Ways to Survive in Turbulent Times (7)
"It seems like it'll develop greatly in just ten years."
After touring Heodo, we headed back to Jingzhou while discussing our observations of the city.
"What do you all think of Heodo? Do you see it developing like Luoyang or Chang'an?"
"If a single dynasty maintains its rule here steadily for about a hundred years."
"A hundred years!"
That's long. I'd figured at least fifty, but Sima Yi was thinking in terms of a century.
"I agree. Even if talk arises of moving the capital elsewhere, once it's been set here, it must be upheld without fail."
"What about you, Liang?"
"Unless it's a situation like Luoyang or Chang'an, relocating the capital would breed resentment among those left behind. Wouldn't Master be furious if Heodo reverted to plain old Heohyeon and land prices plummeted?"
"I'd lose my mind."
Move the capital on a whim? And halve the value of my land in Heodo as a result? I'd mobilize every connection and ounce of influence to block it. Personally, I'd submit memorials to the court—thousands of characters long each day—and rally public opinion through my disciples to voice opposition.
"Humans don't grieve much over what they never had. But try taking away what they possess, and they'll rage fiercely. Even if it's the state granting and then seizing it back."
"But what if someone like Dong Zhuo tries to force a move?"
And if it happens anyway...
"Then you'd have to accept it. When a blade's at your throat and your house is ablaze, how do you fight back?"
"So you'd hold onto the land?"
"No. Sell it off. If I'd owned land in Luoyang, I'd have unloaded it at a fair price before the anti-Dong coalition attacked."
Sell quick before the capital shift is finalized and prices tank further. It'd still fetch more than purchase price, and I'd have profited handsomely from it in the meantime.
For that, the people living in Heodo need to thrive.
"What did you think of Heodo's residents?"
We'd discussed land and foundations; now it was time for the people.
"Their eyes had an overabundance of vitality. Their will to live went beyond mere resolve—it felt like venomous determination."
"Agreed. There was a sense they lived for tomorrow, but it was downright scary. The sheer intensity of their drive."
"Maybe because they'd lost everything once before, they refuse to lose it again."
All three shared their impressions, but they converged on one point about Heodo's people.
A fierce will to live.
"They were once bandits. Having reclaimed a normal farmer's life, losing even that would leave them with nothing."
"Why?"
"Who'd dare flee into the wilds, risking their life, when tilling fields granted by the Emperor himself?"
Vassals and common folk view the Han imperial house worlds apart.
Vassals might deem it fallen, but the people still bow to its solemn decrees.
"No matter how little I think of the imperial house, if the Emperor personally appoints me, I'd serve without complaint."
"Really?"
"Sure. I'd decline a few times, of course. But if blades were at my neck or my kin's... I'd probably do it, however reluctantly."
Entering office is by one's own will. But imperial appointment is heaven's unrefusable command to any living in this realm.
Decline repeatedly, and it becomes defying an edict.
"Better to take the post, serve till dismissal, than spend life hunted for clinging to land and wealth."
"Dismissal would be lucky. You wouldn't half-ass it, right Master?"
"Hey, no. Give me work that suits me, and I'll excel. It's just that my talents are niche. Yeah, imperial tutor to the crown prince would be perfect. Haha."
"Your disciple became crown prince, that's all."
"Same difference."
A role deeply tied to what I do now, yet one I could shed anytime for rational reasons.
"Just saying 'Crown Prince, time to study' every day? How easy, low-stakes, and disposable. Haha."
"If the crown prince ascends the throne, that'd be ideal."
"Naturally. Nothing I'd wish more. Even if the Emperor causes issues, his childhood tutor wouldn't face collective punishment. Haha."
"What if they blame your poor teaching?"
"...Run for it? Heh."
A pipe dream, truly.
"I hope Heodo remains the capital. ...Separate from Cao Cao."
Heodo's status as capital stemmed solely from Cao Cao's influence. I hadn't met her directly this time, but encountering her adopted son revealed her succession prospects.
"I met Cao Cao's adopted son."
"Pardon?"
"A fellow named Cao Ang. Not her birth son— she adopted a young man past twenty from among her kin. Insurance for succession even if she dies."
"...Isn't Cao Cao quite advanced in years?"
"Exactly why the adoption."
A woman past marrying age, living alone? It might seem problematic publicly, but high office shifts perspectives. Like Zhang Liang in old tales.
"Not sure if it's the adoption or diluted Cao blood, but Cao Ang seemed decent. Around your age, Liang, maybe? Least he won't act like his foster mother."
"If you see that in him... Cao Cao chose a solid heir."
"Yeah. I don't usually judge folks personally, but..."
Forcing an assessment of Cao Ang:
"If Cao Cao's the cunning fox of chaos, Cao Ang would be a capable minister of peaceful times."
"Oh? Truly a 'minister'?"
Sima Yi's loaded words made Zhuge Liang and Seo Seo glance around warily. My heart skipped—had anyone overheard?
"Yi...!"
"Heh, half-joking."
"The other half's serious."
"Right. We don't know Cao Cao's mind, but if she crushes Yuan Shao, pacifies the north, and terrifies all vassals..."
Sima Yi laid three fingers horizontally, then stroked vertically with her other hand.
Then: ‘king.’
"Cao Cao could demand that much from the Son of Heaven, no?"
"You're thinking bigger."
I quickly wrote on top of her fingers: ‘white.’
“Together, they formed ‘imperial.’
"You see Cao Cao usurping the throne like Dong Zhuo?"
"Of course."
"Even as a woman?"
"Womanhood's no barrier. Wasn't that Han Xin's dream? The first empress."
Han Xin died yearning for emperorship. We can't know Cao Cao's full ambitions, but one certainty: whoever she appoints, a youth like Cao Ang would usher in great peace.
Securing succession early is vital, especially for a childless woman like Cao Cao in these unpredictable wars—and essential in chaos.
"In this age, particularly for frontline fighters like her, death lurks anywhere. Like Sun Jian."
Sun Jian died without naming an heir.
"Fail to secure succession, and your heirs suffer. That Jiangdong lad..."
"Sun Bo."
"Right. How Sun Bo toils. His father's still under Yuan Shu, yet he's seizing Jiangdong with alarming momentum."
Sun Jian's son, Sun Bo, smashed Liu Yao of Yangzhou, Wang Lang, and others, expanding relentlessly. Yuan Shu's gains via Sun Bo now outstripped Yuan Shao's northern holdings.
"Yuan Shu's empire grew thanks to Sun Bo. Rumor has it he's consulting diviners for his fortune."
"Something's brewing."
"Yeah. Perhaps... the realm's greatest rebel is imminent."
Still pushing east, but Yuan Shu eyes Xuzhou assaults or probes near Jingzhou's rivers—barely hiding expansionist greed.
"Someone will surely proclaim the Han's doom and found a new dynasty."
Speaking of rebellion demands caution.
"But Master, if a disciple you've raised becomes that new realm's emperor or crown prince and seeks to serve you? Or even a lofty post like Chancellor or Grand Commandant?"
"...My disciple as a new state's high official."
Dangerous.
"Haha, tricky question, but you know the answer."
To a mere villager, the state matters little. As long as it harms me not, who rules where does too.
But if great profit comes...
"If my neck and wealth stay safe, I'll bow to blue skies or yellow."
If it benefits me, any emperor suits.
"Still, who'd dare claim emperorship with the Son of Heaven alive? Haha."
Right. Only a madman.
Yuan Shu's usurpation came exactly one year later.