HLCOB C35

Chapter 35

In the record of events, the head of the Yingchuan Xun clan, Xun Shang, once followed Wang Yun.

Such was Wang Yun’s renown then.

“…My lord will be here shortly. Please wait here a moment.”

So it was even now.

In Luoyang, no matter how wildly Jaheon might run, so long as the epithet of the Emperor’s male favorite clung to him and his birth was low, he could not defeat Wang Yun’s legitimacy. Such was this accursed antiquity. Hence Jaheon had bowed his head and gone under Wang Yun.

In short, under present conditions Jaheon had no way to beat Wang Yun.

Left as is, he would be played by Wang Yun—and Wang Yun was not the only foe.

“With that stiff nature of Wang Yun’s, he would hardly join hands with the eunuchs…”

Surely there was someone in Luoyang aiding Wang Yun.

So the enemies were not just one or two.

Moreover, on reflection, Wang Yun’s ultimate aim was likely not Jaheon’s death. The poisoning attempt might have been a snare. Because of it, Jaheon had begun to move to distinguish friend from foe.

And that meant Wang Yun, too, could distinguish friend from foe.

…It was likely he meant not to give me the strength to protect Choseon.

Wang Yun was Censor‑in‑Chief.

He had the authority to investigate officials. That is, Wang Yun had the power to purge those who wished to ally with Jaheon. Wang Yun knew better than anyone that the tightest leash to bind Jaheon was Choseon.

And the Son of Heaven used that Wang Yun.

All because Jaheon’s price had risen too high.

Even Zhang Rang had admitted it—Jaheon had now become the Emperor’s taboo. So if Jaheon could not be killed, his hands and feet must be cut. As the eunuchs had done, Wang Yun clearly meant to cut Jaheon’s limbs and use him.

Now, neither Emperor, nor Wang Yun, nor anyone, was Jaheon’s ally.

But he could not foolishly roll into their hands.

Damn it…

Originally, Jaheon had meant to seize the court by imperial favor. But on reflection, power gained by imperial favor had limits. Moreover, the Emperor he faced was no easy man.

So it was not enough.

Joining hands with Zhang Rang, with Lady He, and coaxing Luoyang’s gentry to seize the court was not enough.

Step, step—

The plan had to change. It was not enough merely to swell his body. Wang Yun was not the only foe. The Emperor might become one at any time. He needed a power even the Emperor could not touch. Power gained by imperial favor had limits. Realizing this, Jaheon opened his eyes at the sense of someone’s presence.

…

Before him stood an old man of an age like Cai Yong’s. Unlike obstinate Cai Yong, this elder’s gentle face bore the clear light of resignation.

Facing the old man with the look of an official about to go down to his native place, Jaheon recalled—

…Going down?

If the Partisan Prohibitions were lifted, the Qingliu who had gone down to their hometowns would all wish to return to Luoyang. Then there would be vacancies in provincial offices. But surely no one would wish to sit there; provincial posts were dead‑end posts.

But Jaheon knew the future.

Soon the Yellow Turban Rebellion would arise, and the day would come when regional lords would hold military power; those lords would command the realm. And the old man before him, Xun Shang, was head of the Yingchuan Xun clan, which held mighty influence in Yuzhou.

If he could win over Xun Shang and seize Yuzhou…

Perhaps Jaheon could hold Yuzhou’s military power.

As the Qingliu did in the record of events.

They called him the Emperor’s male concubine?

Perhaps so indeed. Seeing Jaheon seated in the garden, Xun Shang was struck dumb; it was a beauty that made the rumors understandable—that Im Huaseo was a reincarnated sage.

“Salutations to Lord Xun.”

Jaheon called to Xun Shang, who had lost his words.

“My lord?”

At Jaheon’s voice, Xun Shang suddenly came to himself and asked,

“What brings you here, Yirang Im?”

A face that would loosen one’s guard on sight—what could he do? Whatever anyone might say, the Emperor would bestow favor upon Jaheon. Having resigned himself to all, Xun Shang merely smiled.

“Have you come to receive a recommendation from me as well?”

But he was not wholly favorable. Sensing this, Jaheon smiled.

“No.”

And he added calmly,

“I had meant to recommend to my lord the office of Lesser Treasurer.”

…?

The Lesser Treasurer.

An office that managed the imperial household’s wealth, one of the Nine Ministers. Jaheon had planned to ask the Emperor to raise Xun Shang to that seat. If Xun Shang took that office, there was a high chance the purse strings of those who checked Jaheon would be pinched shut. Moreover, the Lesser Treasurer was a ministerial‑rank office; only the Three Excellencies stood above it.

“Surely Lord Xun is well qualified to take that seat.”

It would be of great help in court.

“…Wait—what do you mean, ‘had meant to’?”

“Because I realized it would be meaningless.”

But Jaheon had abandoned the thought.

A Xun Shang who could seize even a provincial government would be wasted as a mere piece in court politics. Also, if Xun Shang were raised to Lesser Treasurer now, he might be drawn into politicking and lose the Yingchuan Xun’s power.

“These are the names of those who sent me gifts.”

“Gifts…”

“You know of it, do you not?”

So Jaheon took a bamboo slip from his robe and handed it to Xun Shang.

“That I proposed selling offices to the Luoyang gentry.”

…!

How could he speak such a thing so brazenly? Flustered, Xun Shang checked the bamboo slip Jaheon offered. Upon it were written quite a number of names—including those Xun Shang had thought reasonably decent.

This is…

Soon Xun Shang grasped the meaning of the slip.

“In this situation, what use is my offering you a seat.”

…

“I alone will not suffice.”

The Han house would not change.

Even if the eunuchs were thrown down, other eunuchs would arise, and there would ever be those who desired them. The bamboo slip Jaheon offered meant as much. Xun Shang’s hands shook as he held it.

“Why do you show this to me?”

“…Did you not place hope in me?”

Jaheon answered Xun Shang in a calm voice.

“That is why I show you.”

Xun Shang let out a hollow laugh at Jaheon’s words. It was true—he had placed hope in Jaheon. In one recognized by Cai Yong and one who at the Emperor’s side drove out the eunuchs—he had placed hope.

“…Yes. I placed hope in you.”

Xun Shang, who, though not eldest son, had become clan head for being deemed the most outstanding in the Yingchuan Xun—he too had been powerless before the court. Yet this youthful beautiful boy before him had made it possible.

“I hoped you could set this Han house and the Son of Heaven straight.”

Beneath one man, above ten thousand.

The people had begun to call Jaheon thus. Hence Xun Shang had placed hope in him.

“…Do you think not now?”

But a doubt remained in a corner of Xun Shang’s heart. He had seen, dozens of times, young men with such radiant eyes grow turbid in Luoyang. And the contents of the bamboo slip Wang Yun had sent had driven the nail—the past of Jaheon, who, being poor, had even killed once.

“…Men are wont to change.”

Could Jaheon, with such a past, not bow before power? Xun Shang had no certainty. It was only natural that one who had known the bottom would crave plenty.

“Though this slip resolves my doubts about your ‘selling offices’…”

Clutching the slip Jaheon had handed him, Xun Shang swallowed his words.

…

That the Han house had rotted so far as to make him think thus was lamentable. Why did the gentry learn and follow the Confucian classics? Was it not to govern rightly and grant the people peace? Yet all turned their backs on the people and busied themselves craving power.

Even as this land’s people writhed in suffering.

Then—

“…It cannot be helped that ordinary men, driven by circumstance, change.”

Jaheon’s beautiful voice sounded softly.

“Not all can be said to have deep learning. Therefore not all in this land can practice the sages’ teaching to keep benevolence. Also, some will meet circumstances where they cannot keep righteousness for the sake of their own purposes.”

As if telling his own story, Jaheon spoke.

“Thus, one cannot take men’s changing as the problem.”

And there was nothing wrong in that. To place the root of the problem in men is to breed abuses in time.

“The Qin, who made the Reform laws the national law, enjoyed All‑under‑Heaven for only two generations before perishing.”

Qin, enriched by strong laws that distrusted and controlled men, united the realm yet lasted but two generations.

“It was because the Second Emperor, who wielded the Reform law, was toyed with by the eunuch Zhao Gao.”

In the end, the problem was not the change in men.

In an age of nobles and lowborn, if the ruler did not go aright, the state fell as it was. Hence the countless problems made in this Han could not be deemed only the fault of corrupt officials.

“You, now…”

Xun Shang’s eyes widened at Jaheon’s words.

“If the eunuchs were the root of all problems, then with their power fallen now, all should have returned to the way it was.”

Xun Shang realized what Jaheon meant to say.

“Nor should there be those who send me bribes thus.”

Yet his mouth would not easily open—because Xun Shang too agreed. The Han’s problem was not merely men’s changes.

“What is the problem.”

Jaheon asked, looking at Xun Shang.

“Is it truly only men?”

In those golden eyes, Xun Shang recalled the wretched lives of the people he had seen on coming up to Luoyang.

Parents who, in a terrible drought, could not bear hunger and sold their children; orphans who, starving, dug up graves and gnawed rotting corpses. It was because the relief grain sent by the state vanished through the hands of countless corrupt officials and did not reach the people.

…

Shaking as he recalled that hellish scene, Xun Shang shut his eyes, unable to meet Jaheon’s gaze.

“…I cannot answer that question.”

Xun Shang could not blame the Son of Heaven.

He was still a minister of the Han and could not deny the Son of Heaven; he also had a clan to bear. He must not let blame of the Throne harm his house.

“But…”

Then—

“In the Book of Odes it is said: if the people are distressed, it is the ruler’s fault.”

…?

A boy’s voice, just beginning to meet the change of his voice, rang in Xun Shang’s ear. Startled, he turned his head.

There stood a boy with a youthful face.

“And it is said: if the ruler does not correct his faults, the state is imperiled.”

It was Xun Yu, the nephew whom Xun Shang, for his brilliance, cherished almost as his own son.

“Then why…”

With a face twisted, Xun Yu asked at Xun Shang’s words,

“Why is it, uncle, that you cannot give that answer?”

And in Xun Yu’s voice was the tinge of disappointment toward Xun Shang.

Footnotes:

• Lesser Treasurer (Shaofu) managed imperial household assets among the Nine Ministers; placing Xun Shang there would pinch rival patronage flows but waste his provincial leverage. 
• The Partisan Prohibitions’ lifting would reopen scholar networks, shifting power from palace factions to provincial gentry—aligning with Jaheon’s aim to secure regional military bases (e.g., Yuzhou).