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

Chapter 132 Who is the Bandit?
Zhang He had been corresponding with Liu Bei for the past two years, and last year he came of age ahead of schedule, with the courtesy name Junyi.

He is about the same age as Zhang Fei, currently nineteen years old (by Chinese reckoning), but he took over the family business earlier than Zhang Fei.

Zhang He has brought over a hundred able-bodied men with him, but they look quite worried, as if they have just suffered a disaster.

"Hejian is plagued by epidemics and is also burdened with heavy taxes. Now, tragedies are frequent and riots are breaking out everywhere... Moxian County is also in turmoil, and people are even resorting to cannibalism."

Zhang He spoke with some indignation: "I was appointed by the Prime Minister to be in charge of the grain transport by military order. To avoid the destruction of my family and clan, I had no choice but to flee here... Please, Chief Clerk Liu, allow me to join the army and cultivate the land."

He came to join the army.

It's hard to say whether Zhang He was just unlucky or that the world was just too chaotic.

Although Zhang He's family was poor, they were still a noble family with many young and strong servants, so they were considered a large household.

However, during the Anxi era, Zhang He was bullied by the Liu family for being an outsider and was conscripted into a grain service.

In Mo County, however, he was appointed by the Prime Minister of Hejian State as a transport official responsible for escorting tax grains—the team leader who delivered the tax grains to Luoyang.

In fact, Hejian was a fiefdom of the kingdom. Normally, it only required tribute of money and silk, and no grain tax was required. There were no officials in charge of transporting grain and silk before, and the tribute was handled by the officials in charge of accounting.

But now the situation is different. The emperor has ordered all grain-producing prefectures and kingdoms within the canal transport area to transport grain to Luoyang.

Hejian was not only a grain-producing area, but also within the grain transport area designated by the emperor. Moreover, it was the commandery farthest from Luoyang within the grain transport area designated by Liu Hong.

They wanted to deliver the full amount of tax grain from Hejian to Luoyang...

Zhang He's position as a canal transport commissioner was naturally used to take the blame.

"Nothing happened in the winter month, how could there be such a big upheaval so soon?"

Liu Bei knew things would get chaotic, but he didn't expect it to be this chaotic already.

Last month, when Liu Bei got married, he planned to bring Yue Yin to Xihe Pavilion. He specially sent Jian Yong with troops to deliver gifts and carriages to Yue Yin. Jian Yong passed through Hejian.

However, Yue Yin did not come to Xihe Pavilion. On the one hand, the road conditions were too bad in winter and the weather was indeed too cold; on the other hand, Yue Yin's wife was in poor health, and the situation in various places was unstable, so traveling across states was too risky. Therefore, he only asked Jian Yong to bring back a set of letters as a congratulatory gift.

At that time, heavy taxes were indeed being levied in places like Hejian and Anping, but it did not reach the point where uprisings broke out.

The Taiping Dao did indeed gather people to resist taxes, but they did not raise a flag to rebel.

How could it have deteriorated to this extent in just one month?
"It's not a rebellion of the common people, but a rebellion of the powerful and wealthy! A few days ago, the Prime Minister issued the decree of the Prince of Hejian, ordering the powerful clans in each county to assist in collecting taxes, and He also received this decree at the time. In the past few days, the powerful and wealthy have risen up one after another, using the pretext of collecting taxes to plunder on a large scale..."

"Although He was not a benevolent person, he dared not kill and plunder like those powerful and influential families, so he closed his doors and guarded himself. However, he received a military order to transport grain to the capital, but He did not see a single grain of food..."

"Almost overnight, chaos erupted throughout Hejian. People were killing each other for a bite to eat. He personally witnessed commoners exchanging their own children to cook them..."

Zhang He's face showed obvious frustration: "I can neither contend with the powerful and influential figures of the country nor withstand the wrath of the people, so I can only beg the Chief Secretary to take me into the army. Only by joining the border army can I be exempted from the military orders of the Prime Minister."

Liu Bei's territory was indeed a border region, and Zhang He was quite adept at protecting himself. If he had been appointed as the official in charge of transporting grain, his family would probably have been immediately overwhelmed by starving mobs, leaving not even a trace.

"Did the troops and powerful clans of Hejian County quell those who resisted taxes? Were they just plundering the common people?"

Liu Bei sensed something was wrong and quickly checked.

"They weren't even there to collect taxes... I knew there were people from the Taiping Dao group resisting taxes in the Gaoyang area, but the county soldiers didn't even go to Gaoyang; they were just robbing the common people. If it weren't for the able-bodied men in my family, they probably would have been robbed too!"

Zhang He said bitterly.

That's truly hateful.

The Way of Peace did not rebel, but powerful families and officials rebelled first...

While plundering the common people, they deliberately appointed families like Zhang He's, which were both wealthy and poor, as grain transport officials to incite hatred. Moreover, this was launched suddenly, and even Zhang He, a local strongman, was not informed in advance. In just a few days, a full-scale riot broke out, so it's no wonder that no intelligence was sent over.

The concept of powerful figures openly killing and robbing alongside officials is completely different now, and the situation in Hejian is even more serious than Liu Bei imagined.

Everyone knew that doing this would inevitably incite a peasant rebellion, but they still did it anyway, and it certainly wasn't for the purpose of collecting taxes.

The Taiping Dao (a local militia) did indeed gather to resist taxes, but the county soldiers didn't go at all...

Perhaps they still believe that the Han dynasty's rule is unshakeable?

"Does Junyi know anything about Anping's recent situation?"

The current situation is beyond Liu Bei's expectations... Since Hejian is in such chaos, Anping is probably not much better off.

Anping was also a fiefdom of a vassal king, similar to the situation in Hejian.

Moreover, Yue Yin was still in Anping at this time.

Le Yin has an excellent reputation and helped the Taiping Dao when he was in Zhuo County. It is unlikely that the people of the Taiping Dao would provoke Le Yin. When Jian Yong returned, he also said that there were no problems with Le Yin.

But now, it's not the Taiping Dao that's causing trouble...

Zhang He shook his head: "I don't know the exact situation in Anping, but if the Chief Clerk wants to investigate Ji Province, I am willing to help."

"In that case, please appoint Junyi as the chief scout of this unit and lead your troops to explore the various places in Ji Province... especially Julu and Anping."

Liu Bei recruited Zhang He into his army, but later sent him back to Ji Province, since Zhang He was familiar with the situation there firsthand.

Qian Zhao led a cavalry unit and set off with Zhang He to pick up Le Yin. He was most familiar with the environment of Anping. Right now, it was freezing cold and snowy, and it was hard to tell where to go. He had to send someone who was familiar with the area first.

……

Soon after, Zuo Yuan received intelligence that the problem was not limited to Hejian, but was affecting several vassal states in Ji Province.

The same applies to Hejian, Anping, and Ganling (Qinghe) in Jizhou—these were all fiefdoms of vassal kings, and all of them shared the same lineage as Emperor Liu Hong.

Zhongshan was also a vassal state, but this situation did not occur in Zhongshan because the King of Zhongshan had no connection with Liu Hong whatsoever.

Liu Bei understood something...

A large number of refugees from Hejian were heading towards Zhuojun, and at this time the refugees had already clashed with Zhang Nan's Junshu troops from Fangcheng.

Zhang Nan had been controlling the roads to prevent the spread of the plague. The large influx of migrants into the country did indeed require control, and in order to persuade them to return and disperse, violent means were inevitably used.

Zhang Nan's actions were the right choice. Right now, the plague is spreading on a large scale, and Xiuniang has already instructed the medical staff to issue warnings to all households to stay indoors as much as possible. If the refugees are allowed to gather in large numbers, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Lu Jie has already stationed his troops in Beixin City, in order to prevent a rebellion by displaced people from Ji Province.

Ma Tai stationed troops in Zhuo County to ensure the stability of the county and was also ready to support Zhang Nan at any time.

The three military commanders jointly elected by the powerful families of Zhuojun were quite reliable. They were doing their best to ensure that no major chaos broke out in Zhuojun. After all, things were different now than a few years ago, and everyone was still wary of the bandits in Zhuojun.

Liu Bei can no longer settle the refugees as before, because the families in Zhuojun really don't have any extra food, and Liu Bei himself doesn't have any either.

Without receiving any orders, Liu Bei took it upon himself to send troops south along the Zhongshan official road, leading Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and six hundred elite soldiers.

The reason for bringing only 600 elite soldiers was to conserve food as much as possible and to facilitate the operation.

On one hand, he needed to meet Yue Yin; on the other hand, Liu Bei wanted to see that great and wise teacher.

(End of this chapter)