Tiger Owl

Chapter 321 The Hundred Craftsmen Project (Part 2)

Song Kuan laughed and said, "You were once the top craftsman in the Shaofu Paper Mill, have you forgotten that?"

"That happened a long time ago!"

The light in Zheng Chu's eyes slowly dimmed again, and he sighed softly, "I am already old and frail, I'm afraid I can no longer help you?"

Song Kuan was confident and said calmly, "Your daughter and son-in-law are both willing to go to Chaisang. If you go, won't the whole family be reunited?"

Zheng Chu looked up abruptly, "Really?"

"of course it's true."

Song Kuan took out a silver hairpin. "This is a keepsake from your daughter. She said you recognize her."

Zheng Chu recognized it, of course; it was his wife's dowry for their daughter!
"So, Master Zheng, are you willing to go?"

Zheng Chu and his wife exchanged a glance and nodded solemnly, "Let's go!"

After Cao Cao's southern expedition, the ruler of Ye City was Cao Cao's second son, Cao Pi. Since his eldest son, Cao Ang, died young, Cao Pi was the de facto eldest son.

That morning, Liu Ye, who was assisting Cao Pi, rushed over and found Cao Pi.

"Your Highness, there's something strange about this."

Cao Pi frowned. "What is it?"

"A group of craftsmen have gone missing unexpectedly."

Cao Pi didn't understand, and his brows furrowed even deeper. "Explain in more detail."

“Recently, many craftsmen in the Hundred Crafts Workshop have taken leave one after another. There was a master minter who was in charge of casting the mother coin and was supposed to come yesterday, but he didn’t. The official went to his house yesterday to look for him and found that the house was empty.”

Are there similar cases?

"Yes!" Liu Ye said gravely. "This morning's count revealed that thirteen people have already left their homes, and more than sixty others have requested leave. Since their leave hasn't ended yet, we can't determine their situation."

Cao Pi's face darkened, and he said with displeasure, "Why did we only discover the problem now? What about the preventative measures?"

Liu Ye explained, “Our official craftsman surveillance system is limited to military craftsmen and does not involve civilian craftsmen. However, this incident involved all the top civilian craftsmen, not a single military craftsman, so it was not discovered in time.”

Cao Pi paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, and after a while asked, "What are the ranks of these seventy-odd official craftsmen?"

"They are all at level two or above, including twenty-four level one master craftsmen and the rest are level two master craftsmen."

Cao Pi's expression changed drastically. Their top-level craftsmen numbered just over one hundred, and suddenly 20% of them had disappeared.

"Was it Liu Bei who did it, or Gan Ning?"

Cao Pi had realized that the disappearance of so many people was not an individual problem, but rather that they had been poached by other forces, either Gan Ning or Liu Bei, and no one else.

"This humble servant doesn't know either," Liu Ye shook his head.

"Have you sent someone to investigate?"

"It has been dispatched, and we are currently waiting for news."

Cao Pi immediately took out a gold medal from his drawer and handed it to Liu Ye, "Mobilize the Imperial Secretariat and give me a full investigation!" On the Zhang River in Julu County, boats came and went, making it quite lively, with more than twenty medium-sized passenger boats speeding on the river.

The ship was carrying seventy-four artisans and their families. Instead of heading south, they sailed north. Western Chu had made careful arrangements. They had merchant ships in Liaodong, and these artisans would transfer to large merchant ships at the mouth of the Zhang River and travel by sea to the Yangtze River, thus avoiding the roadblocks set up by Cao Cao's army.

Of course, there are risks involved. The journey through Hebei is fraught with them, and Song Kuan has no choice but to take a gamble. He bets that Cao Cao's army or the Imperial Academy will pursue them south or west, intercepting them by land or water. The initial interception and search will take at least ten days.

Song Kuan was betting on these ten days. By the time Cao Cao's army sensed something was wrong and began investigating to the north and east, they should have already sailed out of Hebei and into the sea.

Song Kuan's judgment was correct. Tens of thousands of Cao troops and thousands of guards from the Imperial Academy and the Imperial Household Department set up checkpoints at various levels throughout the Central Plains to conduct strict inspections. At the same time, rewards were offered in various counties to capture the escaped craftsmen.

On the eighth day of the investigation, Cao Cao returned to Ye City.

Cao Pi had no choice but to bite the bullet and go see his father. Cao Cao immediately asked with a cold face, "What happened at the Hundred Crafts Workshop? Why are checkpoints being set up along the way to arrest people?"

Cao Pi lowered his head and whispered, "Reporting to Father, seventy-four artisans from the Hundred Crafts Workshop have gone missing, and I am doing my utmost to search for and investigate them."

"Missing?"

A flash of anger crossed Cao Cao's face. "Are you trying to fool me by refusing to tell the truth?"

Seeing his father's anger, Cao Pi was so frightened that he immediately knelt down. "Your son dares not deceive you, Father. These craftsmen have suddenly disappeared without a trace. Your son guesses that it was either Gan Ning or Liu Bei, but without any evidence, we can only set up roadblocks along the way to investigate."

Cheng Yu, standing nearby, laughed and said, "Bashu is closed off and exclusive to outsiders. They won't poach craftsmen from outside, let alone have the ability to poach craftsmen from Yecheng. It can only be Gan Ning. As far as I know, he has poached craftsmen from Jiangdong and Liu Biao before. It's his tradition to search for talent everywhere."

“But we’ve been investigating for eight days and haven’t found a single clue.” Cao Pi didn’t dare meet his father’s gaze, his face full of frustration.

Seeing that Xun Yu seemed hesitant to speak, Cao Cao said, "Wenruo, just say what you have to say."

Xun Yu bowed and said, “Gan Ning is very strategic. Look at how he rescued Lü Fan from Xuchang. The Imperial Academy’s investigation couldn’t find a trace of him. The same goes for the craftsmen this time. I think there are actually two possibilities. First, they didn’t leave at all and are still hiding in Ye City or a nearby county. The other possibility is that they are going in the wrong direction. You are investigating in the south, but I think it is more likely that they are heading north. That would be more in line with Gan Ning’s unconventional style.”

Cao Cao glanced at his son indifferently, "Do you understand what the strategist means?"

Cao Pi, as if waking from a dream, hurriedly said, "I will immediately send men to pursue them to the north!"

Cao Cao waved his hand, "No need, eight days have passed, there will be no result, let them be!"

Cao Cao's tone was weary, and Cao Pi felt as if his heart was being torn apart; he couldn't even handle such a small matter.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and his voice choked with emotion, "I know I was wrong, please punish me, Father!"

Cao Cao sighed, "I won't blame you. Even I was defeated by Gan Ning and had to pay a humiliating price to return. How could you possibly be his match? Go! Find out the reason why the craftsmen followed him so devotedly, and then report back to me!"

"Your son obeys!"

Cao Pi gradually withdrew.

Cao Cao pondered for a moment, then asked Cheng Yu and Xun Yu, "What should I do now?"

Cheng Yu slowly said, "Prime Minister, we have two things to do now. First, we must continue to fulfill the ceasefire agreement reached with Gan Ning. You promised to give him his title and official position, and we have also started the marriage alliance. Second, I suggest that General Xiahou Dun be recalled to participate in the Battle of Hanzhong. Prime Minister, you must resolve the Hanzhong issue as soon as possible and not allow Liu Bei's influence to continue to expand."

Xun Yu added, "Zhongde is right. I would like to add one more thing: we need to speed up our control over Jiangnan. The ceasefire agreement is only for one year, or even less than that. We need to hurry."

(End of this chapter)