The Warring States, Books 1-3

by Greg Strandberg

  “Is it common for you to come to the palace at night like this?” Wu asked while they waited.

  Min shook his head. “I haven’t been to the palace in nearly a year.”

  Wu’s brows furrowed in surprise. “You can just enter any time you like?”

  “I’m Duke Dao’s leading general,” Min answered. “If there’s something that I need to tell him then I’m to come to him directly.”

  Wu nodded. At least there was one small part of Chu that wasn’t weighed down by the bureaucratic slowness that so plagued other areas of the government; usually any type of action took days, if not weeks or months.

  After a few minutes the guard returned through the door, holding it open and indicating with his other arm for the two men to enter. They walked down another short hallway which ended at another set of double doors and yet another two guards. The door was opened for them and they stepped through into a large room that was dominated by a huge wooden desk. Seated at it was Duke Dao, his long grey hair flowing down his back, his bushy grey eyebrows nearly covering his piercing brown eyes. He rose when the two men entered.

  “General Min, it’s good to see you again,” he said with a smile. “I hope that everything regarding the army is sound and that this is just a social visit.” He glanced at Wu when he said the last, but Wu couldn’t tell if the Duke recognized him or not.

  “There are no troubles which require the army’s services, if that is what you mean,” Min said coolly, “but the other problems which the country faces, and which I’ve spoken to you at length of in the past, are still plentiful.”

  “Yes,” Dao said as he sat back in his chair, “the other problems.” He stared hard at Wu for a few moments, looking him up and down, as if deciding if the man now standing next to his leading general were a friend or an enemy. The distinction most likely rested on what Wu said.

  Min raised his hand up and indicated Wu. “Tonight while dining at an inn near the Administration Department I happened upon General Wu Qi. As you know, Sire, Wu Qi was the leading general in the Wei Army until Marquis Wen’s death. When Marquis Wu came to power he, for reasons beyond me, relieved Wu of his position at the head of the army. It was Wu Qi who led that army in taking the Xihe area from Qin. He was just beginning to oversee administratively when he was relieved of command.”

  “Yes, I thought that you looked familiar,” Dao said as he continued to look at Wu. “So tell me, Wu Qi, what is it that you are doing in Chu?”

  Wu cleared his throat and gave a deferential nod to Dao. “Sire,” he began, the title feeling out of place on one who was not Marquis Wen, “for the past three years I’ve been working as a clerk in the Administration Department.”

  “A clerk!” Dao cried out loudly before laughing a short, sharp laugh. “Why, whatever for?”

  “When I was dismissed from the Wei Army I had very little,” Wu explained. “I traveled a bit, eventually making my way here to Ying. By that time I was nearly out of money and needed a job.”

  Dao knitted his brows. “Why have you stayed so long? Surely you would have wanted to go back to your homeland, the State of Qi?”

  “I had planned to, and did cross the border from Zhao into Qi shortly after leaving Wei.” Wu frowned slightly at the memory of that day’s attack. “I had wanted to aid Duke Kang and House Jiang against House Tian, but it seems that I was not wanted there.”

  “Not wanted?” Dao laughed again. “Kang is even crazier than I thought.”

  Wu lowered his head and looked at the floor for a moment while Dao regained his composure and stared at Wu once again.

  “So you’ve been working in our bureaucracy for three years, eh? Well, what do you think?”

  “I’m happy for the opportunity to work there, and I-”

  “I’m not interested in whether you like it or not,” Dao interrupted. “I want to know what you think of it.”

  Wu looked up at Dao, his eyes narrowing. Dao sensed the dangerous look and sat up straighter in his chair.

  “Well?” he said, peering back at Wu challengingly.

  “It’s like a large snake that has coiled itself around Chu, squeezing the life out of it with each breath,” Wu said levelly.

  “I see,” Dao said, a bit taken back by such a blunt statement. “And I suppose that in your three years as a clerk in Administration you’ve come up with the solution for such a problem.”

  Wu nodded. “The snake, and all those feeding it, must be killed.”

  Dao’s eyebrows rose at the remark and he leaned back in his chair. He stared at Wu for several moments as he stroked his pointed grey beard, then looked to Min.

  “I’ve heard such pronouncements before, Min. Why is this man so special?”

  “Sire,” Min began, “Wu has compiled several notebooks worth of material on the problems the bureaucracy faces.” He pointed down at the leather notebooks that Wu still held clutched under his arm. “Furthermore, he is one of the most able administrators in all of the Seven States. The changes that he brought to the conquered Xihe lands not only stopped any aggression against the Wei Army while they pushed further west, but made those lands more productive and more profitable. And all the while the attitude of the people was changed from hostility to admiration.”

  “You speak very highly of him,” Dao said.

  “I do, Sire, but only because he has earned such high praise.”

  “And what changes would you make, Wu Qi?” Dao asked as he turned his gaze back to Wu.

  Wu took the two notebooks out from under his arm and motioned with his head toward the table. Dao nodded and Wu moved forward, laying one of the books off to the side of the table while opening the other. Both Min and Dao leaned in to see what secretes the book held.

  Wu flipped through a few pages of neat, handwritten notes before settling on what looked to be a list.

  “The government of Chu has become corrupt and inefficient largely due to the greed of the corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy,” Wu began, looking straight at Dao. “There are a number of reasons why this has come about over the years, but they aren’t important for the solution. There are a number of changes that need to come about to correct the situation and return Chu to the glory that it once knew.”

  He paused to look over at Min and again at Dao.

  “Go on,” Dao said, his curiosity piqued by what the former general had to say.

  Wu nodded and pointed down at the list on the page. “The annual pay of all officials, regardless of position, must be lowered. Furthermore, the corrupt, inefficient, and just plain useless among them must be dismissed.”

  Dao gave a low whistle. “That’s a tall order.”

  Wu nodded. “It only gets taller.” He again indicated the list on the page. “The hereditary privileges enjoyed by the nobility for the last three generations must be eliminated.”

  “Now see here,” Dao said angrily, “those privileges were put in place for a reason! They cannot just be taken away.”

  “The reason for those privileges was to win the support of the leaders of the smaller states that Chu conquered,” Wu said. “What was once meant to cement good relations has now become a drain on not only the treasury but the effectiveness of Chu’s ability to function.”

  Dao put his hand on his hips and was about to argue further when Min raised up his hand.

  “Sire, please, let us hear what he has to say.”

  Dao stared at Min angrily but after a moment frowned and nodded his head.

  “Continue,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “The money that’s saved from lowering the pay of the officials, as well as cutting more than half of the bureaucratic positions, together with that kept here in the palace’s treasury and not that of the nobles’, will allow Chu to train a more efficient and professional army.”

  It was Min’s turn to look at Wu in wonder tinged with anger. “You’re saying that the army is neither of those things now?”

  Wu nodded. “Chu still equips and tr
ains its army like it has for the past hundred years. Nobles no longer comprise the majority of the army ranks in the other Seven States. That has changed some time ago. Civilians are now forming the majority of both the regular soldiers and the commanding officers.”

  “To take away both the hereditary privileges of the nobles as well as their standing in the army is quite a blow,” Dao said. “I don’t think it can be done.”

  “That’s a choice that you’ll have to decide upon yourself,” Wu said. “I can’t do it for you.”

  Dao stared at him for a moment before looking down at the opened book. “Is that all?”

  “No,” Wu said with a shake of his head as he put his finger down on the next item in the list. “High-ranking officials in the bureaucracy and the nobility must be moved away from the capital and to the borders.”

  “Whatever for?” Dao asked, more perplexed than angered by this last statement.

  “It will reduce their power over the throne as well as taking their talent to areas that need it. They can be put to use making those areas of the state more productive, which will in turn encourage more people to settle there.”

  “I’m not sure that a lot of people would feel comfortable settling along the border with Yue,” Min said as he folded his arms across his chest.

  “They will if the leading nobles of the country show them the way,” Wu said.

  “Perhaps,” Min answered after a moment of tugging on his short beard.

  “I see one more item on your list, Wu,” Dao said. “Something about buildings, it looks like.”

  “Correct. A new set of building codes must be instituted to make the cities look less barbaric.”

  Dao threw up his hand and turned away from the table. “The other changes I can listen to and see some sense in,” he said in frustration, a smile of unbelief on his face, “but this last is beyond me.”

  “I’ve seen better buildings among the Rong Tribes to the north,” Wu said. “Even though their position on the border of the Seven States is a precarious one at best, they build to last. That isn’t something I see in Chu.” He paused, waiting for both men’s full attention. “Even walking through the palace grounds tonight I was struck by how poorly the palace itself is constructed. Stones are cracking and crumbling as weeds sprout from the sides of walls. It certainly isn’t a sight to inspire confidence in the people, or awe in your enemies. The first things that a visitor to a new city sees are the buildings around him. If they rise up majestically and beautifully he is awed and impressed by the will and power of the state. If they stare back at him dejectedly and in disrepair he feels nothing but disrespect toward a people that would allow such poor construction to occur. And when he returns back home to his own state his scornful opinions will spread. All respect for that state is gone.”

  “I see,” Dao said a few moments after when Wu had finished.

  Wu closed the book and stacked it on top of the other. “Those are the most pressing problems, as I see them, and the ones that must be dealt with immediately if Chu is to regain its former position as one of the leading Seven States.” He picked up the two books and put them back under his arm before turning away from the table and heading toward the large double doors. He paused halfway there and turned back. “You might think that these changes could never be carried out, but I assure you they can and they must. If serious changes like those I’ve mentioned here tonight are not instituted then in a generation, perhaps less, Chu will be as weak as Qin. And in another after that it’ll be nothing more than a small state with the ego of a large.” Both Dao and Min stared back at him but said nothing. Wu just shook his head.

  “Now, General Min, Duke Dao, if you will please excuse me, I have to report early to the Administration Department in the morning and I need my sleep.” He gave a low bow before turning back toward the doors.

  Duke Dao and General Min just stared and said nothing as he left the room.

  SIX

  “We can be pushed no further!” Pai Fen roared.

  A raucous applause greeted his words, and Pai Fen stood stoically in the center of the crowded hall until the cheering died down. His long, grey hair was tucked neatly under his dark red hat while his long beard and mustache flowed down into his matching dark red robes.

  “Already we’ve had our hereditary privileges stripped away from us and our annual pay lowered, all the while watching several of our fellows forcibly moved to the borderlands,” Pai yelled out in his deep, booming voice before the cheering had died down completely. “I tell you again, we can be pushed no further!”

  The hall again erupted in applause, this time with several men near Pai rising to show their support. They were quickly followed by others behind them and to the sides. Within moments all of the assembled nobles of the Noble’s Council were on their feet, clapping loudly at the words that Pai had said, and for his willingness to say them.

  Pai gave a nod and slight bow before moving off of the open floor and back to his seat, the men around him clapping him on the back and offering encouraging words. Pai nodded to them again and sat down, the others in the hall following his lead. The hall quieted down and after a few moments another man rose across the open floor from Pai and strode out.

  The hall grew silent as Dao An stopped in the center of the circular marble floor and stared out at the assembled nobles. His head was clean shaven and shined in the light of the sun from the gallery windows as well as the torches burning on the walls. His long black mustache and thin beard spilled down to his chest, although, judging from the lines around his eyes and the wrinkles of his face, most suspected that he dyed them regularly. His dark green robes seemed to swallow up his thin frame as he inwardly frowned at the sight before him: the hall, meant to hold three hundred and which had done so easily over the years, often overflowing into the hallways without, was now peopled by less than one hundred men. He shook his head, causing a few murmurings from the seated men.

  “Over the years Pai Fen and I have rarely agreed on the issues before us” Dao began in a soft voice that even those nearest craned their necks to hear, “but on this issue before us today, perhaps the most important which has come before us in all our years of service, I can do nothing but agree with him.”

  A few men in the gallery clapped and several others began speaking in hushed voices, but others around them quickly quieted them down; no one wanted to miss what Dao had to say.

  “To say that the changes that have been implemented over the past two years have been anything less than earth shattering would be an understatement,” Dao said in the same quiet voice. “Never before in the history of Chu has their been such upheaval among the nobility while the rest of the country remains unaffected. Not even in times of war,” he pressed on, his voice rising in pitch and tempo, “have such drastic changes been made. I ask you men, are we at war?”

  “No!” many of the men in the gallery shouted down to him.

  “No?” Dao said with furrowed brows, causing the men that had just shouted so forcefully to suddenly look unsure of themselves.

  Dao raised his arms up to the men around him, his voice becoming more forceful. “Is it not war, I ask you, when all that we have been promised for generations is taken away from us?”

  Several of the men in the gallery nodded their heads and looked at one another for support.

  “Is it not war when money that has gone to us for years, money that is paid for our tireless service and heartfelt devotion to the State, is suddenly taken away and instead given to the peasants who now call themselves soldiers?”

  More men nodded, a few even yelling out in agreement at Dao’s words.

  “Is it not war when hundreds of our peers are told in the dead of night that they must pack up what belongings they can, that they are being moved away from the only city they’ve ever known, to spend the rest of their days in some dusty town? And for no other reason than that a general from the State of Wei thinks it’s a good idea?”

  “It i
s war!” one man shouted from higher up in the seats, and several men jumped to their feet to voice their agreement.

  Pai Fen stared at Dao An with a smile on his face. The man had always known how to get the crowd in the palm of his hand, and he was doing just that here today. What most surprised Pai, however, was that he was smiling. Usually when Dao got started, he was arguing against Pai. For once, and for the first time that Pai could remember, they were both on the same side.

  “If it is war,” Dao said, his voice now loud enough for people outside of the hall to hear, “then the question is, ‘what are we going to do about it?” He peered questioningly at the men around him, his eyebrows raised in anticipation. “Will we just sit back and let it happen? Will we just sit back and do nothing until all that our forebears have worked so hard to attain is taken away from us bit by bit until we have nothing left?” Dao paused, his head cocked to one side, his eyebrows arched, the hall on edge. “Will we just wait until we are nothing more than common peasants?”

  The hall erupted in angry cheers as men all around the gallery shouted out that they would not just sit back and let those things happen to them. Dao gave a slight bow and moved off the floor and back toward his seat, receiving the same good cheer that Pai had received before him.

  The crowd was still restless and on their feet when the next man rose and strode out onto the floor. Fei Lin could not have been any more different from the two men that preceded him. Whereas both Pai and Dao wore richly-made robes and took great pains with their hair, Fei eschewed such extravagances in favor of the simple brown robes worn by the majority of the peasants. His long black hair was tied in a simple queue down his back and his face clean-shaven. The hall quieted down as he stepped onto the center of the floor, although there were quite a fair amount of stifled laughs and mocking words for him. Fei Lin couldn’t command the same respect as his better-known and well-liked peers, both of whom were from rich and prestigious families that could trace their lineage back for a thousand years. But as the leading Daoist of Chu, he was afforded a certain amount of respect, although it came grudgingly at times.