Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 23 This horse is named Jade Bow
Shortly after Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei left Zhuo County, a small fire broke out in the county prison.

A fire breaks out in the prison, and naturally, someone will try to escape...

Zhang Shiping ran away.

Since Liu Bei wasn't there, Jian Yong was obviously the one who did it.

"Many thanks to the traitor Cao Shi for his kindness; I will surely repay this great favor!"

On the path at the border of Zhuojun and Yuyangjun, Zhang Shiping sincerely thanked Jian Yong.

"Don't thank me, thank my elder brother Liu Xuande. He sent people to set fire to save you... You should know that you were sentenced to be hanged, but my elder brother thought that stealing two warhorses was not a capital offense, so he asked me to save your life."

Jian Yong smiled and waved to Zhang Shiping, indicating that he shouldn't stand on ceremony.

"Liu Xuande, I have also heard of the name of the chivalrous hero of Zhuo County. Are you the military officer in charge of arresting me?"

Zhang Shiping wanted to explain, but then sighed, "But... alas, those two horses did indeed wander into my horse team, I can't deny that, but the other horses are truly for my clan's use..."

“Bandits have been rampant in this county these days, and many wealthy families have had their horses stolen. My elder brother met Brother Zhang while searching for the lost military horses. Seeing that Brother Zhang was suspected of stealing horses, he brought him back to the county for investigation. This is his duty to protect the people and the region.”

As Jian Yong walked, he explained, "But after investigation, it was found that Brother Zhang's horses were not stolen from wealthy households in this county. In principle, Brother Zhang should have been released. Even if the story of those two warhorses is unclear, at most he should only be sentenced to corporal punishment."

"I see... Then Commander Liu did not do anything wrong in this matter, and those two horses were an accident... But now that the truth has been found out, why does Magistrate Zhuo still sentence me to death?"

Zhang Shiping thought about it and realized it made sense. A large number of horses belonging to wealthy families in the county had been stolen, and he happened to have brought so many horses with him. He had also dressed up as a Hu person, so it was normal for him to be arrested and investigated.

"Because a few days ago, all the wealthy households in this county had their horses stolen... And today, the Mingting Gongsun Bogui of this county is going to Luoyang to present horses. What do you think the wealthy households will think?"

Jian Yong sighed, “If the thefts from the various wealthy households are not covered up, then presenting precious horses will be considered presenting stolen goods. Therefore, your family’s horses should naturally be used to return them to the wealthy households to settle accounts, so as not to damage the reputation of the Ming court. Since those horses cannot be returned to Brother Zhang, then Brother Zhang’s death sentence… do you understand?”

"...So that's how it is! All officials in the world are like this, so Zhang's case is quite ordinary."

Zhang Shiping said bitterly, "Although I am just a lowly servant within the clan, I am still a member of the Zhang family of Yuyang. That Gongsun Bogui is so deceitful, our clan will not let this go!"

Jian Yong shook his head and patted Zhang Shiping on the back: "The Gongsun family of Liaoxi is equally illustrious. Brother Zhang is not a direct descendant of Yuyang, so why should you get yourself into legal trouble? We common soldiers should seek to avoid disaster and survive. The other day, the Xianbei cavalry launched a large-scale invasion of our county. Brother Zhang, you should just accept that you encountered Xianbei bandits."

"Zhang is the clan's trader, and has never encountered a thief who dares to rob our clan, not even a Xianbei..."

Zhang Shiping gritted his teeth, probably wanting to say that even the Xianbei wouldn't dare to rob the Zhang family of Yuyang, but he stopped halfway through his sentence: "Enough, enough! Jian, that scoundrel, saved me; he must have taken a great risk. I will remember that!"

“It was my elder brother who took the risk… The fire in the county prison was set by my elder brother’s men, who also burned Brother Zhang’s imprisonment documents and judgment. Anyway, that county prison wasn’t under my jurisdiction. Brother Zhang escaped from prison because of the fire, and this matter has nothing to do with me.”

Jian Yong shook his head, took out Zhang Shiping's travel document from his body, and handed it over: "My elder brother asked me to tell Brother Zhang that there is no seal of Zhuojun on the travel document. I suppose Brother Zhang will not be able to get the local government to add it in the future. If Brother Zhang needs to travel through Zhuojun in the future, he may as well ask my elder brother for help."

"Zhang will remember this. Please thank Liu Junwei on Zhang's behalf."

Zhang Shiping bowed and expressed his gratitude.

……

After seeing Zhang Shiping off out of Zhuojun, Jian Yong went to Shili Pavilion to do the last thing Liu Bei had entrusted to him.

He was going to lead his band of wandering knights to deliver the eighty-odd horses from Shili Pavilion to Anping in Jizhou.

Twenty horses were stolen by the executioners, who were incorporated into the prefectural army and moved into the prefectural barracks, leaving the horses at Shili Pavilion. The remaining sixty or so horses came from Zhang Shiping, or more precisely, from the Zhang family of Yuyang—Zhang Shiping was merely the steward of the Zhang family responsible for managing the horses, not their owner.

These horses were originally intended to be sent to Zhang Chun, the prime minister of Zhongshan State.

The Zhang family of Yuyang was quite powerful, and Zhang Chun was a high-ranking official in the region. Liu Bei didn't want to leave any problems because of these horses, and besides, Shili Pavilion couldn't support that many horses, so he planned to find some work for Qian Zhao.

Qian Zhao's family is experiencing financial difficulties, so they need to have something to do, and also to avoid feeling embarrassed to directly give money as aid.

After all, giving money directly can easily hurt someone's self-esteem; the best way to help those in need is to provide them with a suitable job.

Qian Zhao is nineteen years old this year. He is extremely studious. Le Yin values ​​him highly and gave him the courtesy name Zijing, which means that he wants Qian Zhao to inherit the Le family's classical studies.

Le Yin was proficient in both classical and modern Chinese literature. His scholarship emphasized practical application and advocated adapting to local conditions and changing circumstances, making him relatively difficult to emulate. In fact, this approach was quite suitable for Liu Bei. However, the problem was that Liu Bei's pursuit of education was not primarily for the study of classics. Among his other disciples, only Qian Zhao truly mastered the subject, and Le Yin regarded him as his successor.

In fact, Qian Zhao's family was not poor, and could be considered a powerful family in Anping. However, Qian Zhao's father did something similar to Jian Yong in his early years - he left home and started his own household because he was bullied by the direct branch of the clan.

Of course, Qian Zhao's father did not change his surname, but changed his given name, and also changed the name of the then young Qian Zhao.

When Qian Zhao was born, he was called Qian Zhao, a name given by the clan elders. When his father established his own household, he did not want to have any connection with the direct line of the clan, so he changed his name to 'Zhao'.

Having lost the support of their clan, and with their land being taken back by the clan, Qianzhao's family was indeed not very wealthy.

To earn money, Qian Zhao's father became a horse merchant, often going to the border regions to buy horses from the Hu people and transport them to Jizhou. To help her father, Qian Zhao often accompanied him from a young age.

Le Yin was worried that Qian Zhao would neglect his studies, but in reality, Qian Zhao not only did not miss the opportunity to study the scriptures, but also learned how to raise horses in the Hu region and became familiar with the customs of the Hu people.

Horse trading is actually quite lucrative, but lucrative jobs are usually risky. Last year, Qianzhao's father was robbed of all his horses by bandits on the road, and he was seriously injured, almost losing his life, and left with a disability.

Fortunately, Qian Zhao went to see Le Yin on the way and did not travel with her father, otherwise something bad would probably have happened.

Having lost all his capital and needing to treat his father's injuries, Qian Zhao is currently very poor.

Moreover, he is the most suitable person to manage horses; whether it's selling or raising horses, it can be entrusted to him.

When Jian Yong met Qian Zhao, Qian Zhao was taking care of her paralyzed father.

"Zijing, my elder brother said he's entrusting these horses to you. He'll sell half and keep the other half. You'll decide which ones to sell and which ones to keep. You'll get a share of the profits from the sales... Hey, Zijing?"

Before Jian Yong could finish speaking, Qian Zhao didn't listen much and rushed towards one of the black horses as if possessed.

"Zijing? Brother Qian? Zhaolang! What's going on?"

Jian Yong was a little confused. He had known Qian Zhao since Le Yin first became the magistrate of Zhuo, and the two were quite familiar with each other, but he had never seen Qian Zhao like this before.

“This horse…this is our family’s horse! My father and I bought it in the Alcatraz last year. Look at its forehead, there’s a crescent-shaped spot! It’s very rare for a black horse to have a crescent-shaped yellow spot. My father thought he could sell it for a high price, so he bought this one…This is the horse that was stolen from my father when he was robbed!”

Qian Zhao stared blankly at one of the black horses: "This horse is named 'Yu Gong,' which I named it! Xian He, where did you get this horse from?"

The jade bow is like the crescent moon in the night sky, which matches the crescent moon mark on the black horse's forehead perfectly.

(End of this chapter)