The Tiger-Brave Spears Flash, and the Censor's Brush Moves
It was a night of steady, soaking rain.
Before I set out, late, I called my wives together.
"For the time being, none of you is to show her face anywhere — not at the restaurant, not at the laundry, nowhere at all. It'll be stifling, I know, but I need every one of you to stay in the house."
"Of course. We will do so."
Zhuge Xue bowed, faithful as ever to her husband's word.
"My lord, last time I saw something dreadful. A head up on a pike — and in the rain it had swollen all bloated... ugh!"
Huan Ying shuddered even as she said it, gooseflesh rising at her own words, her whole body trembling.
Reports from the front kept coming in. While Liu Bei held Shuchun under siege, Cao Cao had taken them one after another — first Gentleman-Consultant Hou Qi, then Palace Attendant Dae Seo, then Master of Writing Feng Shi. Now it was Yang Biao's turn. Whether he lived or died, his career at court was finished.
"Let me be perfectly clear. For now, you do not show yourselves. I've already spoken to my sister, so the shops will all be run through the servants. If it's a little inconvenient, bear with it."
At that, Zhao Mi quietly raised a hand.
"My lord, wouldn't it be better if we went on ahead to Xuzhou?"
She had said it after reading the mood in Xudu, and honestly, the same thought had crossed my mind. Diaochan was already moving to pack with a calm face, and for Xue and for Ying — that country was their old home — it was hardly a bad suggestion.
"For now, wait safely inside the house. But I'll consider a move as well."
"We only follow you, my lord. And the children..."
The son Xue had borne, the daughter Ying had borne — at their mention, a father's duty settled heavier on me.
"Before the year is out I'll have everything in order. The children will have their formal names. All of it."
"We only pray you come through safe."
Xue at their head, they all bowed, dressed me, and fitted me with a rain hat and an oilskin cape.
I stepped outside and set off with Zhuge Liang, who had been waiting. Our destination was the restaurant I had temporarily closed — a place only those I summoned could enter. When I, the owner, came in, every cook and servant came out and greeted me with due respect.
"The guests?"
"They are waiting inside."
Liang and I went through to the inner room. A wine table had already been handsomely laid.
"Baijin!"
"Heh heh heh. It has been a long while."
There sat Guan Yu, who as Commander of the Tiger-Brave Imperial Guards ought always to have been at the Emperor's side, and Master Chen Ji, Zhuge Liang's teacher, the great scholar of Yingchuan. The four of us still left in Xudu — and through them, I began.
"The rains are fierce. I wonder how the Yuzhou front is faring."
"If it is Elder Brother, he will surely win, and return with Yuan Shu's head."
"I hope it may be so."
The seasonal rains had grown so severe that the whole country around Xudu was flooding. The transport roads had collapsed, and the troops settled on the agricultural colonies were scrambling to repair them.
Bang!
"That Cao Cao sees our elder brother gone and means to purge the loyal ministers! How are we to sit still and leave a traitor like that!"
"I understand that anger, and that sense of honor. But this is precisely when we must keep calm."
Guan Yu glared, forcing his fury down, and Chen Ji spoke with perfect composure.
"Commander, Baijin is right a hundred times over."
"Even you, Master? This is a treacherous villain laying hands on loyal men!"
"Commander. A tiger has leapt the wall and is rampaging inside the house. If the master of the house stands in the open, shouting and raising a clamor, do you not know the beast, already roused, will only rampage worse?"
At that single remark from Master Chen Ji, Guan Yu's face soured as if it were rotting. He sank back into his seat and poured wine down his throat in great gulps.
"The proper way is to slip in behind the tiger once it has gorged itself on the household's dogs and oxen and grown pleased with itself — and then bring the club down."
The comparison was apt. Guan Yu folded his arms and sank into thought.
"Baijin. Master Chen. I simply cannot understand it. From the very beginning, when he took the Son of Heaven into his keeping, I knew he had some scheme. But he comes out this openly, and we can do nothing."
"From now on, we counterattack. And I will see to it that not one of us is harmed."
No one inside our fence would be hurt, and there would be no further purges.
"Brother Yunchang, lead the Tiger-Brave Guards and give your utmost to guarding the imperial household, strictly by the proper way. Cao Cao's faction will keep coming with memorials, meaning to purge anyone who continues to offend their eye."
"And beyond that, what else am I to do?"
"Brother Yunchang, your mere presence in the palace is worth a thousand armies and ten thousand horses."
Next was Chen Ji.
"Master Chen. I will not ask you — a man who holds no office — to step forward yourself with a memorial, or to bring the Confucian scholars in."
"You have a better way?"
"Simply meet your old juniors from Yingchuan, once each, and share a cup of tea. Ask them this, and only this. Will they truly kill Yang Biao, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness? Will they dispose of every old minister who came all the way here from Chang'an?"
Sometimes a quiet word, dropped to the men who actually do the work, lands harder than the loudest shout in the open.
"Will that be enough?"
"And do ask them this as well. With a senior minister of the court in custody, is the Court of Judicial Review actually torturing a gentleman of the scholar-official class during interrogation?"
"Brother-in-law — surely not?"
Zhuge Liang and Chen Ji alike stared, eyes gone perfectly round.
"There are men who bury the executed corpses outside the city. I know one of them by face, and according to him the bodies were already covered in grievous wounds before the heads were taken. But I can hardly ask that question myself."
Because it was Chen Ji who would go and say it, I would learn exactly how Xun Yu, Xun You, Zhong Yao, Guo Jia, and the rest chose to answer.
"One thing more. Please write a letter of recommendation. I hear the Grand Master of Splendid Happiness recently took in, as a retainer, a descendant of Confucius. The man once served as Chancellor of Beihai, so if he is to hold office at court he will need a surety no one can question."
"You mean Kong Wenju. Very well — I understand!"
Chen Ji drained his wine in great gulps and turned to me.
"Baijin, you are a talent bright not only in profit, but in politics. I regret not having met you long ago."
"In exchange, aren't you raising Kongming? Once this affair is safely finished, I'll pay my respects properly — and I mean to study a little harder myself."
I bowed and asked him to see it through, and he caught Kongming by the arm.
"Watch your brother-in-law's conduct carefully. Learning what is in the classics, and then putting it into practice yourself — all of that is right there."
"Yes, Master!"
Zhuge Liang's eyes sparkled as he looked at me, and I felt oddly abashed.
Last of all, I spoke to Guan Yu.
"Brother Yunchang, when this is over I mean to recommend a few officers for the Tiger-Brave Guards. Will you take them?"
"If they are men who can land a blow on that Cao Cao once this business is settled, as many as you like!"
"Good!"
The people in this room were enough to move. And starting tomorrow, Master Chen was going to be a very busy man.
A few days later.
Xun Yu of the Imperial Secretariat, whose face was usually all smiles, was faintly flushed.
"That inflexible Boning is carrying this much too far. It seems he has gone so far as to interrogate the Grand Master of Splendid Happiness under torture."
Xun Yu had heard it from Chen Ji, and more than once had told Man Chong there was no need to go so far. Man Chong had not so much as pretended to listen. Nominally, Yang Biao's crime was colluding with the traitor Yuan Shu; they could even pin treason on him. But an interrogation too harsh would only backfire.
"Prefect, the Minister of Works must have his own thoughts on the matter."
Xun You was doing all he could to persuade Xun Yu, yet he too, having heard Chen Ji, felt a quiet unease within.
Press him only for a confession of the charges, then send him home to retire, and that would be the end of it. But they mean to bring punishment into it as well?
Still, this was the chance for Cao Cao's faction to sweep away the most awkward bloc inside the court and take its place. Power might be seized, but prestige must not be lost, and so they simply waited for a result to come quickly.
Then one more man came looking for Xun Yu and Xun You.
"Prefect — are you in? Ah, and the Military Counselor-General is here as well."
When Deputy Imperial Censor Zhang Qian walked in unannounced, the two received him with full courtesy.
"You've come? I'll have tea prepared."
"Yes, good. The tea one drinks in this place is rather exceptional."
Zhang Qian was thoroughly unmoved by the affair at hand. What he wanted to discuss was something else entirely.
"Since the Military Counselor-General is here, I'll ask. They say the roads toward Yuzhou have washed out in the rainy season — is the grain for the Left General's army actually reaching Shuchun?"
"We are trying every means, and we will open a road somehow and get the grain through. Please wait just a little."
"How far off do you expect the supply to run?"
"Within five days, at the least..."
"Then it'll be ten. A 'least' is a figure you only hit when everything is perfect."
Before Zhang Qian, who spoke as if he already knew the whole of it, neither Xun Yu nor Xun You could find a word. This was not the factional strife of the court. It was the plain matter of trust between Liu Bei and Cao Cao — the failure to feed an army. Grain that men ought to be hauling with their own hands through the rain, even if it cost them their lives.
"Lord Zhang, I will go out this very moment, see the repairs with my own eyes, and confirm whether the grain wagons can move."
When Xun You went out first, Zhang Qian saw him off with a smile.
And when only Xun Yu remained, Zhang Qian quietly passed him a single bamboo slip.
"What is this?"
"It seems the Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, under interrogation as he is, will not be able to remain in office afterward — so I offer you this. Together with a recommendation from the great scholar, Master Chen Ji, I only hope a worthy talent comes to Xudu."
"Why give this to me..."
"Are you not the Prefect of the Masters of Writing?"
"Ha... haha..."
Xun Yu laughed, awkward, and the moment he spread the slip and saw the names, a cold sweat ran down his back.
No — this can't be.
Chen Gui, Inspector of Xuzhou, who discerned the traitor Yuan Shu's plot long beforehand.
Kong Rong, twentieth-generation descendant of Confucius, a great scholar now residing in Xudu.
Zheng Xuan, who has lived in seclusion since the Partisan Prohibitions, devoting himself to the raising of younger scholars.
Song Zhong, Confucian scholar of Jingzhou and sage of Jiangxia.
It was no roster of someone's faction, no list of partisans. It was a recommendation for the next Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, gathered from true great scholars and from no one else — and Xun Yu's hands trembled.
"Well, you are of course free to recommend any number of still worthier men. Only, I hear that of late the senior scholars, with Master Chen Ji at their head, are beginning to come forward, in the hope that the court may now at last be set in order."
Zhang Qian never said the rest. The silence itself was the pressure. Shove aside the ministers now sitting in court if you like — planting Cao Cao's own men in their seats will not be so easy.
Wang Ling, a Gentleman-Consultant and one of the few of my people still left in Xudu, hurried up to report.
"Deputy Imperial Censor — they say Man Chong has finished the interrogation at the Court of Judicial Review. He reported in person to the Minister of Works."
"The result?"
"The Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, who was under interrogation there, has been released. I saw it clearly myself, all the way to his son Yang Xiu supporting him home."
"So Man Chong got nothing out of the interrogation."
"So Man Chong said. It isn't clear enough to brand him a traitor and take his head, and if the Minister of Works forces the Grand Master's execution, the eyes around them are far too unfriendly."
Like a living surveillance camera, Wang Ling reproduced the scene and the very lines without a miss.
"And how do you know that?"
"Heh heh heh... there's a fellow among the Minister of Works' people whom I happen to know..."
"And Man Chong?"
"He finished his report and went back to the Court. The soldiers there are groaning that the man ties off every last task with iron thoroughness before he so much as leaves for the day."
"Then go to the Tiger-Brave Guards and ask them to send some men. The Deputy Imperial Censor will use them for an inspection himself — not many. A few dozen will do."
"Understood. I'll see to it."
"Can a Gentleman-Consultant fight?"
For a moment Wang Ling laughed and thumped his own chest, brimming with confidence.
"Heh heh heh — I'm from Bingzhou myself. On my uncle's name, I'll show you the spirit of a proper fighting man."
"Bring your sword."
Now we landed a real blow on Cao Cao's faction.
I went straight in and stormed the Court of Judicial Review.
CRASH!
"Who goes there?"
The interrogation officers snatched up swords and spears at the sudden rush of soldiers, but we were faster.
"Lower your weapons. Do officers of the same capital mean to fight one another?"
At my shout, Man Chong, who was there, glared at me — and then gave a stern command.
"All of you, lower your spears and blades! It is the Deputy Imperial Censor!"
A man of principle to the bone, Man Chong weighed the principle even now. He came toward me calmly and offered a bow.
"Deputy Imperial Censor, what is the matter?"
"From this moment I am inspecting the Court of Judicial Review, and I will be investigating you."
"On what grounds?"
"An investigation into the use of cruel punishment — torture forbidden by the state — upon those you executed, the Grand Master of Splendid Happiness among them."
Man Chong went rigid.
"The particulars I'll explain at my leisure. Set your mind at ease. The Censorate never conducts an interrogation that spills blood. Ours is an inquiry carried out in words alone — very gently, and entirely in accord with reason."
Man Chong heard him out, and sat down with perfect composure.
"All of you, submit to the investigation."
"Magistrate!"
"We have broken no rule whatsoever. Face it with your heads high!"
At Man Chong's word, Wang Ling took the Tiger-Brave Guards Guan Yu had dispatched for the Censorate's use and turned the whole Court inside out. Now and then a commotion rose, but there was no clash.
"Magistrate Man. The Court's principle is the strict interrogation of criminals — but if a record turns up here that cruel punishments were used, what then?"
"Interrogation by torture is merely custom. It is not set down in the law."
"And yet, when the one under interrogation is a scholar-official, you are not unaware that damaging the body is a greater crime than a death in the course of questioning?"
It sounds absurd, but such was the logic of this age.
"Ruin a man's legs so he cannot sit, and you make him unable to bow to his elders — you force him into unfilial conduct. Leave a scar that will not wash away, and you make him show a damaged body to his ancestors, when after bathing and fasting he must offer sacrifice. It is one reason eunuchs were never counted as full human beings. Is that not so?"
"Nevertheless, in principle, torture has not been forbidden."
"Against a scholar-official? Do you mean to bring out the instruments used in the cruel punishment and claim the blood on them is not a gentleman's?"
Man Chong had no answer.
From that moment the Court of Judicial Review passed under the Censorate's audit, and its business stopped.
I drank my tea and confined myself to the talk of this age. How the Qin of the First Emperor, before the Han, had earned the realm's resentment with punishments just this harsh. How Emperor Guangwu, refounding the Later Han after Emperor Wu, had decreed a ban on cruel punishments and on slavery. How Yang Biao, home again from interrogation, was in a grievous state of body. And last of all —
"Among my acquaintances there is a fellow named Wang Chung, whose work is gathering the corpses of the beheaded and burying them. He told me this. Even before the heads came off, the bodies were already ruined past recognition."
"You mean to offer a postmortem examination as evidence? In that case..."
That was when it happened.
"Deputy Imperial Censor! The Minister of Works has come to the Court!"
"Perfect. Shall we go receive him? Tell everyone to stop what they're doing!"
I ordered Wang Ling to halt the Censorate's gathering of evidence, and went out at my leisure to meet Minister of Works Cao Cao, who had come running to the Court. Cao Cao flung himself off his horse, rushed in, and his eyes met mine at once.
"Minister of Works. You've come?"
"Deputy Imperial Censor, what is the meaning of this..."
"I came out to investigate whether cruel punishment occurred in the course of this interrogation."
Cao Cao's fist clenched tight, and I could see the rage climbing toward the crown of his head, ready to break.
"However, since the Minister himself is here, I will leave the investigation of the Court to you."
"What... what did you say?"
"The Censorate reports to His Majesty what its inspections find. It does not punish with its own hand. Were there a Censor-in-Chief, perhaps — but a mere deputy such as myself can do no such thing. Nor do I intend to."
I could have seized the evidence and the charges both. Instead I tossed the whole of it, very lightly, straight into Cao Cao's hands.
"Was the Minister of Works not originally called the Grand Minister of Works — an office that, in history, has overseen inspections even above the Censorate? I ask you yourself to judge whether Man Boning's interrogation was unduly harsh."
In that instant Cao Cao wanted to hurl whatever came to hand and draw his sword. I spoke one last time.
"We're leaving! You men — back to the Tiger-Brave Guards!"
"Yes, Deputy Imperial Censor!"
If any of Cao Cao's soldiers were stung enough to follow, they were welcome to follow.
As for me, I was going to see Guan Yu.