“Ha ha… ha ha…”
Night’s light and shadow shifted along the street below. Up in the teahouse, the two men sitting across from each other fell silent for a moment before Zou Xu’s laughter finally broke out — calm, yet layered with complexity.
“Monkey, you’ve really learned the Teacher’s tricks well…”
Fang Chengye looked at him from across the table. “…Isn’t it worth truly considering?”
“No — actually… I really did consider it, just now. There was a moment… a very brief moment.” He raised a finger and made a small gesture. “…I was moved.”
Fang Chengye turned his teacup slowly in his hands.
Zou Xu looked out the window.
…
After a while, Zou Xu’s voice sounded again.
“But Monkey, have you ever felt… standing on the city wall, watching tens of thousands of troops below awaiting your command, that feeling? Have you ever felt… standing in the golden hall, with a single word deciding the fate of the entire world in your hands? To sweep across the world at will! To command with a wave of your hand! Have you ever thought about standing at the very peak of this age and looking out? You know… Yin Zong, Chen Shiquan, Dai Mengwei, even that Lady Chancellor of Jin Territory — you know their weaknesses, you know they’re no match for you… Monkey, I could take their place. A great man ought to be like this…”
“…Isn’t it good enough for everyone to be equal?”
“It’s fine… but something no one has ever truly grasped in thousands of years — what’s the harm in keeping it in mind, setting it aside for later?… Monkey, do you know what I’ve thought about, over and over, these past years? I keep thinking about what happened in Bianliang, back when the Teacher killed Zhou Zhe. After I took Bianliang, I went to the palace nearly every day to look around. I’d sit on the steps and imagine — how did the Teacher throw Zhou Zhe to the ground back then, how did he use the blade, how did he strike his head, how did he say to the whole assembled court, ‘A pack of worthless trash’…”
“…The son of heaven answers to the law like any commoner — the Teacher did it for the sake of equality.”
“You’re wrong. You’re completely wrong.” Zou Xu’s voice rose slightly before he lowered it again. “Monkey, that was power. That was absolute power. You walk up to the golden hall, hold the so-called son of heaven in your grip, and in front of the most formidable men of that age — Cai Jing, Tong Guan — the Teacher slapped a prince of a different surname like Tong Guan clean off his feet, sent his head cracking against the palace steps, and told every single one of them, all of them: you’re all worthless. Monkey, that’s power — the kind of power that makes you tremble all over just thinking about it…”
“…”
“…From Xiaocang River onward, what the Teacher taught us was to possess power. Back when the Jurchens brought Shopkeeper Lu’s head to us, the Teacher said he’d rather kneel to them — why? Because at that time we had no power. Everything after — every act of restraint, every scheme, every hardship endured — was all for the sake of that final power. By the time we reached the southwest, facing men like Nianhan and Xiyin — one battle settled it! Killed both of Nianhan’s sons right in front of him. Monkey, what magnificence that was — that’s the power to turn hands into clouds and clouds into rain.”
“…Knowing how formidable the Teacher is, aren’t you afraid?”
“Afraid! I am afraid…” Zou Xu smiled. “If I weren’t afraid, why would I have hesitated just now? But in this one life, what are we here for, really? The Teacher had us thinking about this very early on. Monkey, back at Xiaocang River, my schoolwork was always good, and I did well enough afterward too. At first you’re terrified, always worrying about what level you’re really at — but gradually, the more you’re exposed to, the more you see the shape of this world, and you realize: the batch of us the Teacher trained are the strongest people in this world. You too, Monkey.”
“You’re insane.”
“You are! You are.” Zou Xu jabbed his finger a few times. “But having come this far, what now? Monkey, I despise those ordinary people who lecture me, I despise the incompetent fools who can’t even keep up! In this whole process, it’s the Teacher who’s changed, not me. Think carefully, Monkey — back when he killed the emperor in Bianliang, he said every fool in Bianliang deserved to die, deserved it and more. What he sought were comrades — people of talent, of real ability. But once he reached the southwest? He started rallying mountain barbarians, giving basic education to the least gifted people of all. Monkey, it’s not possible for everyone to be equal — some people are simply stupid, born stupid. Pulling out the most talented and putting them first — that’s what’s efficient, and it’s also the main thread that Confucianism has followed for all these thousands of years, and not without reason.”
“…”
“You may not see it yet, Monkey, but I can. Right now in the southwest, it may still be the capable directing the mediocre, but if things keep developing in the direction of everyone being equal, eventually the capable will end up accommodating the incompetent, and in the end — the end — it will lead to a collapse of efficiency… This kind of thing has happened before, hasn’t it? All those rules and regulations that bind you and me — a few fools who don’t understand what I’m doing, plotting impeachments and schemes — how did that turn out? If a general in the field can’t act without orders from the rear, what can he accomplish? I cannot tolerate the meddling of the incompetent!”
Zou Xu’s words grew fierce. Fang Chengye took a sip of tea.
“Forget it, take it as just my idle grumbling.” He waved a hand. “But what matters is — the Teacher taught me these methods, taught me this vision. I’ve learned these things, and I’ve formed my own ideas too. Someday you’ll ask yourself whether you’ve surpassed your master… Monkey, I can achieve greater efficiency. I can give people like you and me more freedom, let the capable stand at the top and lead, let those who can read and master certain skills become the backbone, and let the great majority — the ones you know full well can never be taught no matter how hard you try — stop trying to make them clever. Let them be obedient, receive the best arrangements. This, in itself, is the most rational path.”
“…These are all debates we already had back at Xiaocang River. The Teacher’s called it elitism, but what about corruption, what about the decay of ability that comes with corruption — there are so many more problems. Do you want me to list them for you? There’s no need.”
“No need indeed, Monkey. When you’re arguing theory on paper, this problem feels critical, but throughout all of history, it’s always gone this way. Empires that lasted three hundred years — I aim for four hundred. That’s already quite something… The Teacher wants more, wants everyone equal, wants the state to never fall. Whose chances are greater? I’d say mine, probably…”
“Then why were you afraid just now?”
“Because you all stand with the greater trend, Monkey. When we were studying, or within the same system, I might have seemed the stronger one — but having come to today, when you sit across from me and say those words, you’re holding the greater trend, you’re wielding an open, undisguised strategy, backed by the Teacher’s decade-plus lead, backed by his being the first force in the world to defeat the Jurchens. It’s not something I can dismiss lightly. I understood this at once, which is why I laughed — Brother, you’ve truly learned the Teacher’s own skills…”
“…”
“…And it’s men like you who could become my true comrades. Monkey, look down there — how many of those people, after all your painstaking effort, could ever learn what you’ve learned? My ideas may be unproven, but the notion of absolute equality is nothing but a fantasy.”
“The Teacher also says — moving toward it is what matters.”
“So what I’m saying isn’t wrong either — a thousand pounds against a single feather, it’s all about where you strike the balance… but where exactly to draw that line, that’s the question. Monkey, we brothers debated these details many times back in the day — my argument has flaws, the Teacher’s argument has flaws too, it’s impossible to settle. But what is it that I actually want?”
“…”
“…It’s that, someday, after you’ve learned this much, you start to wonder how you compare to the Teacher, where the gap between you two really lies. If he can kill an emperor, if he can defeat the Jurchens… Monkey, I could kill too, and so could you. The Teacher isn’t a god — he too walks forward trembling with caution. If all of us fellow disciples joined together — even if only some of us did — we could master whatever we wished to master! As long as we don’t chase that hollow fantasy of universal equality too far, we could surely leave our names in history!”
“…”
“…Monkey, we can debate ideals, but setting ideals aside — if you all came over to my side, I’d split everything with you evenly. When the great cause succeeds, you could all be kings. And most importantly, we brothers would finally know just where we stand compared to the Teacher. We could use the whole world as our chessboard, move freely across it — and if one day the Teacher fails, I’ll go save him, I’ll let him live, let him know that we’ve all surpassed our master… I don’t mean today…”
“…”
“…Monkey, I’m not saying you have to answer me today, I don’t expect that either. After everything you’ve been through these years, you’ll form your own views — different from mine, and certainly different from the Teacher’s too. I just wanted to say: whenever you have thoughts about my side, whenever there’s something you want that the Chinese Army can’t offer, or when you can clearly see how you’d improve what I’m doing and want to put those ideas into practice — you’re welcome to come over anytime. I extend this invitation to every capable classmate of ours… Monkey, the world is a chessboard, and heroes ought to move freely across it, so as not to waste this life. And even saying all this, it’s not that I have no compassion for the common people. I’ll give them good lives — I seek four hundred years, not a thousand. Monkey, I’m not cruel…”
“…”
Zou Xu spread one hand flat on the table. Fang Chengye’s gaze rested on him; he returned the look calmly.
After a good while like this, Fang Chengye leaned back and began to laugh.
“Ha… ha ha… On my way here, I went over that whole speech again and again, thinking it might be some kind of trump card. Who knew… Brother, you could still turn it right back around. Riding the greater trend, heh…”
Zou Xu laughed calmly as well. “That was quite the speech, and it depends on the person too — meet someone else, and who knows, they really might be tempted. In the end, bringing the whole Central Plains back to the southwest — the Teacher would probably let me live out my days as a comfortable rich man, no more struggling, and that would be that… But if it came to that, what would my whole life amount to? A joke?”
“…So in the end, it’s desire that ruins people.”
“Wanting everyone to be equal is a kind of desire too. The Teacher wants to be an eternal sage.”
“…I don’t think the Teacher wants that, actually…”
“It’s a matter of perspective.”
Having reached this point, both men knew the topic had nowhere further to go, and they fell silent again for a while. Fang Chengye took another sip of tea.
“So, guess — what will your little brother do next?”
“…Sigh… nothing more than pass along what you tried to persuade me of, and let Dai Mengwei and the others hear it too… what’s the point.”
“Won’t it cause trouble for you, Brother?”
“My alliance with Dai Mengwei — do you think it’s because that old fox and I have some deep affection, some mutual admiration? Alliances come from mutual interest. If he has no ability, no value left to offer, I’ll swallow him whole. If I show weakness, he’ll swallow me. As for this kind of nonsense — you tell one person, I’ll tell nine. That old fox understands; he won’t waste breath on this kind of talk with me.”
“Seems I was being naive… You speak quite highly of the old fox, but you said just now you know his weaknesses — what are they?”
“No troops of his own — he can only rely on me to fight his wars… Are you probing my position, little brother?”
“An open strategy — you didn’t react, so we might as well drink and talk of heroes over wine. Say what you want to say, Brother, or don’t, it’s up to you… Oh, and purely out of curiosity — the Lady Chancellor… what’s her problem?”
“…She goes on and on about the Teacher in the southwest, though there’s really no need — it does her governance no real good, yet she’s fond of it… She’s a lunatic, something wrong in her head.”
“…Mm, well said… I’ll go tell the Lady Chancellor about that sometime.”
“…Sigh, spare your poor brother that kind of trouble — it’d just mean more trips, more times calling her auntie… If you like that so much, why don’t you come over to my side, and I’ll call you godfather, how about that?”
“…So a real father becomes a godfather now?”
“Ha ha ha ha… A father these days can bend as well as stand firm, I won’t hold it against you.”
Under the starlit night and the lantern light, the two sworn brothers laughed together for a while. At one point, Zou Xu’s expression grew slightly solemn.
“Monkey.”
“Mm?”
“Someday, you might receive an order — to come not to give me this kind of small trouble, but to give me a much bigger one…”
“And when that day comes?”
“When it comes, understand that I won’t hold back for your sake. Don’t do that kind of thing.”
“…”
The night wind blew cool. Fang Chengye’s gaze lifted back to meet his. “What if this time, I’ve already come to do exactly that?”
Zou Xu looked back at him calmly.
“Then it makes no difference. Don’t do it,” he said, word by word, “because… I would be very sad.”
Fang Chengye’s eyes dropped for a moment, then he lifted his teacup.
“…Same here.”
He said.