"Long sabers and mighty bows, reigning over Jiangdong.
Carriages like flowing water, horses like dragons, behold the realm in our gaze..."
Seated atop a mule cart, Liu Cheng sang this peculiar tune while driving the cart himself with a spark of excitement. Ahead, behind, and beside him, nearly all the other travelers—whether riding in carts, on horseback, or walking on foot, and all wearing crimson turbans—could do nothing but exchange bewildered glances and eye him with strange looks.
After all, their stations were different.
When the fellow had frequented the private market previously, everyone had known he was a scion of the scholar-gentry on equal terms with Preceptor Lu. For this journey, Preceptor Lu had explicitly instructed them in person that this youth was destined for great success and must be attended to with utmost care... Even if his tone had sounded rather odd at the time, words were words.
Thus, they still accorded him standard courtesy. Liu Cheng hadn't seized the opportunity to put on airs over the past few days either, instead getting along amicably with the Way of the Celestial Masters travelers. If he wanted to sing, they naturally let him be.
Of course, Liu Cheng was singing purely out of boredom and whimsy.
His journey was not taking him past the palace of King Fuchai of Wu mentioned in the song—namely Wu County of Wu Commandery, what later generations would call Suzhou. That was a water route, reachable only by canal. The route they were following now took them south along the Jurong Road past Mount Mao, soon entering Wuxing Commandery. From there, they planned to cross the Zhongjiang River, a tributary of Lake Tai, via the pontoon bridge at Yangxian, traverse all of Wuxing Commandery along the western shore of Lake Tai down to Qiantang, and finally cross the Zhe River into Kuaiji.
Their travels had been smooth, largely because the Way of the Celestial Masters had numerous strongholds along the way. Many manors, though not property of the Celestial Masters, belonged to masters who adhered to the faith and willingly offered food and lodging. Moreover, past Mount Mao, the snow had thinned considerably, and over the last two or three days, it had melted away completely.
Under such conditions, Liu Cheng soon took to learning how to drive the cart. Although he still couldn't pull the mule cart up to an exact spot in an exact posture, he had learned how to keep it rolling straight in the ruts. This filled him with great pride, feeling he had acquired yet another specialized skill.
If he ever fell on hard times in the future and had to apply as a bondservant to some aristocratic clan, he could thump his chest and proclaim that his flute skills were learned from a direct disciple of Lüzhu—if you don't believe me, ask Aunt Song; his straw-weaving was praised throughout Jingkou, taught by the unrivaled craft of Ren Gong; and as for driving a cart, let alone that, who among you has driven a cart all the way from Jiankang to Kuaiji?
With versatility in both civil and martial talents like that, who knows, they might even make him a steward (Dianji)!
"Is this the Zhongjiang River?" Liu Cheng asked after an older craftsman of the Celestial Masters stepped in to help steer through a turn. Taking back the reins, Liu Cheng's attention was diverted by the river beside the road. "It's not very wide, either."
"It isn't," a middle-aged Daoist in long robes riding alongside chimed in. "Among the Three Rivers and Five Lakes, none are particularly broad or grand, save for Lake Tai itself."
Liu Cheng froze in surprise. He had always thought "the Three Rivers and Five Lakes" was a sweeping phrase referring to all the waterways across the realm. Why did it sound here as though it specifically meant the region around Lake Tai?
Fortunately, the fellow was an eager learner, and he immediately asked, "Preceptor Feng, which are the Three Rivers, and which are the Five Lakes?"
"The Three Rivers are the Beijiang, Zhongjiang, and Nanjiang. The Five Lakes are Lake Tai, Lake Gui, Lake She, Lake Xu, and Lake Li... the river system here in Yangzhou between Danyang and Wu Commandery." Over the journey, this mid-ranking Daoist surnamed Feng had grown familiar with him. Besides, who wouldn't look for conversation on such a long trek? Even with Liu Cheng destined for grand success, hadn't the boy still played the flute for everyone in the evenings? "Still, only the Zhongjiang and Lake Tai lie ahead of us now; we've passed the rest."
Only then did Liu Cheng realize that the broad, generic usage of "Three Rivers and Five Lakes" probably didn't begin until Wang Bo's time. Before then, it truly had referred solely to the waterways of Yangzhou. After all, one could never anticipate what writers would do to satisfy rhymes, antitheses, and word counts.
"So that's how it is." Having worked it out, Liu Cheng stopped fretting over it and moved on to his next curiosity. "Going by what you said before, now that we've turned along the Zhongjiang, are we about to enter Wuxing?"
"Indeed," Daoist Feng said, gesturing ahead. "The border is just a dozen or so li ahead. Tonight we lodge within Wuxing."
Hearing this, Liu Cheng was naturally energized. For one, reaching a milestone while traveling always lifted one's spirits; for another, there was a question he had long wanted to ask.
"Preceptor Feng," Liu Cheng pursued, "speaking of Wuxing, one cannot avoid the Shen clan of Wuxing. I've heard that among all the southern clans, the Shen clan of Wuxing is the most fabulously wealthy. Is that true?"
"Naturally," Daoist Feng nodded. "Everyone knows that."
"Just how wealthy are they?" Liu Cheng pressed eagerly from the cart. "I've heard people say half of Wuxing Commandery belongs to them. Is that true?"
"That is what everyone says." Daoist Feng neither denied nor fully confirmed it.
"What do you mean, 'that's what everyone says'? Is it common folk exaggeration?" Liu Cheng grew even more curious.
The middle-aged Daoist smiled and shook his head. "Back when the old patriarch of the Shen clan rebelled, he pulled together fully ten thousand men to attack Jiankang, all equipped with their own weapons, armor, and banners... and Wuxing was said to have only twenty-odd thousand registered households back then. Saying half the commandery was theirs at that time was not an exaggeration in the slightest. And if you ask me, why limit it to half of Wuxing Commandery? In neighboring Wu Commandery, Kuaiji Commandery, and even here in Danyang, where didn't they have fortified manors and estates?"
Liu Cheng nodded repeatedly, clicking his tongue in amazement. It turned out the description he had once thought so wildly exaggerated back on Huashan—about pulling together dozens of banners of Northern Garrison troops—had actually been true.
Could this be the might of the King of Fortified Manors in Jiangzuo?
Of course, from the Daoist's tone, their standing now was far diminished from what it had once been.
Sure enough, without waiting to be prompted, Daoist Feng, warmed up to the conversation, continued on his own: "But that was back then. After the rebellion, people here in Wuxing all said Wang Dun's subordinates betrayed the Shen clan and deliberately left them to die. In any case, the Shens suffered a crushing defeat that time. The old patriarch's severed head was paraded about, and from then on the Shen clan was demoted to a convict clan, forbidden from taking office, barred from crossing checkpoints without leave, and the like... It was for that very reason that they gifted that fortified manor by the Jurong Road to Master Du."
Liu Cheng had already guessed what happened as soon as the Daoist mentioned the rebellion, but that did not stop him from nodding profusely, pretending to have had a sudden epiphany.
"Still, none of that mattered much. For properties outside the commandery, giving them away at least earned goodwill; otherwise the authorities would have seized them for nothing." Seeing Liu Cheng's wide-eyed, provincial reaction, Daoist Feng's enthusiasm rose, and he lowered his voice from his horse. "The real crux was the other powerful local clans in Wuxing. Some betrayed the old patriarch of the Shen clan, defecting to the court mid-battle; others sheltered the current young patriarch... but regardless of who they were, they all seized the chance to swallow up many of the Shens' estates."
"I see!" Liu Cheng slapped his thigh right on the cart. "If not for Preceptor Feng explaining it, how would I have ever known such secrets! I've been spending Shenlang coins all this time, thinking the Shen clan still owned half of Wuxing!"
Daoist Feng stroked his beard in satisfaction.
"Then how much power do they still hold today?" Liu Cheng couldn't resist asking further. "Manors like the one we stayed at by the Jurong Road—how many of those do they still have?"
"That depends on whether you count the entire Shen clan," Daoist Feng replied with narrowed eyes and a faint, knowing gaze. "If you include them all, back when the current patriarch was still young, they naturally distributed estates among the various branches and lineages to preserve their holdings. Counted that way, they still have quite a lot—perhaps not half a commandery, but certainly a good chunk of one... But if you speak only of the main branch, under the direct control of Shen Shijian, there are probably only a dozen or so manors like ours... and that is only after he slaughtered the Wu family who betrayed his father back then to reclaim that scale."
This time, Liu Cheng was genuinely stunned.
What did they say about an emaciated whale still being bigger than a horse? Even after being dismembered, this Shen clan still possessed the scale of an entire major county?
The King of Fortified Manors in Jiangzuo had died, but he had left all his treasure at home!
And weren't they a convict clan? How could he have slaughtered the entire family of a loyalist who defected back then for revenge, and then continue on as the paramount manor lord of Wuxing?
Yet the more he learned, the more Liu Cheng understood why the imperial court back then had only dared designate them a convict clan rather than confiscate their property... If they had truly tried to seize everything, wouldn't the local magnates who had carved up the Shens' wealth, along with the Shen branch lineages, have rallied behind this Shen Shijian to fight the court to the bitter end?
With the Great Jin court battered and crippled after the Rebellion of Wang Dun, it might not have been able to cross the Three Rivers and Five Lakes to chew through them at all. Even this act of Shen Shijian avenging his father had likely been carried out by seizing the turmoil during the Rebellion of Su Jun, leaving the court helpless to do anything about it.
All they could do was maintain stability through quiet forbearance.
He could only say his horizons were broadening; there was truly nothing like traveling far and wide.
And so, that evening, the party indeed arrived within Wuxing Commandery, lodging at a manor whose master was surnamed Shen—another integrated complex complete with its own market and craft workshops.
Nothing notable occurred that night. Setting out again the next morning, they reached Yixing City before noon, passing by without entering and heading directly toward the Zhangpu Pavilion outside the walls to cross the river.
Here, the Zhongjiang neared Lake Tai and widened considerably. Ahead lay a ferry crossing where boats could ply to and from the lake, while behind it beneath the city walls stood a checkpoint and pontoon bridge, forming a major transit hub for northern Wuxing. Crowds jostled here, either crossing the river or boarding boats to enter the lake.
Before arriving, Liu Cheng had only known this was roughly the halfway mark of their journey. Only upon reaching it did he learn that Zhou Chu Ridding the Three Evils had taken place right here! Indeed, the classic line "Moreover, in the waters of Yixing lurked a flood dragon" had named Yixing directly.
He merely wondered whether Zhou Chu's fight with the dragon over a dozen li had unfolded in Lake Tai or along the Zhongjiang.
That wasn't all. Since Zhou Chu had gone on to become a paragon of loyalty and filial piety in the Great Jin dynasty, shouldn't the Zhou surname be a prominent local clan? Yet when he asked, it turned out the Zhou family had been exterminated.
And the reason for their extermination was laughable to hear.
Zhou Chu's youngest son, Zhou Zha, was none other than the man Liu Jili never stopped cursing—the one who had surrendered Stone City to Wang Dun, only to be distrusted and have his entire family slaughtered by Wang Dun in the end. As if that weren't enough, Wang Dao had later held Zhou Zha up as an exemplar and rehabilitated his name.
The claim was that Zhou Zha's mistaken trust in Wang Dun had stemmed from his hatred of political meddlers like Liu Wei, which was only human nature; that Wang Dun had subsequently slaughtered Zhou's entire household proved Zhou Zha was truly a loyal man. Therefore, his name had to be cleared, and sacrifices of the Tailao offered to him; otherwise, no one would feel secure.
They had even erected a stele for him.
Liu Cheng could only marvel once more at how traveling broadened his horizons; everywhere he went were allusions and figures from history. As for Liu Jili's ambition, looking at it now, it might well be no easier than a Northern Expedition.
Just as the youth was engrossed in listening to and observing these stories, a tremendous commotion erupted across the pontoon bridge at the checkpoint ahead.
At first, no one paid it any mind. Disputes, brawls, and even fugitive sightings at ferries and checkpoints were commonplace, especially since the quarrel was on the opposite bank.
After a moment, however, the Daoists escorting the supplies grew tense. One by one, they craned their necks to look ahead, conferring among themselves. Then Daoist Feng turned back and whispered, "Young Master A Cheng, let us wait a while and steer clear of this... Across the river, the Shen clan's patriarch Shen Shilian has come in person. Belonging to a convict clan, he has no business forcing his way through the very checkpoint set up to watch him..."
Liu Cheng was taken aback and found it odd as well. Exactly—with the Shen clan's influence here, if they truly wanted to come and go, they could just hop on a boat and slip into Lake Tai, and who would bother them? Why must he force his way past the checkpoint?
Wasn't this deliberately making things difficult for the petty clerks of Yixing?
A moment later, the commotion ahead abruptly vanished. Liu Cheng climbed onto the cart and saw clearly what had transpired: dozens of mounted riders had crossed straight over the pontoon bridge, seemingly having seized a man who looked like an official. The people originally blocking this side of the pontoon bridge had cleared out of the way even faster than if they had run into the blade-and-axe retainers clearing paths for an aristocratic master's carriage.
Having crossed the pontoon bridge over the Zhongjiang, the riders did not continue northward, nor did they head toward Yixing City. Instead, they reined in by the riverbank. More than that, following an order from their leader, the dozens of horsemen rode straight past the crowd, fanned out, and swept around from both flanks, encircling everyone.
Liu Cheng's heart pounded. Why did this look so much like the bandits back on the Huai? Surely the Shen clan had no need to rob people? Or was the Shen patriarch, cooped up in Wuxing for years, driven to slaughter a few people with his own hands now and then for sport?
Fortunately, one of the riders called out in a clear voice, "By order of our young lord, all of you are invited to bear witness! It will take only a moment!"
The onlookers exchanged looks of dismay, but with horsemen closing in on both sides and herding them along, refusing seemed out of the question.
After a brief discussion, the Celestial Masters Daoists could only advise Liu Cheng to go along with them to avoid trouble.
Before long, everyone on this side of the pontoon bridge was forced to leave their carts, horses, and chests, gathering by the checkpoint at the bridgehead. There they saw a middle-aged rider who had been speaking sternly and fiercely to a petty clerk on the ground who wore a bronze seal with a blue ribbon. Seeing the crowd assemble, he turned around and proclaimed loudly to the gathered people:
"Everyone, I am Shen Jin of Wuxing! Fellow elders and townsfolk, and preceptors of the Way of the Celestial Masters, you all know that mine is a convict clan! I am thirty-two years old, yet have never held office. By restriction, I am ordinarily forbidden to travel south past Mount Wulin, east past Dongqian, or north past this Zhangpu Pass... Yet I have crossed today to tell you all one thing! His Excellency Lord Wang, our former Administrator of Wuxing, has long known my desire to serve the country. Having been appointed General Who Pacifies the North and Inspector of Sizhou to take part in the Northern Expedition, he submitted a special memorial to the court petitioning for an imperial pardon lifting the convict clan status from my Shen family, so he could summon me to his staff as marshal... and the imperial court has granted it! Everyone, I have no desire to make things difficult for anyone. It is merely that this pass clerk obstructed me without cause, as if my family had not been pardoned! That is why I asked you all here to bear witness: I did not force this pass without reason; he obstructed me without authority!"
With that, Shen Jin looked down at the man on the ground, overwhelmed by grief and indignation. "Clerk Huang, do you hear me? I have no intention of making things hard for you. I shall return south right now, but these words had to be said!"
Listening from below, Liu Cheng could understand completely. If what Shen Jin said was true, finally being freed after decades of suppression was bound to exhilarate him, so encountering such an obstacle would naturally make him want to vent.
Yet the checkpoint clerk on the ground was equally overwhelmed with aggrieved indignation, beating the earth with his fists. "Young Master Shen! With your Shen family's power in Wuxing, who would dare slight or hinder you?! I truly received no word of this! On the contrary, when I assumed this post, the commandery specifically instructed me to watch your movements! Why blame me?!"
Hearing this, Shen Jin seemed to find the matter tiresome and waved a hand. "You will receive word sooner or later!"
With that, he actually turned his horse around and rode back to the southern bank.
Liu Cheng had witnessed a splendid show and found it thoroughly thrilling. After crossing the pontoon bridge that afternoon, he was too restless to sit still, pestering several Daoists with questions until he finally learned that the former Administrator Lord Wang hailed from the Langya Wang clan and was named Wang Huzhi... and Wang Huzhi's father, as a shared cousin of both Wang Dao and Wang Dun, had sided much more with Wang Dun back in those years.
No wonder he had helped the Shen clan. As for why Wang Huzhi wasn't considered a convict clan... what a joke! Even Zhou Zha had been rehabilitated, and Wang Huzhi was a genuine member of the Langya Wang clan.
In the end, it was someone else's affair and should have ended there. That evening, however, Liu Cheng and the others once again lodged at a manor belonging to the Shen clan of Wuxing. Unsurprisingly, later that night, Shen Jin and his retinue suddenly arrived there as well. Immediately, the atmosphere throughout the entire manor turned intensely terrified and uneasy. Bondservants scurried in every direction, stewards who had been smiling earlier were now ashen-faced, and even the occasional mounted retainer of the Shen clan seen passing by wore a grim, livid expression... Whether it was his imagination or not, Liu Cheng even thought he heard someone weeping loudly from the hall Shen Jin had entered, the voice bearing a striking resemblance to the one heard earlier that day.
The Daoists did not dare take this lightly. They quickly gathered reliable news and informed Liu Cheng: it turned out that General Who Pacifies the North Wang Huzhi, who had reportedly summoned Shen Jin, had suddenly suffered a stroke four or five days ago—right around the time Liu Cheng and the others had set out... He had collapsed backward to the ground, entirely unable to speak or move.
While the Daoists were still reeling in bewilderment, someone arrived from the main hall, announcing that Young Lord Shen requested the True Men of the Way of the Celestial Masters to come and assist with rituals to dispel calamity and exorcise disease!
Chapter 38