The Ten Eunuchs' Rebellion (2)
Gongsun Zan believed that for a powerful army to function effectively, a mission-type command system had to work properly. In other words, every single soldier needed at least the minimum level of knowledge to interpret and carry out orders on their own. Therefore, in addition to basic military training, he made sure his troops learned the characters commonly used within the army. Soldiers who had volunteered for the pay could receive an education that, by the standards of this era, barely qualified them as intellectuals.
The military salary was quite generous, and serving under Colonel Gongsun—who had broken through an army of a million—was considered a tremendous honor. On top of that, the opportunity to learn to read and write was itself a massive chance in this period. Competition to join the military was fierce, and naturally, the quality of the soldiers continued to rise.
—If you’ve only got a good head, go to the research institute. If you’ve only got a strong body, become a farmer or craftsman. If you’re sharp with numbers, become a merchant. If you’re good at all three, become a soldier.
Taking this saying—whose originator no one knew—as their motto, Liaodong had developed over the years into a city of iron, a city of salt, a city of soldiers, and was now becoming a city of music and theater as well.
The research institute had countless projects, but its top priority was always improving the quality of life for the common people. They placed the greatest importance on creating leisure time for each individual through improved plows, hoes, threshers, and other tools.
Of course, most farmers chose to spend their spare time not on self-improvement but on the act of proliferating humanity upon this land, finding pleasure in gambling for cheap thrills or in entertainment. It was only natural; if they had been smart to begin with, they wouldn’t have remained farmers but would have chosen other professions.
The scholar-officials were horrified, but since Gongsun Zan—whom they now half-praised as emperor-level—had ordered them to leave the people alone and simply observe what they did, the researchers no longer clicked their tongues at the shortsighted masses as they once had. Instead, they devoted a section of their bookshelves to recording the culture of the common people.
Popular culture in this period mainly consisted of music and theater that didn’t require expensive paper. Even during this busy summer farming season, the sound of unaccompanied singing and makeshift stages for plays could still be found everywhere.
The song that sounded somehow familiar had begun with soldiers humming the tune Gongsun Zan would sing while maintaining his weapons. Because it was easy to sing along to and its lyrics contained the simple emotion of love, it spread across all of Liaodong.
Since Gongsun Zan was originally a soldier and had never particularly focused on cultivating refined tastes, the only culture he knew was popular culture. The only songs he knew were a few idol songs the soldiers listened to and a few trot songs his administrative officer used to play. So perhaps it was inevitable.
The song spread, plays based on that song were created, and then new songs and plays derived from those plays emerged… Hardworking salt field laborers sang to forget their pain. Farmers sang to lift their spirits while pulling weeds. Merchants wandering the seas sang to overcome the fear of the unknown.
In doing so, they asked the “smart gentlemen” to teach them the words they didn’t know, and bit by bit, their knowledge increased. And among those smart gentlemen, the “gentlemen who spoke interestingly” explained knowledge to the surrounding farmers through entertaining stories with vivid examples, fulfilling the Confucian duty to enlighten the people. It was only natural that smiles appeared on their faces.
It was no different from fulfilling the highest human desire—self-actualization.
A city where no one went hungry and the sound of singing could be heard all day long—that was Liaodong.
Across the sea, Ji Province and Qing Province were still writhing in pain as the Yellow Turban Rebellion had yet to be fully suppressed. But in the land of the great Xuanyuan, in Liaodong, it was merely someone else’s story.
The scholars in Luoyang were too busy fighting each other, split between the Clean Stream faction and the Dirty Stream faction, to notice that the coastal regions of Ji and Qing Provinces were emptying out. Meanwhile, the number of people escaping that hellish land by borrowing passage on Liaodong merchants’ ships was steadily increasing.
In this era, abandoning one’s home and leaving for another place was considered unthinkable. But then again, was this really an era where anything made sense?
There had always been gamblers willing to risk crossing the sea rather than starve to death in their homeland. Starting with the boatmen of Ji and Qing Provinces, people from the coastal regions began disappearing one by one.
Eventually, Liaodong reached the point of saturation. Those who left their lands too late gathered to live in the nearby counties of Xuantu and Changli.
The rumor that the northern nomads did not touch the people of You Province had already spread across the continent. In reality, the Wuhuan did not plunder even those under the influence of the great elder, Gongsun Zan.
Inspector of Ji Province Han Fu and Inspector of Qing Province Qiao Mao only learned of this fact several months later, after receiving reports from the tax collectors who had gone out to gather revenue.
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In recent days, among the flood of petitions coming from both eunuchs and civil officials, an unusually high number of petitions from the eunuch side were going missing. Through his informants, the leader of the Ten Eunuchs, Zhang Rang, informed Empress Dowager He of this fact.
Both the consort clan of Empress Dowager He and the eunuchs of the Ten Attendants could only wield power under the emperor’s protection. Since she did not want to see the power of the Ten Eunuchs weaken, Empress Dowager He summoned Yuan Shao and questioned him.
Yuan Shao quietly met Empress Dowager He’s gaze. His expression still wore that ever-polite smile, yet she felt a slight chill.
Yuan Shao’s smile remained exactly the same as always.
The words sounded good. It was true that the Ten Eunuchs were gnawing away at the Han Dynasty’s spine. It was also true that the warlord sprouts nurtured through the Yellow Turban Rebellion had grown tall enough to tilt the scales of power.
The Clean Stream faction carried the underdog narrative of having been suppressed by the previous two emperors simply for speaking the truth, and they were scholars well-versed in ideological agitation. As a result, they enjoyed high public support.
However, no matter how pure they appeared on the surface, no matter how much they were treated like kings in the provinces, the consort clan could not expel the Ten Eunuchs. It would be like cutting off one’s own hands and feet. It would be the foolish act of handing the imperial family’s rights over to the local powerful clans.
Even though she knew it was a foolish act, Empress Dowager He chose to cut off her own limbs. At least her brother He Jin held military authority over the entire Han Empire, but his left arm was held by Yuan Shao’s half-brother Yuan Shu, and his right arm and designated successor position were held by Yuan Shao’s childhood friend, Cao Cao.
Only a few years had passed since the Yellow Turban Rebellion was quelled, yet the balance of power had already tilted decisively. She had thought the royal authority still remained, but that had been her delusion.
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Dong Zhuo was being held in an interrogation room, but it was originally a building used as a guest quarters just a few days earlier. Naturally, no one prevented his associates from visiting him. His strategist and son-in-law, Li Ru, visited him every day to deliver various pieces of information from Luoyang.