousand elite troops attack Shangdang at this critical time when the Xiongnu’s Great Chanyu was preparing to declare himself emperor? Even if they caught the Duke of Dongying by surprise, he’d eventually send his forces to intercept them. What was the point of sending them out like this?

Or were they just going to raid and loot Shangdang to make trouble for the Duke of Dongying? 

“Perhaps Liu Yuanhai thinks the unrest in Lu City not long ago left openings he could take advantage of.” Cui Ji had a better idea than Duan Qin of what they might’ve been thinking. Honestly, aside from His Excellency Liang, there wasn’t anyone who could turn Lu City into an ironclad monolith within the span of a single month.

“Regardless, Lu City and its environs must not be lost!” Liang Feng said coolly, “Notify all counties to shut their gates and resist enemy forces, at once. A mere few thousand cavalry won’t be able to quickly take a fortified city.”

Perhaps he’d have reason to worry if the enemy was twenty thousand strong, but they were dreaming if they thought they could conquer Lu City with just a few thousand!

“I could transfer troops from Huguan….” Yi Yan couldn’t help saying. 

“No! General Linghu must defend Huguan; he cannot carelessly engage in battle outside the city!” These weren’t the Liang Estate’s well-trained soldiers — as much as Liang Feng trusted Yi Yan, he couldn’t let him bring a rabble of Jin troops into battle against the Xiongnu.

If Huguan fell, then Lu City would be in true danger.

Yi Yan gritted his teeth. He knew as well that they couldn’t depend on Linghu Kuang’s troops. But were they really going to just sit back and let the enemy attack the city? 

“Don’t panic. Let’s see what the enemy’s here for first, and make preparations after.” 

At Liang Feng’s order, Lu City went on high alert.

※

“General, Lu City has gone under lockdown!” Was the latest update the scouts brought back.

The one leading five thousand cavalries to Shangdang this time was Liu Xuan’s trusted subordinate, Liu Wei. He was excellent at archery and horseback riding, calm and steady, and more importantly, he had some sense of tactics. That was the reason Liu Xuan had entrusted him with the task of assaulting Lu City.  

Yet, the moment they entered Shangdang, Liu Wei felt that something was off. Every city they’d passed along the way had been on guard and ready to fight. Not only weren’t there any caravans on the road, but there were very few peasants as well. There wasn’t even anything for them to loot under these circumstances. Liu Wei gave up on the other settlements and directly made for Lu City.

Thus, he wasn’t surprised at all to hear that Lu City’s gates were closed. That Liang boy was clearly planning on turtling up, perhaps to wait for the Duke of Dongying’s reinforcements. 

He sure wasn’t going to let him have his way.

“Two thousand cavalry will split off and lie in ambush on the path between Lu City and Huguan. Send a message into Lu City, say we only want to go through Bai Pass to aid the Prince of Chengdu at Luoyang. If the grand administrator doesn’t grant us passage, then I will attack Lu City!” 

The news was sure to cause a disturbance in Lu City, causing more fright and panic among the weak Jin people once he began his attack. They would have to summon forces from Huguan if they wanted to defend Lu City. Once his troops ambushed and annihilated the reinforcements and occupied Huguan, his mission would be half-complete. The rest would come easy then. 

He wanted to see just what kind of person had killed his brothers-in-arms!

The author has something to say:

It could be said that Wei Cao was instrumental in helping the Tuoba clan establish their empire. If he hadn’t been there to assume the office of Vice Grand Councilor, manage the kingdom’s political affairs, and placate the Jin people, perhaps the Xianbei Tuoba clan would disappear in history like the Xianbei Duan clan. Later, his was the first of the biographies in the Book of Wei. 

That’s why it’s said that in those times, the barbarians controlled the military, the Han oversaw the government. Whoever among the five barbarians had the best policies, whoever would sit firmly on the throne.