Han Ji

Spring in the seventh year of the Xiping era passed quickly.

The wheat seedlings in the field had just straightened up, their green color dazzling, when the summer heat began to rise.

The streets of Shuxian County were more peaceful than at this time of year. The frenzy of joint purchases in front of the official granary had passed, and rice prices remained as stable as a rock, impossible to shake. The displaced people settled down, carrying the crude farming tools provided by the government, and diligently tilled the designated wasteland. Occasionally, small squads of county soldiers would patrol by, their armor neatly trimmed, their eyes displaying a newfound toughness.

The new policies implemented by Lu Zhi were like finally breaking through the frozen soil, taking root little by little.

In the rear office of the prefectural government, Liu Bei put down his pen and rubbed his wrist. On his desk lay newly submitted reports on the progress of land reclamation and the compilation of household registers. The matters were numerous and complex, but the overall picture was gradually becoming clearer.

He got up and walked to the window, stretching his shoulders. The old wound from Eagle's Beak Gorge last year would still ache and throb deep inside whenever the weather was humid and muggy.

"Join the army." Zhang Wu's voice rang out from outside the door, sounding somewhat urgent.

"Enter."

Zhang Wu pushed open the door and entered, the doorbell jingling softly. His usual nonchalant expression was gone, replaced by a furrowed brow. "I just received a military report that the settlement in Heishiyu, seventy li east of the city, was raided last night."

Liu Bei turned around: "What's the situation?"

"Three laborers died and several were wounded. They stole some grain and ironware. The squad leader leading the guards chased after them, but they were ambushed and lost two brothers. They only managed to salvage this." Zhang Wu said, handing over a broken spear.

The spear shaft was rough, made of hardwood common in the mountains. But the spearhead… Liu Bei took it, running his fingers along the broken edge. The iron wasn't of high quality, even containing some impurities, but the forging style carried a familiar feel. It wasn't the crooked, uneven style typically used by barbarians.

"It's not a remnant of the Black Wind Cave." Liu Bei stared at the spearhead. "They were scattered. They don't have the guts or the skill."

"The scouts went to investigate, and the trail led deep into the mountains, unlike the villages of Baishui and Qingmu, which had already sworn an oath."

Liu Bei didn't speak. He walked to the increasingly detailed map of Lujiang on the wall and looked down at the shadows of the continuous mountains to the east of Heishiyu.

"Is there anywhere else?"

"Five or six days ago, a small caravan was robbed on the official road to the north. They were robbed of all their goods and two people were killed. At the time, we just thought they were ordinary bandits and didn't pay much attention." Zhang Wu paused, "But now, the method seems a bit similar."

Liu Bei pointed to the map, tracing an arc from Black Stone Valley northwards, then eastwards. "Whose territory was this before?" he asked.

Zhang Wu leaned closer to take a look: "I heard the old official mention it before. There seems to be a small tribe called Black Wolf. They don't have many people, but they're quite fierce. They used to have a bad relationship with Pan Du and kept their distance."

"Black Wolf..." Liu Bei remembered the name.

For the next ten days or so, bad news swarmed around like summer gnats, impossible to shake off.

It was always the same routine: a few sheep would be stolen here, or a haystack would be burned there. The attacks were small-scale, swift as the wind, targeting weakly defended areas far from the main military settlements. When the county troops arrived, they often found only devastation and a few corpses.

They captured a wounded and isolated barbarian soldier and brought him before Liu Bei.

The barbarian soldier had a broken leg, his face was smeared with black ash, and his eyes were fierce yet somewhat fearful.

"Which village is it from?" Liu Bei asked Yan Bao, who understood the local language.

Rock Leopard mumbled a few questions, then turned around and said, "He said he's a warrior from Black Wolf Cave."

"Why are you out looting?"

Yan Bao asked again, and the barbarian soldier became excited, waving his arms and shouting.

"He said...they had no food, no salt, the babies were crying, and the women were cursing. The chief said that the Han Chinese government was unreliable, and they had to rob it themselves."

Liu Bei walked to the barbarian soldier, squatted down, and picked up the short knife that had fallen to the ground. The blade was rough, but the edge was sharpened, and its shape... like the broken spear, carried a sense of order that shouldn't belong to a barbarian tribe deep in the mountains.

"Where did this knife come from?" Liu Bei held the knife up to his eyes.

The barbarian soldier's eyes flickered, then he turned his head away and remained silent.

Rock Leopard whispered, "We can't get anything out of them. These black wolf cubs are stubborn."

Liu Bei stood up and tossed the sword to Zhang Wu. "Take him away, treat his wounds, and don't let him die."

He walked to the basin and slowly washed his hands. The water was very cold.

The resurgence of barbarians is not surprising. The mountains and forests are so vast; there will always be those who are unwilling to accept their fate or who cannot survive.

What's strange is the timing, and the origin of this equipment.

Zhou Chong had just suffered a major loss in the economic war and retreated to lick his wounds. These barbarians then emerged, deliberately causing trouble when the new policies were being implemented and people's hearts were just beginning to settle down.

What a coincidence!

And those weapons...

He dried his hands and said to Zhang Wu, "Prepare the horses, let's go to Black Stone Valley."

The Heishiyu reclamation site was a scene of utter devastation. Wisps of smoke still rose from the burned-out shacks, and the air was thick with the stench of burnt flesh and blood. The surviving laborers huddled together, their faces filled with terror.

Liu Bei dismounted and carefully examined the scene. The footprints were messy, pointing to the mountains and forests to the east.

He walked to the attacked camp area, his gaze sweeping across the ground. Suddenly, he squatted down and picked up a small, warped piece of metal from the ashes. It looked like a part of some kind of object; the texture… he squeezed it. It wasn't iron, more like bronze, with faint engravings on it.

This is not something from barbarians, nor does it even resemble military equipment.

He gathered the fragments, then mounted his horse.

"Let's take a look around the Zhou family's mines and workshops."

The Zhou family's mine was located in a mountain valley thirty miles west of Shuxian County. From afar, one could hear the clanging and hammering sounds, and black smoke billowed from several earthen blast furnaces, obscuring half the sky.

Liu Bei didn't approach; he reined in his horse and stopped on a distant high slope, watching the bustling scene below. The miners moved about like ants, while the overseer paced back and forth, whip in hand.

"Join the army, look over there." Zhang Wu pointed to an inconspicuous corner at the edge of the mine. There were several sheds there, and the people going in and out were clearly different from ordinary miners; they were dressed more neatly and moved faster. Behind the sheds, there were piles of shapeless slag and discarded molds.

"The Zhou family mainly makes farm tools and some ordinary ironware," Zhang Wu said in a low voice, "but occasionally, they also take on some private jobs. When Wang Hong was around, he did them a lot of favors."

Liu Bei looked at the shed with a calm expression.

Back at the county government office, he placed the bronze fragment together with the barbarian weapons he had previously seized.

"We've found out," Lu Zhi said as he entered, his face grim. "Those sheds belonging to the Zhou family, ostensibly for testing new farm tools, were actually used to secretly manufacture non-compliant weapons. They were crudely made and of poor quality, but enough to deal with unarmed civilians."

Liu Bei picked up an arrowhead seized from the barbarians: "It's very similar in shape and iron quality to the ones we've captured. But it's still circumstantial evidence. Zhou Chong can easily claim that his men took on the job without permission, or even that it was stolen and sold."

Lu Zhi snorted: "Old fox. He knows we can't touch him now. The spring famine has just ended, the new policies have just begun, and the county troops need rest. Without solid evidence, taking action against him rashly will only cause chaos in Lujiang again."