At supper, Liu Acheng received a wooden bowl of fish soup, with a few actual slices of fish in it. Counting the midday meal, they really had eaten better today. Tonight, he would not have to lie on his straw pile drooling over thoughts of tofu simmered with pickled vegetables.
The mood in camp was good, too, mainly because Lord Ren had brought back a large quantity of coarse salt and vinegar cloths from Garrison Commander Gao.
There was also a sack of coarse flour. Apparently, Liu Zhi's whole family would be eating botuo noodles tomorrow, though Liu Cheng had no idea what those were.
Even Liu Jili had won Lord Ren's approval by offering up his fish, receiving permission to stay in camp and help hunt the tiger.
Of course, the more important thing was that, immediately upon returning that afternoon, Liu Rengong had announced good news: he would soon pay a visit to the Grand Commander and ask for them to be settled somewhere... Everyone else was to keep busy, too. Build walls where walls were needed, stockpile firewood where firewood was needed, and gather reed fluff and rice straw to stuff their clothes. Nothing must delay their preparations for winter.
This sent the entire camp into a state of excitement.
There might still be setbacks, casualties, and hardship ahead, but it seemed they could survive this winter. If they could just endure it, clear some wasteland in the meantime, and sow their crops next year, everything would fall into place.
In a word, things were looking up.
Yet, perhaps it was his imagination, but Liu Cheng kept feeling that Liu Zhi's family was looking at him more often than before... He had not eaten extra, had he?
After supper, Liu Cheng first asked Liu Huzi's eldest sister for a needle and thread, sewed the strap back on for Liu Jili, then took him back to his straw pile.
At last, the transmigrator had found someone who clearly understood and cared about current affairs, someone he could ask about the military and political situation without discussing it openly in front of outsiders.
Yes, it was the fifth year of Yonghe, though he had no idea what year that was in the Western calendar. He also knew that Eastern Jin's young emperor had ascended the throne four or five years ago, but discovering that the fellow was still only eight or nine came as a surprise.
He had already known that the young Empress Dowager Chu ruled from behind a curtain, but he had only just learned that Sima Yu, Prince of Kuaiji, commanded the imperial guards and supervised the affairs of the Secretariat to assist her in governing.
Honestly, Liu Cheng felt bewildered at this point, but that was genuinely how things stood. Empress Dowager Chu was the first empress dowager in Chinese history to rule from behind a curtain in the literal sense. Everyone afterward had copied her.
And having an imperial prince assist in governing was a Great Jin tradition, was it not?
All he could say was, thank goodness there were not two empress dowagers, one in an eastern palace and one in a western palace. Otherwise, the resemblance would have been uncanny.
Soon enough, however, Eastern Jin's distinctive features became apparent.
First came the classic tradition of elevating imperial in-laws. Grand Commander Chu Pou, whom Liu Cheng had heard mentioned many times and who now controlled Jingkou and the Northern Command army, was actually Empress Dowager Chu's own father. Meanwhile, the Chen Commandery Xie Clan, a newly prominent family whose name sounded immediately familiar, controlled the Western Command army in Yuzhou north of the river, toward Hefei, and was the empress dowager's maternal clan. These were textbook imperial in-laws... This must have been the political foundation that later allowed Xie An and Xie Xuan to take center stage in history.
The imperial in-laws led armies outside the capital, while an imperial prince assisted in governing within it, balancing one another.
Then there was Huan Wen, who had inherited Jingzhou's status as an independent kingdom upstream, a situation that had existed ever since Eastern Jin's founding. Two years earlier, he had destroyed Cheng Han, which had held Sichuan as a separatist state. His prestige had soared, and he had seized the opportunity to take control of Jiang Province. Apparently, Jiao Province had fallen under his control as well. His presence was precisely what had driven everyone downstream to unite.
The situation had reached a two-tier balance that looked reasonably harmonious.
As for what followed, Liu Cheng needed no further explanation. He had heard about it so often on his journey that his ears had practically grown calluses-everything had changed because of one man's death that summer.
Shi Hu, a name familiar throughout the internet in later times, the very embodiment of a tyrant, had died that May. His death had directly triggered the collapse of Later Zhao and another battle royale in the north.
Faced with their old enemy's complete collapse, everyone in the Eastern Jin court, which regarded itself as the legitimate dynasty, had put a northern expedition on the agenda. The previous two-tier balance would soon be shattered by that inevitable campaign.
Indeed, this had also "directly caused" Liu Cheng to travel south alone and drift to Jingkou alongside the people in this camp.
"You came from the north. Do you know how things stand there?"
Just as Liu Cheng, who had experienced so much that day and had now gained an understanding of the "state of the realm," was preparing to settle into the straw and sleep, Liu Jili beside him unexpectedly began questioning him in turn.
I don't know a damn thing!
Liu Cheng snapped awake, but there was nothing he could do except steel himself and ask, "What part of the situation do you want to know about, Brother Jili?"
"Are the Jie Hu of Later Zhao really unable to hold on?" Liu Jili asked earnestly.
"Without a doubt." Liu Cheng relaxed a little and forced himself to continue. "Shi Hu was monstrously cruel, and he used non-Han people to rule the Han, a minority to dominate the majority. While he lived, the weight of his accumulated authority still held them together. Naturally, everything fractured once he died. There's no saving it."
"Then who can replace them?" Liu Jili continued.
Liu Cheng searched his memory carefully, pieced together a few impressions, and offered a logical answer. "No one can replace them in the short term, but others will certainly divide them up and devour them, carving out their own territories... The Murong Xianbei can swallow Hebei, and the Fu Di can swallow Guanzhong, I suppose? Then they'll spend another few decades deciding who wins."
Liu Jili found this exceedingly strange and immediately asked, "You came from Hebei, so the Di people you mean must be Pu Hong's people in Fangtou. Where did this 'Fu Di' you're setting alongside the Murong Xianbei come from?"
"Is the Di people's leader's surname Pu?" Liu Cheng panicked inwardly and hurried to ask, "If there's only one such family, surely it's Fu? Anyway, everyone I heard called him Fu, the character with 'grass' over 'pay.' Did you mishear it, or did I remember wrong...?"
"'Grass over pay shall become king'..." Liu Jili froze, then started in surprise, unexpectedly supplying an explanation himself. "Could they have changed their surname to that Fu because of the prophecy? I've long heard that Pu Hong's family believes in prophetic writings."
"That's what I heard people say. Perhaps they really did change their surname." Liu Cheng hurried to bluff his way through.
"So that's it." Liu Jili nodded, actually following that explanation to its conclusion himself. "It seems Pu Hong and the Di people in Fangtou nominally submitted to the court as soon as Shi Hu died, but if they're secretly changing their surname over some prophecy, their ambitions clearly haven't diminished. They originally came from Guanzhong, too, so taking advantage of the vacuum to return and establish themselves there would make sense... But what about the Qiang people?"
"What Qiang people?"
Liu Cheng grew increasingly panicked. Naturally, he knew that Fu Jian's family were Di people, that they would rise to power, and that there would be a Battle of Fei River. But which band of heroes were these Qiang people? The Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms were such a mess, and he was no history student. At most, he had read a few webnovels and watched a few videos. How could he possibly remember it all clearly?
"Yao Yizhong in Shetou and his Qiang people," Liu Jili answered without hesitation. "Yao Yizhong and Pu... and Fu Hong came from Guanzhong together to submit to Later Zhao. One was settled in Shetou, the other in Fangtou, and they were known as the Two Tou. Whenever troops marched out, they formed the army's left and right wings. They've always been mentioned together... Surely Yao Yizhong wants to return west of the passes as well."
"Weren't you asking me who would win?" Liu Cheng hurried to muddy the question. He truly knew nothing about this Yao Yizhong fellow; he had never even heard the name before. All he could do was guess that the man and the Qiang forces behind him had lost. "I just think Fu Hong has greater talent and vision. His people can beat the Qiang people."
"I don't think the Qiang people are inferior to the Di people, but if we're only talking about returning to Guanzhong, the Di people do have an advantage. Fangtou, which they occupy, lies on the route the Qiang people must take to return." Liu Jili murmured in the darkness, still offering his own opinion. "But won't the court concern itself with Guanzhong? Sima Xun, the inspector of Liang Province, is in Hanzhong. Surely he'll send troops? And General Huan has his army in Jingzhou. He could take Guanzhong through Wu Pass, couldn't he?"
"The Grand Commander's sending troops to Qing Province, too..." Liu Acheng was finally at a loss for words.
Liu Jili immediately choked on his reply and fell silent.
Naturally, Liu Acheng breathed a sigh of relief as well and went back to sleep.
Some unknown time later, Liu Jili, who apparently still had not fallen asleep, asked again from the other side of the straw pile, "Even if Later Zhao collapses, its great army is still there. Couldn't some Han hero emerge to put things in order? Shi Min controls the main force of the imperial guards, and Li Nong has the Qihuo Army. Couldn't they do it?"
Liu Jili did not expect an answer. Faint snores were already coming from the other side, and the other man's earlier reasoning had really supplied the answer anyway-the Murong would win.
Sure enough, the snoring merely paused for a moment before slowly resuming.
Liu Jili said nothing more, rolled over, and went to sleep.
Early the next morning, Liu Huzi actually came looking for them of his own accord, still talking only about hunting the tiger. Liu Jili was equally decisive and had even prepared in advance, while Liu Cheng intended to take the opportunity to slip away... He wanted absolutely nothing to do with this.
Liu Ahu, however, was puzzled. "Where are you going, Acheng?"
"To eat, of course." Liu Cheng felt flustered.
"I brought steamed millet." Liu Huzi pointed to the horse behind him. "New millet from Garrison Commander Gao. Enough for the three of us to eat on the way. The others will gather after they've eaten..."
"We won't need too many people at first, but we do need a mule to carry things," Liu Jili interjected. "Today we're mainly buying equipment."
Although the fresh millet was tempting, and they would not be confronting the tiger today, Liu Cheng still feared getting involved. He immediately protested again, "They still need my help with the Grass Sandals. It's market day again!"
"A true man sets his sights a thousand miles away. How can you spend every day thinking of weaving mats and selling sandals?" Liu Huzi was utterly exasperated. "Let Third Uncle handle that!"
Liu Cheng immediately wanted to give him another lesson about Liu Xuande, but Liu Jili spoke up again. "Acheng, if you normally weave sandals and sell mats for the camp's livelihood, then hunting the tiger is now the greatest matter affecting that livelihood. Only the Grand Commander can settle and provide relief for so many people. Everything else is empty talk. How can you say you won't go? And if you've always had ambitions, and weaving sandals and selling mats was merely a way to muddle through your days, you should still consider the future of the elders in this camp. Otherwise, even if you join the army and march north someday, who will be willing to support you?"
Why are you making such a profound argument? And why do you have to spell out my persona?
For a moment, Liu Cheng felt helpless, but he had to admit that the man was not merely cornering him with words. He genuinely had a point-even if Liu Cheng wanted to establish his own fortified manor someday, he would still have to borrow a hen to lay his eggs. If he refused to shoulder any responsibility in camp, who would follow him?
And for the camp at present, the most important matter was preparing properly for the audience with the Grand Commander.
Left with no choice, he could only ask, "Then where are we going to buy equipment? And where's the money coming from?"
"Brother Jili said last night there's a marketplace nearby. We'll look at the equipment first. If it's useful, we'll certainly find the money." Seeing that he had stopped resisting, Liu Huzi hastily waved a hand. "Let's just decide quickly. We can't waste time."
At that, they finally stopped arguing, fetched the poor mule, and headed toward the main road outside camp, sharing millet balls as they walked. At the valley entrance, they waited briefly, and sure enough, another seven or eight sturdy men carrying bows gathered. Then Liu Jili led the way, Liu Ahu rode his horse with a formidable air, Liu Cheng walked beside him leading the mule, and the other seven or eight men followed behind. Off they strode with their heads held high.
This time, they did not take Jingkou Avenue to the north. Instead, they followed Liu Jili south along the Jurong road. Long before reaching Jurong, they turned east onto a small path. After only a few miles, they turned south again, then traveled another seven or eight miles and climbed a low hill. The view suddenly opened up, revealing a sizable fenced marketplace.
Though they were still some distance away, they could already see paths crisscrossing the surrounding fields and people coming and going. It was clearly bustling.
Liu Ahu, astride his horse, immediately offered praise. "Good thing we have Brother Jili. Otherwise, we wouldn't even know this place existed."
Almost instinctively, Liu Cheng smiled as well. "Next time, we can come here to sell Grass Sandals..."
"No." Liu Jili turned back with a stern warning. "This isn't an informal market or an official one. It's a Private Estate... Every shop and all the goods inside belong to Master Du Ming. He has his own mats and Grass Sandals to sell. Why would he let you in?"
Liu Cheng froze again, then understood. Ever since arriving in Jingkou, he had been thinking about fortified manors. Who would have imagined that the nearest one was so close? And so grand!
His spirits immediately rose. He prepared to observe and learn carefully, so that he could carry on this excellent business experience in the future.
In fact, upon hearing this, even Liu Huzi and the sturdy men accompanying them looked at the place differently.
As they approached the market, Liu Cheng immediately noticed a few oddities. For example, there were far too many women on the road, most of them young. They carried themselves freely and easily, drawing repeated sidelong glances from the men, and even took the initiative to tease their party. They were utterly different from the women who had fled the Huai River region. Then there were all the bright red-or crimson-markers, from things people wore to the market's flags. There seemed to be an excessive number of them. Indeed, as they went farther in, they discovered that virtually every merchant, goods owner, and farmer passing through, male or female, wore a Crimson Headscarf binding their hair.
Liu Cheng was still confused, but Liu Ahu suddenly understood and asked quietly from his horse, "Brother Jili, does the owner here belong to the Way of the Celestial Masters?"
"You're newcomers, but you've never even heard of Master Du Ming? He's the leader of the Way of the Celestial Masters in Jingkou..." Liu Jili was somewhat surprised as well. "They say the Prince of Kuaiji, who oversees the court's government, and many present-day scions of Wang and Xie, including members of the southern Shen, Gu, Zhang, and Lu clans, all honor him as their teacher... We're only here to buy things. Whatever you do, don't make a scene or mention his personal name."
Liu Ahu was deeply startled.
"But don't worry too much," Liu Jili added helplessly, offering reassurance. "Master Du Ming owns more than a dozen manor markets like this across the Three Wu. He also has to visit dignitaries everywhere to attend social engagements, avert calamities, pray for blessings, and confer registers. He has residences outside Iron Urn City and inside Jiankang. Where would he find time to visit this market...? Just treat it as an ordinary private market within a fortified manor. It's merely that, under Master Du Ming's name, no one inspects the place even if it contains plenty of weapons."
Only then did Liu Huzi relax.
Liu Acheng, on the other hand, became even more curious upon learning that this belonged to the Way of the Celestial Masters. And, as always, his focus was different. "Brother Jili, how did Master Du Ming acquire these markets and manors? Were they offerings from believers?"
"Of course." Liu Jili nodded. "The followers offer grain, their children, farmland, and shops. People and property alike enter the faith... But I remember someone saying this particular estate was given to Master Du Ming by the Shen Clan of Wuxing... I suppose that counts as an offering from believers, too?"
Liu Acheng clicked his tongue, feeling somewhat helpless. It seemed he could not learn from this particular method of establishing a fortified manor.
Liu Huzi's thoughts were rather more youthful. First he relaxed, then, after walking a little farther, they encountered three or four young women wearing Crimson Headscarves. The women were singing an incomprehensible folk song from the Wu Region, and as they approached, they pointed at the men and teased them. He truly could not help himself. As soon as they had passed, he asked, "Brother Jili, I've heard that men and women joining the faith have to copulate under a master's guidance. And the masters often have over a hundred wives and concubines and frequently hold gatherings that disregard all moral relations. Is that true?"
Liu Jili felt helpless. Glancing around, he quietly explained to Liu Huzi and the group of red-faced men, "Upon joining, you first offer grain and acknowledge a teacher. Then a master who has received a register guides men and women in copulating to purge their sins. That part is true. But all this talk of a hundred wives and concubines and immoral gatherings... They're really just the household courtesans of extravagant aristocratic families! It's all the same!"
At these words, not only did Liu Huzi freeze briefly before immediately understanding, but Liu Cheng also saw the light. Of course. How was this any different from the hundreds or thousands of household courtesans kept by those aristocrats who competed in displays of wealth in the old anecdotes?
Besides, aristocrats could become officials. Could a register-conferred master of the Way of the Celestial Masters do that? If you could become an official on earth, would you need to become a celestial official whose name appeared in the Celestial Register?
Viewed that way, were the masters of the Way of the Celestial Masters not simply wealthy, lower-ranking aristocrats? They were no different from the petty emperors in ordinary fortified manors.
With that thought, Liu Huzi immediately lost his sense of novelty.
Liu Acheng thought further and shook his head all the more. As a transmigrator, he had no firsthand understanding of aristocratic life and was accustomed to looking at things from the bottom... After all, if one insisted on identifying a difference, among the aristocrats, beautiful women were merely expendable tools used to encourage drinking between noblemen. Here, in the Way of the Celestial Masters, young women were a means of luring able-bodied men into becoming Slave Retainers. It really would attract and unite young men.
Yes, unite them.
Strangers entering the faith through ritual intercourse, along with the orgies among the rank and file, probably involved more than mere indulgence and the sharing of sexual resources. They must also have been an exceptionally extreme, exceptionally twisted way of breaking down barriers and creating a small group's shared identity.
Similar behavior was hardly unknown among extremist groups and closed circles in later times.
Especially in this era. Outside, ritual and law could hardly be called rigid, but moral codes objectively existed. Historically, they had not been toppled by the Way of the Celestial Masters or the celebrated Wei-Jin spirit; instead, they had ultimately triumphed... So outside there were ritual constraints, taxes, corvée, and the ravages of war, while inside, even the most basic sense of shame was cast aside. The exchange of bodily fluids and shared economic resources shaped a little community, until everyone within it was someone you could face naked and rely on financially.
How could a little community like that fail to be tightly bound?
Yet even illegal organizations in later times had to conceal such practices, and the Way of the Celestial Masters itself had eventually abandoned them. Clearly, these things were not stable... A moment's thought made that obvious. How could family property and incentives to work be safeguarded? Could genuine personal liberation and romantic love survive within such a structure?
Moreover, historical experience showed that self-isolating groups opposed to secular law and tradition easily produced still more extreme internal tyrants or degenerates, especially when they were genuine religious groups like this.
It truly could not be treated as a path forward.
But if he really wanted to establish a fortified manor, competing with it would also be very difficult.
Nor was that all. After thinking through the Way of the Celestial Masters, he thought again about the court affairs he had learned from Liu Jili the night before, and everything seemed even more remarkable-the north was entering a new climax of the Five Hu's ravaging of China, holding a battle royale. In the south, an empress dowager ruled behind a curtain, an imperial prince assisted her, and rigidly stratified aristocratic clans had carved up the entire court, while Huan Wen rose upstream. Even here, among Jingkou's several hundred thousand inhabitants, there were the Grand Commander, the Northern Command army, high-ranking aristocrats, low-ranking aristocrats, refugees, fortified manors, and the Way of the Celestial Masters.
Oh, and there was a northern expedition to launch and a tiger to hunt. The camp was going to get better, too.
Truly, everything brimmed with life, all creation surging forward.
But amid this dazzling confusion, where do I fit? When will I ever get my fortified manor built?
I'm so impatient!
While he was thinking, they arrived at the Private Estate. Following Liu Jili directly to several particular shops, they first inspected large nets and hemp ropes, then swords and sabers, and finally bows and arrows. Liu Huzi's brow furrowed as he looked. At last, he walked out with his arms folded and told Liu Jili bluntly, "Brother Jili, some of these things are suitable, but as for the blades and bows, they aren't even as good as the few I brought from the Huai River region. How could we hunt a fierce tiger with them?"
Liu Jili looked embarrassed, then visibly hesitant.
Liu Cheng had remained silent until now because he understood none of this. Seeing their reactions, he simply asked, "Brother Ahu, what should we be looking for to hunt a fierce tiger?"
"Long spears first. Naturally, the bows need to be powerful," Liu Ahu answered immediately. "As for ropes and such for the pit traps, they're willing to sell those."
"Then, Brother Jili, do they have long spears and powerful bows here?" Liu Cheng nodded, then turned to the other man.
"They certainly do," Liu Jili answered quietly. "But those aren't things ordinary people use. Besides, as I said, this is Master Du Ming's Private Estate. If they refuse to bring them out, what can we do?"
As he spoke, he gestured with his lips.
The other two looked in that direction. Sure enough, a burly man in a Crimson Headscarf from the shop they had just visited was chatting with a manager in a long robe and Crimson Headscarf, while both of them scrutinized their party.
Clearly, the long-robed manager had come specifically to control the situation after receiving word. The shops in this market were deliberately refusing to sell to these outsiders.
Seeing this and hearing those words, even Liu Huzi became somewhat discouraged once he understood. He plainly feared the reputation of the Way of the Celestial Masters as well.
Liu Acheng, however, who had already worked through his own doubts on the road and stripped the Way of the Celestial Masters of its mystique, thought nothing of it. He thrust the mule's lead into Liu Jili's hand, went straight back into the shop, cupped his hands toward the two men inside, and immediately spoke in a clear voice. "Good health to you, fellow adherents. Might there be a register-conferred celestial official here? We come from the Liu Clan of Pengcheng. The gentleman outside is the grandson of Lord Xi, Former Yanmen Governor and Protector-General of the Xiongnu. At the request of Garrison Commander Gao of Jiangcheng, an old family friend, we are to hunt a tiger for Grand Commander Chu as a gift for an audience on the Double Ninth Festival. We therefore wish to find some sturdy equipment here. If such an official is present, please introduce us."
The two men in the shop watched someone in a Coarse Tunic and Trousers, who had previously stood silent like a servant boy, walk in and speak with such confidence. At first, they were startled and suspicious. Halfway through, they visibly panicked, hastily dropping their hands and standing formally. By the time he finished, they were already at a complete loss, exchanging bewildered looks.
---------I am a dividing line skilled at drawing talismans---------
The two Xi served the Dao, and the two He served the Buddha, all through gifts of wealth. Xie, the gentleman of the household, said, "The two Xi flatter the Dao; the two He fawn upon the Buddha."
-New Account of Tales of the World, "Teasing and Mockery," twenty-five.
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