Taiheiki

Chapter 28 Hero
Hearing Wei Cong's words, Zhao Yannian nodded and said, "What about these crimson-robed thieves? What should we do with them? We should just kill them with a single blow. Otherwise, they will definitely report this to Zhang Bolu when they return, and I'm afraid there will be endless troubles!"

"Are you talking about the General in Crimson Robe?" Wei Cong said with a smile, "I heard from the bandits that he once tried to recruit you. Is that true?"

"That's true!" Zhao Yannian's face grimaced as he whispered, "Zhang Bolu was born into a prominent Jiangling family. Even in his youth, he was known for his bravery and ruthlessness, leading local young men on boat raids. He was a generous man, accepting anyone willing to join him, regardless of their status, as his disciple, treating them to food and wine. Even the government didn't dare arrest them. Consequently, fugitives and criminals from all over the country flocked to his fold, and he had hundreds of skilled archers under his command, making him a formidable figure."

"Then how did he know you?"

"Many years ago, I participated in the campaign against the Wuling Barbarians. He also led his troops into battle. We met on the battlefield!"

"Oh, so he sent someone to recruit you after he found out you were back home?"

"Yes!" Zhao Yannian nodded. "I know he usually does illegal things, so I refused!"

"Then what do you think Zhang Bolu would do if he knew that I killed his people?" Wei Cong asked.

"He will definitely send people to retaliate, and he'll do whatever it takes!" Zhao Yannian answered without hesitation. "Even though I have some friendship with him, he's a very protective person. He never cares about right or wrong, only about family. You've killed so many of his people, including his cousin. It's useless for me to say anything!"

"If that's the case, there's nothing we can do!" Wei Cong sighed. Zhao Yannian's words were within his expectations. During the Qin, Han, Wei, and Jin dynasties, there were countless local tyrants and bandits like Zhang Bolu, who relied on their protection to recruit fugitives and young criminals. Liu Xiu and Zu Di were both such individuals. Liu Xiu's sister, for example, had once said that their family had harbored fugitives, and even county officials dared not approach them. Now, as the emperor, the Luoyang magistrate had actually executed the murderer his sister had protected in the street. Couldn't a Luoyang magistrate obey the emperor's orders? Zu Di's guests were all bandits, even daring to rob Nantang, one of the most affluent areas of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He himself never considered this shameful, and he used the loot without hesitation. When Wang Dao and Yu Liang came to his house and discovered the stolen goods and questioned him, Zu Di honestly admitted that they were the spoils of a robbery his men had committed the previous night. If his men were caught in a robbery, he would find a way to get them back.

In historical texts, this type of person has a special title: "heroes." To modern readers, the fact that those who harbored fugitives and drove them to commit various illegal acts were given this somewhat complimentary title, even receiving dedicated biographies in historical texts, seems absurd. But history is complex; these "heroes" were both perpetrators and protectors. It's difficult for modern people to comprehend the brutal oppression of the Qin and Han dynasties. While everyone knows the harshness of Qin law, Han law retains numerous sections from it. For example, the Han Dynasty's order to exterminate the three tribes read: "Those who fall under the three tribes shall first be tattooed, have their noses cut off, have their left and right toes cut off, be whipped to death, have their heads chopped off, and their bones and flesh pickled in the market. Those who slander and curse their ancestors shall have their tongues cut off first." The prisoners were not simply executed but had to endure extremely cruel torture during their lifetime. Moreover, they were not beheaded to reduce the pain of the prisoners, but were beaten to death with sticks. After death, they would be beheaded, their bones and flesh chopped into pieces, and displayed in the market to scare the people.

While taxes and rents were light during the Han Dynasty, the head tax, forced labor, and military service were extremely heavy. All adults were required to serve two years in the military and one month of forced labor annually. This made it easy to break various laws and become state serfs. Especially after Emperor Wu of Han, with the enormous costs of foreign wars, the empire's oppression of the people intensified, with even children as young as three being subject to a head tax. Under this brutal oppression, the people frequently broke the law and were unable to pay their taxes, leading to large numbers of people fleeing to various places. These heroes not only provided protection for these refugees, but also discouraged prefectural officials and foreign invaders from looting the area. For example, when Zu Di fled south, he led his guests to protect his fellow villagers, protecting them from plundering bandits along the way.

"Then I'll go kill those crimson-robed thieves!"

"No need!" Wei Cong called out to Zhao Yannian.

"Have you asked Wang Shou to kill him?" Zhao Yannian asked.

"What I mean is, killing people won't solve the problem!" Wei Cong smiled. "It wasn't just those crimson-robed thieves who saw us take action. The innkeeper and the waiter were also there. Did you kill them too?"

"This..." Zhao Yannian was stunned when he heard this. Just as Wei Cong said, with Zhang Bosi's means, it would be very easy to find the inn and force the owner to tell him what happened at that time. In this case, there would be no point in killing these crimson-clothed thieves.

"What should we do?"

"If an enemy comes, we must stop him with our generals; if a flood comes, we must block it with earth!" Wei Cong said with a smile, "Don't you always say that the Mandarin Duck Formation is unpredictable and invincible? If that's the case, why are you afraid of General Jiangyi or General Heiyi?"

"That's true, but you only have less than fifty men now, while Zhang Boshi has hundreds! Besides, it's easy to defend against an open attack, but it's hard to guard against an arrow from the dark!"

"Just because I have less than fifty men now doesn't mean I'll only have fifty men in the future. Also, I heard that the thieves outside the city are just dogs kept by local tyrants. Who is behind Zhang Boshi?"

"A pet dog?" Zhao Yannian laughed. "That's true, but Zhang Boshi is a little different. His family is a wealthy family in the local area, and he doesn't have many people behind him!"

"So if he were suddenly eliminated, no one would stand up for him?"

"I've never heard of this!" Zhao Yannian's eyes lit up: "You plan to get rid of this guy!"

"How could I possibly have that ability!" Wei Cong laughed, "I just want to understand the enemy's background. Knowing yourself and your enemy ensures victory in every battle!"

"Don't worry, my lord. I'll investigate immediately and have a reply within three to five days!"

Wei Cong and his entourage entered Xiangyang City, dispatching Wang Shou to escort the captured crimson-clad thieves to the government office. Wei Cong himself settled in the Deng family's shop. His journey south from Wancheng was intended to establish a preliminary understanding of the future Jiangling-Wancheng combined land and water transport logistics system. Generally speaking, Han rule in Jingzhou was relatively reliable north of the Yangtze River, so Wei Cong's first step was to establish a system from Wancheng to Jiangling. Once this system was established, a preliminary financial system for bills of exchange and letters of credit could be established. This could then be gradually expanded south of the Yangtze River, connecting the numerous scattered settlements. In the long term, the tentacles of long-distance trade could be extended to Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, and even beyond Han territory into Southeast Asia. Of course, these were only long-term goals.

To achieve this goal, the first step was to understand the roads, bridges, settlements, rivers, products, climate, and the adaptability of four-wheeled carriages to the roads along the way. At that time, there were already a lot of written materials for these things, but no matter how detailed the written materials were, they could not replace the sensory knowledge of seeing it in person. So after Zhao Yannian had recruited four teams of guards (48 people, one team leader, ten soldiers, and one cook in each team), Wei Cong took a team of well-trained guards and set out from Wancheng to the south, collecting information and registering charts along the way to prepare for the next step of work, but he did not expect to encounter this incident on the way.

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"Finally, I'm done!" Wei Cong put down his brush and stretched his stiff wrist. Before he could say anything, Ah Jing carefully moved the wet ink aside, then brought over the bronze animal-head charcoal stove and began to skillfully massage Wei Cong's shoulders. Wei Cong closed his eyes, enjoying it all comfortably: "Ah Jing, it's my blessing to meet you!" "No, it's Ah Jing who's lucky!" Ah Jing smiled and said, "The other sisters actually wanted to come with you, but my husband chose Ah Jing. Isn't that Ah Jing's blessing?"

"It's so hard and dangerous to be out here in a carriage, and you have to wait on me. It's much harder than staying in Wancheng. How can you say it's a blessing?"

"My dear, you are going on a journey of great importance. It is a blessing to be able to stay by your side. What a small matter is it?" The girl stopped massaging, clenched her fists, and began to gently pound Wei Cong's shoulders. "Besides, the young master of the Deng family sent us to you to serve you. If we stay in the mansion in Wancheng, wouldn't we be useless?"

"This..." Wei Cong was about to say that no one is born to serve others, but the words stopped at his lips. For beautiful women like A Jing who came from the lower class, being able to get the opportunity to serve a young man from the upper class, win his favor, become his concubine, and even give birth to a child is really a blessing. It is at least a hundred times better than continuing to stay in the lower class and working hard for daily food and clothing.

"My dear!" Diwu Deng appeared at the door. Seeing Ah Jing and Wei Cong being intimate, he quickly lowered his head and said, "Someone outside wants to see you!"

"Is there someone outside? Who would know I'm here?" Wei Cong shook his shoulders, motioning for Ah Jing to move aside. "Did he tell me who he was?"

"He's a young man of fifteen or sixteen, not very tall, and very well dressed. He said his last name was Cao, and he's an old acquaintance of yours!"

"It's Ah Man! How did he know I was here?" Wei Cong laughed: "Forget it, please invite him in!"

Diwu Deng responded and went out. Wei Cong patted A Jing's thigh and said, "A Jing, a friend of mine is coming. Please clean up this place!"

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"Brother Meng De!" Cao Cao looked at the woman behind Wei Cong and the guard standing at the door with great interest, and said with a smile: "It's only been a few days since we last met, and you've changed your situation!"

"As the ancients said, one should look at a man with new eyes after three days of separation. Besides, it has been thirty days since you and I last parted!" Wei Cong said with a smile.

"Right, right!" Cao Cao laughed heartily upon hearing this. "A scholar should be looked at with new eyes after three days of absence. That's a good saying! I'm just too short-sighted!" He sat down across from Wei Cong with a grin, looked Ah Jing over unscrupulously, and said with a smile, "Finally, the Deng family has produced someone with insight in this generation who knows how to spend money! Meng De, do you know how I found you?"

"I guess it's because of that crimson-robed thief?" Wei Cong had already figured out the whole story. "But, the fact that you were able to find him so quickly shows that the Cai family has deep roots in Xiangyang!"

"Why else would they say that of all the clans in Jingzhou, the Cai clan is the most powerful?" Cao Cao laughed. "I wouldn't dare talk about other places, but let's just talk about Xiangyang. There aren't many people who can hide from the Cai clan. Your men delivered the captured thieves to the yamen at twilight hour, and I found out within half an hour. I came here halfway through my meal!"

"Is this the Han Dynasty's Xiangyang or the Cai family's fiefdom?" Wei Cong secretly complained, but smiled and said, "It just so happens that I haven't eaten yet. Ah Jing, go get an extra set of bowls and chopsticks, and Ah Man and I will eat together!"

"You still have the mind to eat right now?" As soon as Ah Jing left, Cao Cao sneered, "Do you know who you've offended? General Zhang Bolu, the crimson-robed general, is no ordinary man. If you mess with his men, he'll definitely not let you off!"

"I know!" Wei Cong said with a smile, "This time I met one of his cousins, Zhang Boshi, and he has already told me his brother's name."

"Ah? What about Zhang Boshi?" Cao Cao asked anxiously, "Did he escape?"

"How could there be any fish that slipped through the net?" Wei Cong laughed and said, "Of course they were killed!"

"Killed him?" Cao Cao was shocked. "Don't you know what kind of person Zhang Bolu is?"

"I know!" Wei Cong said with a smile, "Zhao Yannian is an old acquaintance of his. Zhang Bolu once tried to recruit him, and he told me at the time!"

"Then why do you dare to provoke them?" Cao Cao stared at Wei Cong as if he were a monster. "Also, why don't you just kill these thieves and bury them somewhere instead of sending them to Xiangyang? Wouldn't that cause endless trouble?"

"Because killing just these few people is useless!" Wei Cong laughed. "The innkeeper and servants were also witnesses at the scene. Zhang Bolu will know everything by asking them. Should I kill these people as well?"

Cao Cao opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Wei Cong guessed that the unspoken words were, "That's not a bad idea!" At this time, Ah Jing came in with a tray and placed the bowls and chopsticks on the low table in front of them. Cao Cao picked up the chopsticks but didn't eat. After a long moment, he put them down and sighed, "Brother Meng De, you've caused big trouble this time! Zhang Bolu has been running rampant in Jiangbei for a long time, and the county magistrates are always unable to do anything about him. You've offended him, so you'd better return to Wancheng as soon as possible. No, return to Luoyang!"

"What a coincidence!" Wei Cong said with a smile, "I have something to do right now, so I really can't go back to Wancheng for the time being. Ah Jing, bring me what I wrote these days and show it to Master Cao!"

"Ridiculous! What can be more important than life? A real man is one who can advance and retreat!" Cao Cao sneered, took the stack of papers handed over by A Jing, and began to read. As he read further, the expression on Cao Cao's face gradually became solemn.

(End of this chapter)