Taiheiki

Chapter 298 Acceptance
"What utter nonsense!" Duan Jiong cursed. "That Zhang Huan! He's a high-ranking official in Luoyang, yet he sends me to Jiaozhou with promises of rewards and stipends. How can there be such a shameless scoundrel in the world? Men, prepare the horses! I'm going to his residence myself and give him a piece of my mind!"

"Brother, brother, don't worry. From what I heard Zhang Sikong say, this was the General's intention!"

"The Great General? Wei Cong?"

"That's right!" Duan Wei nodded. "That's exactly what Zhang Sikong meant!"

Duan Jiong fell silent at his brother's words. Such things were easily verified; Zhang Huan was unlikely to lie to him. Wei Cong's meaning, however, was quite intriguing: to others, Jiaozhou was a desolate place of exile, but Wei Cong himself had fought his way out of Jiaozhou, and even now, Jiaozhou remained his domain. He still had a large number of Jiaozhou people under his command. Why would he send him to Jiaozhou?

“Brother, in my opinion, you should go to the General’s Mansion! Some things are better discussed face to face!” Duan Wei said.

"Say it out face to face?" Duan Jiong frowned.

“Yes, you won’t get anything out of this guessing game!” Duan Wei said. “I’ve heard that the General is arrogant to his superiors but not to his inferiors, and he treats those who are willing to bow down to him quite well. Look at Grand Commandant Feng and Minister Zhang, didn’t they both become the Three Dukes?”

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The General's Mansion.

“Indeed, sending you to Jiaozhou was my idea!” The flickering candlelight cast Wei Cong’s shadow on the wall, like a mountain pressing down on Duan Jiong, making it hard for him to breathe. “But Zhang Sikong thinks you might not accept it, so he advised me to reconsider!”

"Why me?"

"Do you know Zhao Yannian?" Wei Cong asked.

"Zhao Yannian, you don't know?" Duan Jiong's tone was very stiff.

"He's my good friend and my most capable deputy general!" Wei Cong sighed.

"Oh? Is he in Jiaozhou now?" Duan Jiong asked.

"If only that were the case!" Wei Cong said with a wry smile, "I wouldn't have needed to send you to Jiaozhou at all!"

"So what is he now—?"

“Dead!” Wei Cong shook his head: “I killed County Commandant Wang Gui in Baling, so I had to abandon the army and flee. Zhao Yannian continued to serve under Feng Kun and died in battle more than two years ago! Yannian’s death is like losing an arm. If he were still alive today, why would I have to work so hard! And why would I have to be distracted by Jiaozhou in Luoyang?”

"So you sent me to Jiaozhou to replace him?" Duan Jiong asked.

“That’s right!” Wei Cong nodded. “According to my original plan, Zhao Yannian was my right-hand man. When I led the troops into battle, he would stay behind to guard the city. But since he is no longer alive, and I can’t leave Luoyang, I can only choose someone who can replace him to guard Jiaozhou for me!”

"And what about Jiaozhou now?" Duan Jiong asked.

"Jiaozhou is currently guarded by Kong Gui and Wu Deng, one in charge of the people and the other in charge of the military. But these two are only capable of maintaining the status quo, not of expanding the territory. Jiaozhou is located on the frontier, with a mix of Han and Yi people, so the person in charge must be capable of taking initiative!" Wei Cong said, getting up and taking a scroll from the bookshelf, which he unfolded on the table: "Look, this is the map I drew when I was in Jiaozhou. This, this, and this area are all fertile plains. With a little cultivation, they can become excellent rice paddies, yielding three harvests a year. There are also ports for trade with Southeast Asia. In terms of abundance, it is no less than the Central Plains!"

Duan Jiong glanced at the map on the table, his eyes flashing. After a long while, he said, "But as far as I know, Jiaozhou has a damp and humid climate, and is also plagued by miasma. People who go there will die!"

"I came from Jiaozhou, am I dead?" Wei Cong laughed. "Before Yu the Great controlled the floods, wasn't the Central Plains full of swamps and damp lands? All sorts of ferocious beasts and poisonous insects roamed there. How could it be like today? It's all about human effort!"

"General, you have quite the nerve! Yu the Great was a sage king of antiquity!"

“What about the ancient sage kings?” Wei Cong said, “The current population is far more prosperous than in ancient times. In the Spring and Autumn Period, a thousand chariots was considered a large country. But if we calculate that each chariot has 75 people, then a thousand chariots would only have 75,000 people. If we calculate that, one or two large prefectures would have that kind of military strength. Not to mention engineering, metallurgy, and agriculture are far superior to those of the past.”

"General, what you say is quite right!" Duan Jiong nodded. Although he was also a scholar, he was not one of those bookish pedants. He carefully examined the map and asked, "If you want me to go to Jiaozhou, you can't hold me back!"

“Of course, we are thousands of miles apart. If we report everything, even if Sun Tzu and Wu were to be resurrected, they would not be able to win the war!” Wei Cong smiled. “I will give you three years to destroy this, this, this, and all these other kingdoms.” As he spoke, Wei Cong drew a circle on the map around the Mekong Delta and a large plain near Tonle Sap Lake. “After you succeed, you will return as one of the Three Dukes, with a stipend of 30,000 households and a reward of 20 million coins!”

"Thirty thousand households?" Duan Jiong's eyes lit up immediately, but then a look of doubt appeared on his face: "How could there be so many? There is no precedent for this in our dynasty!"

“It’s already here!” Wei Cong beckoned: “Aping, come here!”
"What are your orders, General?" Huang Ping replied.

"How many estates do you own in Jiaozhou now, and how many households are under your jurisdiction?"

“I own seven estates in Nanhai County, four in Hepu, three each in Cangwu and Yulin, thirteen in Jiaozhi, and five each in Jiuzhen and Rinan. On average, each estate has seven or eight hundred households, so there should be twenty or thirty thousand households in total.”

"Look, you have one household with a stipend of twenty or thirty thousand. Among my earliest followers, the number of farms and households he received was only average. People like Fifth Deng and Wen Sheng didn't receive less than him!"

"Where did you get so many estates and households to grant to your subordinates?" Duan Jiong asked.

"It's very simple. As long as you win the battle in Jiaozhou, all the land and people there will be yours, and you can be rewarded according to your merits. If you can conquer all the places on my map, the land and people you can get will definitely be much more than 30,000 households!"

Duan Jiong remained silent for a long while before whispering, "What you've done is far too lawless!" "Is that so?" Wei Cong laughed. "Even more lawless than you? After seeing what you did in Liangzhou, I originally thought you were a true hero, not bound by worldly views, which is why I wanted to entrust the affairs of Jiaozhou to you. But it seems I was wrong. Very well, then let's pretend I didn't say anything before! Based on your previous merits, you shall be promoted to Grand Minister of Agriculture! You can go back now; an imperial edict will be issued in a couple of days!" With that, Wei Cong began to roll up the map again.

"Wait!" Duan Jiong placed his right hand on the map, stopping Wei Cong from putting it away.

"What's wrong? Are you reluctant to part with it again?" Wei Cong asked with a smile.

"Who wouldn't be reluctant!" Duan Jiong sneered. "Most of my troops are from the north, and they'll definitely suffer from acclimatization issues in Jiaozhou. If I need to use troops, I can only use your old troops, but I have no connection with them and no favors between us. How can I expect them to obey my orders?"

"That's your problem!" Wei Cong smiled. "I can grant you an official title and credentials, but how to get my men to obey you is up to you. Let me put it this way: as long as you can lead them to victory time and time again, they will naturally obey you. If you can't do that, even if I give you a higher official title, it won't be of any use! You can go back and think it over carefully, and give me your answer when you've thought it through!" After saying that, Wei Cong rolled up the map again and got up to put it back on the bookshelf.

"No need!" Duan Jiong said in a deep voice. He stood up and looked into Wei Cong's eyes: "No need to consider it anymore. I promise you, I will go to Jiaozhou!"

"Are you sure?" Wei Cong smiled slightly, holding the map in his hand: "There's miasma over there, it's damp and hot, people will die if they go there!"

"Liangzhou isn't a good place either!" Duan Jiong took the map from Wei Cong and snorted coldly. "Just consider it a three-year exile! Thirty thousand households, is that it? Let's take a gamble!"

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Panyu, the wharf, the lobby of Qin's Inn.

In May, the weather in Panyu was already quite hot. The sun had barely climbed over the treetops along the roadside when it was already scorching. Passersby all wore straw hats with turbans, and even the most refined scholars mostly wore white gauze hats to shield themselves from the scorching sun.

After finishing their cleaning and tidying up, the inn's staff ate breakfast and, taking advantage of the lull before the arriving boats docked, all sought shelter in the shade. The innkeeper, on duty, pretended not to notice. He knew that from the arrival of the first boat at 9:45 AM until nightfall, merchants and travelers from all over would arrive by waterway in droves, keeping both the inn's staff and the innkeeper extremely busy. They even had to take turns eating and using the restroom, so the innkeeper couldn't be bothered to manage it all.

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

A bell rang from outside, and a rough voice called out, "There's mail at Qin's Inn, come and get it!"

"Coming, coming!" the shopkeeper responded, then shouted at the clerk who was dozing off at the small table next to the counter, "You blind fool, why aren't you getting the mail? Do I have to call you for something like this?"

"Yes, sir!" the shop assistant replied, rubbing his eyes as he went out. A moment later, he returned carrying a square bamboo basket, which he placed on the counter. "Shopkeeper, do you have any interesting news to tell us?"

"You want me to read it again?" The shopkeeper took the mail out of the bamboo basket, checked the signatures inside so he could deliver it to the corresponding tenants, and said with a smile, "There are so many customers coming and going in the lobby every day, what don't you know?"

"Hehe, those aren't necessarily all true!" the waiter laughed. "The other day I heard a Kunlun slave customer say that in their land, nobles are cremated when they die, while slaves and lowly people are buried in the ground. How could that be possible?"

"That's not necessarily true!" The shopkeeper said casually as he separated the mail. "Customs vary from place to place. People live thousands of miles away, so it's not surprising that their funeral rites are different from ours in Han China. Take this letter to the eldest master; it was sent from Luoyang by the third master! Go quickly!"

"Yes!" the shopkeeper responded, picked up the letter, walked through two courtyards, and came to a side courtyard. He said to the woman sweeping in front of the door, "It's for the boss, sent from Luoyang!"

"Oh? Ah He sent a letter? That's wonderful!" The woman took the letter, put the broom aside, and happily went into the yard, handing it to Qin Ke, who was eating under the tree: "Ah He sent a letter, take a look!"

Qin Ke took the letter and laughed, "Not bad, not bad, he can actually write now, he's really improved. I told you he was right to go to Luoyang with the General!"

"Sigh, the family is thousands of miles apart, we can't even see each other, and we can't even eat at the same table at night! What's so good about that!" The woman sighed, "It's been almost two years since I left, and I don't know when I'll be able to come back!"

"Woman's view!" Qin Ke sneered. "What kind of future do men have if they don't go out and make their way in the world and just stay at home all day? If I hadn't come to Panyu back then, would you be where you are today?"

The woman was speechless, but stood behind Qin Ke urging him to read the letter. Qin Ke shook his head and began to read. In the letter, Qin He inquired about the well-being of his family and then recounted some of his experiences in Luoyang. Suddenly, he changed the subject and said that General Wei Cong had sent a high-ranking official named Duan Jiong to Panyu to replace him in commanding the army to conquer the southern barbarians, and that he would be returning with that official.

"So, Ah He is coming back?" the woman exclaimed happily. "Thank goodness, thank goodness! This is truly wonderful news! By the way, did the letter say when he will be back? I'll get ready!"

"What's there to prepare? With so many empty houses, he'll have nowhere to stay!" Qin Ke snorted. "Besides, he's now an official under the General. He'll probably stay at the government office even if he comes back, and won't be able to go home!"

"What do you mean?" the woman asked, puzzled. "Why can't I go home to live even though I'm back in Panyu?"

“Ahe is now a subordinate of the General, so he should be at the General’s beck and call at any time. Naturally, he should live near the General so that he can be at the General’s beck and call at any time. What if he lives at home and can’t be found when we need to look for him?”

"Then wouldn't we even be able to drink hot soup at home?" The woman shook her head in disappointment. "So, this position of subordinate official is meaningless?"

"A woman's view!" Qin Ke shook his head disdainfully: "What do you know? Ahe is now a close confidant of the General. Countless people would love to be that person but don't even have the chance! In three years at most, two years at least, he'll be a county magistrate when he comes out!"

"County magistrate? Ah He can be a county magistrate?" The woman was startled.

"What do you think?" Qin Ke sneered, "Do you know what a Grand General is? It means that he governs all thirteen prefectures of the Han Dynasty, that's why he's called a Grand General. Think about how many prefectures and counties the Han Dynasty has? And how many people does a Grand General have around him? What's the difference between him appointing someone as a county magistrate and you throwing a few extra bones to your dog after you finish your meal? Would you be reluctant to give your dog an extra piece of leftover bone?"

(End of this chapter)