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

Chapter 36 Famous General Duan Jiming

Duan Jiong was a famous general of his time.

He defeated the Xianbei, pacified Langya, and then guarded the border for more than ten years, pacifying the eastern and western Qiang, killing more than 60,000 Qiang people. He was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Xinfeng County for his military achievements.

With such a record, he is certainly qualified to be appointed as Grand Commandant in the imperial court.

He served as Grand Commandant twice, but neither term lasted long.

The first time was in the second year of the Xiping era, but he was dismissed due to illness after only three months in office.

This is Duan Jiong's second term as Grand Commandant, but he only served for a month before being imprisoned due to a solar eclipse.

Duan Jiong's imprisonment actually had nothing to do with Yang Qiu; he impeached himself because of the solar eclipse.

When the eclipse occurred, Liu Bei had just been imprisoned and was bullying Wang Meng. Being in a dark cell, he couldn't see it. Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared much, since such things are really nothing special to modern people.

But people these days believe in the interaction between heaven and man, and things like solar eclipses are always associated with things like immorality.

Duan Jiong impeached himself, saying that he was incompetent and immoral and should not hold the high position of Grand Commandant. He said that he was only good at being a soldier and should continue to defend the country's borders and suppress the Qiang people.

In other words, he requested to be transferred to the border to oversee military affairs, to return to his old profession, and did not intend to occupy a high-ranking position like Grand Commandant in the imperial court.

But in fact……

This is mainly because being a Grand Commandant in the court is not a pleasant position; one cannot command troops and must be mindful of others' opinions.

Especially now that the emperor is on the throne, even eunuchs can defecate on the heads of the Three Dukes. What use is the Grand Commandant?
What good is a high-ranking official if he has lost his troops?
Whether one gains or loses an official position, or whether one's entire clan faces life or death, it is all a matter of a single imperial edict.

However, if the military governor is stationed in the field and commands tens of thousands of troops, whether or not he recognizes the imperial edict is entirely up to his mood.

At the same time, becoming a Grand Commandant costs money.

As one of the Three Dukes and nominally the highest military commander in the country, the Grand Commandant's price is very high—the initial price is a small sum of money. A discount can be given because of Duan Jiong's great contributions, but at least 50 million coins are still required.

Duan Jiong was not an incorruptible official. He could have afforded the money, but it was unnecessary. Why should he spend a huge sum of money to buy an official position he didn't want?
Therefore, he took the opportunity of the solar eclipse to request to resign.

But Emperor Liu Hong directly imprisoned Duan Jiong in Luoyang.

To others, this seemed normal; the emperor was clearly after money.

They recruited him as Grand Commandant, then imprisoned him and demanded money for the official position. If he didn't pay, they threatened him with death... It's a classic case of forced buying and selling; wealthy merchants always do it this way.

The salesperson for this deal was Wang Fu.

Logically speaking, Duan Jiong's matter and Wang Fu's matter shouldn't have much to do with each other, but the problem is that Duan Jiong and Wang Fu have a close relationship—Duan Jiong is Wang Fu's long-term client, and in recent years, he has been promoted to several positions in the court, all of which were handled by Wang Fu.

Duan Jiong killed many people and offended countless powerful families in Guanzhong when he pacified the Western Qiang. In recent years, he bribed Wang Fu multiple times to keep his official position. This was revealed by Wang Ji, and it is indeed a fact.

Moreover, Duan Jiong helped the eunuchs—or more accurately, helped the emperor suppress the aristocratic families—and even personally led troops to suppress the scholars who caused trouble at the Imperial Academy.

In the eyes of scholars like Yang Qiu, Duan Jiong was a member of the eunuch faction.

Therefore, Yangqiu is facing a major problem.

What should be done with Duan Jiong?
Should they be killed directly, just like they did with Wang Fu's nephews and nieces?

Impossible. Duan Jiong is the Grand Commandant and has commanded troops for many years. He is renowned as a god in Guanzhong and Longyou. Killing him would surely cause chaos among the Qiang and Hu peoples.

Do not kill them, pretend you didn't see anything?
That won't work either. Yang Qiu caused such a commotion in prison, using illegal methods. It was torture and murder, and he didn't receive a proper sentence.

If all the powerful members of Wang Fu's faction were killed, it wouldn't matter, since there would be no way to verify the facts, and the charges against Wang Fu and his family were indeed true; at most, it would just be said that Yang Qiu's methods were cruel.

But Duan Jiong was also a member of Wang Fu's faction...

What will happen when he gets out of prison?
That might still cause chaos, and it directly concerns the lives of thousands of people in the Sili Commandant's office. From this perspective, whether it's about silencing witnesses or about factional struggles…

In political struggles, there is no right or wrong, only life or death.

Yang Qiu dared not gamble with the lives of the three thousand elite cavalrymen of the Sili Commandant's Office by risking the lives of others' integrity.

but……

Although Duan Jiong was not a virtuous person, he often massacred Qiang people when fighting them, and killed many nobles in Guanzhong who might have had connections with the Qiang, including many innocent people.

But that was war, fought against foreign tribes. It can only be said that Duan Jiong's methods in quelling the Qiang rebellion were forceful, and cannot be considered a mistake.

If we really want to talk about the mistakes Duan Jiong made, they were nothing more than relying on eunuchs and once arresting and killing students of the Imperial Academy.

However, relying on eunuchs was to maintain one's status. Yang Qiu bribed eunuchs when he was convicted in his early years, and Zou Jing also gave gifts to eunuchs. The emperor was selling official positions. Which official in the Han Dynasty had not done business with eunuchs?

The killing of the imperial students was long over; Duan Jiong had already been imprisoned and dismissed from his post, which was considered punishment.

What to do?
If he were to secretly murder a renowned general like Duan Jiong, who had rendered great service to the country, while in prison, what difference would there be between him, Yang Fangzheng, and Wang Fu?
……

"Lord Ji, I have something to ask you."

Yang Qiu was still very polite to Duan Jiong.

"Weren't you torturing Attendant Wang? Did you torture him to death?"

Duan Jiong's attitude, however, was somewhat unfriendly: "With Yang Sili's methods, where does this reputation for uprightness come from?"

"If not for such methods, how could we have eliminated this wicked and vicious person?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Qiu's tone was somewhat displeased: "It seems that Lord Ji is going to protect Wang Fu?"

"I just feel that Yang Sili's methods are a bit too cruel. Why not send them to the execution ground for a fair and just execution, instead of torturing them to death in this prison?"

Duan Jiong, being a seasoned veteran, was naturally not intimidated: "How is this any different from arbitrarily killing a minister?"

"Duan Jiming, you were far more ruthless than I was when you slaughtered the Qiang people and hunted down the scholars of the Imperial Academy..."

Yang Qiu retorted sharply: "You killed a minister without authorization? Lord Ji was acquainted with Wang Fu. Wang Fu colluded with the Xianbei to kill tens of thousands of soldiers. Did you not know about this? If you did not know, why did Lord Ji not personally lead the army the year before last, but instead sent his subordinates Tian Yan and Xia Yu to lead the troops?"

Duan Jiong had commanded troops for many years and had many former subordinates in the army. The generals who led the army when he campaigned against the Xianbei two years ago, such as Tian Yan and Xia Yu, were all former subordinates of Duan Jiong.

When conquering the Xianbei, his former subordinates led troops beyond the Great Wall, but Duan Jiong, a renowned general of the time, was unwilling to lead the troops. Yang Qiu had reason to suspect that Duan Jiong knew the inside story and was involved in the conspiracy.

"Did the emperor send you to ask this question?"

Duan Jiong countered with a question.

Yang Qiu remained silent.

The Emperor? The imperial edict only ordered Yang Qiu to interrogate Wang Fu, not Duan Jiong...

"This is a message sent by tens of thousands of people from Shanggu County and soldiers from the border army."

Seeing that Yang Qiu remained silent, Liu Bei stepped forward and took over the conversation: "Zhang Sheng, the military commander of Shanggu, colluded with the Xianbei Tan Shihuai, killed innocent people to claim credit, and arbitrarily killed the governor and commandant of Shanggu. Does Lord Duan know of this man?"

In fact, Liu Bei saw through Yang Qiu's inner struggle, but Liu Bei did not struggle himself.

For Liu Bei, it was more important to find out who else in Youzhou was an executor like Zhang Sheng, so that he could either wipe them out in one fell swoop or take precautions early.

(End of this chapter)