Taiheiki

Chapter 225 Gold
"Missing!" Wang Kuang whistled. "Quick, bring me ten thousand coins!"

"What ten thousand coins! You two are just talking to yourselves. I didn't agree to it!" Han Wen swung his arm and picked up another arrow.

"You're cheating again!" Wang Kuang said angrily. "You didn't object just now, so that means you agreed!"

"Yes, no objection means agreement!" Cui Heng said, looking like he was enjoying the drama. "Hurry up and pay!"

Sighing, Dong Zhong clutched his head. Perhaps it would have been better if his cousin Liu Hong hadn't gone to Luoyang to become emperor. At least when Liu Hong was still the Marquis of Jiedu in Hejian, his life was much better. At least Wang Kuang and Cui Heng wouldn't have dared to look down on him like they do now, and he wouldn't be unable to even come up with a mere ten thousand coins. People say that when one person attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. His family was now considered relatives of the emperor. He didn't expect to become a Grand General or General of Chariots and Cavalry like the legendary Deng, Liang, and Dou families, but at least he could be given a position with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain). Why was his aunt, who was clearly the emperor's birth mother, only able to be a Noble Lady of Shenyuan, guarding the old marquis's tomb, even restricted from leaving the house? How was she any different from a prisoner? She had truly become a joke!
It's all Dou Wu's fault, and that Empress Dowager Dou too!

Dong Zhong slammed his wine glass down on the table, his teeth clenched, his eyes filled with hatred.

The song of a nightingale drifted from the woods outside the tavern, which made Dong Zhong feel a little better. He liked the song; it reminded him of good old days. To be honest, his cousin Liu Hong was a good playmate. Dong Zhong was four or five years older than Liu Hong, and he had taken him out to play a lot when they were young. If it were based on that friendship alone, he should at least be a Commander of the Imperial Guards, right?
Perhaps it was because of the wine, but Dong Zhong didn't actually intend to drink tonight. He just wanted to come here to see Wan'er. He happened to come to Wang Kuang's banquet after his promotion to 400 shi, so he stayed. Because he was feeling depressed, he drank a few more cups of wine to drown his sorrows.

Night had fallen, yet the tavern remained open. This tavern, with a history spanning two centuries, had always stood on the riverbank, never closing for a single day. Most importantly, the curfew did not apply to it, and the night patrol officers never interfered with its operation. Although the tall wooden building leaned southward, like a drunkard, Dong Zhong had no doubt that it would continue to stand for another two hundred years, selling millet wine, mulberry wine, and jujube wine to merchants, craftsmen, officials, and servants. Even the old Marquis, in his lifetime, had once come here for a few drinks.

"Damn Xianbei dogs!" Han Wen shouted. His father, a county magistrate, was now completely drunk. Ever since learning that his father had been shot dead by the Xianbei on the banks of the Zhishui River (the lower reaches of the present-day Yongding River), he had become like this, spending his days with wine. Dong Zhong looked at Han Wen with pity. Even though Hejian Kingdom was far from the war, the war still affected everyone...

"One day, one day! I will lead my troops beyond the Great Wall, skin a hundred Xianbei dogs, and offer their skins before my father's grave!" Han Wen continued to shout.

“I think it will be very difficult!” Wang Kuang shook his head worriedly: “Yesterday I saw the imperial document at the county office. The Moth bandits in the south are getting stronger the more we fight them. They already have 200,000 men and have reached the gates of Xiangyang. The imperial court has now ordered the recruitment of soldiers in Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou to deal with the Moth bandits. Where will they have the spare strength to go beyond the Great Wall to conquer the Xianbei people!”

"Yes!" Cui Huan cursed indignantly, "I don't know what the officials of the court are thinking. When the late emperor was alive, although the eunuchs held power, at least the country was relatively peaceful. There were no bandits, the Qiang bandits were pacified, and the Xianbei were still manageable. But now, Jingzhou and Yangzhou are infested with bandits, the Xianbei from the north invade every year, and the border counties of Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou are attacked every year. If the Qiang bandits start causing trouble, there will be no peaceful place under heaven!"

Like most drunken young people, the group began to angrily curse the officials in power. Just as they were getting into the swing of things, Han Wen suddenly patted Dong Zhong on the shoulder: "Dong, I remember the current emperor is your cousin, why didn't you go to Luoyang to become a high-ranking official?"

Alcohol had robbed Dong Zhong of most of his intelligence, and he struggled to lift his head, muttered a few words, before collapsing back to the ground and falling into a deep sleep. Han Wen spat on the ground: "No wonder the Emperor didn't take a drunken good-for-nothing like you to Luoyang!"

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After an unknown amount of time, Dong Zhong woke up from his dream with a start. He felt something wet wiping his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar and beautiful face. It was Xie Wan'er, wiping his face with a wet towel.

"Wan'er?" Dong Zhong was both surprised and delighted. He subconsciously reached out to grab the other's arm, but she nimbly dodged it.

"Ah Dong, this young master wants to see you!" Xie Wan'er whispered. Dong Zhong then realized what was happening, looked up, and found the tavern empty. Han Wen and the others were nowhere to be seen. Only a strange man with a sword and a tall hat sat opposite him, with a servant standing behind him, smiling at him.

"Who are you--?"

"I am Kuai Sheng from Jingzhou!" Kuai Sheng said with a smile, "I saw that you were drunk just now, so I took it upon myself to do it. Innkeeper, could you please make a bowl of hangover soup first?" "Please wait a moment, sir!" Xie Wan'er had grown up in taverns and had seen many people coming and going. She recognized at a glance that he had something to say to Dong Zhong. She quickly curtsied and went to make the hangover soup.

After a bowl of warm hangover soup, Dong Zhong's groggy mind finally regained some clarity. He began to sized up the man before him: the intricately patterned brocade robe, the jade-hilted longsword and brocade pouch at his waist, the tall crown on his head, and the neatly trimmed beard—all these things told him that the man before him was either rich or noble, or both. He coughed softly and bowed, saying, "Thank you for taking care of me earlier, brother. I was drunk just now, so please forgive me if I spoke inappropriately or offended you!"

"Hehe!" Kuai Sheng laughed: "Young Master Dong is joking. Who didn't have a bit of a dashing side when they were young? Not to mention that you, Young Master, are a young hero with extraordinary ambition. A little drinking is nothing but a minor matter. Who would take it to heart!"

Dong Zhong was somewhat embarrassed by Kuai Sheng's barrage of praise. Before ascending the throne, the current emperor was the Marquis of Jiedu, a title held by his grandfather and father. His great-grandfather was Liu Kai, the Prince of Hejian, and his great-great-grandfather was Emperor Zhang of Han, Liu Da. It's clear that before Liu Hong's ascension, his bloodline to the main line of the Eastern Han emperors was quite distant. From his grandfather's generation onward, his title was only that of a marquis, the lowest rank among marquises, even lower than Wei Cong's current title of Marquis of Buqi. If it weren't for the successive early deaths of emperors without heirs in the mid-to-late Eastern Han dynasty, and the strategy employed by maternal relatives to deliberately introduce young heirs from collateral branches to maintain their power, the throne would never have fallen to Liu Hong, a member of a collateral branch relegated to the rank of marquis.

It's easy to imagine that in ancient times, where marriage was based on social standing, a member of a collateral branch of the imperial family like the Marquis of Jiedu would not have been considered for marriage with someone from a high-ranking social class. Furthermore, historical records describe Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, as someone who sold official positions and set up markets within the palace, having eunuchs and palace maids pose as vendors, merchants, and customers, while Liu Hong himself mingled among them, enjoying himself immensely. Clearly, he was an emperor with a strong sense of the common people, somewhat similar to Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang. His mother, Empress Dong, was also known in historical records for her greed and acceptance of bribes. It's not hard to infer that the Dong family's origins were not particularly high; they certainly weren't scholarly families like the Yuan or Fu families. They were more likely merchants or even artisans who married into the Jiedu Marquis family because of their daughter's beauty, and through a twist of fate, ultimately rose to the pinnacle of imperial power.

Dong Zhong, with his humble origins, had never been praised like this before. After a long pause, he managed to stammer out, "Young hero, I am truly unworthy of such praise!"

"Hehehe!" Kuai Sheng laughed, "Young master, there's no need for such modesty. Your aunt is the current emperor's birth mother, and your father is the emperor's maternal uncle. You are the emperor's cousin, whom he grew up with. With the Moth Rebellion in the south and the Xianbei causing trouble in the north, the emperor is in dire need of capable people. As the poem says, 'The blossoms of the pear tree are so bright and beautiful; among all people today, none are like brothers.' Among the emperor's close associates, who can compare to you, young master? Wearing gold and purple robes is only a matter of time. How can you not call yourself a young hero?" "Brother Kuai, you jest!" Dong Zhong said with a wry smile, "I can't even come up with ten thousand coins right now. What am I talking about wearing gold and purple robes? Wouldn't that make me a laughingstock?"

"Ten thousand coins?" Kuai Sheng frowned and shouted, "Guards!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a man in black entered from the outer room, carrying a square rattan box about a foot in size, which he placed on the table in front of Dong Zhong. "Young Master Dong!" Kuai Sheng pointed to the rattan box, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "Inside are fifty horseshoe-shaped gold coins, offered as a token of your appreciation. Please accept them!"

"Fifty horseshoe-shaped gold ingots!" Dong Zhong, coming from a merchant family, knew that these horseshoe-shaped gold ingots were a type of currency used during the Han Dynasty. They were oval on the front and round on the bottom, concave and hollow, shaped like a horseshoe. One ingot weighed approximately 250 grams, equivalent to one jin (a unit of weight) at the time. Fifty horseshoe-shaped gold ingots meant fifty jin of gold. This was often the amount the emperor bestowed upon meritorious officials. Dong Zhong, disregarding any potential rudeness, opened the rattan box. The horseshoe-shaped gold ingots were neatly arranged in a five-by-five pattern, and it seemed there was another layer underneath, exactly fifty in total.

"You're giving all this gold to me?" Dong Zhong asked cautiously.

A flash of disdain crossed Kuai Sheng's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by respect: "Of course, what is this little bit of gold? Not only that, our families will all have to rely on Young Master Yu for protection!"

Take any one of these gold coins, and Wan'er will be mine, while I will have fifty!

Dong Chongqiang suppressed his elation and said in a low voice, "But you must know that General Dou is now in charge of the Emperor's affairs. You can see what I'm like now; I can't help you at all!"

"Why do you say that, young master?" Kuai Sheng showed a hint of anger: "If it were for some benefit, with my family background, it would be difficult for me to use this gold to scheme in Luoyang. Two thousand shi would be a bit difficult, but a thousand shi or six hundred shi would be no problem. Why bother to go to such lengths to find you, young master?"

"Then, why did you come to find me?" Dong Zhong asked, puzzled.

"Nothing more than wishing to borrow your power, young master, to save the people from suffering!"

Dong Zhong was completely dumbfounded. Born into a merchant family, his biggest ambition in life was to get rich, to amass a fortune, and then indulge in fine wine and women. Nothing else truly crossed his mind. When Kuai Sheng approached him with money, Dong Zhong saw it as a gamble, hoping to one day become rich and reap a thousandfold return. In other words, he was just a poor man's version of Lü Buwei.

Of course, Dong Zhong still had some conscience. Although he really liked these gleaming gold ingots, he still told Kuai Sheng that there was a high probability that his investment in him would go down the drain. The Dou family had already firmly occupied the niche of the emperor's maternal relatives, and the Dong family was completely suppressed and had no chance of turning the tables. Looking at the current situation, he was very likely to spend his whole life just living a life of idleness and waiting to die in Hejian. His fifty gold ingots were probably just wasted.

So when Dong Zhong heard Kuai Sheng suddenly utter such an exaggerated statement, his first reaction was, "Brother, are you drunk or am I? Saving millions of people from dire straits? Do you think I'm cut out for that?"

"Brother Kuai, I don't think I have that ability, do I?"

"No, who else but Young Master She could handle such a momentous matter?" Kuai Sheng paused here, glanced around, and lowered his voice, saying, "Do you know that General Dou has already sent his subordinates to the four prefectures of Qing, Yan, Xu, and Yu to recruit heroes for the army? Don't you think there's anything wrong with that?"

"Is this alright?" Dong Zhong gave a wry smile. The people he usually associated with had no idea about these things, so he could only pretend to know: "Isn't there a problem with the moth thieves right now? It's only right that the court recruits more soldiers, isn't it?"

“Recruiting soldiers is not wrong, but it is wrong to use the General’s subordinates as recruiters. You must know, my lord, that the people in the General’s staff have long established a relationship of lord and subject with him. To use one’s own subordinates to recruit soldiers would violate the laws of our Han dynasty!”

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that, is there?" Dong Zhong said with a wry smile.

"How can you say it's unrelated? General Dou is the head of the inner court. If we want to take him down, the only way is by order of the emperor. But if we want to persuade the emperor, who else but you can do that?"

Hearing this, Dong Zhong finally understood the gist of it. It turned out that this guy wanted to use me as a pawn to be sent to my death. Those who offend the world will never have a good end. So he pretended to be a little panicked: "How is that possible? It's not easy for me to even leave Hejian Kingdom. You want me to go to Luoyang? What's the difference between that and killing me?"

“Young master, all you need to do is write one letter! It will be enough to gain the emperor's trust. Once he sees your handwritten letter, the emperor will surely trust me!” Kuai Sheng said.

Dong Zhong had made up his mind. He stood up and pushed the rattan chest containing the gold toward Kuai Sheng, saying, "I've only just met you, how could I give you such advice? The current emperor is benevolent and filial; we shouldn't take advantage of his filial piety to gain benefits! Take this gold back."

(End of this chapter)