The Yuan Clan's Friends (1)
Yuan Feng sought out Zhang Min, who was preparing to leave Luoyang and take up his post as Grand Administrator of Taiyuan Commandery in Bingzhou.
Had the world been as it usually was, this would have been nothing more than a farewell to a man setting out on a long road. This visit was not that.
A hero who had crushed rebellion in Yangzhou to the south had gone north to Bingzhou and come home a commander of disgrace. Given the Emperor's temper, not only Zhang Min's household but even Yuan Feng, who had kept close company with him, might well have been smashed to pieces — and yet, fortunately, Zhang Min had gotten off with nothing worse than a fine.
Even so, there was no room to rest easy. Empress Song and her entire clan had been slaughtered, and Wang Fu, the eunuch who had seemed to orchestrate the affair, had been executed as well. The expedition Wang Fu had been sent to inspect was none other than the campaign against Tanshihuai in which Zhang Min had fought. Yuan Feng himself had just been stripped of the Minister of Works, and he could not help but wonder whether this was the Emperor leveling his blade at Zhang Min. That Duan Jiong, famed in the same years for his campaigns against the Qiang, had been driven to take his own life only deepened the dread.
"Minister Yuan!"
Zhang Min's kindness in still addressing him by an office already stripped away drew a smile from Yuan Feng, who returned the courtesy with care.
"I wanted a word with Grand Administrator Zhang before you left for your post. Forgive the sudden visit."
"A conversation with Minister Yuan is always welcome. But… the two young men behind you?"
"Ah. This is my 'son,' Yuan Shu, and this is my 'nephew,' Yuan Shao."
"Oh… the one whose filial devotion is so widely praised…!"
Yuan Shao bowed his head at Zhang Min's admiration. Beside him, Yuan Shu's brow twitched, just slightly.
"You have a son of your own, Grand Administrator. I thought it would be well if he grew close to my boys… In times like these, one must 'prepare for what comes next.'"
The smile on Zhang Min's face faded a shade, but he nodded as though he agreed from the marrow.
"If fathers and sons join their houses across the generations, it will be some help in surviving a hard world."
Yuan Feng, following Zhang Min's lead, sent Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu off to Zhang Hong, then entered the inner room with him.
"Minister Yuan would not have gone out of his way to visit a man departing for the frontier unless he wanted to hear something that might ease his mind."
"You have read me entirely, I am ashamed to say. How do you see the world turning, Grand Administrator Zhang?"
"Even at my age, I cannot claim to understand the affairs of Luoyang. I thought I would die a condemned man, and then it ended with a fine…"
Yuan Feng took a fresh look around the furnishings of the room. They looked austere at a glance, but the truth was simply that this was all the Emperor had left him after stripping him bare.
"Regular Attendant Wang Fu is dead, the Song clan of the former Empress has been ruined, and Grand Commandant Duan is no longer of this world… So I find it difficult, truly, to speak of affairs 'within the realm.'"
"Then what of affairs 'beyond the realm'? Sending the former General of the Household Protecting the Xiongnu back to Taiyuan Commandery suggests they still hold your insight into the Bingzhou frontier in high regard."
"I am honored… that may be so."
Zhang Min took up a story he had once told his son Zhang Hong as well.
"I once proposed a trade to the great men under Tanshihuai."
"A trade?"
"'We will buy your livestock. In return, take from us whatever goods you need'… After all, is war between the Hu and the Great Han not born, in the end, of hardship in the Hu way of life?"
"If one follows the reasoning, yes."
"But in the end, I failed. The great men would not accept the trade."
"Why on earth not?"
"Because they were afraid of Tanshihuai."
Tanshihuai again. Yuan Feng waited for Zhang Min to go on.
"Tanshihuai is not the Hu we have known. To put it more precisely, he is not the Hu we have grown accustomed to. Yes… if I must find a comparison,"
Yuan Feng swallowed.
"…Modu."
A name of terror.
A name of taboo.
A name of humiliation.
The name of the northern sovereign who had forced to his knees the founding Emperor whom the people of Han hailed as a hero among heroes.
"Tanshihuai has complete control over the horses of the Xianbei. But I… even though I was defeated, I believed his control would not last long."
"That calculation went awry."
"Yes. The Xianbei army invaded Jiuquan Commandery and plundered it to their hearts' content. They did not go so far as occupation, I am told, but merchants coming in from the Western Regions were already dwindling by the day. In effect, the trade route's windpipe has been cut."
Zhang Min closed his eyes, then opened them.
"But in Luoyang, they do not seem to understand what Tanshihuai's raid on Jiuquan Commandery truly means."
"Well, given what Tanshihuai did in Jiuquan Commandery."
According to rumor, Tanshihuai and the Xianbei army had poured the plundered wine into the river and mocked them thus:
"They were openly mocking the anecdote of Emperor Xiaowu and Huo Qubing."
"But we must not let rage blind us to what it means. Now that they know Jiuquan Commandery's defenses are this thin, they may next strike Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang, and try to occupy the Hexi Four Commanderies outright."
Yuan Feng's mouth fell open.
"Then…"
"We would be thrown back to the age before Emperor Xiaowu. With the supply of Western Region horses cut off, our warhorses would keep being spent, and we would struggle to hold any advantage against the Xianbei. If the Xianbei seized that weakness to take the Western Regions and lock down the trade routes entirely… it would be the end. Do we have generals in our age to match those of Emperor Wu's reign?"
"There is no law that says Tanshihuai must be another Modu."
"Most of Luoyang's ministers cannot match Emperor Wu's ministers, and Tanshihuai sees what Modu saw. It is a bleak thing to contemplate."
Zhang Min turned next to the other foreign peoples.
"In Yizhou, the Banshun Man have risen in revolt. I hear Yizhou's armies still cannot put them down. Minister Yuan, do you know who the Banshun Man are?"
"I do not."
"They are the Man-Yi of Ba, exceedingly valiant. When Emperor Gao was still King of Han, he levied them and marched north into Guanzhong at their side. They distinguished themselves again in the war against Xiang Yu. Emperor Gao so valued their service that he forbade any violation of their traditions when governing Ba Commandery. Even as Man-Yi, they received special treatment. And now they have rebelled."
"Then the governance of Yizhou is… coming apart somewhere."
"Not Yizhou alone. Jiaozhi Commandery and the commanderies south of it are in uproar from Nanyue rebellions, and not long ago the Jiangxia Man rose in Jiangxia."
"So what you are saying, Grand Administrator Zhang, is that Han rule is collapsing across the empire?"
"I cannot see it any other way."
"Then… you served as Inspector of Yangzhou as well, did you not? What of the Shanyue of Yangzhou?"
"Since I left the inspectorship there has fortunately been no particular news. But if they are being governed as the others are, revolt is only a matter of time."
Zhang Min let out a long breath. As he did, he recalled how Cao Cao, a man of the Turbid Stream, had shown him kindness.
"Pure Stream, Turbid Stream — perhaps those are trifling things. Many scholar-officials say, 'Zhonghua has fifty million people; how could a mere million Yi, Man, Rong, and Di bring us down?' But the Xiongnu of Bingzhou already number more than a million! Add the Xianbei and the other foreign tribes, and how many would that be…"
"Surely you do not mean Zhonghua will crumble from the outside in?"
"…What I fear is that one day the Yi, Man, Rong, and Di will sweep it all away as if Zhonghua had never existed at all."
"And if that is not to happen, what must be done?"
"Hold the borders of Youzhou and Bingzhou fast, specially fortify the four commanderies of Hexi, then send a Chief Clerk of the Western Regions again and govern the states of the Western Regions as we once did."
Chief Clerk of the Western Regions. The same name surfaced in Yuan Feng's mind and in Zhang Min's at the same instant.
"Dong Zhuo."
"Had Dong Zhuo, like myself, not been dragged into Luoyang's tangled politics — had the Chief Clerk's office in the Western Regions been restored to what it once was — things would be better than they are now. Even at this late hour, perhaps we should send Dong Zhuo back…"
Yuan Feng shook his head. That would be impossible. Dong Zhuo had already caught the Emperor's eye and was serving as Grand Administrator in Hedong.
This time it was Yuan Feng who let out a long sigh.
"Grand Administrator Zhang, you are like the Marquis of Baling, or the Marquis of Dingyuan. The tales the Marquis of Dingyuan told his elder brother became the 'Treatise on the Western Regions' in the Book of Han, but they cannot have been as detailed as what you have just said. I can only resent the age we live in."
"I will do whatever I can in Taiyuan. There must still be work left for me."
Zhang Hong was twenty this year. The moment he saw Yuan Shao stepping into his quarters, he called out in delight.
"Ah, Brother Benchu!"
"…Brother Benchuuu?"
The eyebrows of Yuan Shu, standing beside Yuan Shao, shot up in a savage arc.
"Well, well. There isn't a corner of the realm you haven't stretched a foot into, is there. The foremost gentleman under heaven, no less."
Yuan Shao merely narrowed his eyes and did not answer. Someone else replied to Yuan Shu's sneer.
"The man suffered six years and came back. You don't have to be warm, but you don't have to be cold either, Gonglu."
"Hold on — Mengde, why are you even here?"
Yuan Shu pointed at Cao Cao, who had appeared with an easy grin, and this time Zhang Hong answered.
"Brother Mengde did my father a great many kindnesses when he was being escorted to Luoyang under arrest."
"He said that as the son he would ride the prisoner cart with him, so I let him."
"Even so, you didn't even bind him with rope, out of regard for Father's dignity, and you gave him plenty of time to settle his affairs and rest."
"Anyone would have done the same. Isn't that right, Gonglu?"
Listening to Zhang Hong and Cao Cao, Yuan Shu let out a sharp snort of laughter.
"Well, I wouldn't know about our 'Brother Beeeenchu' here. The man who observed mourning for a full six years without a shred of flexibility, 'for his legal parents.'"
Zhang Hong, the youngest among them, flicked his eyes about uneasily, and Cao Cao's face hardened a little.
"Hmph."
Yuan Shao let out a breath that sat somewhere between a sigh and a snort, then spoke.
"There is nothing you will not say to your elder cousin, Gonglu."
"Elder cousin, my— look here, Yuan Benchu. No. Yuan Shao. No, no — Shao!"
Yuan Shu shouted it as if he would grant him neither the courtesy name Benchu nor even the Yuan clan name, stepping straight in as though he might seize Yuan Shao by the collar at any moment.
"If a slave woman bore you, at least… watch your mouth. Hm?"
"…Gonglu!"
Cao Cao growled a warning, but Yuan Shao raised a hand first and stopped him.
"You are speaking of the mother of this body, then."
Cao Cao and Zhang Hong froze at an answer they had never imagined.
"Ha! Ahh! Fuck… every brat living in Luoyang ought to see that face with the mask ripped off!"
Yuan Shu spun in place, working himself into a fury, then turned back on Yuan Shao.
"That's right. Because 'your mother' monopolized Father's favor, I grew up watching my own mother cry through the night. That's why I turned out like this. Sufficient explanation?"
"How unfortunate. I remember every last way 'Aunt' tormented the mother of this body, and yet I grew up quite properly."
Yuan Shu stared at Yuan Shao's face, which had not shifted by so much as a shade, then burst out laughing — ha, ha — whirled around, and screamed.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
"Why did Father send this bastard off as adopted son to our late uncle?!"
"Is it not rather a good thing? You got 'Uncle's bastard' cleared out from among the brothers."
At last Cao Cao stepped between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.
"Zhang Ziyuan is years younger than we are and sitting right here — have you no shame! Gonglu, even your elder brother Yuan Ji keeps his mouth shut, so why do you raise this hell inside the house and out? How many years am I supposed to watch this spectacle?"
Cao Cao squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.
"We don't have time to waste like this. Do you have any idea what I saw in the imperial palace?"