Chapter 318
Sometimes in life, a moment arrives that feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
For Wang Mang, his meeting with Zhang Su was exactly that.
"You are the only one who can save Han from the depths of its misery."
At first, he thought it was absolute nonsense.
This wasn't even Zhang Fang himself, but his nephew. What could the boy possibly know to spout such drivel?
Wang Mang half-suspected the youth had come just to make a fool of him.
"I know you don't trust me. But the one I serve knows everything. Otherwise, how would I have known to come straight to you, Lord Wang Mang?"
"What exactly does he know about me?"
"Many things. You are a member of the Wang Clan, yet you view the current behavior of the imperial relatives with a critical eye, do you not? My master might understand you better than you know yourself."
With those words, Zhang Su pulled a few books from his robes and handed them over.
"What on earth is this...?"
He could hardly believe what his own eyes were seeing.
The pages contained a shockingly detailed record of the corruption committed by current high-ranking officials.
It didn't stop at mere circumstantial evidence. The books detailed transaction logs and the exact locations where hard physical evidence could be secured.
"This is a gift from my master to you, Lord Wang Mang. We hope it helps you achieve your ideals."
"These documents... just who is your master, to possess something like this...?"
The documents weren't forged.
And even if they were, a fabrication this detailed could easily pass for the truth.
Zhang Su departed without offering any further explanation.
Wang Mang stared blankly at the treasure in his hands for a long time before finally coming to a decision.
This was the will of heaven.
Whenever an age of chaos dawned, heaven always sent down a hero.
And this time, he was the one chosen to step into that role.
If he didn't seize this opportunity here and now, these documents would fall into someone else's hands.
If someone had to purge the old guard and stand at the apex, he alone was qualified to bear that heavy responsibility.
Wang Mang was absolutely certain.
He was the only one who could save Han from its sorrow.
His resolve firmly set, Wang Mang's expression was completely transformed from what it had been moments before.
'This bleak reality, hurtling toward the ruin of the nation, ends here. I will ascend to the Three Ducal Ministers and carry out the will of heaven.'
...
"Everything should have gone perfectly from there..."
Harboring grand ambitions, Wang Mang methodically climbed the steps of power until he finally reached its very core.
Although he had fully utilized the information Zhang Su provided, reaching the position of the Three Ducal Ministers was ultimately thanks to his own political acumen and the backing of the Wang Clan.
Having risen to the rank of Grand Tutor, the teacher of the Son of Heaven, he was now the power behind the throne, molding the Han imperial family as he saw fit.
Compared to the powerless Son of Heaven, Wang Mang held vastly more real authority.
Wang Mang intended to use this power to immediately overhaul the nation's constitution.
His first major reform was to distribute land and food to the poor.
However, this policy hit a wall before it even began.
The state's treasury was in far worse shape than he could have ever imagined.
Ideals and reality were two different things.
He stood at the long-coveted apex of Han, yet he couldn't enact a single one of his envisioned policies.
Zhang Su, the man who had provided him with such miraculous insight, had vanished a few years ago, as if he had soared into the sky or sunk into the earth.
Given the circumstances, Wang Mang began leaning more and more on supernatural forces.
Hoping to borrow the power of immortals and spirits, he spent a tremendous fortune constructing the Eight Winds Terrace and the Nine Temples.
Naturally, this drained the already meager national treasury down to the very bottom, and countless people died in the process.
For an idealist blocked by the wall of reality, the fall into corruption took but a fleeting moment.
Even so, he didn't believe this was due to his own lack of ability.
"The current Han simply has too many enemies. The root of the Central Plains' problems has almost always been the foreign tribes. If I exterminate them, wouldn't most of Han's burdens be solved?"
It was an absolutely insane thought.
What was even more surprising was that quite a few people agreed with this madness.
Even the Son of Heaven supported Wang Mang's idea.
That was just human nature.
Whenever a problem erupted, people preferred to blame external forces and dodge accountability.
The issue was that Han's current national strength was nowhere near enough to simply sweep the foreign tribes away.
The Xiongnu, who had been severely weakened after a crushing defeat at the hands of Rome, were shockingly growing stronger with each passing year.
Even before Wang Mang took power, there had been signs of the Xiongnu's resurgence.
Back then, Wang Mang had fiercely advocated for deploying the army to trample the Xiongnu, but his demands had been casually brushed aside.
And what about now?
A quick calculation immediately led to the conclusion that it was impossible.
Today's Han was even weaker than before, while the Xiongnu had amassed incredible strength.
The new Shanyu, hailed as the Martial God, had successfully united the blue-eyed western nomad barbarians with the Xiongnu.
From Han's perspective, this grand unification of the barbarians was a thoroughly maddening development.
It was a feat reminiscent of Baghatur, who had drawn the nomads together in the distant past.
As their power expanded, the Xiongnu only grew bolder.
The Wuhuan, who had submitted to Baghatur only to splinter off following his downfall, were once again absorbed into the Xiongnu tribe.
Feeling threatened, Wang Mang sent envoys to the Xiongnu, ordering them to immediately liberate the Wuhuan and content themselves with merely collecting tribute, but he was flatly ignored.
The letter the new ruler of the Xiongnu sent back with the envoy was incredibly arrogant.
"This crazy bastard! He's lost his goddamn mind!"
The Son of Heaven flew into a raging fit and tore the letter apart on the spot.
Depending on how one read it, this was practically a declaration of war.
Being so utterly dismissed by barbarians made Wang Mang feel as if a thousand fires were boiling in his gut.
"How should we deal with these bastards?"
Wang Mang wanted nothing more than to advise raising an army immediately.
Consumed by fury, the Son of Heaven would have happily agreed.
But the problem was nowhere near that simple.
"Perhaps these barbarians are provoking Your Majesty on purpose. If they have some underlying scheme, raising an army right now could be dangerous."
"Then are you suggesting we just let their insolence slide? If we sit by and do nothing about the ones who tarnished my authority, what will the world think of me?"
"Of course we cannot let it slide. I merely mean that since the enemy's forces are fierce, we must make thorough preparations."
"Thorough preparations?"
"They are no mere Xiongnu tribe anymore. They are a massive power that has absorbed even the western nomad barbarians. However, their territory is just as vast. If we can draw Rome in to attack their western flank, wouldn't we be able to crush them with ease? Rome has also suffered considerably at the hands of the nomads, so convincing them shouldn't be difficult."
To control barbarians with barbarians.
Wang Mang marveled at his own sudden flash of brilliance.
The Son of Heaven praised the idea, hailing it as a brilliant strategy.
'Just wait, you barbarian scum. I'll make you pay with your lives for daring to look down on the Central Plains.'
Having secured the Son of Heaven's approval, Wang Mang ruthlessly pushed his plan forward.
First, he demoted the Xiongnu's investiture seal from the Seal of the Xiongnu Chanyu to the Stamp of the Xiongnu Chanyu.
The Xiongnu simply snorted at the decree, raided the borders of the Han Dynasty, and leisurely returned home.
Amidst this, Wang Mang continued to fan the flames of hostility toward the foreign tribes, binding public opinion into one cohesive front.
Even though the Han Dynasty was already in decline, having a clear common enemy would allow them to squeeze out some measure of strength.
As a result, Han's reputation abroad plummeted, but it couldn't be helped.
He downgraded the King of Buyeo to the Marquis of Buyeo and issued strict orders to the commanderies occupying the east and south to collect even more food and supplies.
Thanks to this, he somehow managed to scrape together a force of over 300,000 troops.
Now, all he had to do was wait for the envoy to return from Rome with a positive response.
It was a flawless plan: the moment Rome showed even the slightest support, he would raise the army and behead the insolent Xiongnu tribe for overstepping their bounds.
However, after a long wait, the answer the returning envoy brought back from Rome completely crushed Wang Mang's expectations.
"What? The Romans ignored my proposal?"
"Y-Yes, sir."
Terrified that he might be beheaded, the envoy prostrated himself flat on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
More than anger, Wang Mang was struck by sheer bewilderment.
"Did you explain clearly that the Xiongnu bastards are rising up? Did you tell them that if left unchecked, they might amass a force similar to the one that previously invaded Rome?"
"O-Of course, sir. I relayed everything. But I never even got to meet the Emperor of Rome. They gave some excuse about the Emperor preparing to abdicate, telling me to discuss the matter with his successor..."
"These barbarians never forget their roots. They dare act this arrogant? How could they treat an envoy bearing a document stamped with the Son of Heaven's seal with such profound disrespect?"
"W-Well... there is a letter the woman named as Rome's successor sent to you, Grand Tutor. She said she knew full well that you are the true pillar moving Han, and asked me to deliver this."
Wang Mang snatched the letter from the envoy's hand and tore it open.
He wanted to see exactly what kind of pathetic excuse they used to reject his offer.
Less than half a quarter-hour later, his face flushed red as he hurled the letter to the ground.
"This arrogant bitch dares look down on me!"
The envoy frantically scrambled to pick up the fallen letter and placed it back on the desk.
A quick glance revealed that its contents were truly an outrage.
The sentences penned by the Crown Princess of Rome made it painfully obvious she viewed Wang Mang as a subordinate.
Granted, Wang Mang was exceptionally young among the power brokers of Han.
Going strictly by age, he was undeniably younger than not just the Emperor of Rome, but the Crown Princess as well.
But regardless of his age, he was the Grand Tutor of Han.
A tone treating the teacher of the Son of Heaven like an underling was utterly unforgivable.
Furthermore, the core message was even worse.
The infuriating phrasing was nothing compared to the actual meaning.
To summarize, it was simple.
At first, Wang Mang even suspected someone had played a trick and swapped the letters.
It was that absurd.
Telling him, the Grand Tutor of Han, to come in person?
And even then, she didn't say she would agree—only that she would consider it.
What kind of deranged nonsense was this?
"I suppose this is what happens when dealing with lowly barbarians... They don't have a shred of decency or manners. I was a fool to even try plotting a grand enterprise with such beasts."
Wang Mang scrubbed the idea of drawing Rome in entirely out of his mind.
Without them, the casualties would be immense, but his army still numbered over 300,000.
If he conquered the Xiongnu and dumped all the war expenses on them, he could somehow salvage the situation.
The one thing that kept bothering him was the final line written in the letter.
Who the hell was going to send a reply?
She'd be lucky if he didn't send a declaration of war.
To soothe his boiling anger, Wang Mang poured himself a cup of tea.
Just as he took a sip to calm his mind and body, a messenger burst frantically into his room.
"Grand Tutor! Disaster! A crisis has broken out!"
Glaring at the messenger with profound annoyance, Wang Mang demanded:
"What on earth happened to warrant such a commotion? If this is some trivial matter, expect a severe punishment."
Right in front of Wang Mang, who was doing his utmost to sip his tea calmly, the messenger unfurled an urgent dispatch from the Shuofang Commandery in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River.
"The Xiongnu bastards have finally lost their minds! They raised a massive army, struck the Shuofang Commandery, and massacred the garrison!"
Pfft!
The tea in Wang Mang's mouth sprayed out like a fountain, drenching the messenger's face.
The messenger's contorted face and Wang Mang's expression of sheer horror perfectly captured the gravity of the situation.