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

Chapter 159 The Prestige Scheme Has Succeeded

May of the seventh year of Guanghe.

The seven subordinates of Zhao Qian, the governor of Runan, who died in battle, were known throughout the world by the court officials for their loyalty and righteousness in sacrificing themselves to shield others from the sword, and were called the "Seven Worthies".

Yuan Mi, a scholar, was listed as the first of the Seven Sages.

In fact, consultants are externally hired staff members, equivalent to advisors, or they can also be called 'experts'. The most distinctive feature of this position is that... their rank and authority are 'uncertain'.

Under normal circumstances, in terms of rank, Yisheng was only equivalent to the position of Junmajian, which Liu Bei appointed Shiren to, with a stipend of 100 shi.

But in reality, consultants and experts... well, everyone knows what that means.

The reason why Yuan Mi was listed as the first of the "Seven Sages" is, of course, because Yuan Mi was a member of the Yuan family, and his father, Yuan Zhong, was Yuan Kui's cousin.

Yuan Zhong was a member of the partisan faction. He was unable to take up an official post because he was friends with Fan Pang, one of the "Eight Men". Before that, Yuan Mi could only serve as a subordinate official and could not hold a government position.

Now that the emperor has lifted the ban on partisan strife, Yuan Mi went to "punish the Yellow Turbans." After all, although Yuan Kui had connections, it would be best if he could also gain some merit.

In fact, the so-called Eight Gu, Eight Jun, Eight Chefs... these famous scholars who were renowned throughout the world were all, without exception, members of the Party.

This tendency to create viral groups with high numbers at the drop of a hat, boost their fame, and then have them debut as singers and dancers is precisely why people are called "party members."

They form cliques and praise each other to gain fame, and they form gangs to control public opinion. Their abilities vary greatly, but their fame is overwhelming...

Regardless of their private lives, they all outwardly boasted to each other that they were upright and virtuous men and women, and that they were all "generous, righteous and helpful."

In the eyes of most scholars and uninformed common people, these "pure stream" individuals did not serve the powerful and wealthy, and had a very good reputation.

In fact, most of the so-called "pure stream" figures who "did not serve the powerful and wealthy" and "did not flatter the eunuchs" were unable to become officials due to the partisan purges, and even if they wanted to serve the powerful and wealthy, they could not... That's why they praised each other as pure stream scholars who looked down on kings and nobles.

After all, most scholars made a living by their eloquence; if they couldn't become officials, they could only become famous scholars.

These upright and distinguished scholars were the internet celebrities and experts of the Han Dynasty.

Of course, internet celebrities or experts need to be packaged and managed; otherwise, they won't gain any traffic.

The greater the traffic, the greater the power of discourse... After all, most people really don't have much discernment; human nature is to repeat what others say.

If online celebrities and experts are impeccable in terms of personal morality, people will assume that what they say is correct and will automatically spread it from person to person.

Even if some people think they are unreliable, they must still submit to the principle of 'majority rule'—but in reality, the majority are silent, and only those who have money to buy traffic or have the power to control traffic can speak out.

Like internet celebrities and experts, famous figures naturally have behind-the-scenes teams and agencies.

And talent agencies will naturally package themselves by packaging internet celebrities, since only when artists have a positive image can the company have a positive image.

Just like Yuan Mi and the so-called "Seven Sages," although they were packaged into internet celebrities after their deaths, they can bring great positive effects to their agency, "Yuan Group."

Most people think in a single thread, seeing things as either black or white, good or bad, kind or evil, loyal or treacherous.

Many people might think, "Look, the Yuan family members and their followers are all such loyal and righteous officials who would die for their principles, so the Yuan family can't be all that bad..."

Few people know that these officials who died for their loyalty were actually killed by Ma Yuanyi in retaliation for chasing down the innocent doctors he led.

Yuan Mi died trying to steal credit, and Ma Yuanyi killed him to protect himself. There was no right or wrong in that.

But that's how public opinion works: the 'Seven Sages' sacrificing themselves to shield their country from the sword, dying for their cause—how touching that sounds…

When it comes to boasting, who can outdo the aristocratic families?

The "Seven Sages" were quickly hailed as moral exemplars, with scholars and literati across the land singing their praises. They also "incidentally" lauded the Yuan family for their unwavering loyalty and virtue, deeming it fitting that they had served as high-ranking officials for four generations.

The Yellow Turbans were known for their cruel killing of loyal officials and their attempt to rebel in Luoyang. They were undoubtedly wicked and rebellious bandits, and their so-called proclamations were certainly not credible.

Look at how the Emperor, because of Ma Yuanyi's treason case, sent General He Jin to purge thousands of innocent people in Luoyang, even killing two chief eunuchs. This kind of behavior clearly shows that the Emperor is desperate...

Many small things can influence the overall situation.

A single, trivial news story about a popular celebrity can make the world forget the previous uproar, just as a celebrity's headlines can make people temporarily forget about criticizing 007.

A deliberately nonsensical "suggestion" from a traffic expert can make people forget their feelings of injustice and instead mock the expert for not understanding human suffering. But after the mockery, they forget everything else and only remember the fun of mocking the expert.

Scholars of the Celestial Empire have been proficient in this art since ancient times.

As for celebrities, they're professionals at manipulating fame.

No one cared how Zhao Qian fought the battle, nor did anyone care why all the county officials who shouldn't have gone to war died. In any case, everyone remembered the Seven Loyal and Righteous Men who sacrificed themselves to block the sword.

Guo Dian's manifesto against the powerful and influential figures was originally the top trending topic on the Han Dynasty search list, but now it can only stand alongside news such as the Seven Loyal and Righteous Men and General He Jin's bloody purge of Luoyang.

The effect of standing on three equal footings is certainly not the best.

So, a few days later, the imperial court received a report of victory from Changshe.

……

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were trapped in Changshe for a whole month.

The five battalions of the Northern Army were all elite armored soldiers, but there were only four thousand men in total; the cavalry of the Three Rivers also numbered only five thousand.

With no more than 10,000 soldiers inside the city and 100,000 enemy troops outside, the disparity in numbers was enormous. Furthermore, the city had lost the advantage of field armor and weapons, so it was inevitable that the city would feel anxious and uneasy.

Huangfu Song reassured those inside the city, saying that military tactics are unpredictable and depend not on the number of troops. The bandits had set up camp in the grass, and as long as there was a strong wind, a single fire could break them out of the predicament.

As the heavens granted, and the words were followed by law, a strong wind arose that very night.

Huangfu Song sent his elite troops to sneak out of the city and set it on fire. Then everyone rushed out with torches and drums.

Bo Cai was too inexperienced, allowing tens of thousands of people to set up camp in the woodlands and grasslands without cutting down trees in time. Moreover, the Yellow Turban army lacked combat experience and panicked and scattered when they encountered a fire, retreating hastily.

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun led their troops into the chaotic Yellow Turban army and defeated them in one battle. At the same time, Cao Cao, who had just been appointed as a cavalry commander, also arrived with eight hundred cavalrymen and attacked from the rear of the Yellow Turbans.

This battle resulted in a major defeat for Yingchuan, with 50,000 heads taken in a single engagement!

Subsequently, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun pursued their victory. Bo Cai, Peng Tuo, and other Yellow Turban leaders were no match for them and had to retreat to Dongjun in Yanzhou. A large number of Yellow Turbans dispersed into small groups of bandits, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Runan was quelled.

—These are the rewards that the Luoyang court received.

The intelligence that Liu Bei obtained was quite different from the military reports that the court received... After all, the intelligence collected by Zuo Yuan didn't need to be sensationalized or filtered.

At the end of March, Zhu Jun led the Sanhe cavalry on a surprise attack to Yingchuan, but before he could even make contact with the Yellow Turbans in Yingchuan, he immediately retreated to Changshe. Therefore, his battle report to the court made no mention of how he was defeated, because there was no battle at all...

The reason why Huangfu Song plunged into Changshe and was trapped was the same: Huangfu Song's troops never made contact with the Yellow Turbans, and he went directly into Changshe.

Bo Cai's Yellow Turban troops did indeed besiege Changshe, but Bo Cai did not attack or besiege the city. Instead, he stationed himself by the river northeast of Changshe.

It is backed by a forest and bordered by a river, with marshes along the riverbank and plenty of thatch and reeds.

This made it easy to cut down trees for fire, easy to fetch water for distributing porridge, and easy to hide—Bo Cai was actually adopting a defensive posture. The vast majority of the Yellow Turbans were commoners, but commoners are not stupid. Everyone knew that 100,000 starving people could not defeat 10,000 elite troops, and among those 10,000 elite troops were 5,000 cavalry and 4,000 armored soldiers.

Bo Cai had no intention of attacking the city. He only knew that Zhu Jun had a large number of cavalry, so he did not dare to move and just kept confronting Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song.

The situation only changed after Cao Cao's troops arrived.

Chaos suddenly broke out inside the Yellow Turban camp, and Bo Cai's camp was set on fire.

It is true that Huangfu Song burned down Bo Cai's camp, but Huangfu Song was not the one who started the fire... He only led the troops inside the city to launch a large-scale attack after he saw Bo Cai's camp on fire.

It is true that 100,000 Yellow Turbans were defeated, but it was not 100,000 "Yellow Turban Army" soldiers, but 100,000 civilians.

Cao Cao just happened to arrive at that time. Upon seeing the fire, he charged in from the side of the retreating Yellow Turban army and indeed achieved a great victory.

However, the tens of thousands of heads they ultimately captured...

It's not the military.

Regardless, the fact that the Emperor's personal army defeated 100,000 Yellow Turbans and beheaded 50,000 is a major news story that will undoubtedly dominate the headlines.

More importantly, after this battle, the Yellow Turbans and the Emperor's army will likely be locked in a life-or-death struggle.

……

Liu Bei received this intelligence in mid-May, and at the same time he also received letters from two other people.

One letter was from Zou Jing, and the other was from Cao Cao.

Zou Jing was appointed by the emperor as the Marquis of the Northern Army, which was actually a promotion in disguise.

The Northern Army's Marquis, like the Governor of a Prefecture, was an inspector with a salary of 600 shi (a unit of grain measure). He did not have direct authority to mobilize troops, but he could supervise all the officers of the five battalions of the Northern Army. In other words, all five officers with a salary of 2,000 shi were subject to Zou Jing's supervision.

Liu Hong suspected that the Fifth Battalion of the Northern Army was not very reliable, so he sent Zou Jing to Huangfu Song's army to supervise the Fifth Battalion of the Northern Army.

Zou Jing wrote to Liu Bei to ask if Liu Bei could lead troops to assist in the battle—the emperor had already issued an edict ordering Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to continue the campaign against the Yellow Turbans in Dongjun.

Meanwhile, Zou Jing told Liu Bei that Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun had carried out a massacre outside Changshe City.

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun actually killed all the people wearing yellow turbans outside Changshe City—they took 50,000 heads. The main reason for this was that the other 50,000 were commoners who did not wear yellow turbans, probably because Bo Cai did not have that many yellow cloths left.

If it weren't for Zou Jing's intervention, which mandated that only legitimate acts of suppressing traitors and eliminating rebellions were permitted and that the Northern Army was not allowed to massacre those without yellow turbans, the remaining 50,000 men would not have been able to escape to Yanzhou.

Huangfu Song said that this was to gain as many merits as possible to offset Zhu Jun's previous "defeat" and to eliminate the Yellow Turban threat to Ruyang in one fell swoop.

Zou Jing could not agree with this statement, but this was all he could do to restrain them, since it was indeed justified for the government troops to kill the Yellow Turban rebels.

Zou Jingxin wrote that this might be the emperor's intention in having him supervise the Northern Army.

At the end of the letter, Zou Jing wrote a special note: "The Chief Administrator of the Border Commandery has the responsibility to assist the Changshui Camp in recruiting Hu cavalry. Xuande should lead the army south to assist in the battle."

Liu Bei knew that Zou Jing meant that rather than letting Huangfu Song and others carry out massacres, it would be better for Liu Bei to fight against the Yellow Turbans and gain some military merits, at least fewer people would die.

Cao Cao's letters to Liu Bei were almost entirely filled with complaints—yes, complaints.

Cao Cao knew that Liu Bei had taken Bian Ji as a concubine, but he did not mention it. Instead, he told Liu Bei about the war.

After Cao Cao charged in from the flank of the Yellow Turbans, he actually fought a battle, killing hundreds of Yellow Turban soldiers who were armed. This was a normal combat operation.

After the Yellow Turban Rebellion was quelled, Cao Cao did not pursue the ordinary people. Instead, he went to see Huangfu Song and tried to stop Huangfu Song from killing civilians. Cao Cao was not yet the future Cao Sikong, and he did not want to kill those who were unarmed.

Huangfu Song said to Cao Cao, "A bandit is a bandit. If we don't kill and frighten the rebels, they will rise again. Have I done anything wrong by leading the army to kill the bandits?"

There is certainly nothing wrong with that...

But Cao Cao found it hard to accept, especially the killing of the elderly, women and children.

However, the emperor issued an edict ordering him to serve as reinforcements and obey Huangfu Song's military orders, so he had no choice but to go to Dongjun with the army.

And Dongjun...

Dunqiu was once governed by Cao Cao when he served as county magistrate.

Cao Cao knew very well that the people of Dunqiu were living in hardship, and that a large number of them must have joined the Yellow Turbans.

Now, however, he may have to kill his former subjects with his own hands—many of whom he may have personally distributed porridge to, and many of whom he may even know by name.

Judging from the behavior of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun...

Dunqiu might be massacred.

Surprisingly, Cao Cao was actually considered a relatively benevolent military leader, at least he still remembered old friendships.

When the bandits in Zhuojun caused great chaos, Liu Bei only executed the ringleaders and did not kill the young men who joined the rebellion. Cao Cao was well aware of this. At that time, Xiahou Dun was in Zhuojun.

Cao Cao asked Liu Bei, "Of those young men who were not killed back then, are any of them now serving as bandits?"
At the same time, Cao Cao also wrote the following sentence at the end of the letter: "I have heard that there is a Wuhuan camp under the command of the Chief Clerk of Guangyang. I request the Chief Clerk to lend troops to suppress the bandits."

Liu Bei understood Cao Cao's meaning. Like Zou Jing, Cao Cao also wanted Liu Bei to get involved in the war in Dongjun. He wanted to save the people of Dongjun, or even just the people of Dunqiu.

……

If Huangfu Song hadn't carried out the massacre, Liu Bei probably would have led his troops south to Dongjun.

It wasn't to give face to Zou Jing and Cao Cao, but rather because, in the context of "purging the court of corrupt officials," Liu Bei was quite willing to pacify the Yellow Turbans—as long as the court showed a good attitude, pacification wouldn't be too difficult.

But now... it's impossible to appease them.

After Ma Yuanyi was torn apart by chariots, Zhang Mancheng, a physician from Nanyang, proclaimed himself "Divine Envoy," raised an army, killed the prefect Chu Gong, and occupied Wancheng.

After the massacre at Changshe, Zhang Liang abandoned Ye City and led his army north to launch a fierce attack on Lu Zhi.

Local officials also raised armies, killing local officials, burning government offices, and completely breaking with the imperial court.

The relationship between the Yellow Turbans and the imperial court could no longer be eased. Overnight, Ji Province was engulfed in flames of war, with Yellow Turbans fighting against local troops or powerful clans in every prefecture.

Moreover, Zhang Jiao, the only person who could control the Yellow Turbans, fell ill.

Zhang Jiao did manage to suppress the plague in Guangzong, but he couldn't suppress the cold plague he contracted himself. He didn't fall ill when the weather was cold, but he couldn't withstand it when the weather got warmer—that's how cold plagues are; they are easy to get in winter, but they can be fatal in summer.

Moreover, a strange mixed force of Xianbei and Wuhuan people appeared in Guangyang County, causing chaos everywhere and about to invade Zhuo County. Xianyu Fu also sent a letter to Liu Bei requesting help.

Given the current situation, Liu Bei can no longer head south; he must first resolve the problems at hand.

He could only reply to Zou Jing: "Brother Mengde once served as an official in Dunqiu. You can send him to Dunqiu to persuade them to surrender. If he can get the Yellow Turbans in Dunqiu to surrender, then Dongjun can also be persuaded to surrender. If Dunqiu does not surrender, please send the general back to Luoyang immediately, otherwise you may be in danger of losing your life."

When Cao Cao replied, Liu Bei only asked, "Is it hard to part with the Cavalry Commandant?"

(End of this chapter)