Beigu Mountain (Part One)

After settling matters in the camp, the two Lius set out at once, as calmly as if they were heading out to sell mats as before.

In fact, they left together with Grandpa Liu San and the others. Only when they reached Jingkou Avenue did they part ways: Grandpa Liu San's group stayed at the open-air market to sell mats and Winter Hemp Sandals, while Liu Acheng and Liu Jili, who had already hidden the bag of silverware inside a large sack of straw prepared beforehand, kept heading east with the mule carrying it, straight toward the foot of Beigu Mountain.

Jingkou Avenue was the Great Jin Court's most important official road, and its connections needed no explanation. Yet their journey along it was a stumbling, halting affair. Liu Jili also noticed a slight change in Liu Acheng's mood and had been about to ask about it, but never managed to.

The reason was simple: there were far too many people coming and going, especially those heading east.

It was not just the carriage trains of the high-ranking aristocratic clans. There were also parties of lower-ranking gentry like Liu Rengong, recognizable at a glance as refugee leaders, and officials from every level of Southern Xu Province, all hurrying toward the foot of Beigu Mountain. Every one of them wanted to see the Grand Commander, and every one brought a dragon-long procession of horses and carriages... however badly the Imperial Army had been defeated under his command, however much power he had lost, he was still the father of the empress dowager who ruled from behind the curtain, still the very sky over Southern Xu Province. This was precisely the time to show their loyalty.

With so many people, plus lower-level hangers-on like Liu Acheng and Liu Jili, plus the merchants who ordinarily traveled this route, how could the road not be crowded?

The two Lius, in particular, had only a mule they could not ride. Whenever someone's carriage train or mounted party came up behind them, they had to get out of the way... and so they stumbled along, dodging this way and that, until it was nearly dark and their legs ached and their feet went numb, only to find they still had thirty li to go.

Fortunately, Liu Jili knew the area. Though he could not find a wealthy household like Liu Agan's to lodge with, he did locate a settlement outside a garrison town before nightfall. They spent eight Shenlang Coins on a coarse rice ball apiece and a bowl of almost tasteless salted dried-shrimp soup. But with the silverware on them, they dared neither stay at an inn nor reveal their wealth, so they went back outside and spent the night sleeping against the sheltered side of the garrison town's outer wall.

After all that, never mind yesterday's high spirits-even Liu Jili no longer had the energy to be curious.

Early the next morning, disheveled and dusty, with the skin of their faces feeling taut, the two could only find a stream to wash in before continuing east. Before noon, they finally reached the eastern end of Jingkou Avenue, then crossed the canal to arrive at the foot of Beigu Mountain.

Now, when construction first began on the canal connecting the Three Wu to the Yangtze River, it started at the western foot of Beigu Mountain and ran southeast into the heartland of the Three Wu. Since Jingkou Avenue to the west led straight to Jiankang, and a southern mountain further restricted the available space, proper official markets were forbidden west of the canal. There were only docks, government offices, and warehouses serving the waterway... east of the canal, however, beginning at the foot of Beigu Mountain and stretching along its banks, an enormous, bustling commercial district comparable to a city had formed almost naturally.

If one had to identify an urban core within the greater Jingkou region of those days, it would probably have been this area east of the canal, beneath Beigu Mountain and Iron Urn City.

The corner adjoining both the canal and Beigu Mountain, in particular, had an official name: Jingkou Ward-yes, that was where the name of greater Jingkou came from.

Returning to the present, after spending five Shenlang Coins to cross the canal and reach Jingkou Ward, the two Lius finally relaxed a little. Rather than hurry to find anyone, they sought out a shop backing onto the canal, asked the prices, laid out a dozen or so Shenlang Coins, and ordered four large bowls of bean porridge and a plate of salted vegetables. They ate slowly until they were thoroughly satisfied, openly finished their meal at public expense, then rested a while longer, taking in the shops, fleets of boats, household retainers, official servants, and traveling merchants filling their view, and listening to a little gossip.

Only then did they rise and begin making unhurried inquiries in the commercial district beneath Beigu Mountain.

By afternoon, they finally spotted Liu Zhi and his sons standing like lackeys beside the official road south of Iron Urn City, beneath Beigu Mountain.

Unexpectedly, though they were tired, dusty, somewhat nervous, and plainly numb-footed from standing so long-and did not even qualify to wait inside Iron Urn City-the father and sons were remarkably full of spirit. Liu Huzi had even left his father and brothers to argue about something with a boy his own age across the road.

He seemed to be boasting about his tiger skin!

In the middle of talking, Liu Huzi turned and spotted Liu Cheng. He immediately smiled and beckoned, but then glanced again and saw Liu Jili accompanying him. Embarrassment returned, and he promptly waved his hands repeatedly, signaling them to stay away.

Liu Acheng was baffled, but simply turned toward the other side of the official road to find Liu Zhi, Liu Rengong.

Then, right there beside the road, he gave the older man a detailed account of what had happened two days earlier: hunting the tiger, genuinely stumbling into the Xie Clan's curtained picnic enclosure by accident, distributing the cloth after returning, bringing the silverware here, and spending public funds on salted vegetables and bean porridge that morning... this report was the real reason he had come. Those hundred bolts of cloth were worth far too much—at least for their current refugee camp and Liu Rengong's household. Distributing them at the time had certainly been sensible, reasonable, and appropriate to the circumstances, but he still needed to report it promptly.

After all, Liu Rengong was the Refugee Commander of this camp.

Halfway through the account, Liu Rengong broke out in cold sweat. Though he had heard about it from his son yesterday, it was a feat for Liu Huzi's mouth to get through an entire story at all. How could the boy know what mattered and what did not?

Only after hearing Liu Cheng explain in detail how they had covered things up, and how the Xie Family had discarded the camp like a pair of worn-out straw sandals, did he finally breathe easy. "I said that day that you had to go along, Acheng. Thank goodness you did! Otherwise, how could they have turned danger into safety? As for the cloth, you handled that extremely well too. Ahu was the one who didn't understand what mattered... he left a hundred bolts of cloth behind and ran straight here, without stopping to think about our camp. Leave those hundred bolts untouched for two or three days, and people would start killing one another over them! As for the silverware, it's not unusable, but those are the Xie Family's things. However fine they are, we can't give them directly as gifts. We need to find someone to exchange them first, and I'm afraid there isn't time."

"Then I'll do my best to exchange them this afternoon. What if we need them tomorrow?" Liu Cheng finally finished his report, then asked in turn, "How have things gone here, Lord Ren? Fairly smoothly?"

"Fairly smoothly, yes." Only now did a little pleasure enter Liu Zhi's voice. "Your Uncle Gao really has done his utmost. He finally got us onto the list, and officials from the Grand Commander-in-Chief's Office have even come out to speak to us. We just don't know whether we'll get to see him today or tomorrow... originally they said today, but this morning we heard that the office's chief administrator had returned from Pengcheng. His surname is Xun, and his family is no ordinary one. The Grand Commander arranged a banquet for him at short notice, so who knows whether we'll get an audience this afternoon."

"I reckon it'll be tomorrow. Better let Acheng exchange the silverware," Liu Sheng could not help interjecting. "Father, look over there. Liu Agan's father, Lord Liu Ying, brought who knows how much gold and silver. He even has a folding stool to sit on, and he's sitting first in line outside the gate... if the Grand Commander catches a chill or something after seeing him, won't we have come for nothing?"

"The Grand Commander's blessings reach as high as heaven. Don't talk nonsense." Liu Zhi waved a hand helplessly. "Lord Ying wants to secure an official post for his youngest son, Liu Agan. We only want relief to get through the winter. They aren't the same thing... your Uncle Gao has reminded us time and again that we have no foundation, and it isn't our turn. Lord Ying's family, meanwhile, has been here for several years already. Besides, if we really wanted to give gifts, what could a little silver accomplish? At most, we could grease the palms of a few retainers inside and outside the gates. We have no connections whatsoever further in."

Liu Sheng hesitated, but could only turn with his younger brother Liu Pei to look at Liu Cheng.

Liu Cheng understood and nodded immediately. "Brother Jili and I will go into Jingkou Ward and exchange it for small pieces of silver... whether it proves useful or not, we'll have it ready!"

Only then did Liu Sheng and his brother nod.

Liu Zhi could only sigh.

Turning away, Liu Acheng had actually already realized the reason for Liu Huzi's strange gestures across the official road, so he asked directly, "That's Liu Agan's family over there?"

"Who else?" Liu Jili sneered. "Liu Ahu probably thought that since Liu Agan's family is from Pei Commandery and you're from Qiao Commandery, you might be close branches of the clan, so he called you over to get acquainted. But when he saw me coming too, he knew a meeting would make everyone lose face, so he wanted us to stay away instead."

Now, Liu Acheng had been in Jingkou for a while, and had always enjoyed asking about such matters, so he had gained a decent understanding of certain things... strictly speaking, according to ritual convention, after a family migrated to another commandery and remained there for three generations, it counted as having put down roots, and ought to prefix its surname with the new commandery's name.

In practice, however, because of the prestige attached to ancestral commandery seats, these families generally still used whichever commandery name was most famous in their bloodline.

Take Liu Agan's family, for instance. His forebears had moved to Pei Kingdom several generations ago, so by rights they should have called themselves the Liu Clan of Pei Kingdom. Yet both they themselves and everyone else called them the Liu Clan of Pengcheng. First, their bloodline had indeed come from Pengcheng; second, the Liu Clan of Pei Kingdom had its own prestigious ancestral seat south of the Yangtze and was quite eminent. If they insisted on borrowing that name, the other family would not acknowledge them... Xie An's wife came from that family.

And if Liu Agan's family had no choice because the Liu Clan of Pei Kingdom already occupied that ancestral seat, Garrison Commander Gao's family was even more blatant. They had supposedly moved from Bohai to neighboring Le'an over a hundred years ago, and had now migrated south of the Yangtze. By rights, nothing prevented them from calling themselves the Gao Clan of Le'an, but they simply refused to let go of the Bohai Gao Clan's name!

That included Liu Acheng himself. Since Qiao Commandery had no corresponding prestigious ancestral seat, his initial introduction as a Liu of Qiao Commandery had sounded very strange to Liu Huzi. That had led to his claiming Pengcheng as his family's origin, and ultimately to his meeting a whole nest of Pengcheng Lius.

Why did they do this? The answer was written on their faces.

There was no need to look at any other time. Right now, from Lord Liu Ying and his sons waiting outside Iron Urn City, to Liu Rengong's three sons Liu Sheng, Liu Pei, and Liu Jian, to Liu Jili leading the mule beside him with a dark expression, Liu Acheng could easily read two words on all their faces-official office.

A moment's thought made it clear. In an age when families shared political prestige, maintaining their ancestral commandery standing meant sharing eligibility for official office.

Political interests were the heart of it.

If someone became an official, rose to high office, and kept holding high office, then after several generations the family status due under the Nine-Rank System would follow, and a so-called prestigious ancestral seat would naturally emerge... conversely, if two or three generations went without holding office, each generation would naturally fall below the last.

It was just as Garrison Commander Gao had said before: in legal theory, there were only first-tier and second-tier houses of the second rank. But in practice?

In practice, even the first-tier high houses of the second rank had a distinct hierarchy of contempt among themselves. Below them, region and official position laid out further chains of disdain from top to bottom. Never mind not holding office-even failing to hold high office over the long term would send a family's standing tumbling step by step... second-rank high houses, second-tier houses, humble houses, military households... at the very bottom were families like Liu Rengong's and Liu Agan's, whose succession of officeholders had been broken. They already counted as standard bottom-rung gentry.

Only because everyone felt the fox's sorrow at the rabbit's death did they still acknowledge such families as fellow gentry and preserve their hope of office. In reality, they had nothing at all. They could forget about the Nine-Rank System; their only option was to try becoming "Elite Soldiers."

Under such circumstances, the gentry's expansion of ancestral commandery affiliations, even to absurd lengths, was essentially a kind of political insurance.

Having grasped something, Liu Acheng could not resist checking it with the Jingkou know-it-all beside him. "Liu Agan's family lacks neither money nor men. They just want official office?"

"Yes." Liu Jili nodded at once, his expression even a little strange, as though asking whether that really needed a question.

"Can he actually get an official post?" Liu Cheng continued asking as he led the mule toward Jingkou Ward's busiest quarter.

"That depends on the post. If he only wants to become an 'Elite Soldier,' then in principle, yes... the defeat in Qing Province came at just the right time. Several thousand troops were lost, and the Northern Command is recruiting replacements. As long as the Grand Commander says the word, posts like Garrison Commander are made precisely for people like Liu Agan." Liu Jili answered seriously. "Besides, Liu Agan is the youngest son of his family, free to devote himself to riding and archery, and his grandfather served as Chancellor of Guangling across the river. Their local connections are still there. This really is a good opportunity."

"Exactly. I actually forgot the current circumstances. What do you think about those sons of Liu Rengong, then?"

"If Liu Huzi offers up that tiger skin and displays his martial courage, he might have a chance too. But his two older brothers, at their age-wouldn't becoming 'Elite Soldiers' be laughable?"

"That's true." Liu Acheng nodded, then pressed further. "What about you? Last time, when we were catching fish, Liu Huzi arrived halfway through your story. You still haven't told me what you're hoping for!"

"I..." Liu Jili looked embarrassed. "To be honest, our branch was the most illustrious of our Liu Clan of Pengcheng over the past several decades. That was why I couldn't resign myself to becoming an 'Elite Soldier.' But after two or three years of growing poorer by the day, I couldn't even manage that, and I truly lost the heart for it. Only after meeting you-so young, yet so ambitious and so seasoned-did I feel ashamed and recover a little of my ambition."

Sure enough, these men all wanted official office. Liu Jili, who had previously criticized the Refugee Commanders from Northern Chu for wanting nothing else, simply wanted high office.

Liu Acheng gave this "clansman" a sidelong look, at a loss for what to say. A long while passed, and they had already reached the main street of Jingkou Ward before he finally said, "In that case, I only hope that you or Huzi can rise above the crowd soon, so you can give me a leg up."

Those words were entirely sincere-he had realized yesterday how difficult it would be to establish a fortified manor. How could he not curry favor with these prospective officials?

"If we attain wealth and rank, let us not forget one another." Liu Jili shook his head and repeated a saying famous through the ages. "If you ever find yourself in a position to launch a Northern Expedition, don't forget to give us a leg up either... but for now, we'll have to pin more of our hopes on Liu Ahu."

Liu Acheng could only nod.

Meanwhile, Liu Huzi was still boasting to Liu Agan about his tiger skin. Liu Agan, too, had a young man's temperament. Though his father had spent a fortune opening the necessary doors, and though his family was far better situated in Jingkou than Liu Huzi's, confronted with that bloody tiger skin, he genuinely felt the other boy had gotten the better of him!

By the end, this tall, fair-skinned son of the lower gentry, himself only eighteen or nineteen, could only dodge the subject, looking left and right as he talked of something else. "Who were you beckoning over just now, and who were you waving away?"

"I was going to introduce a fellow clansman to you." At that, Liu Huzi immediately grew embarrassed and could no longer go on about the tiger skin. "Though he's a little younger than us, he's always had great ambitions, and he's extremely clever... besides, although his father and grandfather were taken to Hebei by the Jie Hu to serve as officials, the family had previously settled in Qiao Commandery, so they should be more familiar with your branch..."

"Qiao Commandery?" Liu Agan froze, and no amount of thought made sense of it. "What fellow clansmen do we have from Qiao Commandery?"

"It's only natural you wouldn't know. His father and grandfather went to Hebei," Liu Huzi hastily explained.

"And that's why you sent him away again? What is this? How are we any different from them bowing down to serve the rebels?"

"It wasn't because of that. It was because of Liu Jili... you know him, don't you? He later came to depend on our family, and spends all day looking down on everyone. The only person he thinks highly of is this Brother Acheng of mine." Liu Huzi offered a brief explanation. "Just now, I saw Liu Jili had come along too. If you met face-to-face, wouldn't it be awkward?"

"So that's it." Liu Agan understood and immediately sneered. "If you mean Liu Jili, then I know. That fellow's ambitions tower higher than heaven... and I've guessed where your Brother Acheng comes from too! I imagine everyone in their branch has ambitions that high!"

"What do you mean?" Liu Huzi stared.

"Don't you know? Liu Jili spends all day trying to fool people, thinking none of us knows his background, but we guessed it long ago... their branch produced a General Who Guards the North, Commander of Military Affairs in Four Provinces, and Acting Imperial Envoy. Our grandfathers only made it to administrator of a commandery or chancellor of a kingdom. How could we compare with their lofty ambitions? Besides, when their branch went north to join the Jie Hu back then, more than two hundred family members went together. Now that the Jie Hu have collapsed, only two or three have returned over these last two or three years. That's strange in itself." Liu Agan spoke with utter certainty.

"So it's that family! I never thought in that direction! Acheng really has kept it well hidden all this time!" Liu Huzi, too, suddenly saw the light.

"Exactly the same-they're both hiding it. But how could they not?" Liu Agan snorted. "Every first-tier house of the second rank at court counts as that family's enemy! If you ask me, we'd have had official posts long ago if their branch hadn't dragged us down!"

"It's not that bad." Liu Huzi hurriedly waved his hands, instinctively defending them. "Our branch in Cong Pavilion produced a great scholar famous for pure conversation too. Even now, whenever people south of the Yangtze mention our Liu Clan of Pengcheng, they all lament his fate. But I haven't seen them give us office out of regret. Besides, didn't you just say we have another branch of clansmen, the family now living in Jingkou Ward, who came straight here during the migration south? Their ancestors were only county magistrates for several generations running, yet the present head became Administrator of Dong'an. They don't seem to have been dragged down... and anyway, all we're seeking now is a way forward as military households. How could that involve those people?"

Liu Agan understood all these arguments perfectly well, so his spirits sank at those words. "Fine, then. Let's seek an 'Elite Soldier' post first!"