Xizhi

Liu Acheng soon realized that Wang Jiang Province was Wang Xizhi.

At this point, Wang Xizhi had not yet become Interior Minister of Kuaiji with the additional title of General of the Right Army. The highest office he had previously been appointed to was Governor of Jiang Province-a post he had never actually taken up... As for why, accepting it would have meant placing himself in direct opposition to Huan Wen, something Wang Xizhi could not accept.

It was precisely because of this that he had returned to Kuaiji and subsequently formed the resolve to "end his days here."

Returning to the present, the journey from Shan County to Shanyin was much easier than the trip out, mainly because the Xi Family had large boats. Two larger vessels and four or five smaller ones sailed straight from Shan Creek-the main upper channel of the Cao'e River-into the Cao'e River, then followed the current downstream. Setting out in the afternoon, they spent one night aboard and could enter Mirror Lake and reach Shanyin the next morning.

Everything went smoothly along the way. Only Liu Acheng felt a little uneasy, and he began asking questions about this and that.

When he asked Xi Chao what sort of man his uncle was, the fellow merely said that his handwriting was quite good... Well, it ought to be very good indeed.

When he asked whether poling the boats at night was tiring, the boatman replied in a muffled, rumbling voice that traveling downstream was not tiring... So he could only retreat and go to sleep.

The following day, when they reached the Mirror Lake landing south of Shanyin, two cousins around Xi Chao's age, named Wang Xuanzhi and Wang Ningzhi, were already waiting with horses and carriages. They welcomed Xi Yin and his wife into a carriage, then led the party into town.

Xi Chao rode at the rear. Seeing that Liu Acheng was still nervous, he came over to reassure him. "Don't bother about these Wang Clan boys. My uncle at least deserves to be called a decent man, but his six or seven children are all dull, useless creatures, swaggering about on the strength of the name Langya Wang Clan."

Liu Acheng had wanted to ask about Wang Xianzhi, but since he had no idea how old the boy was and feared making a fool of himself, he could only nod. "Then does that mean you stand unrivaled at the forefront of Kuaiji's younger generation, Jiabin?"

"I wouldn't dare claim 'unrivaled.'" Xi Chao wore something halfway between a smile and no smile. "'Unrivaled in Jiangdong, Wang Wendu'... Someone else has already claimed it."

"Who's that?" Liu Acheng was naturally curious.

"Wang Tanzhi. He turned twenty this year." Xi Chao gestured with his chin. "The eldest son of Wang Lantian, Interior Minister of Kuaiji."

"Oh." Liu Acheng grew even more curious. "If Wang Wendu is unrivaled in Jiangdong, then what are you, Xi Jiabin?"

"Of peerless virtue..." Xi Chao forced out an answer.

"Of peerless... virtue." Liu Acheng finally felt somewhat bewildered. "Who gave you that assessment?"

"Sun Chuo, Sun Xinggong, of course," Xi Chao replied irritably. "He loves doing this sort of thing. He even matched seven famous monks of our dynasty with the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, one by one..."

"Who did he compare to Ji Kang, and who to Wang Rong?" Liu Acheng was genuinely curious.

"Ji Kang was Bo Yuan, and Wang Rong was Zhu Facheng..."

"Who are they?" Liu Acheng was truly, genuinely curious.

"You needn't bother about them," Xi Chao explained wearily. "Those were just there to fill out the numbers. His real purpose was to compare Zhu Faqian to Liu Ling and Zhi Daolin to Xiang Xiu."

"Then what was his purpose in praising you and Wang Wendu?" Liu Acheng promptly asked.

Xi Chao cast an even more exhausted glance at the youth beside him. "To get an official post. My father was still serving in Linhai then, and Wang Wendu's father was serving in Kuaiji... He was short of money and wanted to scrape together some household furnishings."

"So he really did become magistrate of Zhang'an?" Liu Acheng could hardly find words. "Your honored father was quite pleased with 'peerless virtue,' then? If I come up with a good assessment for you, can I get a magistracy too?"

Xi Chao gave a derisive laugh-whether out of embarrassment or mockery was unclear-and turned his head away.

After a while, once they had passed along another street, Xi Jiabin suddenly spoke again. "Wang Wendu's family are all stupid, obstinate, money-grubbing parasites. Yet Wang Wendu himself-Wang Tanzhi-really is a substantial, learned man. Here in Shanyin alone, my Langya Wang Clan cousins and the other sons of his Taiyuan Wang Clan fall far short of him. He does deserve to be called unrivaled."

"Oh," Liu Acheng answered, offering nothing further.

Helpless, Xi Chao could only continue on their way.

After another street, with Wang Xizhi's residence already in sight, Xi Jiabin finally could not restrain himself. He seized the reins of the horse Liu Acheng was riding so cautiously and asked him right there beside the road, "So, Acheng, if you were to assess me, what phrase would you use?"

Liu Cheng burst out laughing. "I really was thinking about that. Though you come from a great house, Jiabin, you have none of the usual faults of its sons. You have a mind of your own, you're clever and eager to learn, and you can endure instruction and tempering. You're the most outstanding son of the great aristocratic clans South of the Yangtze that I've ever met... And I did think of a fitting phrase for the way you stand like a crane among chickens. But then I remembered that someone in the north could also merit it, so it wouldn't do justice to your 'peerless' distinction. A pity."

"What phrase?" Xi Chao raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Ancient People's Benefactor," Liu Acheng blurted out.

"Do you know what 'Ancient People's Benefactor' means?" Xi Chao frowned.

"Yes. It was the Supreme Sage and First Teacher's praise of Zi Chan for governing with love for the people, like the sages of antiquity," Liu Acheng replied without hesitation. "It's generally used to praise a ruler for gentle, generous governance."

"Then why would you..."

"In applying it to you today, Jiabin, I'm borrowing its sense of someone rare in this age, untouched by vulgar fashions and habits, as though Heaven and Earth had left an ancient hero behind in this world," Liu Acheng answered readily. "It's a literary allusion. Why insist on its original meaning?"

Xi Chao said nothing.

By now, the carriages ahead had entered the Wang residence, and the accompanying party dismounted. Xi Chao handed his horse to a Slave Retainer at the gate and walked inside, only to turn back despite himself. "Who's the man in the north who could merit it?"

"Murong Ke," Liu Acheng answered frankly. "Though born of Xianbei stock, he excels in both civil and military affairs. He has the bearing of a great general, yet also understands the Confucian classics and statecraft. He too seems like a crane born among chickens... Besides, with Later Zhao now collapsed, the Murong clan has built a firm foundation through the mighty efforts of three generations. They are determined to take Hebei. If we use 'Ancient People's Benefactor' in its original sense, he'll get there before you."

Xi Chao closed his mouth and walked straight into the courtyard.

Liu Acheng lowered his head and followed him inside.

This was a residence of the Langya Wang Clan... However one reckoned it, the Langya Wang Clan had been Great Jin's foremost noble house since the migration south. From "Wang and the Ma Clan Shared the Realm" to the height of their power during the Wang Dun Rebellion, saying their influence overshadowed court and country would have been selling them short.

Not only that, the continuity of the Langya Wang Clan was also rare in that age.

In stark contrast stood the Yingchuan Yu Clan. Though this dynasty's second ruling family had carefully built up its position step by step and had once reached the summit of power, both the Su Jun Rebellion and the Northern Expedition attempted from Jingzhou had ended in crushing defeat. Their abilities fell far short of Wang Dao's, and as the brothers who held power died one after another, their family swiftly declined and collapsed, its younger generation withering away.

The Langya Wang Clan, however, had maintained its family prestige, and its branches were visibly spreading, promising to carry its influence onward.

Of course, judging by Wang Xizhi's decision to leave Jiankang with his entire family and settle in Kuaiji, as well as Xi Chao's contempt for his cousins, this household's political influence was indeed steadily declining.

Thus, riding the favorable wind of the Xi Family, Liu Acheng was able to walk calmly through their gates and soon saw Wang Xizhi with his own eyes.

To be honest, Liu Acheng's first impression of Wang Xizhi was that he looked utterly unremarkable.

Having met Xie An, he could not help making a comparison... Xie An was young, sitting with his knees drawn up and a crimson Dust-Tail Fan in hand, the very picture of a celebrated Wei-Jin gentleman. Wang Xizhi, on the other hand, looked nearly fifty. In the depths of winter, he dressed normally, sat normally in the hall, and wore a rather worried expression. Only when Xi Yin and Xi Chao greeted him and spoke did he seem to come back to himself and squeeze out a little smile... He truly could not match Xie An's elegant bearing.

Moreover, this was a proper family reunion. Liu Acheng had no opportunity to introduce himself or take part. After following Xi Chao in bowing outside the door, he merely stood beneath the corridor eaves and soon became bored.

Then came the meal. He was even less qualified to join their family banquet, so he ate in a side courtyard with several accompanying stewards. His loose tongue got the better of him again, and he could not resist asking about Wang Xianzhi. Only then did he learn that Wang Xianzhi was just five this year-the little terror tussling with Xi Chao's younger brother Xi Chong in the courtyard, whom Xi Chong was grabbing by the hair and calling "Guannu."

As for tales about eighteen vats of water, cleverly completed Spring Festival couplets, inscriptions on fans, and brushstrokes penetrating three-tenths of an inch into wood, he simply dared not ask.

They didn't even have Spring Festival couplets in this era! Even if they did, who would dare tear down the couplets at the Langya Wang Clan's gates? Did they really think these Slave Retainers didn't carry axes?

In fact, never mind Spring Festival couplets-Liu Acheng could clearly see that there was not even a market for calligraphy as an art in this era. So-called calligraphic works were mostly private things, confined to exchanges among the highest-ranking aristocratic clans. Even the master of this residence produced many of his works simply because he needed to write letters and notes in everyday life. There was no special category of "calligraphy." It was just that nobody was a fool: they could tell good writing from bad, and friends and relatives would naturally treasure the best examples.

As for those stories, there was no need even to think about it. They must have been embellishments invented by successive generations of literati as the Sage of Calligraphy was elevated to sainthood.

Of course, Liu Acheng did see geese-and ate some too.

This surprised him, because he really had seen a great many geese in a courtyard of the Wang residence beside Mirror Lake... That meant Wang Xizhi's fondness for geese was genuine, and the tale of trading a written scripture for a flock of geese probably had some basis too... But they really did eat goose.

"Because our master takes mineral powder," explained a chief of the Wang residence's Slave Retainers who was dining with them. He made no attempt to hide it and even seemed rather proud. "Everyone knows that your limbs stiffen for ten days after taking the powder, and only goose meat can relieve it. So our household eats goose regularly and keeps a great many geese for that purpose. Thanks to that, we get to enjoy such fine food too."

Liu Acheng did not stare in astonishment or feel that his idol had been shattered. Instead, he nodded at once and voiced his approval.

After all, having spent an autumn and a winter in Great Jin, he had broadened his horizons. He understood that this might well be the historical truth... And none of it stopped Wang Xizhi from writing beautifully!

The man had become the Sage of Calligraphy because his handwriting was excellent, prompting later literati to invent countless wishful fantasies about his calligraphy-not become the so-called Sage of Calligraphy because of those fantasies.

After eating, Liu Acheng sat beneath the eaves outside the kitchen and continued gossiping with the stewards, asking about everything. Did their master habitually organize a Spring Purification Ceremony? Did other members of the Wang Family visit? Did they not return to Black Robe Alley for the New Year? Did the servants receive wages? How were they generally treated?

His questions eventually reached the relationship between Wang Xizhi and his wife and the marriages of their children... Only then did Liu Acheng discover that the Wang Family's second son, Wang Ningzhi, whom he had met at the landing, was actually betrothed to a daughter of the Xie Family. Wang Xizhi and Xie An had arranged it themselves.

Not only that, Liu Acheng learned that even Xi Chao, at his age, was already betrothed-to a daughter of the Zhou Clan, the natal family of Wang Xizhi's eldest sister-in-law.

But nobody knew these young women's personal names, making it hard to say which was which.

Just as he was enjoying a warm and lively conversation by the kitchen, someone came over and called for Liu Acheng, saying that the master had summoned him to the hall.

Liu Acheng dared not delay. Promptly fulfilling his duties as a good household guest, he hurried over. When he arrived, he saw Wang Xizhi and Xi Yin seated side by side on couches in the places of honor, with a group of Wang Clan sons seated below on folding stools. Xi Chao himself stood farther out, pacing back and forth.

This was not because Xi Chao had been slighted. The Xi Family had originated as Refugee Commanders and had long maintained a household rule called "the father sits, the son stands." Sons had to attend their parents like military subordinates and were given no seat.

As soon as Liu Acheng arrived and bent to bow, Xi Jiabin impatiently asked, "Acheng, Uncle just said someone came from the north the other day with news that Northern Expeditionary General Chu Jiye had recently died. You came from the north-hadn't you heard?"

"When I left, I only knew he was going to die, not when," Liu Acheng replied truthfully as he straightened, then looked puzzled. "Did Lord Xi really not know about the situation in Jingkou? Has Grand Commander Chu truly died?"

With his back to his own father, Xi Jiabin clearly looked as though he had anger with nowhere to vent it. But he merely waved a hand and pressed on. "Then what exactly happened to Chu Jiye?"

Liu Acheng had no reason to conceal anything. He recounted everything he had learned, observed, and inferred in Jingkou: Chu Pou's return in defeat, his collapse into despondency and helplessness upon hearing the weeping, and Liu Acheng's own experience beneath Beigu Mountain that day, when he had suspected Xun Xian of forcing Chu Pou's hand.

"That's something Xun Lingze would do," Xi Chao concluded immediately after listening. "But just as Acheng said, Chu Jiye himself kept his judgments hidden beneath his skin. He was the first to lose his grip on the broader situation, his own spirit and strength collapsing before anything else."

"Such a thing actually happened?!" Wang Xizhi frowned still more deeply from his seat of honor. "Whatever Chu Jiye's faults, Xun Lingze should not have acted that way... If these two houses, supposedly united in purpose, behave like this, will they come to blows with General Huan in Jingzhou? Though Hebei has collapsed and the Jie Hu have brought destruction upon themselves, if we cannot unite, how can we speak of a great victory in the Northern Expedition, restoring the Central Plains and Hebei in a single stroke?"

"Restoring the Central Plains would be difficult too, wouldn't it?" At this, Xi Chao turned back to the man he had summoned. "Acheng, explain the northern situation to my uncle as you did to me before."

Liu Acheng naturally cupped his hands toward Wang Xizhi again. He went through his theory that Later Zhao would inevitably collapse from within, that the Murong Xianbei would inevitably take Hebei and establish their power, then grow ambitious and advance south to contend with the Great Jin Court. He mixed this with the theory he had explained to Xie An about the Northern Expedition's inevitable failure, and the ideas he had discussed with Liu Jili about the Di people and Qiang people contesting Guanzhong, before giving his conclusion:

"Only if everyone in our dynasty acts with one heart can the Northern Expedition succeed, and even then it certainly cannot achieve complete victory... The best possible outcome would be for Yangzhou's forces to advance through Qing-Xu and Yan-Yu to the southern bank of the Yellow River, while General Huan enters Guanzhong under his own strength ahead of the Di people and Qiang people. Once Guanzhong is secure, he can move through Shaan-Luo to help stabilize the situation along the Yellow River. Then we can contend with the Murong clan at our leisure."

"What Acheng describes is merely the best outcome in principle. It assumes unity from Jingzhou to Yangzhou, unity throughout Yangzhou from top to bottom, and victory in every campaign," Xi Chao summed up with a cold laugh. "Yet even within Yangzhou alone, Xun Xian, Yin Hao, and the rest already refuse to tolerate others. Chu Jiye collapsed in body and mind after a single defeat and ultimately died at Beigu Mountain. How can we talk about certain victory in the Northern Expedition? In my view, if General Huan really enters Guanzhong and these men reach the Yellow River, they'll probably fight their decisive battle against each other before the Murong Xianbei even cross it."

At this, Wang Xizhi could hardly endure his dejection. He repeatedly struck the Armrest beside his couch. "What can be done? What can be done?!"

Beside him, Xi Yin was helpless. He wanted to offer consolation but did not know how to begin or what to say.

------I am the "What can be done?" dividing line------

Once, Situ Xi had a northern slave who understood literature and showed discernment in all things. General Wang of the Right Army praised him to Minister Liu. Liu asked, "How does he compare with Fang Hui?" Wang replied, "He is merely a lowly man with some sense of purpose! How could he possibly be compared with Fang Hui?" Liu said, "If he is inferior to Fang Hui, then he is merely an ordinary slave!"

More than a decade later, Situ Xi and Minister Liu had both passed away. General Wang of the Right Army met Xi Linhai in Shanyin and saw a northern youth accompanying his household. The youth understood literature, ritual, and classical allusions, knew the internal affairs and current circumstances of the north, and showed discernment in everything, surpassing even the northern slave of old. Yet, remembering the earlier exchange, Wang dared not praise him. As they were leaving, he privately asked to have him. Xi said in astonishment, "He is a guest. Jiabin and I esteem him greatly. Why ask to have him?" Wang was deeply chagrined. "So he is a guest!"

That northern youth was Emperor Gao, the Great Ancestor.

-New Account of Tales of the World, "Appraisals," ninth section