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“Can a strategist not ascend to the throne?”
Chapter 231 – The Situation in Yizhou
When Liu Bian first heard about the New Year’s gift from the Marquis of Leping, he had a bit of a psychological shadow.
This gift, which arrived in Ye City in mid-January, bore the grand title of Grand Marshal of the Cavalry, explicitly declaring her stance with just seven characters.
When he first ascended the throne in Ye City, he had actually given her this title, but unfortunately, Qiao Yan clearly did not intend to side with him, putting up a refusal to accept this appointment.
Well, at least now the title of Grand Marshal has finally been established.
But what really gave him a psychological shadow wasn’t Qiao Yan’s rejection of his title, but rather the New Year’s gift she sent.
For the first year of Zhao Ning, she sent him hand-written annotations of classic texts, which was reasonable enough.
But for the third year of Zhao Ning, her New Year’s gift was a handful of yellow earth from the grave of Emperor Ling on Mang Mountain!
Liu Bian could never forget that scene, even in his dreams.
When Qiao Yan’s envoy held a box filled with dirt in the court, claiming it was a offering to the late emperor from the Prince of Hongnong, expressing homesickness, Liu Bian’s face went pale, then green, then white again. He couldn’t fathom how that envoy managed to keep a straight face, truly believing this was a genuine gift.
This year, thankfully, after some consideration, he figured that Qiao Yan probably wouldn’t go so far as to dig up the late emperor’s grave just because the current ruler was Liu Yu, and he ultimately chose to meet her envoy.
However, when he saw the New Year’s gift represented a Victory Coin given from a senior to a junior, this emperor, who actually had little power in the Ye court, fell into deep silence.
If he remembered correctly, he seemed to be a year older than Qiao Yan, right?
How did the hierarchy end up like this?
But aside from that unforgettable New Year’s gift, he couldn’t forget the way Qiao Yan reprimanded Yuan Shu when he supported him as Emperor.
Thinking about it, this feeling of a generational gap wasn’t completely off.
Liu Bian set the Victory Coin aside, shifting his gaze to the neatly folded Leping Monthly Report in the box, as the envoy said below: “Our Duke’s intention is that the Prince of Hongnong is no longer young; he cannot only focus on Ye City, Wei County, or a small Ji Province. Each of the thirteen provinces of the great Han has its own scenery. If he is obscured by others’ views, he will eventually become a frog in a well, unworthy of the late emperor’s lineage.”
Yuan Shao clenched his fists beside him.
He felt he couldn’t be mistaken; this was clearly meant to be a dig at him.
But such accusations seemed rather absurd.
Liu Bian residing in Ye City was the norm for an emperor; did they expect him to run around everywhere to experience folk culture?
True, there weren’t many powerful ministers among Liu Bian’s subjects, and Yuan Shao hadn’t turned the Ye court into his own dictatorship. Thus, he truly didn’t need to react to this divisive rhetoric.
Realizing this, Yuan Shao calmly watched Liu Bian pull out a copy of the Leping Monthly Report and spread it out.
However, upon seeing the content of the report, Liu Bian’s eyes widened immediately.
Yuan Shao was still considering how to tell Liu Bian that if such a situation happened next year, he could simply block Qiao Yan’s envoy to avoid trouble, when Liu Bian turned to him and asked, “Yuan Qingzhou, why does this Leping Monthly Report say that the pig used for the sacrifice during Liu Youzhou’s enthronement ceremony weighed five hundred pounds?”
This January issue of the Leping Monthly Report, as per Qiao Yan’s request for Zhaoji, had to cater to both the readers in Bingzhou and Liangzhou.
Especially in the case of the increase in the Guanzhong area, they needed to ensure that scholars who served under Liu Yu adapted to this monthly report starting from the first month of Jian’an.
This meant informing the Bingzhou about the enthronement ceremony in Guanzhong wasn’t just the entirety of the issue.
Cai Zhaoji considered it necessary to give a small shock to the people of Guanzhong and the newcomers in the court.
However, it was winter, and he couldn’t just suddenly report last year’s yield at the start of the year; that would be too blatant.
So, they’d have to use recent events instead.
Having developed the Leping Monthly to this point, Cai Zhaoji had become quite sensitive to “news” material.
She immediately dug up a recent event: the sacrifice of the great offering.
Noticing that this pig weighed significantly more than usual, there were only human witnesses who attended the ceremony at Ming Tang Biyong.
But as long as there were witnesses, it could be handled easily.
This wasn’t just a unique case but rather a common result of the livestock farming development in Bingzhou.
Qiao Yan had only recently taken control of Chang’an and hadn’t had time to transfer a series of farming and livestock frameworks to Guanzhong yet; now, they were perfectly leveraging this sacrifice to launch a publicity stunt.
This news sounded unbelievable to Guanzhong folk with witnesses, not to mention Yuan Shao, who had not seen it himself.
He immediately replied, “Whatever is written on paper, Your Majesty, you can’t believe it completely; this is nonsense.”
As soon as he said this, the envoy shot him a look as if viewing an idiot.
That reaction made it hard for him not to suspect that this information might actually be true; otherwise, he could later use this fake news sent by Qiao Yan to retaliate.
But clearly, he couldn’t retract what he had just said; he had to toughen up and maintain a calm expression.
Then Liu Bian spoke again: “It also states that droughts usually cycle in periods, and to prevent future droughts and locust plagues, Bingzhou and Liangzhou have gradually completed irrigation projects, which will now extend to Guanzhong.”
In Liu Bian’s memory, he still held impressions of past locust plagues in the Three Auxiliaries.
Back then, the droughts and locusts caused a stream of refugees to flood into the capital; even in the palace, one could hear feelings of anxiety, and swarms of locusts definitely wouldn’t avoid the palace, as there was nowhere they couldn’t go.
Ironically, the account written referenced Fu Shou, who had similar memories to Liu Bian’s.
As she penned these words to instill confidence in the Guanzhong populace, the various statements had a high relatability for those in the Sili district.
This involuntarily caused Liu Bian to worry about the situation in Ye City.
It could just be his illusion, but he felt Yuan Qingzhou seemed to always be in the shadows of Qiao Bingzhou.
Although it didn’t seem like it would be a quick task for Qiao Yan and Liu Yu to stabilize Guanzhong, how much longer could this standoff continue?
From Liu Bian’s experience, he couldn’t provide a definitive response.
Listening to Yuan Shao state that recent weather had been good and there was no need for worry, Liu Bian kept a skeptical mindset, flipping past everything in this monthly report related to Liu Yu’s enthronement, and then opened the next one, casually pulling out a page.
Unfortunately, what he picked was probably the last thing Yuan Shao wanted to see.
When Yuan Shao heard Liu Bian exclaim “Yuan Qingzhou,” a tightness gripped his heart, and an ominous premonition arose within him.
Thankfully, Liu Bian still remembered to send the envoy off first and then asked, “Yuan Qingzhou, have you really defaulted on that much grain?”
As soon as he said that, Yuan Shao felt a wave of darkness before his eyes.
Previously, even Yuan Shu had heard of this matter and mocked him from afar, but now this was something he had originally concealed from Liu Bian.
In any case, for Yuan Shao, owing Qiao Yan that amount of grain was no different from owing merely ten thousand shi.
With both sides having already torn their faces apart, this was a debt he saw no need to repay.
But Qiao Yan… how dare she treat this as reading material for the people of Bingzhou?
Don’t think Yuan Shao didn’t hear the envoy explain the nature of these monthly reports at the beginning!
Finally, after clearing things up with Liu Bian that this was no profound concern, Yuan Shao returned home and flipped the table over.
From the audacious flaunting and heart-wrenching display of the other side, Yuan Shao felt that any good mood he had gained from allying with Gongsun Zan was now obliterated.
When he regained a little composure after that overwhelming rage, he couldn’t help but consider another question.
If the Leping Monthly Report was truly as easily obtainable as the envoy claimed, it shouldn’t have taken this long for him to see it since Tian Feng set out for Bingzhou; by now, he should have heard back.
This amalgamation of major news wasn’t something Tian Feng should have trouble confirming; he ought to have received word by now, instead of it seeming like it had evaporated from the world.
Yuan Shao hadn’t considered the possibility that Tian Feng might have switched allegiances.
Even if he did, he would still have the right to be Qiao Yan’s subordinate and then let Qiao Yan talk about bringing over his family, rather than now being at a loss for Tian Feng’s whereabouts.
He had to be prepared for the possibility that something might have happened to Tian Feng.
Just then, a subordinate asked whether to send someone to Chang’an to check on the recruitment efforts at Hongwen Hall and see how far the other side’s invitation had developed.
Fearing a repeat of sending people out only for them to disappear, Yuan Shao immediately rejected the suggestion.
How could he know that Tian Feng, whose handwriting was decent enough, was forced to stay at Hongwen Hall, assisting in recording the words and actions of these visiting scholars, and was currently eagerly anticipating his rescue?
Tian Feng grew increasingly uneasy about the situation; just because he wrote well didn’t mean he could write everything down, that was a whole different story.
He should’ve honestly stated that he couldn’t manage to record it all.
But after all the bad luck he’d faced before, Tian Feng was afraid of saying anything wrong that could land him in another weird place.
Staying at Hongwen Hall, he worried whether Xun Yu and Cui Jun might suddenly realize his identity, but at least he got to see all the folk arriving and know who was joining the city’s reconstruction.
And if only his esteemed lord back in Ye City would show just a smidgen of political insight and consider sending someone here to gather information, perhaps he could compile all the intel he had collected and send it back immediately.
At that time, he might even have a chance to escape.
This Hongwen Hall, after all, was a place frequented by many!
Tian Feng held on to his beautiful hopes as he began his new day of work.
In Yizhou, Li Ru was similarly starting his work for the day.
But unlike Tian Feng’s approach, he was taking Qiao Ting around sightseeing.
As he and Qi Zhou had said, since the announcement still awaited the arrival of various prefects, allowing Liu Yan to showcase his friendly relations with Chang’an, he figured he ought to make the most of his first visit to Yizhou and see all there was to see.
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“You really don’t understand the reasoning behind this at all.”
Qi Zhou felt that “Li Ru” had a point, but he also sensed that the other guy might be trying to play him.
However, there wasn’t much going on these days, so letting him go out for a stroll was fine.
With Qi Zhou’s permission, Li Ru had officially become a free man.
What should you do when you travel to a different place? One thing that hasn’t changed from ancient to modern times is buying local specialties.
And Li Ru did just that.
The most famous product from Shu is undoubtedly Shu brocade, and even though it wasn’t the season for silkworm rearing, there were still plenty of new ones being produced.
Li Ru took Qiao Ting and picked a couple of reasonably priced brocade rolls from two shops.
As they carried the goods back to the inn, Qi Zhou gave Li Ru several scrutinizing glances, thinking that the quantity and quality of what he bought matched his financial situation quite well.
Li Ru even suggested, “If you want to get better value for your money, go to those shops I went to.”
He said mysteriously, “Did you know? Liu Yizhou is quite the ruthless man. Just three years after he entered Yizhou, he wiped out the influential Wang and Li families of the Ba Commandery, so that brocade industry naturally fell into Liu Yizhou’s hands and was handed down to his second son.”
“I only just managed to dig up this intel. Think about it, this is like a no-investment deal, so the prices are definitely lower here. This personal beef has nothing to do with us as messengers, and besides, it suits our tight budget well, right?”
But really, Li Ru had no family to please; he was in a situation where one person’s meal meant no worries for the family.
However, Qi Zhou did have a family.
After hearing Li Ru say this, he quickly replied “Thank you,” thinking that in a way, this slacker companion of his might be a tiny bit helpful.
But upon hearing that he was off to buy Shu wine the next day, Qi Zhou nearly choked.
As soon as Li Ru returned, he grabbed his arm and asked, “Did you forget how we got to Chengdu? We passed through Xiegudao, Hanzhong, Ba Commandery, and Guanghan Commandery before arriving at Chengdu in Shu. The journey was bumpy as it was, we can at least bring back some brocade; how are we supposed to haul wine back?”
Don’t just pile on the workload for him!
Li Ru chuckled and said, “Who said I was going to bring wine back? You didn’t think I was going to finish brocade shopping and not treat myself, did you? If I spill it on the way back, what a pity! I’d rather drink it here.”
“You know, this southern region primarily grows rice along with millet, so the local wine is also brewed from rice. The standout feature is its throat-burning quality, quite different from the fiery spirits of the north.”
“But I couldn’t snag any discounts; I’ve been to both the local taverns and those run by Eastern State folks, and the prices are pretty much the same. After all, Shu is rich in natural resources, it’s just a beautiful mess of whispers and culture.”
Li Ru swatted Qi Zhou’s hand away, “I won’t waste more breath on you. I’m off to get my drink on.”
Seeing his lazy demeanor, Qi Zhou couldn’t tell if it was just a reinforced impression; he actually felt like it wasn’t a big deal at all.
Even when he heard Li Ru was no longer buying things on the first day, but instead was out exploring with that girl by his side, Qi Zhou didn’t find it odd at all.
Li Ru said he was planning to experience the local culture instead of purchasing physical goods.
Like the ghostly rituals and divination customs practiced in Shu.
But after wandering around for two days, Qi Zhou figured his trip was a total bust.
According to Li Ru, the two best fortune-tellers had a fortune of their own; one was dead, and the other vanished after predicting that Wu Yi, Liu Yan’s sister, would come into untold wealth, judging by the way he had interacted with con artists over the years, he suspected the rest were probably fakes.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” Li Ru shrugged, looking resigned, “Even though I figured they were crooks, I didn’t plan on calling them out. Just giving the people of Yizhou some face, right? Luckily, I had already spent all my cash on brocade and wine, otherwise, I wouldn’t even bother chatting with them for a bargain.”
Qi Zhou remained silent for a long time, feeling increasingly grateful that Li Ru wasn’t the mastermind behind their trip to Shu.
After thinking for a moment, he reminded him once again, “There are only two days left until the appointment with Liu Yizhou. You’d best not wander out.”
Li Ru waved it off, “Of course. My legs aren’t exactly up for all this. I’ve just been enjoying the novelty; it’s time to rest now.”
As Qi Zhou watched him mumble something about how he still hadn’t finished his wine, he nearly spat out his old blood.
But while Qi Zhou thought Li Ru’s final two days of wandering were in vain, in reality, Li Ru had gathered plenty of information.
The next day, staying cooped up with Qiao Ting, they began piecing together their findings.
While he was completing his mission, he was also giving Qiao Ting some guidance.
He said, “The intel we got over these past few days is a bit scattered, but we can definitely categorize it based on Liu Yan’s connections.”
“One type is Liu Yan’s relatives and offspring, and the other type is his subordinates.”
“Liu Yan has four sons: the eldest Liu Fan, the second Liu Dan, the third Liu Mao, and the youngest Liu Zhang.”
“As for Liu Yan’s subordinates, we can also split them directly into two categories: locals from Yizhou, like Dong Fu, who supported his entry into Bashu, or Zhang Lu, who was appointed to Wudu, and also Zhao Wei, who remains under Liu Yan’s command. The other group consists of people from beyond Yizhou, known as Eastern State scholars, such as Wu Yi and Pang Tong, who followed him into Bashu.”
As Li Ru spoke, he wrote Liu Yan’s name at the center of the paper, then wrote down the names of his four sons above it, and below wrote “Yizhou Scholars” and “Eastern State Scholars.”
“Now let’s start summarizing the information we’ve gathered in the past few days.”
“From the situation with the Shu brocade, we can see that Liu Yan leans more towards the Eastern State Scholars over the locals; in fact, the Wang and Li families of Ba Commandery weren’t executed for rebellion, but rather to establish his authority in Yizhou.”
“Following that, just as Liu Yan told us, he subdued the chaos instigated by Yizhou’s Ren Qi two years ago.”
“In this battle, Liu Yan even personally commanded, and was hit by a stray arrow from behind, which is something often mentioned in taverns opened by locals.”
“Then, a portion of the confiscated Shu brocade business was handed to his second son, Liu Dan, to ensure he has resources to stand on his own, and that’s all that needs to be thought of. This second son truly has no ambitions, settling down early as a wealthy idler.”
At this point, Li Ru crossed out Liu Dan’s name from the paper.
His judgment was not only based on the brocade business, but also on what he had observed as a messenger in this area.
So now, on his paper, there were just four Liu names and the Eastern State and Yizhou scholars, with the former highlighted, indicating they were favored more by Liu Yan.
“Now let’s look at the forces each of these people support.”
As Li Ru wrote on the paper, he explained, “These folks are definitely under Liu Yan, but since Liu Yan favors the Eastern State Scholars more to balance the local forces in Yizhou, the locals are also seeking their own path.”
“This is shown by Zhang Lu and his mother continually seeking more power from Liu Yan and targeting territories all the way to Hanzhong and Wudu.”
“Zhao Wei seems to be favoring Liu Yan’s youngest son, believing that his timid nature makes him easy to manipulate, which could turn the tide for the locals.”
“Meanwhile, the Eastern State Scholars under Liu Yan are trying to marry into his family now that they have merit from following him into Shu, further seeking power.”
“Wu Yi’s sister has been said to have noble qualities, but unfortunately, Liu Yan’s first two sons are already married, so this Wu lady was married off to Liu Yan’s third son, Liu Mao. Sadly, Liu Mao is afflicted by a passion for debauchery, rendering him unfit for succession, thus Wu Yi remains a die-hard follower of Liu Yan.”
“This makes you wonder if Liu Yan isn’t trying to keep Wu Yi from aligning himself prematurely with any of his heirs.”
“Well, at this point, we might as well eliminate Liu Mao from consideration.”
What remained were just three names with their supporting forces—
Liu Yan himself: represented by Zhang Lu among the locals, and by Wu Yi among the Eastern State Scholars.
Liu Yan’s eldest son Liu Fan: the legally defined first heir.
Liu Yan’s youngest son Liu Zhang: backed by discontented locals like Zhao Wei regarding Liu Yan’s decisions.
Li Ru remarked, “Yizhou is isolated from the outside world, and the changes in the situation reaching Chang’an have already been cloaked in various narratives. It’s no wonder the Lord wanted us to first analyze the situation here before making decisions.”
“But precisely because of this geographical isolation, some people’s actions have become rather reckless, making it easier for us to obtain relevant information—just right for your first lesson.”
“The situation is clear, and who can be of utmost use to us is already evident.”
Li Ru handed the pen over to Qiao Ting.
Qiao Ting didn’t hesitate and circled a name on the list.
The name circled was Zhao Wei, a local.
“Who are you talking about?”
Qiao Yan paused, suddenly looking up at the messenger.
The messenger hadn’t expected that the news he came to deliver would elicit such a strong reaction from Qiao Yan.
What he reported was fairly simple.
Recently, with the increase of scholars visiting Hongwen Hall, some of them aiming to interact with fellow minds decided not to rush to get approval from the four heads of the academy but instead used Hongwen Hall as a debating platform.
That’s why Qiao Yan sent Zhuge Liang over to audit.
Although he wasn’t fully grown, having gone through Xun Yu’s guidance and the training at Leping Academy, he had developed his own logical evaluative system about most statements, and thus Qiao Yan wasn’t too worried that he would be misled.
This auditing felt more like broadening his horizons, listening to other voices of the same period.
However, today’s situation was a bit different.
According to the reporting messenger, there was a boy among the auditors today who was of similar age to Zhuge Liang.
This boy was quiet and focused, fully absorbed in the conversations, occasionally exchanging thoughts with Zhuge Liang.
Anyone would think that some visiting scholar had brought their younger relatives along.
Yet, it was unclear what had transpired between these two youths, as they suddenly got into a heated whisper dispute.
Eventually, amid other conversations pausing, the unfamiliar boy unexpectedly requested a debate with Zhuge Liang to reach a conclusion on their previous topic of disagreement.
Considering Qiao Yan’s regard for Zhuge Liang, along with the unknown boy clearly being no ordinary character, Cui Jun hurriedly had someone inform Qiao Yan.
When the messenger heard Qiao Yan ask this, he thought maybe he had spoken too fast.
So he repeated, “The boy calls himself Pang Tong.”
