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

Chapter 216 Ordinary and Extraordinary
Zhao Yun is currently serving as the Military Supervisor of the Qingzhou Governor's Office. This is a subordinate official under the governor, not a government official.

The position of "Zhi Shi" is that of an assistant. The rank of "Yi Lu" is very low, but the status is quite high, after all, it is someone close to the governor.

This is mainly because Zhao Yun was reinstated after being convicted of a crime, and he was no longer placed in the military system, but rather in the system of a governor's subordinate.

That's right. Although his official title included the word "supervisor" and he was in charge of Liu Bei's personal guards, Zhao Yun was actually a civil official, just like Lü Bu back then.

In fact, Lü Bu is still in a civil service position. He is currently the chief clerk of Ding Yuan, the newly appointed governor of Bing Province.

This is also the awkward situation for governors like Liu Bei and Ding Yuan, who combined military and political power—their authority was indeed very high, but whether they held military or governorship positions, they could not directly appoint or dismiss officials; they could only appoint subordinates.

The Left General of the Central Army is the highest rank of military executive officer, but he is not a general who can establish his own government.

The governor of a prefecture was the highest-ranking official in the Han Dynasty, but he was not a chief administrator.

Neither of them had the power to appoint or dismiss personnel; if they wanted their subordinates to become officials, they could only do so through recommendation.

Therefore, all of Liu Bei's generals were only Sima.

Guan Yu was the Commander of the Central Army, and Zhang Fei was the Commander of the Army.

Since Liu Bei did not bring any imperial troops, but only his own troops, this could only be considered the main force of the General of the Central Army. Although the number of troops exceeded five thousand, it was still only counted as one battalion and two divisions, and the military commander could only have two positions.

Zhang He and Bai Yao had just left the Ganling County military system. Currently, they were both serving as commanders of separate units, which were newly established to quell the rebellion in Qingzhou. In reality, they were temporary staff.

Since the governor himself did not have any military officials, Zhao Yun could only serve as an assistant.

The salaries of subordinate officials were always much lower than those of military officers. The military commander was paid 1,000 shi of grain, while the supervising officer was paid only 200 shi of grain—and that was only because Liu Bei paid more; the average salary of an officer was 100 shi of grain.

The wages differ by a factor of five.

However, contrary to his salary, Zhao Yun, as the military governor, wielded considerable real power because he had the authority to supervise the army.

It was a common practice in the Han Dynasty for lower-ranking officials to supervise higher-ranking officials and for those with low salaries to wield great power.

For example, a prefectural-level supervisory official like the governor only received a stipend of 600 shi (a unit of grain), while his right-hand men, such as the deputy governor and the chief administrator, only received a stipend of 200 shi.

Moreover, Liu Bei even had Zhao Yun draft military laws—this was, of course, because he trusted Zhao Yun's character.

"Yun is a crude and unskilled warrior. His knowledge is far inferior to that of Master Wenhe, his experience is far inferior to that of Guan Yu Yide, and he has never accomplished any great feats..."

Zhao Yun was actually somewhat uneasy: "My lord has already promoted me to the position of Military Supervisor by making me an exceptional promotion. If I am also put in charge of drafting military law, I fear there will be discontent in the army... I also wonder what my lord will prioritize when establishing military law?"

"Zilong single-handedly defeated the enemy and captured Sun Jian, saving me from danger. How can you say he did not achieve great merit?"

Liu Bei felt that Zhao Yun was being too modest. His knowledge and experience were one thing, but he certainly had made great contributions—he single-handedly defeated Sun Jian, which actually saved Liu Bei's life. For Liu Bei, this achievement was far greater than killing generals and capturing flags.

"As a guard, protecting my lord is my duty..."

Zhao Yun shook his head and said, "If I were to be awarded special honors for my duties, I would feel ashamed to accept it."

Liu Bei looked at Zhao Yun speechlessly: "Zilong, aren't you being a bit too hard on yourself? Doing your job well is the greatest achievement!"

Zhao Yun continued to shake his head: "I do not possess extraordinary virtue, nor do I have the benevolence to bring peace to the world. I have made no contributions to the Great Xing Dynasty, nor have I achieved anything in expanding the territory. I am merely content with my lot and may be considered hardworking, but I have no special merits."

Liu Bei sighed; Zhao Zilong was indeed very harsh on him…

Then Liu Bei asked, "In Zilong's mind, what would be considered a great achievement?"

"I believe that a ruler like you who saves the people from chaos is a benevolent act of accumulating good deeds; a ruler like Jia Zhizhong who prepares various laws is a measure of a hundred years of good governance; a ruler like Jian Biejia who brings peace to 100,000 people is a virtue of our time; a ruler like Guan Yu and Yi De who exterminates the barbarians is a measure of expanding the territory... These are the truly remarkable achievements."

Zhao Yun looked extremely serious.

Liu Bei never expected that Zhao Yun was actually a perfectionist and idealist.

But it is precisely people like this who take every task seriously.

"Zilong...it's not like that."

Liu Bei smiled and said, "The truly outstanding achievements are made by a group of ordinary people doing ordinary things, yet together they accomplish extraordinary feats..."

"An ordinary person?"

Zhao Yun was clearly puzzled—no matter how you looked at it, Liu Bei's men were hardly ordinary people...

“Zilong, you have the ability to fight a hundred men, but people as extraordinary as you are few and far between.”

Liu Bei saw Zhao Yun's confusion and explained, "Most of the time, those we need to rely on, those who are worthy of our reliance, are ordinary people. How to enable more people to work together and achieve their goals, and how to enable more ordinary people to do extraordinary things, that is our honor and the great achievement of everyone."

"Please teach me, my lord."

Zhao Yun cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and asked for guidance.

"If someone diligently guards this warehouse for decades, and with such a person on duty, no disasters have occurred within the warehouse for decades, not even a single rat... but this person has not performed any extraordinary feats, only possessing the ability to guard the military warehouse. Zilong, do you think this person has any special merits?"

Liu Bei pointed to the warehouse behind the government office and asked.

"To have achieved neither merit nor demerit for decades is itself a laborious endeavor, or perhaps no different..."

Zhao Yun initially wanted to say that there were no special merits, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was not right: "If there is no mistake or oversight for decades, this person may indeed have made great contributions."

"It is often said that hard work brings great merit... What does it mean to work hard and make great merit? If one does hard work without making mistakes, then that is a great achievement. It is precisely because every ordinary person performs their duties and does hard work that a glorious achievement that shines throughout the world can be achieved in the end. The real great achievement is not to build a great achievement with a clever plan, but to let everyone do their job well."

Liu Bei nodded and said, "It is indeed the duty of the guards to protect their lord, but ordinary people can only exert 60% of their strength. If they can do 80% of their duty, that is a great achievement. If they do 100% of their duty, that is an extraordinary merit. If everyone in the world can do their duty well, that is benevolence for all ages. This applies to scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants, and soldiers. Now that Zilong is supplementing the military law, he should also emphasize doing one's duty well."

"Prioritize fulfilling one's duties to the utmost..."

Zhao Yun understood, bowed and accepted the order, then turned to consult the soldiers—only by understanding the duties of each position could military law be formulated to ensure that everyone could perform their duties.

This is not only military law, but also military strategy.

……

Dragon's Roar.

This area has two sections, old and new.

Xinlongcou is the current Yellow River ferry crossing, while Jiulongcou is an ancient city from the Qin Dynasty hundreds of years ago.

Longcou Ancient City is not large in scale because it used to be an ancient ferry crossing. However, the Yellow River changed its course, and with the prosperity of commerce in the early Han Dynasty, the ancient city gradually transformed from a ferry crossing into a commercial district.

The present-day Longcoudu is located about five miles south of the ancient city. The south bank of the Yellow River is the territory of Gaotang County, which also belongs to Pingyuan State.

Zhang He hadn't encountered any significant battles near Pingyuan County before; the Yellow Turbans would always flee as soon as his troops arrived, like a game of hide-and-seek.

It's pretty much the same in Longcou Ancient City; they're still playing hide-and-seek.

When Zhang He led his troops to Longcou, he only brought his own 800 men. However, upon arriving at the city and conducting reconnaissance, he discovered that there were at least 2,000 garrison troops in the ancient city, all of whom wore yellow turbans.

Zhang He then requested reinforcements, and Liu Bei sent Bai Yao, a true Yellow Turban general, to provide support.

In fact, everyone knew that the "Yellow Turbans" on the plains were not the real Yellow Turbans. They thought it would be a tough siege, and Bai Yao even mobilized the Yellow Turban warriors to be ruthless and kill those charlatans.

But as soon as Bai Yao arrived with reinforcements, the Yellow Turban rebels in Longcou Ancient City all fled.

Saying they ran away is a bit inaccurate; the enemy made a proper retreat, and a very orderly one at that, even leaving behind reinforcements to cover their retreat.

Several hundred elderly and weak people remained in Longcou Ancient City to hold off Zhang He for a day. When Zhang He led his army to the city walls, these elderly and weak people surrendered immediately. According to the captured elderly and weak people, their leader was named Zhang Yu, and he had started his rebellion in Ande County of Pingyuan State.

Zhang Yu, having heard that the newly arrived Prefect Liu was quite benevolent and unwilling to fight Liu Bei, retreated upon seeing Liu Bei's banner and was now preparing to flee to Gaotang County south of the Yellow River. He also specifically instructed the elderly and weak of the ancient city to surrender after only one day of defense, so as to avoid unnecessary deaths.

Bai Yao is an old friend of the Way of Peace, and all his men are true Yellow Turbans, but no one in the Yellow Turban army has never heard of the name Zhang Yu. This is probably because other bandits call themselves Yellow Turbans.

By the time Zhang He caught up with Zhang Yu's troops at the ferry crossing, they had already boarded boats and retreated to the south bank of the Yellow River. Before leaving, they burned the ferry crossing and all the remaining boats.

Zhang He and Bai Yao successfully captured Longcou, but the problem was that the ferry crossing and boats had been burned.

Any force that withdraws its troops will burn down transportation hubs like ferry crossings; this is unavoidable.

However, this prevented Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei from reuniting.

The local guide, familiar with the area, was able to cross the river on a sheepskin raft and successfully delivered Guan Yu's message back.

Guan Yu's letters are always quite detailed; he and Zhang Fei have already captured Licheng. This is a transportation hub in western Qingzhou, bordered by the Ji River to the north, Jinan Dongpingling to the east, Yanzhou Jibei to the west, and Mount Tai to the south.

The capture of Licheng was also not a difficult battle, because there were no Yellow Turbans in Licheng at the time, and all the officials and powerful families had fled, leaving behind only a group of poor people with no clothes or food.

Guan Yu found this phenomenon very strange—if there were no Yellow Turbans in Licheng, why did all the officials and powerful families flee?
Moreover, Licheng, as a transportation hub, has always been a strategically important location fought over by military strategists. It's understandable that the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou didn't occupy it, since the imperial army's first stop upon arriving in Qingzhou would definitely be Licheng. However, it would have been more appropriate for the county troops or local powerful clans to be stationed there.

However, Licheng lacked local troops and armed forces, which prevented Guan Yu from seeking assistance from local forces, leaving him to fight alone.

Guan Yu then marched towards Gaotang, but was blocked at the Ji River. Zhang Yu's tens of thousands of Yellow Turban troops were stationed on the north bank of the Ji River. Neither side could cross the Ji River, so they could only stand facing each other across the river. In this situation, neither side could retreat, as whoever retreated would be attacked. It was a stalemate.

Meanwhile, a large number of bandits from Mount Tai were lurking south of Licheng. In order to protect Licheng from falling, Zhang Fei had no choice but to stay and guard the city.

The communication was only sent once, and Liu Bei was no longer able to reply.

Because midsummer has arrived—the flood season in the lower reaches of the Yellow River has begun.

These days, the Yellow River is incredibly turbulent. The lower reaches of the river are heavily silted up, and the riverbed is at the same level as the land on both banks, making the water flow unpredictable. It has to change its course from time to time, and there are floods every year.

Moreover, Zhang Yu's troops were stationed in the Gaotang County area on the south bank of the Yellow River.

These past few months, whether it's crossing the river or rebuilding the ferry crossing, we've been risking our lives.

Repairing the dikes and protecting the farmland is the top priority right now. Otherwise, if the Yellow River floods and inundates the fields, and another 100,000 people come to the plains with Liu Bei, with too many people and too little food, we may face famine.

However, Zhang Yu did not engage Zhang He in battle, retreated upon seeing the army, burned the Longcou ferry crossing, and then blocked Guan Yu from crossing the Ji River to head north—this behavior could not possibly be because he "did not want to fight Liu Bei," after all, Guan Yu was leading Liu Bei's central army and was also flying Liu Bei's banner.

Liu Bei could see that Guan Yu was in a difficult situation. He was surrounded by enemies in the north and south and could not get any outside help. Although he was not directly attacked, he was actually trapped in Licheng.

With no powerful clans remaining in Licheng and Guan Yu unable to reunite with Liu Bei in the short term, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's troops would face logistical difficulties, and this predicament would worsen over time.

However, Guan Yu always preferred to solve problems on his own, and he would not mention the word "difficulty" in his military reports unless he was at his wit's end.

"Gentlemen, there are many matters to attend to at present. We need to divide the tasks among ourselves. Does any of you have any matters to take charge of?"

Liu Bei convened a meeting with his subordinates, intending to resolve the various matters separately.

Previously, Liu Bei did not hold regular meetings, and decisions were usually made in a single word.

Jia Xu felt that this would easily lead to insufficient communication between the parties, so he set a rule that a political meeting must be held every five days—the same cycle as the small court meeting. It is unknown whether Jia Xu did this intentionally or unintentionally.

Moreover, after Jia Xu established the procedures for each department, the heads of each department are not yet familiar with the procedures and often have to consult Liu Bei for instructions.

Work efficiency has indeed improved a lot, and Liu Bei's affairs have increased several times over, forcing Liu Bei to get up at dawn every day... On the contrary, Jia Xu's work seems to have become much less busy.

This is probably a case of getting caught in one's own trap, but every team goes through this when they first transition from a small group to a more formalized process. During the transition, the boss is always the one who works the hardest.

Although Liu Bei was the eldest son, he still had to abide by the established rules. If he couldn't get up in the morning, Zuo Yuan would shake him awake and order two baby boys to pluck his beard.

Liu Bei's beard was already sparse, and it couldn't withstand this kind of torment. As a result, he got up earlier than the chickens and went to bed later than the dogs every day, feeling like he was back to living the life of a beast of burden.

He had to make time to be intimate with Bian Ji during the day, lest Zuo Yuan come and pull off his blankets in the early morning while he was sleeping.

Liu Bei had no desire to live such a miserable life; he'd had enough of it in his previous life. He was hoping to emulate Cao Cao, wandering around, taking in many beautiful concubines, and having children for fun. After all, having many children was indeed one of his most important tasks…

There are five urgent matters at present.

Jia Xu was always the most organized: "First, repair the river embankments and dredge the river channels to prevent the Yellow River from flooding and inundating the grain production in Hebei; second, connect with Licheng to provide mutual assistance with the two Sima, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei; third, resettle the refugees and cultivate land to prepare for famine; fourth, quell the bandits in Ande and Banxian and other places to bring order to the plains; fifth, rebuild the Longcou ferry."

"I have taken charge of repairing the river. If the river is repaired, Longcou Ferry can be rebuilt. The two can be done simultaneously. I have already surveyed the river's condition and will recruit five thousand men for this task. Please, my lord, allocate the necessary funds and provisions."

Jia Xu took on the most difficult task himself—he was actually very proactive in his work, but he was habitually unwilling to get involved in matters such as the morale of the army and the people.

"The resettlement of displaced people and the establishment of agricultural settlements are halfway done. The people of Pingyuan are all loyal to the Lord, so this matter is not difficult. Yong will be able to complete this policy in another half month. However, the 100,000 people settled in the north of Pingyuan have now formed a large county, and someone needs to manage it to prevent unrest."

Jian Yong spoke up, "Please recommend Bai Yao to the court to replace the Pingyuan Commandant, so that he may govern this region."

At formal meetings, Jian Yong also addressed Liu Bei as his lord. Although Jian Xianhe was usually unrestrained and disregarded etiquette, he was quite serious in formal occasions.

Bai Yao was a man of few words. He nodded his thanks to Jian Yong and did not ask for any more tasks. Jian Yong had recommended him to act as the commander, to control the tens of thousands of outsiders and protect the base area. This was already an extremely important military task.

"Regarding the matter of pacifying the bandits, He has volunteered to lead troops, which may take about a month."

Zhang He succinctly took charge of the military affairs.

After that, no one spoke again—no one took the lead in communicating with Licheng and contacting Guan Yu.

Seeing that no one else would step forward, Jia Xu spoke up, “Licheng may seem like a place with easy access in all directions, but in the current situation it is a dead end. There are bandits in the north and south, and soldiers in the east and west. Whether it is the government army or the bandit army, whoever occupies Licheng will be trapped and unable to move. That’s why no one occupied it before… But Commander Guan is an isolated force that has entered Qingzhou and has nowhere to settle down, so he dares not abandon the city. It is a prudent way to use troops.”

Liu Bei nodded and added, "But the more cautious we are, the more trapped we will be in Licheng. Yun Chang and Yi De's army has many warhorses. If we don't change our strategy soon, Yun Chang may run out of food. We must immediately send an order to Yun Chang... to abandon Licheng and take Xipingling directly."

Jia Xu nodded and flattered him, saying, "Our lord understands the big picture and does not dwell on the loss of a single city or place. This is truly a blessing for us."

But the problem is, it's basically impossible to cross the river now, so how can we send a message to Guan Yu?

Everyone looked at each other.

Zhao Yun stepped forward: "My lord, I am willing to cross the river to Licheng."

"Crossing the river at this moment is tantamount to suicide..."

Liu Bei shook his head and looked at Jia Xu: "Wenhe, do you have a plan?"

"Human strength is no match for the might of heaven and earth; Xu was at a loss for what to do..."

Jia Xu also shook his head and sighed.

"The lord once said that ordinary people should do extraordinary things..."

Zhao Yun looked up and said, "The Yellow River is a natural and difficult river to cross, but ordinary people have ways to cross it. Among the laborers who came to the plains with our lord are ferrymen who said that we can cross the Yellow River from the gentler section north of Gaotang."

"North of Gaotang? Gaotang County has already been occupied by Zhang Yu, who calls himself the Yellow Turban. If we cross the river north of Gaotang, wouldn't we be falling into enemy hands?"

Zhang He was puzzled: "Zilong, this is almost certainly a death sentence. Although Zhang Yu said he did not want to be an enemy of our lord, he actually had ill intentions."

"You may not know how the ferrymen on the Yellow River work... They use sheepskin as floats and thick bamboo as markers. They carry the floats to drift across the river from upstream, and the thick bamboo is filled with goods. They transport goods back and forth on the river to make a living."

Zhao Yun explained, “Especially during the flood season when boats are difficult to cross, that’s when they risk their lives for money. Moreover, some of them are from Gaotang and are familiar with the local area, so they might be able to avoid being blocked by the Yellow Turbans. I am good at swimming and am willing to lead the ferrymen to swim across the river and try to take Gaotang… If this is successful, the ferrymen can be incorporated into the navy to reward their extraordinary achievements.”

(End of this chapter)