A special thank you to my patrons:
—Jacob Mooe, kevin Williams, Jose Sierra, Archer, Acedia, kurtis newman, Little Sand Luca August, Kyle.S406, Alin Kadas, sediaz, Flavio Rodrigo.
You can read 50 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
————————————————————
Outside the city of Pingyang, some time had already passed since the fires of war had swept through. The former scenes of utter devastation—the pits and hollows scattered everywhere, the places where flies and insects had swarmed in chaotic flight—had gradually been filled and leveled with sand and earth. The corpses of the dead, along with those severed limbs and broken arms, had also been collected and buried deep. Fortunately, the temperature now was not too high, otherwise large quantities of lime would have been needed to suppress the outbreak of pestilence.
The weeds along the official road outside the city had been largely cleared away. Yet the common laborers, clad in tattered rags, swayed unsteadily like human-shaped tares, their complexions ashen and gaunt. At the sight of Fei Qian's retinue and insignia, they knelt from afar, knocked their heads to the ground, then moved aside before returning to their labors in the fields. For people such as these, they never dared to hope for much. So long as they had a mouthful of food to eat and a plot of land to till, they possessed the hope to carry on living. Yet there were others whose desires were chasms impossible to fill, as if no matter how much they swallowed, it could never smooth over that shallow fold in their stomachs.
Fei Qian's carriage and retinue halted ten li outside of Pingyang. Wei Liu felt somewhat uneasy in his heart. Cupping his hands toward Fei Qian, he said, "Allow Liu to go ahead and look into matters."
Fei Qian, however, waved his hand dismissively and said, "Let it be. We shall wait here."
Wei Liu dared not say more and withdrew to the side, anxious and unsettled. Fei Qian swept a sidelong glance at Wei Liu from the corner of his eye, but said nothing. He calmly tucked his hands into his sleeves and sat upright in the carriage. It was no luxurious scented carriage—no, it was simply a modest conveyance, with protective panels on three sides. The lacquer finish was somewhat aged and worn, the wood showing through in damaged patches here and there. Nor were there any fine steeds—no—just a pair of common, mixed-color horses, yoked abreast. Their coats were a bit dull, and they pulled the carriage with a sluggish, labored effort.
Were it not out of consideration for the advanced age of Wei Wang, the Three Elder of Linfen, Fei Qian would have had no desire to come by carriage at all. But this was a matter of ritual propriety; a certain degree of it had to be observed. Yet to make Fei Qian expend his limited resources merely to put on a show of false affluence—he felt there was no necessity whatsoever.
After roughly half a shichen had passed, a line of carriages and riders was finally seen approaching from the distance. A banner stood erect at the front, a single character "Wei" fluttering in the wind. As they drew nearer, Fei Qian could see an elderly man seated at the very front of the Wei family procession. He was clad in resplendent robes, with wide sleeves and a generous cut. Though his hair had gone white, his complexion remained ruddy and lustrous. Three long strands of beard drifted in the breeze, giving him somewhat the air of an immortal riding the wind.
Fei Qian stepped down from his carriage, walked forward a few paces to welcome him, and then stood still, hands cupped before him, smiling genially. The Wei clan's carriage and horses drew closer and closer, finally halting just up ahead, raising a cloud of dust that wafted directly into their faces.
Huang Cheng, standing behind Fei Qian, furrowed his brow and cast a cross glare at Wei Liu, who was at his side.
"These old bones are no longer fit for travel, and I have kept the General of the Household Fei waiting so long—it is truly a crime!" The elderly man upon the Wei family carriage, Wei Wang, laughed heartily, his voice resonant and robust. Yet for all his words of transgression, his body made not the slightest move to descend from the carriage. He merely cupped his hands—the hand still holding the pigeon-head staff—in a perfunctory gesture, which counted as having performed the salutation. An elder bearing the pigeon-head staff was exempt from bowing before officials; a simple cupping of hands sufficed.
Fei Qian narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Revered Sir Wei, with your virtuous governance and transformative teachings, this journey must have been toilsome. You are truly a paragon for our younger generation. Might I have the honor of riding together with you in the same carriage?"
Riding together in the same carriage? Wei Wang turned the notion over in his mind. Though the smile on his face remained unchanged, a single glance at the road beneath his feet—covered in yellow dust that billowed everywhere—and at the vehicle before him—Fei Qian's carriage, so shabby and worn that the lacquer had peeled off in places, its entire body seemingly cobbled together from planks of wood, lacking even a brocade cushion, and drawn by a mere two horses—was, in a word, simply... In his heart, Wei Wang could not help but add another three degrees of contempt. He therefore resolved not to change carriages. How did such a carriage differ from that of a humble, impoverished family? If he were to sit in it, would that not be casting aside the face and prestige of the Wei clan?
In the Han dynasty, one was deemed "old" at fifty. The regulations for the elderly were rather commendable. At fifty, one could eat refined grain and was exempt from heavy manual labor. At sixty, the government offices would distribute meat, and one was freed from military service. At seventy, one received the pigeon-head staff, was excused from bowing before officials, and anyone who bullied or defied such an elder would be charged with gross disrespect, an unpardonable offense. The position of Three Elder also required one to be over fifty, yet whether Wei Wang was truly over seventy at this moment was another matter.
Almost universally, when the various commanderies and counties tallied the number of elderly folk aged fifty and above, there was a degree of falsification. The central court, even the Emperor himself, largely adopted a tacitly permissive attitude toward this. The reasons were not difficult to fathom: on one hand, the inflated number of elderly citizens did not affect tax revenues or corvée labor obligations, since these people were no longer liable for them anyway; on the other hand, having many aged persons in the rustic countryside not only testified to the Emperor's sagacious virtue and the local officials' outstanding governance, but also served as an auspicious omen of the dynasty's enduring longevity.
The type of carriage that Wei Wang was currently seated in was called a "cattail carriage." Its form was not as large as Fei Qian's horse-drawn vehicle. In such a carriage, the elderly could sit cross-legged and did not need to assume the formal upright seated posture. Moreover, the wheels were wrapped in cattail grass to cushion the jolts. In truth, it was not entirely impossible for Wei Wang to switch carriages, but having grown accustomed to the soft embrace of brocade cushions, to then immediately sit in rigidly upright posture upon a hard wooden plank—the disparity was, admittedly, far too great.
To draw an analogy, Fei Qian's carriage at this moment was rather like a four-wheeled farm tractor, whereas Wei Wang's carriage was akin to a compact smart car. The choice between the two seemed, at a glance, self-evident. Thus, Wei Wang politely declined Fei Qian's invitation on the grounds that his legs were infirm and climbing up and down was inconvenient. Fei Qian did not press the matter. He simply nodded, returned to his own carriage, and the entire party swayed and jolted their way back to Pingyang.
Upon reaching the main hall of the Pingyang government office, host and guests took their seats. "Revered Sir Wei, your magnanimity is renowned through the age, a scholar of national stature east of the river, a foremost luminary of the northern lands. To receive the grace of your virtuous presence today fills me, Fei Qian, with the deepest honor." Fei Qian delivered these polite pleasantries while offering tea.
"You flatter me, you flatter me. I truly dare not accept such praise." Wei Wang stroked his three strands of long beard, threw his head back and laughed twice, then said, "General of the Household Fei, your meritorious deeds are illustrious and manifest. You have safeguarded the realm and recovered lost lands, supported the sovereign above and brought peace to the common people below. Coupled with aspirations akin to those of Ban Dingyuan, you truly command the profound admiration of us rustic folk."
Ban Dingyuan? Was this intended to place a tall hat upon his head, or to pin a defining label on him? Fei Qian cupped his hands and said, "With what virtue could I possibly compare to the Marquis of Dingyuan? I dare not speak of merit. I merely saw that in these northern lands, the ancestral homes of the Han people were lost to ruin, tainted by rank barbarian odors, and have exerted but a fraction of my heart's strength."
Wei Wang composed his features into a solemn expression and said, "General Fei, do not be overly modest. Shang Commandery was lost for so long, its lands ravaged, its grain destroyed, its moral order shattered, its principles cast into snares, its people perished and their homes lost. Yet you, General Fei, with your heroic and outstanding bearing, your graceful and tolerant heart, maneuvering and negotiating with skill, summoned forth righteous troops, delivered those hanging in suspense, rescued those amid fire and water, achieved merit for the altars of the state, and virtue among the common folk. Looking across the gifted young talents of the He-Luo region, you, General Fei, are the preeminent figure of the age!"
Though the words were exceedingly pleasant, to Fei Qian, such a degree of flattery... well, how to put it... felt rather akin to how, in later ages, a salesperson would enter a home and from start to finish shower one with exaggerated praise, to the point where even a fart could be greeted with "Ah! It has the sound of string and bamboo music, as silky smooth as Dove chocolate..."
Fei Qian cupped his hands obliquely upward toward the heavens, signifying respect for the Son of Heaven, and said, "This is due to the sagely brilliance of the Son of Heaven and the troops risking their lives. I, with my paltry, insignificant talent, merely happened to be at the right place at the right time. I dare not usurp the credit! The Revered Sir praises me too highly, too highly indeed." Who knew what Wei Wang was truly plotting at this moment? If Fei Qian were to smugly accept such acclaim, it might well be twisted, in the turn of a head, into arrogance born of merit, insufferable hubris.
"Ah... General Fei, you are truly... peerlessly humble, unparalleled in your moral conduct..." Seeing that Fei Qian did not rest on his laurels nor swallow the flattery, Wei Wang could not help but rapidly reconsider his approach, using the moment of sipping his tea to scrutinize Fei Qian a few more times. He had originally assumed that Fei Qian, being young after all, would be somewhat arrogant of spirit, and that a bit more sycophancy might, even if it did not make him utterly dizzy with triumph, at least cause him to reveal some chink in his armor. He had never imagined that Fei Qian would be as steady and composed as a seasoned, long-serving official of many years.