Whoever Stands in the Way Dies

Li Weisheng was actually somewhat famous among the clean-stream faction of the literary world, precisely because he had been the first to advance the concept of a court filled with upright men. Back then, Sun Chao'en had first devised the strategy, using Li Weisheng's voice to proclaim it in court. This had successfully degraded Western Jin's administrative efficiency, suppressed Yue Jinshan and the military nobility faction, and bought a bit of breathing room for Wei Yuan. Years later, Li Weisheng's revival of a court filled with upright men was no longer the crude idea of the past. Instead, it was supported by more than ten voluminous treatises, forming a thoroughly self-consistent doctrine. The court of Eastern Jin was likewise divided into three factions: the imperial kin and nobility, the military generals and local magnates, and third, the civil officials of the clean stream. The civil officials of Eastern Jin faced immense pressure, yet among themselves they were a heap of loose sand. Prime Minister Wang He could be considered young and promising. Firmly seizing the opportunity when Qingming pressed upon the border, he had put forward the doctrine of measuring Eastern Jin's material strength to win Qingming's favor. The moment these words were uttered, the entire court's generals and imperial kin naturally cursed Wang He up and down. Yet after cursing Wang He, somebody still had to take the field to withstand Wei Yuan, didn't they? Otherwise, Wang He would sneer with relentless sarcasm: "The Great General denounces me with such vigor, yet why do I not see you at the front lines holding them back a little? Could it be that you fear death?" Unable to endure the goading, many generals headed west, and most never returned. After a few cycles of this, Wang He's mortal rivals in court had been halved. When he raised the matter of paying annual tribute to sue for peace again, not a single soul spoke up. By the time Li Weisheng arrived in Eastern Jin, Wang He had already purged a good portion of his political enemies in court. The civil officials were riding high while the generals could barely lift their heads, so Li Weisheng had truly arrived at an auspicious moment. After expounding his doctrine, Li Weisheng asserted that if they wished for a court filled with upright men, they must eliminate deep-seated abuses. At this, an old general grew disgruntled and snapped, "Does Lord Li believe that all past governance in our Great Jin has been nothing but deep-seated abuse?" Li Weisheng declared in a clear, resonant voice, "I cannot speak for other matters, but the abuses within the military have reached the point where reform is imperative! How could an army under heaven suffer defeat in a hundred out of a hundred battles?" Flushed with fury, the old general roared, "Our Great Jin possesses formidable military might! How could we have suffered defeat in every single battle?" Li Weisheng retorted bluntly, "Against Qingming, has there been even a single victory?" "Of course there were victories, and great victories at that!" Li Weisheng pressed without yielding, "Which battle, where was it fought, when, and who commanded the army?" The old general stood stunned, unable to answer for a long time. In the battle reports submitted to the imperial court, there were naturally quite a few victories—such as reclaiming dozens of border cities. It was just that the reports failed to mention that all the recaptured cities were empty ruins. Such victories, concocted to paint a false picture of peace and prosperity, naturally could not withstand scrutiny, let alone relentless probing. Seeing that Li Weisheng had no intention of observing bureaucratic courtesy, the old general gave a cold laugh. "Fine! If Lord Li says there are deep-seated abuses, then abuses there are! Let us see how you plan to reform them!" With that, he stepped back into the ranks and fell silent. Li Weisheng surveyed the court and raised his voice. "Our Great Jin's current military system is the land-armor system, which levies men for military service based on land ownership. Because local magnates own vast swathes of land, they can often directly mobilize a force of several thousand or even ten thousand men, organize the entire force into a single battalion, and appoint their own kin as commanders and officers. In times of war, troops must be deployed battalion by battalion and cannot be divided. "This minister would like to ask: do these battalion levies belong to the King, or are they the private armies of local clans?" At this question, the entire court fell deathly silent. Even many civil officials were dumbfounded; they had not expected Li Weisheng's opening salvo to strike so hard. Looking at one another and then at Li Weisheng, not a single person dared to utter a word. A sharp glint flashed across King Xuan of Jin's dim, aged eyes. Disregarding the court's unspoken opposition, he nodded for Li Weisheng to continue. Beneath the murderous glares of numerous imperial clansmen, generals, and nobles, Li Weisheng remained completely fearless. He had come from Western Jin; any fool knew who stood behind him. Would these nobles dare lay a finger on him? Wouldn't that give Wei Yuan an excuse for a full-scale invasion? Ever since Wei Yuan consolidated Western Jin, his renown had spread far and wide. Everyone knew that wherever the Qingming army marched, all land deeds and title certificates were declared null and void, searched out and burned to ash. Worse still, even boundary stones were uprooted and reset, causing vast shifts in earth veins and river courses. The foundations built by local aristocratic clans over thousands of years were obliterated the moment Qingming's armies swept through. Thus, anyone with land or property near the border prayed Wei Yuan would never actually invade. Once the court quieted down a little, Li Weisheng spoke again: "Therefore, the core essence of this minister's reform is this: the separation of soldiers from land, and the separation of generals from soldiers!" The entire court instantly erupted in an uproar! Yet Li Weisheng's clear voice pierced right through the din: "The imperial court shall conscript directly from villages, hamlets, and townships; the men levied will no longer pass through the hands of local clans. This is the separation of soldiers from land. "Once conscripted, soldiers will be organized uniformly into designated regional grand encampments for training. In the event of war, generals will draw troops from these grand encampments by imperial decree and military tally, and upon the war's conclusion, return the units to the grand encampments. This is the separation of generals from soldiers." A military commander of the imperial kin stepped forward and said coldly, "If the soldiers do not know their general and the general does not know his soldiers, how can we win any battles?" Li Weisheng replied, "We haven't been winning battles anyway; how much worse could it possibly get?" The general turned purple with rage, nearly unable to stand steady. Before he could think of a retort, Li Weisheng had already turned toward King Xuan of Jin and proclaimed loudly, "The reforms may have a thousand shortcomings, but they offer one supreme benefit: from this day forth, all soldiers across the realm will know only the King, and know no general!" The cloudiness in King Xuan of Jin's eyes vanished completely. At last, he nodded and said, "Beloved Minister, your erudition is profound and your talent peerless under heaven. Having journeyed from afar to pledge your service to our Great Jin, you must not be treated poorly, lest we chill the hearts of scholars and talents across the realm." King Xuan of Jin's words carried deeper meaning, and only then did the imperial kin and nobles remember that behind Li Weisheng stood Wei Yuan of Qingming! This was a man they absolutely could not afford to offend. King Xuan of Jin paused, then proclaimed, "Let Li Weisheng fill the vacancy of Director of the Department of State Affairs, with rank of Junior First Class!" The officials had never expected Li Weisheng to receive such a lofty position right from the start. Just as they were at a loss, Prime Minister Wang He stepped forward and said, "Congratulations to the King on gaining yet another right-hand pillar!" With Wang He taking the lead, his entire faction joined in chorus with great momentum, settling the matter on the spot. …… Once the morning court adjourned, Li Weisheng was summoned into the palace to present his policy proposals. The rest of the officials exited the palace to return home. On the way out of the palace, a trusted confidant said to Wang He, "Chancellor, why did you place such high regard on that Li Weisheng today? This man could become a threat to you!" Wang He said placidly, "The line between friend and foe lies not in personal impressions, nor in official ranks, but in identity and political vision. Whatever Li Weisheng's motives may be, the eight characters he proposed—separating soldiers from land, separating generals from soldiers—strike straight at the vitals of the imperial kin and nobility. If this policy is enacted, the nobles' power will be depleted by eighty to ninety percent, no longer posing any concern. Thus, this man possesses great talent. If he truly stands on our side, even yielding this premiership to him would be of no great matter." "My Lord..." "Say no more. I have my own plans." Another confidant asked, "Will the imperial kin and nobility not strike back? Or pressure the King to rescind his decree?" Wang He said, "Li Weisheng's words today spoke directly to the King's innermost desires, and behind him stands Qingming. It is tantamount to Qingming and the King joining hands to push through this reform; no one can stop it. Whoever stands in the way dies!" …… Li Weisheng acted with tremendous speed and vigor. By the very next day, he had already produced a workable blueprint. In this plan, six grand encampments were to be established across various regions first, while three hundred thousand new recruits would be enlisted everywhere, organized uniformly into the Imperial Guard, and distributed among the six grand encampments for training. Everyone saw through it clearly: these three hundred thousand men were called the Imperial Guard, meaning they were a force under the King's direct command. Moreover, military funds and provisions had to be prioritized for the Imperial Guard. Yet Eastern Jin's state treasury was empty, and it still owed Wei Yuan a massive indemnity that remained unpaid—where would they find the money to support an extra three hundred thousand troops? Therefore, these military funds would inevitably have to be diverted from elsewhere. When that happened, regional units would soon face delayed or withheld pay, and the quality of their rations would plummet. This was no mere speculation; Li Weisheng had laid it out explicitly in the blueprint. And what if various units couldn't take it? Li Weisheng offered two paths: either go home, or go defend the northern border. People actually died on the northern border, so naturally they would avoid it like the plague, leaving only one path: go home. At present, Eastern Jin's battalion troops within any single battalion were fellow villagers, all hailing from under the wing of the same local magnate. If they could not bear the privation, entire battalions would pack up and return home. Men of broad vision like Wang He had already perceived that this was merely Li Weisheng's first step. He would follow the same pattern hereafter, and the Imperial Guard would grow larger and larger. The larger the Imperial Guard, the more military funds it would swallow, and local private armies would dwindle accordingly. After all, maintaining an army was immensely costly; even great clans could not sustain them for long. Many civil officials began to admire Li Weisheng from the bottom of their hearts: without disbanding a single soldier by decree, he was forcing the private armies to disband themselves. Through this trade-off, there would eventually be eight million Imperial Guards to replace the current five million private troops. From these planned numbers, several senior ministers caught the scent of something extraordinary. Given Eastern Jin's state treasury, there was no way it could afford eight million Imperial Guards; combined with the two million border troops on the northern frontier, that would make a ten-million-strong army. Yet Li Weisheng's ceiling of eight million Imperial Guards had already received King Xuan of Jin's approval. So when the time came, some would surely feast while others ate chaff. And who received more military funds, who ate well—that power would rest entirely in the brush-wielding hands allocating those funds. Needless to say, those posts were all occupied by the civil officials of the clean stream. Thus, beneath these troop quotas, everyone saw four glaring words: using the civil to control the military! This time, without even waiting for Wang He's signal, several ministers began speaking out in staunch support of Li Weisheng. They now viewed Li Weisheng entirely as one of their own clean stream. …… When this morning court adjourned, Li Weisheng exited the palace alongside Wang He. Once Wang He signaled his attendants to step away, Li Weisheng spoke. "This humble official has a few further strategies, but I must ask the Chancellor to offer his guidance first." "Please speak, Lord Li." Li Weisheng said, "Observing our court's past imperial examinations, the candidates have been of mixed quality, with many reckless scholars and mavericks who do as they please. This humble official believes the next step should be establishing several grand academies in various regions, where specially invited Confucian masters will lecture, and Grand Secretaries in court may also lecture from time to time. "The students in these academies will already be the best of the best. In this way, they can become familiar in advance with the policy views of the court's senior ministers, smoothing their path through the imperial examinations and providing the imperial court with more truly useful talent." Wang He was instantly enticed. Once academies were established, the bond of teacher and student would be cemented, creating an organic personal faction for the future. On the surface, however, he maintained a placid demeanor and asked, "This is a fine endeavor. How does Lord Li intend to carry it out?" Li Weisheng said, "For the first step, the imperial court will fund the establishment of four grand academies across the country, named Yuze, Bailu, Tongji, and Donglin. There are four Grand Secretaries in the imperial court; each can preside over one academy. Given time, their pupils will flourish across the realm."