EIGHTEEN
“Five thousand jin, that’s how much this area of land should produce,” Cai said.
Shang Yang nodded and scribbled some notes into his book. “And how much has it produced?” he asked without looking up.
“Seven thousand jin,” Cai said with a smile.
Shang continued to scribble into his book, not once looking up, which caused Cai’s smile to slowly fade away.
“Will you be wanting to tally the surrounding farms as well, sir?” Cai asked after a few moments.
Shang looked up at Cai and then around at the plentiful wheat fields all about them. “Do they look the same as this farm?”
Cai nodded. “They do, sir.”
Shang closed his book. “Then that won’t be necessary.”
All around the two men the large stalks of wheat blew gently in the late autumn breeze. In a few weeks time they’d be harvested and the majority of the grain put into storage. Such had been the case for the last several years. Qin surpluses were so large that there was already talk that the excess should be shipped off to other states, but so far Shang had been successful in stopping any such move. While it was true that Qin was much stronger than it had been twenty years earlier, the state was still growing, and therefore needed food. Shang knew full well that with war once again raging between the Seven States any number of calamities could occur, and he also knew that whenever there was calamity there was usually a shortage of food.
Shang cleared his throat, drawing Cai’s attention to him once again. “How long have you lived in this area,” he asked.
“My whole life,” Cai said, which Shang judged to be more than fifty years, judging from the peasant’s wrinkled face and grey hair.
“What was the population like here during those fifty years? How many people were there?”
Cai pulled a small blade of grain from one of the stalks and stuck it into his mouth, chewing as he stared back through the years in thought.
“Well, let me think,” he said slowly. “There were never that many people when I was growing up, certainly not enough to grow this much grain,” he said with a sweep of his hand toward the fields all around them. “In fact, most years there wasn’t enough food and people went hungry. Everyone was hungry most years, and some of those years were worse than others. Many a winter the poorest families that had fared the worst over the previous harvest just couldn’t make it.” He narrowed his eyes at Shang and pulled the blade of straw of grain from his mouth. “You ever have to dig a grave in winter, sir?”
Shang shook his head and Cai nodded.
“Well it ain’t easy, that’s for sure,” he continued. “Not a winter went by when I was growing up that I didn’t have to dig at least one grave, and more likely it was a half dozen, sometimes more.”
“And how about these past few winters?” Shang asked. “Have you had to dig many graves during those?”
“Not a one,” Cai said with a smile, “not a single one. Food’s so plentiful now that no one goes hungry. In fact, with all the extra grain most families have they’re able to sell some off and buy foods that we normally wouldn’t have.”
Shang nodded. “And how about the families around here? Are they growing larger, are there more babies?”
“I’ll say,” Cai said with a laugh. “So many babies now that I don’t know how anyone gets any sleep at night.”
“How long has it been like that?”
Cai stared off into the fields again. “Oh, let me see. I guess just as soon as the extra food started to build up is when the extra babies started arriving. Must be more than ten years ago now. Most of the boys are already working in the fields, have been for quite a few summers now.”
Shang nodded, happy with Cai’s answers. In the years since his reforms were enacted by Duke Xian he’d heard many similar stories, though all had been within one or two days ride of the capital of Yong. Shang had wanted to get out further, to really see how the changes were affecting the areas most distant from the bureaucratic center of Qin, but he’d never had the time. Something always needed his attention, someone always wanted his advice. Eventually he’d had to confront Duke Xian and demand that he be allowed to travel to the far borders of the state to make sure the changes were also taking place there. The duke had chuckled and said that if it was that important to him then he should go. Shang had jumped into a chariot that afternoon and headed west, stopping at each small village or town that he came across to make tallies and question the locals. So far he’d been away from the capital for nearly a month, and what a tumultuous month it must have been. While the lives of the peasants went about much as they had for thousands of years, their daily routines unaffected by the outside world, that certainly could not be said for the peoples far to the east outside of Qin’s borders.
Just before Shang left word had gotten to Yong that the State of Wei had broken the twenty-year old peace between the Seven States that had been signed in Luoyang. Shang remembered the day it had been signed, the day after his then marquis, Marquis Wen of Wei, had been found dead in the palace gardens. It was also the day that his former master, teacher, and mentor, and the man that was most like a father to him, had left, never to be seen again. Shang thought frequently of what Liu Kui was doing now, where he was, and what he was seeing. He didn’t for a second doubt that the man was still alive, although if that was the case he’d be well into his eighties by now. Shang wondered most of all, however, what Liu would think of him. The young boy by the name of Wei Yang that he’d found struggling mightily in the private schools and lifted up into government service was no more. That young man had been polite, deferential, and submissive; in short weak, and he was no more. The years that he’d traveled about the Seven States doing the odd-job of scribe work here and there had drilled that out of him, the realities of the world making him hard and unforgiving. The ideas that he’d learned from Liu began to take shape in his mind, swirling and cementing into concrete plans to solve many of the problems plaguing the Seven States. And when one state found out about the former mentor of Liu Kui, by chance the weakest state of all the Seven, Wei Yang had agreed to serve them. Three days and three nights of discussions with Duke Xian of Qin had led to the agreement between the two men that Wei’s plans would be put into motion unopposed by Duke Xian, the only condition being that Wei Yang change his name. The name ‘Wei’ would always make people think of the state of Wei, and that would not be good. Duke Xian had suggested Shang, meaning ‘business,’ and Wei Yang was no more.
Shang stared out over the fields and toward the distant mountains. They were a dozen miles from the eastern extent of the Kunlun Mountain Range, a vast stretch of peaks that spanned nearly two-thousand miles before coming to an end southwest of the Wei River and more than a week’s ride by chariot from the capital. The Mountains marked the western boundary of Qin, or at least how much land Qin had so far taken from the nomadic and barbarian peoples that dwelled there. Qin was continually pushing further and further west, expanding its borders while creating new places for people to settle, farm, and make large families.
The large families were the key to all of Shang’s reforms. Without large families there’d be no large army, and if Qin needed anything at this time it needed a large army. With fighting breaking out between each of the four states on its eastern border Qin would have to be ready, and would have to assume that they’d be drawn into it. Shang had always known that the Seven States would eventually go after one another once all the smaller states had been swallowed up. He knew even in Luoyang all of those years before that the peace agreement was just a temporary break from the hostilities which had always plagued the states and which most likely always would. Even if they were somehow unified under one state the old animosities would rise again; the fighting would never stop.
Shang turned back to Cai, who was still chewing on his straw of grain.
“How popular is the army in these parts?” he asked.
“Popular,” Cai answered, pulling the str
aw from his mouth to do so. “Many of the young boys working in the fields now can’t wait until they’re old enough to join up.”
“And what about those older?” Shang asked. “You’re pretty close to the smaller states of Shu and Ba. Have any of those people shown a willingness to enter the army’s ranks?”
“Many have,” Cai said. “Their land was never much when we rolled our chariots through there, oh, I can’t remember how many years ago now.”
“Eight,” Shang said, remembering the day the still-weak Qin Army had moved south from the capital to finally conquer the two states. It had been a tough fight and Qin had nearly lost it once both states joined together, but somehow they’d prevailed and brought the two states into Qin’s fold, nearly doubling their land area in the process. But Cai was right – Shu and Ba had never had very good land to begin with, and even after nearly a decade they were still having problems farming.
“Have many of the new families that’ve settled in this area hailed from down south?” Shang asked.
“Oh, yes, most,” Cai answered. “Most of the new blood around here comes from those two states.”
“And how are they faring?”
“Quite well, quite well. Most of those people are natural farmers once they’ve got good land to work. Man that’s got the land next to me came up from Ba shortly after the fighting there ended, in fact. His land looks just like mine, so much so in fact that it often causes trouble when the harvest time comes and we can’t sort out where one boundary ends and another begins.”
Cai chuckled and shook his head as he spoke the last and Shang couldn’t help but smile himself. An area of the state that had been one of the poorest and least livable twenty years before was now thriving. The reforms were working.
“You’ve been a great help Lao Cai,” Shang said, addressing him respectfully.
Cai smiled a nearly toothless smile. “I hope what I’ve said helps you men out in Yong. Whatever you’ve been doing there over the past few years has sure been a big help here.”
Shang smiled and nodded once again before turning back toward the small dirt road a few hundred yards away. He’d gotten lucky running into Cai. When he’d turned onto the small dirt road, more mud than dirt really, and which wouldn’t even have been classified as a road in many other areas of the state, he’d had his doubts whether he’d come across any peasants or not. Coming across Cai had been a blessing from Shangdi – the man had told him everything he could have possibly wanted to hear.
Shang reached his chariot, the single horse idly chewing on some grass near the road, and hopped up into the car. Taking the reins in hand he turned the chariot back north. He’d been thinking about heading further south into the conquered areas of Shu and Ba, but after speaking with Cai he didn’t think he needed to. Both states sounded like they were still struggling with their agriculture, at least those that hadn’t headed further north. It seemed that the people weren’t to blame, just the land. Once he got back to the capital he’d have to have several long discussions with the government’s agricultural men to decide on a solution. Still, he thought as he cracked the reins across the horse’s back and sent the chariot into a slow pace over the rutted-road, Shu and Ba were ideal places to recruit for the army. The men that chose to stay there had few prospects other than the military, and after talking with Cai it sounded as though many had already come to that conclusion.
Many more would have to come to that same conclusion if Qin were to have any chance at survival over the coming years, Shang knew. Already his mind was moving away from crop yields and population figures and toward the fighting that could still be happening between Wei, Zhao, Han, and Chu. He shook his head as he thought of the Three Jins fighting one another again and how Marquis Wen had worked so hard to ensure that it’d not occur again.
Shang let out a sigh.
“Oh well, men fight,” he said out loud to himself, “and that’s exactly what Qin will do as well.”
NINETEEN
Duke Xian stared at the cup and the tendrils of steam that rose up and floated out over the small table before dissipating altogether. Satisfied that the tea had been steeped long enough he reached his arm forward and took hold of the cup, slowly bringing it up to his lips. He closed his eyes and took a small, audible sip, then opened them, licked his lips, and set the cup back on the table.
“That is good,” Xian admitted as he looked across the small table to Marquis Jing of Zhao. “You say it is from the areas you took from Wei last month?”
“That’s correct, Duke,” Jing replied, picking up his own steaming cup to take a sip. “Quite tasty, I think.”
Xian waved his hand in the air. “Please, call me Xian. Titles are not required while we’re alone together here in the palace.”
“Then I insist that you call me Jing,” Jing replied with a smile.
Xian nodded and settled his hands into the voluminous arms of his dark red robes. It had been less than a week since the bird had arrived from Jing asking for an audience with Xian, not nearly long enough for the reply Xian had sent off immediately to grant such an audience to have arrived back in Handan. Jing must have been confident of the answer or else planned to come to Yong with or without Xian’s permission. Not that it mattered much, Xian thought to himself as he stared at the Marquis of Zhao sitting across from him. The fact that one of The Three Jins was requesting a meeting with Qin, a state that had been considered the weakest of the Seven States for longer than Xian cared to remember, was quite a validation on all of the changes that had occurred in the far western state over the past twenty years.
“Jing, you requested this meeting,” Xian said slowly, his eyes on the cup of tea sitting on the table, “what is it you’d like to discuss?”
“The war, of course,” Jing said without hesitation, his gaze locked firmly on Xian. “The war that Hui of Wei started when he moved against me in the small State of Wey and which now includes both the States of Han and Chu as well.”
“And you would have Qin join in that fight also, is that it?”
Jing nodded. “Qin covers the whole of the western border of Wei and the changes that you’ve implemented here recently have made you strong. I would like you to ally yourself with Zhao in the coming fight.”
“It sounds like you have this well-thought out,” Xian said. “What role exactly do you have in mind for Qin?”
“Wei is still the strongest state of the Seven, and right now they’re mistrustful of everyone, thanks to their actions of a month ago,” Jing began. “No one state alone, I believe, can take down Wei on their own. If Wei is to fall it’ll only happen with two or more states working in combination.”
“And you want Qin to be one of those states,” Xian said.
“I want Qin to attack Wei from the west, something that they’ll be unprepared for. From my informants in the Wei capital of Anyi I know that Marquis Hui thinks little of you, Xian, or your state. He views Qin as backward and a threat to no one.” Jing smiled. “I want you to show him otherwise.”
“So I invade from the west, but as you just said, no one state is strong enough to take Wei alone. What happens next?”
“I attack you.”
“I see,” Xian said as his brows knitted and he reached for his cup of tea, blowing the still-rising steam off it before taking a sip. “And why would you tell me this?” he asked Jing over the rim of the cup.
“Because Wei will not fall easily. It will take more than one state attacking from the west while another comes down on them from the north. Wei must be fooled, made to think that the situation is other than it really is.”
“And what is the situation, really, when I move against Wei only to have both Wei and Zhao retaliate against me?”
“It will not be a real attack, Xian,” Jing said with a small laugh as he reached for his cup of tea. “It will be a show, really, a show to Wei that Zhao is on their side.” Jing took a deep sip from his cup and then sat it back down and leaned forward in his ch
air.
“You see, Xian, Hui has broken the peace that his grandfather so painstakingly brought about. Marquis Wen dreamed of that peace and also the recognition it would bring him with King Weilie of Zhou. That is why he traveled to Luoyang and called the rulers of all of the other Seven States to join him there as well. My father and I both went, and I well remember the joy on both his and Marquis Wen’s face the night that King Weilie proclaimed them along with Han as The Three Jins. Now, twenty years later, Marquis Hui has thrown that distinction away. The Three Jins are no more, not when they’re fighting, at least, and I mean to give Hui a chance to gain that distinction back.”
“By attacking me,” Xian said.
“I have to make Hui think that I’ve forgiven him for the attack he made against me, make him think that I want The Three Jins to be at peace and to work together against their foes.”
“Han is with you then?”
“I spoke with Marquis Wen of Han little more than a week ago; we both agree that Wei should be brought down and he left it to me to discuss with you.”
“So what will Han’s role be in this fight? Will they move against me as well?”
Jing shook his head. “No, Han will stay out of this portion of the fight.”
Xian nodded. “So you move against me in a simulated counterattack and I pull my forces back across the border, making it look like Zhao saved the day for Wei. You gain the trust of Marquis Hui, and then what? When do you betray that trust?”
“I expect that we can carry out the first attack soon, within the next month or two. After that winter will set in and there can be no fighting until spring. All throughout those frozen months I will be in contact with Hui, building up the trust I earned by coming to his aid. But I’ll also be in contact with you as well, planning the next stage of the ruse. As soon as the spring thaw comes we can both move against Wei for real, this time with Han aiding us from the south. Wei won’t be able to hold off three states coming at them from three different directions all at once. They’ll be defeated and we’ll divide up their territory equally amongst ourselves.”
The Warring States, Books 1-3 Page 53
