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

Chapter 383 The Loyal Ministers of the Han Dynasty (Combined Chapter)
Yang Yi was actually quite eloquent, making Gongsun Du's act of copying homework sound like he was following Liu Bei's orders.

“To obey the imperial decrees is to be a compliant subject... but Gongsun Shengji is not a subject of the imperial court.”

Liu Bei looked at Yang Yi and shook his head: "To appoint the governor of Liaodong and bestow official titles privately without the court's authorization is not the behavior of a good minister... But merit should be rewarded. Go back and tell Gongsun Shengji to come to Linzi to receive the reward."

Liu Bei had not forgotten that the assassination attempt on Liu Yu that led to his mother's death from serious injuries occurred when Gongsun Du was serving as the governor of Ji Province.

Meng Dai, the executor who was thrown out to be confessed, was Gongsun Du's subordinate.

At that time, Gongsun Du was dismissed from his post due to lax discipline and became a commoner. In the past two years, he has suddenly risen to prominence in Liaodong, which must be due to investment from someone behind the scenes.

Others might not have a clue who invested in Gongsun Du, but Liu Bei knew very well that it must be Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao's reputation was already utterly ruined, and it was impossible for him to stand in the limelight again. No one would follow a traitor who had been listed in the biographies of treacherous officials.

Hiding behind the scenes to invest in Gongsun Du was Yuan Shao's only option.

When Yuan Shao disappeared, his strength was not greatly diminished. Whether it was his father-in-law Liu Fang, his nephew Gao Gan, or the troops that Yuan Shao himself had built up in Ji Province, they were all extremely powerful.

Those who remained loyal to Yuan Shao even in his darkest times were either die-hards or had no choice but to follow him, demonstrating exceptional willpower.

Although Liu Bei despised Yuan Shao's character, he had to admit that Yuan Shao was capable and had great courage.

Tadun likely received investment from Yuan Shao.

“General Wei, my lord is guarding the border, and the Wuhuan are causing trouble and blocking the road. I fear he will not be able to come to Linzi in person… I, Yang, have gone through many hardships crossing the sea to come to Qingzhou, and I almost died in the storm several times. I must not make my lord take this dangerous journey again.”

Yang Yi was respectful, but his words carried a hidden meaning: "Our lord is not in a hurry to bestow rewards, nor does he care about official positions or titles; he simply wants to do his best for the Han Dynasty. However, General Wei once offered a reward for Qiu Liju's head, and now that Qiu Liju has been executed, is General Wei willing to keep his promise?"

What this really means is... so what if you give orders on your own?
Liaodong is far from the capital, making it difficult for large armies to pass through. In addition, the Wuhuan people are causing trouble in Youzhou. Liu Bei cannot send troops to attack Liaodong at present, and Youzhou will also have a hard time dealing with Liaodong in the short term.

Gongsun Du did indeed kill Qiu Liju, so Liu Bei couldn't directly regard Gongsun Du as a traitor. After all, it was Liu Bei who issued the bounty himself, and there was also the precedent of Wang Zheng killing Zhang Chun and granting him a title.

Yang Yi's purpose in coming to Linzi was this—as long as the court did not regard Gongsun Du as a traitor, Gongsun Du's occupation of Liaodong would be considered legitimate by the people of the world.

Not only would it be seen as legitimate, but it would also lead the world to believe that Gongsun Du was an ally of Liu Bei...

Because they were obviously copying homework completely, regardless of whether the homework was actually correct or not, they had copied it exactly.

Moreover, to keep his promise, Liu Bei had to honor the reward.

This wasn't Gongsun Du requesting a title from the court; it was Yuan Shao's promotion gift to Liu Bei—after being listed in the biographies of treacherous officials, Yuan Shao's methods had shifted from intrigue to overt strategy.

Everyone grows.

Liu Bei thought for a moment and asked, "Gongsun Shengji should be rewarded for killing the Wuhuan bandit Qiuliju. But Mr. Yang, do you know that one hundred million coins is enough for a thousand cartloads? Since the Wuhuan are blocking the way, how will you deliver it to Liaodong?"

Yes, one hundred million coins weighs over three hundred tons...

Yang Yi only brought a few attendants with him.

Sending the money to Liaodong would be much more difficult than getting Gongsun Du to Linzi.

“There is no need to send it to Liaodong… Although my lord is not a prefect appointed by the court, he still respects the court. Liaodong is remote, sparsely populated, and the journey is arduous… But my lord is selfless and will make sure that the taxes are brought into the court no matter how difficult it is.”

Yang Yi was clearly prepared: "This reward of one hundred million coins will be used by General Wei to pay taxes in Liaodong... Our lord, upon learning of Your Majesty's injury, specially presents a white tiger pelt and a century-old ginseng to express his heartfelt sentiments."

Good means.

Liu Bei secretly praised him.

Liaodong used to be sparsely populated, but things are different now.
In recent years, with the turmoil in the Central Plains, starting from the period of the Party Prohibitions, scholars have been fleeing to Liaodong.

Especially in the last ten years or so, the Central Plains have been plagued by natural disasters and man-made calamities, while Liaodong, being far from the reach of the emperor, has been relatively stable and has a large amount of idle land, making it the first choice for criminals seeking refuge.

Even Guan Yu initially planned to flee to Liaodong, but he encountered Liu Bei in Zhuojun on the way.

Including those from Qingzhou, famous scholars such as Guan Ning and Bing Yuan, along with their disciples, as well as many scholars who had fled due to Zuo Yuan's purge and killings, all fled to Liaodong.

Liaodong Commandery at present can be regarded as a prefecture, both in terms of population and territory.

Liaodong originally evolved from the "Four Commanderies of Han" during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. The three commanderies of Xuantu, Lelang, and Daifang were all under the jurisdiction of Liaodong. Changli was not yet a separate commandery, but a county under the jurisdiction of Liaodong.

Its territory encompasses the Liaodong Bay, the Liaohe Plain, and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, and its actual area is about the size of a prefecture (roughly equivalent to Liaoning Province plus the entirety of North Korea).
Because of its location on the frontier and frequent wars with foreign tribes, Youzhou's finances have always been in deficit, and in general, it has to subsidize military expenses.

The two prefectures of Qing and Ji need to allocate more than 200 million coins to supplement the finances of Youzhou every year, of which about 100 million coins are allocated to Liaodong.

But now, Liaodong has to pay 100 million coins in taxes...

Anyone who sees this would have to say that Gongsun Du is a 'well-governed' official...

Gongsun Du was openly copying Liu Bei's moves in Liaodong, playing a game of imitation, clearly waiting for an opportunity, waiting for Liu Bei to make a mistake or for internal problems to arise.

At the same time, he used the Wuhuan, Xianbei, and Sanhan tribes to cause trouble... With Yuan Shao's abilities, it would be too easy for him to fool those barbarians.

Even if Liu Bei clearly knew the other party's intentions, he had absolutely no reason to deal with Gongsun Du.

They voluntarily paid taxes, offered tribute, respected the imperial court's policies, and followed Liu Bei's previous instructions...

Moreover, he disregarded personal gain and official rank, and his governance of Liaodong was quite effective, transforming a loss-making prefecture that originally needed subsidies from the imperial court into a profitable prefecture that paid a large amount of taxes...

Who can say that Gongsun Du was not a loyal minister?

If Liu Bei made Liaodong his enemy, it would inevitably cause the whole country to rebel.

—In the eyes of the people, if even a 'loyal and virtuous minister' like Gongsun Du is going to get beaten up... other counties are far inferior to Gongsun Du, so doesn't that mean they will all be killed by Liu Bei no matter what?

Then let them all rebel!

Besides, Liu Bei can't send troops to Liaodong right now; the journey is indeed too far, and it's not the right time to pacify Liaodong.

Similarly, if Liu Bei did not recognize the legitimacy of Gongsun Du's control over Liaodong, then in the future, probably no one would be willing to pay taxes to the imperial court.

This is why Gongsun Du sent Yang Yi to Linzi.

“Gongsun Shengji is very kind… However, Liaodong is part of Youzhou, and it should be governed by Governor Liu Bo’an. Now that the Wuhuan are causing trouble, since Gongsun Shengji is loyal to the emperor, he should help Liu Bo’an pacify Youzhou and eliminate the barbarians. We can’t keep the roads to Liaodong blocked forever.”

Liu Bei accepted the result, but still did not budge. He did not directly grant Gongsun Du any official position or title, but only allowed Gongsun Du to be under Liu Yu's administration.

"General Wei is right, our lord also wishes to attack the Wuhuan..."

Yang Yi cupped his hands and said, "However, the imperial court has not issued an order to attack the Wuhuan, and Governor Liu of Youzhou has the intention to appease the Donghu. My lord dares not raise troops at will... My lord sent me here to ask the emperor to issue an edict to quell the Wuhuan rebellion."

Request an imperial edict?

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei almost swore.

If it were anyone else, they would most likely have fallen for it.

We cannot issue an edict to attack the Wuhuan now...

If an imperial edict were issued, even if Xu Rong or Xianyu Fu were appointed as the commander-in-chief, Gongsun Du could use the "imperial edict" as a basis to openly send troops to various counties in Youzhou to "aid the suppression of the rebels".

Just like Liu Bei did back then, he was ordered to attack the Wuhuan. No matter who the commander was, it was always right for the reinforcements to be ordered to fight the bandits.

—Gongsun Du can send Tadun wherever he wants to attack...

Tadun "invaded the border," and Gongsun Du "pacified the rebellion." In the process of pacifying, he managed to bring all the prefectures under his control. No matter who was killed, Tadun could be blamed; Gongsun Du was even "recovering lost territory." This wasn't just fostering bandits for his own benefit; it was officials and bandits working together, profiting from both sides.

Liu Yu adopted a policy of appeasement towards foreign tribes, and indeed he did appease the Xianbei and Wuhuan.

If Liu Bei were to issue an edict in the name of the imperial court to punish the Liaoxi Wuhuan led by Tadun, Gongsun Du would inevitably help Tadun escalate the situation to the point that all the Xianbei and Wuhuan had rebelled, and also expand the edict to "punish the Donghu," and then openly deal with Liu Yu, who was on friendly terms with the Donghu.

Gongsun Du was even able to utilize Xu Rong, Xianyu Fu, and others, because Xu Rong and others did not have a conciliatory attitude towards the Donghu. Xu Rong and Xianyu Fu were almost killed by the Xianbei people, and Wang Men was almost killed by the Wuhuan people. Their former subordinates had suffered great losses because of the Donghu and had a grudge against the Hu people.

Liu Bei would definitely not request an imperial edict.

But no matter how it is handled, it will only benefit Gongsun Du.

With Tadun as a mercenary, Gongsun Du secretly causing trouble, and Yuan Shao providing guidance... Liu Yu was not skilled in military affairs, and Xianyu Fu and Xu Rong were also likely to be framed.

Gongsun Du was indeed good at copying homework; this was a tactic Liu Bei had used before.

This kind of open scheme was indeed annoying, so Liu Bei decided to annoy Gongsun Du as well: "The governorship of Youzhou was bestowed upon Liu Bo'an by the late emperor, and Liu Bo'an has served with merit for many years. His Majesty intends to promote him to Grand Marshal... In the affairs of Youzhou, Gongsun Boji should obey Liu Bo'an."

Yang Yi shook his head and smiled, then bowed and said, "I will certainly follow Your Majesty's wishes."

In fact, Yang Yi had already achieved his goal of coming to Linzi.

Although Liu Bei was not fooled and Gongsun Du was still not an official of the court, the court could not say that Gongsun Du was a traitor. Since he was not a traitor, it was tantamount to the court tacitly approving that Gongsun Du had established a separatist regime in Liaodong.

Liu Bei could only send Xu Rong back to Youbeiping as soon as possible, instructing him to focus on defending Lulong Pass and prevent the Wuhuan from entering the pass, so as not to fall into Gongsun Du's trap.

To prevent the loss of Youzhou, Zhang He will also lead his army north from Bohai to provide support to Youzhou at any time.

Liu Bei also wrote to Liu Yu, hoping that Liu Yu would pay attention to military preparedness and that the policies toward the Xianbei and Wuhuan should be reconsidered, with the main approach being to divide and conquer.

However, the letter received no response.

Liu Yu has his own ideas, and he has always been Liu Bei's superior... Now he probably has a bit of a "can't stand to see Liu Bei suffer, nor can he stand to see Liu Bei get rich" mentality.

It was easy for Liu Bei to get Liu Yu's help, but it was difficult to get Liu Yu to listen to his opinions and change his way of governing. Liu Bei was not issuing orders, but suggestions, for fear that Liu Yu would become rebellious.

……

Besides Youzhou, Yuzhou is also facing problems.

After Yuan Shu killed Liu Chong, he also sent an envoy to Linzi. This time, the envoy was Yang Hong from Nanyang.

Yang Hong is a collateral branch of the Hongnong Yang clan and is currently Yuan Shu's chief secretary.

The Yang family and the Xun family are similar; they are both a clan with several branches, and their investments are scattered in various places.

Moreover, Yang Hong and Yang Yi actually follow similar paths...

Liu Bei had just issued an edict to attack Liu Chong, and Yuan Shu had Zhang Kai kill Liu Chong... This is probably one of the reasons why Zhang Kai no longer concealed his identity.

Does this count as Yuan Shu obeying the imperial edict to eliminate traitors for the country?
Although Yuan Shu caused a lot of trouble in Nanyang and other places, he actually did follow the imperial edict all along...

It was Ji Ling, a subordinate of Yuan Shu, who killed Que Xuan.

When the armed forces pursued the taxes, Yuan Shu did not cause any disruption; in fact, he cooperated quite well and did not even help the powerful clans of Runan who were acquainted with him.

Although Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang without permission and fought against Dong Zhuo there for nearly a year, he never provoked Liu Bei's territory.

The imperial edict has just been issued to punish Liu Chong, and Yuan Shu is once again "actively responding"...

He should at least be considered a loyal subject, right?
Moreover, the matter between Yuan Shu and Dong Zhuo was a 'personal feud'. The Dong family and the Yuan family were sworn enemies, and Dong Zhuo's expedition to Nanyang was also not authorized by the imperial court.

Yang Hong came to Linzi on behalf of Yuan Shu, wanting a pretext to accuse Dong Zhuo of treason.

This was clearly because Sun Jian couldn't hold out in Nanyang anymore.

Liu Bei understood Yuan Shu well—if he could win, Yuan Shu certainly wouldn't 'report' him…

Dong Zhuo's troops received the new grain from the autumn harvest and once again launched a large-scale attack on Nanyang.

Sun Jian estimated that they were running out of food and had already evacuated Luyang.

However, Liu Bei hoped that Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shu would continue fighting, and of course he would not let Yuan Shu have his way. So he told Yang Hong that this matter was a private feud between the Dong and Yuan families, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

We can only morally support Yuan Shu in avenging his family, but revenge is something that cannot be delegated to others...

In any case, Liu Bei acted as a cheerleader, providing all support except for his own in the face of the feud between Yuan Shu and Dong Zhuo.

As for being ordered to attack Liu Chong, Liu Bei said that this was Yuan Shu's duty as the General Who Destroys the Enemy, but it was indeed a great achievement, and the court would reward him accordingly.

However, before rewards and honors could be bestowed, Yuan Shu had to first enroll in the Great Han Military Academy for further study; otherwise, he would not be considered a regular soldier of the Great Han—and if he wasn't a regular soldier, he certainly wouldn't receive proper credit...

Liu Bei did make a request to Yang Hong, instructing him to ask Yuan Shu to send Zhang Kai to Linzi, as he was the murderer who attacked Princess Liu Hua. Even if Zhang Kai had rendered meritorious service, he should be convicted first.

……

It was at this time that Cao Cao sent a letter to Liu Bei through Lü Qian and ordered Lü Qian to retreat to Rencheng County instead of going to Taishan County.

There was not a single word in the letter box, only the seal of the General Who Conquers the East.

Cao Cao returned the general's seal to Liu Bei.

Upon seeing the seal of office, Liu Bei remained silent for a long time. He then ordered Zhang Liao to return to Dongjun, Sun Guan to return to Mount Tai, and Zang Ba to return to Pengcheng, each to guard their respective passes.

News came a few days later that Cao Cao's troops had entered Chen Commandery.

Li Qian and Lü Qian together forced Chen Shuo of Juye to surrender.

Cao Cao seized the 'legacy' of Liu Chong and Chen Gong.

Shortly thereafter, news spread from the two provinces of Yan and Yu that a large number of powerful clans had been killed.

In Runan, Chenjun, Shanyang, Jiyin and other places, most families associated with Ying Shao and Chen Gong were killed, and their servants and lands were confiscated.

Large tracts of land became Cao Cao's military settlements, and Cao Cao also set up agricultural commissioners in each county, so most of the powerful families in Yingchuan also got a share of the spoils.

Not only did the land holdings of Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and others skyrocket, but Cao Cao's confidants such as Li Qian, Xun Yu, Yue Jin, Cheng Yu, Ding Chong, and Shi Huan also became super-large landowners.

Li Qian's family even occupied half of Jiyin County, and counties such as Lihu, Chengshi, Juyang, and Chengyang all became Li family properties.

Cao Cao was indeed confiscating land from the wealthy and distributing it to other wealthy individuals.

In Xuzhou, Tao Qian has returned to his old ways.

Yeah, it's a robbery...

But instead of robbing the common people, they robbed the wealthy exiled in exile.

From Zuo Yuan's purge of Qingzhou to Cao Cao's purge of Yan and Yu provinces, many powerful clans fled to Xuzhou, and most of them fell into Tao Qian's hands.

In a way, Tao Qian was responding to Liu Bei and Cao Cao's call to eliminate potential threats for their allies...

We are all loyal subjects of the Han Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)