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

Chapter 327 Breaking the City with Books
Lu State, Lu County.

Bian Bing brought Liu Yan to Cao Cao's army.

Liu Yan was not lying when he said that King Liu Cheng of Qi and Zhang Kai were both in the State of Lu.

But Liu Cheng and Zhang Kai were in different places... and even on different sides...

Liu Cheng left Linzi and came to the Kong family in Lu County more than a month ago. At that time, Liu Bei was issuing a tender notice at Mount Tai. Cao Cao had not yet led his army to Lu County, so the march and logistics work were not so fast.

A few days ago, Cao Cao's army approached Lu County and found that the city walls were adorned with the ceremonial guards of the King of Qi.

Since the prince's retinue was present, and Cao Cao was unaware of the Prince of Qi's plot to rebel, he was unsure whether to launch a direct attack.

Therefore, Cao Cao has not attacked Lu County in the past few days. He is sending someone to Linzi to inquire about the emperor's opinion, but the messenger has not yet returned.

As for the State of Lu, there is no King of Lu now.

The King of Lu had already died out and the state was abolished during the Xiping era. Emperor Ling Liu Hong re-established the State of Lu after the Yellow Turban Rebellion was quelled, but he did not have time to re-appoint the King of Lu.

Liu Hong originally intended to enfeoff Liu Bian in the State of Lu so that he could establish Liu Xie as his heir. However, the ongoing power struggles prevented Liu Hong from succeeding, and the State of Lu remained in a state of having a kingdom but no king.

(Note: The State of Lu was not officially abolished until the eleventh year of Jian'an (208 AD). For the twenty years prior, the State of Lu indeed had no king.)
In fact, when Liu Yan said that Liu Cheng had gone to the State of Lu, Liu Bei already understood that King Liu Cheng of Qi was conspiring with the Kong family.

This was actually the Confucius family making a last-ditch effort.

After Bian Bing arrived at Cao Cao's army, Cao Cao no longer needed to wait for Liu Bei's reply and ordered all his troops to besiege the city, preparing to directly attack Lu County.

When Tao Qian and other officials learned that they were to attack the King of Qi, they hesitated somewhat.

But the gangsters from the Jianghuai region did not hesitate—they didn't care what kind of king he was; if the Kong family became the target of the bidding, then they had to be eliminated.

The banner of the King of Qi?

Didn't Chang Xi also claim to be the King of Qi before?
Anyway, it was Liu Bei who issued the tender, Cao Cao who led the battle, and Cao Cao who gave the orders. All the gangsters needed to do was make contributions...

Among them, a fellow named Zhang Xuan was exceptionally proactive. As soon as Cao Cao gave the order, Zhang Xuan began to act quickly, taking the lead in attacking and capturing several large fortified villages in the eastern part of Lu County.

—It seems he's in a hurry to rob someone, and this guy is quite professional and efficient at it.

However, whether it's robbery or working, being too proactive isn't necessarily a good thing...

Because he was too eager, Zhang Xuan was recognized by Liu Yan—this person was Zhang Kai.

Zhang Kai is indeed an extremely slippery character.

After fleeing Linzi, he no longer relied on Liu Cheng, but instead changed his name to Zhang Xuan and joined Cao Cao's army to participate in the bidding to attack the Kong family...

Zhang Kai was wanted by Liu Bei and Tao Qian, but Zhang Xuan's identity was clean—Zhang Xuan was a real person, a member of the underworld in Zhuqiu County, Pei State, Yu Province, and he obtained the position of commander of Zhuqiu Garrison for participating in the campaign against Chang Xi.

If Liu Yan and Bian Bing hadn't come, Zhang Kai might have been able to take Zhang Xuan's place as an official after Cao Cao destroyed the Kong family.

Fortunately, Liu Yan knew Zhang Kai.

Although Liu Bei had set a rule that responding to the bidding order could absolve one of past offenses, Zhang Kai's case of impersonation was certainly not exempt and he had to be executed.

So Cao Cao sent his personal guards with Bian Bing to capture Zhang Kai.

The problem is that Zhang Kai was really good at running away. Cao Cao's main force, led by Shi Huan, wiped out most of Zhang Kai's men, but Zhang Kai still disappeared.

Shi Huan and Bian Bing were both hunting down Zhang Kai, but Zhang Kai managed to slip away right under their noses, and no one really knew how he disappeared.

In order to capture Zhang Kai, Cao Cao did not attack Lu County for the past few days, but sent out a large number of troops to search everywhere, but he could not find him no matter what he did.

Left with no other choice, Bian Bing joined Cao Cao's army, planning to capture Liu Cheng after conquering Lu County.

……

a few days later.

In the eastern part of Lu County, on the banks of the Si River, lies Cao Cao's camp.

Of course, the Kong family was not the only family in Lu County. Most of the gentry in Lu State had kinship or teacher-student relationships with the Kong family. After the Kong family issued the bidding order, they united with many gentry in Lu State and gathered in Lu County to resist. It was indeed not easy to break through in a short time.

—If the Kong family is to be exterminated, other families with kinship ties will naturally be implicated, essentially being coerced by the Kong family.

Moreover, the discipline of these dozens of gangsters was not very good. Cao Cao could only restrain them from harassing civilians and destroying fields, but he could not restrain them from robbing wealthy families.

These guys were willing to come to the State of Lu to attack the Kong family because they were a wealthy household.

The fortified villages surrounding Lu County have all been occupied by the Huai-Si underworld.

This made Lu County much more difficult to attack—the city was now putting up a desperate resistance, and the Kong family had never lacked food. Now Lu County had neither a shortage of food nor manpower, so Cao Cao could only build weapons and slowly besiege the city.

Currently, various units are logging timber to manufacture siege equipment.

Cao Cao was holding a book of treacherous officials and carefully flipping through it.

This is a thread-bound paper booklet, roughly the same size as the official documents used for daily communication, measuring six inches long and four inches wide, which is about the size of later comic books.

This was more in line with the usual format for messengers to deliver documents. At the same time, making the format smaller could also minimize damage during transportation and handling, since paper was not very durable back then.

"...Once this book is published, Yuan Tai will likely be cursed for all eternity..."

Cao Cao muttered to himself, turned another page, stared blankly at a portrait of a beautiful woman, quickly flipped through a few more pages, and then turned back again. This portrait depicted Yuan Shao's lustful nature, so his cronies, seeking favors from him, sent him many beautiful women. When Yuan Shao grew tired of them, he used them as gifts to support his loyal followers or to cultivate relationships with other famous figures.

This is not a frame-up; it's the truth.

Cao Ren and Cheng Yu, who were standing nearby, also saw the map in Cao Cao's hand. One stared blankly, while the other looked terrified.

"This painting is beautiful...who painted it?"

Cao Ren stared blankly, his attention clearly focused on the scantily clad beauty.

"This plan is extremely vicious... Who is responsible for this?"

Cheng Yu was naturally terrified, and he was more concerned about the power of this "Record of Traitorous Officials".

"The Right General sent someone to deliver it, saying that 100,000 copies had been printed and were to be distributed in markets, taverns, and lodgings in various counties and prefectures. He instructed me to distribute them to the counties of Yan and Yu... This is precisely Zhongde's matter."

Cao Cao replied to Cheng Yu first, because it was Cheng Yu's job.

Then Cao Cao turned and threw the booklet in his hand to Cao Ren: "This was written by Zhang Yide, who injured you at the Bian River Bridge."

"Zhang Fei?"

Cao Ren looked at the booklet in his hand with surprise and suspicion—he had flipped to the picture of a beautiful woman with exposed breasts again, then clicked his tongue and shook his head: "I didn't expect him to have this skill..."

Cao Ren's injuries are no longer serious, but he is not fully recovered. This is mainly due to excessive blood loss. The bloodletting effect of the triangular lance is too strong. It is really lucky that Cao Ren was able to survive.

Cao Ren's left arm is still somewhat inflexible.

Although Cao Ren was unhappy, he did not harbor excessive hatred towards Zhang Fei. After all, Zhang Fei had lost in a fair duel. Having been a wandering knight-errant in the Huai and Si regions for so many years, Cao Ren would not regard such a fair opponent as a personal enemy.

"Yuan Shao...I'm afraid he can only go to the lands of the barbarians."

Cheng Yu sighed: "If this item is distributed to taverns and inns, and there are pictures of beautiful women embedded in them, it will be known to everyone within a month... and everyone will be fighting over it..."

Cao Cao nodded: "Once this plan is announced, the noble families of the world will surely be filled with fear... I used to think that history books could make people infamous for ten thousand years, but I never thought that erotic paintings could be known by everyone, even illiterate farmers and commoners... I am also deeply afraid of this..."

"The Right General should not send any more treacherous officials..."

Cheng Yu shook his head and said, "Unless someone else dares to risk being infamous for eternity and openly oppose the Right General..."

“Then… Zhongde, let’s send this list of treacherous officials to Yan and Yu provinces first. The Right General has sent 20,000 copies…”

Cao Cao nodded: "Tomorrow, have someone throw a few scrolls into Lu County. Perhaps this will persuade the gentry of Lu County to open the city gates and surrender."

Cao Ren flipped through a few more pages, then turned to Cao Cao and asked, "Brother, can we imitate this technique to intimidate the surrounding regions?"

"It's difficult to learn... I wonder how these rubbings were made; in just a few days, hundreds of thousands of copies were produced..."

Cao Cao shook his head: "I have only ever seen Zhang Yide who knows this kind of painting technique. I have commissioned Zhang Yide to make a screen. This is his unique skill that he has practiced for many years. He is the only one who can do it."

"Back then, when the late emperor established the Hongdu Gate Academy, perhaps those skilled in calligraphy and painting could imitate it... But at that time, everyone called him a treacherous and sycophantic official and suppressed him. No one expected that he could threaten the scholars of the world with his erotic paintings..."

Cheng Yu shook his head and said, "Now, I'm afraid only the Right General can recruit members of the Hongdu Academy through the Jixia Academy and the examination system..."

"Perhaps we should also establish an academy."

Cao Cao instructed Cao Ren: "Send someone to Xuzhou to ask Xu Yuanzhi when the state schools in Yanzhou and Yuzhou will be opened... We should take the wealth of the Kong family and open a state school in Pei, so that people can learn from this picture book slowly."

"Since the album was created by Zhang Yide, why doesn't my lord try to arrange a marriage between us?"

Cheng Yu suggested, "If you were to form a marriage alliance with him, you would naturally be able to learn this skill."

"That's true... Zhang Fei doesn't have a legal wife yet..."

Cao Cao sighed, "But I only have one daughter, and she is still young. Moreover, she was betrothed to Ding Lang when she was only one year old..."

Cao Cao's daughter is only three years old and was born to Lady Ding. He has no other children.

Ding Lang refers to Ding Yi, the son of Ding Chong. Ding Chong was Lady Ding's cousin. The Ding and Cao families had always practiced consanguineous marriage—Lady Ding was also Cao Cao's cousin.

"Then... what about Yuanrang and Miaocai?"

Cheng Yu reminded him again.

Cao Cao nodded slowly, without responding.

The following morning, Cao Cao ordered several hundred picture albums to be thrown onto the city wall of Lu County.

More than a dozen people were shot to death while trying to throw the picture book – without catapults, they could only rely on simple levers to throw it, which had neither range nor accuracy.

But less than half a day after the album was placed in Lu County, the city gates of Lu County were opened...

There's been internal strife within the county.

To be precise, some officials and gentry in the county were no longer willing to resist the bidding order and chose to abandon the darkness and embrace the light.

……

(End of this chapter)