Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

"How could the rain be so heavy? I have lived in the Central Plains for more than 20 years and have never seen such a downpour!"

Sima Shi, standing under the eaves of his thatched hut, looked at the torrential rain outside and asked helplessly.

The minor official in charge of the post station behind Sima Shi, upon hearing Sima Shi's question, bowed and gave a lengthy explanation, but Sima Shi couldn't understand a single word. Sima Shi frowned and looked at Xiu Ze, the envoy sent by Lü Dai to Guanqiu Jian's army, and asked:
"Consultant Xiu, what is this person saying?"

Xiu smiled, cupped his hands and said, “Your Excellency may not know, but during the Han Dynasty, the people at the post stations in Jiaozhou had to receive people from the north and south, so they all had to learn the elegant language of Luoyang. But by the time of Wu, there were fewer and fewer northerners, so although the people at the post stations could understand the elegant language of Luoyang, they could not speak it clearly and had a Jiaozhou accent. No wonder Your Excellency could not understand it.”

Sima Shi sighed softly: "This is all the trouble caused by the Sun family's separatist rule! If the separatist rule had lasted any longer, I'm afraid the people of Jiaozhou would have no idea about Luoyang."

“Lord Lü still welcomes your visit.” Xiu Ze smiled awkwardly, avoiding the topic. “Such heavy rain in October is quite rare. We will rest at the post station for a few days and then head to Panyu after the rain stops.”

Sima Shi nodded: "That's the only way. But I'll have to trouble Xiu Jun to make some arrangements. This post station is rather crude. If the heavy rain lasts for a long time, I'm afraid it will be difficult to provide enough food for my 100 companions and Xiu Jun's 10 people."

Xiu Ze cupped his hands and said, "Since Your Excellency has come to Jiaozhou, this is a matter of concern for us Jiaozhou officials, so there is no need for Your Excellency to worry about it."

Sima Shi nodded in agreement.

After all, it was the former territory of the Wu Kingdom. Even though Jiaozhou was geographically remote and economically impoverished, it still had the necessary official roads and post stations.

Sima Shi and his hundred soldiers were hiding in an inn fifty li northeast of Sihui County. Although there were houses for shelter, they often leaked. Fortunately, the climate in Jiaozhou was warm enough that they could make do by sleeping on the ground. They were supposed to travel by boat and reach Panyu in four or five days, but they were stopped halfway by a rainstorm.

Both Sima Shi and Xiu Ze originally thought that the heavy rain would only last for one or two days at most before stopping. Unexpectedly, the heavy rain continued intermittently for nine days, and their group was trapped in this small post station for nine days.

Even with everyone eating sparingly, the inn's food reserves were running low by the sixth day. Sima Shi and his party had no choice but to start eating their own rations, only a third of their usual amount each day... After four or five days of traveling by water, who knew the rain would last so long!

It wasn't until the early morning of the tenth day that the weather, which had been overcast and rainy for many days, gradually returned to calm. By then, everyone knew that the situation in Jiaozhou, or rather, Nanhai County, was extremely dire.

With such heavy rain, even the buildings at the post station were teetering on the brink of collapse. And this was only because the government had funded its construction on high ground; imagine what would happen to the thatched and mud houses of ordinary people!

When Sima Shi and his party were about to continue their journey, the waters of the Zhen River were several times wider than when they disembarked, no longer as calm as before. The surface of the Zhen River was stained with muddy yellow water, and the waves were even stronger than usual. Countless broken branches and trees were being swept downstream by the current. Their boat, which had been tied to the dock, had long since disappeared without a trace.

As for the roads... they were washed away long ago!
Upon seeing this scene, Sima Shi sighed and asked Xiu Ze beside him, "Lord Xiu, given the extent of the disaster here, the ships must have already been washed away."

Xiu Ze also shrugged: "The land route is about 150 li, and the roads are in such a state that you can't travel very far each day. I really don't know how long it will take for Your Excellency to reach Panyu."

Just then, the innkeeper who couldn't speak the northern dialect stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Sir, I have something to say."

Sima Shi looked up and, upon discovering it was the minor official, asked in surprise, "When did you learn to speak a northern dialect?"

The clerk grinned and said, "I learned from my superiors. I've learned a lot these past few days, which is why I can speak."

Sima Shi clicked his tongue in amazement: "What's your name?"

"My name is Lü Xing," the clerk replied.

"Lü Xing..." Sima Shi said thoughtfully, "You've seen what's going on now, what do you have to say?"

Lu Xing pointed to the dock and said, "Sir, you may not know, but this dock is built in a backwater area, and the ropes are tied tightly, so it certainly won't be washed away. It should just be stuck in the river mud. In less than three days, when the current gradually recedes, we can dig the boat out of the mud, and it should be usable!"

"Is this really true?" Sima Shi was both surprised and delighted.

“Really!” Lü Xing said, patting his chest.

"Very well, if what you say is true, then I will record this merit for you!" Sima Shi was overjoyed.

Sure enough, three days later, as the water level receded, most of the boats that had been buried in the mud were revealed. Lü Xing led the Wei soldiers to find planks and straw to pave across the mud, and dug out six boats that could carry twenty people each. The crowd cheered.

Two days later, Sima Shi and Xiu Ze, along with a group of over one hundred people, arrived in Panyu.

Lü Dai was not in Panyu City, but at a river construction site near Panyu, directing the people and officials of Panyu City to work on drainage and dredging.

"I am Sima Ziyuan, the envoy of the Great Wei and General of the Army. I have come from Zhenyang to pay my respects to Lord Lü on the orders of General Guanqiu!" Sima Shi bowed deeply.

Although Lü Dai was the governor of a prefecture, he was currently dressed in a short shirt and barefoot. If one disregarded his elaborate headdress, he looked no different from an ordinary old farmer. "I truly didn't expect General Guanqiu to have specifically sent his Sima Shi here," Lü Dai said, sizing up Sima Shi. "How old is this Sima Shi?"

"I am twenty-seven years old this year." Sima Shi stood upright before Lü Dai, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Good, good." Lü Dai nodded: "You are so young, yet you are appointed to such a prominent position. Are you a member of the Sima clan of Hanoi?"

Sima Shi's face showed a hint of embarrassment, and then he cupped his hands and said, "Just as Lord Lü said, my father is the Minister of Works of the Great Wei Dynasty."

Lü Dai smiled, then sat down on a large rock behind him and asked quite naturally:
"Sima Ziyuan, is it? Tell me, what conditions did General Guanqiu order you to offer to persuade me to surrender?"

Sima Shi was taken aback by Lü Dai's directness and paused for a few moments before bowing and saying:

"So that Your Excellency may know, General Guanqiu guarantees that Your Excellency Lü can be granted the title of County Marquis, return to your hometown to live out your days, or come to Luoyang to serve as one of the Nine Ministers. I know that Your Excellency Lü's ancestral home is Hailing County, Guangling Commandery. For decades, the area between the Yangtze and Huai Rivers has become a no-man's-land. I'm afraid Your Excellency Lü has not returned to your hometown for many years."

Lü Dai stroked his beard and remained silent.

Sima Shi continued, "General Guanqiu also said that he could recommend the son of Lord Lü as a prefect, who could be appointed to a post in the Central Plains."

"That's all?" Lü Dai looked at Sima Shi with a hint of sarcasm.

Sima Shi and Lü Dai looked at each other without the slightest fear, and Sima Shi replied frankly, "Reporting to Lord Lü, that is all. General Guanqiu has made it clear that if Lord Lü still refuses to surrender after this persuasion, then he shall be punished for treason."

"Are you finished?" Lü Dai asked calmly.

"I have finished speaking," Sima Shi said, straightening his back and speaking solemnly.

Lü Dai nodded, stood up, and asked, "You come from a distinguished family. Do you know anything about water management? Are your hands capable of manual labor?"

Sima Shi replied, "I served as a granary official in Yangzhou for several years, and I know a little about the methods of dredging waterways and quelling floods."

"You don't need to know anything, just be able to work." Lü Dai waved to his left and right: "Someone, give this Sima Ziyuan a shovel!"

"Since you wish for me to submit to the Great Wei, you must consider this land as your Wei territory. You are a Wei citizen; how could you not wish to work for your own land?"

Sima Shi was already somewhat annoyed, but being under someone else's roof, he had no choice but to reply to Lü Dai's words, "Of course I can work!"

The attendant beside him actually gave Sima Shi an iron shovel. From noon until sunset, Sima Shi and the hundred soldiers he brought with him worked together by the river, shoveling soil and building dams, doing the work of ordinary farmers.

Since it was a time of labor, there was no extra food or enjoyment. That evening, Lü Dai summoned Sima Shi for dinner, and his first words were:

"Your Excellency should return to Zhenyang by boat tomorrow. Tell Commander Guanqiu that I accept all his words and that I am willing to surrender Jiaozhou to Wei as the Governor of Jiaozhou."

This left Sima Shi at a loss.

"Lord Lü... this..." Sima Shi paused, then asked in surprise, "Why didn't Lord Lü speak at noon, but waited until after I and my entourage had worked for half a day before speaking?"

Lü Dai looked up and carefully examined Sima Shi, sighing inwardly. Even the younger generation of the Central Plains' elite families weren't that clever. He then began to explain in detail:
"You may not know, but when I entered the service of the Sun family, the Central Plains were in chaos. At that time, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were fighting for control of the Central Plains, and the area north of the Huai River was in complete disarray, with bandits everywhere and making travel difficult. It was impossible to judge who was right and who was wrong... I am from Guangling, and if I were to serve under such circumstances, I would have no choice but to cross the Yangtze River and join the Sun family. There was no other way. Can you understand this?"

“Lord Lü is right,” Sima Shi said seriously.

Lü Dai stroked his beard and sighed, "In other words, I was originally a county official in Huainan Commandery, a Han official, who attached himself to the Sun family, who were also Han officials at the time. Later, when the world was divided into three, I followed the people of Jiangdong and drifted with the tide, and gradually became a subject of the Sun family. Do you understand?"

Sima Shi cupped his hands in greeting: "In the past few decades, the Central Plains has been largely populated by people who simply follow the crowd."

Lü Dai smiled bitterly and said, "I am already over seventy years old and my days are numbered. As for whether it is Wei or Wu, it doesn't matter anymore. I don't know when I will die. I only hope that I will not leave any harm to the region or the people of Jiaozhou before I die."

"As you can see now, the most important thing in Nanhai County right now is disaster relief. The city is almost destroyed, and the people have lost their homes. How can they possibly defend themselves against your army?"

"You should quickly request General Guanqiu to come and assist in the disaster relief!" (End of Chapter)