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

Chapter 196 Anxiety and Unease
At this time, Liu Bei was still in Xihe, and most of his troops had not yet set off. Only Zhang He and Bai Yao had gone to Hanoi.

Moreover, Bai Yao was actually there to support Guo Daxian, since Bai Yao was formerly a Right Wing Commander of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Zhang He did indeed go to Luoyang to act as a liaison. Zhang Rang's son, Zhang Feng, was quite familiar with Zhang He, which made both the emperor and Zhang Rang trust Zhang He more.

The emperor sent Zhang He with an imperial envoy to contact the White Wave Army, and also to deliver the imperial authorization to Liu Bei, namely, the right to act as a general.

This time, the level of the temporary imperial decree was higher, both to facilitate Liu Bei's negotiations with the White Wave Army on behalf of the court, and to allow the Black Mountain Army to be mobilized to quell the rebellion if negotiations failed.

The envoy sent by the imperial court was Dong Cheng, the nephew of Empress Dowager Dong. He was the younger brother of General Dong Zhong and currently served as a Chamberlain.

The Attendant-in-Ordinary was an inner court official with a salary of 400 shi (a unit of grain), responsible for handling documents and conveying imperial edicts. Although the official rank was not high, he was considered a close advisor to the emperor.

In addition, there was a junior eunuch working with them.

Dong Cheng and the eunuch were also imperial envoys.

Liu Bei, holding the imperial insignia, was responsible for negotiations or military operations. If he could secure amnesty, Dong Cheng would represent the court as the chief envoy for the amnesty.

To negotiate amnesty with rebels, one must have a trusted close minister of the emperor carrying an imperial edict. This was the reason why Zhang Rang was put in charge of the previous amnesty of the Black Mountain rebels.

Upon reaching the Yellow River, Zhang He asked Dong Cheng, "Minister Dong, the other side of the river is now swarming with bandits. Should we disguise ourselves and take a detour to cross the river, or should we make a grand display and send out a large procession?"

In truth, Zhang He himself didn't care how he crossed the river... If he weren't worried about being exposed, Zhang He could even have asked Guo Daxian to send a boat to pick him up...

Dong Cheng was quite courageous: "We are envoys of the imperial court. If we cross the river in disguise, the bandits will look down on the imperial court. Naturally, we should cross the river in full regalia as envoys."

Upon hearing this, the young eunuch nearly wet himself in fear: "Minister Dong, those are remnants of the Yellow Turbans! The court didn't spare a single person when it quelled the Yellow Turbans... They might even kill us as a sacrifice to the flag! Shall we disguise ourselves and take a detour to cross the river from Wei County?"

Dong Cheng glanced at the young eunuch: "That makes sense... Here's what we'll do: you cross the river first. If you're not killed, then the matter of offering amnesty to the White Wave Bandits can be discussed. If you are killed by the bandits as a sacrifice to their flag, then the White Wave Bandits obviously cannot accept the amnesty, and we won't need to cross the river."

The eunuch was truly in a state of shock: "Ah? This... cough, I'm sick... sick, I can't walk."

He then collapsed to the ground and refused to get up.

Dong Cheng glanced at Zhang He, and seeing that Zhang He seemed unwilling to intervene, he drew his sword and pressed it against the young eunuch's neck: "You cross the river first, and you might have a 50% chance of survival; if you refuse, then I'll use you as a sacrifice for the flag now..."

Zhang He frowned, and finally spoke: "Why must you do this, Minister Dong... I will cross the river first, and if I am safe and sound, I will send a boat to pick you up."

The eunuch scrambled to his feet and knelt before Zhang He, bowing repeatedly in gratitude.

Dong Cheng sheathed his sword and cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Zhang He: "Commander Zhang, you are truly courageous... I wonder why you are so unafraid of death?"

Zhang He's heart skipped a beat. He glanced coldly at Dong Cheng and smiled, "It's not that I'm fearless of death, but since I've come, I can naturally return. If Minister Dong doesn't want to wait any longer, why not travel with me?"

Dong Cheng remained silent for a moment, then walked to Zhang He's side, looked at the Yellow River in front of him, and asked in a low voice, "...If I were to cross the river with Commander Zhang, would my life be in danger?"

Zhang He glanced at Dong Cheng, his face showing displeasure: "What do you mean by that, Vice Minister Dong?"

"I'm just curious... how did Zhang Sima cross the river all by himself before? Could it be that the White Wave Bandits sent a boat to escort him?"

Dong Cheng looked serious, his eyes filled with suspicion.

"Of course, it was the White Wave Pirates who brought me here..."

Zhang He pulled a piece of yellow cloth from his pocket and tied it on his head: "If you go to Hebei and shout three times that the blue sky is dead and the yellow sky shall rise, the White Wave Bandits will send you across the river... and they won't even charge you a ferry fee."

Dong Cheng stared intently at Zhang He until Zhang He had tied the yellow turban on his head, then he spoke: "I am an envoy of the Emperor. If the Han envoy has to disguise himself as a Yellow Turban in order to win over the Yellow Turbans, then what is the difference between this surrender and a surrender?"

"What, does Vice Minister Dong think that the offer of amnesty is a gesture of grace from the court? If the court were not powerless to suppress the rebellion, why would it attempt to offer amnesty?"

Zhang He sneered, "If it weren't for my lord, Liu Qidu, holding them back in Hebei, the White Wave bandits would probably already be besiege Luoyang! How would that be different from surrendering? Ha... You tell me, how is the current situation any different from surrendering?"

Dong Cheng remained silent, glanced back at the eunuch on the ground, then at Zhang He, and sighed expressionlessly, "I am also ill and unable to travel for the time being... Please make yourself at home, Commander Zhang..."

Zhang He's face twitched, and he didn't say anything more, going straight onto the ferry docked at the pier.

……

Since no official imperial envoys crossed the river and Liu Bei was not in Hanoi, the idea of ​​amnesty was out of the question.

Thus, from the end of June until August, Hanoi remained in the hands of the White Turbans.

Even after Zhu Jun was reinstated after his mourning period ended and rushed from Kuaiji to Luoyang, the situation remained the same.

Hanoi is a land of abundant money and grain. At this time, it was the autumn harvest season, and the grain in the prefecture was swept away by the White Wave Yellow Turbans. The money and taxes transported from Bing and Ji prefectures to Luoyang were also intercepted. The White Wave army was not afraid of a long-term standoff.

Bingzhou also received the news, and Ding Yuan, who served as the Commandant of Yanmen, and Zhang Yang, the Military Advisor of Yunzhong Army, led their troops south to provide assistance and stationed themselves at Huguan in Shangdang.

However, their forces were small and they could not communicate with the imperial court or other troops due to the blocked roads. They could only guard Huguan to prevent the White Wave Army from entering the heart of Bingzhou and dared not easily send troops to Henan.

On the Luoyang side, He Jin and He Miao each led more than a thousand elite troops to guard the two ferry crossings at Mengjin, and seized and destroyed most of the ferry boats to prevent the Bai Bo army from crossing the river to attack Luoyang.

The White Wave Army didn't have many ships and wasn't very familiar with naval warfare, so they didn't attempt to cross the Yellow River. However, Luoyang still faced the approaching enemy forces.

Meanwhile, the rebels in Qing and Xu prefectures who called themselves Yellow Turbans were uncontrollable and their numbers grew to hundreds of thousands, especially in Taishan Prefecture, where almost the entire population had become bandits.

In August, the barbarians in Wuling, Badong and other places also rebelled again. Probably because they saw that the court was unable to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the barbarians also called themselves the Yellow Turbans this time...

In fact, the Way of Peace never preached in places like Badong, which were within the sphere of influence of the Five Pecks of Rice Way.

The emperor is on the verge of collapse.

Even if Bai Bo's army is defeated, what will happen to Qing and Xu prefectures?
What about Liangzhou?
The barbarians in Jingnan and Badong have been causing trouble. What will happen to Jing and Yi provinces?
There are very few places left in the land that haven't rebelled.

Time is running out for Liu Hong...

In his anxiety and distress, Liu Hong fell ill.

After the diagnosis, the palace eunuch found arsenic in the imperial physician's medicine box.

The imperial physician argued that the emperor's condition was due to qi stagnation and dryness, and that adding a small amount of arsenic to the medicine was the right remedy, and that the dosage was small and would not be harmful to the body.

But Liu Hong didn't believe it and ordered that all the arsenic in the imperial medicine chest be fed to the imperial physician. The physician was forced to swallow a large amount of arsenic and died on the spot.

Subsequently, Liu Hong appointed Zhang Rang's son, Zhang Feng, as the Imperial Physician and ordered a thorough investigation of the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Zhang Feng didn't actually understand medicine, but he was at least relatively reliable.

After this incident, Liu Hong dared not take medicine easily anymore, and the imperial physicians dared not use strong medicines for the symptoms. Even when encountering acute illnesses, they only dared to prescribe some mild tonics for the emperor and the nobles in the palace.

……

On the other side, Zuo Yuan was about to give birth.

During this period, Liu Bei was generously distributing money and porridge.

Because they had been minting and distributing coins to buy grain and do good deeds, the family's income and expenses had increased dramatically during this period. Bian Ji was already overwhelmed with managing the finances, so she naturally had no energy to manage the specific use of grain.

The grain trade is too frequent, and in order to reduce transportation losses, it is often purchased and consumed locally, making it difficult to verify.

So some people started to have a little scheme—only the person in charge of distributing the porridge knew whether the amount of grain purchased was actually that much, how much of it was actually used for the porridge distribution, or even if it was the exact amount of grain used.

For the past few months, Liu Bei and Zuo Yuan had been personally overseeing things, so naturally there were no problems.

But after May, Zuo Yuan's belly grew bigger, and Liu Bei stopped going out. He then entrusted the tasks of distributing porridge to the local powerful families who sold grain.

Whoever you bought the grain from, just ask them to distribute it as charity, and do so under Liu Bei's banner.

Both sides did good deeds, but Liu Bei paid for it.

Thanks to the Emperor, the number of refugees has been increasing recently, so Liu Bei has entrusted the affairs of the Ji County area to the Xu family, since the grain is also purchased from the Xu family to avoid unnecessary expenses from transporting it too far.

This is the Xu family that was engaged to Tian Yu; the head of the family is named Xu Mao.

Xu Mao's son, Xu Miao, and Tian Yu were classmates; they both studied at the official school in Ji County.

In fact, all the prefectures of the Han Dynasty had official schools, but some prefectures failed to establish them, such as Yuyang.

Previously, the Zhang family had controlled Yuyang County. Aristocratic families from other counties in Yuyang Prefecture who didn't intend to join the Zhang family would go to Ji County or Zhuo County to study. Xianyu Fu also studied in Ji County, and met Tian Yu there—but neither he nor Tian Yu were particularly good students…

Regardless, the Xu family remained close to Liu Bei's group because of this relationship, and had always cooperated with Liu Bei in his affairs in Guangyang. The Xu family was also the first to provide grain and land to settle the miners.

Of course, providing porridge to refugees was not about letting them eat there indefinitely; the refugees were to be recruited and resettled in Xihe as tenant farmers or soldiers.

Liu Bei made all his subordinates landlords, so he naturally had to recruit a large number of displaced people as tenants. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others would go to various places to recruit displaced people.

Zhao Yun passed the military selection on his first day in the army, and excelled in all aspects, including his writing, so he was promoted one rank and is currently Liu Bei's bodyguard, Qu Hou.

He usually took turns with Zhang Fei to ensure the safety of Liu Bei and Zuo Yuan, and in his spare time he would go out to recruit tenants and settle displaced people.

Since Zhao Yun's elder brother Zhao Lin became the magistrate of Ji County, Zhao Yun often went to Ji County to handle this matter.

However, when Zhao Yun went to Ji County to recruit refugees in early August, he found that the fragrant millet porridge in the soup kitchen a few months ago had now turned into bran and millet husks!

This is right after the autumn harvest, so the Xu family couldn't possibly be short of grain. Liu Bei paid for the grain last month, and Zhao Yun was the one who escorted the grain!

Bran porridge can certainly be eaten and can keep people alive, so it's not an extreme measure, and it does indeed use Liu Bei's name.

But the problem is that it's using Liu Bei's name...

If Xu Mao himself were to distribute chaff in the name of the Xu family, there wouldn't be much of a problem—as long as it didn't affect Liu Bei's reputation or the good karma of Liu Bei's children, then all that would be needed is for the Xu family to replenish the grain, pay compensation, and apologize, and then cease cooperation in the future.

But Xu Mao has already distributed this porridge under Liu Bei's name, which is tantamount to immorality...

Of course, immoral acts cannot be tolerated.

Zhao Yun was furious on the spot—he followed Liu Bei precisely because of this virtue!

If there were no comparison, it wouldn't be a problem, but for the past six months, Zhao Yun had been by Liu Bei and Zuo Yuan's side and had personally witnessed tens of thousands of refugees praying for Zuo Yuan's unborn child. He knew what Liu Bei and Zuo Yuan had done.

Zhao Yun's courtesy name, "Zilong," comes from the Qian hexagram in the Book of Changes, which signifies "clouds follow the dragon." The dragon is strong and vigorous, while the clouds are gentle and harmonious, thus representing outward strength and inward gentleness.

Zhao Lin's courtesy name is 'Zi Yue (Dui)', which comes from the Ze hexagram in the Book of Changes. Lin means rain and dew, and Dui means lake. Dui means joy, which is firm in the middle and gentle on the outside. This means that he is gentle on the outside and firm on the inside.

The two brothers' names and personalities are very compatible. Moreover, Zhao Yun is still young, the same age as Zhang Fei. He hasn't yet developed inner gentleness, but he is very tough on the outside.

Zhao Yun also knew that Liu Bei definitely didn't want to kill anyone during this period—especially these past few days, as Zuo Yuan was about to give birth.

The fact that Zhao Yun could still remember this matter when he was angry shows that he was quite rational.

So Zhao Yun led his troops to open the gates of the Xu family, had his men take the grain stored in the house to make up for the shortage, and took Xu Mao to Xihe, leaving Liu Bei to decide how to deal with him.

Zhao Yun did not harm anyone, and the Xu family, knowing they were in the wrong, did not resist.

But what Zhao Yun did was actually illegal.

Liu Bei asked the Xu family to help distribute porridge, which was a private matter, not a public one.

Although Xu Mao broke his promise and embezzled Liu Bei's property, this can only be considered an economic dispute, and a transactional one at that—it was a case of passing off inferior goods as superior ones, nothing more.

Zhao Yun forcibly seized grain from the Xu family to make up the shortfall and detained Xu Mao. This may seem fair and just, but it was actually an act of unauthorized military action and a violation of the law.

Law and reason are not the same thing, and they are even less so with morality. Law is merely a tool of governance and should not be regarded as related to principles.

But Zhao Yun had already shown great restraint—if Guan Yu or Zhang Fei had handled this matter, the consequences would certainly have been much more serious…

Xu Mao was incredibly lucky to have survived Yun's fury...

Liu Bei remained clear-headed and did not punish Xu Mao himself, but instead asked Wen Shu, the governor of Zhuojun, to handle the case.

But Wen Shu was in a difficult position. If this matter were handled fairly according to the law, the Xu family should pay compensation, and Zhao Yun should go to jail or even be beheaded...

The Xu family's only offense was breaking their promise and selling inferior goods as superior ones. This is merely a civil case, involving only nearly 10,000 bushels of grain, which is a relatively large sum of money.

However, Zhao Yun committed a criminal offense, and a particularly heinous one at that: allowing his troops to plunder – that is indeed the case, without any accusations.

Wen Shu was in a difficult position, so he claimed that the incident occurred in Guangyang. Whether it was Xu Mao's breach of contract or Zhao Yun's robbery, it all happened in Ji County, Guangyang.

The case in Ji County should naturally be handled by the officials of Ji County...

Therefore, Wen Shu sent the case back to Ji County and asked the newly appointed Ji County Magistrate, Zhao Lin, to handle it.

Wen Shu meant well, of course, but why would he need to have the older brother interrogate the younger brother?
Wen Shu truly didn't expect that Zhao Lin would actually imprison Zhao Yun, sentence him to exile in Liangzhou, and then order the Xu family to pay reparations and apologize to Liu Bei...

After the verdict was handed down, Zhao Lin impeached himself on the grounds that he was "unreasonable as an elder brother" and prepared to resign!
Liu Bei was furious when he learned of this...

Zhao Lin is indeed very upright, but he's also incredibly stubborn!
Zhao Yun is indeed your younger brother, but he is now also Liu Bei's subordinate!
You think you can just exile me like that? I might as well exile you myself!

But just as she received this news, Zuo Yuan's water broke, and she was about to give birth...

Unable to leave his home, Liu Bei could only quickly send Guan Yu and Jian Yong with troops to block the road and prevent Zhao Yun from being exiled, making sure to intercept him.

It was the fifteenth of August.

The manor was not in any chaos, after all, Xiu Niang and a large group of medical staff were already waiting nearby, the greenhouse had been set up as a delivery room, and all the equipment and supplies were ready.

Zuo Yuan is indeed pregnant with twins.

These days, twins are a matter of life and death. Xiuniang has a lot of experience in delivering babies, but she is not very confident. She can only make preparations as thoroughly as possible.

Like most men who are about to become fathers, Liu Bei could only wait anxiously outside the delivery room.

After all, he knew neither medicine nor childbirth, and he couldn't do delicate procedures like cesarean sections. Xiu Niang was already more familiar with various disinfection methods to prevent infection than he was.

Time travelers aren't omnipotent. The only tool Liu Bei could provide was a pair of forceps he made based on his intuition, but he really hoped that the forceps would never be needed.

Xiuniang said that although it was twins, the baby positions were fine, and Zuo Yuan had always been healthy, the pregnancy was well in gestation, and the people at Xihe Medical Clinic would never do anything reckless...

Hot water is always available, and manpower is always available; everything is already in the best possible state for this era.

But Liu Bei was extremely anxious.

"Liu Lang, don't worry. Sister Zuo is a lucky person, blessed by all the families. Good deeds will be rewarded, and she will be alright..."

Bian Ji comforted her from the side.

“I’m not just worried about A-Yuan…”

Liu Bei sighed. He was not only worried about his wife and children, but also about Zhao Yun, and about the situation in Hanoi and Liangzhou...

Zhang He sent word back that the court was indeed willing to offer amnesty to the Bai Bo Army, but Dong Cheng, who was in charge of the amnesty, had not gone to Hanoi, and the court had appointed Zhu Jun as the governor of Hanoi.

Liu Bei was trying to stall for time, so he didn't care whether Dong Cheng went to do the work or not.

But Zhu Jun... that man is a big problem.

Liu Bei could easily guess that the emperor was already suspicious of his relationship with the White Wave Army. Appointing Zhu Jun as the governor of Hanoi was essentially the same as tying a big wolfhound to one's doorstep.

"Elder brother, elder brother... Mr. Ji has sent a letter!"

Just as Liu Bei was pondering all sorts of troublesome matters, Zhang Fei burst in, shouting and yelling.

"Yide, be quiet!"

Bian Ji glared angrily at Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei glanced at the delivery room, awkwardly pinched his mouth, and handed Liu Bei a silk scroll.

Duan Jiong returned to Liangzhou and used the last moments of his life to forge his final fame.

The Liangzhou rebels retreated, and the Xianling Qiang suddenly stopped causing trouble, actually because they had seen Duan Jiong.

(End of this chapter)