Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 336 What scholar would use his own innocence to slander others!

Liu Bian was unaware of the subtle atmosphere between the two fellow disciples behind him. The army marched several more miles, and the Yueqi Colonel Dong Huang led two thousand guards to clear the way ahead, displaying the imperial regalia to guide the imperial procession.

Although the Central Army's First Colonel had a strength of two thousand men, the sight of two thousand cavalrymen galloping and clearing the way on this official road was not spectacular.

Although Dong Huang's Wuwei still used the old name "Yueqi Xiaowei Department", it was no longer the elite cavalry force composed purely of cavalry during the Northern Army's Five Schools period, but had evolved into a multi-service mixed combat force.

One squad of captains and 1 troop of personal guards, totaling 200 guards.

Four heavily armored units, totaling 800 heavily armored infantry.

Two cavalry charges were launched, totaling 400 cavalrymen.

Two sets of crossbows, totaling 400 crossbowmen.

One garrison of large yellow crossbows, totaling 10 crossbows of 1 shi (a unit of dry measure), with a total of 100 crossbowmen.

In the era of cold weapons, the ten-stone yellow crossbow was undoubtedly a formidable heavy firepower weapon.

The Han army's large yellow crossbows were mounted on sturdy supports and equipped with wheels for mobility.

Each giant crossbow is typically operated by ten people: five in the transport group, responsible for moving and setting it up; and five in the combat group, responsible for loading and firing. The two groups take turns to conserve their energy.

When the five-person shooting team is firing, one person focuses on aiming, while the other four work in pairs, taking turns turning the winch to cock the crossbow.

Of course, the actual force of 2,000 men in the school also included many subordinate officers and clerks who were in charge of military strategy, logistics, discipline and other tasks, and together maintained the operation of this war machine.

Suddenly, a fast horse galloped from the direction of the vanguard cavalry command, its hooves pounding the ground, breaking the dull thud of the marching horses, heading straight for the towering dragon banner in the center of the army.

Wang Yue, the military commander in charge of guarding the central army and accompanying the emperor, looked at the newcomer and immediately waved his command flag. The drummer beside him received the order, and the sound of the drums changed instantly, conveying the military order to halt.

The well-trained Zuowuwei Battalion immediately stopped upon receiving the order, and the previous hustle and bustle of their march was instantly replaced by silence.

Lai Qi dismounted some distance away and, led by a guard, quickly walked to Liu Bian's horse. Slightly out of breath, he clasped his hands in a salute and said, "Dong Hu, the scout commander of the Yueqi Colonel's Division, pays his respects to the Emperor! When I was scouting the way, I encountered Zhang Miao, the Prefect of Chenliu County. He was thirty miles outside the city and was waiting for Your Majesty by the road ahead!"

Liu Bian sat upright on his horse, his gaze slightly lowered, fixed on Dong Hu.

He recognized the man; he was the son of Dong Min, the younger brother of Dong Zhuo and the Right Sima of the Left General's Office, and thus Dong Huang's cousin.

The younger generation of male members of the Dong family all have names containing the meaning of beautiful jade, revealing a deliberate attempt to appear cultured.

Dong Min himself had not read many classics, but he felt that "Hu" meant "jade tiger", which was both noble and brave, so he took the opportunity to give Dong Hu the courtesy name Yuanpo.

Liu Bian appeared to be looking down at Dong Hu, but his thoughts were already drifting to Zhang Miao, whom he had not yet met. A slight twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he chuckled, "Shouldn't the prefects and chancellors of Yan and Yu provinces be serving under Jia Wenhe right now? It's quite unusual that Zhang Mengzhuo was able to escape from the front lines and come here specifically to welcome me?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Pei, the Imperial Attendant who was accompanying the emperor, instinctively tightened his grip on the sword hilt with his left hand, his knuckles exerting slight force as he rubbed the cold hilt. He frowned and pondered, "Could it be... that this person is colluding with the rebels and has set up an ambush here?"

“But this place…” Shen Pei looked around and took out the map he carried with him to examine it carefully. He saw that the surrounding wilderness was flat and wondered, “There are no dense forests to hide in, nor are there any mountains or hills to conceal our presence. It is an endless plain, and all we can see is flat plain. It is not a place to set up an ambush.”

“Zheng Nan is cautious by nature, but in my opinion, he shouldn’t be like this.” Xun You, who was also a Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate accompanying the emperor on the tour, stroked his short beard, thought for a moment, and then said, “My uncle once said that Zhang Mengzhuo, the prefect of Chenliu, is ambitious but lacks talent, and is particularly fond of empty fame. However, he often shrinks back when faced with a task and is afraid to take on responsibilities.”

The uncle Xun You mentioned was Xun Yu, who was serving as the Chancellor of Jibei at the time.

Although Xun You was six years older than Xun Yu, he was of a lower generation, so he called him uncle.

After listening, Liu Bian casually waved his hand, looking relaxed, clearly not taking it to heart, and said with a smile: "What Zheng Nan and Gong Da said makes sense, but Zhang Mengzhuo is indeed not the kind of person who would dare to do rebellious things. Moreover, although Jia Wenhe is in charge of military affairs, the Embroidered Uniform Guard is not just for show. Since there have been no abnormal reports so far, it seems that there is no major problem at the front."

Liu Bian's words revealed his complete trust in Jia Xu, but on a deeper level, it was his trust in the 10,000-strong Zuowuwei Battalion before him.

In the face of absolute power, any conspiracy or trickery will be crushed.

If it were truly a field battle, even if Zhang Miao could muster 50,000 soldiers, he was confident that he could calmly sit in the center of the army and wait for his generals to defeat him.

Before long, the army continued to advance for more than three miles, and sure enough, they saw a group of people standing by the roadside ahead.

Leading the group was Zhang Miao, the governor of Chenliu County, followed by the heads of many prominent families in the county, all dressed in formal attire and standing respectfully with their hands at their sides, clearly having been waiting for some time.

"Your Majesty, Prefect of Chenliu, respectfully welcomes the Imperial Procession!"

Liu Bian reined in his horse and stopped in the middle of the official road. Upon seeing this, Zhang Miao immediately hurried forward, leading the group of family heads behind him to bow down. Their expressions were respectful, their voices clear, yet tinged with nervousness. They even trembled slightly when facing Liu Bian, who sat high on his horse, appearing fearful and uneasy. Previously, Shen Pei had worried that Zhang Miao might rebel, but Liu Bian was not concerned.

This confidence stemmed from his certainty about the combat strength of the Left Guard Battalion, and also from his understanding of Zhang Miao himself.

Although Zhang Miao was from the New Text School and had once stood on Yuan Kui's side as his enemy, he was also a close friend of Yuan Shao. For many years, he worked tirelessly for the partisans, generously provided relief to scholars, and even participated in framing Lu Zhi.

But he still knew what kind of person this guy was.

Xun Yu had an excellent eye for people; Zhang Miao was indeed ambitious but lacked talent and was afraid to take on responsibilities.

In simpler terms, it means being outwardly fierce but inwardly cowardly, outwardly strong but inwardly weak. They have the ambition to achieve great things but lack the courage to put it into practice, always fearing that doing too much will lead to mistakes and ultimately cause them harm.

Therefore, Zhang Miao chose to follow the example of his predecessor Han Fu and be a generous "big spender"!
The Zhang family of Shouzhang in Dongping was an extremely wealthy family, whose wealth was in no way inferior to that of the Cao family in Qiao County.

There is a marshland near Shouzhang County called Juye Marsh.

Its original name was Da Ye Ze, but it was renamed Ju Ye Ze because the Yellow River changed its course and breached its banks many times, causing the water area to expand.

Later generations gave the Juye Marsh, which had shrunk by nearly half, a new name – Liangshanbo!

Yes, that's the Liangshan Marsh, which is said to have a natural barrier of 800 li.

Thanks to the convenient water transportation of Juye Marsh, the Zhang family of Shouzhang accumulated enormous wealth through trade.

From the age of fifteen, Zhang Miao began to generously provide relief to partisans and impoverished scholars.

According to estimates from Xiuyi Zhizhi, Zhang Miao openly spent as much as five million coins every year.

Zhang Miao is now thirty-three years old. In the past eighteen years, the amount of financial assistance he has publicly provided has reached a staggering ninety million coins!
Thus, he also earned the nickname "Eighth Chef".

The scholars of the Later Han Dynasty were fond of elevating their own status or bestowing prestigious titles upon others through exchanges of benefits.

The rewards of this "lavish spending" were astonishing; it not only earned a prestigious title but also garnered unwavering praise and promotion from the literati.

Why do prefects and magistrates mostly dare not easily offend local scholars with high reputations?

It was precisely because these scholars controlled the discourse of public opinion.

During a gathering with a small circle of scholars, he casually remarked, "Who among my family would know that the prefect/magistrate was actually a cruel official who often tortured people into confessing... Of course it's true, I swear on my innocence! What scholar would smear someone else's innocence with his own!"

The scholars in their small circle spread the word to their other circles, and so on, from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand. Even a good official who was honest and virtuous could become infamous and suffer "social death" in an instant.

In an era that places great importance on reputation and even selects officials based on their reputation, "social death" is almost a dead end. It means the family is disgraced, all one's lifelong learning is wasted, and one may even be forced to live in anonymity, stay away from officialdom, or even have their name removed from the family genealogy.

This applies to offending people, but conversely, if you generously help others in their time of need, the rewards you receive will be beyond your imagination.

Not only can they gain widespread praise and support from scholars, but they may even acquire loyal followers who are willing to die for them.

Zhang Miao's reputation, gained through his extravagant spending, directly translated into tangible benefits for his family. Several members of the Zhang family of Shou Zhang were able to become officials in the prefecture. Zhang Miao and his younger brother Zhang Chao embarked on their official careers at a young age. With the support of many scholars who had benefited from his kindness, they gradually rose ahead of others, and by the age of thirty, they had become cavalry captains with a rank equivalent to two thousand shi (a unit of grain).

However, after Emperor Liu Bian ascended the throne, he did not buy into the practice of scholars praising each other and inflating their own worth.

In the emperor's view, honor can only be bestowed by the emperor, not by scholars themselves!
Today you dare to claim such praise, but who knows if you won't covet the throne in the future?

Therefore, in order to please his superiors, Zhang Miao no longer dared to call himself "Eighth Master Chef," and even publicly stated that it was just a "stigma" earned in his youthful arrogance.

Even though he was implicated because of the Yuan family of Runan, Zhang Miao managed to protect himself and his family, and even his official career, thanks to the vast network of connections he had built up in his early years through lavish spending.

The reason for this was not only because he was a friend of Yuan Shao, but also because he was a friend of Cao Cao, a favorite minister of the emperor!

After the last fire at Yuntai Pavilion, Zhang Miao was so frightened by the emperor's wrath at the grand court assembly in Jiade Hall that he almost defecated and urinated. Since then, he has voluntarily requested to be transferred to a post outside the capital.

Cao Cao submitted a memorial to plead for Zhang Miao's release and vouched for him, which allowed Zhang Miao to serve as the governor of Chenliu Commandery, a superior commandery.

Given Zhang Miao's audacity, how could Liu Bian possibly believe that he would dare to rebel?
(3030 words)
(End of this chapter)