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

Chapter 82 Gangster Methods
It was already late at night when Liu Wei was brought back to Zhuo County.

Among the servants in Liu Wei's household, besides the two who were killed by Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, there were three others from Ji Province.

These people were not assassins, but messengers used to deliver messages.

Liu Bei forced Liu Wei to kill the two wounded men himself, and compelled the other three to act as witnesses so that their testimonies could be compared.

This was both to leave Liu Wei with no way out in order to prove his loyalty and to obtain reliable testimony.

Liu Wei also had a letter in his possession that was meant to be used to contact Liu Kuan. The letter didn't say anything, only instructing Liu Wei to contact Meng Dai.

Meng Dai was from Wei Commandery and was also the one who arranged for the assassins.

This man was not famous, and although he was nominally an official under Gongsun Du, the governor of Ji Province, few people knew about his relationship with the Yuan family—just like Wang Men, he served as a supervisor under Zhang Chun, but actually worked for the Yuan family.

The mastermind behind it all was indeed the Yuan family, but on the surface it was Gongsun Du.

Gongsun Du was not from the Gongsun family of western Liaoning, but from Xiangping in eastern Liaoning.

Ten years ago, eunuch Cao Jie and others eliminated the powerful relative Dou Wu and expanded the purge of partisans, resulting in the conviction and dismissal of many partisans.

Subsequently, the imperial court issued an edict to recommend 'virtuous men'. Gongsun Du was directly recruited from a county official to become a court official at that time. The Yuan family was also involved in this process, and many of Yuan's protégés became officials as a result. The partisans were fighting against the eunuchs, but the Yuan family did not fight against them. Instead, they chose to cooperate, which allowed the Yuan family to grow rapidly.

At the same time, the Yuan family was also secretly helping party members, thus profiting from both sides—seeking both personal gain and fame.

Gongsun Du was similar; he was able to rise from a minor official to the position of Governor of Ji Province because he served both the eunuchs and the Yuan family, and had people supporting him both inside and outside the government.

Zhang Chun has now severed his business ties with the Yuan family, while Gongsun Du has become a henchman of the Yuan family—literally a henchman, someone involved in horse trading.

At this time, the capital of Ji Province was in Gaoyi, Changshan, and Meng Dai was the governor's assistant, usually responsible for patrolling Wei County and stationed in Ye City. The messengers came from Gaoyi and Ye City respectively.

However, Ye City in Wei Commandery is too far away, so it is not realistic for Liu Bei to seek revenge there. It would be better to have the Luoyang cavalry arrest the person.

"The Prefect must have discussed something with Liu Bo'an, right? What exactly did they talk about?"

After bringing Liu Wei to the guesthouse in Zhuo County, Liu Bei began to ask about the specific situation.

Upon learning that Liu Yu might die at any moment, Liu Wei naturally wanted to coordinate his testimony with the three messengers to avoid leaving any charges against himself.

“I advised Liu Bo’an to cooperate with Yuan Gong and jointly amass wealth… but Liu Bo’an was unwilling and even planned to impeach me for selling officials to amass wealth. I had no choice but to seek help from the Grand Commandant.”

"The Grand Commandant asked me to seek Meng Dai's assistance... Meng Dai is a retainer of Yuan Shu. He used the threat of death to intimidate Liu Bo'an so that Liu Bo'an would use the imperial decree to control Zou Jing, so that Yuan Shu's retainers could be placed in various passes and markets."

“If Liu Bo’an cooperates with Lord Yuan, then he can take charge of Youzhou… If Liu Bo’an is unwilling, then he can forget about doing anything.”

Liu Wei confessed what he knew: "I wasn't involved in the assassination attempt; I was just trying to protect myself..."

"The Yuan family wants to protect you in order to control Zhuojun. Do you know what arrangements they plan to make in Zhuojun?"

Liu Bei nodded and continued to ask.

"They wanted me to use banditry or something similar as a pretext to close the Zhongshan Highway, so that all the goods and vehicles from Hu City would have to travel south via the Jidong Highway."

"At the same time, he instructed me to intercept the grain and cloth being transported to Hu City, and to transport them there only after Yuan's people had been placed in Hu City, so as to cooperate with Yuan's followers in making contributions."

"This is both to reap huge profits and to avoid Zhongshan and Changshan, preventing Zhang Chun and Gongsun Du from getting involved... The Yuan family wants to monopolize the profits first, and then share them with everyone..."

Liu Wei honestly said, "The Jidong Circuit, from Hejian and Xindu all the way to Ye County, and then to Henan... has been controlled by Yuan's followers all the way, and will eventually fall into the hands of Yuan Gonglu."

It seems that Yuan Gonglu really does control a highway... a monopoly on the horse trade route.

"Using Liu Yu to control Governor Zou, using the Prefect to control the transportation in Zhuojun, and using officials from Jizhou to control the trade routes, in order to monopolize the profits from horses, and then distribute them to the palace..."

Liu Bei nodded, stood up and spoke to the door: "Lord Bo'an, you must have heard everything, right? You said you wanted to give me an explanation... Can you bring up the Yuan family behind Meng Dai and give me an explanation?!" Zuo Yuan pushed open the door from the outside.

Liu Yu was right outside the door, flanked by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on either side.

Liu Wei was shocked: "Wasn't it said that Liu Bo'an was seriously injured?"

Liu Bei, expressionless, welcomed Liu Yu in: "If I hadn't said that, would the Prefect have implicated the Yuan family? Don't worry, you're a witness, and Lord Bo'an won't hold a grudge about your little problem...right, Lord Bo'an?"

Liu Yu remained expressionless, and his face even twitched slightly.

"To be frank, my mother is critically injured and on the verge of death. If I do not obtain the head of the true culprit, then you will be my enemies!"

Liu Bei gave them an ultimatum: "I'm not wronging you... you can decide what to do yourselves!"

It's not entirely unjust. If Liu Yu and Liu Wei hadn't reported the real culprit, they would have been accomplices and enemies.

Liu Bei was already being very reasonable by not holding a knife to their necks.

Liu Yu and Liu Wei now have no other choice.

Liu Wei believed that Liu Yu was seriously injured. If that were true, Liu Yu would definitely become an enemy of the Yuan family. Liu Wei thought that with Liu Yu taking the lead, he exposed the Yuan family, and even killed two Yuan family messengers for this purpose.

Now, Liu Yu is Liu Wei's only hope for survival. If Liu Yu doesn't dare to oppose the Yuan family, then Liu Wei will have no choice but to join forces with Liu Bei to kill him and completely muddy the waters.

After Liu Wei confessed all this, Liu Yu had no way out unless he could silence everyone present.

Whether it's assassins or powerful figures, no matter how afraid Liu Yu is, he has to get past this hurdle first.

Liu Wei was in Liu Bei's hands and there was no way he would hand him over to Liu Yu, and Liu Bei had three messengers as proof of this.

If Liu Yu does not submit a memorial impeaching Liu Wei according to the truth he told him, Liu Bei would not mind actually killing Liu Yu and then having Liu Wei submit a memorial saying that Liu Yu was assassinated.

Anyway, the assassination attempt was real, and news had already spread throughout the county that Liu Yu was injured. It was quite normal that he would die from his injuries.

Liu Bei wanted to avenge his mother... Yuan family's assassins wouldn't kill Liu Yu, but Liu Bei would definitely kill someone!

Moreover, Liu Bei did not ask them to distort the facts; he simply asked them to act impartially.

……

The next day, Zou Jing arrived in Zhuo County. He received news that Liu Bei's mother had been injured and came to visit her.

But Zou Jing did not go to see Liu Yu.

This is actually a statement, and also Zou Jing's way of avoiding the issue.

But if Liu Yu was naive, then Zou Jing would definitely prove that Liu Yu was indeed assassinated—no one likes having an incompetent governor watching over them, and no one wants to be the one targeted by assassins.

With no other choice, Liu Yu had to send someone to report the truth to the court, accusing Yuan Shu of instigating assassins to kill him, and attaching the testimonies of Liu Wei and the three messengers.

In his report, Liu Yu described himself as "seriously injured," and portrayed Liu Wei as a loyal and brave minister who was not afraid of Yuan's death squad. He even praised Liu Kuan, saying that Liu Kuan had written a letter reporting Meng Dai.

Subsequently, Liu Yu moved into Shili Pavilion, because Zou Jing's personal guards were also stationed there—Zou Jing was now holding the authority of a general to pacify the Wuhuan, and no one dared to lay a hand on the person holding the authority.

Since he was now at odds with the Yuan family, Liu Yu had to maintain good relations with Zou Jing and Liu Bei.

Both Liu Bei and Zou Jing sent men to escort Liu Yu's envoy. Zou Jing also provided fast horses and special military intelligence reports, changing horses but not men along the way, to deliver Liu Yu's report to Luoyang.

(End of this chapter)