Luoyi and Haojing

Xiong Dun released the captured nobles. Together with the routed troops who had escaped earlier and a newly conscripted group of lesser nobles from the Royal Domain, they replenished the ranks.

The Six Armies of Luoyi soon returned to their full complement. As Minister of War, the Marquis of Qi trained this rebuilt force, hoping to restore its fighting strength as soon as possible and remedy the dangerous shortage of military power in the Royal Domain.

Almost everyone looked delighted. The damage wrought by the crushing defeat was gradually fading, but Luo Su caught a scent of danger in it.

Outside the exceptional circumstances of wartime, they had actually managed to conscript tens of thousands of full-time soldiers.

This did not mean the economy was healthy. It meant that more nobles lacked fiefs and hoped to gain land by serving the Son of Heaven.

Many nobles in the Zhou State possessed their own enfeoffed states, but many others had never been enfeoffed. Instead, they remained in the Royal Domain and expanded their clans.

They served the Son of Heaven as officials within the Royal Domain. In return, he allotted them land there, whose produce served as their stipends and supported their clans.

Unlike the lands enfeoffed to the regional lords, ownership of these lands remained with the Son of Heaven. They could not be bought or sold; only their produce was granted.

Countless lesser nobles lived on this arrangement. Even Luo Su held a fief in the Royal Domain.

If large numbers of people suddenly lost their fiefs, the entire Royal Domain would explode in an instant.

Free commoners were exceedingly rare in this era. None of the Marquisate States recruited soldiers as later ages would. Military service fell entirely upon these lowest-ranking nobles and the citizenry.

Only by safeguarding their interests could the Son of Heaven sit securely upon his throne.

That was also why, after Ji Wan died on the road back to Luoyi and news of the crushing defeat reached the Royal Domain, Luo Su had immediately reassured its lesser nobles.

None of their fiefs would be reclaimed. He had even allowed their clans to send others to continue serving the Son of Heaven, ensuring his dependents retained their loyalty and confidence in him.

To gain a thorough understanding of the Royal Domain's current circumstances, Luo Su requested records of its land, population, and clan distribution from the Marquis of Chen.

These were the latest figures compiled during the recruitment of the new army. The Marquis of Chen was a mediocre man who lacked the ability to analyze what lay behind the data.

But Luo Su could. As he stared at the register, he felt his hands trembling.

The situation was worse than he had imagined. Only seventy years had passed since King Kang moved east to Luoyi, yet forty percent of the Royal Domain's land had already been allotted.

Under the lineage system, senior lineages branched into junior lineages, which then branched into further junior lineages. Their numbers would grow exponentially. Where could the Royal Domain find enough land to allot them?

If no new land could be found, fierce clashes would erupt between the lesser nobles without fiefs and the great nobles holding vast estates.

When that happened, the entire Royal Domain would sink beneath the gloom of political strife. The military nobles might even draw their blades.

"No wonder our ancestor said the lineage system, the enfeoffment system, and Xia lords and Yi people formed a trinity. Without any one of them, the Zhou people's Mandate of Heaven would gradually crumble."

Luo Su drew a deep breath. "We absolutely cannot continue granting fiefs within the Royal Domain like this. Some of the clans that have entrenched themselves here for years must also be cleared out."

A moment's thought told Luo Su that resistance would be immense. In terms of a later age, it would roughly amount to driving a middle-class family that had settled in Beijing out to the frontier.

Even their ancestor, a man of heavenly genius, had found no complete solution to such a thorny problem. He could only grant fiefs far and wide, delaying the reckoning for as long as possible. But circumstances had changed. Enfeoffment was no longer something that could be done at a word, and for the moment Luo Su was at a loss.

Suddenly, a guard outside announced that a message had arrived from Haojing. Luo Su set down his bamboo slips and ordered the guard to bring the messenger in.

The Marquis of Qi, Grand Guardian and Minister of War, hurried inside with a lesser noble clad in leather armor. The moment he saw Luo Su, he said urgently, "Grand Tutor, urgent military intelligence has arrived from Haojing."

As Minister of War, the Marquis of Qi oversaw the Zhou State's military affairs. All military reports had to be sent to his ministry as well as to Luo Su.

The moment he received the messenger's intelligence, he had dropped everything and rushed over to Luo Su.

Luo Su hurriedly unrolled the letter the messenger handed him. While Luo Su read, the Marquis of Qi spoke directly. "The lords enfeoffed west of Haojing sent a joint letter. News of King Li's crushing defeat reached the Western Rong tribes, and they believe the myth of the Zhou State's invincible armies has ended.

"They gathered dozens of tribes into an alliance and launched a sudden attack on the western Marquisate States. The lords were caught unprepared and suffered a disastrous defeat. By the time they sent this letter, more than ten Marquisate States had already fallen.

"The lords fled into Haojing's Royal Domain with their ruling clans, defeated troops, and citizens. They are temporarily sheltering in its towns.

"The Marquis of Cheng, charged with guarding the west, is now resisting them alongside the Marquis of Mao, the Marquis of Tai, and the Marquis of Bi, to prevent the Dog Rong from breaking into the Royal Domain and destroying the ancestral temples of our former kings.

"They have reportedly contacted the Marquis of Bao. He has always been on good terms with the major Dog Rong tribes, and they hope he can persuade them to withdraw."

By then, Luo Su had finished reading the intelligence. He admittedly knew little about warfare, but maintaining a balance of power was his forte, and he personally directed most of the Zhou State's diplomacy.

The events in the west struck him as strange. He murmured to himself, "Why would the Dog Rong suddenly launch a large-scale offensive? I know there are frequent clashes, but with the Qiang People as our allies, the Dog Rong would have to be mad to wage a major war against our Zhou State."

The Qiang and Jiang shared common origins. The Qiang People had always been the Zhou State's most important allies west of Haojing and a crucial aid in resisting the Dog Rong. How could such a balanced distribution of power suddenly collapse?

As for that supposed myth of the Zhou State's invincible armies, it was hardly worth taking seriously. Since moving the capital to Luoyi, the Zhou State had relied on help from the Qiang People and concentrated on expansion in the central and eastern regions. Its ability to project force around Haojing had long been insufficient.

After ordering a guard to take the messenger away to rest, the two men sat casually cross-legged, with no outsiders present, and pondered the strange news from Haojing City. Luo Su shook the bamboo slips in his hand and frowned. "Uncle, no matter how you look at it, something is strange about this.

"As the western lords say, the Dog Rong have grown extremely quickly in recent years, but surely not so quickly that the allied armies of the states can no longer withstand them.

"Surely the Dog Rong haven't produced an unrivaled general like Xiong Dun, capable of defeating greater numbers with fewer men and crushing both the western lords and the Qiang People tribes."

"Am I supposed to march Luoyi's newly rebuilt army over there to quell the unrest?

"It would be the height of absurdity."

The Marquis of Qi was a veteran of many battles, and he found the report stranger still.

He had pondered it throughout the journey here, turning it over a hundred times without finding an answer.

But Luo Su's words sent a sudden flash of inspiration through his mind. "Marching a great army to Haojing and stationing a massive military force there again... could the western lords have engineered this themselves?"

Hearing the Marquis of Qi's murmur, Luo Su immediately recalled their earlier discussion. The western lords frequently exaggerated the Dog Rong threat to Haojing and did everything they could to persuade the Son of Heaven to move west.

Their main aim was to have the Son of Heaven invest his strength in Haojing again, restoring its former political status as the center of power.

The western lords might well have seized upon the Son of Heaven's crushing defeat to use the Rong threat as leverage, hoping to bring him to Haojing.

Luo Su understood what the western lords wanted, but he would not allow it. For at least the next thirty years, the Son of Heaven had to remain in the Central Plains.

"Your conjecture is quite plausible, Uncle. Otherwise, this makes no sense."

With some anger, Luo Su said, "I hope this is only our conjecture. If the western lords deliberately allowed the Dog Rong to sow chaos, their intentions alone deserve execution. Anyone who shakes the foundations of the state deserves death.

"But if they truly are behind this, such an act sends a dangerous political signal.

"It seems Haojing's decline has reached a point they can no longer tolerate.

"If we continue ignoring the sentiments in Haojing, unrest even more dangerous than this may not be far off.

"Ensuring stability in the west is our foremost priority. Haojing is where the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven arose. Nothing can be allowed to go wrong there.

"The Sage King once told King Kang that they should implement a two capitals system, enfeoffing large numbers of Ji Marquisate States along the narrow stretch of land between Haojing and Luoyi and bringing the entire region firmly under royal rule.

"Then, by linking the two capitals, the Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven would endure far longer. But in the end, the plan was never carried through.

"Now, it seems the time has come to revive it.

"With the development of the east, Luoyi has reached the height of prosperity. Rebuilding Haojing now will also lay a firm foundation for our future expansion into the western frontier."

As one of the leaders of the eastern lords, the Marquis of Qi naturally opposed the Son of Heaven moving west.

But the Qi State was, after all, an ally of the Zhou State, so he did not dwell on that. He merely frowned and said, "In recent years, enfeoffment has gradually acquired established rules.

"When we previously made the former king's three sons marquises, we could justify it through their noble blood and the favors granted upon Son of Heaven Xi's accession. But what grounds would we use for the other Ji lords?

"Granting fiefs without cause would create problems even within the royal clan, let alone among lords of other surnames. Since ancient times, people have feared not poverty but inequality. We must proceed cautiously."

Luo Su naturally understood this. Suddenly, something seemed to occur to him. He turned to pick up the records of the Royal Domain's clans and population again, and a smile spread across his face. With some delight, he said, "I've found our grounds for enfeoffment. The key is how to get these people out."

The Marquis of Qi took the bamboo slips from Luo Su and read them. He immediately understood Luo Su's intent. "You intend to enfeoff these Dukes and Ministers of the Royal Domain elsewhere? If it is these people, there would indeed be far less resistance."

Having found a solution to two problems at once, Luo Su relaxed somewhat. "These Dukes and Ministers of the Royal Domain have remained here since King Kang's time.

"They may not have a state at their backs as we regional lords do, but their roots intertwine throughout the Royal Domain, and their clans are populous. Moving them out would greatly benefit the Zhou State.

"They have served the Son of Heaven for years and accumulated enough merit to silence some of the lords. Many formally hold the rank of his ministers or grandees, so their status is sufficiently exalted as well.

"When our ancestor established the lineage system, he declared that the Son of Heaven's Three Dukes ranked with dukes and marquises, his ministers with earls, and his grandees with viscounts and barons.

"Following that system, we can enfeoff elsewhere all those nobles in the Royal Domain with large clans, those who have lost influence but still hold extensive fiefs, and those lesser nobles who cannot obtain fiefs.

"That would solve both the land problem within the Royal Domain and the problem of the region between the two capitals."

The Marquis of Qi quickly pointed out a flaw in this approach. "Would those great nobles agree to leave the Royal Domain?

"Especially those families that have been Dukes and Ministers for generations. Back then, even you couldn't remove You and Ji from King Li's side.

"If King Li hadn't suffered this crushing defeat, they would probably still be sitting comfortably beside him.

"Land allotted within the Royal Domain is not hereditary, but everyone knows that in practice it is.

"I have even heard that the Royal Domain's offices are now exploring whether nobles could trade land within their fiefs at reasonable prices.

"If you offer them land outside the Royal Domain in exchange for their holdings within it, they will certainly object."

"The Royal Domain is their territory, after all. Unless we bring in the armies of our own states-but you know we cannot do that."

Luo Su smiled faintly. "Naturally, Uncle, your nephew has considered those concerns.

"Come to think of it, although the Luo State lies outside the Royal Domain, from our ancestor the Sage King onward, almost every Marquis of Luo has held office here. Only our ancestral temple lies elsewhere. We could count among the Dukes and Ministers of the Royal Domain ourselves.

"From what I know, its Dukes and Ministers are not a single slab of iron. Some great clans of Dukes and Ministers have gradually been pushed to the margins here and already want to leave for outside appointments.

"A hundred years ago, the Royal Domain was certainly the most prosperous and fertile place under heaven. No one wanted to leave.

"But so many years have passed. As the policy of Xia lords and Yi people has progressed, life for many regional lords is no longer so harsh. The Dukes and Ministers of the Royal Domain look on with envy.

"As for those Dukes and Ministers unwilling to leave, under the lineage system and the enfeoffment system, ministers, grandees, and Prime Scholars must each receive land at their respective levels."

"A senior lineage that refuses to grant land to its junior lineages acts contrary to the Rites of Zhou.

"As the Grand Clan Head of the Ji clan, surely it is only natural for me to uphold justice for the junior lineages within the domain when their clans refuse to observe lineage law and ritual?"

"As long as I keep the military nobles steady, I can first enfeoff those junior lineages that have received no fiefs elsewhere, weakening the senior lineages.

"If they still refuse to see sense then, they can ask whether my blade is sharp."

The Marquis of Qi found Luo Su's plan reasonably sound. He smiled and said, "Since you have a good strategy in your belly, I won't ask any more. But how do we deal with the situation in Haojing City right now?"

Whether relocating the Royal Domain's Dukes and Ministers or reviving Haojing, these were state policies that would take a long time to carry out. What confronted them now was the Rong unrest in the west.

Luo Su drew back his wandering thoughts. They did not know the precise circumstances in the west, so there was little else they could do.

They could only send someone to investigate in person. He said, "I'm afraid I must trouble you to make a journey west, Uncle.

"Take one army with you. I will have the Regency Council issue a decree entrusting all military and civil affairs in the west to you, with full authority to act.

"Once you arrive, focus first on reassurance. If there are too many defeated lords, choose the worst offender and deal with him. Leave the others alone for now and investigate before deciding.

"As for the Qiang People tribes, you understand them better than I do, Uncle. Decide for yourself. This time, take a good look at what is really happening in the west."

The Marquis of Qi had anticipated on his way here that he would most likely have to travel west. He readily agreed. "Leave this to me. If I discover anything new, I will send a messenger back."