Chapter 302: Han Fu Of The Ancestral Land
In the beginning of the chaotic times, people were merely things to be trampled upon.
Just like in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when heroes rose to power, everyone was engaged in rampant group-based plundering. Only in this way could the most wealth be accumulated in the shortest amount of time, and only in this way could there be enough wealth to greatly expand one’s territory.
The unrest in the late Eastern Han ancestral land was fundamentally different from this Great Han unrest.
The heroes contested the ancestral land for territory, because, in the ancestral land, territory is the true wealth. Killing was for establishing prestige, so the warlords in the early stage basically did no good deeds.
After the world was divided into three and stabilized, these killers began to save the people, but by then the world’s population was less than five million.
This is almost a pattern; every time a dynasty nears its end, this scene repeats. Once the population has been sufficiently depleted and the conflict between population and land is resolved, the world enters a period of great governance.
The most important wealth for the Great Han was not land, but cities. The Han people’s main sources of livelihood were gathering, hunting, and raising livestock. Cities were commodity distribution centers, and only by controlling these commodity distribution centers could true wealth be obtained.
After everyone competed for and obtained the commodity distribution center, the first thing they had to do was to kill the original owners of the marketplace and replace them with their own people. Moreover, sometimes they also needed to replace the personnel of their own commodity distribution center.
The slaughter was large-scale, the expulsions were large-scale, and the suffering of the people was no different from the end of the dynasty in their ancestral land.
Refugees, to warlords, are unowned possessions.
Yun Ce’s horse carriage stood out amidst the refugees; after all, it was almost a consensus in the Great Han that anyone able to use a Thunder Smoke Beast to pull a horse carriage must be a warrior.
The refugees, seeing that Yun Ce, this warrior, did not rob them of their possessions or bully their female family members, quickly regarded Yun Ce as the leader of this small group.
This characteristic is actually a characteristic of nomadic people: you provide me with protection, and I contribute cattle and sheep, grain, and am at your service.
This custom was never explicitly stipulated, but this behavior had long become a part of the Great Han people’s lives, especially among the refugees.
Seeing that Yun Ce did not refuse them, they would stop whenever Yun Ce’s horse carriage stopped, and they would follow whenever Yun Ce’s horse carriage began to move.
These small, naturally formed tribes soon attracted contenders.
“Although the world is in chaos now, there will surely be heroes to emerge and restore order to this turbulent world. It is said that one hero will appear for every ten people, one strongman for every hundred, one outstanding individual for every thousand, and one exceptional talent for every ten thousand.
The world is in chaos because heroes and talented individuals are no longer content to remain idle, and more importantly, because the current imperial court has blocked the paths for these heroes and talented individuals to rise.
You should know that heroes and talented individuals are all ambitious people. How can they remain dejected and under others for a long time? A peaceful world is a cage for heroes and talented individuals; only in chaotic times is it the stage for heroes and talented individuals.
So, to have peace in the world, all heroes and talented individuals should die.
Wu Tong gaped at Yun Ce, who was speaking eloquently, shifted his buttocks, and said, “If sages did not die, would great thieves not cease to exist?”
Yun Ce shook his head and said, “Your understanding is incorrect. The eight characters you mentioned represent the opposition between order and chaos. What I meant by the words above is to tell you—the people, only when the people rule this land themselves can lasting peace be brought.”
Wu Tong frowned, and he pointed to the refugees outside, saying, “You don’t mean them when you say ‘people’, do you?”
Yun Ce glanced outside and shook his head, saying, “They can be called the masses, but not the people.”
Wu Tong said again, “Are you talking about the nationals and the slaves?”
Yun Ce laughed, “You know about the matters of the Zhou Dynasty too?”
Wu Tong sighed and said, “The Great Han’s academic system was brought by King Huo from the ancestral land. Before King Huo, the Great Han were barbarians.”
Yun Ce laughed loudly, “You have benefited too much from the ancestral fire, to the point that your lives have become too good. Therefore, the ancestral fire is both your success and your downfall.”
Just as the two were talking, the horse carriage shook slightly, and their bodies swayed a little. Then, Lei Ming, who was sitting on the carriage shaft, said, “Lord, someone is blocking our path. They said that we should submit to him, and were bitten to death by the red date horse.”
Yun Ce lifted the curtain and glanced ahead. Seeing the red date horse spitting, its saliva a vivid red, he reprimanded, “You’re a horse, a herbivore. Why are you biting people for no reason? Aren’t you afraid of kicking them to death?”
The red date horse, having been reprimanded, immediately drooped its ears. It was already full of anger; being yoked to pull the carriage had made it very uncomfortable. Now, having bitten a foolish fellow to death, it was also being scolded. It truly could not stand it.
Then, with a neigh, it broke free of the belly band and charged into the crowd blocking the path ahead. This time, it did not use its mouth, but swung its four hooves, each the size of a copper hammer, and wreaked havoc among the people.
Lei Ming lifted the fallen carriage shaft with one hand, somewhat annoyed at the Red Date Horse’s meddling. His Lord had long instructed him that this trip was not to engage in major conflict, but to return home quietly. If they encountered people who wanted to annex this small tribe, they were to be driven away. Now, with the Red Date Horse’s disturbance, those people lay on the ground, their guts spilled out. They couldn’t run anymore, and he would be troubled by having to accept a group of newcomers. What a hassle.
Wu Tong watched the Red Date Horse thunderously knock down the last one trying to escape, and after trampling over him, said to Yun Ce, who was also watching the Red Date Horse go wild, “Your livestock are rather special.”
Yun Ce said, “The Yun Clan Villa is even more special. You will slowly understand after you return.”
The red date horse killed seventeen or eighteen people blocking its path in one go, only then did the accumulated anger in its heart dissipate. After wiping the blood from its hooves on the corpses, it returned to the center of the carriage shafts, letting Lei Ming re-harness the horse.
The horse carriage bypassed the corpses and continued forward. Those subordinates who were originally very worried that their Lord would not be able to defeat those fierce people, after witnessing the ferocity of the red date horse, were not only unafraid but walked with even greater composure.
Wu Tong said, “Do you want him to be the Great General in the future?”
Yun Ce shrugged his shoulders and said, “North of the Great Wall there are many beasts, it depends on its own ability.”
Wu Tong laughed and said, “Are you going to form a beast army?”
Yun Ce dotingly kicked the red date horse’s buttocks and said, “You saw it too. This one has a temper. I think it’s become intelligent. It just won’t acknowledge me. I guess it’s waiting for me to lift it up high before it will pay attention to me, its master.
Since they have high aspirations, I’ll give them the opportunity. Whether they can seize it is their own business.”
The red date horse, upon hearing this, turned its head to look at Yun Ce and snorted loudly again.
The red date horse killed someone, but it was Lei Ming who was busy. This child seemed to have a high aptitude for organizing and deploying troops. The integration of the two groups of people was completed after advancing less than a hundred li.
Wu Tong asked, “Are there many children like this in your Yun Clan Villa?”
Yun Ce said, “The Yun Clan Villa now has over eighty thousand people, with newborns arriving daily and children maturing. When I left the Yun Clan Villa, there were already more than fifty children with Qi Sensation. When we return, I believe the number of children who can be cultivated into warriors should exceed one hundred.”
These hundred people’s academic system is different from the Great Han. From the moment they learn their first character, they are exposed to the knowledge of their ancestral land. I want these children to break out of the shallow circle of Great Han Culture, to have a more far-sighted perspective and a more open mind.
Wu Tong said, “You don’t think much of Great Han Culture?”
Yun Ce said, “What is most revered in the Great Han now is Han Fu. I will read you a Han Fu, then you will select a Han Fu written by a Han person that can rival it, and then tell me how profound Great Han Culture is.”
Wu Tong laughed and said, “Teacher Liang Zhizi’s Han Fu is unparalleled in the world. Recite the Han Fu from the ancestral land for me to hear.”
Yun Ce pondered in his mind and said, “This fu is called 《Ode to the Luo River Goddess》.”
Wu Tong asked, “Who is the author?”
“The Young Master of Wei, Cao Zhi.”
“You speak it.”
Yun Ce sat up straight, gazing at the river by the roadside, and said, “In the third year of Huangchu, I went to the Capital and crossed the Luo River. The ancients said, ‘The spirit of this river is named Lady Mi.’ Inspired by Song Yu’s tale of the goddess to the King of Chu, I composed this ode. Its words are…”
“I told him, ‘Her form is like a startled swan, graceful as a swimming dragon. Brilliant as autumn chrysanthemums, luxuriant as spring pines. As if veiled by light clouds obscuring the moon, fluttering as if the circling snow caught by a passing breeze. Viewed from afar, she is as bright as the sun rising through morning clouds; observed closely, she is as radiant as a lotus emerging from green waves. Her build is perfectly proportioned, her length and shortness meeting the measure. Her shoulders seem carved, her waist like bound silk. Her neck is extended, her nape elegant, her pure complexion revealed. No fragrant powder added, no cosmetic needed. Her cloud-like coiffure is towering, her slender eyebrows gracefully curved. Her red lips are bright outside, her white teeth fresh within, her bright eyes glance playfully, dimples adorning her cheeks. Her exquisite beauty is captivating, her poised demeanor serene. Her tender affections and graceful bearing are more eloquent than words. Her unique attire is unparalleled, her bone structure as if from a divine painting. She wears resplendent robes, adorned with lustrous jade and pearls. She wears gold and jade jewelry, studded with bright pearls to illuminate her body. She treads in embroidered traveling shoes, trailing a misty silk skirt. A subtle fragrance like that of a secluded orchid emanates, as she ambles along the mountain’s edge.”
“……Thus I committed to memory the heights and hollows, then my thoughts drifted to the spirits, my feelings imagining, I looked back with sorrow. I longed for the spirit body to reappear, to ride a light boat upstream. I floated on the long river, forgetting to return, my thoughts endlessly flowing. The night was sleepless, stained by heavy frost until dawn. I ordered my servants to harness the carriage, I will return by the eastern road. I grasped the reins and raised my whip, yet I was lost in contemplation and could not leave.”
Regarding this 《Ode to the Luo River Goddess》, Yun Ce’s cognition of it is profound. The first time he read it, he didn’t recognize many of the rare characters, so naturally he couldn’t feel the beauty contained within.
When I read it for the second time, I was only struggling with those beautiful words and phrases and could not understand the author’s yearning for beauty.
The third time I reread it, I felt that this Han Fu was as ethereal as a flying bird, I wanted to reach out and catch it, but I always couldn’t.
During the fourth re-reading, I felt that beauty had already become very concrete, but when I tried to express it, I always couldn’t.
The fifth time I reread it, the whole text was filled with regret, wishing I could cast myself into the Luo River.
