Taiheiki

Chapter 227 The Boy and the Sandbar

The truth is sometimes like a knife, piercing straight to the heart. Dong Zhong gritted his teeth, his breathing heavy, as he heard Kuai Sheng's voice: "In the end, whether it's the Marquis of Wei or the Yuan family, they either wield significant military power or have countless protégés and former officials throughout the land. Regardless of who is in power, they will all enjoy high positions and generous salaries. But you, young master, are different. If you wish to rise to the top, your only advantage is the mother-son relationship between your aunt and the Emperor! And the reason the Dou family is able to control the court is because of Empress Dowager Dou. Ultimately, the Dong family of Hejian and the current Dou family are locked in a power struggle, while the Marquis of Wei and the others are merely cheering and supporting from the sidelines. Don't you agree?"

"I understand!" Dong Zhong raised his head, his gaze burning: "I'll go see my aunt tonight. How do I find you after I get the letter?"

“Young master, there’s no need to worry. I will come looking for you then!” Kuai Sheng said with a smile.

"This person knows my whereabouts so well, could he have a spy planted by my side?" A thought flashed through Dong Zhong's mind, and he couldn't help but feel a chill.

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Jiangling.

The hall was filled with fragrance, and everyone knelt on the ground, listening to the angel at the head of the hall read out the holy decree.

"Marquis Wei Cong of Buqi is loyal, brave, and resolute. He traveled thousands of miles, crossed barren lands, defeated the Wuling barbarians, and came to the aid of Jiangling. He is truly a loyal minister of the country! Now he is appointed as General of the Strong Crossbows, with imperial authority, and appointed as the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Nan Commandery and Jingnan to suppress the E bandits!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!" Wei Cong kowtowed twice to the envoy at the head of the table, extended both hands to receive the imperial edict, handed it to a follower beside him, and then stood up. This imperial edict served as a compromise, dividing the battlefield in two: the southern commanderies of Nanjun and the four commanderies of Jingnan were given to Wei Cong; while the northern commanderies of Xiangyang and Nanyang remained under the command of Feng Kun. The edict did not mention the relationship between the two commanders, but considering that Feng Kun was the General of Chariots and Cavalry, second only to the Grand General and the General of the Flying Cavalry, while Wei Cong's title of General of the Strong Crossbows was merely a miscellaneous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Feng Kun's actual status was far higher than Wei Cong's. However, at least the edict did not take the opportunity to send someone to replace Wei Cong as the Governor of Jiaozhou. Dou Wu was quite wise, not forcing Wei Cong to simply join forces with Liu Xin to attack Luoyang.

Congratulations, General Wei!

Congratulations, Marquis Wei!

"congratulations!"

"Marquis Wei is indeed favored by the Emperor. He will surely be richly rewarded after the suppression of the Moth Rebels!"

The officials of Nanjun congratulated Wei Cong, but they probably had other thoughts in their hearts. The reason was simple: the imperial edict was quite meaningful. Feng Kun was given the rank of General of Chariots and Cavalry to lead a large army to suppress the E'er bandits; Wei Cong was originally the governor of Jiaozhou and the Protector of Baiyue, which was at least a rank of two thousand shi. He had led a large army thousands of miles to Jiangling. He should have been given at least one of the ranks, such as General of the Cavalry, General of the Guards, General of the South, General of the South Expedition, or General of the Front, Rear, Left, and Right. Instead, he was given a miscellaneous general title instead of even a Lieutenant General title. Although the title of General of the Strong Crossbows existed in the Western Han Dynasty and was considered good among miscellaneous general titles, it was still far inferior to Feng Kun's rank of General of Chariots and Cavalry in the military officer system of the Han Dynasty.

"It seems that in the eyes of the imperial court, we are still a group of oddballs!" Wei Cong smiled.

"Yes!" Lu Ping said with a smile, "I'm sure those scholars from Jingzhou in the hall today have all seen it!"

"That doesn't matter!" Wei Cong slapped the table twice. "They still can't do without me. Without me, the Moth Bandits could wipe them out in a heartbeat. Even if they want to play some tricks, that's something to worry about after we've quelled the Moth Bandits!"

"Hmm!" Lu Ping nodded. "So what are your plans?"

Wei Cong did not answer Lu Ping's question. He remained silent for a while, then asked, "I remember you had a way to communicate with the Great Teacher using birds, right?"

"Hmm! You want to see him?"

"Yes, if possible, I'd like to see him again!" Wei Cong said. "Let's choose a private place, and of course, a safe one. Oh, and I remember you said his power has increased a lot!"

“I understand, I’ll make the arrangements!” Lu Ping smiled sweetly. “I remember there are quite a few sandbars on the river nearby. How about we choose a secluded spot as the meeting place?”

“It would be great for me! But will Liu Xin agree?” Wei Cong asked. “Isn’t he afraid I’ll turn around and ambush him?”

"If he doesn't agree, then let's try another one! There's no harm in giving it a try!"

Wei Cong was somewhat exasperated by Lu Ping's flippant attitude, but since he couldn't offer any better suggestions, he could only nod. To his surprise, Lu Ping brought a reply the following evening.

"He agreed!"

"What do you mean, 'agreed'? Who is he?" Wei Cong was confused by this nonsensical answer.

"It's the Great Teacher of Goodness. He agreed to our conditions and suggested we meet at noon seven days later on Swallowtail Islet! Is there a sandbar nearby with that name?"

“There is indeed such a sandbar!” Wei Cong nodded. Having served as a clerk in Jiangling for so long, he was quite familiar with the surrounding geography. However, he still found it unbelievable that Liu Xin had agreed to his request for a meeting so readily.

"You don't need to overthink it!" Lu Ping advised. "You can't figure it out right now, so why don't you ask him in seven days?"

"All right!"

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Seven days later, Swallowtail Island.

After the Yangtze River rushes out of the Three Gorges, it carries a large amount of silt. When it reaches the vicinity of Jingjiang, the water flow becomes gentle, forming a series of sandbars. Among them, there are three large sandbars south of Jiangling from west to east: Meihui Island, Bingli Island (Jingli Island), and Yanwei Island. Yanwei Island is the smallest of them, and there are no permanent residents on it, only some small thatched huts for fishermen to live in temporarily.

"The boat has come to a stop, Your Excellency, you may disembark now!" the captain said respectfully to Wei Cong. Wei Cong nodded. Because there was a large area of ​​shoal surrounding the sandbar, larger boats could not dock, so Wei Cong had only chosen a small sailboat that could accommodate twenty or thirty people. Although anchored, the boat was still rocking quite violently under the impact of the river. Wei Cong had to lower his center of gravity, grip the taut rope with one hand, and step onto the boardwalk to reach the shore. There were already twenty fully armed guards on the shore, standing guard vigilantly. A little further away, two teams of a hundred men were clearing a clearing from the reeds to serve as a meeting place.

"My lord, please rest assured, there are still fleets on the nearby river, there's absolutely no chance of anything going wrong!" Jebe whispered. He and Meng Gaogong were both serving as Wei Cong's bodyguards today, protecting him closely. As for Liu Xin, no amount of caution was excessive.

Around ten o'clock in the morning, a small boat approached the west side of Yanweizhou, about seven or eight hundred paces from where Wei Cong and his group were. Several people disembarked from the boat. Wei Cong stopped his men from going to investigate and instead waited patiently under the parasol.

After a while, Wei Cong saw someone coming this way. He stood up and remembered that Jebe had a good eye: "Jebe, what do you think this person looks like?"

"There are four people. The leader is a Taoist priest, there is also a young boy, and the other two should be his attendants and guards!"

"That's it!" Wei Cong's spirits lifted, and he stood up: "Ah Ping, come with me to greet them!"

The sandbar's ground was soft, each step leaving a deep footprint. Wei Cong carefully lifted his legs to avoid getting sand and mud into his boots, which would be very uncomfortable. A few minutes later, he could make out the figure of the approaching person. Yes, it was that person, holding a nine-section staff, of medium height, wearing a linen robe and a tall hat, with a refined and noble face. He was accompanied by a young boy, and followed by two attendants. Wei Cong coughed, took two steps forward, and bowed, saying, "Great Teacher, I apologize for not being able to greet you properly!"

"I wouldn't dare!" Liu Xin returned the greeting with his palms together. He looked at Wei Cong and smiled, "Lord Wei hasn't changed at all. Let's address each other by our names! The so-called Great Teacher of Virtue is just something outsiders say. Don't take it seriously!"

"Very well!" Wei Cong laughed. "Then you don't need to call me Marquis Wei, otherwise I'm afraid I'd have to call you Prince of Qinghe!"

The two exchanged a smile and sat down on the reed mats. Lu Ping knelt beside Wei Cong, while Meng Gaogong sat on Wei Cong's other side. Liu Xin was accompanied only by the boy, with two attendants standing about seven or eight meters away. Wei Cong looked at the boy curiously. He appeared to be only twelve or thirteen years old, with rosy lips and white teeth, handsome features, and a pair of bright, intelligent black eyes that were quite endearing.

"Is this your son?" Wei Cong asked, but immediately realized something was wrong. If Liu Xin had such a grown son, Lu Ping would have already told him.

"Oh!" Liu Xin: "I originally had no intention of taking on any disciples, but I met this child half a year ago and took a great liking to him, so I took him under my wing and gave him the Taoist name Changsheng!"

"Longevity?" Wei Cong was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "That's a good title! Everyone wants to live longer!"

"This young boy greets Marquis Wei and Daoist Lu!" The boy greeted Wei Cong and Lu Ping in a clear and cheerful voice, which was very endearing.

"Good, good!" Wei Cong clapped his hands, unfastened the sword from his waist, and handed it over: "You came empty-handed today, so please accept this as a memento!"

The boy glanced at Liu Xin, and seeing his master nod, he lowered his sword, thanked Wei Cong crisply again, and then returned to his original position to stand guard.

"Brother Liu, to be honest, I didn't expect you to come today!" Wei Cong said, "This sandbar is empty and surrounded by the river. Aren't you afraid I'll set an ambush to harm you?"

"You saved my life!" Liu Xin said.

"That's different. I didn't know your identity when I saved you!"

"Is that so?" Liu Xin smiled. "What about the one beside you? You know her identity very well, and you had many opportunities to harm her, but you let her go each time. Not to mention that the success of this uprising was inseparable from the many weapons you provided. Not to mention your later activities in Jiaozhou, which were also related to the uprising of the Celestial Masters in Jingzhou and Yangzhou! In my opinion, even if you are not my ally, you are at least not my enemy, much less a lackey or henchman of the imperial court!"

Wei Cong was speechless after hearing Liu Xin's words. Just as Liu Xin said, if Wei Cong wanted to kill Lu Ping, Lu Ping would have been shot dead mid-air by a crossbow bolt when they first met and Lu Ping jumped off the cliff. Not to mention, later in Yuzhang County, the relationship between Wei Cong and Lu Ping became even more ambiguous. Lu Ping returned Yuan Tian, ​​who had secretly betrayed them, to Wei Cong, and Wei Cong sold Lu Ping a large quantity of high-quality weapons in return. Furthermore, taking advantage of the Moth Rebellion's disruption of the north-south divide, Wei Cong led his troops south, crossed the Five Ridges, and occupied Jiaozhou. It could be said that even if Wei Cong wasn't an accomplice of the Moth Rebellion, he was at least an accomplice and a beneficiary. Others might not know this, but the three men on the reed mat were fully aware of it, and Wei Cong couldn't deny it even if he tried.

“That’s all in the past!” Wei Cong said. “Isn’t that right? The court has now granted me the title of Marquis. My trip north is to quell the Moth Bandits, and you are their leader!”

"A marquis!" Liu Xin revealed a mocking smile: "Brother Wei, for others, being enfeoffed as a marquis would be a great honor. But for you, it's probably not. It's like Han Xin; he wanted to be the King of Qi and the King of Chu. Would he be happy if you made him the Marquis of Huaiyin? When Fan Kuai met Han Xin in Chang'an, he addressed him as 'Your Majesty,' didn't he?"

"Brother Liu, aren't you giving me far too much credit?"

"I don't think so!" Liu Xin said, "If you and I join forces, it won't be difficult to conquer the world! At that time, I will make you the King of Chu, and everything south of the Yangtze River will be your fiefdom. What do you say?"

Wei Cong was stumped again, and after a long while he said in a low voice, "You're making things too simple. Even if you and I join forces, we only have Jiaozhou, half of Jingzhou, and half of Yangzhou. Eleven out of the thirteen provinces in the country, plus Zhili, are in the hands of the imperial court."

"What matters in conquering the world is not the size of the population!" Liu Xin said. "What matters is the support of the people and the depth of one's virtue. When Emperor Gaozu raised his army in Hanzhong, how much land and how many people did he have? In the end, didn't he still manage to sweep away all the warlords and unify the world within four years?"

Wei Cong remained silent for a long time before finally shaking his head: "I'm sorry, the Han Dynasty has been virtuous for four hundred years, and the people's hearts still belong to the Liu family. I really don't want to go against the will of the people!"

"Then I also have the surname Liu!"

"This—" Wei Cong was speechless, not expecting this move from his opponent. He had almost forgotten that this person not only shared the surname Liu, but also, in terms of bloodline, was much closer to the throne of Luoyang than the current emperor. After all, he had previously been the Prince of Qinghe, while this person was merely the Marquis of Jiedu before ascending the throne. As everyone knows, the closer one is to the bloodline of the main lineage, the higher their rank. If Wei Cong were to truly support this person as emperor, he would indeed have the right to claim the throne of the Han Dynasty, without conflicting with the people's hearts.

"You've already died once, so it shouldn't count anymore, right?" Wei Cong said with a wry smile.

"It seems she's told you everything!" Liu Xin glanced at Lu Ping. Lu Ping bowed: "Great Master, please forgive me. As a priestess, once I've decided on someone to follow, I naturally won't hold back anymore!"

(End of this chapter)