Chapter 85
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Outside Gaodu, beside the newly cultivated lands, was an earthen platform, built eastward of the city, a tradition passed down from ancient spring-welcoming ceremonies. It was still quite early, but the place was already packed with peasants from near and far. After all, the county magistrate was personally performing the Lichun exorcism ceremony – something that hadn’t happened in years already. No wonder they’d been plagued by droughts and pests the last few years. Good weather wouldn’t come if the officials didn’t drive away disaster and welcome spring.
Full of simple-minded naivety, they hustled over first thing in the morning to snatch a good viewing spot. The earthen ox used for “flogging spring” was right there on the platform; it was blanketed beneath a black sheet, but its size alone was impressive enough. But no one dared approach, as the county magistrate had yet to arrive.
About another hour later, drums and gongs clamored about in the distance. This was a necessary ritual meant to clear the path of ghosts and demons. Shortly, a large procession, crowding around two black-robed figures, approached. The middle-aged man sported a dark zé cap, and was plain-faced and bearded. It was Gaodu’s county magistrate, Guo Jiao, of course, who actually looked rather imposing. The young man standing by his side wore a lóng headdress made of black muslin, and was pale and blindingly bright as pure snow and simply too beautiful to look upon.
The crowd stirred, “Who is that? Why’s he walking together with the magistrate?”
“How is that gentleman so handsome?”
“Oh my, could it be Lord Liang?!”
“Someone so divine could only be Lord Liang!”
The disturbance became more and more pronounced, until someone suddenly kneeled and prostrated towards the gorgeous man. According to rumor, the bloody battle that’d taken place last year was ended by Lord Liang, who used mystic arts to lure the rebels away and save Gaodu from destruction. The newly arrived refugees had also benefited much from all the horse meat porridge they’d eaten. Perhaps owing to the meaty porridge’s blessings, very few of the refugee villages had lost anyone to illness; it was practically a miracle.
Now, the county magistrate was going to flog an earthen cow to welcome spring, with Lord Liang by his side. Wasn’t it a sure thing now, that they would have fair winds and gentle rains now? The uncontrollably excited masses fell to their knees in waves like rippling wheat.
Guo Jiao gestured towards the kneeling commoners and stroked his beard as he said jovially, “Look, Marquess Liang, the hearts of the people are with us!”
“It is because you are benevolent, magistrate, that they adulate you,” Liang Feng said, cupping his hands.
Praise received in public was a hundred times more moving than that received in private. Guo Jiao laughed and invited Liang Feng to the stage to direct the ceremony with him. Liang Feng wasn’t going to steal his limelight, of course, so he politely declined. In the end, only Guo Jiao went up on the platform.
Vajcvlcu jabq atf qijaobgw, Xeb Aljb ojmfv fjrakjgv, ybkfv ibk, jcv rjlv rbcbgberis, “Vqglcu jilutar! P lcnbxf atf Xbv bo Xgjlc ab yifrr er ybecaloei tjgnfrar jcv ojnbgjyif kfjatfg!”
After he spoke, the drums thundered again as around a dozen men, wearing Nuo masks, sang and danced in ritual exorcism. Because the Nuo ritual they performed was in welcome of the god of wood, Goumang, they wore not Fangxiang masks, but bird masks, and they donned black robes and held branches of willow. They circled the platform again and again, until they finished the long incantation and the animated Nuo dance. Then, the earthen ox was finally uncovered.
Ktf fjgatfc bz, mjgnfv ys atf kbgxrtbqr’ wjrafg mgjoarwfc, kjr jrabclrtlcuis ilofilxf, lar tbgcr jcv tbbnfr jii oifrtfv bea; la rffwfv jr lo la mbeiv ub jcv qibk atf olfivr jcs wbwfca. Xeb Aljb vfrmfcvfv atf qijaobgw, abbx atf mbibgfv oijli tjcvfv ab tlw ys j qfaas boolmlji, jcv obgmfoeiis ragemx atf fjgatfc bz. Qlat fnfgs raglxf, j qfaas boolmlji kbeiv rlcu qgjsfgr, ktlmt atf mbwwbcfgr kbeiv mtffg lc gfrqbcrf ab. Coafg vfjilcu rlz ijrtfr jwlvra vfjofclcu jqqijerf, atf mfgfwbcs kjr mbwqifaf.
The rite was over, but Guo Jiao didn’t set down the colored flail; he brought it before Liang Feng and presented to him with both hands, “In gratitude for your presence, Marquess Liang, this spring is gifted to you!”
The music began once more. This, too, was a kind of ritual, known as “gifting spring,” in which the county magistrate would personally gift the colored flail he’d “flogged spring” with to one of the county’s gentry. It was a high honor.
Liang Feng didn’t refuse, of course. He received the colored flail with both hands and bowed in thanks. The crowd erupted with jubilation again upon seeing the colored flail change hands. With the bodhisattva’s protection, what had they to fear from plague and disaster!
Now that his work was done, Guo Jiao whispered, “Marquess Liang, let’s back away a bit….”
Liang Feng didn’t know what Guo Jiao meant by that, but he wasn’t dumb enough to ask. He followed him for a hundred paces, whereupon they stopped; Guo Jiao glanced meaningfully at the petty official next to him, who hastily went to sound the copper gong beside the stage. The very moment that its metallic clang echoed through the crowd, the commoners rushed towards the earthen ox in manic frenzy. They were almost like starving wolves warring over the last scrap of food. In the blink of an eye, the stage was enveloped in frothing boil.
Shocked by the utter pandemonium, Yiyan barked an order, and Liang Feng’s guard detail surrounded him protectively. Guo Jiao chuckled merrily, “Don’t panic, the peasants are just scrambling over ‘spring soil.’ They’re harmless.”
With Guo Jiao’s explanation, Liang Feng realized that they were fighting over the dirt from the earthen ox, which was said to ensure fertility when scattered throughout farmlands and spare silkworms from sickness when sprinkled on cocoons. It was a lucky treasure – of course it was rabidly sought after.
In less than a quarter of an hour, nothing was left of the huge earthen ox. A few people, unwilling to miss out, scraped at the ground where the earthen ox once stood, hoping to scrounge some leftover dirt up. Liang Feng saw the happiness on the faces of those who’d managed to obtain “spring soil,” and was gratified. The waterwheels that were soon to be built outside the city, in addition to intensive farming, would indubitably bring bumper harvests to the county.
The “agriculture-encouraging ceremony” had palpably elevated Liang Feng’s mood. But a vexing annoyance dropped out of the blue not long after he returned home. An envoy of the Ningbei General had come to appoint him to an office of the general staff.
The envoy was surnamed Chen, an adjutant of the general staff. He nodded in satisfaction upon meeting Liang Feng, “The Duke of Dongying has heard much of your vaunted genius, upstanding virtue, and graceful bearing, Liang-Lang, and is of a mind to elevate the remarkable from the rabble. Perhaps you may be interested, sir, in becoming an official of the general staff.”
All Liang Feng had to say to Adjutant Chen’s pompous mug was, “I am of frail constitution, oft bedridden with ailment. I fear that I am of no use to the Duke of Dongying.”
Not expecting that the offer would be immediately rebuffed, Adjutant Chen’s expression hardened, “You are a public figure of Bing Province, Liang-Lang, and people like you are needed in chaotic times such as the present. The Duke of Dongying, who recruits the talented and employs the capable, is truly the bedrock of Bing Province. Is your refusal not too rash?”
Liang Feng merely smiled in response.
Adjutant Chen was immensely frustrated by Liang Feng’s intransigence. To think he’d managed to bungle such an easy task. The Duke of Dongying was sure to punish him when he returned. But as “appointment” was a formality of state, and couldn’t be forced, there was nothing he could do but leave with pent-up anger.
As Lüzhu watched Adjutant Chen storm away in a huff, she asked worriedly, “Master, can you really refuse an order of appointment from the Duke of Dongying?”
“Of course I can,” Liang Feng sneered coldly.
Not only could he refuse, but his refusal was something that anyone wanting to acquire distinguished scholars had to accept. Refusing appointment had become something of a tradition among prestigious literati ever since the Han Dynasty.
In the Wei Jin era, before the advent of the imperial examination system, “appointment” was one of the main pathways to officialdom, aside from the “nomination system” and the nine-grade controller system. An order of appointment, when issued by the emperor, was known as “ordination”, and when issued by the government, “enlistment.” Many acclaimed scholars and respected Confucians had entered the bureaucracy via “appointment.” But this “Zhongnan shortcut” wasn’t infallible. Quite a few hermits, unwilling to associate with the court, had staunchly denied appointments. In the far past, there was the renowned Confucian, Zheng Xuan, who had refused the Han Dynasty imperial court numerous times; in the near past, there was illustrious intellectual Wang Pou, whose father had been killed by Sima Zhao, who had spurned countless orders of appointment. Even one of the Sima family’s great ancestors, Sima Yi, had feigned debility to shirk Cao Cao’s first order of appointment.
By the time of the Western Jin Dynasty, when court politics were murky and labyrinthine and rulers were incurably stupid, it had become popular to refuse appointment. Against this kind of societal backdrop, it was impossible to make the glory-seeking, power-hungry literati come and go at one’s beck and call. Thus, refusing appointments had become a means by which to raise one’s social standing. Without being implored time and again, without being accorded loftier and loftier positions, they wouldn’t possibly take up office.
And so, “appointment” had become a tug-of-war between rulers and gentries. Rulers wanted to be praised for their wise choice of appointee; while famous scholars wanted to bolster their esteem. Everyone maintained their part of the balance. Now that Liang Feng was far from a nameless nobody, after having increased his reputation time and again, he’d earned the right to refuse appointment.
Just for the fact that Sima Teng had brought the matter of disease prevention to the capital in an asinine attempt to claim credit, he wasn’t going to join that imbecile’s general staff. Besides, the order of appointment was more beneficial to him than not; because even if he didn’t accept, it’d become tacitly accepted that he was deserving and worthy of that office. Then, each subsequent order of appointment would have to offer him a higher office. One couldn’t extend appointments to the same post multiple times.
It would only play to his advantage if Sima Teng tried to start a wrestling match over this appointment. He was just waiting to see how that fool would react.
※
“What did you say? Liang Feng refused appointment?!” Sima Teng frowned so deeply at the registrar’s report that his brows were nearly standing on end. “How dare a puny fifth-order marquess be so impudent?! Send troops to the Liang Estate to bring him to Jinyang!”
Registrar Gao could only answer helplessly, “General, that Liang Zixi declined by excuse of poor health. I’m afraid that would be an inappropriate course of action.”
“What’s so inappropriate about it?!” Sima Teng raged, “I’m already showing courtesy to my lessers and forgiving past transgressions, and yet he is still so impertinent. Or are you suggesting that I must personally visit his cottage?!”
That was too excessive – Registrar Gao coughed, “I wouldn’t go so far, general. There are, in fact, ways to impart offers of appointment again. Didn’t he claim to be unwell? Then send a few doctors to treat his malady. If he really is sick, you could bequeath him medicines and lend him healers, grant some favors. If he’s pretending, then you will have cause to accuse him. Would that not demonstrate your gallant generosity, general?”
Sima Teng thought in silence, and conceded resentfully, “Very well then. Send two imperial physicians over to thoroughly cure him of his affliction! If he dared lie, I will assuredly take him to task!”
Registrar Gao sighed in relief. It was fortunate that Liang Zixi’s excuse was so convenient; it’d be difficult to deal with if he’d given a different reason. But was his refusal a ploy to gain clout, or a genuine adverseness to serving in the general staff? The latter was a simple case, but the former was a sign that he was a conniving schemer. It might not be a good thing for such a person to enter the general staff.
But the words had already left his mouth, and it was too late to dismount the tiger. Ah, it seemed he had to write to Wang Wen as soon as possible; it’d be bothersome if anything went wrong.
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Outside Gaodu, beside the newly cultivated lands, was an earthen platform, built eastward of the city, a tradition passed down from ancient spring-welcoming ceremonies. It was still quite early, but the place was already packed with peasants from near and far. After all, the county magistrate was personally performing the Lichun exorcism ceremony – something that hadn’t happened in years already. No wonder they’d been plagued by droughts and pests the last few years. Good weather wouldn’t come if the officials didn’t drive away disaster and welcome spring.
Full of simple-minded naivety, they hustled over first thing in the morning to snatch a good viewing spot. The earthen ox used for “flogging spring” was right there on the platform; it was blanketed beneath a black sheet, but its size alone was impressive enough. But no one dared approach, as the county magistrate had yet to arrive.
About another hour later, drums and gongs clamored about in the distance. This was a necessary ritual meant to clear the path of ghosts and demons. Shortly, a large procession, crowding around two black-robed figures, approached. The middle-aged man sported a dark zé cap, and was plain-faced and bearded. It was Gaodu’s county magistrate, Guo Jiao, of course, who actually looked rather imposing. The young man standing by his side wore a lóng headdress made of black muslin, and was pale and blindingly bright as pure snow and simply too beautiful to look upon.
The crowd stirred, “Who is that? Why’s he walking together with the magistrate?”
“How is that gentleman so handsome?”
“Oh my, could it be Lord Liang?!”
“Someone so divine could only be Lord Liang!”
The disturbance became more and more pronounced, until someone suddenly kneeled and prostrated towards the gorgeous man. According to rumor, the bloody battle that’d taken place last year was ended by Lord Liang, who used mystic arts to lure the rebels away and save Gaodu from destruction. The newly arrived refugees had also benefited much from all the horse meat porridge they’d eaten. Perhaps owing to the meaty porridge’s blessings, very few of the refugee villages had lost anyone to illness; it was practically a miracle.
Now, the county magistrate was going to flog an earthen cow to welcome spring, with Lord Liang by his side. Wasn’t it a sure thing now, that they would have fair winds and gentle rains now? The uncontrollably excited masses fell to their knees in waves like rippling wheat.
Guo Jiao gestured towards the kneeling commoners and stroked his beard as he said jovially, “Look, Marquess Liang, the hearts of the people are with us!”
“It is because you are benevolent, magistrate, that they adulate you,” Liang Feng said, cupping his hands.
Praise received in public was a hundred times more moving than that received in private. Guo Jiao laughed and invited Liang Feng to the stage to direct the ceremony with him. Liang Feng wasn’t going to steal his limelight, of course, so he politely declined. In the end, only Guo Jiao went up on the platform.
Vajcvlcu jabq atf qijaobgw, Xeb Aljb ojmfv fjrakjgv, ybkfv ibk, jcv rjlv rbcbgberis, “Vqglcu jilutar! P lcnbxf atf Xbv bo Xgjlc ab yifrr er ybecaloei tjgnfrar jcv ojnbgjyif kfjatfg!”
After he spoke, the drums thundered again as around a dozen men, wearing Nuo masks, sang and danced in ritual exorcism. Because the Nuo ritual they performed was in welcome of the god of wood, Goumang, they wore not Fangxiang masks, but bird masks, and they donned black robes and held branches of willow. They circled the platform again and again, until they finished the long incantation and the animated Nuo dance. Then, the earthen ox was finally uncovered.
Ktf fjgatfc bz, mjgnfv ys atf kbgxrtbqr’ wjrafg mgjoarwfc, kjr jrabclrtlcuis ilofilxf, lar tbgcr jcv tbbnfr jii oifrtfv bea; la rffwfv jr lo la mbeiv ub jcv qibk atf olfivr jcs wbwfca. Xeb Aljb vfrmfcvfv atf qijaobgw, abbx atf mbibgfv oijli tjcvfv ab tlw ys j qfaas boolmlji, jcv obgmfoeiis ragemx atf fjgatfc bz. Qlat fnfgs raglxf, j qfaas boolmlji kbeiv rlcu qgjsfgr, ktlmt atf mbwwbcfgr kbeiv mtffg lc gfrqbcrf ab. Coafg vfjilcu rlz ijrtfr jwlvra vfjofclcu jqqijerf, atf mfgfwbcs kjr mbwqifaf.
The rite was over, but Guo Jiao didn’t set down the colored flail; he brought it before Liang Feng and presented to him with both hands, “In gratitude for your presence, Marquess Liang, this spring is gifted to you!”
The music began once more. This, too, was a kind of ritual, known as “gifting spring,” in which the county magistrate would personally gift the colored flail he’d “flogged spring” with to one of the county’s gentry. It was a high honor.
Liang Feng didn’t refuse, of course. He received the colored flail with both hands and bowed in thanks. The crowd erupted with jubilation again upon seeing the colored flail change hands. With the bodhisattva’s protection, what had they to fear from plague and disaster!
Now that his work was done, Guo Jiao whispered, “Marquess Liang, let’s back away a bit….”
Liang Feng didn’t know what Guo Jiao meant by that, but he wasn’t dumb enough to ask. He followed him for a hundred paces, whereupon they stopped; Guo Jiao glanced meaningfully at the petty official next to him, who hastily went to sound the copper gong beside the stage. The very moment that its metallic clang echoed through the crowd, the commoners rushed towards the earthen ox in manic frenzy. They were almost like starving wolves warring over the last scrap of food. In the blink of an eye, the stage was enveloped in frothing boil.
Shocked by the utter pandemonium, Yiyan barked an order, and Liang Feng’s guard detail surrounded him protectively. Guo Jiao chuckled merrily, “Don’t panic, the peasants are just scrambling over ‘spring soil.’ They’re harmless.”
With Guo Jiao’s explanation, Liang Feng realized that they were fighting over the dirt from the earthen ox, which was said to ensure fertility when scattered throughout farmlands and spare silkworms from sickness when sprinkled on cocoons. It was a lucky treasure – of course it was rabidly sought after.
In less than a quarter of an hour, nothing was left of the huge earthen ox. A few people, unwilling to miss out, scraped at the ground where the earthen ox once stood, hoping to scrounge some leftover dirt up. Liang Feng saw the happiness on the faces of those who’d managed to obtain “spring soil,” and was gratified. The waterwheels that were soon to be built outside the city, in addition to intensive farming, would indubitably bring bumper harvests to the county.
The “agriculture-encouraging ceremony” had palpably elevated Liang Feng’s mood. But a vexing annoyance dropped out of the blue not long after he returned home. An envoy of the Ningbei General had come to appoint him to an office of the general staff.
The envoy was surnamed Chen, an adjutant of the general staff. He nodded in satisfaction upon meeting Liang Feng, “The Duke of Dongying has heard much of your vaunted genius, upstanding virtue, and graceful bearing, Liang-Lang, and is of a mind to elevate the remarkable from the rabble. Perhaps you may be interested, sir, in becoming an official of the general staff.”
All Liang Feng had to say to Adjutant Chen’s pompous mug was, “I am of frail constitution, oft bedridden with ailment. I fear that I am of no use to the Duke of Dongying.”
Not expecting that the offer would be immediately rebuffed, Adjutant Chen’s expression hardened, “You are a public figure of Bing Province, Liang-Lang, and people like you are needed in chaotic times such as the present. The Duke of Dongying, who recruits the talented and employs the capable, is truly the bedrock of Bing Province. Is your refusal not too rash?”
Liang Feng merely smiled in response.
Adjutant Chen was immensely frustrated by Liang Feng’s intransigence. To think he’d managed to bungle such an easy task. The Duke of Dongying was sure to punish him when he returned. But as “appointment” was a formality of state, and couldn’t be forced, there was nothing he could do but leave with pent-up anger.
As Lüzhu watched Adjutant Chen storm away in a huff, she asked worriedly, “Master, can you really refuse an order of appointment from the Duke of Dongying?”
“Of course I can,” Liang Feng sneered coldly.
Not only could he refuse, but his refusal was something that anyone wanting to acquire distinguished scholars had to accept. Refusing appointment had become something of a tradition among prestigious literati ever since the Han Dynasty.
In the Wei Jin era, before the advent of the imperial examination system, “appointment” was one of the main pathways to officialdom, aside from the “nomination system” and the nine-grade controller system. An order of appointment, when issued by the emperor, was known as “ordination”, and when issued by the government, “enlistment.” Many acclaimed scholars and respected Confucians had entered the bureaucracy via “appointment.” But this “Zhongnan shortcut” wasn’t infallible. Quite a few hermits, unwilling to associate with the court, had staunchly denied appointments. In the far past, there was the renowned Confucian, Zheng Xuan, who had refused the Han Dynasty imperial court numerous times; in the near past, there was illustrious intellectual Wang Pou, whose father had been killed by Sima Zhao, who had spurned countless orders of appointment. Even one of the Sima family’s great ancestors, Sima Yi, had feigned debility to shirk Cao Cao’s first order of appointment.
By the time of the Western Jin Dynasty, when court politics were murky and labyrinthine and rulers were incurably stupid, it had become popular to refuse appointment. Against this kind of societal backdrop, it was impossible to make the glory-seeking, power-hungry literati come and go at one’s beck and call. Thus, refusing appointments had become a means by which to raise one’s social standing. Without being implored time and again, without being accorded loftier and loftier positions, they wouldn’t possibly take up office.
And so, “appointment” had become a tug-of-war between rulers and gentries. Rulers wanted to be praised for their wise choice of appointee; while famous scholars wanted to bolster their esteem. Everyone maintained their part of the balance. Now that Liang Feng was far from a nameless nobody, after having increased his reputation time and again, he’d earned the right to refuse appointment.
Just for the fact that Sima Teng had brought the matter of disease prevention to the capital in an asinine attempt to claim credit, he wasn’t going to join that imbecile’s general staff. Besides, the order of appointment was more beneficial to him than not; because even if he didn’t accept, it’d become tacitly accepted that he was deserving and worthy of that office. Then, each subsequent order of appointment would have to offer him a higher office. One couldn’t extend appointments to the same post multiple times.
It would only play to his advantage if Sima Teng tried to start a wrestling match over this appointment. He was just waiting to see how that fool would react.
※
“What did you say? Liang Feng refused appointment?!” Sima Teng frowned so deeply at the registrar’s report that his brows were nearly standing on end. “How dare a puny fifth-order marquess be so impudent?! Send troops to the Liang Estate to bring him to Jinyang!”
Registrar Gao could only answer helplessly, “General, that Liang Zixi declined by excuse of poor health. I’m afraid that would be an inappropriate course of action.”
“What’s so inappropriate about it?!” Sima Teng raged, “I’m already showing courtesy to my lessers and forgiving past transgressions, and yet he is still so impertinent. Or are you suggesting that I must personally visit his cottage?!”
That was too excessive – Registrar Gao coughed, “I wouldn’t go so far, general. There are, in fact, ways to impart offers of appointment again. Didn’t he claim to be unwell? Then send a few doctors to treat his malady. If he really is sick, you could bequeath him medicines and lend him healers, grant some favors. If he’s pretending, then you will have cause to accuse him. Would that not demonstrate your gallant generosity, general?”
Sima Teng thought in silence, and conceded resentfully, “Very well then. Send two imperial physicians over to thoroughly cure him of his affliction! If he dared lie, I will assuredly take him to task!”
Registrar Gao sighed in relief. It was fortunate that Liang Zixi’s excuse was so convenient; it’d be difficult to deal with if he’d given a different reason. But was his refusal a ploy to gain clout, or a genuine adverseness to serving in the general staff? The latter was a simple case, but the former was a sign that he was a conniving schemer. It might not be a good thing for such a person to enter the general staff.
But the words had already left his mouth, and it was too late to dismount the tiger. Ah, it seemed he had to write to Wang Wen as soon as possible; it’d be bothersome if anything went wrong.
Outside Gaodu, beside the newly cultivated lands, was an earthen platform, built eastward of the city, a tradition passed down from ancient spring-welcoming ceremonies. It was still quite early, but the place was already packed with peasants from near and far. After all, the county magistrate was personally performing the Lichun exorcism ceremony something that hadn't happened in years already. No wonder they'd been plagued by droughts and pests the last few years. Good weather wouldn't come if the officials didn't drive away disaster and welcome spring.Full of simple-minded naivety, they hustled over first thing in the morning to snatch a good viewing spot. The earthen ox used for flogging spring was right there on the platform; it was blanketed beneath a black sheet, but its size alone was impressive enough. But no one dared approach, as the county magistrate had yet to arrive.About another hour later, drums and gongs clamored about in the distance. This was a necessary ritual meant to clear the path of ghosts and demons. Shortly, a large procession, crowding around two black-robed figures, approached. The middle-aged man sported a darkzcap, and was plain-faced and bearded. It was Gaodu's county magistrate, Guo Jiao, of course, who actually looked rather imposing. The young man standing by his side wore alng headdressmade of black muslin, and was pale and blindingly bright as pure snow and simply too beautiful to look upon.The crowd stirred, Who is that? Why's he walking together with the magistrate?How is that gentleman so handsome?Oh my, could it be Lord Liang?!Someone so divine could only be Lord Liang!The disturbance became more and more pronounced, until someone suddenly kneeled and prostrated towards the gorgeous man. According to rumor, the bloody battle that'd taken place last year was ended by Lord Liang, who used mystic arts to lure the rebels away and save Gaodu from destruction. The newly arrived refugees had also benefited much from all the horse meat porridge they'd eaten. Perhaps owing to the meaty porridge's blessings, very few of the refugee villages had lost anyone to illness; it was practically a miracle.Now, the county magistrate was going to flog an earthen cow to welcome spring, with Lord Liang by his side. Wasn't it a sure thing now, that they would have fair winds and gentle rains now? The uncontrollably excited masses fell to their knees in waves like rippling wheat.Guo Jiao gestured towards the kneeling commoners and stroked his beard as he said jovially, Look, Marquess Liang, the hearts of the people are with us!It is because you are benevolent, magistrate, that they adulate you, Liang Feng said, cupping his hands.Praise received in public was a hundred times more moving than that received in private. Guo Jiao laughed and invited Liang Feng to the stage to direct the ceremony with him. Liang Feng wasn't going to steal his limelight, of course, so he politely declined. In the end, only Guo Jiao went up on the platform.Vajcvlcu jabq atf qijaobgw, Xeb Aljb ojmfv fjrakjgv, ybkfv ibk, jcv rjlv rbcbgberis, Vqglcu jilutar! P lcnbxf atf Xbv bo Xgjlc ab yifrr er ybecaloei tjgnfrar jcv ojnbgjyif kfjatfg!After he spoke, the drums thundered again as around a dozen men, wearingNuo masks, sang and danced in ritual exorcism. Because the Nuo ritual they performed was in welcome of the god of wood,Goumang, they wore notFangxiangmasks, but bird masks, and they donned black robes and held branches of willow. They circled the platform again and again, until they finished the long incantation and the animated Nuo dance. Then, the earthen ox was finally uncovered.Ktf fjgatfc bz, mjgnfv ys atf kbgxrtbqr' wjrafg mgjoarwfc, kjr jrabclrtlcuis ilofilxf, lar tbgcr jcv tbbnfr jii oifrtfv bea; la rffwfv jr lo la mbeiv ub jcv qibk atf olfivr jcs wbwfca. Xeb Aljb vfrmfcvfv atf qijaobgw, abbx atf mbibgfv oijli tjcvfv ab tlw ys j qfaas boolmlji, jcv obgmfoeiis ragemx atf fjgatfc bz. Qlat fnfgs raglxf, j qfaas boolmlji kbeiv rlcu qgjsfgr, ktlmt atf mbwwbcfgr kbeiv mtffg lc gfrqbcrf ab. Coafg vfjilcu rlz ijrtfr jwlvra vfjofclcu jqqijerf, atf mfgfwbcs kjr mbwqifaf.The rite was over, but Guo Jiao didn't set down the colored flail; he brought it before Liang Feng and presented to him with both hands, In gratitude for your presence, Marquess Liang, this spring is gifted to you!The music began once more. This, too, was a kind of ritual, known as gifting spring, in which the county magistrate would personally gift the colored flail he'd flogged spring with to one of the county's gentry. It was a high honor.Liang Feng didn't refuse, of course. He received the colored flail with both hands and bowed in thanks. The crowd erupted with jubilation again upon seeing the colored flail change hands. With the bodhisattva's protection, what had they to fear from plague and disaster!Now that his work was done, Guo Jiao whispered, Marquess Liang, let's back away a bit.Liang Feng didn't know what Guo Jiao meant by that, but he wasn't dumb enough to ask. He followed him for a hundred paces, whereupon they stopped; Guo Jiao glanced meaningfully at the petty official next to him, who hastily went to sound the copper gong beside the stage. The very moment that its metallic clang echoed through the crowd, the commoners rushed towards the earthen ox in manic frenzy. They were almost like starving wolves warring over the last scrap of food. In the blink of an eye, the stage was enveloped in frothing boil.Shocked by the utter pandemonium, Yiyan barked an order, and Liang Feng's guard detail surrounded him protectively. Guo Jiao chuckled merrily, Don't panic, the peasants are just scrambling over spring soil.' They're harmless.With Guo Jiao's explanation, Liang Feng realized that they were fighting over the dirt from the earthen ox, which was said to ensure fertility when scattered throughout farmlands and spare silkworms from sickness when sprinkled on cocoons. It was a lucky treasure of course it was rabidly sought after.In less than a quarter of an hour, nothing was left of the huge earthen ox. A few people, unwilling to miss out, scraped at the ground where the earthen ox once stood, hoping to scrounge some leftover dirt up. Liang Feng saw the happiness on the faces of those who'd managed to obtain spring soil, and was gratified. The waterwheels that were soon to be built outside the city, in addition to intensive farming, would indubitably bring bumper harvests to the county.The agriculture-encouraging ceremony had palpably elevated Liang Feng's mood. But a vexing annoyance dropped out of the blue not long after he returned home. An envoy of the Ningbei General had come to appoint him to an office of the general staff.The envoy was surnamed Chen, an adjutant of the general staff. He nodded in satisfaction upon meeting Liang Feng, The Duke of Dongying has heard much of your vaunted genius, upstanding virtue, and graceful bearing, Liang-Lang, and is of a mind to elevate the remarkable from the rabble. Perhaps you may be interested, sir, in becoming an official of the general staff.All Liang Feng had to say to Adjutant Chen's pompous mug was, I am of frail constitution, oft bedridden with ailment. I fear that I am of no use to the Duke of Dongying.Not expecting that the offer would be immediately rebuffed, Adjutant Chen's expression hardened, You are a public figure of Bing Province, Liang-Lang, and people like you are needed in chaotic times such as the present. The Duke of Dongying, who recruits the talented and employs the capable, is truly the bedrock of Bing Province. Is your refusal not too rash?Liang Feng merely smiled in response.Adjutant Chen was immensely frustrated by Liang Feng's intransigence. To think he'd managed to bungle such an easy task. The Duke of Dongying was sure to punish him when he returned. But as appointment was a formality of state, and couldn't be forced, there was nothing he could do but leave with pent-up anger.As Lzhu watched Adjutant Chen storm away in a huff, she asked worriedly, Master, can you really refuse an order of appointment from the Duke of Dongying?Of course I can, Liang Feng sneered coldly.Not only could he refuse, but his refusal was something that anyone wanting to acquire distinguished scholars had to accept. Refusing appointment had become something of a tradition among prestigious literati ever since the Han Dynasty.In the Wei Jin era, before the advent of the imperial examination system, appointment was one of the main pathways to officialdom, aside from the nomination system and the nine-grade controller system. An order of appointment, when issued by the emperor, was known as ordination, and when issued by the government, enlistment. Many acclaimed scholars and respected Confucians had entered the bureaucracy via appointment. But this Zhongnan shortcut wasn't infallible. Quite a few hermits, unwilling to associate with the court, had staunchly denied appointments. In the far past, there was the renowned Confucian, Zheng Xuan, who had refused the Han Dynasty imperial court numerous times; in the near past, there was illustrious intellectual Wang Pou, whose father had been killed by Sima Zhao, who had spurned countless orders of appointment. Even one of the Sima family's great ancestors, Sima Yi, had feigned debility to shirk Cao Cao's first order of appointment.By the time of the Western Jin Dynasty, when court politics were murky and labyrinthine and rulers were incurably stupid, it had become popular to refuse appointment. Against this kind of societal backdrop, it was impossible to make the glory-seeking, power-hungry literati come and go at one's beck and call. Thus, refusing appointments had become a means by which to raise one's social standing. Without being implored time and again, without being accorded loftier and loftier positions, they wouldn't possibly take up office.And so, appointment had become a tug-of-war between rulers and gentries. Rulers wanted to be praised for their wise choice of appointee; while famous scholars wanted to bolster their esteem. Everyone maintained their part of the balance. Now that Liang Feng was far from a nameless nobody, after having increased his reputation time and again, he'd earned the right to refuse appointment.Just for the fact that Sima Teng had brought the matter of disease prevention to the capital in an asinine attempt to claim credit, he wasn't going to join that imbecile's general staff. Besides, the order of appointment was more beneficial to him than not; because even if he didn't accept, it'd become tacitly accepted that he was deserving and worthy of that office. Then, each subsequent order of appointment would have to offer him a higher office. One couldn't extend appointments to the same post multiple times.It would only play to his advantage if Sima Teng tried to start a wrestling match over this appointment. He was just waiting to see how that fool would react.What did you say? Liang Feng refused appointment?! Sima Teng frowned so deeply at the registrar's report that his brows were nearly standing on end. How dare a puny fifth-order marquess be so impudent?! Send troops to the Liang Estate to bring him to Jinyang!Registrar Gao could only answer helplessly, General, that Liang Zixi declined by excuse of poor health. I'm afraid that would be an inappropriate course of action.What's so inappropriate about it?! Sima Teng raged, I'm already showing courtesy to my lessers and forgiving past transgressions, and yet he is still so impertinent. Or are you suggesting that I mustpersonally visit his cottage?!That was too excessive Registrar Gao coughed, I wouldn't go so far, general. There are, in fact, ways to impart offers of appointment again. Didn't he claim to be unwell? Then send a few doctors to treat his malady. If he really is sick, you could bequeath him medicines and lend him healers, grant some favors. If he's pretending, then you will have cause to accuse him. Would that not demonstrate your gallant generosity, general?Sima Teng thought in silence, and conceded resentfully, Very well then. Send two imperial physicians over to thoroughly cure him of his affliction! If he dared lie, I will assuredly take him to task!Registrar Gao sighed in relief. It was fortunate that Liang Zixi's excuse was so convenient; it'd be difficult to deal with if he'd given a different reason. But was his refusal a ploy to gain clout, or a genuine adverseness to serving in the general staff? The latter was a simple case, but the former was a sign that he was a conniving schemer. It might not be a good thing for such a person to enter the general staff.But the words had already left his mouth, and it wastoo late to dismount the tiger. Ah, it seemed he had to write to Wang Wen as soon as possible; it'd be bothersome if anything went wrong.
