Taiheiki

Chapter 192 Desperate Situation
"That's all?"

Qu Anqiang suppressed his anger: "Before my father left, he said that the Han army is currently confronting him in Jiuzhen County, and Jiaozhi County is very vulnerable. If you take advantage of this opportunity to launch a surprise attack, you will surely gain a great deal!"

Zhu Da pursed his lips, took a bite of meat, and his men led the donkey away. Qu An breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "Time is of the essence. When do we send out our troops?"

"Send troops?" Zhu Da chuckled, tossing the roasted meat in his hand to his dog. "When did I agree to send troops?"

“Then these gifts—” Qu An asked anxiously.

"This is my compensation!" Zhu Da sneered. "You're a liar, a complete and utter liar. Why should I listen to a liar?"

"Liar?" Qu An was stunned. Just as he was about to say something, a chorus of curses and screams came from behind him. Judging from the voices, they were vaguely the men he had brought. He was both shocked and furious, and his right hand gripped the hilt of his knife: "Zhu Da, what are you doing?"

"I'm desperately short of slaves to work here!" Zhu Da licked the grease off his lips. "Poor wretch, let me tell you! There's no longer any Lin-yi Kingdom in this world. Seven days ago, the Han general defeated the Lin-yi army, and your father was captured. You're no longer a prince, just a clueless, worthless little bastard! Drop your knife, and I'll save you a good spot, right next to my dog!"

The immense impact caused Qu An's pupils to contract sharply, his jaw to clench, and he seemed to freeze. Zhu An's men pointed at the prince, who had lost everything, and hurled cruel laughs. These thugs and bandits were long accustomed to deriving pleasure from the misfortunes of others. But Qu An quickly regained his composure. He drew his knife: "Then let me show you whether I truly know nothing and am nothing at all! Gu Gu, protect my back!"

"Kill those two brats!"

As soon as Zhu Da finished speaking, a man wielding a spear charged forward with a shout. Without hesitation, Qu An immediately raised his hand to deflect the spear, and then the blade slid down the spear shaft, creating a swift flower of death. With a scream, the man wielding the spear fell to the ground, his internal organs spilling out.

"Come on up!" Qu An shouted. He leaped up and charged forward, his sword seemingly alive in his hand. The enemy hurriedly jumped back and dodged left and right, but Qu An followed closely, attacking relentlessly. In an instant, the enemy clutched his neck, blood seeping from between his fingers. Qu An's blood sang; this was his life. Only through battle, only through the struggle between life and death, could he feel truly alive.

Up, down, down, a swift slash—his movements were elegant yet deadly, like the beast in his name; left, left, right, a turning blade—another enemy fell with a scream. He attacked from above, from the side, slashed downwards, advancing relentlessly, pressing forward relentlessly, each step a thrust, a slash, a parry, a cut. Until finally, unable to breathe, he was forced to retreat, his blade pressed against the ground, to rest briefly. More than a dozen corpses lay scattered around him. He exhaled a long breath and smiled at Zhu Da, who was glaring at him menacingly: "Now you know what I am, don't you?"

"I'm going to chop you into pieces and roast you over a fire!" Juda's words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Qu An said in a low voice, “Gu Gu, come with me and charge up there. Only if we catch this thief will we have a chance to live!” After saying that, he brandished his knife and charged forward.

Qu An didn't know how long this lasted, it seemed like tens of minutes, or even several hours, time passing amidst the clash of swords. He cut down one opponent after another, almost reaching his target, but a heavy blow came from behind. He staggered, turned around, and found his brother lying on the ground, covered in blood, almost hacked into a pile of minced meat.

"Catch him alive! I'm going to cut off pieces of his flesh, roast them, and stuff them into his mouth so he can eat them himself!" Zhu Da roared.

Qu An took a deep breath, realizing that his death was imminent. He looked around and found that behind the enemy on his right was a low cliff, and if he remembered correctly, there seemed to be a river below it.

"Fine, the worst that can happen is I fall to my death, which is better than living and being tortured by those scoundrels!" He gritted his teeth, roared, and lunged to the right. Everyone who was attacking him knew he was going to fight to the death, so naturally no one fought him, who was destined to die. The man on the right feinted with his knife and then moved aside. The other three sides surrounded him, but unexpectedly, Qu An roared and jumped off the low cliff.

--------------------------

Eangpo Castle, Royal Palace, Library.

"I'll give you three days to translate all these documents into Chinese!" Wei Cong said to the priest in front of him, pointing to the documents on the table.

"Yes, sir!" The priest bowed respectfully. "However, I'm afraid I'm not enough on my own!"

“You can choose the helpers you need from among the prisoners!” Wei Cong said, “Do a good job, and I’ll reward you!”

"As ordered!"

Watching the departing figure as he performed the sacrificial ceremony, Yuan Shao casually picked up a document from the table, flipped through a couple of pages, and was immediately put off by the strange writing on it: "You really have the leisure to look at this kind of stuff at a time like this!"

"When Liu Bang entered Guanzhong, all the generals rushed to the gold, silk, and other valuables, but Xiao He alone went first to collect the laws and documents of the Qin Prime Minister and Imperial Censor. These are the laws and documents of the Kingdom of Linyi. As the saying goes, though the sparrow is small, it has all the vital organs. Although the Kingdom of Linyi is small, it is still a local hegemon. With these books and documents, I can now act with purpose and achieve twice the result with half the effort!"

"Your ambitions are truly considerable!" Yuan Shao smiled. After their long conversation that day, his relationship with Wei Cong had undergone a subtle change. Just as Wei Cong had said: what caused the disaster of the scholar-official faction was not the treacherous eunuchs, but the supreme power of the Han emperor, a power that absolutely could not tolerate the scholar-official's self-evaluation system independent of the court.

If one does not want a similar situation to happen again, the only way is to weaken the Han emperor's absolute power and restore the Han Dynasty to the dual power structure of the early Western Han Dynasty, under Emperor Gaozu, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Jing, where the emperor and feudal lords held sway. Only under such circumstances will the emperor instinctively restrain himself, and only then can the ideal state of the Han Dynasty's scholars be realized.

Therefore, in this matter, Wei Cong, who was single-mindedly devoted to becoming the great ruler of the Han Dynasty, and himself, who wanted to establish an ideal state for scholars, were already on the same path. The wariness and hostility in their previous words had also turned into a faint mockery.

“This isn’t necessarily a bad thing!” Wei Cong smiled. “It’s just that the Kingdom of Linyi is somewhat different from our Han Dynasty, so these maps and records aren’t that useful!” “What do you mean?” Yuan Shao asked.

"After I entered Xiangpu, there were actually several hundred miles to the southwest, which were all chiefdoms and small states. There were no enemies who could stand up to me. I only needed to issue a document, asking those barbarian chiefdoms to send people to the alliance. If they did not come, it would be disobeying the orders of the Han emperor, and I could send troops to attack them. If they did come, I could make them pay gold and silver and send laborers."

But only by knowing the population size of each state, its specialties, and the extent of its land and water transportation can one make demands. Otherwise, one will only create enemies unnecessarily, which would be counterproductive. In the Han Dynasty, it would be simple; the prefectures and counties have their own maps and records, and one only needs to issue orders accordingly. However, although Lin-yi Kingdom is a regional hegemon, it only has a rough idea of ​​the strength of its vassal states, making things much more complicated!

"You seem to value wealth quite a bit!" Yuan Shao laughed.

"No! I'm not doing this entirely for money!" Wei Cong shook his head: "Paying tribute is the beginning of submission, have you forgotten? When Duke Huan of Qi sent troops to conquer Jingchu, one of the reasons was that the Chu people did not offer tribute of bundles of thatch, so they did not participate in the royal sacrifices and had no way to make wine! Did Duke Huan of Qi go to such great lengths just to get a few bundles of thatch to make wine?"

"That's true!" Yuan Shao laughed. "That's good. Only when your soldiers are well-fed can they be sent north to attack the enemy!"

Wei Cong smiled but didn't say anything. Yuan Shao was still young and had never truly led troops before. He only saw that Wei Cong treated his soldiers well, which was why he was able to win their hearts. But he didn't know that leading troops was like raising hounds. You can't not feed the hounds properly, but you can't feed them too much either.

Military campaigns are dangerous and arduous. If soldiers acquire too much wealth, they might become overly concerned with their lives and yearn to return home as wealthy men. Such an army would be unusable and would have to be disbanded and re-recruited. Therefore, although Wei Cong was very generous to his soldiers, he always maintained a limit, ensuring that the soldiers retained their desire for wealth and victory.

Seeing that Wei Cong did not answer, Yuan Shao knew that the other party was not enthusiastic about the campaign against the E'er bandits. He said in a deep voice, "Mengde, sending troops to conquer the E'er bandits is the bottom line that the court set for you to be appointed as the governor of Jiaozhou and the protector of the Baiyue. If you are unwilling to contribute to this matter, even if you are my uncle, no one in the court can speak up for you!"

"I didn't say I wouldn't do my part!" Wei Cong laughed. "Let me give you a heads-up: the rainy season starts here in March, so I'll definitely be withdrawing my troops! We'll rest in Panyu until May, then I'll send troops across the Five Ridges and sail north to attack the E'zhe bandits. That should be enough, right?"

"Good, I hope you remember what you said!" Yuan Shao nodded in satisfaction: "Actually, this is also good for you. If you don't send troops, after Feng Kun and Lu Zhi quell the E'zhai, their next target will probably be you!"

"The two of them are going after me?" Wei Cong laughed. Yuan Shao was furious at this: "What's wrong? These two are not comparable to Zhang Pan of Jiaozhou, a mediocre talent. Don't think you're invincible!"

“Of course!” Wei Cong laughed. “I don’t know about Lu Zhi, but I know Feng Kun was my superior, and he is indeed a capable general. However, the Moth Rebels have already gained momentum. At the rate they are going to fight, it will definitely take two or three years and cost two or three billion coins in military expenses to finish them off!”

"What do you mean?" Yuan Shao understood Wei Cong's implied meaning: "Do you perhaps have a better strategy?"

“I have the strategy, but General Feng can’t use it. Not only can he not use it, but Lu Zhi can’t use it either, and none of the other generals sent by the court can use it!”

Yuan Shao sneered: "So, only you can use it?"

"Indeed!" Wei Cong pointed to himself and said proudly, "In the world, only I, Wei Cong, am capable of accomplishing this!"

"Appreciate further details!"

“Unlike other popular uprisings, the Moth Rebellion, once it breaks out, involves hundreds of thousands of people, and they are divided into different classes and social strata. They are not a mob. Have you ever thought about why this is?”

Yuan Shao's expression turned somewhat grim. Generally speaking, the development of peasant uprisings in ancient times followed a pattern. Whether it was due to unjust cases and vendettas, evading taxes and corvée labor, or famine, the rebels would flee into the mountains and marshes, gather in groups to resist, and their strength would gradually grow. Within them, leaders and followers would gradually emerge, forming an organized and purposeful armed group.

The reason is simple: in ancient society, the peasant class was a group without class consciousness. They did not truly realize their situation or the real reasons for their miserable situation. Therefore, their resistance was instinctive and impulsive, rather than conscious. It was like a muscle spasm or conditioned reflex, rather than an action commanded by the brain.

Therefore, in most cases, peasant uprisings start out small-scale, isolated, and without any lofty political goals; they are merely the survival instinct of the peasant group. Only when the scale of the peasant uprising reaches a certain point, and gradually some landlord class intellectuals join in or a few peasant elites awaken, will it become a conscious action.

The Moth Rebels were different. From the very first day of their uprising, they skipped the initial stages, erupting almost simultaneously across a vast region spanning thousands of miles in Jing and Yang provinces. They numbered in the hundreds of thousands, with leaders at various levels and a large core group, capable of arming hundreds of thousands of troops to wage a protracted war against the imperial army. Clearly, all of this couldn't have fallen from the sky; a group of people must have been preparing for a long time beforehand. In other words, while other rebel groups only needed to defeat them, and the rest would naturally surrender, this group meant that simply winning wasn't enough; they also had to physically eliminate them.

"You mean to exterminate all the key members of the bandits?" Yuan Shao asked in a low voice.

"Is that all?" Wei Cong sneered. "Have you ever thought about why there are so many bandits? Besides, if you count all the battles that General Feng has won, right? The number of beheadings and captures should be at least thirty to fifty thousand. Why is it that the number of bandits has not decreased, but has increased instead?"

"Why is that?"

"Because there are so many people in the world who have no food to eat and no land to cultivate! So when the Great Teacher of Virtue raised his arm to call for action, hundreds of thousands of people rose up in rebellion." Wei Cong sneered, "If these people had a hundred acres of land, five acres of mulberry trees, hundreds of jujube trees, two cows, and a few donkeys, they would definitely be focused on their own land. You couldn't drive them away even with a whip. Why would they rebel?"

"Of course!" Yuan Shao curled his lip. "Who doesn't know that? It's just that no one can actually do it. Do you think you can?"

(End of this chapter)