Taiheiki

Chapter 193 Vice King
"Of course!"

"You're not joking, are you?" Yuan Shao exclaimed in surprise. "This isn't just a few thousand or tens of thousands, it's hundreds of thousands, even millions. After Wang Mang usurped the Han throne, he created the 'Royal Land System,' claiming that all land in the land belonged to the royal family and couldn't be bought or sold. If a household had fewer than eight male members and owned more than 900 mu of land, they had to hand over the excess land to their nine generations of relatives and neighbors. As a result, the whole country descended into chaos. If you've come up with such a method, you should take it back as soon as possible to avoid harming yourself and others!"

"I'm not a bookworm like Wang Mang who's gone mad from reading too much. How could I come up with such a stupid idea!" Wei Cong laughed. "Actually, most of my soldiers are displaced people from nameless fields. If it weren't for me, they would probably be bandits by now. If I can turn them into families with property, I can naturally find a way to survive for those bandits too!"

"How many people do you have? That's hundreds of thousands, even millions!"

“That’s not much!” Wei Cong laughed. “Let me put it this way, if each household gets 100 mu, the undeveloped land around Panyu alone would be enough to settle a million people. Of course, I won’t be so stingy. Since they are my Han people, each household should get at least 500, or 1,000 mu!”

Yuan Shao had known Wei Cong for a long time and knew that although Wei Cong often spoke in seemingly nonsensical ways, his ideas were actually quite feasible, only that others hadn't thought of them. After a moment's thought, he asked, "You wouldn't be thinking of settling him in the Kingdom of Lin-yi, would you?"

"Pretty much. Some will be settled in the newly reclaimed lands of Jiaozhi Commandery, and the rest will continue south!" Wei Cong laughed. "Benchu, don't worry. Keep going south, and you will see a vast expanse of land, fertile fields for thousands of miles, the foundation for a king's hegemony. Back then, Emperor Wu established the four commanderies of Hexi, expanding the territory by thousands of miles, shortening the Xiongnu's arm to connect with the Western Regions. What I, Wei Cong, am doing today is also to open up a passage to the South Seas for the people of my great Han!"

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Compared to Xiangpu, the city before us is much smaller, roughly a third the size. Its walls are constructed of rammed earth and timber; the lower half is rammed earth, while the upper half is thick timber. To prevent enemies from scaling the walls, the tops of the timber were carbonized and then sharpened. To prevent fire attacks, the surface of the timber was plastered. Each corner is protected by watchtowers, and behind the walls, a massive pyramid-shaped structure stands, topped with a gleaming golden statue.

"Is this the capital of Funan?" Yuan Tian asked with a disdainful look, pointing to the city not far away.

“No, no!” Baffa quickly replied, “This is the residence of the vice-king of Funan!”

"Deputy King?" Yuan Tian frowned, somewhat puzzled by the term Bafa used. "What kind of official position is that?"

“They are the Three Dukes of the Great Han!” Baffa laughed. “The Kingdom of Funan is vast, sparsely populated, and has poor transportation. Therefore, the king divided his land into several large areas and sent a trusted person to rule each area. This person has the power of killing and is called the Vice King by the people of Funan!”

"Oh, I see!" Yuan Tian looked at the city in front of him: "But the residence of these three dukes doesn't look very impressive! It's not even as good as the capital of Lin Yi Kingdom!"

“Of course!” Bafa laughed. “Linyi is close to the Han Dynasty and has learned many things that other barbarians don’t have. They have also learned a lot from the Han Dynasty in terms of city defenses. How can these barbarians compare!”

“That’s true!” Yuan Tian nodded. “Then let’s follow the governor’s orders and try diplomacy first, then force!” With that, he kicked his horse and headed towards the distant city. Yuan Tian noticed that although the city itself wasn’t very well-built, the farmland outside it was remarkably well-maintained, stretching as far as the eye could see, and the irrigation canals were very well constructed. Even though it was the dead of winter, almost completely naked farmers were busy in the rice paddies, planting rice seedlings. Others were clearing silt from the irrigation canals, digging it out and piling it up beside them, presumably to use as fertilizer.

Yuan Tian, ​​also a scholar, roughly estimated the size of the land and discovered that the agricultural level around the city under the jurisdiction of this vice-king was quite high, capable of supporting at least tens of thousands of people. But the question was, why didn't such a large population build a decent city? There wasn't even a rammed earth wall. So he raised this question with Bafa.

“Isn’t this city enough?” Baffa scratched the back of his head, puzzled. “Didn’t Panyu City originally not have city walls?”

“How can that be the same!” Yuan Tian shook his head: “Panyu was originally the capital of the Nanyue Kingdom, and it had city walls. It was only after the Han Dynasty pacified Nanyue that they were demolished and the rebuilding of city walls was strictly prohibited. Otherwise, it would definitely have had city walls!”

“Really?” Baffa, a foreign merchant, naturally knew nothing about these things. “I don’t know about that, but it’s quite normal! After all, building city walls requires a lot of manpower. Even the king can’t make the people spend so much effort to build the city!”

"What if the enemy attacks?" Yuan Tian asked. "Wouldn't we just be waiting to die?"

“There aren’t that many enemies!” Baffa said with a wry smile. “Besides, even if the enemy attacks and we can’t hold out, we can just take our valuables and livestock and escape into the nearby woods or lakes!”

"Escape into the nearby forest?" Yuan Tian looked into the distance and indeed saw a large forest in the distance. He shook his head: "What if the enemy takes over the city? Are we just going to stay in the woods forever?"

"That's no big deal!" Baffa laughed. "There's plenty of land here, with few people and lots of land. The enemy only comes for the wealth, not for the land. They'll leave once they've taken what they need. Even if they don't leave, they can just build a city somewhere else!"

"This—" Yuan Tian was speechless at Bafa's explanation. Actually, ancient China had a similar phase, but later the population became denser, land became scarcer, and the intensity of warfare increased, so things naturally changed. Moreover, Funan was located in what is now southern Vietnam (the Mekong Delta), Cambodia, southern Laos, and southern Thailand. The land was fertile, the climate warm, food was readily available, and there was no need for warm clothing. Materials for building houses were also readily available, making the cost of constructing new cities very low. Letting the city leave was indeed a wiser choice than stubbornly defending it.

Upon arriving at the city walls, Baffa announced their identities, and the city gates quickly opened. A dozen soldiers opened the gates, and two nobles wearing silver crowns greeted them. Once inside, Yuan Tian carefully observed the surroundings. He noticed that the houses were almost entirely constructed of straw and wood, and were rather haphazardly arranged. Most pedestrians, including women, were shirtless. The guards, though equipped with swords, spears, and bows, wore crude armor made of leather and bamboo. Yuan Tian was secretly pleased; if he were to lead an attack, a single fire would be enough to breach the city's defenses.

Yuan Tianba entered the palace, which was actually just a large courtyard. In the center of the courtyard stood a large tree, its trunk so thick it would take four or five people to encircle it, its canopy covering more than the entire courtyard. Beneath the tree was a platform, upon which sat a man in a golden crown. Several people knelt below, arguing loudly. Bafa whispered, "The man in the golden crown on the platform is the vice-king. The two arguing below are having a legal dispute. Let's wait a moment until he finishes his judgment, then we'll go over!" Yuan Tian nodded, looking around idly. Although there were many women coming and going in the courtyard, they all had dark skin and curly hair, resembling demons. The sight of them made him lose all appetite. He looked around the courtyards, pondering how he would conquer the area if he were leading troops.

After waiting for about half a cup of tea's time, a servant wearing a silver crown came to invite them. Yuan Tian and Ba Fa arrived at the rattan table. Yuan Tian did not bow, but took out a silk scroll from his sleeve and shouted, "I am an envoy of the Great Han Dynasty, sent by Wei Cong, the governor of Jiaozhou, to inquire about important matters. You must answer truthfully, or great disaster will befall you!"

Bafa only knew that Yuan Tian was sent on a mission, but he did not expect that the other party would not even pay attention to etiquette and would directly scold him to his face, as if he were his own servant. He was immediately frightened and quickly translated Yuan Tian's words as: "I have come to establish friendly relations by order of the Governor of Jiaozhou of the Great Han Dynasty, and wish the Vice King good health and longevity!"

When the deputy king saw that Yuan Tian refused to bow and spoke in a stern tone, his face turned somewhat ugly. Only after hearing Ba Fa's translation did he manage a slight smile: "Thank you, and I wish Governor Wei all the best!"

Seeing the city's weakness, Yuan Tian already held Funan in contempt and said directly, "Our lord has already conquered the capital of Lin-yi and captured its king alive. Many letters were found in his palace, including one requesting that your country borrow military elephants to attack our counties. How do you explain this?"

Having no other choice, Baffa could only translate Yuan Tian's question as tactfully as possible. The viceroy looked completely bewildered and said a few loud words. Baffa translated, "He said he knew nothing about this matter and begs Your Excellency to investigate!"

"Playing dumb?" Yuan Tian sneered. "With the letter right here, how dare you deny it!" He then took two parchment sheets from his sleeve and handed them over. The viceroy took them, glanced at them, and, while removing the gold seal from his waist, began to argue. Bafa translated, "He says the letter wasn't written by him, but by several other chiefdoms! He also points out that the seal on it is different from his!"

Yuan Tian compared the letter he brought with the seal of the vice-king and found that they were indeed different. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed and angry: "Then it should be under his jurisdiction, right?"

Baffa, however, knew the inside story and explained in a low voice, “Brother Yuan, you may not know this, but this place is different from the Han Dynasty. The distinction between superiors and inferiors is not so strict and uniform. Take this viceroy as an example. If the surrounding small chiefdoms pay tribute to him and become his subjects, they are considered part of Funan. Similarly, if they pay tribute to Lin-yi, they are also considered part of Lin-yi. And normally, Funan and Lin-yi don't interfere in the affairs of the small chiefdoms! So some small chiefdoms may pay tribute to both countries at the same time and can be considered part of both countries simultaneously. When the King of Lin-yi asks his subordinate states for money, soldiers, and elephants, as long as they don't report to the viceroy, he really doesn't know!”

"Such a thing actually exists in this world?" Yuan Tian had never heard of anything like this before and was completely bewildered. He looked at Bafa and asked, "Are you sure this isn't just that guy making excuses? How can there be a place that belongs to both Funan and Linyi at the same time?"

"Commander, you may not know this, but such a situation of one subject serving two masters may not exist in the Han Dynasty, but it is very common in the Southeast Asia. That fellow may be trying to shirk responsibility, but he certainly did not use troops to help Lin Yi invade the Han Dynasty!"

"So what should we do now?" Yuan Tian asked.

"That depends on the governor's intentions. If the governor insists on attacking Funan, then it's justifiable to send troops under the pretext of lax governance. If the governor has no intention of attacking Funan, then it's acceptable to find a pretext to reprimand him and make him punish the chieftains under his jurisdiction and make them pay compensation with money and grain."

Yuan Tian nodded. After all that had happened, Bafa was still trustworthy. Ultimately, this matter could be escalated or downplayed, depending entirely on Wei Cong's final objective. As an envoy, his duty was to act according to his superior's wishes; doing too much or too little would be inappropriate.

"His intention is to convene a meeting of all the barbarian tribes!"

“Since this is a meeting, we can’t afford to use force against this viceroy!” Baffa said in a low voice. “Otherwise, Funan’s territory is much larger than Lin’yi’s, and once a war breaks out, it won’t be a matter of just two or three months! And in less than two months, it will start raining here!”

“I understand!” Yuan Tian nodded knowingly. “Then tell him that Governor Wei wants to convene a meeting of the various states, and ask him to bring the leaders of the various states to attend!”

Upon hearing Bafa's translation, the viceroy visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He cautiously inquired, "Does the governor of the upper kingdom wish to convene a meeting because of the fact that someone from the lower kingdom is assisting the Kingdom of Lin-yi?"

“That’s right!” Yuan Tian said, “Originally, this kind of thing should be dealt with by heavenly troops, but once the army arrives, everything will be destroyed. Even innocent people will likely suffer collateral damage. Our lord is kind-hearted and does not want to kill too many people. Therefore, he wants to gather all the states and declare the crimes before heaven, earth and the gods, and only punish the ringleaders, not the followers. What do you think?”

The viceroy was overjoyed upon hearing this and hurriedly said, "That's perfect, that's perfect! The Great Han truly lives up to its reputation as a land of propriety, far surpassing any of our humble country. Rest assured, please hand over the list of criminals to me, and I will present them to you at the appointed time, without troubling the royal army!"

Seeing that the vice-king was agreeable, Yuan Tian smiled more and said, "Since that's the case, then I'll trouble you. Please make sure all the states come. My lord will convey the imperial will on behalf of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. It would be bad if anyone didn't come!"

"Rest assured, Your Excellency!" the vice-king hurriedly patted his chest and said, "Since it is the order of the Emperor of the Great Han, anyone who does not come is a person who disobeys the Mandate of Heaven. At that time, even without Governor Wei sending troops, I will not spare him!"

"That would be perfect!" Yuan Tian smiled and took out a silk scroll from his sleeve, presenting it with both hands: "The list of sinners is on it, and the date of the alliance meeting is at the end, so please don't delay!"

(End of this chapter)