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

Chapter 309 A New Conflict Between Ancient and Modern Times
Zuo Yuan lured out the mole in Linzi, and after purging them all, he launched a massive search throughout the prefecture, investigating for several days.

Wang Xiu claimed that he was unaware of Wang Fu's rebellion, and that he had allowed Wang Fu to stay for a few days simply because they were related.

Judging from Wang Xiu's cooperation, this was indeed the case. Zuo Yuan did not make things difficult for him, but simply detained him temporarily in the Linzi guesthouse, preventing him from leaving.

Only after confirming that there was no longer any threat to the entire Linzi did Zuo Yuan allow Jian Yong to send Liu Xie back.

Of course, Zuo Yuan did not make baseless accusations; he simply eliminated or monitored any potential risks.

The city of Linzi has been cleaned up again, but a faint smell of blood still lingers.

"...Wang Fu is a disciple of Dong Cheng, and this fact was indeed done by Dong Cheng. However, Dong Cheng is in Luoyang...Your Majesty, please issue an edict to Luoyang to execute Dong Cheng as a warning to others."

As soon as Liu Xie returned to the East Pavilion, Jian Yong asked Liu Xie to issue an edict ordering the Luoyang court to arrest people.

“Minister Dong is a relative of mine… can you spare his life?”

Liu Xie hesitated before asking.

"This is a matter of state, and it involves treason. It cannot be forgiven because of kinship..."

Jian Yong slowly shook his head.

A look of grief crossed Liu Xie's eyes as he glanced at Diao Chan beside him.

Diao Chan sighed beside her, but remained silent and motionless, knowing she shouldn't show any political stance.

Liu Xie then turned to look at Yang Xiu and Fu De, who were relatively familiar to him.

Yang Xiu, Fu De, Guan Ping, and Cao Ang were all Liu Xie's study companions, studying together.

Yang Xiu hesitated for a moment, but ultimately held back and said nothing.

Guan Ping and Cao Ang stood behind Jian Yong and bowed respectfully—they were not yet qualified to express their opinions in the court, but they could show their attitude.

Only Fu De said in a low voice, "This matter should be decided by His Majesty himself. Why force him?"

Jian Yong turned his head and gave Fu De a cold look.

Fude shut his mouth and stepped aside.

Liu Xie hesitated for a moment with his head down, then looked at Jian Yong: "Could we wait until the Grand Tutor returns before making a decision?"

"The Right General has led troops to quell the rebellion, and it is unknown when he will return... Such a matter of punishing traitors cannot wait."

Jian Yong shook his head, his attitude towards Liu Xie was still relatively mild, after all, he was also Liu Xie's senior brother.

"Then issue an edict...arrest Dong Cheng and bring him to Linzi...I must see him confess before I can execute him..."

Liu Xie bit his lip.

"Your subject receives the imperial edict."

Jian Yong didn't insist; this result was enough.

……

On the other side, Zuo Yuan was worrying.

The day after Liu Xie was sent back to the East Pavilion, before the murderous aura in Linzi City had completely dissipated, Princess Yang'an, Liu Hua, appeared in front of the East Pavilion.

This is the eldest daughter of Emperor Huan, Liu Zhi, and the wife of Fu Wan.

Although Emperor Huan and Liu Hong were not related by blood, Liu Hua was at least nominally Liu Xie's aunt.

She claimed to be there to act as matchmaker for Liu Xie, intending to have Fu Shou enter the palace to serve the emperor.

In fact, Liu Bei did not build a new palace for Liu Xie. Liu Xie lived in the East Pavilion, but he did have a separate courtyard.

But, but.

Offering one's daughter to the emperor at this time seems completely inappropriate...

Liu Xie was born in March (lunar calendar), and will turn nine next month.

Fu Shou was only eleven years old, and that was still her age according to the traditional Chinese age reckoning...

Moreover, several thousand people were killed in Linzi just a few days ago, and Wang Fu's head is still hanging on the city gate of Linzi.

Is this the time to present a daughter to the emperor?
Zuo Yuan wasn't quite sure what Liu Hua's purpose was, but the emperor's aunt had to be received, and besides, she was essentially there to "pay tribute," so he couldn't just stop her.

But there's no inner palace in Qingzhou right now, and Liu Xie doesn't have that need yet; he's not even adolescence yet...

Nominally, Diaochan was in charge of handling inner court affairs, and there was a basic team of palace servants, but Diaochan didn't know how to manage them.

Zuo Yuan had no choice but to first send Fu Shou, who was already living in the East Pavilion, to Liu Xie's courtyard.

As the eldest princess, Liu Hua was naturally arranged to live in the East Pavilion.

The next day, a large number of people from the Langya Fu clan arrived, saying they wanted to start businesses in Linzi.

Liu Hua then took Fu Shou to see Liu Xie: "I have heard that the Right General intends to widely distribute classics throughout the land and is currently undertaking a large-scale papermaking and printing project... This is a good deed to promote literature and spread education, and it is precisely the time for the Fu family to exert their utmost efforts."

"Cai Zhaoji gave ten thousand volumes of books as her dowry, and the Right General gave a large number of books as a gift. This is a beautiful story in the world, and we also want to follow this example."

"At present, the Right General is leading troops in the field, so this matter of education may be delayed. The Fu clan also has many paper-making workshops, which can print books for Your Majesty to do our part... If a million articles can be printed, it can be considered as my daughter's dowry."

The Fu family did indeed have many papermaking workshops. The Fu family of Langya was no ordinary powerful clan; it was a renowned family in the land, not only the founder of the "Modern Text Book of Documents" but also the interpreter of the "Book of Poetry".

The Fu family's ancestral home was originally in Linzi. During the reign of Emperor Wu, Fu Wuji served as an official in Langya Dongwu (at this time, Chengyang County did not yet exist), and the direct descendants of the Fu family moved to Langya, but the Fu family still had relatives and businesses in Linzi.

The Fu family was already a prominent family in the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. It was a family with a history of thousands of years in the true sense. During the Qin and Han dynasties, members of the Fu family all served as imperial tutors.

The Fu family had an ancestor named Fu Sheng (also known as Fu Sheng), whose courtesy name was Zijian. It is said that he lived to be one hundred years old.

After Qin Shi Huang unified the country, he ordered that people be prohibited from privately possessing ancient books from various countries. Fu Sheng secretly hid the Qi version of the Book of Documents inside the wall.

During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty re-summoned books from all over the country. Fu Sheng retrieved the Book of Documents, but it was already incomplete and the ancient characters of Qi and Lu were unrecognizable—they were all tadpole script.

After Fu Sheng reinterpreted it, he passed it on to Chao Cuo, which became known as the "Modern Text Shangshu".

When Fu Sheng was over ninety years old, he was probably the only one who understood the ancient script of the State of Qi after Qin unified the writing system.

Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Wen, the Fu family's version of the Book of Documents was considered the orthodox version of the Book of Documents—at that time, the Fu family even surpassed the Confucius family.

Later, Liu Yu, the son of Emperor Jing of Han, was enfeoffed as the Prince of Lu. He expanded his palace in Qufu and discovered a complete set of the Six Classics written in ancient tadpole script in the walls of the old Kong family residence.

The ancient text of the Book of Documents discovered by the King of Lu contained sixteen more chapters than Fu Sheng's modern text of the Book of Documents.

At this time, no one in the world could recognize the tadpole script anymore. The ancient text of the Book of Documents unearthed from the walls of the Confucius family had no modern text to corroborate it, so no one could read it or understand it. It was called the "Lost Book".

Both are ancient texts of the Book of Documents, but the version preserved by the Confucius family cannot be compared with the version passed down by Fu Sheng, and there are even sixteen more chapters. Isn't that a blunder?
Although people can no longer understand tadpole script, they can still count, right?

The two versions of the Book of Documents are completely different; either one is misleading, or both are misleading...

What?

So the Fu family approached the Kong family and compromised, saying, "After Qin Shi Huang burned the books, the Shangshu was incomplete and scattered. Now it has finally been combined into one and we can see the whole picture." They merged their own ancient version of the Shangshu with the Kong family's, and the two families jointly reinterpreted it, which can be considered as giving half of the copyright of the "Modern Shangshu" to the Kong family.

The combined ancient text of the Book of Documents contains a total of fifty-eight chapters.

The Fu and Kong families' reinterpretation of the "Modern Text Book of Documents" only has twenty-eight chapters, but it doesn't matter, since it's all up to them anyway, and others can't understand it.

In fact, after the Qin Dynasty unified the script into Qin Small Seal script, even after so many years, the Kong and Fu families themselves might not have been able to understand the tadpole script of the ancient Shangshu (Book of Documents)... This compromise actually benefited the Kong family more, because the Fu family had already monopolized the right to interpret the classics. If the Fu family had insisted that the Kong family's version was a fake, people would have had no choice but to accept it.

After all, no one can understand it...

However, the Fu family should avoid disputes and cooperate with others. Bringing the Kong family on the same side will make the Fu family more stable.

To deepen their cooperation, the Kong family also shared the right to interpret the Book of Poetry with the Fu family, which was a fair deal, meaning that the two families would jointly interpret the Book of Poetry and the Book of Documents.

Thus, starting with Fu Zhan during the reign of Emperor Guangwu, the Fu family regained the right to interpret the Book of Songs.

From then on, the Kong and Fu families served as imperial tutors for generations, and the two families remained staunch allies and staunch proponents of classical Chinese literature.

Of course, the Classical Text School does not aim to uphold the original meaning of the classics, but rather to "flexibly interpret" them according to their needs and the changes of the times.

That's just how things are for cultured people.

Now, Liu Bei wants to print classic texts and distribute them widely throughout the land... His biggest concern must be the interpreters of ancient classics, such as the Confucius family and the Fu family.

This is a new debate between the ancient and the modern.

Because Liu Bei would definitely print books in modern script—tadpole script is completely incomprehensible, so who would read them?

Right now, Liu Hua, along with Fu De, wants to take on the book printing job, and they're even directly asking Liu Xie while Liu Bei is away...

Fortunately, Liu Xie is still young and does not understand the actual significance of the debate over the classics. He is indeed ignorant about this matter: "It is a good thing that my aunt is interested in education. However, the Right General's intention to donate books to the students of Qingzhou is the Right General's private matter, and it is all done with the Right General's money and provisions... I do not understand this matter and have not inquired about it."

Zuo Yuan and Jian Yong breathed a sigh of relief at the same time—Liu Xie was still a simple-minded child; he simply didn't understand, only knowing that he was spending Liu Bei's money…

“Your Majesty, we are only here to prepare a dowry for my daughter, so there is no need for the Right General to contribute money or supplies. My family is quite wealthy, enough to print a million books. We only need to borrow the printing skills from the Right General’s residence.”

Liu Hua didn't seem so easy to fob off: "It's all for the sake of education and culture, so I suppose Madam Zuo wouldn't be stingy with such a small skill?"

Upon hearing this, Zuo Yuan felt a great alarm bell ring in his heart.

Liu Hua wanted to use the moral high ground of "for the emperor" to demand printing technology and even tried to take over the book printing business...

These days, technology isn't protected by patents. Liu Hua is the eldest princess, and her stated reason is to serve the emperor, which makes things really difficult.

“Yuan came from a humble background and was just a country woman. She didn’t know anything about books or skills… Yuan didn’t understand what her husband wanted to do.”

Zuo Yuan began to feign ignorance: "But I know that my husband has never liked others interfering in his arrangements... I'm afraid he'll get angry, so this matter isn't urgent. Why don't we wait until he comes back to discuss it?"

"Alas... I only wished to do my part for His Majesty..."

Liu Hua sighed and said to Liu Xie with concern, "If all matters, big and small, are decided by the Right General's word alone, then why is Your Majesty here..."

A shadow gradually fell over Liu Xie's eyes.

Diao Chan looked at Liu Hua and frowned deeply.

……

Langya.

Liu Bei's troops have already joined forces in Kaiyang.

Upon arriving in Kaiyang, Liu Bei received a message requesting reinforcements: "General of the Right, Zhang Chao, the Prefect of Guangling, is attacking Haixi, and Commandant Mi's garrison in Haixi urgently needs assistance!"

Judging from this, Zhang Chao has indeed returned to Guangling, and has quickly raised troops again.

Mi Zhu was the Commandant of Agricultural Settlements, and he built several agricultural settlements in Haixi. However, Haixi did not actually belong to the East China Sea—it belonged to Guangling, which was a coastal county during the Han Dynasty.

Judging from this situation, Chang Xi's capture of Pengcheng, Que Xuan's capture of Xiapi, and Zhang Chao's capture of Guangling truly represent a blockade of the entire south.

Where is Prefect Tao?

Liu Bei asked the messenger who had requested aid, "Where are Zang Ba and Sun Guan?"

"Prefect Tao has already dispatched troops to Xiapi, and the bandit Chang Xi from Mount Tai has launched a major southward offensive. Commander Zang and Commandant Sun went to Pengcheng to intercept them, but no one expected that something would suddenly happen in Guangling..."

The messenger's reply was quite clear: "If Haixi is lost, Zhang Chao may lead his army straight into the East China Sea, and Governor Tao will be attacked from both sides."

Liu Bei nodded: "What is your name?"

"My name is Zhang Hong, and I am honored to serve as an aide to Prefect Tao."

The messenger replied.

Liu Bei nodded again and beckoned to Zhao Yun beside him, "Zilong, capture him..."

"what?!"

Zhang Hong was shocked: "Why is the Right General acting like this?!"

"Because you are not one of Tao Gongzu's men... you have quite the guts to deliberately lure me to Haixi."

Liu Bei looked at Zhang Hong and smiled: "I'll give you a chance. Tell me the truth, and perhaps I can spare your life."

"...If I were to act unjustly and betray my fellow townsmen and friends, would the Right General truly spare my life?"

Seeing Liu Bei's certainty, Zhang Hong remained calm: "How did General Right figure that out?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yun immediately seized him and tied him up with rope.

“I didn’t even notice… Didn’t you notice that Zilong only tied you up now?”

Liu Bei looked at Zhang Hong and shook his head: "He's really gullible..."

"what?"

Zhang Hong turned to look at Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun shrugged at him and tightened the knot.

If a stranger sends you a message, of course you should try to scam them...

"Can you tell me the truth now? I promise to spare your life."

Liu Bei looked at Zhang Hong and smiled.

"...General You is so cunning; it seems what the Prefect said was indeed true. I, Zhang, may die, but I will never betray you..."

Zhang Hong shook his head, looking quite resolute.

Liu Bei interrupted him: "Alright, alright, if you don't want to talk about it, then just kill him..."

After saying that, he waved his hand, signaling Zhao Yun to quickly deal with Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong was now truly terrified: "Is the Right General so cruel? To execute innocent scholars even if they are innocent?!"

"Didn't you say you were ready to die? I thought you were determined to die... Besides, you've betrayed us and become a traitor, shouldn't I kill you?"

Liu Bei leaned closer to his face and asked, "You want to lure me to Haixi? Is someone setting up an ambush along the way? From here to Haixi... is the ambush to be set up in Qu County? Has Zhang Chao already taken Qu County?"

A hint of fear appeared on Zhang Hong's face: "General Right is suspicious and cunning, so why ask me?"

"Yun Chang, take Mi Zifang with you and rush to the aid of Qu County. It seems that Qu County has indeed been captured... But Zizhong is unable to ask for help. There may be a spy. Be careful, Yun Chang."

Liu Bei turned to Guan Yu and instructed him, "Bring Zhang Hong along as well. If he can help us, spare his life. If he is unwilling, kill him as a sacrifice when we reach Qu County."

(End of this chapter)