Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 117 Diviners and Merchants

“Brother, the mob has now amassed several thousand members and is splitting into two groups, harassing people in the Fanyang and Gu'an areas. I believe this is not simply a mob riot; there must be someone plotting behind it. If it were just a simple mob, it wouldn't have grown to such a large scale so quickly…”

“Those rioters never attack the county town; they just keep burning fields to coerce poor tenants… Brother, Xinting along the Juma River is full of poor tenants!”

Jian Yong dared not tell Wen Shu about Liu Bei's private army, as this was a serious crime punishable by death for treason and the extermination of the entire clan. He could only tell Liu Bei about it.

"Destroying fields? Then they are indeed bandits... We must eliminate their leader immediately."

Liu Bei sighed, his heart heavy.

It is June now, a time of lean season for most poor families—last year's grain has been used up, and this year's grain has not yet ripened.

If the fields were burned at this time, the poor would have no way to survive and would be forced to submit to the bandits.

Then, the poor were forced to commit crimes such as murder, and those who were coerced had no choice but to become thieves. They continued to destroy fields, coerce, and kill people... and the bandits would snowball into a huge force in a short period of time.

This must have been orchestrated by a highly experienced thief; ordinary thieves couldn't do something like this, and even most of the big thieves in the Taihang Mountains couldn't pull it off.

"Do you know who the leader of the rioters is?"

This is a bit tricky. The mob seems to be heading towards the Juma River area, and it's even possible that they're coming for Xiheting!
"The message we received involved two people... one from the Fanyang area named Weitai, and the other named Hedang, from the Gu'an area."

Zuo Yuan spoke while holding the intelligence report.

“Weitai? Hedang?... These two names sound so familiar…”

Liu Bei frowned and pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Liu Weitai, Le Hedang? This is Gongsun Zan's man! Gather the troops and prepare to attack!"

……

"Brother Zhong, does Xihe Pavilion really have that much money and grain? If we come up empty-handed, we'll have no food to sustain ourselves..."

A fat man who looked like a merchant was asking a fortune teller a question.

"I learned of this from Black Mountain, so it's probably true. I've already inquired in detail, and the owner of the West River Pavilion calls himself Big Ears, who is none other than Liu Bei, the very Liu Xuande that my elder brother Bo Gui wanted to kill back then..."

The diviner was thin and had a fierce face: "I have already divined the outcome, and this divination indicates a change in life and death! My elder brother Bo Gui had already escaped, but died in the northern suburbs of Zhuo County. And Liu Bei has come back to life... This must be because Liu Bei killed my elder brother Bo Gui! We must avenge my elder brother Bo Gui!"

"In that case, let's plunder Liu Bei's wealth, then coerce the people along the way west into the Taihang Mountains... With Brother Yizi in the Black Mountains, we might even be able to take over the northern Taihang Mountains in one fell swoop!"

The merchant nodded and said.

“Brother, don’t underestimate the Taihang Mountains. The bandits there are numerous, powerful, and seasoned warriors; they won’t be easy to deal with. I don’t think Liu Bei will be so easy to deal with either…”

The fortune teller shook his head: "Don't think too far ahead, let's focus on doing the things in front of us first..."

"Zhang Chun of Yuyang comes from a powerful family and holds a high position. We easily robbed him, didn't we? Liu Bei is just a nouveau riche. He can't possibly be more difficult to deal with than Zhang Chun, can he?"

The merchant seemed very confident: "Right now we have nearly ten thousand men. Once we take control of the tens of thousands of displaced people and tenants in Xinting... who can stop an army of twenty thousand?"

"No wonder Brother Bogui looks down on these powerful families. When they see us, they only know how to protect themselves and abandon all the tenants and commoners... If this matter were not so urgent, I would really like to coerce more people in various counties... If we could gather 50,000 to 100,000 people, then no one would be able to stop us..."

The fortune teller sighed.

"Brother Zhong, if we were to coerce tens of thousands of people, would we still need to listen to the Yuan family's wishes?"

The merchant asked hesitantly.

"The Yuan family is merely using us; why should we care about them? This tactic of coercion is so effective; why should we listen to others' orders? Sweeping across the land... is not out of the question!"

The fortune teller's eyes seemed to hold considerable ambition.

This fortune teller was named Liu Weitai.

The merchant's name was Le Hedang; he was a horse trader.

They also had a brother named Li Yizi, who sold cloth.

These three men were Gongsun Zan's sworn brothers—Gongsun Zan was born out of wedlock and disliked associating with the sons of powerful families; he truly preferred befriending the poor and lowly. Or, one could say he associated with bandits.

...At Xinting on the Juma River, Liu Bei had already taken over the military camp left behind by Qian Zhao.

Zhang Ba once again entered the Taihang Mountains to seek reinforcements, and Jian Yong also asked some able-bodied men from various large farms along the Juma River to help.

We cannot allow the mob to further intimidate Xinting in Juma River. This area is full of displaced people and tenant farmers. Once their fields are destroyed, they will be truly difficult to control.

The war drums have sounded, and everyone is preparing for battle.

Armored and ready, the cavalry mounted their horses, their heavy footsteps echoing, filling the air with a chilling atmosphere.

Liu Bei's troops were already quite well-equipped. Although some of them had never seen blood, their military bearing was much more orderly than that of most regular armies of that era.

However, the quantity is indeed too small.

Nearly 10,000 bandits gathered south of the Juma River, only 30 li away.

Liu Bei had only four hundred soldiers at his disposal—he left two hundred infantrymen for Duan Jiong, who was to hold Xihe Pavilion until the Taihang bandits came to reinforce it.

"Xianhe, you lead the militia to set up defenses. Move all the vehicles to the eastern pass and arrange them into a vehicle formation. If the enemy comes, use the buildings and vehicle formation to hold the line."

"Feilang, you lead a group of infantry to patrol along the riverbank. If you see anyone, kill them without hesitation... until they dare not approach the Juma River!"

Liu Bei was drawing a map with a wooden stick and assigning tasks to everyone.

Zhang Fei and Jian Yong nodded in agreement.

"Yun Chang, bring your elite cavalry and follow me!"

Liu Bei threw down the wooden stick and beckoned Guan Yu to go outside together.

What are your plans, elder brother?

Guan Yu was actually somewhat worried. He wasn't afraid of losing the battle, but he was worried that there weren't enough men to defend all the places.

"We'll lead our armored cavalry on the offensive...we'll kill the enemy at the very front and see what happens!"

Liu Bei mounted his warhorse and took the helmet from his men: "Brothers, follow me!"

His helmet was slightly different from others, with a white tassel on it.

Liu Bei did not raise any flags; the white tassel on his helmet was the mark of his leadership.

His armor was no different from anyone else's; on the battlefield, he needed to be recognizable to his own troops, but he also needed to try his best to remain unrecognizable to the enemy...

Guan Yu, on the other hand, doesn't need any markings...

His size and signature elongated sword are already very noticeable; you can spot him at a glance.

Liu Bei planned to take the initiative and meet the enemy halfway through the journey to engage in a skirmish.

Armored cavalry are not meant for defense.

The enemy was only twenty or thirty miles away, and the scouts had already discovered their movements. So the army stopped using packhorses and everyone mounted their warhorses and began to head south to meet the enemy.

Less than half an hour after leaving Xinting, Liu Bei saw what the enemy looked like.

It was a large, disorganized band of outlaws moving north, in a chaotic manner, seemingly without any scouts or organized defenses.

This looks like a mob.

Most of Zhuojun is flat, so launching a direct attack shouldn't be a problem, but Liu Bei didn't want to do that.

Leading two hundred armored cavalry in a direct charge might scatter this rabble, but it's not a good thing if the mob is dispersed—if the leader can't be found, the scattered mob will continue to coerce, making Xiheting even more dangerous.

Liu Bei wanted to eliminate the bandit leader, not just defeat the bandits.

(End of this chapter)