The Later Three Kingdoms: Slaying Deng Ai, and Reviving the Han Dynasty

The carriage lacked a shock absorption system, making it less comfortable to ride than on horseback.

Liu Chen knelt on the carriage, a soft cushion beneath him, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword, his eyes closed as he meditated, a murderous intent rising within him.

In this era, the wealthy and powerful rarely worked in the fields.

Even if they go to the fields, it's probably only in a symbolic sense—to see them in spring or autumn.

The daily management of the fields was mostly left to the household servants.

That is, Moeto.

Household slaves are not easy to manage. Just as emperors are often deceived by their ministers, masters can also be deceived by their household slaves.

His mother was clearly an easy person to fool.

The five hundred acres of fertile land outside the city yielded absurdly low harvests each year. The servant who managed the estate was named Li Chen, originally surnamed Hao, but changed his surname after joining the Li family.

Because of his business acumen, he was assigned to his mother.

In the years before his mother entered the palace, things were fine, and the estate's produce was normal. But later, the yields decreased year by year, and there was even a year when his mother had to subsidize the harvest.

The reports were all about drought, floods, or man-made disasters, with warehouses reportedly burned down.

His mother never asked.

Five hundred acres of good land yielded a fortune over many years. His mother didn't benefit, but this Mr. Li Chen was probably rolling in money.

The men he just sent out have confirmed this.

He was also very short of money and was determined to become an absurd miser.

"Stealing my money will come at a price." Liu Chen gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

Soon after, the carriage arrived at a thatched hut.

The thatched cottage was built beside a small river, with a wide, open flat area in front of it, which was very sunny. Reeds swayed in the wind on the riverbank, and the calls of water birds could be heard, making for a very pleasant environment.

A man, his clothes covered in patches, thin and looking as if he could be blown away by the wind, stood beside the thatched hut, his face filled with shock.

Upon hearing the sound of the carriage, the man immediately bowed and lowered his head, showing a respectful expression.

The carriage stopped beside the man. A eunuch brought over a small stool and placed it down. Liu Chen, sword in hand, stepped down from the carriage and asked, "Are you Zhang Fei?"

"It is indeed I, a villain." Zhang Fei's heart trembled, and he bowed even deeper.

"Is everything you said true?" Liu Chen asked again, his voice calm but his tone icy cold, like a block of ice.

Zhang Fei's heart skipped a beat again. After taking a deep breath, he said, "Yes."

"Hmm." Liu Chen looked at his face and thought it was true, so his expression softened slightly.

There are five households in the village.

Zhang Fei is one of these households.

Li Chen was one of them.

According to Zhang Fei, although Li Chen, as the head of the estate, wielded considerable power, it wasn't so easy for him to deceive his superiors. Over the years, Li Chen had formed intermarriages with three other families, effectively making the estate a closely guarded secret.

But Zhang Fei refused to collude with Li Chen, so he was banished to this remote place and left to fend for himself.

Because they stole money from their masters, Li Chen and his ilk became incredibly wealthy. They even bought land and houses, recruited commoners as servants, and kept slaves.

Li Chen is also very good at business. As far as Zhang Fei knows, Li Chen owns at least one hundred acres of land in Guangdu.

Thinking this through, Liu Chen gathered his thoughts and sighed inwardly. "This is what it means to cultivate oneself, manage one's family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world. If a person can't even manage their own family, then they shouldn't talk about any grand ambitions."

He said to Zhang Fei, "Raise your head."

"Yes." Zhang Fei raised his head shakily to look at Liu Chen, then quickly lowered his head as if he had been electrocuted.

He knew better than anyone that you couldn't look directly into the face of a powerful person. Especially not a prince of the current dynasty.

Prince Chen.

Although he sometimes thought how wonderful it would be if Consort Li or Prince Chen were in charge and the chaos were swept away, when he actually saw Prince Chen, he was still trembling with fear.

"You must be having a hard time living here, right? Since you know you can live a better life with them, why don't you stay with them? And since you're not staying with them, why don't you inform your superiors?"

Liu Chen's gaze fell on Zhang Fei's clothes, his expression softened, and he asked.

"Reporting to you, young master, although I am not well-educated and have lost my status, becoming a commoner, I know what I should and shouldn't do," Zhang Fei said, then smiled bitterly, "As for tipping someone off, I am inexperienced and have no way of contacting you or the young master, nor do I know anyone in the Li clan. I am also afraid that if things are exposed, I will be retaliated against by Li Chen. Therefore, I can only refrain from doing anything unjust."

Liu Chen was moved, and considering the current state of the Liu Han court and the country, he couldn't help but sigh, "Good. Even if this country is terrible, one can protect oneself wisely, or retire from public life. But one cannot sabotage the country and cause its destruction."

Zhang Fei looked completely bewildered. "What are you talking about? Why don't I understand?"

The imperial guards beside Liu Chen trembled, their expressions showing emotion as they recalled what had happened at the tavern earlier.

A conversation between three old men.

This is using the home before us as a metaphor for the great Han dynasty.

Even if this country is terrible, you, Qiao Zhou, are still a citizen of the country, receiving a salary from the emperor. You can retire to the mountains and forests, away from the court, and you can criticize the court. But you are in the court, eating the salary of the Han Dynasty, yet you write anti-national theories and promote prophecies such as "The one who will replace the Han Dynasty is Dangtu Gao".

He deserves to be killed.

The Imperial Guards looked at Liu Chen with much more respect.

Liu Chen, however, felt he had misspoke. He wanted to be an absurd miser, not the nobleman Chen who served the country and its people.

The wise Prince Chen finds it difficult to move forward in this world where demons and monsters reign supreme.

"Chen Shu, go and capture Li Chen," Liu Chen said, turning to a member of the Imperial Guard.

"Yes." Chen Shu bowed and immediately left with his men.

Liu Chen asked Zhang Fei to boil water, while he went into Zhang Fei's thatched hut and sat down. Zhang Fei opened his mouth, wanting to say that the hut was simple, but didn't dare to. He could only go down to boil water.

Zhang Fei had a wife and three sons. Originally, they hid inside the house, not daring to come out to meet him. But when Liu Chen entered, Zhang's wife had no choice but to lead the children to pay their respects.

Liu Chen looked at them; like Zhang Fei, they were all ragged and thin. All three children were somewhat malnourished.

After saying a few words, Liu Chen told Zhang's wife to go back to the inner room.

There were bamboo slips in the main room. Liu Chen picked one up and looked at it; it was the Book of Han: Biography of Su Wu.

He then picked up the other bamboo slips and looked at them; they were all biographies from the Book of Han, but they were not complete.

That's normal.

The medium for knowledge was bamboo slips, which were very expensive and could not be printed, so they could only be copied by hand.

Many poor people rely on copying books for others and also copy a copy for themselves.

Liu Chen smiled as he recalled Zhang Fei's words.

When Zhang Fei brought in the tea, Liu Chen said, "Forgive my rudeness, but I've looked at the books here. Reading history is good; by learning from history, we can understand rise and fall. By learning from history, we can understand loyalty and righteousness. You're quite good. I'll leave a book for you later. You can take the book to the Li clan and see my uncle, Lord Li. He will give you a complete set of the Book of Han."

Zhang Fei was shocked, then overjoyed, and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, young master."

Liu Chen smiled and gestured for him to sit down. Then they began discussing the Book of Han.