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Within the Cai residence, the conversation between master and disciple continued. Yet, although Cai Yong had discerned where the crux of the problem lay and who was behind it, he did not go on to propose any countermeasures. This was perhaps simply due to Cai Yong's innate character. In most matters, he seemed content to drift with the current, harboring no desire to stand at the crest of the waves and engage in fierce struggle.
In researching classical texts and scholarly pursuits, he was first-rate. In maintaining the principled integrity and self-discipline of a gentleman, he was first-rate. In observing people, grasping the essence of affairs, and seeing through to the truth, he was first-rate. The only thing he did not understand was how to contend and fight with other.
Or rather, in his fundamental nature, Cai Yong simply had no wish to contend or fight with anyone at all. Even his early memorials critiquing contemporary ills had been, for the most part, strictly confined to addressing the matter at hand, never driven by the objective of toppling any particular individual. So, when it came to extricating himself or engaging in struggle, Fei Qian would still have to rely primarily on himself.
Ah, did this mean that both he and Cai Yong were seen as soft persimmons, ripe for anyone who fancied to come up and give them a squeeze?
Fei Qian withdrew his gaze from the scenery outside the window and said, "I now intend to extricate myself and return to Bingzhou before the sacrificial ceremony takes place."
Cai Yong pondered this for a moment, then replied, "That would certainly be for the best. It is only a pity..."
Fei Qian switched to a different topic and said, "Does Teacher know that I have newly established an academy in Bingzhou?"
"Truly, there is such a thing?" Cai Yong was visibly far more interested in this subject. Although there had been some official dispatches arriving from Bingzhou, the flow of all manner of information in the capital region had long been tightly controlled by Dong Zhuo and his clique. Thus, Cai Yong had only heard vague, passing mentions and did not know whether it was true or false.
Fei Qian nodded and said, "Indeed, there is. Northwest of Pingyang, there lies a peach mountain. Three thousand crimson peach trees, a single gateway of grey-blue brick. Rows upon rows of gleaming academy halls, scroll upon scroll of collected classics. Standing amidst the fragrant mists, sitting in discourse to bare one's heartfelt thoughts. Clouds gather and mists part; magpies and birds soar through the woods. The plain zither's notes drift far and deep; bronze and stone chimes ring out with fervor. Ten li of crystalline waves, a hundred-foot winding stream for drifting wine cups. A thousand kinds of grace and elegance, ten thousand acres of ripening grain. There, one may recite the books of Yu and Xia, chant the poems of Yin and Zhou, expound upon the Yi Jing of Fu Xi and King Wen, debate the Spring and Autumn Annals of Confucius, delve deeply into the illuminating canons of past and present, and compose rhapsodies in the Han style..."
Fei Qian rose from his mat and prostrated himself, knocking his head to the floor, and said, "At present, the academy still has no one to preside over it... Your disciple, Fei Qian, earnestly beseeches Teacher to assume the post of Grand Libationer of the academy!"
Cai Yong closed his eyes, as though immersing himself in the scene Fei Qian had depicted. He murmured, "Can there truly be such a celestial realm?"
Fei Qian blinked and declared with resolute finality, "Not a single word is false!"
Mm, well, more or less, probably, it should look roughly like what I described... In any case, that's how these things are. If I had merely said, "There's a mountain with some peach trees, and an academy was built halfway up, with some classic texts placed inside, a small stream on the mountain, and some rice paddies at the foot..." Would such a description possess even half the allure of the words I just spoke?
Cai Yong's beard quivered faintly. It was clear that his heart had been captivated, and yet he seemed unable to make up his mind. After a long, pensive silence, he said, "At present, the court and realm have only just been settled. The sovereign is still young. To abandon my post and depart so abruptly—my heart truly cannot find peace. Would it not be possible to wait a few months, until the capital region has fully stabilized, and then proceed to Bingzhou?"
Wait a few more months? In a few months, even the daylily buds would be cold and withered. It seemed he would have to administer some potent medicine, or else this Old Man Cai's chronic procrastination would truly be beyond cure!
Fei Qian knocked his head to the floor and spoke in a voice laden with grief and urgency: "Does Teacher wish to push the Cai and Fei families into the pit of death?"
Cai Yong furrowed his brow, as though he found Fei Qian's words somewhat exaggerated, and said, "Why would Ziyuan speak such words?"
"Guo and Yu were to each other as exterior and interior. If Guo ceased to exist, upon what could Yu depend? Even in the Spring and Autumn period, propriety was already disregarded; kinsmen of the same lineage drew blades upon one another. How much more so now, in an age when rites and music have decayed and crumbled?" Fei Qian explained. "At this moment, the Cai and Fei families are just as Guo and Yu were—both poised on the brink of utter destruction."
"Teacher, setting all else aside for now—if not for the act of executing Dong Zhuo, could the present governance of the court have fallen into the hands of Minister Wang?" Fei Qian asked.
Cai Yong shook his head and said, "The preeminent clans under heaven are the Yuan and the Yang."
Indeed. Even though Yuan Wei and his entire household had been seized and executed, the Yuan clan still possessed a multitude of former students and old subordinates. The Yang clan, too, wielded influence that permeated the court and the provinces. If one truly made the comparison, had Wang Yun not been the figurehead leader of the plot to assassinate Dong Zhuo, he would absolutely not now be occupying the position of presiding over all state affairs. Old Comrade Yuan had fallen, but Old Comrade Yang was still standing. Who the hell did that Old Wang think he was?
Fei Qian continued, "Now, in the capital region, the winds and clouds shift unpredictably. Liang and Yong provinces have soldiers but no leaders. Bingzhou has men but no scholar-officials. East of the mountains, there are scholar-officials but no soldiers."
Cai Yong fell silent, then nodded. This was a very realistic problem—the exceedingly delicate situation of the present moment. Everyone held cards, but no one held the trump cards. Only Wang Yun, who held the royal flush, was inexplicably playing his straight hand one single card at a time.
When Dong Zhuo had entered Luoyang, he had at least understood the imperative of immediately seizing the remnants of He Jin's troops and swiftly forging a powerful military bloc, suppressing the gentry led by the Yuan and Yang clans until they dared not even stir. But now, Wang Yun had shown absolutely no intention of offering amnesty and recruitment to the Xiliang officers. There were no official documents, nor had any envoys been dispatched to contact them. He had even openly declared that these Xiliang barbarians who had thrown the state into chaos would be severely punished without exception, attempting to annihilate this entire body of officers with nothing more than a salvo of verbal cannon fire.
Wang Yun himself was a man of Bingzhou. Yet within the court and the provinces, apart from Wang Yun himself, there were only Lü Bu and his subordinate military officers from Bingzhou. However, Wang Yun had neither firmly maintained and seized upon this connection with Lü Bu, nor swiftly ordered the mobilization of gentry personnel from Bingzhou to assist him.
At the same time, when Fei Qian had proactively extended an olive branch, it had likewise utterly failed to attract any attention or regard, allowing Huangfu Song to stir up waves and mischief. Behind this, there might perhaps exist some agreement between Huangfu Song and Wang Yun. Perhaps the Shandong gentry were attempting to use Huangfu Song's hands to seize military authority in Bingzhou. Perhaps Huangfu Song himself was seeking advantage and avoiding peril, attempting to flee the whirlpool. But whichever scenario it was, for Fei Qian to protect the fruits of his labor, he would inevitably have to enter into conflict with these people and these factions. This was something Fei Qian was loath to confront, and also something he could not, at the present moment, directly face.
Fei Qian pressed on: "...Had I not come to present the auspicious omen... had I not come to Chang'an... and Minister Wang, whether desiring to overawe the petty and the furtive, or to make a display of his own power, were to select someone to serve as a warning—killing the chicken to frighten the monkeys... who does Teacher believe would be the most fitting candidate?"
If Fei Qian had not come to Chang'an... Cai Yong stroked his beard, deep in thought. If one truly intended to choose someone to intimidate the court and the provinces, then one would have to select a person of some renown, yet one who lacked significant ties and entanglements. The men of Xiliang were all outside Chang'an. As for those few within Chang'an, apart from the ones already dead, the rest had all surrendered.
It was impossible to immediately arrest and execute those who had only just capitulated—men like Li Su or Hu Zhen. Moreover, even if they were killed, it would be entirely meaningless. The Bingzhou faction consisted of Lü Bu and the generals under his command. Yet they had only just accomplished the monumental deed of slaying the traitor to the state. If they were killed, would that not be hacking off one's own limbs? So then, to intimidate the multitude, the choice could only fall upon someone among these Shandong gentry figures within Chang'an.