Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3708 A Gentleman's Heart
Similar scenes are playing out in various parts of Yingchuan.

The additional taxes were increased at each level, from the prefect to the county commandant, from the granary official to the village head; an invisible net was spread at each level.

The figures on the grain requisition registers were arbitrarily altered, with embezzlement made under the guise of "losses" and "discounted old grain."

The amount of food that actually reached the front lines might not have been enough to fill the gaps in demand, but the quality was steadily declining.

Mixed with sand and some moldy grains, the "military rations" were being transported to Cao Cao's camp by numb civilians pushing and pulling creaking supply wagons.

Even worse, some audacious clerks, using the imperial edict of "strictly investigating treason," turned their attention to wealthy households with some savings or merchants they disliked.

Of course, most of the unfortunate ones were middle-class wealthy merchants.

Those at the top are not to be trifled with by lower-ranking officials.

Once labeled a "spy in the Imperial Guard," one is destined to lose everything.

Most of the confiscated "stolen goods" went into private pockets, while only a small portion of inferior goods were handed over as "confiscated goods".

Within Yingchuan County, complaints arose, a climate of fear and unease pervaded the area, and people's hearts were scattered.

Just then, news that Xun Yu, carrying Cao Cao's imperial insignia and leading a team of capable officers, arrived swept across the stagnant pond of Yingchuan like a gust of wind.

Those clerks who had previously thrived on grain requisition and exploitation instantly shed their fangs and put on faces of concern for the country and its people, and diligence in serving the public.

On the official road leading to Yingchuan, the villagers, who had been bullied and driven away by the yamen runners and were like frightened birds, suddenly discovered a simple soup kitchen set up by the roadside.

The yamen runners, dressed in brand-new black uniforms, wore unprecedented, even somewhat stiff, smiles of kindness as they banged gongs and shouted, "Prime Minister Cao! Lord Xun, showing compassion for the people's hardships, has opened the granaries to distribute relief! Folks, come and get a bowl of thin porridge to warm yourselves! Line up, don't push!"

The large pot was indeed churning with thin porridge; the broth was so clear you could see your reflection, and the grains of rice were sparse and countable.

However, compared to the tragic scene of being paraded in shackles and having their families destroyed a few days ago, this is a rare "blessing".

The villagers lined up numbly, their eyes showing little gratitude, only deep weariness and fear of the unknown.

They didn't know when the soup kitchen would appear at the intersection, nor when it would disappear without a trace...

The warehouse in the county government office, which was originally filled with substandard "military rations," was cleaned up overnight.

The granary clerk and his men, sweating profusely, moved some truly edible, aged millet to a prominent position.

He sternly instructed the accounting clerk: "Quickly! Redo all those previous accounts...! Smooth out what needs to be smoothed over, and apportion what needs to be apportioned! The amount of grain requisitioned must be exactly as stated in the prefect's original document—not a single bushel more! Remember, we are acting according to the rules; we have absolutely no personal bias!"

The village head, who had once framed the wealthy man, was now kneeling before the county magistrate, tears streaming down his face: "Your Honor! I was foolish! I only accepted a few bushels of rice from that wealthy man because I saw how hard the villagers were working, thinking I could help them out and cover things up... I know I was wrong! I will now hand over the stolen goods... no, the wealthy man's 'voluntary donation' in full! I beg you, Your Honor, to put in a good word for me with you, considering my usual diligence..."

The county constable, his face stern and righteous, said, "Hmph! As the village head, to knowingly break the law is an even greater crime! But considering you show remorse, and have voluntarily confessed and handed over your belongings… I'll record this lash for now! We'll deal with you further after the magistrate's inspection! Get out of here and suppress all the gossip in the village! If the magistrate hears even a single complaint from the villagers, you will be held responsible!"

……

……

Xun Yu's inspection tour began.

He traveled light and simply, going deep into the countryside.

However, he was surrounded by guards, all of whom were local officials who had "coincidentally" arrived.

Wherever he went, he saw orderly soup kitchens, heard county officials passionately pleading that "collecting grain is not easy, but we dare not slack off in order to share the burden of the country," and reviewed clear and accurate account books.

He even personally visited several wealthy households who had "suffered injustice" under Xun Yu's questioning. The households, their eyes darting around, ultimately only vaguely replied, "The misunderstanding... has been resolved. Thank you for your concern."

How could wealthy merchants dare to tell the truth?

Although Xun Yu was a high-ranking official and one of the most prominent figures in the Han court, speaking the truth would certainly have pleased the people and led to the execution of some officials. But what would happen afterward?

Could it be that these wealthy merchants can follow Xun Yu for their entire lives?

But who was Xun Yu?
Those makeshift, rickety soup kitchens...

The deep-seated fear in the eyes of those villagers...

The overly "clean" handwriting on those ledgers...

The excessively fluent language used by those county officials during their reports…

And the wealthy residents' unspoken anxieties...

All of this is as clear as dust on a mirror.

He knew that what he was seeing was a meticulously orchestrated drama.

He arrested people.

Based on the secret investigation by the school officials and the clues provided by a small number of villagers, he swiftly dealt with several clerks who had run into trouble, incurred great public resentment, and for whom the evidence was relatively conclusive...

For example, the county magistrate of Fule County who had an old farmer in shackles.

However, the charge was not "excessive taxes and levies," but rather "mistreatment of the people."

And the warehouse clerk who was most blatant in soliciting bribes and was implicated by many people.

However, the charge was not "accepting bribes," but rather "misappropriating military rations."

Click, click.

Wang, the county magistrate, and Li, the cang clerk.

The heads fell to the ground and were hung on the city gate, bloodied and exposed.

This move shook the officialdom of Yingchuan, making everyone feel insecure, but beneath the surface, a deeper undercurrent was brewing...

The surviving clerks exchanged knowing glances in private.

"See? Your Excellency arrested the ringleaders, those who caused the most trouble and behaved the worst."

"As long as we keep our hands clean, balance our accounts, avoid causing any murders or lawsuits, and prevent troublemakers from gathering and causing disturbances, what can you do to me, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, can he arrest them all? There are hundreds of people in Yingchuan, are they all going to be killed? The army is waiting to eat! Without us errand runners, who will collect grain?"

"Bear with it for a few days, get through this! Once you return to Yingyin to report, won't the land of Yingchuan be ours?"

So, during Xun Yu's inspection, everything seemed to "improve".

The soup kitchens were barely holding on, and grain requisition was temporarily carried out according to the "rules." There were no new shackles or new confiscations, but the deep-seated greed had not disappeared; it had only temporarily lain dormant, waiting for the horn to sound when Xun Yu left.

……

……

Xun Yu stood atop the city wall of Yangdi, gazing at this seemingly peaceful land, his eyes weary and heavy.

He caught a few bookworms as a warning to others, temporarily suppressing the worst atrocities.

But he knew better than anyone that he couldn't cleanse this deeply entrenched filth.

With the army at the front, he could neither afford nor have the time to completely overthrow the entire bureaucratic system in Yingchuan.

All he could do was use drastic measures to barely keep this land afloat, and use a thin layer of paste to delay the inevitable collapse.

Previously, just a few school officials could stir up a bloody storm and intimidate a large area, but now?

He came in person!
A high-ranking official of two thousand shi (a unit of grain) in the Han Dynasty!
The dignified Minister of the Imperial Secretariat!
Can……

What then?

In earlier years, he could have said, "Let's wait and see, and have faith in the wisdom of future generations..."

But now?
As the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat and representative of Yingchuan, what did he see and encounter when he arrived in Yingchuan?
And then he actually had to act in a play with these bookworms!

What a shame...

The wisdom of later generations...

Haha!

If we don't address the issue now and just keep delaying and shirking responsibility, things will only get worse and worse, becoming increasingly unmanageable, until finally, with a deafening crash...

Xun Yu gazed down at the fields shrouded in twilight.

In the distance, wisps of smoke rose thinly, like the last faint breath of this suffering land.

Inspection, huh? It's just an inspection, nothing more...

The makeshift soup kitchens, the neatly stacked ledgers, and the respectful yet insincere reports from the county officials were like waves of icy water, relentlessly assaulting his already weary defenses. During the inspection, an elderly farmer with white hair and beard approached shakily, with the tacit approval of Xun Yu's entourage. His cloudy eyes held little hope for the "conscience of the Han Dynasty," only a numbness bordering on despair.

The old farmer let out incoherent sobs, but couldn't utter a single word. He just kept kowtowing, his forehead hitting the hard ground with a dull thud, and soon blood seeped out.

Xun Yu recognized the old farmer.

The old farmer was once a tenant farmer of the Xun family and had contributed his entire life's labor to the Xun family. He was sent away when the Xun family migrated.

Now, the old farmer's son was beaten to the point of near death for resisting the additional taxation, and his fate is unknown.

A strong sense of pity and powerlessness instantly gripped Xun Yu.

He almost reached out to help him up, almost blurting out, "Old man, please rise! I will definitely stand up for you! Those who mistreat you parasites will be severely punished!"

But when he tried to say those words, it was as if an invisible boulder blocked his mouth.

He can't say.

What flashed before his eyes were Cao Cao's furrowed brows in the Cao army camp, the piles of urgent pleas for supplies on his desk, the jagged battle lines on the map, Cao Ren struggling to hold out beneath the walls of Xiangyang, and the typhoid epidemic quietly spreading through the army...

Furthermore, behind those clerks whose heads he had just chopped off and whose heads were displayed in public, lay a deeply entrenched and unfathomable network.

He killed a few outspoken individuals, which was his limit.

He dared not stand up for the old farmer.

He is afraid.

They fear that once this cauldron of resentment and corruption is fully exposed, the surging public discontent will instantly destroy the already precarious order in Yingchuan.

The angry villagers, as if incited by someone with ulterior motives, stormed the county government office and burned down the granaries...

Those clerks, those parasites he knew were still greedily lurking in the shadows, would frantically destroy account books, burn stored grain, and even directly raise their butcher knives against the people before the order collapsed, robbing them of the last bit of seeds and food they depended on for survival!
At that time, Yingchuan will be completely rotten, becoming an unhealable festering sore behind the front-line army, and may even trigger unrest throughout Yuzhou.

Faced with the cesspool, he gave in.

He couldn't afford the consequences of it exploding.

For the sake of the so-called overall situation, for that slim chance of victory, the old farmer's grievances and the suffering of countless villagers could only be temporarily suppressed, becoming a "necessary" price to pay, a silent "sacrifice".

He also couldn't trust the people.

He was deeply aware of the people's suffering and understood their anger and power.

But this power is a double-edged sword.

In this chaotic world where information is scarce and people are filled with fear, who can guarantee that this power will not be exploited by the spies of the Flying Cavalry?

Will they not be coerced by local powerful figures?
If things get out of control, the backlash will destroy the very foundation of the Cao family.

In his very essence, Xun Yu was ultimately a representative of the old order.

He believed in top-down "education" and "governance," and he could not imagine, nor did he have the courage, to trust and rely on those ragged, illiterate peasants to break down and rebuild.

He feared chaos more than corruption.

He could only choose to maintain the old framework he was familiar with, even if it was riddled with holes, and hope that he could gradually work towards it after the situation stabilized in the future.

He could only worry about the immediate, miserable situation.

"Destroy and then build"?
What kind of courage, strength, and clear vision for the future would that require?

When Cao Cao was young, he may have been ruthless in destroying, but he may not have had the patience to build and the blueprint that matched Xun Yu's ideals.

Xun Yu himself, at the heart of this turbulent and chaotic situation, was burdened with the immense responsibility of keeping this wrecked ship afloat. He was already exhausted and had no strength left to break it.

He saw the root of Yingchuan's problems, the deep-rooted corruption and greed that permeated the entire old and bloated Han Chinese society, but he lacked the courage to burn his bridges and could not see that after destruction, a clearer "establishment" could follow.

He could only act like a patcher, using the thin sheets of paper of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" and "opening the granary for relief" to barely cover up the ever-widening crack, praying that it could hold on a little longer, a little longer, at least enough to survive this life-or-death battle before him.

So Xun Yu could only sigh in the end, no longer looking at the old farmer still kowtowing on the ground. His gaze turned to the fields sinking into darkness in the distance, and in a low, weary voice, he said to his attendant beside him, "Go...get this old man...two bushels of rice..."

Two bushels of rice were exchanged for the old farmer's lifelong dedication.

This was the only "grace" he could offer, a "charity" imbued with immense guilt and powerlessness.

This meager two bushels of rice could neither soothe the old farmer's grief over losing his son, nor change the current situation in Yingchuan, nor even truly solve the old farmer's immediate hunger.

It is merely a symbol, a pale explanation by Xun Yu of his inner moral dilemma.

Xun Lingjun, who was hailed by the world as a "talented advisor to the king," was at this moment just a prisoner deeply bound by the old system, powerless to change the situation, watching helplessly as the order he envisioned sank little by little into the mire of reality.

He upheld the overall situation, but personally buried the morality in his heart.

This pain of lucidity is far heavier than the darkness of Yingchuan at night.

The four virtues of a gentleman that he advocated, promoted, and followed in his youth now seem increasingly distant...

……

……

As Xun Yu's carriage disappeared at the end of the official road leading to Yingyin, the dust it kicked up had not yet settled when the oppressive atmosphere in Yangdi City vanished, replaced by a sense of relief as if one had survived a catastrophe.

The storm has passed!
That night, the penthouse on the top floor of the most luxurious restaurant in the city, "Zui Xian Ju," was brightly lit and filled with the pleasant sounds of traditional music.

The officials and local powerful figures of Yingchuan County, who had been terrified into silence for days by Xun Yu's ruthless methods, were now gathered together, toasting and exchanging drinks. The air was filled with the aroma of wine and meat, and a tacit smugness flickered between their brows.

"Everyone! Everyone! Please be quiet!"

The prefect, his face flushed, stood up with a wine cup in hand, his voice booming. There was no trace of the trembling, patriotic demeanor he had shown in front of Xun Yu.
"Your Majesty is benevolent and compassionate, showing great understanding for your subjects. This inspection has punished a few incompetent officials, truly rectifying official conduct and bringing order to Yingchuan! We should take this as a warning and diligently serve the king!"

These words sounded grand and dignified, but everyone at the table clearly understood the underlying meaning...

The storm has passed; only the unlucky fools died. Now everyone who survived is safe.

"The Prefect is right!" someone immediately echoed. "Your Excellency is discerning and only punishes the ringleaders. We innocent people will naturally be unharmed! Come, let us drink this cup together, for Your Excellency's well-being and for the Prime Minister's swift annihilation of the rebels!"

Amidst the clinking of glasses and the clamor of voices, a lively atmosphere prevailed.

We drink together, eat snacks together, we're all in this together!

In a corner, several minor officials who had been "temporarily suspended from duty for observation" due to Xun Yu's inspection were now fawning over a powerful figure.

A powerful figure patted a sycophantic clerk on the shoulder, his voice low but clear enough for everyone around to hear: "Brother, I'm sorry you've been put through this! Take a good rest at home these next few days, consider it a break. Your lord is busy with countless affairs of state; how could he possibly remember such a small matter? Once this period is over and the supply lines at the front are running smoothly, you'll definitely get your position! Don't worry, what's meant for you will be yours!"

The clerk was so excited that he bowed repeatedly: "Thank you so much for your help, sir! I understand! I understand! I will definitely stay home and think...think about that thing these next few days, and I will absolutely not cause you any trouble!"

On the other side, several local gentry heads from Yingchuan, such as representatives of the Chen and Zhong families, appeared relatively reserved, but their exchanged glances were full of calculation.

After several rounds of drinks, an elderly man with white hair and beard put down his wine cup and said in a low voice to the person next to him, "Although Xun Wenruo punished a few people on this trip, his dissatisfaction is obvious... The position of Prime Minister is indeed difficult..."

The person beside him nodded knowingly: "What Lord Chen said is quite right... The front lines are in dire straits, and the rear... is in such a state. Commander Xun is hesitant to investigate further for fear of causing serious harm, but surely he harbors some resentment? Who knows... he might settle scores later..."

"I have heard that the General of the Cavalry in Guanzhong has implemented the Xintian policy. Although it has taken measures to suppress powerful clans, the strictness of its laws and the efficiency of its administration are also undeniable facts. Moreover, its momentum is currently strong..."

"What Lord Chen meant..."

"My few good-for-nothing sons are better off being sent to Guanzhong for 'study' than to idly languish in Yingchuan," the old man said casually. "Firstly, they can see for themselves what the cavalry's rule is like; secondly... I've heard that Chang'an in Guanzhong is now a bustling hub of merchants... They need to find something to do, otherwise they'll just be sitting at home and wasting their fortune..."

"Master Chen's insight is brilliant! My Zhong family also shares this view. However, travel expenses are still necessary... Yingchuan is currently experiencing a shortage of funds..."

"Money is scarce... but gold and silver are never lacking... gold and silver, where isn't there gold and silver?"

"Ah! Master Chen's insight is brilliant! Brilliant!"

Similar decisions were quietly reached within several deeply rooted aristocratic clans in Yingchuan.

Xun Yu's seemingly swift and decisive, but actually helpless, "rectification" also made these people realize that danger was approaching.

A few days later, several caravans, ostensibly on "study tours," "traveling merchants," or "visiting relatives," discreetly departed Yingchuan. Their wheels rolled over the official road, heading towards Jizhou. After crossing the river, they would turn towards Hanoi.

The caravan carried not only ordinary items such as books and cloth, but also carefully disguised gold and silver valuables, land deeds, and young members of the family who were regarded as the "hope for the future".

They embarked on their westward journey, carrying with them complex family expectations and a touch of trepidation about the unknown.

Whether it's seeking knowledge or learning, it's actually a way to transfer assets and find a way out.

(End of this chapter)