Section Five

Anyone who has attended secondary school is likely to know Gu Yanwu, and Lin Feng was no exception. In his mind, the man ought to have been a figure of profound substance; not necessarily a transcendent beauty, but at the very least refined and graceful. That was the sort of image he had always associated with celebrated Confucian scholars. Of the learned men he had encountered before, the likes of Li Guangdi, Chen Menglei, and Tang Bin had all left fairly favorable impressions, the sort that would, in later generations, make them sound like professors in the truest sense of the word.

But the Gu Yanwu before his eyes was plainly a shock. Leaving everything else aside, his height alone was absurdly underwhelming. By Lin Feng’s estimate, the old man could never have stood taller than five feet one or two. At once, Lin Feng recalled the time he had first met Chen Jinnan; but Chen, as a chief of a secret society, had a shabby image for work-related reasons, and could not be compared with a neutral scholar like Gu Yanwu.

“I, the humble old man Gu Yanwu of Kunshan, pay my respects to Your Highness the Han King!”

As expected, the old fellow was full of pride. Walking into the hall to face Lin Feng, he merely gave the slightest of bows and considered that enough.

“Oh! Sir Ningren, you are far too courteous!” Of course Lin Feng had to play along. He immediately put on a hundred percent of his warmth, returning the greeting again and again, and said with exaggerated politeness, “Your learning is profound and your name known across the world. I have admired you for a long time. To see you today fills me with great fortune indeed! Please, sit, sit at once!”

After Gu Yanwu had taken his seat, Lin Feng smiled and said, “You have come all the way to Beijing, sir. You must certainly have instruction to give me.”

“I would not dare, I would not dare. Your Highness the Han King is a man of heroic bearing and grand vision; his fame is heard throughout the land. I am a feeble old relic, already half-dead and waiting only for death. How could I presume to instruct Your Highness?” Gu Yanwu smiled so broadly that his wrinkles seemed to bloom open. Then he took out his pipe, calmly packed it, lit it, and drew a long puff, filling the entire hall with smoke. Smiling, he said, “The sages said long ago that to grow old and not die is to be a thief. I have spent half my life buried in books, nothing more than a sour, decayed old man. As for reputation, it is only that I know a few more people than others. All those compliments and empty flatteries—how could one possibly take them seriously?”

Lin Feng had not expected Gu Yanwu to be so amusing, with not the slightest trace of pedantry. His favorable impression rose at once. He lifted his teacup in salute and said, “Sir, you are too modest. Please!”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Gu Yanwu set down his pipe, let the smile fade, and said solemnly, “I will speak plainly to Your Highness. On this visit, I have come uninvited because there are two matters on which I wish to seek your guidance.”

“Two matters?” Lin Feng said in surprise. “Please, go on.”

“The first is this: I would ask leave to speak on behalf of the refugees from Henan and Shanxi,” Gu Yanwu said, his expression darkening. “At present, bandits rise in swarms in Henan, and Dzungar horsemen press south into Shanxi. Everywhere, common folk abandon their villages and flee the war. Looking across the world, in all of China there is only your realm that is still comparatively peaceful. If Your Highness retains even a little compassion, then please open your borders and let these countless refugees find a mouthful of food.”

Lin Feng’s expression changed at once. In truth, he was not unaware of this problem. As soon as he returned to Beijing, Li Guangdi had given him a detailed report. Since the previous year, when Lin Feng had exhausted himself and spent lavishly to feed and settle two million refugees, his reputation for “benevolence and love of the people” had indeed spread far and wide. The benefits had been huge, of course, but the negative consequences seemed even greater.

What this had produced was that large numbers of war refugees had gathered at every border of Han military government territory. According to Li Guangdi’s report, their origins were extremely complicated. Besides the neighboring regions of Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, and Shandong, many had actually brought their families and traveled from far-off Shaanxi, the Southern Yangtze region, and elsewhere. The exact number could not be counted, but even a conservative estimate put it above three million. Worse still, that number was continuing to rise.

Seeing Lin Feng’s unwillingness, Gu Yanwu folded his hands and said earnestly, “Your Highness, I have heard that when you first secured Beijing, you spared no effort in relieving the suffering of the people, even going so far as to dismantle imperial palace furnishings without hesitation. At this time of profound calamity for our land, all men of discernment esteem you for such conduct.” His old eyes reddened little by little, and he said with a catching sob, “Last year I traveled and studied in Yanmen, and with my own eyes witnessed this catastrophe beyond human endurance. Tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of common people were left without homes, their families shattered, their lives destroyed. Now the snow is deep, the land locked in ice, and the frontier prefectures adjoining Zhili have already exhausted grass roots, bark, and the so-called holy clay used in desperation for food. A million living souls have cast off all human relations; husband eats wife, mother eats child; the roads are strewn with corpses from starvation. I am but a man of no talent, yet this time I come as the entrusted representative of a million refugees to beg Your Highness for help.”

With that, he slowly rose and bowed down before Lin Feng.

“Your Highness, please think of our shared blood and lineage and show great mercy...”

“You are actually the representative of the refugees?” Lin Feng was stunned. He shot an angry glance at Chen Menglei, only to find Chen Menglei equally dumbfounded, clearly just as uninformed. With a helpless smile, Lin Feng helped Gu Yanwu to his feet and said, “Please sit, sir. We shall have to discuss this at length.”

“You may not know this, sir, but I am also helpless in the matter now,” Lin Feng said, shaking his head in resignation. “Last year, when a million refugees crossed our borders, our Han army really did exhaust itself, even selling off our entire household foundations just to get through it. We barely managed to hold on until this autumn harvest, and then we fought a major battle with the Tartars. Now the treasury is as empty as water. Tell me, what can I possibly do?”

“I have heard that last year Your Highness gathered vast quantities of... of those ‘coarse grains’ to feed the people. Why can the same method not be used again this year?” Gu Yanwu’s face was filled with disappointment, and he asked unwillingly, “The refugees are suffering terribly; they would not dare to be picky about what they eat. They only ask to survive. That alone would be Your Highness’s great kindness!”

Lin Feng said sternly, “Sir, you are a learned man, and yet you do not understand the difficulty of relief. Last year our army collected food in huge quantities, but we began after the autumn harvest. At that time the fields were still warm and the vegetation had not withered, and transport was easy. We could concentrate our strength and gather supplies from all directions. But now the New Year is nearly here. Everywhere under my rule lies under snow and ice. How would one collect food in such conditions?”

“I have also heard that this year the Han King has implemented benevolent policies, bringing in large numbers of improved sweet potato and taro strains from the south. This year’s harvest has been a great one. It is even said among the people that when the army marched out in former times, granaries stood stacked like mountains, and even on expeditions a thousand miles away there was never any fear of running short. Some time ago you even recruited over ten thousand new troops. Can it truly be that now you cannot spare a single grain of rice to save lives?” Gu Yanwu rebuked him, his old face flushed red. “Tang Taizong said that water can carry a boat, and it can overturn a boat as well. Your Highness, the foundation of the state does not lie in military strength, but in the countless common people!”

Lin Feng was deeply embarrassed. He lifted his teacup to hide the expression on his face and coughed lightly before saying, “Sir, you do not know this, but we do have some grain in reserve. However, all of it is military supplies. As the saying goes, an army cannot go a single day without grain, or it will descend into chaos before it ever sees battle. With your learning, surely you understand this principle?”

Gu Yanwu said indignantly, “Then does that mean Your Highness truly refuses to lend a hand?”

Lin Feng and Chen Menglei exchanged a glance and said nothing, only smiling bitterly.

The atmosphere grew heavy, and the main hall fell silent for a time. Lin Feng gave a soft cough and changed the subject. “Sir, you said that on this visit you had two matters to instruct me about. Besides this refugee issue, what is the other?”

“Oh? Ah! I nearly forgot!” Gu Yanwu seemed suddenly awakened. He slapped his forehead, took a small booklet from his sleeve, and handed it to Lin Feng with both hands.

“A Waiting-for-Light Record?”

Lin Feng cried out in surprise, then laughed in spite of himself. He shook the cover and looked at Gu Yanwu, frowning slightly. “If I remember correctly, this book ought to have been written by Huang Zongxi?”

“It is indeed written by Southern Thunder...” Gu Yanwu was even more astonished. He stared blankly at Lin Feng, never imagining that this famous warlord would pay such attention to scholarly matters. His attitude at once became more respectful, and his speech much more courteous. “Your Highness truly has a wide range of knowledge!”

“Master Huang Taichong is a giant of our age, with a reputation heard everywhere. Though I am merely a brute in armor, I have often heard of him as well,” Lin Feng said, looking puzzled as he held the booklet. “Did you bring me this book so that I might read it carefully?”

“Exactly!” Gu Yanwu said with a smile. “Taichong knew that I was to be received by the Han King, so he had someone pass along word and asked me to bring this book for Your Highness to examine.”

“Heh, Master Taichong really does think highly of me,” Lin Feng said, realizing at last that this was an attempt to gauge his character through political ideas. He laughed aloud. “May I ask what you think of the book?”

“It is quite good.” Once the subject turned to scholarship, Gu Yanwu’s spirits rose at once. Stroking his beard, he wagged his head and said, “It builds the new from the old and contains many surprising arguments. The flavor is deep and far-reaching!”

“Is that so?” Lin Feng flipped through it casually. “Tut, tut, it really is interesting. ‘The realm belongs to the people; the ruler is but a guest.’ Tut, tut, ‘The laws of one family replace the laws of the entire realm.’ Heh... ‘Abolish the examinations’? ‘Commerce and industry are both fundamental’? ...” He looked up with a strange smile. “Master Southern Thunder really is rather unconventional, isn’t he? Heh.”

“The so-called learning of the day should not be trapped by the laws of the ancients. Those of us who study must bring forth the new from the old and make it useful for governing the world,” Gu Yanwu said seriously. “If one merely carves out trivia, picking and choosing phrases, how can that be called scholarship?”

Lin Feng was truly a little dizzy. Was this still what people called a great Confucian? By the legends of the world, these fellows were supposed to be one hundred percent stubborn reactionaries, forever denouncing anything odd as cheap trickery and clever artifice. Why was it the opposite the moment they came to him? He said with a wry smile, “It seems Sir Ningren feels the same way?”

Gu Yanwu thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. “The details may differ somewhat, but in broad outline there is little disagreement.”

Two reactionaries, Lin Feng thought to himself. These two are dangerous beyond measure. If I were to believe their scheme, then what in the world would be left for me, the Han King, to do? But of course I cannot simply drag them out and have them beheaded right now. After all, they are both famous figures. Killing them would badly damage my reputation.

Seeing Lin Feng lost in thought and saying nothing, Gu Yanwu assumed he had been deeply moved. In truth, both he and Huang Zongxi were national radicals, filled with ardent hopes for reform. Since Lin Feng had begun implementing a series of policies to loosen restrictions on commerce and industry, they had both become greatly interested, believing that the Han King might possibly support their program of administration. His trip to Beijing this time was, in fact, also a sort of political test.

Seeing that Lin Feng seemed hesitant, he decided to strike while the iron was hot. “Your Highness the Han King, the world has suffered under harsh governance for far too long. Both the former Ming and the Manchus strove to blind the people’s minds and bind the bodies of all under heaven. By oppressing the people to serve themselves, they have brought misery upon the land. At this time, one should abolish the examinations, open commerce and industry, build roads, establish schools, and return governance to the people of the world. Let the ruler sit secure upon the throne, let the worthy occupy the halls of power, and let the scholar-gentry supervise through the schools. In that way, administration will surely flow smoothly, harmony will prevail among the people, trade and prosperity will flourish, and all our myriad Chinese people will live and work in peace and contentment. If Your Highness is willing to open this path toward enlightened rule, your good name will surely spread far and wide, to be revered by later generations!”

Too radical, far too radical. Lin Feng did not know whether to laugh or cry. Seeing Gu Yanwu’s face burn with earnest passion, he could only answer vaguely. “Ahem... ahem... Sir, what you say has merit, what you say has merit.” He forced a smile. “However, this is a matter of great import. Allow me to think it over carefully, yes?”

Gu Yanwu also knew that such things could not be rushed. Seeing that Lin Feng had not openly rejected him, he was already greatly pleased. He stood and clasped his hands. “This concerns the future of our civilization. I hope the Han King will give it careful thought.” He made a formal salute toward Chen Menglei, who was seated nearby, and said, “Then I shall not intrude further. General Zhen, Your Highness the Han King, I have been presumptuous and have troubled you at length. I take my leave here.”

“Oh, sir, you are too kind, far too kind!” Lin Feng personally escorted him out. Then he turned and called loudly, “Someone! Bring my carriage and ceremonial escort, and send more guards to protect the old gentleman safely back to his lodging!”

After Gu Yanwu had stepped out through the gate, Lin Feng turned back and waved to Chen Menglei. “When you go back, release that Wu Weiye fellow. Compensate him with some silver and tell him our Great Han handled the case wrongly and owes him an apology. Ask him not to take offense.”

Chen Menglei looked at him in amazement. “This... my lord... this matter...”

“Forget it,” Lin Feng said with a helpless laugh. “He has clearly put on the guise of a man of national worth. Do you want the whole world to look down on me?”