Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 5: A Man's Ambition
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, because paper and printing were not yet popular, the corresponding stories of the classics were difficult for the world to know.

Although Zhang Liao was born into a powerful frontier family, he was surrounded by war and conflict since childhood, so he placed special emphasis on military affairs. He may have had some exposure to Confucian classics, but he only had a rough understanding of them.

Zhang Yu organized his words and said, "During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a law in the State of Lu that if a Lu person was a slave or concubine outside the state, the state would give money and silk to anyone who could redeem him. Zigong redeemed the Lu person and returned. The state wanted to give money and grain to Zigong, but Zigong refused to take the gold."

"When the Master heard about this, he held Zigong accountable, saying that Zigong did not accept the money, and from now on, no one in Lu would redeem anyone. Why? Because Zigong did not accept the money, and future generations will surely be ashamed of accepting money!"

Zhang Yu's tone was slightly heavy, and he advised: "You have risked the life of war and rushed into the midst of fire and water. If you don't get a great reward, how can there be a brave man to help if someone loses a horse in the future? Now you are willing to do what Zigong did, but I hope Wenyuan will think of you, understand Yu's sincerity, and accept this gift!"

From a moral perspective, Zigong redeemed the people but did not accept the state reward. This may seem very noble, as he sacrificed himself to benefit others. However, in reality, because Zigong did not accept the reward, it indirectly undermined the redemption system.

When the Lu State established the system of redemption, its original intention was to drive it from the perspective of profit, so that the people of Lu would redeem the people of the country for profit. However, Zi Gong refused to accept the reward, which actually used morality to destroy the system designed based on profit.

After all, not everyone is as rich as Zigong, let alone as morally upright as Zigong. After this incident, Zigong will become a new benchmark through the spread of the people, but for later generations, the high economic cost will discourage some people from Lu who redeemed people for profit.

Now Zhang Yu used the story of Zigong redeeming people to first praise Zhang Liao and show that he was not a greedy person. Then he used righteous persuasion to give Zhang Liao a way out and dignity, and found a reason for Zhang Liao to accept the generous gift.

After hearing these words, Zhang Liao felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, as if he would be guilty of not accepting the horse. However, Zhang Liao was not a fool, and he understood that this was an excuse Zhang Yu was looking for to ask him to accept the gift.

If Zhang Liao's previous extraordinary courage and superb archery skills were his initial impression of Zhang Yu, then after the two sides had in-depth contact, Zhang Liao's deeper feeling about Zhang Yu was his heroic and generous character and his warm attitude towards others.

Zhang Liao hesitated for a moment, and thinking of Zhang Yu's genuine expression and his intention to make friends, he said, "Liao's merits are small and his virtue is shallow, so I dare not accept the gift of six horses. Now I think about what you said, Liao's four horses are enough!"

Zhang Yu patted Zhang Liao on the shoulder and said proudly, "I am a good man from Shuofang, and I don't mind such trivial matters. Although I am happy to have recovered the fine horse today, I am even more happy to make friends with Wen Yuan!"

When Zhang Yu was starting a business in his previous life, a noble person once advised him that people tend to take advantage of others, so sometimes one cannot accomplish anything without suffering losses.

Zhang Yu was given guidance by a noble person. He said that sometimes nothing can be accomplished without suffering a loss. Now if he wants Zhang Liao to be close to him, Zhang Yu needs to suffer a loss. After all, suffering a loss for a while will bring long-term benefits.

Of course, Zhang Yu also admired Zhang Liao emotionally. If Zhang Liao had not risked his life to help him, it would have been more difficult to take the horses back.

"Water instead of wine, please!"

"please!"

The two men smiled at each other and drank from the water bags together.

After a short rest, Zhang Yu and Zhang Liao returned triumphantly with ten horses and a Hu man.

After walking about half a mile, they met Zhang Yang, Li Suyi and ten other knights who were looking for Zhang Yu.

"Brother!"

Seeing Zhang Yu's whereabouts, Li Suyi was very excited. She whipped and waved, urging her horse to go up to him.

After getting closer, Li Suyi pointed the whip at the previously taken horse and asked in surprise: "The horse is back?"

Zhang Yu teased Li Suyi deliberately and said with a smile: "The Hu girl saw that you are handsome and fell in love with you, so she returned the horse to me."

Li Suyi wrinkled her nose at Zhang Yu and said, "You are just kidding me. You must have secretly taken the horse back!"

Zhang Yang stepped forward, holding the reins, and said with a smile, "Ji An is indeed brave enough to chase after the thieves alone and take back the stolen horse. It seems that Su Yi and I have come here in vain."

As he spoke, Zhang Yang looked Zhang Yu up and down and asked with concern, "Are you injured?"

"Not yet!"

Zhang Yu introduced Zhang Liao to his uncle Zhang Yang, and said with a smile: "Uncle, this is Zhang Wenyuan, an official in Yanmen County. We were able to get the stolen horse back now, all thanks to Wenyuan's guidance and great help."

"Thanks to Lao Wenyuan for his help!"

When meeting his elders, Zhang Liao was humble and said, "It's just a small effort, I dare not say that I have made a great contribution."

Zhang Yang held the whip in his hands and said with a smile: "It is getting late today. Wenyuan should go to Chanhe Fort to rest first, and let Zhang fulfill the hospitality of host and guest."

"This~"

Zhang Liao felt a little embarrassed and glanced at Zhang Yu.

"There are few Han people living nearby. Wenyuan can stay in my humble home for a night." Zhang Yu said.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Please allow me to talk to you all night." Zhang Liao said.

The two sides joined forces and headed towards Chanhe Fort together.

However, Zhang Yu's ears suddenly became lively because of Li Suyi's presence. Zhang Liao wanted to chat with Zhang Yu for a while, but when he saw that Li Suyi looked unhappy, he left tactfully.

Li Suyi looked indifferent and said, "Brother is very capable. He first tricked his sister to go back, and then he did something heroic, killing the barbarians and seizing their horses to show off his power." Zhang Yu did not want to anger his cousin, so he explained, "The situation was different. I ran into Wen Yuan when I was chasing him. The barbarians were tired at that time, so I killed them and seized their horses. If the barbarians were prepared, I would not dare to act rashly and would wait for my sister."

It was not Zhang Yu's original intention to launch a surprise attack on the Hu people. However, as the situation developed, he saw an opportunity to kill the Hu people and win, so he joined forces with Zhang Liao to take action.

Li Suyi rolled her eyes at Zhang Yu, then said viciously: "If you act recklessly again next time, be careful that my mother will teach you a lesson!"

The "A Niang" mentioned by Li Suyi was none other than the aunt who raised Zhang Yu. She was originally a noblewoman of the Southern Xiongnu, with a fierce temper, and even Zhang Ji was a little afraid of her. When Zhang Yu was a child, he was naughty and playful, and was often beaten by his aunt.

Seeing Li Suyi mention her aunt, Zhang Yu's tone suddenly became much weaker, and he said helplessly: "Don't tell my aunt, I will be more careful next time."

"Just admit your mistake!"

Seeing that Zhang Yu understood, Li Suyi calmed down, took out two Hu pancakes from her bag and threw them to him, saying, "Here, don't eat alone!"

"hey-hey!"

Zhang Yu took the Hu pancake and said with a smile, "What a nice plain dress!"

"Wenyuan!"

Zhang Yu threw the Hu pancake to Zhang Liao and said, "We are still some distance away from the fort, so let's eat something first!"

"Thank you, Brother Ji'an!"

Zhang Yu and Zhang Liao walked side by side. As they were friends, they chatted about the recent situation in Shuo Shang.

Zhang Liao sighed slightly, looking a little worried.

"Since the defeat six years ago, the General who Defeated the Xianbei has only existed in name, and the General Crossing the Liao River has not stationed in Meiji. The border counties relied on the border people to guard the border and barely resisted the Xianbei. That's why Yunzhong was first reduced to a small area, and then Wuyuan was besieged. If the court does not restore the old system, I don't know what will happen in the future."

The Eastern Han Dynasty had a relatively mature military defense system for guarding the Hetao counties, which was mainly composed of troops under the command of General Du Liao, supplemented by county troops, Southern Xiongnu cavalry, and troops from the camp of General Hulang of the Protectorate of the Xiongnu, forming a multi-faceted border defense system.

Unfortunately, with the defeat of the 30,000-strong army that crossed the border six years ago, the Southern Xiongnu royal court moved south to Lishi, and the Eastern Han Dynasty's military defense system in Hetao almost collapsed.

At the same time, as the central government's fiscal revenue was insufficient to cover expenditure, the road connecting Hetao and Shangjun in Guanzhong was gradually blocked. The Eastern Han Dynasty's control over the Hetao area became much weaker, and it could only rely on border people to defend the northern land.

Zhang Yu walked away, whipping his horse, saying, "Given the current situation, most of the Luoyang officials will not be able to take care of the Shuo Shang counties. Given the current situation, we Bingzhou people need to strengthen ourselves, and perhaps we can have a temporary peace."

It was really difficult for the Eastern Han Dynasty to expect the weakened court to send military forces to Hetao. If they wanted peace on the border, they had to rely on the people of Bingzhou.

"Brother, what's your opinion?" Zhang Liao looked at Zhang Yu and asked.

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Since the death of He Lian, the Xianbei have begun to show signs of unrest. If we can seize the opportunity and use both kindness and force, we may be able to temporarily stabilize the border. Let's see what Envoy Zhang plans."

The history between the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period was too rough. Apart from understanding the general direction, Zhang Yu did not know the details of the specific events, let alone the Xianbei, who were rarely mentioned during the Three Kingdoms period.

Having said that, based on Zhang Yu's understanding of nomadic peoples, he vaguely felt that the political divisions within the Xianbei could be exploited. However, how to do it specifically was not up to Zhang Yu, and it depended on what plans Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, had.

Bingzhou Governor Zhang Yi was considered a capable official, and his father Zhang Yi had a good opinion of him. His greatest achievement since taking office was not only to maintain the policy of promoting Bingzhou natives, but also to visit border counties and personally understand border defense.

The Zhang family was originally a powerful family in Yunzhong County, and their original fortress was not in Chanhekou. However, because Zhang Ji had made great contributions in protecting the people and was a rare veteran soldier in the border county, he was specially appointed by Zhang Yi as the Sima of a separate department and stationed in Chanhekou.

The position of Sima of the Biebu Department was not a regular military officer position in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but belonged to the irregular military system. The troops under his command changed according to the circumstances.

In short, Zhang was a member of the armed forces recruited by the Bingzhou government of the Eastern Han Dynasty because of his father Zhang Ji. The governor Zhang Yi valued Zhang Ji's ability and specially placed him in a fertile river valley in the Yanjing Mountains.

The Bingzhou government recruited many brave warriors like Zhang Ji from Hetao, about ten groups of various sizes, including the well-known Lu Bu and Wei Xu.

Zhang Liao thought for a moment and revealed the news, "I heard from the county officials that the Xianbei Chanyu Kuitou sent people to the pass with the intention of setting up a market. I don't know whether it is true or not. If it is true, it is close to what you said."

"The times are ever-changing and it's hard to predict the future." Looking at the brilliant sunset in the sky, Zhang Yu said sadly.

Although he came from later generations, he was unable to grasp the future development of Bingzhou.

If his memory serves him correctly, the Shuo people had already lost their homeland when Yuan Shao first ruled Bingzhou. In that turbulent era, the Shuo people fled everywhere. When Cao Cao unified the north, the Hetao counties had disappeared and were occupied by the Xianbei, Zaohu and other tribes.

The Rebellion of the Eight Kings in the Western Jin Dynasty triggered the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China. Not only were there no Han people in Hetao, but the entire north was occupied by the barbarians.

Can his arrival change anything?

Either you can or you can’t!

But no matter what, Zhang Yu has set his ambition. If a man cannot make a name for himself in the world and bring benefits to others, then his life is in vain!
(End of this chapter)