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

Chapter 144 God of Gamblers
After arranging the city's defenses and sending messengers to convey orders to the powerful families in the prefecture, Liu Bei went to the guesthouse to meet Zong Yuan, the Protector of the Wuhuan.

Zong Yuan was still wearing his clean white brocade robe, with his hair down, tied in a bun with a jade hairpin, without even a crown.

A man was fiddling with tortoise shells and coins in the inn, and he was not alarmed when Liu Bei came.

"...General Zong has no servants by his side?"

Liu Bei even thought that Zong Yuan looked more like a Taoist priest than Zhang Jiao, and he hesitated when calling him general.

"They used to be there, but when they heard that Guo Xun had been killed by the Yellow Turban rebels, all the servants ran away."

Zong Yuan shook his head and looked at Liu Bei: "Yesterday the bandits killed the prefect, today the bandits killed the governor. There are so many Yellow Turban rebels in Guangyang. I suppose even I, as a general, am not very safe..."

"Yes, there are so many Yellow Turbans in Guangyang... I feel deeply uneasy."

Liu Bei sat down in front of Zong Yuan and pointed to the tortoise shell on the table: "General Zong, why don't you do some divination and see what our fates are?"

“I cannot predict my own fate, but I have no eyes or ears by my side and my hands are clean of blood. I do not think I will die at the hands of bandits like Governor Guo.”

Zong Yuan looked at Liu Bei, reached out and picked up the divination coins, placing them into the tortoise shell: "As for the fate of Chief Clerk Liu, I dare not divine it..."

"Why not?"

Liu Bei now finds Zong Yuan quite interesting. Although he seems like a charlatan, he is actually a very clever bureaucrat.

Saying that he had no eyes or ears and his hands were not stained with blood was actually a statement that he would not be an enemy of Liu Bei—he would pretend not to see or hear anything, since it was all the work of the Yellow Turban rebels anyway.

He knew Liu Bei wouldn't kill him.

"Why ask a question you already know the answer to?"

Zong Yuan looked at Liu Bei and sighed, "If the divination is very auspicious, will you believe it, Chief Clerk? If the divination is inauspicious, will you be willing to sit and wait for death?"

This person is truly exceptionally intelligent; no wonder Liu Hong sent him out.

Liu Bei then asked, "Since that's the case, then I won't divine my fate, but I'd like General Zong to divine my military fortune... Is that alright?"

This was considered asking for good fortune before using troops, and Zongyuan certainly couldn't refuse.

But after picking up the tortoise shell and shaking it, Zong Yuan stopped and asked Liu Bei, "Where does the Chief Clerk intend to deploy troops?"

"Southward."

Liu Bei's concise reply.

"That would be a civil war, which is not in accordance with the hexagram 'Army,' but rather with the hexagram 'Conflict'..."

The divination coins were shaken onto the table, and the number was six three. Zong Yuan looked at Liu Bei with a strange expression: "The number six three in the Litigation hexagram indicates that one will benefit from past virtues and ultimately achieve good fortune; however, if one serves the king, there will be no success."

This means that if one can enjoy one's family fortune and live a carefree and prosperous life, then even if one assists the king in establishing his career, one cannot attribute the success to oneself.

Liu Bei laughed, "I never expected General Zong to be such a gambler..."

"God of Gamblers? What do you mean by that, Chief Secretary?"

Zong Yuan had indeed never heard of this term.

"General Zong can roll any number he wants; that's a unique skill... If this were a gambling den, he would definitely earn the title of God of Gamblers."

Liu Bei picked up the divination coins on the table and examined them. They seemed to be made of ivory; they were exquisite, smooth, and the weight was just right for his hand.

With a flick of his finger, Liu Bei accurately flicked the divination coins back into the tortoise shell—a skill he honed in his previous life to seduce women, though back then he used playing cards and chips.

Zong Yuan's expression changed, then he shook his head and said with a self-deprecating smile, "I've been using divination for decades, but this is the first time someone has seen through my disguise..."

He can indeed roll any number he wants... In fact, this is a basic skill for every person who is good at divination.

If you can roll out the desired number, you can easily convince others based on their actual situation.

"Please enlighten me, General Zong, why do you say that if we prepare to serve the king, we will achieve nothing?"

Liu Bei snatched Zong Yuan's gambling equipment and stuffed it into his own pocket.

"The Emperor ordered Lu Zigan to suppress Zhang Jiao and granted a general amnesty, pardoning even those who had joined the rebellion, except for Zhang Jiao... It seems he wanted to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion quickly. But as the Chief Clerk knows, Lu Zigan, as the General of the Northern Army, did not actually command the five Northern Army Schools..."

"When Lu Zigan received the imperial edict to be appointed general, the five battalions of the Northern Army were unable to set off due to insufficient funds and provisions. However, due to the urgency of the military situation, Lu Zigan only led the troops stationed in the Three Auxiliary Regions to Hebei first."

"As soon as Lu Zigan set off, the Emperor issued an edict appointing Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun as Left and Right Generals of the Central Army, respectively, with imperial insignia to mobilize the five Northern Army Schools and the cavalry of the Three Rivers (Hedong, Henan, and Henan), ordering the two to widely recruit elite troops from across the land to suppress the Yellow Turbans in Yingchuan..."

Zong Yuan stopped using veiled language and spoke much more clearly.

"The Emperor deliberately sent the five Northern Army divisions to Yanzhou? I see... General Zong must have the same intention here, no wonder..."

Liu Bei was slightly surprised, but then he understood. Lu Zhi had resigned from his post twice and only wrote books in Luoyang. He had also submitted memorials many times requesting the lifting of the Party Prohibitions. However, Lu Zhi did not belong to any faction and was being courted by both eunuchs and gentry from Guandong.

In the past, Lu Zhi had quelled rebellions quickly on many occasions, such as in Jiujiang and Jiangxia. He would lead only a small number of infantry and cavalry to the rebellious areas and quell the rebellion within a few months by taking over the troops of the local powerful families. His abilities and methods were first-rate. This was actually because powerful families and eunuchs wanted to win over Lu Zhi.

Moreover, Lu Zhi was a renowned Confucian scholar with a high reputation and excellent personal character. Even the Yellow Turbans or other bandits who were desperate for survival regarded Lu Zhi as a rare and respectable official, and ordinary bandits would not take the initiative to attack him.

Of course, given Lu Zhi's reputation and abilities, if he showed any inclination towards powerful and aristocratic families, he would certainly be imprisoned—just like Duan Jiong back then.

At this time, the emperor issued an edict to grant amnesty to all partisans and lifted the ban on partisans. He also appointed Lu Zhi as the chief general to attack Zhang Jiao, but he did not actually hand over the five battalions of the Northern Army to Lu Zhi.

This forced Lu Zhi to rely on the private armies of powerful clans in Ji Province to fight against Zhang Jiao...

Where did these private soldiers come from?

Naturally, it comes from party members.

The emperor has just lifted the restrictions. If the partisans do not want to join the rebels, they should immediately join Lu Zhi and quickly obtain official positions through military merit.

Of course, one can also seek refuge with a wealthy family or stay at home.

However, for the Jizhou party members, it would be very unsafe not to join Lu Zhi—the hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban soldiers were not targeting Lu Zhi or the emperor, but rather the grain of the powerful families.

Moreover, Tang Zhou, who reported Zhang Jiao, was also a member of the Yellow Turban Party... Although Zhang Jiao himself would not harbor hatred because of this, all the Yellow Turbans except Zhang Jiao would regard the members of the Yellow Turban Party as enemies!

The powerful families originally wanted to see the emperor fight against the Yellow Turbans...

They even sent two vassal kings to Zhang Jiao, but Zhang Jiao was not the kind of person they imagined. Instead of using this opportunity to raise the banner of "establishing a new ruler," Zhang Jiao killed the people they sent as a sacrifice to the flag, and called himself "General of Heaven" to claim justice from Heaven.

The emperor also wanted to see the powerful local warlords fight against the Yellow Turbans...

Therefore, the emperor did not use his most elite central army to deal with Zhang Jiao. Lu Zhi and Zong Yuan were unable to take away the elite troops that the emperor could control, and could only take over the local powerful clans' troops.

Guo Xun had previously led the troops of the powerful clans to launch an attack in the name of the clan members, but the clan members refused. After seeing through the intentions of the emperor and the powerful clans, the clan members did not want to get involved with either side, so he preferred to stay in Ji County and do nothing.

If Liu Bei were to go to Ji Province to support Lu Zhi now, it would be tantamount to admitting himself to the powerful and influential faction... No matter how great his military achievements, he would not be favored by the emperor and would instead bring disaster upon himself.

Therefore, the royal officials said that serving the king would lead to nothing.

No wonder this family has produced dozens of high-ranking officials in the past century; their ability to predict the emperor's mind is truly unmatched.

"In that case, General Zong, please order the campaign against the Yellow Turbans in Youzhou. Once the Yellow Turbans in Youzhou are wiped out, General Zong's mission will be accomplished..."

Liu Bei glanced at Zong Yuan and bowed politely.

(End of this chapter)