Wuxing

"With long blades and mighty bows, we held Jiangdong in our hands.

Carriages flowed like water, horses surged like dragons; behold the realm, spread out before our eyes..."

Liu Acheng sat on the mule cart, singing a peculiar song and driving it himself with a touch of excitement. Ahead of him, behind him, and beside him, almost everyone else wearing a crimson headscarf, whether riding in carts, on horseback, or walking below, could do little but give him strange looks and exchange bewildered glances.

After all, their stations were different.

When this fellow had traveled to and from the Private Estate before, everyone had known he was a scion of the gentry who stood on equal footing with Master Lu. For this journey, Master Lu had personally told them that he would soon soar to prominence and must be attended to with care... Even if his tone had sounded somewhat peculiar, those had still been his words.

So they had given him the treatment he was due. Nor had Liu Acheng taken the opportunity to put on airs over the past few days; instead, he had gotten along splendidly with the followers of the Way of the Celestial Masters. If he wanted to sing, naturally they let him.

Of course, Liu Acheng was merely singing nonsense out of boredom.

His journey did not take him past the Wu Palace of King Fuchai of Wu mentioned in the song-that was in Wu County, Wu Commandery, the Suzhou of later ages, and one had to travel by water along the Canal to pass through it. They were taking a different route, heading south along the Jurong highway, passing Mao Mountain, and soon entering Wuxing Commandery. Then they would cross the Middle River, a tributary of Tai Lake, by the pontoon bridge near Yangxian, traverse all of Wuxing Commandery, and travel down the western side of Tai Lake to Qiantang. From there, they would cross the Zhejiang and enter Kuaiji.

The journey had been fairly smooth, mainly because the Way of the Celestial Masters had numerous outposts. Many estates that did not belong to the faith also had owners who followed it and were willing to provide food and lodging. In addition, once they passed Mao Mountain, the snow grew much thinner, and over the last two or three days it had melted away completely.

Under these circumstances, Liu Acheng soon began learning to drive a cart. Though he still could not stop the mule cart at a specified spot in a specified position, he had already mastered following the wheel ruts. This made him immensely proud: he had acquired another professional skill.

If he fell on hard times in the future and had no other choice, he could apply to some powerful clan as a slave retainer and thump his chest as he declared, "My flute playing comes down from Green Pearl through her pupil-ask Aunt Song if you don't believe me. All Jingkou praises the grass sandals I weave; the craftsmanship of Lord Ren's Sandals is second to none. As for my driving, need I say more? Which of you has driven all the way from Jiankang to Kuaiji?"

With such mastery of both cultured and practical arts, he might even be made an accountant.

"Is this the Middle River?" After the veteran member of the Way of the Celestial Masters beside him helped him turn a corner, Liu Acheng took the reins again, only to have his attention drawn away by the river beside the road. "It isn't very wide."

"No, it isn't," replied a middle-aged Daoist riding beside him in a long gown. "Of the Three Rivers and Five Lakes, none are particularly broad except Tai Lake."

Liu Acheng froze. He had always thought the Three Rivers and Five Lakes referred generally to all the rivers and lakes under heaven. Why did this sound as though they specifically meant the waters around Tai Lake?

Fortunately, he was eager to learn, and immediately asked, "Master Feng, which three rivers and which five lakes are they?"

"The Three Rivers are the North River, the Middle River, and the South River. The Five Lakes are Tai Lake, Gui Lake, She Lake, Xu Lake, and Shi Lake... They form the water system here in Yangzhou, between Danyang and Wu Commandery." This middle-ranking Daoist surnamed Feng had grown familiar with him over the journey. Besides, who could travel like this without finding something to talk about? Even Liu Acheng, supposedly about to soar to prominence, still played the flute for everyone at night. "But only the Middle River and Tai Lake lie ahead of us now. We've already passed the others."

Only then did Liu Acheng realize that it had probably been that fellow Wang Bo who began using the Three Rivers and Five Lakes as a general expression. Before that, they really had meant only the waterways of Yangzhou. After all, one never knew what writers might do for the sake of a rhyme, a balanced phrase, or filling out a word count.

"I see." Having figured that out, Liu Acheng stopped dwelling on it and moved straight to his next question. "If what you said before is right, once we turn at the Middle River, will we soon be entering Wuxing?"

"Yes." Daoist Feng pointed casually. "The boundary is a dozen or so li ahead. We'll be spending tonight inside Wuxing."

Naturally, Liu Acheng was greatly cheered by this. First, reaching a milestone always lifted one's spirits on a journey. Second, there was something he had wanted to ask for a long time.

"Master Feng," Liu Acheng continued. "Now that we're reaching Wuxing, we can hardly avoid discussing the Shen Clan of Wuxing. I've heard that of all the southern clans, they are the richest and most powerful. Is that true?"

"Of course." Daoist Feng nodded at once. "Everyone knows that."

"Just how rich are they?" Liu Acheng pressed eagerly from his cart. "I've heard that half of Wuxing Commandery belongs to them. Is that true?"

"That's what everyone says." Daoist Feng neither denied it nor fully confirmed it.

"What do you mean, that's what everyone says? Is it a popular exaggeration?" Liu Acheng grew still more curious.

The middle-aged Daoist smiled and shook his head. "Back when the Shen Family's old patriarch rebelled, he mustered more than ten thousand men to attack Jiankang, all with weapons, armor, and banners supplied by his own household... And Wuxing reportedly had only a little over twenty thousand households. Saying they owned half the commandery then was no exaggeration whatsoever. In fact, I'd say it wasn't merely half of Wuxing. Wu Commandery and Kuaiji Commandery next door, even here in Danyang-where didn't they have fortified manors and estates?"

Liu Acheng nodded repeatedly, clicking his tongue in amazement. So that description he had given on Flower Mountain, of mustering several dozen battalions of Northern Command Army troops, which even he had thought wildly exaggerated, had actually been true.

Was this the might of the king of fortified manors south of the Yangtze?

Of course, from what this Daoist was saying, they were probably far weaker now than they had been back then.

Sure enough, without waiting to be asked, Daoist Feng, now warming to his subject, continued, "But that was back then. After the rebellion, people here in Wuxing all said Wang Dun's subordinates had sold the Shen Family out, deliberately refusing to save them. Whatever the truth, the Shen Family suffered a crushing defeat. The old patriarch's severed head was sent around for display, and from then on the family was classed as a Punished Family, forbidden to hold office or cross checkpoints without permission and so forth... That was precisely why they gave the fortified manor beside the Jurong highway to Master Du Ming."

In fact, Liu Acheng had already guessed what had happened as soon as the other man mentioned rebellion, but that did not stop him from nodding continuously, looking as though everything had suddenly become clear.

"Still, none of that mattered much. Giving away their holdings outside the commandery at least earned them some goodwill. Otherwise, the authorities would simply have taken them for nothing." Seeing how uninformed his listener appeared, Daoist Feng grew more talkative and suddenly lowered his voice from horseback. "The real issue was the other powerful clans in Wuxing itself. Some betrayed the old Shen patriarch and turned their weapons against him in battle. Others sheltered the present young patriarch... But whichever side they took, all of them seized the chance to swallow up plenty of Shen estates."

"So that's how it was!" Liu Acheng slapped his thigh on the mule cart. "Without your explanation, Master Feng, how would I ever have learned such secrets? I've been using Shenlang Coins all this time and thought the Shen Family still owned half of Wuxing!"

Daoist Feng stroked his beard smugly.

"Then roughly how powerful are they now?" Liu Acheng could not resist asking further. "How many estates like ours beside the Jurong highway do they still have?"

"That depends on whether you count the entire Shen Clan." Daoist Feng narrowed his eyes and answered in a measured voice. "When the present patriarch was still young, they naturally had to divide the holdings among the various branches to preserve them. If you include those, there are indeed still quite a few. Not half the commandery, but a good portion of it... If you mean only the main household, directly controlled by Shen Shijian, then perhaps a dozen or so estates like ours... And they only reached that scale after he exterminated the Wu Family, who had betrayed his father."

This time, Liu Acheng was truly dumbstruck.

What did it mean for even a starved whale to be bigger than a horse? Even carved into pieces, the Shen Family still had holdings on the scale of a large county?

The king of fortified manors south of the Yangtze was dead, but he had left all his treasure at home!

And weren't they a Punished Family? How had he slaughtered the entire family of men credited with returning to the rightful side back then, avenged himself, and then carried on as Wuxing's foremost Wubao Lord?

Yet the more he learned, the better Liu Acheng understood why the court had only dared impose restrictions on the family rather than confiscate its property... If they really tried confiscation, wouldn't the local clans that had fed on the Shen Family's holdings, along with the Shen branches, rally behind some Shen Shijian and keep fighting them?

Battered and riddled with ailments after the Wang Dun Rebellion, the Great Jin Court might well have been unable to cross the Three Rivers and Five Lakes and crack that hard nut. Even this Shen Shijian's revenge for his father might have been carried out during the Su Jun Rebellion, leaving the court equally helpless.

All it could do was pacify through stillness.

He could only say that his horizons had broadened. He really needed to get out and travel more.

Thus, that evening they did indeed reach Wuxing Commandery and stay at an estate whose owner was surnamed Shen. It, too, was the sort of place with its own market and collection of handicraft workshops.

Nothing more need be said of that night. They set off again the following day and reached Yixing City before noon, but passed it without entering, heading straight for Zhangpu Pavilion outside the city to cross the river.

Here, the Middle River was already approaching Tai Lake and gradually widening. Ahead lay a ferry landing where boats could come and go from the lake, while behind it, beneath the city walls, stood a checkpoint and pontoon bridge. This made the place a transport hub for northern Wuxing, crowded with people crossing the river or boarding boats onto the lake.

Before arriving, Liu Acheng had only known this was the halfway point of their journey. Once he got here, however, he learned that this was where Zhou Chu had rid the land of the Three Harms! Of course it was-the opening words, "There was also a flood dragon in the waters of Yixing," named Yixing outright.

He just did not know whether the dozen or so li Zhou Chu had fought while following that flood dragon had been in Tai Lake or the Middle River.

And that was not all. Since Zhou Chu later became a loyal minister and filial son under Great Jin, surely the Zhous must have been a prominent local family? Yet when he asked, it turned out that the Zhou Family had been exterminated.

The reason for their extermination was laughable.

Zhou Chu's youngest son, Zhou Zha, was the very man Liu Jili could never forget: the one who had sold Stone City to Wang Dun, only for Wang Dun to distrust him and slaughter his entire family. Nor did it end there. Afterward, Wang Dao had even made Zhou Zha an example and cleared his name.

He claimed that Zhou Zha had mistakenly trusted Wang Dun because he loathed men like Liu Kui, who threw the government into chaos. This was only human nature. His entire family's subsequent murder by Wang Dun proved that Zhou Zha had been steadfastly loyal. His name therefore had to be cleared, and a lesser sacrifice offered to him, or no one could rest easy.

They had even erected a stele for him.

Once again, Liu Acheng could only marvel at how travel broadened his horizons. Everywhere he went, he found figures from famous tales and historical anecdotes. As for Liu Jili's ambition, it now seemed it might truly be no easier than the Northern Expedition.

Just as the youth was engrossed in hearing these stories and seeing their settings, a sudden uproar broke out at the checkpoint across the pontoon bridge ahead.

At first, no one paid it any attention. Arguments, disputes, and even the discovery of fugitives were perfectly ordinary at ferry landings and checkpoints, especially when the trouble was on the opposite bank.

After a while, however, the Daoists responsible for escorting the supplies all grew nervous. They went forward one by one to look, conferred among themselves, and then Daoist Feng turned back and quietly told him, "Young Master Acheng, let's wait a little longer and stay out of this... It turns out the man over there is Shen Shijian, the Shen Family patriarch. His household is a Punished Family. There's no reason for him to insist on forcing his way through a checkpoint specifically charged with watching him..."

Liu Acheng paused, finding it strange as well. Exactly-with the Shen Family's power here, if he truly needed to come or go, he could simply take a boat out onto Tai Lake. Who would seriously stop him? Why insist on forcing his way through a checkpoint?

Wasn't this deliberately making life difficult for the petty officials of Yixing?

A little later, the argument ahead suddenly ceased. Liu Acheng climbed onto the cart and saw the outcome clearly: several dozen riders came straight across the pontoon bridge, apparently bringing along a man dressed as an official whom they had seized. Those who had been blocking the near end of the bridge cleared the way even more promptly than they would have for the blade- and axe-bearing servants preceding a gentry lord's carriage.

Once those riders had crossed the pontoon bridge over the Middle River, however, they neither continued north nor headed toward Yixing City. Instead, they stopped beside the river. More than that, after their leader gave some order, they rode past the crowd, spread out, and curved around both flanks to surround everyone from behind.

Liu Acheng's heart pounded. Why did this look so much like what had happened in the Huai River region? Surely the Shen Family had no need to rob people? Or had their patriarch been confined to Wuxing for so many years that he occasionally needed to kill a few people with his own hands for amusement?

Fortunately, one of the riders soon called out clearly, "Our lord asks everyone to bear witness. It will only take a moment."

The people exchanged glances, but with mounted men surrounding them on both sides and herding them forward, it seemed difficult to refuse.

After a brief discussion, the Daoists could only suggest that Liu Acheng come along with them to avoid trouble.

In a moment, everyone on this side of the pontoon bridge had been forced to leave their carts, horses, chests, and baskets and gather temporarily at the checkpoint by the bridgehead. There they saw a middle-aged horseman sternly berating a petty official on the ground, who wore a bronze seal on a blue ribbon. When the crowd arrived, the horseman turned and proclaimed loudly:

"Everyone, I am Shen Jin of Wuxing! Fellow villagers and elders, and masters of the Way of the Celestial Masters, you should all know that my household is a Punished Family. I am thirty-two this year and have never held office. Ordinarily, I am forbidden to travel south beyond Wulin Mountain, east beyond Dongqian, or north beyond this Zhangpu Pass. These are the restrictions imposed on me... Yet today I have crossed over, because I want to tell everyone something. Lord Wang, until recently our governor of Wuxing, has always known of my desire to serve the country. Now he has been appointed General Who Pacifies the North and Inspector of Sizhou, and will soon take part in the Northern Expedition. He specifically petitioned the court to pardon the Shen Family's status as a Punished Family so that he could recruit me into his staff as military adjutant... The court has approved it! Everyone, I have no wish to make difficulties for anyone. But this pass official stopped me without cause, as though my household had never been pardoned! That is why I asked you all to bear witness. I did not force the checkpoint without reason-he took it upon himself to bar my way!"

As he spoke, Shen Jin looked back at the man on the ground, overwhelmed with indignation. "Pass Official Huang, did you hear me? I have no wish to make difficulties for you. I will return south now, but I had to say this!"

Listening from below, Liu Acheng found it entirely understandable. If things were as Shen Jin described, then after finally escaping decades of restrictions, he would naturally be elated. Encountering something like this would naturally make him want to vent.

Yet the petty official guarding the pass was equally indignant. He simply pounded the ground where he sat. "Young Master Shen! With your family's power in Wuxing, who would dare slight you or make difficulties for you?! I truly haven't received any notice about this. On the contrary, when I took office, the commandery specifically told me to watch your movements carefully. How can you hold this against me?!"

Hearing this, Shen Jin seemed to lose interest as well. He simply waved a hand. "You'll receive the notice sooner or later!"

With that, he really did turn his horse around and return to the southern bank.

Liu Acheng had watched a splendid show and found it immensely satisfying. After crossing the pontoon bridge that afternoon, he was even more restless, questioning the Daoists again and again until he finally learned that the Lord Wang who had previously held office was indeed from the Langya Wang Clan, and was named Wang Huzhi... His father, a younger paternal cousin of both Wang Dao and Wang Dun, had actually leaned more toward Wang Dun back in those days.

No wonder he would help the Shen Family. As for why Wang Huzhi did not belong to a Punished Family... What a joke! Even Zhou Zha had been rehabilitated, and Wang Huzhi was a genuine member of the Langya Wang Clan.

Ultimately, it was someone else's business, and that should have been the end of it. That evening, however, Liu Acheng and his companions once again stayed at an estate belonging to the Shen Clan of Wuxing. Nor was it particularly surprising when Shen Jin and his party suddenly arrived there that night. Immediately, the atmosphere throughout the estate became one of extreme fear and unease. Slave retainers ran everywhere, the stewards who had been all smiles earlier turned ashen, and even the occasional Shen Family rider they saw wore a grim face... Liu Acheng could not be sure whether he imagined it, but he even thought someone was wailing inside the hall Shen Jin had entered, in a voice rather like the one he had heard that day.

The Daoists dared not take this lightly. They soon learned the precise news and told Liu Acheng. It turned out that Wang Huzhi, the General Who Pacifies the North who was supposedly going to recruit Shen Jin, had suddenly become paralyzed four or five days earlier, just when Liu Acheng and his companions had set out... He had simply fallen backward to the ground, unable to speak or move.

While the Daoists were still reeling from this, someone arrived to tell them that Lord Shen requested the perfected masters of the Way of the Celestial Masters to come help avert calamity and dispel illness!

-----The dividing line of a loyal minister and filial son-----

In his youth, Zhou Chu was fierce, strong, and headstrong, and his fellow villagers regarded him as a scourge. There was also a flood dragon in the waters of Yixing and a white-foreheaded tiger in the mountains, both of which savaged the common people. The people of Yixing called them the Three Harms, with Chu the worst of all. Someone urged Chu to kill the tiger and slay the dragon, secretly hoping that only one of the Three Harms would remain. Chu promptly stabbed the tiger to death, then entered the water to fight the dragon. The dragon surfaced and submerged, traveling several dozen li, with Chu following it throughout. After three days and nights, the villagers all thought him dead and celebrated among themselves. In the end, he killed the dragon and emerged. Hearing that the villagers had celebrated, he finally understood that people regarded him as a scourge, and resolved to reform. He then went into Wu to seek the Two Lus. Pingyuan was absent, but he found Qinghe and told him everything, saying, "I wish to reform myself, but my years have already slipped away, and in the end I shall accomplish nothing." Qinghe said, "The ancients valued hearing the Way in the morning even if they died that evening. How much more so for you, whose future still holds promise? Besides, what people should fear is failing to establish their resolve. Why worry that a good name will not become known?" Chu then reformed and applied himself, ultimately becoming a loyal minister.

-New Account of Tales of the World, "Self-reformation," fifteenth section

PS: My thanks to Lord Special White, Lord Zhegu Mountain Recluse Seeking Within the Tune, Lord uniseraph, and Lord Lime with Liquor, as well as Lord kangyvette and Lord Shoebill Who Never Gets Enough to Eat, for becoming alliance leaders. I am endlessly grateful to all you lords for your support and tips.