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

Chapter 364 The War Begins Again
"Did you use General Zhang's name when you minted coins privately?"

Guo Jia asked another question.

Zhang Da's lips trembled: "...Yes."

It's obvious that Zhang Da is Zhang Fei's confidant. He would definitely be hiding something when doing something like this. There are indeed very few people who dare to mess with Zhang Fei.

Even if someone discovers it, no one dares to report it.

Only Guo Jia was willing to investigate the truth; someone else might have just let the mistake continue.

"You bastard!"

Zhang Fei flew into a rage and drew his sword to strike.

"Don't kill him yet... We still need him to find Fan Yi and more traitors. The decision of life and death should be made by our lord."

Guo Jia quickly stopped Zhang Fei: "Fan Yi and the Fan family of Tugu County used Zhang Da to mint large coins and then used the exchange of inferior coins to lure Le Jin here."

"Then he killed the coin-minting craftsmen, burned down the smelting workshop, and framed Yue Jin. Zhang Da's men, who remained there unaware of the true situation, believed that Zhang Shi was acting out of self-interest and fought Yue Jin to the death, thus triggering a war between the two families..."

"Once the fighting intensifies, this matter will become irreversible."

Guo Jia went through the matter: "Fan Yi did indeed hand the money over to Le Jin, and the inferior money from the smelting plant could not be taken away in a short time... This matter was not for the purpose of making money. The mastermind behind the scenes deceived Zhang Da in order to start a war. They wanted Le Jin and Cheng Yu to die here."

"If that's the case, the lord will inevitably become estranged from General Cao, which will only benefit Liu Chong and Chen Gong."

"Moreover, Le Jin breached Chen Gong's fortified village in Dongjun and captured Chen Gong's clansmen. Chen Gong had a deep grudge against him... Fan Yi was most likely sent by Chen Gong."

After saying this, Guo Jia looked at Zhang Da and said, "You are being used without realizing it... You clearly have a bright future, so why are you so greedy for money?"

Zhang Fei grabbed Zhang Da and slammed him to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of spittle in anger and hatred, and didn't want to say another word.

……

That night, Zhang Fei took Zhang Da to the Fan family in Tugu County to arrest people.

The trip to the Fan family went smoothly; Fan Qiang, a member of the Fan family, immediately opened the door after seeing Zhang Da.

However, the Fan family's situation was almost the same as Zhang Da's. Fan Qiang was Fan Yi's cousin. Fan Qiang was only helping Fan Yi hire people and was responsible for hiding the private minting of coins in order to make money.

Both Zhang Da and Fan Qiang were deceived by Fan Yi...

In other words, Fan Yi provided Zhang Da with start-up capital, inducing Zhang Da and Fan Qiang to partner with him in manufacturing counterfeit currency.

Zhang Da was in charge of manufacturing, Fan Qiang was in charge of logistics, and Fan Yi was in charge of sales.

After luring Le Jin into fighting Zhang Fei, Fan Yi still fled alone, without taking any money with him, and abandoned Zhang Da and Fan Qiang as well.

This is very purposeful.

But when asked about the slick, skinny man, Zhang Da and Fan Qiang both said they didn't know... They only knew that the skinny man was Fan Yi's subordinate, but they hadn't paid any attention to such a minor character.

The people at the money exchange didn't recognize him either, because the skinny man had never gone to exchange money—they minted their own coins and didn't need to go to the money exchange to exchange large sums.

Cheng Yu mentioned the 'militiamen' blocking the road, but neither of them knew anything about them.

Those so-called militiamen had been scattered by Cheng Yu with the help of laborers at great cost. The slick, skinny man who led them had escaped into the mountains. Cheng Yu was in a hurry to find Guo Jia and couldn't chase after that guy.

Based on Le Jin's experience, Fan Yi may have also escaped into the dense forests on the northern slope of Mount Tai.

Zhang Fei had no choice but to have Zhang Da and Fan Qiang describe the two men's appearances in detail, and draw up wanted posters of one fat and one thin man, and issue arrest warrants to capture them.

Zhang Fei's men were quite skilled at drawing images based on the description, but Cheng Yu, after looking at the drawings, felt he didn't recognize the fat man.

On the contrary, the skinny man seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen him before.

Fan Yi's fear of being recognized by Cheng Yu when he told Le Jin was perhaps just a psychological suggestion... Regardless of whether Le Jin mentioned it to Cheng Yu, he would believe that he was from the Jinan Money Shop.

The fear of being recognized can actually enhance trust in transactions when illegal operations are involved.

Le Jin indeed believed that this smelting plant was the official mint.

If someone said, "I have large coins privately minted by Zhang Fei's subordinates," Le Jin certainly wouldn't dare to make the transaction.

After sending a message to Liu Bei, Zhang Fei began a massive search, sending wave after wave of men to the Tugu area. ...

Meanwhile, at the northern foot of Mount Tai, along the Wen River.

A fat man and a thin man, master and servant, were running away, each carrying a large bundle on their backs.

However... at this moment, it seems that the two are no longer master and servant.

The skinny man had lost his slickness and was now cold and indifferent, a complete change from his previous self.

The fat man, panting heavily, placed the bundle on his back in front of the thin man: "Brother Zhang, all this wealth is yours. I'm heading west now; the mountains are high and the roads are long, so let's part ways here..."

"Where are you going? Back to find Chen Gong?"

The skinny man glanced at the two narrow mountain paths to the west and south: "Do you think Chen Gong will tolerate you? You'll only die if you go back... I actually admire you quite a bit, why don't you come with me?"

Fan Yi shook his head: "...My wife and children are all in Shanyang. I dare not betray my lord."

"Your mission was far from successful, and you wasted so much money... How do you think Chen Gong will treat you?"

The skinny man shook his head: "Come with me, as long as you have money, you can have plenty of wives and children..."

Fan Yi hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, turned around and walked west onto the path.

But immediately, a slender knife tip protruded from Fan Yi's chest.

"Zhang Kai...why..."

Fan Yi turned around in horror, but couldn't see the skinny man behind him, and slowly went limp.

"Why? I lost so many brothers on this trip, it was too much of a loss... I was almost surrounded and killed by Cheng Yu."

Zhang Kai said from behind, "You used a scheme that completely disregarded my life and death, and you're unwilling to help me. What's the point of you living..."

After saying that, Zhang Kai drew his knife, wiped it on Fan Yi's body twice, and then took out two bone-like objects from his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth.

With just that one thrust, his cheeks changed from a sunken, pointed face to a square face, and coupled with his indifferent expression, his entire appearance was completely different.

Judging from his appearance, he must have had all his molars removed, which is why he has such a thin, sunken face.

……

Two days later.

Fan Yi's body was found by a farmer who was fishing.

He died in the dense forest in the southern part of Tugu County, stabbed in the back, and died instantly.

Liu Bei has also arrived in Jinan.

Based on the information currently available, Fan Yi may be one of Chen Gong's men, so it's not surprising that Chen Gong would pull such a stunt.

But this was the first time a soldier from his own unit had betrayed his own side. Zhang Fei's men were Liu Bei's troops, and Zhang Da had made many contributions.

This is actually normal; there will always be greedy people in any situation, that's just human nature.

But this greed was taken advantage of.

Moreover, this result was achieved using only one person and a sum of start-up capital.

If Cheng Yu and Guo Jia hadn't both been doing their best to restrain themselves, the situation might have escalated further.

Now, Yue Jin's troops have suffered heavy casualties, and Cheng Yu used laborers to forcibly break through the road to seek help from Guo Jia, resulting in even greater losses. The two are forced by circumstances to endure and restrain themselves, but a rift has inevitably formed between them.

After listening to Cheng Yu, Yue Jin, Zhang Da and others recount their experiences, Liu Bei immediately said to Cheng Yu, "This matter was the enemy's scheme, and I cannot let it cause any discord between Mengde and me. I will arrange for Mengde to have enough food, so that you will have no more worries... I originally did not want to take action, but Chen Gong is courting death, so let him die quickly."

"We are deeply grateful for General You's assistance."

Cheng Yu bowed and said, "Since Fan Yi is dead... why don't we turn the tables on him?"

(End of this chapter)