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

Chapter 314 Between Lines
Pei State, Pei County.

Pei State was also known as Da Pei, and Pei County was Xiao Pei.

Xiaopei is located in the northwest of Pengcheng State. Administratively, it belongs to Yuzhou, but geographically and in terms of its actual economic zone, it is closer to Xuzhou. It is the gateway between Yanzhou and Yuzhou and Xuzhou.

The Qin-Han Southern Road (Yan-Yu-Xu Road) and the Si River waterway extended from Xiaopei and Pengcheng all the way to Xiapi and Guangling. In terms of daily life, military affairs and economy, Xiaopei was actually integrated with the Pengcheng State.

At present, Liu He, the Prince of Pengcheng, is taking refuge in the Xiaopei guesthouse.

The troops currently stationed in Xiaopei are Cao Cao and Li Qian.

Cao Cao, having been appointed General Who Punishes Rebels, was naturally tasked with suppressing rebellions. Cao Ang was serving as Liu Xie's study companion, so Cao Cao had to work hard to earn some recognition.

There was nothing Cao Cao could do; he only had this one son.

Cao Cao handed the document in his hand to Li Qian: "The Right General has issued a tender order, with Chang Xi as the bidder and the General Who Conquers the East as the reward. He has turned the matter of issuing a nationwide edict to quell the rebellion into a business deal..."

"If such fair trade had existed in the past, Qian would not have ended up in such a mediocre state. This matter is truly a good policy for Qian..."

Li Qian sighed: "But now Chang Xi has raised the emperor's banner in Pengcheng, calling himself the King of Qi, and he seems to have a large army. According to the scouts, his army consists of several thousand soldiers in armor, with well-equipped weapons. They are no ordinary bandits, and it will be difficult to defeat them in a short time."

"There must be someone secretly directing Chang Xi, otherwise how could he have obtained thousands of armored soldiers?"

Cao Cao nodded, then turned to ask Liu He, the Prince of Pengcheng: "Chang Xi has raised Your Majesty's banner and declared himself emperor, thus instigating a rebellion. Does Your Majesty know why Chang Xi has such a powerful military force?"

Liu He shook his head with a worried expression: "I don't know... I did nothing in Pengcheng, but those scoundrels inexplicably started trouble in my name. I really don't know why..."

Liu He was indeed unlucky. He had been the king of Pengcheng for forty years, but who knew that he would be targeted by Chang Xi.

A few years ago, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out. Zhang Rao led the Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou into Pengcheng Kingdom. At that time, Liu He also fled to Xiaopei.

Most of the powerful families in Pengcheng fled to Pei State, while most of the refugees fled to Qiao County, where Cao Cao was gathering troops at that time.

At that time, Liu He helped to relieve many refugee gentry families and had an excellent reputation among them. However, he also caused Cao Cao a lot of trouble. After Liu He led those powerful families back to Pengcheng from Xiaopei, he tried to ask Cao Cao to take back the serfs that had been incorporated into his own ranks.

Cao Cao ignored them at that time, so his reputation in eastern Yu Province was not very good in the past two years.

Liu He had a good reputation for helping the gentry... which could probably be considered as winning people's hearts.

After Chang Xi invaded Pengcheng, he used Liu He's name to display the imperial regalia—but Liu He was not in Chang Xi's hands at all, and Liu He did not know Chang Xi at all.

Slightly different from Que Xuan, Chang Xi initially raised the banner of "King of Qi" at Mount Tai, instead of directly proclaiming himself emperor.

After capturing Pengcheng, Chang Xi raised the banner of Liu He, ostensibly to 'establish a new ruler,' but Liu He had already fled to Xiaopei—the new ruler himself was not even in Pengcheng; this meant the true monarch was offline…

At present, Chang Xi still calls himself the King of Qi, and Liu He is the emperor. He has set up an imperial procession in Pengcheng County, and Chang Xi's own banners read "Grand Marshal" and "King of Qi"... making it seem very real.

Anyway, the blame was simply pinned on Liu He.

Liu He is now very frightened.

Although he wasn't even there, this matter is already a huge mess.

Cao Cao pondered for a moment, then glanced at Liu He, who had a worried look on his face, and beckoned Li Qian out of the guesthouse.

After avoiding Liu He, Cao Cao discussed with Cheng Yu and Li Qian: "If we take Prince Pengcheng with us and pretend to surrender to Chang Xi, we can gain Chang Xi's trust and perhaps kill him in one fell swoop and take over his army..."

Cheng Yu's eyes lit up: "General, your plan is brilliant! But you don't need to take such a risk yourself... Your reputation is well-known, and Chang Xi may not trust you."

"It would be better to have another force attack Xiaopei under the guise of Changxi, kidnap the Prince of Pengcheng, and let him join Changxi, thus avoiding such a bad reputation for the general."

"If another group defectes to Changxi, while you are attacking Pengcheng, have the other group take advantage of Changxi's unpreparedness and kill him. Once his troops are in chaos and leaderless, you can use the name of the King of Pengcheng to drive his followers to defect to you."

Cheng Yu provided a solution based directly on Cao Cao's idea.

"This... kidnapping the Prince of Pengcheng as a gift and then falsely surrendering him to Chang Xi?"

Li Qian hesitated slightly: "We mustn't let Prince Pengcheng find out..."

Cheng Yu shook his head slightly: "He'd better not find out, otherwise he'll have no choice but to die for his country..." "Let's do it this way... but who should go to surrender to Chang Xi for another tribe?"

Seeing Cheng Yu's agreement, Cao Cao became even more determined: "This man must be clever and adaptable, possess superb martial arts skills, and gain Chang Xi's trust... I not only want to take Chang Xi's troops, but also use this opportunity to find out who is behind Chang Xi."

“There is a chivalrous man in Rencheng named Lü Qian. He is brave and resourceful, and he is also acquainted with the bandits of Mount Tai. Perhaps Lü Qian could be employed as a member of this separate unit.”

Cheng Yu volunteered for the task: "I have a past relationship with Lü Qian. If I go with him, we will surely succeed. As for the person behind the scenes, as long as we can gain Chang Xi's trust, we can find out."

Cao Cao nodded: "Excellent!"

Since the imperial court has issued a tender order, eliminating Chang Xi would be the fastest way for Cheng Yu to advance his career, and the same applies to Lü Qian.

……

Lü County is located east of Pengcheng.

"...Chang Xi proclaimed himself King of Qi and elected the Prince of Pengcheng as emperor. His army and military strength were even greater than those of Que Xuan."

Liu Bei was also discussing with Zang Ba, Sun Guan, and others: "You all have a past relationship with Chang Xi. Would you be willing to feign allegiance to Chang Xi and seize power from within?"

“Changxi has no connection with us… Since we took up official positions in the imperial court, we have severed ties with the various tribes of Mount Tai…”

Zang Ba hesitated for a moment before saying, "If the Right General needs someone to infiltrate, I can send someone in, but I'm afraid it will be difficult for Yingzi and me to gain Changxi's trust."

"What if I were to charge you two with disobeying orders and allowing your troops to plunder, and the entire Xuzhou region were to besiege you?"

Knowing that Zang Ba was somewhat evasive, Liu Bei said, half-warning and half-seriously, "If Xuan Gao gets the position of headmaster of the state academy, the scholars of Xuzhou will definitely be dissatisfied. If I also become at odds with Xuan Gao, it will be a foregone conclusion that you will be besieged... Surely Chang Xi doesn't not believe even this?"

This is not an exaggeration, but a fact.

If Zang Ba continues to shirk responsibility, then he will truly be considered disobedient... and it would be fair for him to allow his troops to plunder.

If Zang Ba loses Liu Bei as his patron, he really has to fend for himself.

"We are willing to obey the orders of the Right General."

Zang Ba lowered his head.

"Don't pretend to be wronged... You should know that I'm giving you a chance to achieve great things."

Liu Bei stared into Zang Ba's eyes and said, "Xuan Gao, I don't want to ruin important matters because of minor mistakes. Whether it's you or Tao Gongzu, they both have their faults... I might as well speak frankly. I don't care who was right or wrong in the past. Whoever can help me is meritorious and has no faults."

That's very straightforward; that's just how things are in this world.

"I understand. Please order my punishment, General."

Zang Ba seemed to understand: "But if I want to join Chang Xi, I need to offer a pledge of loyalty... General, could you kill Zhang Kai, a subordinate of Prefect Tao, as a pledge of loyalty?"

Why execute Zhang Kai?

Liu Bei asked.

“Zhang Kai plundered Huaxian County two months ago and slaughtered over a thousand villagers, all of whom were my former relatives and neighbors… I only learned of this after sending people to Huaxian County!”

Zang Ba gritted his teeth and said, "During this period of time, I had someone investigate Zhang Kai and found out that he was the one who led the Yellow Turbans to attack Langya. Zhuge Gui, the magistrate of Liangfu in Mount Tai, also died at the hands of Zhang Kai!"

“Zhang Kai is a bandit under Tao Qian. Tao Qian and Que Xuan plundered Hua County together… General, I know there is no right or wrong in this world. It wasn’t that I was unwilling to fight and serve some time ago, but after I learned about these things, I didn’t want to be associated with such bandits!”

"General, I swear to Heaven that I have not lied!"

Zang Ba didn't seem to be lying; these days, people don't just swear to the heavens.

"Zhang Kai actually killed Zhuge Gui?!"

Liu Bei's expression changed, then he sensed something was amiss: "Wait, Zhang Kai massacred Hua County two months ago, specifically targeting your relatives and neighbors?... Then this Zhang Kai is probably not one of Tao Gongzu's men; this seems more like a deliberate attempt to sow discord..."

(End of this chapter)