So, What Office Do I Get for All That Merit?

"Master Zhuge, you really needn't single us out for treatment like this. Isn't the whole mood of this place that every refugee is taken in?"

"Ah, that is so, and yet one never quite knows. And besides... the young ladies' true identities could all too easily become gossip."

All right. Let me look again at that scene from a distance and think it over.

Sure, as a child you might find a stray cat or an abandoned puppy by the roadside, or buy a chick outside the school gate and sneak it home without a word to your parents. If you were caught later, you would mumble some excuse and muddle through. But those are animals. Who brings living people into an army camp, hides them, and feeds them in secret?

This was not something I could let pass. I drew a long breath and shouted.

"Officer Hao! I'll see to this side—mind your own sector well!"

I had called out toward Hao Zhao on purpose, and even at a distance Zhuge Liang jumped. Then I stepped out of the alley as if nothing at all were amiss, walked over at an easy pace, and met his eyes.

I had expected him to be thoroughly flustered. Zhuge Liang, to my surprise, was perfectly calm.

"Gongming. Who is that?"

"Ah. It's only you, Elder Brother. What a relief."

"Hardly. I'm only making the night rounds with the men from around here."

"Without your brush and your books?"

"Sharper-eyed by the day, aren't you."

Zhuge Liang had been growing formidable in intellect, and seeing him there by the carriage, I could tell he was filling out into a proper young man as well.

"So. Who is it?"

"Just... one among the countless refugees out of Chang'an. Only, there are circumstances."

"And those circumstances wouldn't happen to be kinship with Li Jue or Guo Si? Or a house whose name must not reach the court?"

At that, a hand emerged from the carriage once more.

"Forgive me. I will step out and explain everything myself."

She drew the curtain aside. A woman came forth with her face veiled in cotton cloth and bowed. Even with her face hidden, the cut of her clothing and the lines of her figure made it plain she was a remarkable beauty.

"At present there are only my sister and I. We fled Chang'an to save our lives, yet ours is not a station that can go on to Xudu, and so we received help from Lord Zhuge, who stands here."

Hmm. So that was it.

"I am Zhang Baijin, the brother-in-law who sent this fellow to Chang'an."

"I am of the Cai clan, from Chenliu in Yanzhou."

Wait. Hold on.

"...Cai Wenji?"

"I am Zhaoji, and my younger sister is Zhenji. We two are all the siblings there are, so there is no one among us by the name of Wenji."

A spirited woman, setting out every word that needed saying, clear and unflinching. In any case, I could not leave them as they were.

"I am the one charged with administering Luoyang at present. Do not stay out here—come with me. I will provide a residence where you may rest."

"No. How could we eat well and live at ease inside the camp of a man who labors for the army and the realm? That is not a favor we may enjoy."

Firm, this one.

"Then at least remain somewhere safe, where the peacekeeping troops are posted. Eating and sleeping in a carriage is a hard sight for anyone watching. I will have a tent raised for you, if nothing else."

"We are grateful for your kindness. Truly, however, we are quite all right."

"By the custom of merchants, an open-handed offer goes as far as three times. Gongming—you brought them, so you will attend them."

"Yes, yes! Elder Brother."

For the moment I had the carriage escorted to a safe quarter under the guard of the peacekeeping troops. I saw that they were served a proper meal. Even amid all that bustle, I still had to make certain everyone could see the work getting done.

"Until Brother Yunchang returns, you help with the work here as well."

"Yes, Elder Brother."

"Still—you're quite capable, aren't you."

"B-Brother-in-law. It isn't like that."

"Must you look so deadly serious?"

Zhuge Liang hemmed and hesitated, then drew a book from inside his robe. It was no bundle of bamboo slips, but a costly volume made of true Caihou paper, the fine sheet named for the Marquis Cai.

"The Collected Works of Bojie?"

"They are the poems and prose of Master Cai Bojie. I was sent into Guanzhong to save people groaning beneath the rebels' spears, to look upon the history of Chang'an, capital of ages past and present, and also... to seek out the renowned who might still remain."

Fair enough. That could be so.

And the people he had saved happened to be descendants of the great scholar Cai Bojie—learned, whether man or woman—and from them he had obtained Cai Yong's collected poems and prose? Not bad at all.

"All right. I take your meaning well enough. Before long we'll gather the whole family from Xuzhou at Xudu, so study hard there as well."

"Yes, Brother-in-law!"

Looking over the restoration of Luoyang, and at a workforce whose only surplus was people, I could see how much still had to be done. The men, at least, could be put to use one way or another—settled on military farms, set to the works, or levied as soldiers. But the women, and the elderly?

It would have been convenient if that flood of refugees had been nothing but healthy men fit for labor. It was not.

"Gongming. If all those people are to eat and live again, what ought we to do?"

"From of old, the histories say that if a fallen realm is to be made steady, one must first take hold of the people's hearts."

"The orthodox answer."

"Give food to the hungry, I have heard; make land and houses for those with nowhere to go; look after the children; and see the widows remarried... so I have heard."

"All of it is right. The problem is capacity."

It was not money we lacked. It was land, and institutions capable of doing the work. Whether it was the law of the tuntian colonies, a system of soldier-households, or a proper household registry, you first had to build the vessel and only then settle people into it. Only then, however great the supply, could the system absorb it.

"When we return to Xudu, I mean to do business on a much larger scale."

"Brother-in-law, won't you be taking office before long?"

"That hardly means I can neglect my original trade. Besides, this age has no rule that either permits or forbids a man to hold two posts at once, does it?"

"Two posts... at once?"

Was that not even a phrase in this age? No matter. Concurrent office was simply how things were done here, so it hardly concerned me.

"Gongming, before long I shall have to send you to fetch your elder brother at Xiaopei, and the rest of our household with him."

For the present I meant to put Zhuge Liang to work on the family's affairs, and think through whatever remained at my leisure.

While we were still setting Luoyang in order, Guan Yu returned at last. Li Jue and Guo Si had already fled, so he had not taken their heads—but he brought back the seal of the Governor of Jingzhao in Chang'an, and every one of their banners. With that, the court of Han could claim Chang'an as its own.

After our return, the Emperor's commendation amounted to words alone. Offices granted from the lower ranks upward were gradually being parceled out, and posts in the middle were appearing as well, yet my name never came up among them.

In the meantime the family in Xuzhou came back, and everyone gathered at the residence we had built in Xu County.

"My lord husband!"

"We heard you have done a great service for the realm."

"Oh, my own flesh and blood!"

I met Zhuge Xue, heavy with child, and Huan Ying, Diaochan, and Zhao Mi as well, and we drank our fill of the joy of reunion. Su Shuang's family arrived, and so did Zhuge Jin, who had been holding Xiaopei, together with his household.

Then I called in Su Shuang, now a man occupied with the business of the state, and for the first time in a long while we held a family council.

"I did not think the Marquis of Zhongshan would honor us with a visit..."

"How cold. Am I no longer permitted to come as a guest to your affairs?"

"How could that be? It is only that this is a matter for which we ought to have sought leave..."

"Which is exactly why you should let me hear it as it happens, and decide on the spot!"

Liu Bei, whenever one looked, was that supreme social creature who simply could not be kept out of anything. On the battlefield he was a terrifying man, twin swords flashing; at his leisure he was nothing if not a sentimentalist, taking his pleasure in wine, music, and talk.

"So. What is it you mean to do?"

"I mean to trade on a large scale in Xudu."

"Mm. Yes. Yours is a house of great merchants to begin with, a family that deals in large trade. Well then—what do you mean to buy and sell?"

"Food, wine, and clothing. And we will be in the business of receiving guests."

"Hm?"

Liu Bei's ears seemed to prick, and a subtle look crossed his face. Hearing that I meant to go into cookshops and hospitality, did he think it somehow too modest?

"No—of course such things are trade as well, but..."

"Baijin. Speak a little more plainly."

With Liu Bei and Su Shuang before me, I laid out what I had in mind.

"First, I will raise a very large inn and a fine banquet house on the market streets of Xudu. Salt out of Xuzhou, dried abalone and other seafood, the best ingredients drawn in from every corner of the realm—what one might call a restaurant of the highest grade."

"Hearing that, it sounds even less like the business of the state..."

That was Liu Bei's reaction. Su Shuang understood at once. Of course he did. A man who lived by trade knew all too well what it meant to run a dining house of that class.

"I address the Marquis of Zhongshan. From of old, a great inn and banquet house in a great city becomes, as a matter of course, the seat of powerful clans and men of influence. If we are the ones who operate it, then of course we shall gather up the countless things said among the guests—and come to know them."

"Ah—aha! A hub for sharing intelligence!"

Liu Bei understood a beat late and slapped his knee.

"Furthermore, from among the refugees who have come this time, I will gather those skilled at cutting cloth and at reeling silk, and set them to working textiles. Beside that, I will open a place for mending garments and doing laundry."

And how did people handle clothing in this age? You left the washing to servants, or you simply wore a thing until it fell apart. Failing that, you entrusted it to others to mend where it had worn through; with silk robes, you picked out every stitch of thread, washed the cloth alone, and sent it back only after it had been sewn up again. There was a famous phrase for it even then, wasn't there? Piecework sewing—women who took a wage to mend other people's clothes.

"I will also found a bindery for the making of books. The last time I looked into it, if one wished to reuse bamboo slips, servants had to scrape away every line already written with a carving knife, wipe the slips clean, and recycle them one by one. We will make such slips, and dress them, and... in any case, I mean to stir commerce and craft into life."

"Plenty of work to assign, and that is how you set money moving, is it? Indeed—a method only a merchant would think of."

"The people of Xudu, of course, and beyond them a surplus of folk who will do any work at all if it lets them eat. The moment we open this, every woman in the neighborhood will come running with a needle the length of a finger and a spool of thread."

"After relief, you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would have them able to make their own living. Baijin, it seems a good proposal."

"Please have this drawn up as a memorial. Ah—do not include the building of the inn. That is a household matter. Only the rest."

In another life I would have bundled all of this into a single file and handed it over as paperwork for approval. Liu Bei heard it once and, cool as you please, granted the whole of it.

"Come. Let us seal it with a cup."

Liu Bei raised his wine, and somewhere along the drinking it became his turn.

"As it happens, I hear Brother Mengde is to be recommended as Grand General this time, and Wenruo beneath him will enter the inner court. He is to serve as Palace Attendant and as Prefect of the Masters of Writing. A meteoric rise, if ever there was one."

So in the end Cao Cao meant to sample the Grand Generalship at least once, and Xun Yu was to be Prefect of the Masters of Writing?

The Three Excellencies had become offices in name alone, so in practice the real power of the inner court lay entirely with the Prefect of the Masters of Writing, who governed the Imperial Secretariat. The Grand General's seat in the outer administration was, in practice, the first place in the army.

"Brother Mengde's will, in effect, will be carried out through Xun Wenruo in the inner court. That friend of his has written a memorial this time. The countless people worn down by war have crowded in with nowhere to turn, and Xudu, he says, requires setting in order—by law, by institution, and by the will of the imperial house."

"How very like Xun Yu."

"He would have the displaced till the land, see the widows remarried, relieve the poor, and establish a refuge to care for the gravely ill."

Stabilization in the manner of Cao Cao and Xun Yu: build it out of the orthodox laws and institutions of antiquity. And beside that, our own proposal—make jobs and a commercial quarter within that order, so that people might realistically sustain themselves.

"I shall have to shape this properly into a memorial myself. And I must recommend one trustworthy man for the inner court."

"There are many fine talents. It will go well for you."

!

Well, now.

So Liu Bei would take the outer administration through the seats of inspector and general, and in Xudu I was to plant our footing firmly in the inner court, opposite Xun Yu?

But that was fine.

That Liu Bei could, by politics and by military strategy, reliably plant men inside the inner court was a good thing. Even if the balance ran seven parts Cao Cao to three parts Liu Bei, simply existing from here on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as the standing alternative to Cao Cao would be a great asset.

"My brothers, of course, and Master Chen Yuanfang, and Zijing, and Yuanlong, and Ziyou—all of them were unanimous. In the court at Xudu, they said, you are the only man who will not have his nose cut off while his eyes are wide open."

"If a post opens... I suppose I must."

In any case, if I was to do everything I had just described, I would have to remain in Xudu and secure a place for myself. That suited me well enough.

So we passed another cup, and another. Su Shuang and I were both laughing when Liu Bei spoke up once more.

"Come to think of it, Baijin—that brother-in-law of yours."

"You mean Gongming?"

"I saw him going about with the daughter of Master Cai Bojie, that man so famous at court. He denies it with a perfectly straight face, but it seems to me his heart is with the lady."

"That... would it be Cai Zhaoji? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠From what I learned, she is four years older than Gongming. Or perhaps five."

"Among the gentlemen I have known, there were many whose marriages of alliance left them five or six years apart from their wives."

"And I heard she had already gone through a wedding at a young age."

"A widow, they say. Her husband died young, before they had kept house a year. A pity, at that age."

"...That boy Gongming. Even if his heart is set, the moment he says so, something will come flying at him from his elder brother and his sisters."

Aigo, Imperial Uncle Liu... you aren't saying you would send a matchmaking letter under your own name, are you?

At last I was summoned to court in official robes.

"Zhang Qian of Jizhou—receive the imperial command!"

"Your servant reverently receives the command."

A truly refreshing imperial voice, reciting my merits at considerable length for everyone to hear.

Marquis of Anxi... Deputy Imperial Censor....

I had been thinking, at most, of a Marquis Within the Passes, the lowest of the marquisates, or perhaps Colonel of the Golden Mace, or some colonelcy or other. What came out was a considerably heavier seat than I had expected.

"Your Majesty's grace is boundless!"

Cao Cao as Grand General. Liu Bei as Left General.

Cao Cao concurrently Supervisor of the Masters of Writing. Liu Bei concurrently Colonel Director of Retainers.

Cao Cao's base, the Inspectorate of Yanzhou. Liu Bei's base, the formally granted Inspectorate of Yuzhou.

And Xun Yu, planted by Cao Cao in the inner court as Prefect of the Masters of Writing. And I, set there by Liu Bei as Deputy Imperial Censor.

Well, now.

A boundless affair indeed....

Once rank and office were formally mine, I shared congratulations with Liu Bei, who had likewise received three posts: Left General, Colonel Director of Retainers, and Inspector of Yuzhou.

"My sincere congratulations. Deputy Imperial Censor, no less. If I mean to petition the inner court, it seems I shall have to address you with proper respect."

"My lord of Yuzhou and I have come into a truly curious fate."

"Hm?"

The office was one thing. But Marquis of Anxi...

"Anxi County in Zhongshan Commandery... to be marquis of that very land. Is that not the district where you, my lord of Yuzhou, once held the post of county magistrate?"

"Ah—hahahaha! That place!"

"You met the district inspector there, as well."

"Hush. Let us speak of that another time."

At that story, Liu Bei quietly sealed his own mouth. Still, this was good.

No longer a seatless shadow off the rolls—now the inner court's youngest Deputy Imperial Censor, twenty-three years old. Shall I have a look around?