Raising a Rebel - 10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

The city of Jiankang was originally called, Jianye¹ 建業. It was one of the provincial capitals in the Han Dynasty governing the southeastern region of Wu, ruled by the Sun family. During the Three Kingdom period, one of its members Sun Ce would make this city his capital for the State of Wu. When the capital fell to barbarian armies, it became the new capital of Jin under Emperor Yuan. The city was renamed Jiankang to avoid an ancient taboo of naming your capital and nation with similar characters. Over 58 years since the fall of the Northern Capital Chang’an, the city has seen many refugees moving in, but the urban development had not kept pace with the population growth, leading to a lack of easy transit for merchants, water for sanitation, or housing for rich and poor alike. Individuals from powerful families such as Xie, Wang, Huan, and Yu families were some of the few able to hold large manor homes within the capital.

Xie Lian upon seeing the state of the capital as he entered with his retinue, including a Roman missionary, knew this would be one of his pet projects going forward. The city needed major renovations and he had to push for major building projects.

Antonius, having found out both Xie An and his nephew Xie Xuan could understand Latin, wanted to engage both men in conversation. In their disguised roles, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng did not know how best to address the Romans in their midst. It was rare for someone to know foreign languages after the fall of the Han empire, plus neither Rome nor Han made formal contact with one another, so any language exchanges came from Parthian or Indian intermediaries. In truth, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng had traveled throughout Roman lands, blending into the populace and learning the language through transformation magic.

The food distribution had caused an uproar within the city, causing many of the denizens from the urban poor to the shopkeepers to wait in line for their free share. Hua Cheng and Xie Lian had anticipated this eventuality, so they instructed each recipient of food to have their name, fingerprints, and address location documented. These measures would prevent people from getting more than their allotted share. Thus, the food distribution would also serve as an informal census of Jiankang as well.²

As Xie Lian dismounts to walk alongside Hua Cheng in the streets, Antonius intercepts them and asks in Latin, “Licetne tibi loqui³?”

Hua Cheng grimaces at the middle-aged man, then responds in Chinese, “Ask your question and be off, the prime minister and I have much to do.”

Antonius undaunted by the young general or his menacing scimitar, replies in the Han language, “I want to inquire if I may be allowed to minister to the poor and indigent within the city. I also wish to share the word of God in a public square, so others may join me in a prayer of thanksgiving for the bounty that they are receiving.”

Xie Lian nods, “You may Antonius, we do not restrict different beliefs here. We believe in allowing everyone the ability to express themselves as long as it does not harm another person.”

Antonius pushes onward, “Can you direct me to a place where I can be heard and seen to spread my faith, such as a square or forum?”

Xie Lian considers the question of an equivalent to the Roman public squares, “Our cities are organized and confirmed according to the Kaogongji 考工记, a text derived from the original Zhouli 周礼. Unlike the cities of Rome, we organize our cities by a nine li across in all four directions, where the center is either a municipal palace or an imperial palace. Each li across the city from north-south or west-east has nine roads, creating smaller Hutongs 胡同, similar to the fourteen Regio of Rome. Behind the palace is the location of our market, where commoners, merchants, and nobles interact in communal exchanges of goods and various services for the entire city rather than each hutong individually.”⁴

Antonius appears perplexed by this urban organization, “You do not have squares for each regio and allow the nobility to interact with commoners openly. How can the people then hear the heralds of your emperor? How would you as consul influence the commoners? Surely, you do not rule by tyranny.”

Hua Cheng bluntly points out, “Romans have not had any influence on decision-making since Octavian took the throne as Emperor. Here people can act as they please and believe as they want unlike in Rome, where they are only able to debate decisions that they have no control over.”

Xie Lian, understanding his husband is losing his patience with Antonius, tries to mollify the situation, “We are a people ruled by philosophy and concepts, it is different than what you may have seen in Rome or your travels across the Parthian Empire.”

Antonius frowns, “I was told Serica was like my own, Res Publica, where your wise leaders ruled for the good of the people rather than act like the tyrannical barbarians. I see there is much misunderstanding.”

Throughout the day, Wukong was surprised at the sight of the pale-skinned human. His mannerism and his tone concerning his distant homeland’s differences from the central plain inspired the young monkey child. The stranger’s language and thought process appeared very alien to the way that the world operated around him. The stranger’s homeland, where cities have many places for people to congregate and gather, was unrealistic to Wukong, who has only seen humans interact either for entertainment or trade. These western lands inspired his childish imagination of people with different skin tones ranging from green to purple, speaking a million languages, and massive cities far greater than any in the central plains.

After they had separated from the stranger, Wukong found a moment at night to ask Xie Lian in the privacy of the Xie clan manor for more information, “Sifu, do humans come in different shades of color? What is this language he speaks? What other places are there beyond the Qin and Jin?”

Xie Lian remembers his earlier conversation with Wukong and addresses the boy’s inquisitive nature, “Humans may appear with different skin tones and have different languages. San Lang and I have seen skin tones ranging from golden yellow hues to earth-like brown to obsidian black. A spectrum of skin tones exists in humanity due to their respective homelands and environments. Language also exists in various forms across the world, some languages are related to one another like the current Han to the ancestral Xinle language that I know or to the current Goryeo⁵ 高麗 language in the east due to interactions, but others like Antonius’ Latin and Han are mutually distinct,” Xie Lian pauses briefly to consider his answer about the different areas of the world, “There are many regions in the world, Antonius homeland is known as the Imperium Romanum, what the people in the Central Plains call Daqin 大秦⁶. They are a vast multi-ethnic nation equal in scale to the Han Dynasty at its height. Antonius though calls his homeland, “res publica” if you ask him instead of its official name.”

In addition to teaching Wukong about the various names of Rome, Xie Lian taught Wukong a brief lesson on why Imperium Romanum was just an official name and why Antonius would refer to his homeland as res publica, despite the end of this former governmental structure more than three centuries ago. Xie Lian emphasized the concepts of human perception and reality to Wukong, concerning political and social beliefs that humans observe. Antonius is a prime example of this dichotomy due to how his speech patterns and paradoxical ideologies meld. Xie Lian knew the history well as he witnessed much of it as an outside observer.

Xie Lian explained the facts as they existed. The result of the Roman Civil War between the Caesarian factions and the elite families of the Senate was the creation of a new nation, ruled by an Emperor instead of an elected group. The old name of Rome, “Res Publica”, was maintained by the emperors to retain “legitimacy” particularly to keep trade agreements, along with keeping a Senate for pretense. The concept behind the old Res Publica was interesting to Xie Lian, but he could see the follies and weaknesses within such a system, especially amid the Roman Civil War. Their government system allowed the most influential and powerful individuals and group interests to hold influence, making factions inevitable within the elective representative structure. These factions ultimately destroyed the very system that created them in the first place. However, men like Antonius cling to the idea that they still live in “res publica”, where their voices have meaning and beliefs can be represented by someone of authority.

Even among the Roman gods, there was a major shift under the emperors. Jupiter, who was formerly Zeus, had lost prestige as his adherents among the Roman elite were vanquished. The emperors eying such a power vacuum sought to enshrine themselves as the new king of the gods, similar to what Fu Jian is attempting across the former Han Empire. Xie Lian explained to Wukong the nature of divinity based on both affinity with energy manipulation in its various forms and the intangible energy inherent in human belief. The more people who believe the emperor is a god, the more energy the emperor gains to extend the reach of his empire. Even untrained individuals can manifest the energy of believers in the form of charisma and influence over human minds. When alternative faiths or ideologies like Antonius’ savior rose, the roman emperors would brutally suppress such beliefs or eliminate the believers. Without training or conservation of energy usage, the need for maintaining such influence grows exponentially, so the emperors could not afford even a minor deviation within his realm where he is not worshipped as a principal god.

Xie Lian doubted any such system can ever be sustainable with the need to continuously grow your believer base to maintain your authority, not in the realm of mortals or gods.

Upon finishing his lesson in humanity, Wukong shakes his head, “Humans are so foolish and misguided, but they are in some ways better than the Taoist gods with their rule structure, Buddhist fanatics with their inability to grant mercy to those unlike them, or demonic forces like Fu Jian with only dreams of their eventual dominion over all because ordinary humans strive to improve themselves. Even in failure, they still cling to that hope of being able to be heard and having a voice in how the world operates around them. They seek purpose in the world through interaction, I think that is the reason for their continued use of “Res Publica”, not only as a legacy of their past but a hope that people have for the future despite what the current reality may be. Even though the original system failed, the idea behind is faith in itself.”

Xie Lian had not considered that lesson from the Romans’ use of their old nation’s name. Human hope is a beautiful thing, something that he remembers clearly thousands of years since he ascended. He remembered it when he waited for Hua Cheng to return after their final battle against the White No-Face, the belief in his partner coming back to him and their eternal commitment to one another. If humanity could have just a fraction of the hope that Xie Lian held for Hua Cheng, nothing would be impossible.

Xu Xiwang had originally listened to Wukong and Xie Lian’s discussions, but he was not interested in philosophy or human cultural perspectives. Xiwang sauntered off to Wukong’s room, claiming the majority of the bed for himself, wondering what he will do now under the protection of Xie Lian. He had hoped that he could witness Xie Lian training Wukong in magical cultivation, but so far Xie had avoided any magic use or training. Worst, Xiwang knew that Wukong would organically acquire more spiritual energy than any god, demon, or Buddhist adherent as a direct scion of a primordial being, so Xie Lian may not even intend to teach him any magic at all. Xiwang knew if he stuck close to Xie Lian or even the annoyingly affectionate Wukong, he would be safe, but the memory of his slain parents filled him with fitful nightmares that would not abate. When Wukong returned to the room, he found his new friend sprawled across the bed that was meant for him, twisting and turning in discomfort. While Wukong had naturally wanted to assist him, he has seen similar restless sleep amongst the slaves of the Qin. He left the room to avoid disturbing Xiwang.

Unbeknownst to Xiwang, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng would begin training Wukong later that night due to Wukong’s inability to sleep. Wukong found Xie Lian and Hua Cheng playing a game of Weiqi 圍棋⁷ out in the courtyard as neither the god nor the ghost king felt like sleeping after a bit of wild undisturbed sexual release after several days of absence in each other’s orbit. At the sight of their young charge, they abandoned their inconclusive game of strategy and went to inquire why he was not in bed. After understanding his reason to allow Xiwang undisturbed slumber, they considered it was likely the best time to educate him. Xie Lian instructed him to remove the bracelet that held Wukong’s human glamour, so he could appear in his natural state as a monkey preteen.

Xie Lian began teaching him the fundamental five elements cycle, which simplifies a more complex concept behind the use of spiritual energy cultivation and magic. Xie Lian understood that their abilities, along with gods, humans, and demons alike, were based on manipulation and the use of matter and energy. While Taoists did not consider what they did as scientific observation unlike the Greeks and Romans, Xie Lian understood that the world system that Archimedes and Euclid had envisioned was the same as the observations by Cui Yuan and Liu Hui. Perhaps, Xie muses to Hua Cheng at times in some future iteration of science, magic may be understood differently and the human potential could be expanded beyond just a few born with such natural abilities to actively manipulate energy and matter.

Wukong naturally understood the concept of fire, water, wood, metal, and earth being core elements in existence very easily through observation, he further understood they were mutually complementary and antagonistic. He demonstrated his understanding that there was always a duality to all things, fire can be used to move large amounts of water through evaporation into mist and clouds just as water can eliminate fire upon contact. Xie Lian taught Wukong that such behavior is part of the Yin-Yang balance between elements. It was through these five elements and their respective interactions with each other along with inherent forces in the universe that things such as teleportation, transformation, or various magic can be created.

Wukong grasped these dynamics far faster than most humans, including those with a natural gift who cultivate and manipulate energy. Upon understanding the forces, he demonstrated his ability based on seeing Xiwang’s interaction earlier with the earth element by reshaping some nearby stone slabs in the courtyard into a statue using his mind alone. Xie Lian was shocked that Wukong could master earth manipulation so rapidly with merely one imperfect demonstration from Xiwang. Wukong attempted to absorb the same stone into himself and try to transform, hoping to look like Xie Lian, but instead, the matter from the stone proved insufficient. Wukong had transformed himself into a caricature of Xie Lian with abnormally short legs and short arms that could not support his torso. Witnessing this, Xie Lian quickly siphoned off the excess matter and energy from Wukong. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng were thoroughly impressed by Wukong’s attempt, despite its failure.

Upon Wukong returning to his natural state, Hua Cheng laughs and ruffles Wukong’s fur, “You took in more than you can handle, Xiao Sun 小孙⁸.”

Wukong did not recognize it, but Hua Cheng had given the child a nickname for his effort, it was a sign of his affection for the monkey child. Wukong practiced continuously throughout the night until he was too tired to continue, falling asleep in the process. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng laid the sleeping Wukong in their bed, allowing the child to rest for the night