Commander of Zhao
As I stepped into the administrative hall, a heavy atmosphere closed over the chamber. The effort to keep me in check felt thicker than before, and fear had seeped into the underside of it. My eldest brother, Yuan Tan, still nursed his hostility, yet he could no longer lay it bare as openly as he once had. I offered the officials a proper salute and took my seat.
"You've had a hard time of it."
My second brother, Yuan Xi, sat down beside me and offered the encouragement in a mild voice.
"Thank you."
"I support the choice you made in Yiyang County. Only, if the matter tangles, you'll have to bear the whole of it yourself. That's what worries me."
"I set it in motion, so I ought to answer for it. I am Acting Sima as well."
"True enough. You've grown so quickly."
"I hope you'll help me a great deal from here on, Elder Brother."
"Hurry and grow into a pillar of the Jizhou Inspectorate. This brother of yours wants to step back and rest. Someday I'd like to wander the famous landscapes and take my ease in a life of leisure."
Yuan Xi gave my back a light pat and returned to his own place.
It would have been a comfort to have him at my side, but he had no hunger for power. Had Yuan Shao not summoned him by force, he would likely never have set foot in the hall at all.
When Yuan Shao entered the administrative hall, the officials rose as one and offered a respectful salute. Only after he had taken the seat of honor did they sit again.
"The matter before us today is the handling of the Heishan Bandits in Yiyang County."
Feng Ji announced the opening of the council.
With Yuan Shao's leave I rose and set out the policy of conciliation.
"If we divide the untilled fields and wasteland of Yiyang County and settle the Heishan Bandits upon them, the tax yield will grow over the long term. Cull the most violent among them and raise them into units, and I am confident they will help us hold off enemies from without."
"Should they take root smoothly as farmers, the other Heishan bands still lingering in the Taihang Mountains will be shaken as well. We ought not simply crush them all. First we must extend a hand. Those who submit, we take in as subjects, just as in Yiyang County. Only those who refuse should be put to the sword."
"Feeding them at once will take no small sum."
Xun Chen, Colonel of Agriculture, offered the point in a calm voice.
"Colonel Xun's observation is sound. Until they are settled, a vast expenditure cannot be avoided. But once they begin to grow grain and pay their taxes, I am confident they will help fill the granaries of the Jizhou Inspectorate."
"They will surely raise a disturbance. Have you a means of keeping them in hand?"
Registrar Xin Ping asked.
"I am prepared for several years of pain. The most violent will be culled and formed into regular units, and the less violent organized as a peacekeeping force to hold the interior of Yiyang County. At their head, I mean to appoint men who came from the Heishan Bandits themselves."
"And you would trust men of bandit stock?"
"I will answer for them."
I gave no ground. In the administrative hall, a man had to endure the pressure and show that he would take the responsibility. Yield so much as a single step, and they would mark his limit at once.
"My lord. While we are about it, why not entrust Acting Sima Yuan with full authority?"
At Military Supervisor Ju Shou's proposal, Yuan Shao asked in return.
"You mean to place both power and responsibility in his hands."
"Yes. It is not right to demand responsibility where no authority has been given. Receiving the Heishan Bandits' surrender is a great merit, but reforming them so that they become a benefit to Jizhou belongs to the realm of governance. This affair will be the proving ground on which we test Acting Sima Yuan's capacity."
Yuan Shao considered for a moment, then turned his gaze on me.
"Can you bear it? Answer with care. If a revolt breaks out in Yiyang County and deals the Jizhou Inspectorate a heavy blow, you will have to answer for it. You would lay down the post of Acting Sima, of course, and a price beyond even that..."
He could not finish. His mouth closed, and the fear that his son's spirit might break was written plainly across his face. For me, though, it was precisely what I had wanted.
"Entrust it to me. I will make certain it becomes a benefit to Jizhou. If I fail, I will bear the responsibility that follows, in full."
"Very well."
Yuan Shao nodded and turned to Xu You, the Chizhong Zongshi who oversaw appointments.
"What is your view?"
"It would be best to reclaim the Acting Sima's seal granted to Sima Yuan and appoint him Commander of Yiyang, giving him both the civil authority and the military command of Yiyang County. Only authority of that order can be called true power."
"My lord."
Ju Shou stepped forward again.
"Yiyang County alone will not suffice. Taken together, the Heishan bands number more than sixty thousand. To feed them for at least a year, until they settle, we would have to pour out an enormous store of wealth and grain, and the taxes of barren Yiyang will not come close."
"Be bold, and entrust him with the whole of Zhaojun. Raise his post to Commander-in-Chief of Zhao, and station the troops he already commands just as they are, so that he can prepare against revolt. Dispatch Wenxue Zongshi Min Chun to assist with the administration, and have the Administrator of Zhaojun support the Commander of Zhao's office with supplies from behind. Only if we place the hilt in his hand will there be no murmur later, when we demand the responsibility in full should he fail."
When Ju Shou swept the board so wide, the officials' eyes went round. No one doubted my ability, yet most held that naming a Commander-in-Chief of Zhao and handing over an entire commandery was too much.
"This goes too far. To place both a commandery's civil authority and its military power in hands so young—!"
When Yuan Tan objected, Tian Feng cut him off coldly.
"Which is precisely the point, is it not—to grant real authority, and then demand the responsibility in full? If he fails this time, Acting Sima Yuan must lay down every office and keep to his place. This is less a reward than a double-edged sword held at his throat. Acting Sima Yuan's shoulders will not be light."
"Enough."
Yuan Shao lifted a hand and cut the lengthening quarrel short.
"In my own heart, I do not wish to set the heavy seat of Commander-in-Chief of Zhao upon Acting Sima Yuan. The weight he would have to bear is too great. So I ask again. Acting Sima Yuan—can you truly see it through?"
"Yes, my lord. Entrust it to me."
"If you fail, the Jizhou Inspectorate suffers a heavy blow. You may never be able to take office again, and may have to withdraw for the rest of your life. Think carefully, and then answer."
A stir ran through the hall. As the authority had grown, so had the shackles of responsibility grown grave, and now the officials looked at me with something like pity for the harshness of the terms. It was the course I had wanted, yet I did not open my mouth at once. I had read my father's intent.
Pile the power of Zhaojun onto me immediately after the purge of Guo Tu, and Yuan Tan's supporters will rise in protest. So Father is playing an extreme hand—granting the authority, but binding it to lifelong exclusion from office. I must succeed in plain sight, so that his judgment is proved right. I have no choice but to succeed.
Yuan Tan held his tongue as well. These were terms on which a single failure could end a political life. He seemed to be measuring whether he himself could accept so poisoned a proposal, and, finding that he had not the confidence, he shook his head.
I rose and answered, courteous, yet in a voice sure of itself.
"If you fail, your political life is finished. Think well."
"I will bear any price."
Unruffled, I drove the words home like a wedge.
Yuan Shao nodded and looked around at the officials.
"Does anyone think otherwise?"
"The responsibility he must shoulder is far too heavy for the authority he has been given. Lifelong exclusion from office strikes me as a harsh measure."
Sima Wu Yi stepped forward to voice his concern.
"No. When the authority placed in a man's hands is great, the weight of the responsibility he bears must be great as well. Is there any further view?"
No one spoke. Through the hall ran a current of men content to wait and see how it ended.
Yuan Shao fixed his gaze on me and gave the command.
"Yuan Shang. I reclaim the seal of Acting Sima and formally appoint you Commander-in-Chief of Zhao in Jizhou. Establish the headquarters of that command in Yiyang City, and govern it as you see fit. I will overlook the smaller trials and errors. But if a revolt beyond control erupts in Yiyang County, or if the taxes are still not coming in after two years, that is failure. I relieve Wenxue Zongshi Min Chun of his post and appoint him Chief Clerk of the Commander of Zhao's office. He is to oversee the administration and assist the Commander-in-Chief of Zhao. Colonel Wen Chong, Army Sima Zhao Du, and Rider-Commandant Zhao Yun—these three generals, together with seven thousand troops—will be placed under that office. Prepare against revolt. Recorder Gao Gan will remain in Yiyang, inspect the situation, and report. Henceforth, the handling of the Heishan Bandits is to be carried out first on the Commander's authority, and reported to me after the fact."
"I receive your strict command."
"Furthermore, the office of the Administrator of Zhaojun will keep its present order, but whenever the Commander of Zhao's office requests supplies, the storehouses are to be opened at once and the aid given. If you later require further authority, submit a memorial whenever you wish. Carry this order out immediately."
At Yuan Shao's stern command, the officials acknowledged it as one.
The stifling council had at last come to an end, yet I remained in my seat for a long while with my eyes closed, trying to settle the swell of feeling rising in me. To others it might look like a poisoned chalice. To me it was an office of opportunity. Set beside the chance Yuan Shao had won only after bitter suffering, and after observing two three-year mournings one upon the other, this vast board laid before me was, if anything, a fortunate one.
"Are you all right?"
When I opened my eyes, Military Supervisor Ju Shou was looking down at me with a complicated gaze. He seemed to think that, by widening the board so far, he had laid on me a burden I could not carry. After all, it was none other than Ju Shou who had set this vast board beneath my feet.
"Thank you."
"Ah. I feared you might hold it against me in your heart. I am truly relieved."
"You widened the board that far because you trusted me, did you not?"
"Not so. I judged it only the best choice for Jizhou."
Watching Ju Shou draw so strict a line between public duty and private feeling, I swore inwardly that I would make this man my own, come what may.
"If difficulty arises, do not hesitate to ask. I will give you my full support."
"I will not forget those generous words."
I bent deeply at the waist and offered my sincere thanks. Wu Yi, Wu Ban, and the rest of my people came forward as well, congratulating me on my appointment as Commander-in-Chief of Zhao and voicing their fear that I might be crushed beneath the weight I had taken up. They pledged firmly that they would lend their strength in whatever way they could. Once more I returned their courtesy, and looked after my own with warmth.
When I opened the doors of the hall and stepped out, a man approached as if he had been waiting and bowed deeply.
It was Min Chun, who would assist me now that the Commander of Zhao's office was to be established. When Jia Cong had served as Inspector of Jizhou, Min Chun had held the vital post of Chizhong Zongshi, and his gift for administration was widely acknowledged. Only when Yuan Shao took up the inspectorate and brought a great many of his own men with him had Min Chun been pushed aside into the idle post of Wenxue Zongshi. I was grateful to my father for attaching so seasoned a talent to me.
"I will be counting on you from here on."
I bowed to him in turn, out of respect. In the end, the man who would oversee the administration of the command and settle the Heishan Bandits fully through Yiyang County was Min Chun. My hopes of him ran high.
"When do you intend to depart for Yiyang County?"
"I mean to set out in three days."
"That will be time enough."
"Then I will see you in three days, Chief Clerk Min."
When I addressed him so, a faint smile spread over Min Chun's face. He offered a courteous salute and withdrew.
Chief Clerk Min. A firm certainty settled in me then: he, too, was wholly my man.
That evening, Tian Feng came alone to my quarters.
"I congratulate you on your rise to Commander-in-Chief of Zhao."
"Thank you. I have been waiting for the Duoguan Shuzuo's congratulations."
After they had exchanged courtesies, the ramrod-straight Tian Feng cleared his throat lightly and spoke. His face flushed, faintly, in a way rarely seen.
"The truth is, this time... this man has also been given the post of Junguo Zongshi to hold concurrently."
It was astonishing news. The weighty seat of inspection left empty by Guo Tu's suicide had been taken not by one of Yuan Tan's confidants, but by Tian Feng. He now held power that nothing could check—the power to inspect not only the civil and military officials within Ye, but every administrator and county magistrate of Jizhou. Yuan Shao, as ever, had set ability above a man's origins among his intimates, or his temperament. In cutting the corruption tangled through the Jizhou Inspectorate, Tian Feng, who would make no compromise with injustice, was the finest instrument for the work.
"My sincere congratulations."
"In appointing me Junguo Zongshi, our lord also placed in my hands the full authority to inspect the Commander of Zhao's office."
"Call for the ledgers and the records whenever you wish. I will cooperate gladly."
"...Hm."
"Once I have passed the Junguo Zongshi's thorough inspection without incident, our lord's trust in me will only set harder, like bedrock."
"Hahaha! As expected—remarkable."
Tian Feng broke into a great, open laugh. It was not mere laughter. It meant he acknowledged the size of my nerve. I answered him with a bright laugh of my own.
With Tian Feng, a distance strung with just this much taut tension was about right. Draw too close, and we would cut one another. If I became the first man of the Jizhou Inspectorate, that would change—but for now, this was best.
"So long as the law is kept, there will be no cause for Commander Yuan and myself to redden each other's faces."
"Where the administration leaves the judgment unclear, I will seek counsel through Chief Clerk Min."
"Trust Chief Clerk Min, and give him full authority. At least in the meticulous work of administration, he is a far abler man than I."
"I will keep that in mind."
Even so, I wondered whether anyone could truly surpass Tian Feng. But if he rated the man so highly, Min Chun's ability was certainly out of the ordinary.
Over warm tea, Tian Feng added his own insight, advising me on the knack of controlling and managing the Heishan Bandits. Astonishingly, his counsel ran, in its broad lines, along exactly the same track as the insight of Li Feng, that living witness of the administrative hall.