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

Chapter 220 The Tribulations of the Zhuge Clan
"The powerful clans of Pengcheng instigated the Yellow Turbans to harm Lord Tao; that's colluding with the Yellow Turbans. No wonder Lord Tao arrested Zhang Zhao..."

Liu Bei directly reversed the cause and effect of the matter: "I wonder if Lord Tao intends to repay evil with kindness or repay honesty with honesty?"

"Since they have colluded with the Yellow Turbans, they should be brought to justice!"

Tao Qian said resentfully, "But I launched this attack in haste and have no money or food on hand. I wonder if Xuande has any surplus food to help me?"

“Money and grain are everywhere… In Dongpingling, Jinan, Cao Mengde didn’t take any of the spoils after he eradicated the wicked shrine. Tao Gong can just go and get them. Anyway, the city is full of Yellow Turbans.”

Liu Bei pointed at Zhang Rao: "Lord Tao doesn't need to personally intervene in the Pengcheng matter. As long as Brother Zhang sends a message to the Yellow Turbans to join in taking Pengcheng, countless Yellow Turbans will help Lord Tao vent his anger. Lord Tao only needs to issue military orders to allow the 'good families' in Xuzhou to form a righteous army to quell the rebellion."

"Goodness..."

Tao Qian glanced at Zhang Rao, his face twitching slightly, as if he wanted to laugh but felt he shouldn't, but he nodded nonetheless: "Zhang Rao is truly from the most virtuous family in this prefecture..."

Zhang Rao swallowed hard, looked at Liu Bei, then at Tao Qian, and probably felt that he was not qualified to be called the philanthropist of Xuzhou... He really didn't fit the bill at all.

Liu Bei didn't see anything wrong with this, and his expression remained unchanged: "Brother Zhang wants to find a place to save the lives of 100,000 people, and Pengcheng is just right. Moreover, as long as Brother Zhang enters Pengcheng, the siege of Tancheng will surely be lifted."

This is indeed Zhang Rao's way out.

There are countless officials and gentry in Qingzhou who have a grudge against Zhang Rao, so it is indeed not suitable for Zhang Rao's people to be settled in Qingzhou anymore.

But the situation was different in Xuzhou. With Tao Qian's endorsement and Tao Qian's cooperation, Zhang Rao was able to seize the grain and land of the powerful clans of Pengcheng to settle his followers, and thus Zhang Rao truly had the opportunity to reform.

"Xuande, there are many famous scholars in Qing and Xu. Although they deserve to die for causing trouble under the guise of the Yellow Turbans, if we offend too many people, we may face the same fate as Cao Mengde... Moreover, the Yellow Turbans are numerous, and we cannot kill them all. What do you think we should do to quell this?"

Although Tao Qian was a man of integrity, he was not a reckless man and could still consider the consequences.

"We are quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion, how could we possibly face the threat of Cao Cao? We will protect the virtuous families of Qing and Xu... If they are not virtuous, they should be eliminated. Even if someone reports us, they can only report us..."

Liu Bei shook his head and said, "As for how to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion... Lord Tao, the Yellow Turbans are all starving people; all they want is food and land. With grain and land, we can quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion. And to obtain grain and land, we need the great assistance of the 'good families' of Qing and Xu..."

Tao Qian paused for a moment, then suddenly realized and said, "I will immediately issue a general order to the 'good families' of Xuzhou to send grain to Kaiyang."

The following day, Tao Qian issued dozens of conscription orders, ordering the powerful families of various counties in Xuzhou to provide military supplies or come to Kaiyang to join the army in suppressing the bandits.

Meanwhile, on Liu Bei's side, Jia Xu had already issued a flood control order to all counties and prefectures in Qingzhou last month.

This is for the benefit of everyone in Qing and Xu prefectures. It is understandable that some people cannot come due to objective reasons. However, if the messenger delivers the letter but no one responds to the messenger, they will be regarded as Yellow Turbans.

Where envoys could not go, troops were sent directly to retrieve the goods; where they could not retrieve the goods themselves, the Yellow Turbans were allowed to retrieve them on their own.

Soon, Liu Bei and Tao Qian each had a blacklist.

Regardless of whether the powerful clans on the blacklist are related to the Yellow Turbans, they are now considered Yellow Turbans.

Tao Qian quelled the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou, while Liu Bei dealt with the situation in Xuzhou.

Those prominent figures who were inconvenient to deal with were dealt with by Zhang Rao, a true Yellow Turban.

We must send troops before the autumn harvest and strive to thoroughly investigate Qing and Xu prefectures this year, seize the grain stored by powerful clans, settle the starving people, and restore production, so that the two prefectures can return to normal.

This plan suits Tao Qian's tastes perfectly, especially the current Tao Qian—he had just been tricked by the powerful clans of Pengcheng, and most of the gentry in Xuzhou looked down on him; he had no good feelings towards the powerful clans of Qing and Xu.

Soon after, Tao Qian went to Qingzhou to raise funds and supplies.

Zhang Rao returned to Yanzhou, where he led 100,000 Yellow Turban rebels into Pengcheng.

Liu Bei is temporarily stationed in Langya, while Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are clearing out the counties within Langya to ensure a continuous connection between Qing and Xu.

Liu Bei himself took Zhao Yun to Yangdu in Langya.

……

Langya Yangdu, the Zhuge family.

The ancestors of the Zhuge family were originally surnamed Ge and were from Zhuxian County. Later, they moved to Yangdu County, where there were already families with the surname Ge. In order to distinguish themselves from the Ge family from Zhuxian County, they adopted "Zhuge" as their surname and settled there.

The Zhuge family had served as officials for generations, and their residence was quite elegant.

Nestled against the mountains and beside the water, with small bridges and pavilions, bamboo grows in front of the door and orchids grow behind the house.

However, with Qingxu in turmoil, the more elegant the courtyard, the more likely it is to attract trouble.

Not long ago, the Zhuge family encountered Yellow Turban rebels. Of course, upon seeing the rebels, they had to report to the authorities, so the elders of the Zhuge family sought help from the county.

The county no longer has a chief official, only a county lieutenant.

The county magistrate was willing to send troops, but the money and provisions he demanded for the troops were enough to bankrupt the Zhuge family.

The clan elders agreed and sent grain over, but... the county didn't send any troops.

The clan elder had served as an official in his youth and organized his family to fight a battle, protecting their property, but the Zhuge family suffered many casualties.

Moreover, not long after, the Yellow Turbans arrived.

At this time, Zhuge Jin was fourteen years old, Zhuge Liang was seven years old, and Zhuge Jun was four years old.

Their father, Zhuge Gui, is currently also a county magistrate, serving in Liangfu County, Taishan.

Both were county magistrates, but Zhuge Gui did not engage in such extortion. It is said that there were more bandits in Taishan County, and Liangfu (Liang Fu, Fu means father) was adjacent to Taishan, but there were not many bandits there.

If the officials had really done their jobs, there wouldn't have been so many Yellow Turbans in Qing and Xu prefectures...

In any case, they would either be robbed by the Yellow Turbans, extorted by the government, or robbed even after being extorted.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion was actually an industry in Qing and Xu prefectures.

However, as their business grew, some Yellow Turban leaders no longer wanted to be suppliers in the supply chain.

The county magistrate's extortion of troops failed to result in this situation, which could be due to either Zhuge Gui offending someone in Taishan Commandery or the government being powerless to deal with the Yellow Turbans.

The clan elder led the Zhuge family members to hide in the fortified village.

"Brother, why do these people always have to fight?"

Seven-year-old Zhuge Liang did not understand why there were Yellow Turbans everywhere and why there was war everywhere.

"Actually, the Yellow Turbans didn't want to fight at all; the soldiers just wanted to make a living..."

Zhuge Jin sighed, "But officials need to fight, because only by fighting can they rise to higher positions. Bandit leaders also need to be fought, because only by defeating them can they have a chance to become officials..."

Zhuge Jin knew a lot of things. Whether it was the Yellow Turbans or the government troops, the leaders would send someone to hold a knife to the waist of the soldiers and make them charge forward, telling them that they would only get food if they won.

If you win two more games, you can hold a knife to someone's waist.

Then groups of people ran around yelling and shouting, rushing from places where there was no food to places where there was food.

Then, places where there was food suddenly became places where there was no food.

In the past two years, every household in Yangdu County has kept their doors tightly shut. Everyone knows that the world is in chaos, and not many people go out.

Logically speaking, if people don't go out, the weeds in the fields should grow wildly.

But the grass in Xuzhou just doesn't grow; it's always sparse and scattered.

Right now, people can be seen in the fields.

But all that could be seen were the shapes of many figures in the yellow dust. These figures were pulling up the few greenish-blue things in the yellow dust from the ground and stuffing them into their mouths, roots and all.

Then, those sparse patches of green were replaced by a sea of ​​yellow dust and dazzling sunlight.

An elder of the Zhuge family, observing from the inner wall of the fortified village, let out a deep sigh: "Alas..."

After saying this, the elder seemed to relax and lit the torch in his hand.

The moth thieves drew closer, their figures emerging from the yellow dust. Their yellow headscarves and charred hemp clothes made them look like clay figurines.

The clay figurines were so numerous that you couldn't see the end of them at a glance.

The elder sighed again: "We can't keep them... send the child away..."

Zhuge Jin looked over in a panic, only to see that the clan elder had already thrown the torch into the woodshed.

(End of this chapter)