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

Chapter 151 The History of Succession
In the seventh year of Guanghe, Liu Bei, the lord, served as the Chief Clerk of Guangyang and accompanied Zong Yuan, the Protector of the Wuhuan, to suppress the Yellow Turbans in Guangyang.

At that time, Zhang Chun, the former chancellor of Zhongshan, led the Wuhuan chieftain Qiuliju to raid Changping, plundering local people and enslaving them. Also, Gongsun Ji, a man from Liaoxi, raided Anci, plundering the people.

The lord went to Changping alone and persuaded Zhang Chun to go to Liaoxi to fight against Gongsun Ji.

When Chun left Guangyang, the lord ordered Xianyu Fu, the former commander of the Hu cavalry, to lead the Wuhuan cavalry to recapture the people who had been captured in Changping. He also ordered Guan Yu to seize the iron in Guangping and Zhang He to seize the copper in Rushui, in order to release the miners who had been imprisoned.

Chun broke Gongsun Ji's rule, plundered a great deal of wealth, and also abducted thousands of people.

When Wuzhong arrived, Chun was obstructed by Xianyu Fu and wanted Zhang Fei to join him in attacking Xianyu Fu.

Zhang Fei feigned compliance, but instead led the people to seize grain and enter Wuzhong, where he joined forces with Xianyu Fu.

Chun was furious and wanted Qiuliju to attack Zhang Fei, but Qiuliju refused and led the Wuhuan cavalry back to the border.

Enraged, Zhang Chun turned to Kou Yongnu, plundered the old and weak, and used this to coerce his lord into supplying him with provisions. He also falsely accused his lord of misappropriating provisions and causing the army's mismanagement, thus becoming the source of chaos.

The lord said: Those who kidnap people deserve to be called bandits, while those who rescue people deserve to be called soldiers. The army's food comes from the people's wealth, so how can it be shared with bandits?

He then distributed grain to the miners of Guangping, enabling them to return home. He also used the minerals of Guangping for trade, ordering Zhang Chun to release the old and weak miners of Yong.

He feigned compliance, then forcibly drove the old and weak to attack the lord, while he himself fled to Yuyang.

— "Chengzuo Guanji", written by Chen Feng, recorded during the military campaign in the seventh year of Guanghe.

……

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The Zhang family of Yuyang was actually stronger than Liu Bei had imagined.

After all, they do own mines, and they also have the Miyun Smelting Plant.

Miyun area has abundant forest resources, making charcoal production convenient, and copper and iron can be smelted.

Mineral resources made the Zhang family extremely wealthy, and the Miyun Smelting Site allowed them to profit from trade with the Hu people. They could even have the Wuhuan people guard the mines for them—after all, the Hu people were not skilled in smelting and forging, and the vertical furnace smelting technology of the Han Dynasty was still among the world's leading technologies.

But everything has its advantages and disadvantages. It was precisely because the Zhang family owned mines that they were confined to the northern part of Yuyang County by these mineral resources.

Moreover, to protect the family's greatest source of profit, one must give up other things, such as land.

Making profits by minting coins is much faster than farming, so the Zhang family kidnapped many people to be mint slaves in order to find rich mines.

However, the population on the border of Yuyang was small, the grain yield in the border area was low, and the farms were often robbed by the Xianbei people, so there were not many people willing to farm.

If manpower is diverted to protect the mineral resources, it will be impossible to produce enough food.

After all, even miners need to eat, even if it's just the worst stale grain and chaff.

We used to be able to buy them from the south, since the Zhang family was rich anyway.

But now they can't buy food, and they have money but nowhere to spend it, so they can only plunder like the Hu people and kidnap more serfs to cultivate and reclaim wasteland.

With more people captured, more people had to be assigned to keep an eye on them to prevent these people forced into slavery from causing trouble.

The pursuit of mineral resources has offended many people, and with the sunk costs already incurred, it's even more impractical to abandon the mineral resources.

If the tribe doesn't have enough manpower, then they'll have to hire some Wuhuan people.

But hiring the Wuhuan people also requires food...

That's how it is with powerful clans in border regions; the more powerful a clan is, the more it tends to resemble the Hu people.

Not only do they behave like the Hu people, but they also have the same temperament.

In fact, Hu people are not difficult to deal with. Liu Bei made many preparations and could have eliminated Zhang Chun in one fell swoop.

However, Liu Bei was unlucky.

Liu Bei had already ordered Xianyu Fu to seize the grain, retrieve the captured young men, and set up defenses in Wuzhong.

Guan Yu and Zhang He respectively controlled the iron mine and the copper mine, rescued the miners, and distributed yellow turbans to the miners to help them protect themselves;

Zhang Fei led his armored cavalry to "reinforce Zhang Chun" and sought an opportunity to cut off his supplies.

Zhang Chun was indeed forced to flee in panic.

Just when it seemed that all Liu Bei needed to do was march his army towards Yuyang to eliminate the Zhang family, a potential threat that could cause chaos at any moment, he encountered obstacles from the rear.

The newly appointed Protector of the Wuhuan, Gong Qichou, has arrived in Guangyang to take up his post.

Upon arriving in Guangyang, before even entering Ji County, Gong Qichou ordered Qian Zhao to lead the Wuhuan Colonel's troops back to await orders, and also requested Zong Yuan to recall the righteous army to go to Ji Province to attack Zhang Jiao.

Zong Yuan naturally refused, and then Gong Qichou used his position to issue a military order to Qian Zhao, forcibly demanding that Qian Zhao attack Liu Bei—he claimed that Liu Bei had kidnapped Zong Yuan, causing chaos in Youzhou, which constituted a serious crime of treason.

Qian Zhao naturally refused, resigned from his post, and shouted, "I am leading a righteous army to Jizhou, who will go with me?"

The soldiers of the Protectorate of Wuhuan had followed Qian Zhao for a long time, and many of them were familiar with Liu Bei. They resigned their posts and followed Qian Zhao.

The powerful families of Guangyang also dispersed, unwilling to get involved in this trouble.

Liu Bei originally planned to use the manpower and resources of various families in Guangyang to settle the mining slaves, but the Guangyang army scattered overnight, catching Liu Bei off guard.

In addition, the elderly and weak in Yongnu County also needed to be resettled, so they couldn't spare the time or spare enough manpower to attack Yuyang.

Most importantly, with Gong Qichou stirring things up, no one had a pretext to quell the rebellion anymore. If Liu Bei attacked Yuyang on his own, he would truly be considered a rebel.

The priority should be ensuring the safety of the people.

Zong Yuan summoned Gong Qichou to Ji County to advise him, but Gong Qichou refused, claiming that Guangyang was full of Yellow Turban rebels who disobeyed the king's orders, and that Zong Yuan must have been held hostage... He went to Youbeiping and joined forces with Liu Zheng, the governor of Youbeiping.

Shortly thereafter, Lu Zhi, the General of the Northern Army, received a military order, which was extremely stern and specifically requested Liu Bei to enter Ji Province to join the army in the campaign against Zhang Jiao.

……

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History is a little girl who can be dressed up however you like.

This is especially true of history during times of chaos. My teacher once said that history books record the events of the past, the events of the deceased, hence the term 'story'.

Stories are made up by people. Perhaps historians can keep their records impartial, but no one can witness the miracles and bold words of those deceased heroes... so naturally they have to be fabricated.

Besides, historians were, after all, officials, and many of them held positions that were passed down through generations.

Being an official comes with its own set of difficulties.

You need to know what to write, what not to remember, what to fabricate, and what to make up...

If one insists on using the pen as the standard for judging the world and recording everything truthfully, then the historian would have to be punished and executed like Sima Qian.

Therefore, historical records are always concise, and a single sentence, "In times of famine, people resorted to cannibalism," records the lives and deaths of millions.

At the same time, history books often spare no expense—if it comes to the ancestors of noble families, even if they were mediocre and incompetent, it will be written into the book, and they will be praised for governing by non-interference, and they will be remembered for all time...

Who told us commoners to be without words?

If people had no words, then there would be no words in history books.

Life and death are trivial matters.

My name is Chen Feng. My father's name is Jiu Chi. He did not have a courtesy name.

I shouldn't have had a name, but my father risked his life to secure my future, giving me a master and a completely different life.

My destiny was changed by morality.

From that moment on, I understood that upholding loyalty and righteousness can bring blessings to one's descendants and also allow one's name to be recorded in history.

I must uphold morality, otherwise I would be letting my father down.

At the beginning of the year, my master brought my grandmaster to Xihe.

I was fifteen years old, just past the mourning period, and living alone in poverty. My master asked my highly respected grandmaster to give me a courtesy name in advance so that I could support my family.

My master said that the character "Feng" means to build a foundation and cultivate forests, and it is a name that signifies the continuation of one's fortune and prosperity. Moreover, I have also inherited the blessings of my father, so he gave me the courtesy name "Chengzuo".

When my master heard my grandmaster say "inherit the throne," he was stunned for a long time, and then asked me what my ideals were.

I was born with poor hearing and could hardly hear subtle sounds, which made it very difficult for me to participate in the martial arts selection.

My master's martial arts training included night battles and sounding alarms, as well as advancing and retreating in battle formations with drums and gongs. These two skills are not difficult for most soldiers, but they are very difficult for me—if there are noisy soldiers around me, it is difficult for me to hear distant sounds.

Elite soldiers must have keen hearing. Although I am unwilling to accept this, I can understand it. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and we cannot force it.

Unable to join the Imperial Guard, I could only study more.

Having less noise and distractions than others has its advantages. Whether studying literature or medicine, I can concentrate wholeheartedly and rarely make mistakes.

The teacher's wife said that seeing is believing, and that by closing your ears and relying only on your eyes and heart, you can see the real world more easily.

So I informed my teacher that I wished to record history.

I want to record everything I've seen in my life, and to write down the stories of nameless people like my father, whose morality shines brightly, into our family history.

My grandmaster was very pleased, saying that writing history is a great aspiration passed down from ancient times to the present. He also said that my master did not study the scriptures, but learned virtue, so it is right for me to carry on his teachings.

But my teacher was stunned for a long time and said that this was the will of Heaven. Perhaps Chen Chengzuo's courtesy name was suitable for compiling history (Note: Chen Shou's courtesy name was Chengzuo).

My teacher muttered something like, "If I have any descendants or disciples who will carry on my legacy in the future, I might as well use 'Chengzu' as their pen name..."

I don’t understand why my teacher said that, but the characters Chengzuo are indeed very suitable as a pen name for continuing historical records.

From then on, I had the opportunity to be recorded in history books.

My teacher, who is also my lord, gave me the task of writing our family history.

Although I am only studying family history, I can see it with my own eyes, and that is how I inherit morality.

I asked my teacher if I could record everything truthfully.

My teacher said it was fine, and there was no need to avoid it.

I asked again, "Regardless of family background?"
My teacher said that history is created by people, not by family background.

So, I personally wrote my father's name into the family history.

In the fourth year of the Guanghe era, a bandit named Li Yizi rose up in the Taihang Mountains, intending to secretly invade Xihe. At that time, a righteous minister named Chen Jiuchi resisted at Langshan, but his soldiers were all killed. The bandit Li forced Jiuchi to join him, but Jiuchi cursed, "You wicked traitors, do you know what morality is?!" He then threw himself off a cliff and seized a horse from the bandit to urgently report the military situation. When he reached Xihe, Jiuchi was too badly wounded to walk. Before dying, he set fire to his own house as a warning, saying, "I have done my best," and died. Lady Zuo Yuan, seeing the disaster, quickly mobilized the army and civilians to burn the fields to lure the enemy. Ji Ming led his troops to flank and killed the bandit Li in the field. None of the three thousand bandits escaped.

—From "The Records of Chengzuo Temple: Biographies of Righteous Ministers of Xihe"

……

April of the seventh year of Guanghe.

When the lord pursued Zhang Chun to Lu County, Gong Qichou, the Protector of the Wuhuan, falsely accused the lord of secretly mobilizing the Wuhuan and accused him of colluding with the bandits. He then ordered Qian Zhao to lead the Guangyang army to attack the lord.

Qian Zhao resigned his post and returned to his hometown. None of the armies followed him, and they scattered in all directions.

Then Liu Zheng, the governor of Youbeiping, falsely accused the lord of gathering a private army to plot a rebellion. Lu Zhi, the general of the Northern Central Army, was half-convinced and half-doubtful, but ordered the lord to enter Jizhou to join the army in the campaign against Zhang Jiao.

When the soldiers of Guangyang were scattered, the lord was unable to respond to the conscription quickly in order to settle the miners and the old and weak of Yongnu County.

By April, the lord was about to miss the appointed time, and Lu Zhi ordered him to speak out against him. So he abandoned the bandits of Yuyang and led his troops into Jizhou.

Gong Qichou was actually after the iron from the Guangping mines, while Liu Zheng was after the copper from the Rushui mines. Even after their lords left, they each seized their own mining areas to enrich themselves.

The two men falsely accused their lord of evil, but praised Zhang Chun as virtuous, which allowed Zhang Chun to escape.

Zhang Chun was vicious and stubborn, while his lord was kind and benevolent. These two men falsely accused the good and feared the evil, yet those with ears believed them. They were truly deaf and blind.

—From "Chengzuo Guanji", by Chen Feng.

(End of this chapter)