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When Fei Qian finally saw Cai Yong, his anxious heart finally settled. Especially after learning that Zhou Bi and the Commandant of the City Gates Wu Qiong had been executed by Dong Zhuo for the crime of deceiving the emperor, Fei Qian had been extremely worried, fearing that his mentor Cai Yong might once again act recklessly and lose his life...
At this critical juncture, Dong Zhuo was undoubtedly in a "those who dare to openly oppose the capital's relocation will lose their heads" mode. Even Yuan Wei didn't dare to speak lightly, adopting the posture of an obedient child who would let Dong Zhuo do as he pleased.
Fei Qian had long suspected that Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong were Yuan Wei's men. Although these two had been promoted by Dong Zhuo, they seemed to have been serving the Yuan family from the very beginning—first speaking favorably of Yuan Shao, then recommending candidates for regional governorships, most of whom were either members of the Yuan family or those opposed to Dong Zhuo. They were practically the poster children for biting the hand that fed them.
After all, the Yuan family's reputation of having "disciples and former subordinates spread across the realm" wasn't just empty talk. Many officials, no matter how distantly connected, inevitably had some ties to the Yuan family...
Moreover, this time, Yuan Wei had sent Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong to openly block Dong Zhuo's carriage and publicly voice opposition to relocating the capital. Aside from testing the waters, it was also likely an attempt to manipulate public opinion.
But now, Dong Zhuo had seized Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong on the spot, skipping even the pretense of a trial and directly sentencing them to execution. There was no imprisonment or buffer period—this not only demonstrated Dong Zhuo's resolve but also served as a warning to Yuan Wei and his faction.
When Cai Yong saw Fei Qian, he let out a long sigh and said, "Ziyuan's predictions have all come true..." Cai Yong's glory and prestige had always been tied to Luoyang. Leaving aside everything else, in Luoyang alone, he was a Grand Tutor of the Imperial Academy and the creator of the Xiping Stone Classics. Leaving Luoyang was a devastating blow to Cai Yong, both personally and professionally.
Yet, during yesterday's court assembly, Grand Tutor Yuan Wei's silence had wounded Cai Yong deeply.
Cai Yong's mother, née Yuan, was the sister of the former Minister of Education Yuan Pang. Yuan Pang was from the Chen State branch of the Yuan family, not the same as Yuan Wei's Runan branch, but they shared the same surname. Thus, Cai Yong had always held some goodwill toward Yuan Wei. But now, that goodwill had completely evaporated...
Yang Biao of Hongnong, being from the capital region, and Huang Wan, who owed the Yang family a debt of gratitude, had opposed the relocation—though their motives might not have been entirely for the public good. Xun Shuang of Yingchuan, promoted to one of the Three Excellencies only after Dong Zhuo took power, often found himself in an awkward position, playing the role of a mediator—something Cai Yong could understand...
But Yuan Wei—the only one among the court and nobility who could rival Dong Zhuo, the leader of the gentry openly resisting Dong Zhuo in the east—had chosen to remain silent at this critical moment...
Fei Qian said, "...The Minister of Civil Service Affairs Zhou and Commandant Wu are already hanging outside the city gates..." Although a Minister of Civil Service Affairs and a Commandant weren't the highest-ranking officials, a Commandant of the City Gates was akin to the chief of a district police bureau in later times. Yet, they had been executed without hesitation, their heads displayed as a warning—how tragic.
Speaking of these two, Cai Yong felt both anger and a chilling despair. Compared to Fei Qian, Cai Yong knew Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong much better.
Zhou Bi was from Wuwei—technically a man of Liangzhou—but his father, Zhou Shen, had once served as the Inspector of Yuzhou, which meant he had close ties to the Yuan family of Runan...
As for Wu Qiong, the Commandant of the City Gates, he was a native of Runan...
Thus, after Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong met such a fate, Cai Yong acknowledged that Fei Qian's predictions from the day before had all come true. He also saw Yuan Wei's hypocrisy with painful clarity.
Cai Yong was upright, but he wasn't foolish. As the man who had corrected errors in ancient texts to create the Xiping Stone Classics, given enough time to reflect, spotting inconsistencies was no difficult task for him.
Cai Yong sighed again and said, "Minister of Civil Service Affairs Zhou and Commandant Wu were truly loyal and righteous men, yet they ended up like this... It's truly lamentable. As for Grand Tutor Yuan... he is utterly despicable..."
Yuan Wei's biggest flaw was his silence during the grand court assembly! No matter how many scapegoats like Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong he threw out afterward, this was a failure he could never remedy.
But why hadn't Yuan Wei opposed the relocation?
Cai Yong didn't dare to dwell on it—this was precisely why he found Yuan Wei hypocritical and unworthy of respect...
Yuan Wei's silence meant the relocation of the capital was now inevitable.
"...The capital established here by Emperor Guangwu has stood for two hundred years... Now it will be destroyed in a single day... And I couldn't even stop it..." Cai Yong was heartbroken and overwhelmed with grief.
Fei Qian said, "...Is this not fate? To accept it with grace is to understand destiny. Those who know fate do not stand beneath crumbling walls. To die fulfilling one's duty is a righteous fate; to die in shackles is not. A gentleman must know what to do and what not to do. To insist on the impossible is unwise. What we must do now is follow the righteous path!"
Cai Yong looked at Fei Qian and asked, "What do you mean by this, Ziyuan? What is the righteous path?"
"May I ask, Master, what is your greatest strength?" Fei Qian didn't answer directly but instead posed a question.
"My greatest strength?" Cai Yong murmured, lost in thought.
Fei Qian said, "A gentleman is born by the will of Heaven. In running, he is slower than a nag; in swimming, he is weaker than a fish; in climbing, he is less agile than a monkey. Yet he stands at the head of all living creatures. Why?"
"Hmm... Ziyuan, are you saying that a gentleman excels in learning, and thus masters tools?" Cai Yong ventured.
Fei Qian nodded. "Exactly, But how does a gentleman learn? Oral teachings are prone to errors. Master, you inscribed the corrected classics at the Imperial University precisely because the Qin Dynasty's book burnings severed the transmission of texts, leaving the classics disordered. That's why Prince Hejian offered gold for books, and why Prince Lu Gong dug up texts from Confucius's old home. Yet today, only thirty-nine chapters of the Lost Rites remain, and the Book of Documents is missing sixteen chapters—how tragic! Master, you taught me the Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, but by the end of the Qin Dynasty, it survived only through oral transmission. Thus, though we know of the Gongyang, Guliang, Zou, and Jia commentaries, only the Gongyang and Guliang were preserved in the official curriculum. The Zou commentary lacks teachers to pass it down, and the Jia commentary has no surviving text—both are lost. How sorrowful!"
Fei Qian rose to his feet and bowed solemnly to Cai Yong, declaring with passion, "Now, with calamity upon us, rather than resisting fate and dying in shackles, let us walk the righteous path—to ensure that the scholars of the world have something to inherit!"
"Your disciple, Qian, implores you, Master, to consider this deeply: move the books to preserve the righteous path!"
*****
A/N: Perhaps due to Emperor Ling's commission to correct the classics, Cai Yong's private collection was unmatched in the entire Han Dynasty. Even the Xun family of Yingchuan or the Pang family of Jingxiang couldn't boast a better library. If not for the books Cai Yong had given away during his daughter Cai Yan's wedding, and the times he had recklessly parted with some of his collection, the Cai family's library might have been even larger.