Before evening, Liu Cheng and the others returned safely to camp and, naturally, went first to report to Lord Ren. When the women and children along the way saw them return, their faces brightened for once, and they eagerly followed.
"Young master!"
Beneath a large tree, Grandpa Liu San bowed low before Liu Rengong, who was sitting on a mat, showing him the utmost respect.
Unexpectedly, the man on the mat beneath the tree-Liu Rengong himself-was weaving straw sandals with his own hands. At the greeting, he looked up, revealing a face covered in wrinkles. "Brother San, never mind that we've been driven from our homes. Even back in Pengcheng, I was only an ordinary man who never held office in his life. I've already got one foot in the grave. What's all this about a young master?"
"What are you saying, young master?" Grandpa Liu San immediately grew solemn. "The poorer we are, the less we can afford to abandon propriety. If we start belittling our own family standing, others will look down on us all the more... Your father was a distinguished governor of Yanmen and Dai Commandery. Of course you deserve to be called young master. I didn't understand these rules before, but now that I do, I must observe them all the more."
"You're right, Brother San." Helplessly, Liu Rengong set down his straw sandal and perfunctorily returned the bow without rising, then went back to work.
Indeed, "young master" here did not mean Grandpa Liu San had suddenly married his distant younger cousin Liu Zhi over the past few days. That usage belonged to later dynasties. At this moment, the term had to be understood literally: the first character was a respectful designation for a man, while the second indicated status. It generally referred to a gentleman who had not yet entered official service but was eligible to do so, particularly an unappointed scion of a great family. It was a distinctive feature of this age of aristocratic clans, though it was probably also the root of the term's later expansion in meaning, until it became a common way for young women to address their husbands.
A similar term was the one servants and retainers used for their masters: "Master of the Household."
What embarrassed Liu Zhi was that, despite his advanced age, he had never held office and had almost no chance of doing so anymore. Such titles only made him squirm.
Returning to the matter at hand, although Liu Rengong's attitude was already perfectly clear, Grandpa Liu San still could not rein in his tongue. "Young master, you must respect your own standing. Weaving straw sandals-never mind the Wang, Xie, Yuan, and Xi families, even the younger members of the Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang of Jiangdong would laugh at you if they saw it."
That was utterly ridiculous!
Even Liu Cheng, standing behind him, could not bear to listen. What scion of the Wang or Xie families would come to this stinking place to watch an old man weave straw sandals? Even if he stopped weaving them, even if they went back to when Liu Rengong's own father was still a commandery governor, those Wang and Xie scions would not have bothered looking at him!
Unfortunately, Grandpa Liu San had found a role for himself these past few days and had been accompanying Liu Cheng to the market every day. He had picked up plenty of talk along the way, and the rules of the aristocratic clans had gone to his head. It was irritating.
Still, ridiculous or not, Liu Cheng had to step forward and smooth things over. "There's no need to worry so much, Grandpa San. Back when Liu Xuande, the founding ruler of Shu Han, was poor, he wove mats and sold sandals at home with his widowed mother. It's all recorded in the histories, and no one laughed at him. Besides, we've fled here as refugees. In extraordinary circumstances, we have to be flexible... Didn't someone say just the other day that even Situ Xi, who founded Jingkou, couldn't get a bite to eat when he fled south? He could only hide food given by people from his hometown in his mouth, then come back and spit it out for his nephew to eat. He still went on to become Minister of Works and a renowned minister of Great Jin. What does it matter if our Lord Ren weaves a few straw sandals? Once we've made something of ourselves, it will be another tale of a distinguished gentleman's untrammeled grace."
"That really happened?" Grandpa Liu San was visibly startled.
"Exactly. We're refugees. Once autumn is over, we don't even know how we'll survive the winter. How can we fuss over such things now?" Liu Zhi hurriedly went along with him, then swiftly changed the subject. "Cheng, how did the mats and Grass Sandals sell today? Did you get more vinegar and salt?"
"They sold well enough." Grandpa Liu San hastily seized the chance to answer, rambling on. "But that makeshift market is so small, and plenty of people came south this year and last year. None of them have much worth selling, either. Most sell the same mats and Grass Sandals. We've done so well these past few days that the others were already unhappy with us. Today we also ran into a scion of a great family with saber- and axe-bearing servants clearing the road for him... I was afraid staying too late might bring trouble, and running into a tiger on the road wouldn't be good, either... So we packed up early... About, about... How much was it?"
"To report to Lord Ren and Grandpa San, we sold twenty-seven mats and fifty-three pairs of Grass Sandals altogether today," Liu Cheng hastily supplied from behind him. "But there have been so many new refugees lately that vinegar, cloth, and salt have all gone up sharply. We brought back a little less than we did the day before yesterday."
Liu Rengong frowned and instinctively asked, "If that's the situation, Cheng, how do you think we should handle it?"
"Our production capacity... Our mats and sandals are well made, and we make plenty of them. We've even built a reputation now. The reason we're getting less in exchange actually has nothing to do with us. It's just that the makeshift market is too small, and prices are rising throughout Jingkou." Liu Cheng immediately offered a plan. "So the simplest solution is to find other markets nearby and set up a few more stalls."
"Oh, that does make sense..." Realization dawned on Liu Zhi, and he was about to agree.
"Father, never mind sauce, vinegar, and a bit of small change. We can get by if everyone tightens their belts. The real problem is winter!" Just then, someone shouted from some distance behind them. "It's already mid-autumn. The Double Ninth Festival is almost here, and once it's over, the weather will get colder by the day... Today I met some kinsmen from the Liu Clan of Pengcheng who came here a few years earlier. They all said that although this is south of the river and warmer than north of the Huai, there's still ice and snow every few days in winter... Father, there are so many of us. What about food? What about shelter? Is no one going to look after us?"
Everyone knew who had come without even turning around. Liu Cheng knew, too.
Liu Huzi, of course.
When Liu Zhi heard his youngest son raise these matters of life and death, the already pronounced wrinkles on his face deepened further. For a moment, he had no answer... In fact, if government relief had not failed to arrive for so long, leaving him impoverished and at loose ends, he would never have started learning to weave straw sandals with these people, let alone learned to do it so well.
"Father." Seeing this, the short, sturdy Liu Huzi hurried over. "I heard the Grand Commander has returned to Guangling. We need to pay him a visit and ask for some money and grain... Better still, ask for an official post."
Grandpa Liu San nodded repeatedly beside them. Getting an official post was always the right thing to do. If Liu Rengong became an official, wouldn't he rise along with him?
Liu Cheng nodded, too. Whatever they chose-self-reliance or entering the establishment-asking the people in charge for resources was always the right approach. Whether anything would go wrong, or whether they could actually get anything, was another matter.
Yet Liu Zhi merely shook his head. "I'm a commoner without office or rank, and I have no reputation. I know nothing of pure discourse and have never studied the classics. The Grand Commander oversees half the realm, and he's returned to Guangling to continue preparing for the northern expedition. Why would he see me?"
We have to at least try! If we can't see the Grand Commander, we can find a commandery governor, ask someone from our hometown, or seek help from a refugee leader who came a few years earlier! This Lord Ren is perfectly decent in every other way, but he's so timid.
Liu Cheng said nothing, but inwardly he was speechless.
"We have to at least try!" Liu Huzi was growing agitated, too, and shouted it outright. "Father, how will we know it won't work unless we try? Are we just going to let things get worse day after day?"
At that, everyone around them fell silent.
In truth, this was the greatest problem this band of refugees had faced over the past dozen or so days-no one was looking after them anymore!
It was not fair to say the officials of Southern Xu Province were doing nothing. Liu Rengong had sent his eldest son west to Jincheng, the administrative seat of Langya Commandery, to request a meeting with the local officials. But they said all the commandery's regular administrative officials had been reassigned to the areas around Guazhou Ferry and Beigu Mountain to help receive new refugees, and told Liu Sheng to go back and wait.
As for the Langya Interior Minister-what a joke! The current Langya Interior Minister was Yuan Zhi, a member of the Yuan Clan of Chen Commandery, descended from Yuan Huan! His eldest aunt, Yuan Nüh 황, had married the current Yangzhou Governor, Yin Hao, the man upon whom the court's hopes rested, tasked with going toe-to-toe with Huan Wen. His second aunt, Yuan Nüzheng, had married Yuzhou Governor Xie Shang, the effective head of the Chen Commandery Xie Clan... Both aunts were also unattainable loves whom General Huan had spent half his life regretting.
And although Interior Minister Yuan rarely engaged in pure discourse and did not follow Xie An's example, he did enjoy studying the classics. Who would dare disturb His Venerable Excellency, all of twenty-three years old, over a mere thousand or so refugee households?
As for Guazhou Ferry, some people had been unable to resist going there to look. The officials at Guazhou Ferry were terribly busy and were quite attentive about settling the scattered refugees there. Who knew whether the Grand Commander in Guangling could see it... But in any case, no one was looking after Liu Rengong's group anymore.
When these refugees first arrived, they needed no one to organize them. On their own, they had begun finding ways to cut down trees, erect fences, and gather firewood and grass. Then they had built latrines and dug drainage channels. Now, though, everyone was anxious, and no one cared about these communal works. They were all finding ways to stockpile food, even fighting among themselves and fleeing because of it.
But there really was nothing they could do. It was late autumn now, and the weather in the south was still mild, with plenty of natural resources. They all came from poor backgrounds and had nothing but raw strength. By gathering, hunting, and fishing, they could just about keep hunger at bay. But what would they do when winter came?
It seemed only the Grass Sandals and straw-mat work group could still maintain that positive, purposeful spirit.
No wonder Grandpa Liu San worried that Liu Cheng might jump ship.
Returning to the present, Liu Rengong had been backed into a corner. Holding the half-woven straw sandal, he lowered his head and thought for a long while. In the end, he could only agree. "How could we meet the Grand Commander so easily? Tomorrow I'll take a few of you lads to Jiangcheng to see Garrison Commander Gao... He comes from the Bohai Gao Clan and fled here from Langya, only two years before us. I hosted them when they were passing through back then. Before I came, I made inquiries and learned he was now a garrison commander. That's why I asked the official to settle us here in nearby Langya Commandery. Let's ask his advice first, then seek out those important people."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Cheng, however, was curious as usual and specifically pulled Liu Huzi aside to ask about this so-called garrison commander. Only then did he learn that the man was certainly no general; there was not even an official position called garrison commander. Strictly speaking, this refugee leader surnamed Gao was a banner chief: a commander of five hundred men with his own independent banner and command. It was a military position commonly held by lower-ranking aristocrats or powerful local figures, and counted as part of the army's backbone.
However, since Great Jin's migration south, the military system had fallen into confusion, and Jingkou's garrison system was particularly distinctive. It had been built from the Eight Garrison Posts, Eleven Fortified Cities, and Thirty-Two Beacon Towers that Minister Xi Jian established along the river after Su Jun's rebellion.
Under such circumstances, a banner chief independently defending a garrison post naturally came to be called a garrison commander by common usage.
Once he had finished asking and roughly guessed that this man was the support Liu Rengong had counted on for this journey south, Liu Cheng did not linger.
He merely helped distribute the sauce and vinegar, helped Grandpa Liu San mediate between two households arguing over a bundle of rice straw, and used the account book to tactfully criticize two inefficient members of the mat-weaving team on behalf of the thin-skinned Lord Ren. Then he had Liu Rengong select and praise two people whose weaving was good, giving them a little extra firewood as a reward, and did not forget to praise Liu Rengong's own exceptional craftsmanship. After that, he used charcoal to record the sandal and mat accounts on a small wooden board in a notation only he understood. Once the other man's two remaining sons returned, he stayed for a meal, then took up his flute and played "Orchid Grass" for everyone. Finally, he respectfully took his leave of Liu Rengong, Grandpa Liu San, and the others, and headed back early to his own shack at the rear.
He showed not the slightest reluctance to leave.
Once he was gone, apart from a few women of the clan soothing their children to sleep, those around the campfire were all members of Liu Zhi-Liu Rengong's-extended household. Master Liu was a responsible man, and clearly intended to finish weaving this straw sandal before going to sleep.
Seeing this, his younger cousins and nephews naturally had nothing to say. Of his three sons, the eldest, Liu Sheng, and the second, Liu Pei, were fairly steady and had no objections. The youngest, Liu Ahu, was restless and wanted to say something, but his father had already agreed to seek out Garrison Commander Gao tomorrow, so he did not know what to say. For a time, all three brothers simply watched their father continue weaving his straw sandal.
Then Grandpa Liu San came over again and began rambling about what had happened that day.
Liu Rengong was, after all, a man who had seen something of the world. After listening for a while, he understood. "Brother San, are you worried Cheng will leave?"
Grandpa Liu San nodded.
"What would it matter if he did?" Holding the mostly finished straw sandal, Liu Rengong looked somewhat puzzled. "People climb toward higher ground, just as water flows toward lower ground. We're in straitened circumstances now. You said that family of our clansmen has been settled here for several years. They must have housing and grain to spare. What would be wrong with him going there?"
"The family from the Liu Clan of Pengcheng who arrived two or three years earlier should be Liu Agan's," Liu Huzi suddenly interjected. "Back by the Huai, his family was never as well off as ours. It was only because his grandfather had served as Chancellor of Guangling and had property there that they remained wealthy after coming here. Unlike our family, who were robbed of everything... They're the ones I met today."
Liu Rengong paused, then nodded. "No wonder. If his family is trying to bring him over, that would be a good place for him... I remember their family moved to Pei Kingdom several generations ago, didn't they? Cheng's family has been in Qiao Commandery for three generations. In terms of kinship, they probably really are closer, aren't they?"
"More than closer. They may well be from the same branch." Liu Huzi stared fixedly into the fire.
"Young master, I'm not saying Cheng wants to leave out of ingratitude. He hasn't even realized it himself. It's that family trying to draw him in." Hearing the conversation take a bad turn, Grandpa Liu San hurried to explain. His real intention had been to remind this family to give Liu Cheng some benefits and not let him slip away. How had it ended up sounding as though he had come to complain about him?
"I know what you mean, and I know Cheng is a good lad." Liu Zhi sighed. "But Brother San, we're in such dire straits ourselves that even if we wanted to give Cheng a leg up, we have nothing to offer him. If he leaves, I'll truly be glad. It would be good for him... How does ingratitude come into it? What kindness have we ever shown him?"
With that, Liu Zhi lowered his head again and concentrated on weaving the straw sandal.
Of the Liu family members seated there, Liu Huzi gave a cold snort, but everyone else remained silent.
Grandpa Liu San merely felt the scar at the corner of his mouth begin to ache again, and could not bring himself to say any more.
People of the time said, "When Emperor Taizu began his great undertaking, Jingkou came first, and the Liu Clan formed its foundation."
-Chronicle of Jiangzuo, Pei Songzhi of Qi