Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

On March 16th, Xiahou Xuan, the prefect of Danyang, went on an inspection tour to Wanling County.

Wanling County is located southeast of Wuhu. After the Great Wei conquered Wuhu last February, Cao Shuang led his army to capture Wanling. Then, they continued south for more than 600 li from Wanling before joining forces with Guanqiu Jian's army to launch a pincer attack on the rebellious Yue tribes from the south and north.

After the Great Wei recovered the Wu territory, the counties were established according to the system of the Later Han Dynasty, and the territories established by Sun Quan were basically not recognized. Danyang Commandery had sixteen counties under its jurisdiction, covering a vast area. Xiahou Xuan's inspection tour lasted for nearly two months, and he never returned after departing from Jiangning City.

Wherever he went, Xiahou Xuan would stay for three days, inquiring about the governance of the counties and their officials, and also visiting the copper mines in various places.

Since Jiang Ji has such a firm grip on Jiangning City, then I will not compete with you for Jiangning!

Of course, when Xiahou Xuan left Jiangning, he took his wife Wang Yuanji, who had just turned twenty, with him.

In Jiang Ji's view, no matter how talented Xiahou Xuan was, his actions were nothing more than a leisurely stroll under pressure. The officials in the governor's mansion even spread the news of this incident throughout Jiangning City, as if Xiahou Xuan only cared about personal feelings and was of no help to official business.

Of course, after Xiahou Xuan arrived in Wanling County, the best county government building in the county was temporarily given to Xiahou Xuan, his wife Wang Yuanji, and a group of attendants and guards to live in.

On the evening of March 17th, in the bedroom of the back hall of the county government office.

"My husband is back?" Under the lamplight, Wang Yuanji, who was writing something at her desk, asked without looking up.

After waiting a few moments and receiving no response from Xiahou Xuan, Wang Yuanji turned her head to look behind her.

Xiahou Xuan was seen clutching his chest, panting heavily, his eyes slightly narrowed, looking indignant.

Wang Yuanji sighed softly, rubbed her eyes which were sore and red from reading too many documents, and sat down next to Xiahou Xuan: "Husband, what has happened?"

Xiahou Xuan's face was ashen: "Since leaving Jiangning City, I have visited eight copper mines. What I have seen is shocking. I thought I had gotten used to it, but after seeing the West Mountain Copper Mine in Wanling, I realized that this place is not a copper mine at all, but a ghost town!"

After saying that, Xiahou Xuan clenched his right fist and slammed it hard on the table, making a loud bang.

Wang Yuanji swallowed hard, unsure of how to persuade him.

During the two months since leaving Jiangning City, Wang Yuanji did not spend any time sightseeing. Instead, she served as a military advisor in Xiahou Xuan's residence, organizing the documents he recorded during his daytime inspections, sorting out key figures such as county magistrates and chief officials, as well as important data such as the number of people, scale, and mining volume of each copper mine. She was even more tired than Xiahou Xuan, who was on inspections all day long.

Xiahou Xuan had no imperial students to assist him in this high-level task, so only Wang Yuanji was capable of doing it.

Wang Yuanji knelt up, embraced her husband's face against her chest, gently patted Xiahou Xuan's back, and whispered, "Tell me slowly, tell me slowly, what happened at the Xishan Copper Field?"

Xiahou Xuan frowned and pushed Wang Yuanji away, gritting his teeth as he said, "Yuanji, it's not like I haven't seen the dead before. Last year, when the King of Hejian ordered the massacre of Wuhu, the number of Wu soldiers killed in the city was more than ten thousand! At that time, Zhao Bo and I entered the city together, and the corpses we saw were piled up on both sides of the road like small mountains. I am not such a soft-hearted person."

“But this Xishan Copper Mine…” Xiahou Xuan took a deep breath: “Yuan Ji, do you know how many people died at the Xishan Copper Mine in the two months from January to March?”

"How much?" Wang Yuanji bit her lip.

“Twenty people,” Xiahou Xuan said. Wang Yuanji’s eyes darted around: “Twenty people, that’s not bad. We knew when we arrived at Guzhang that General Jiang was forcing copper mining in various places, and accidents happened frequently, with many deaths and injuries.”

Xiahou Xuan sneered: "Twenty people, all of them were Yue people mining copper in the mountains. Twenty deaths are one thing, but do you know how many people have been subjected to corporal punishment at the West Mountain copper mines in the past two months? A full eight hundred!"

"Eight hundred people?!" Wang Yuanji exclaimed in surprise, covering her face. "How could there be so many?"

Xiahou Xuan said indignantly, "There are more than 1,100 miners at the Xishan Copper Mine in Wanling County. More than two-thirds of them have been subjected to corporal punishment in the past two months! Some had their ears cut off, some had their left hands chopped off, some had their noses cut off, some had their toes cut off... The various horrific acts are truly inhuman!"

"After Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Jiangning, he assigned a prefectural official to each of the eighteen copper mines in Danyang County. At present, there are probably more than forty prefectural officials in Yangzhou! The official in charge of the copper mines here is called Du Li, who was in charge of the Wanling copper mines during the Wu Kingdom."

“I asked Du Li why he was inflicting corporal punishment on so many people. How could he, as an official, dare to do such a thing? Yuan Ji, guess what he answered? He said that these miners were either rebels from the Yue tribes who were captured last year or traitors from Wu… He also said that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek granted him permission to act as he saw fit, as long as he could pay the full amount of copper ore by the end of March, and everything else would be taken into consideration!”

"How could this be so absurd!" Xiahou Xuan was so angry that his face turned red, and he pounded his fist on the table several times.

Upon hearing this, Wang Yuanji remained silent as she sat at her seat.

Her grandfather, Wang Lang, the late Minister of Works, had insisted on abolishing corporal punishment for decades, even going so far as to part ways with Zhong Yao and others who supported it. She understood very well the kind of torture that such punishment inflicted on these miners.

The oil lamp was still burning, its wick gradually bending and turning black, about to fall into the oil with a crackling sound, which broke the tranquility of the small bedroom.

Wang Yuanji bit her lip, straightened up, adjusted the lamp wick, and then said solemnly to her husband:

"My husband is the Prefect of Danyang, the ruler of a prefecture, and has an inescapable responsibility. Copper is important to the Great Wei, but the practices of many copper mines in Danyang are so cruel, and the copper mines in Xishan here are even more appalling. My husband cannot ignore this!"

Xiahou Xuan squinted and said, "I will definitely intervene! His Majesty appointed me as the governor of Danyang, not so that I would condone such cruelty to the people!"

Wang Yuanji nodded: "There are three problems with this matter."

"Firstly, is it reasonable for Governor Jiang to excessively coerce his subordinates in order to obtain copper?"

"Secondly, in the territory of Wei, former officials of Wu were subjected to the corporal punishment methods of Wu, and the superior governor turned a blind eye and even condoned it. Is this reasonable?"

"Thirdly, should the Great Wei Dynasty allow these people to exist?"

Xiahou Xuan stood up, gripped his sword hilt, and said coldly, "These things are certainly important. But I have something to do first."

"What is it?" Wang Yuanji asked.

Xiahou Xuan said, "Let's endure him for one night. Tomorrow at dawn, we'll kill Du Li first!" (End of Chapter)