Taiheiki

Chapter 117 Resolution
"Thank you, uncle!" Cao Cao bowed again, then stood up and sat down beside him. Yuan Shu stood by with his hands hanging down. Cao Cao said, "I have come here today to report a matter of great importance to the safety of the world!" He paused and glanced at the maids on either side.

"A matter concerning the safety of the world?" Yuan Feng frowned. Given his personality, he wasn't particularly fond of Cao Cao's flippant statement. How could a fifteen or sixteen-year-old Cao Cao possibly know anything about "a matter concerning the safety of the world"? However, his good manners forced him to nod, "Everyone, withdraw!" When only Yuan Feng, Yuan Shu, and Cao Cao were left in the hall, he said in a deep voice, "Nephew Cao, please speak!"

"Uncle!" Cao Cao, intimidated by Yuan Feng's power, subconsciously puffed out his chest and said in a deep voice, "Yesterday, a letter arrived from my hometown in Pei State. The letter mentioned the moth bandits in the south. This time, the moth bandits have spread to Jingzhou, Yangzhou, and Guangling in Xuzhou. The situation is serious. There are already 200,000 to 300,000 people. There is no stable land south of the Yangtze River. If there are one or two more lawless people in the Central Plains who cause trouble, I am afraid that disaster will overthrow us at this moment!"

"I've also heard about the moth bandits! It's truly a disaster unseen in decades!" Yuan Feng nodded. "The court is also discussing countermeasures. Some have suggested appointing Huaili Hou Dou Wu as the Grand General to lead the various armies in Wancheng to defeat the moth bandits!"

"That's a great idea!" Cao Cao was delighted. The empire was currently facing internal and external difficulties. The bandits in the south were a formidable threat. The Xianbei people in the north, ever since the Han army completely destroyed the Northern Xiongnu regime during the reign of Emperor He, forced them to migrate westward, had begun migrating southwest from the Xianbei Mountains. They filled the void left by the Xiongnu and gradually absorbed most of the tribes on the Mongolian Plateau, becoming the largest power in northern Mongolia. However, the Xianbei's political organization was still very underdeveloped, with tribes divided and engaged in mutual hostilities, making them insufficiently threatening the Eastern Han dynasty.

But during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han, a leader with great military and political talents emerged among the Xianbei. Tan Shihuai, after unifying the Xianbei tribes, imitated the old Xiongnu system and established royal courts on the banks of Danhan Mountain (now Shangdu County, Inner Mongolia) and the Chuchou River (now Dongyang River). He divided the Xianbei tribes loyal to him into three parts: east, central and west, each led by a leader.

From this point on, the Xianbei grew in power and began to repeatedly attack the northern provinces of the Eastern Han Dynasty, becoming the greatest threat to the northern region. Since the reign of Emperor Yanxi, northern provinces and counties were raided by the Xianbei almost every year, and the number of troops sent to them increased, sometimes numbering tens of thousands of cavalry. Faced with such enormous military pressure, the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the extremely sharp internal conflicts within the ruling class, could only passively defend itself and was unable to send a large army to counterattack.

As the emperor was seriously ill, according to custom, the empress's father or brother should have been appointed generals to run the government. However, Dou Wu's political views differed from those of the emperor, so the emperor had only appointed him the Marquis of Huaili, but not the general. Unexpectedly, the rebellion of the E bandits in the south led to Dou Wu being appointed general and given the power to lead a large army.

"This is just a proposal. The inner court hasn't responded yet!" Yuan Feng smiled. "To be honest, I also think this step is a bit too big. After all, Feng Gun has been appointed General of Chariots and Cavalry to deal with the rebellion in the south. The Ethel Bandit Rebellion was not caused by his poor command. His war against the Wuling Barbarians was actually going well. Although Dou Youping is virtuous and respected, he has never led an army since he entered the government. Letting him command the war in Wancheng as the general is not necessarily better than Feng Gun!"

"Uncle, what you said is very true!" Cao Cao recalled his impression of Feng Gun during his time in Jiangling. "Feng Cheqi is a prudent man, truly a pillar of state talent! But I came here today for another matter. The court recently changed the era name and issued a general amnesty, releasing the rebellious members imprisoned in the Huangmen Beisi Prison and allowing them to return to the fields. However, these rebellious members have also been imprisoned for life, and can no longer serve as officials. I wonder if, at this critical moment, one or two of these rebellious members will, in desperation, collude with the moth thieves. If the moth thieves' influence spreads to northern Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou, wouldn't the consequences be unimaginable?"

"This..." Yuan Feng subconsciously wanted to deny it, but the words stopped on his lips. If this had happened thirty or forty years earlier, he would have denied it without hesitation. No matter how dissatisfied a scholar was with the court, he would not collude with these low-class villains and destroy his own future and reputation.

But times have changed. The Runan Yuan family has a family tradition of showing great respect for scholars. In the words of the time, this meant making friends with scholars and not bullying others with wealth and status. This characteristic was also very evident in Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. Although they had strong aristocratic habits, at least in their youth, they were very humble and treated others with courtesy regardless of their status or wealth. This is why both of them were able to win the support of others. They were able to rise rapidly during the turmoil at the end of the Han Dynasty and became the two most powerful princes in the world for a period of time.

So, although Yuan Feng held a high position, he was well aware that the attitude of the scholars towards the court had changed significantly. This was especially true since the emperor had bypassed the Three Dukes and imprisoned Li Ying, Chen Shi, Fan Pang and other scholars, who were regarded as leaders by the scholars of the world, in the Beisi Prison, which was run by eunuchs, and tortured them.

This practice was appalling, and all scholars in the world regarded it as a great shame and humiliation. The court had lost all support among the scholars. Even famous generals like Huangfu Gui, the General Du Liao, were ashamed of being arrested even though he was not listed as a "party member". They wrote to the emperor, "I previously recommended the former Minister of Agriculture Zhang Huan, who was a party member. Also, when I was discussing the case with the Left School, Zhang Feng and other students of the Imperial College wrote to the emperor to sue me, which means I was a party member. I should be punished." This was how they protested to the emperor.

Although the emperor had made some concessions by releasing the arrested members of the party by changing the reign title and granting amnesty, he had not lifted the political shackles on these scholars and had effectively ended their political lives. If any of them used their immense influence among the scholar community to join the bandits, it would mean that the scholar group's loyalty to the emperor had ceased to exist, which would be terrifying.

Seeing that Yuan Feng didn't flatly deny what he said, Cao Cao was secretly delighted. "According to my nephew's opinion, even if there's only a one-in-a-million chance of this happening, we can't just ignore it. The court should quickly remove the restrictions on the traitors. That way, if anyone else still joins the thief, the blame will be on them, and it won't be a big deal!"

"My dear nephew, you are absolutely right!" Yuan Feng smiled with delight. "This is indeed the most important matter right now. My dear nephew, you have such insight. You are truly a talented young man! Ah Shu, you should ask Ah Man for advice more often!"

"As you wish, son!" Although Yuan Shu was somewhat dissatisfied, he could only bow his head and agree.

"My dear nephew Cao!" Yuan Feng said with a smile, "I will report what you said today to the Emperor as soon as possible. I will never take credit for what happened today. I will make your good intentions known to the world! Let the Emperor and all the scholars know that our Han Dynasty has a young hero like you!"

"Thank you, uncle!" Cao Cao was delighted to hear this. He knew that with Yuan Feng's character and prestige, once he spoke, he would never go back on his word. He finally remembered Yuan Shu and smiled at Yuan Feng, saying, "Without Yuan Shu's help today, I would not be able to tell you everything in my heart!"

"Haha!" Yuan Feng laughed upon hearing this and looked at his second son: "A Shu, you can become famous all over the world this time, all thanks to nephew Cao!"

——————————————————————————Chaisang, Nie Mansion.

The mansion was filled with clanging and chaos. Men stood on oxcarts, loading barrels of wine, sacks of corn, and bundles of newly feathered arrows. Craftsmen busied themselves sharpening swords, trimming shields and bowstrings, and fitting new saddles to war horses and pack mules. Every woman in the mansion was tasked with sewing new war robes and cloaks, and making as many new straw sandals as possible.

Outside the house, more and more people were carrying bows and spears. More and more tents were popping up in the open space behind the house like new mushrooms. The men took out grindstones and carefully sharpened their weapons. Some were giving orders, some were cursing each other, and occasionally you could hear the quarrels and bickering of prostitutes. The whole house was like a huge beehive, extremely noisy.

Everyone knew that the moth bandits in Jiangbei were causing chaos. Boats kept coming from upstream, some from E County, some from Xiakou, and even from further afield. From their mouths, one could get all kinds of terrifying news: the moth bandits had already numbered 200,000; they used the bones of men and the elderly as firewood, and skewered women and children on spears and roasted them over the fire; their leader could summon the wind and rain and knew magic; after breaking into the city, unless anyone was willing to "join the bandits," they would be killed, regardless of gender, age, or strength; even if they were willing to join the bandits, their property would be looted. These terrifying news made the entire Chaisang panic, and the Nie Mansion was no exception.

But Nie Sheng's actions quickly calmed people's hearts. He walked out of the mansion with two hundred fully armed warriors and walked around Chaisang County. Those warriors were all wearing iron armor, holding spears and carrying bows and crossbows. He himself was also wearing iron armor, riding on a horse, with a double-pointed spear placed across the horse and a helmet hanging next to the saddle so that others could see his face clearly.

Countless onlookers gathered, and many women watched Nie Sheng on horseback, waving their arms and shouting wildly, tears streaming down their faces. Some said that in those days, members of the Nie family didn't even have to pay for prostitutes. No one knew where the Nie family had obtained all that armor, but even the county magistrate seemed amnesiac by this point and didn't question him about his possession. After this incident, the people of Chaisang felt at peace. Both the nobles and the common people chorused that although Nie Sheng was only seventeen, his bravery and military strategy far surpassed his father's. With him, Chaisang was safe!

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Zhou Jin walked quickly through the alley that connected Nie Zheng's front and back houses. After Wei Cong's previous division of the family estate, Nie Zheng's widow, Zhou, received one-third of her late husband's estate. She lived in the back house with her two children. She had a wall built to separate the front and back houses, leaving only a small door. She usually stayed at home, rarely seeing outsiders. If something happened, she would usually ask Zhou Jin, her cousin, to act on her behalf. Although Nie Sheng and his uncles secretly resented Zhou, seeing her actions, they couldn't find any excuse to expel her, so they just let it go.

"Open the door, open the door, it's me!" Zhou Jin came to the small door and knocked hard. After a while, the small door opened a crack, revealing half of a small face: "It turned out to be the fifth young master, come in!"

"Yeah! My sister is in the back hall?"

"Madam is in the back hall, waiting for you!" the doorman whispered. After his last lesson, he had become much more honest in Chaisang. He no longer frequently sought out his mistresses, drank less, and even when he went out, he always returned home before dark, fearing that his enemies would find an opportunity to kill him. He had become much more cautious. But after the moth bandits started the rebellion, he knew the situation was critical and was forced to go out to gather information. Zhou also noticed these changes and valued this distant brother more.

Zhou Jin walked through the door and quickly made his way to the back hall. Once there, he bowed to Zhou, who was teaching her child to read. "Sister, I've already found out. The commotion at the front house is because Wang Wen, the wealthy tycoon from the neighboring county, has sent people to ask Young Master Sheng for help. They want to join forces to fight a group of bandits! Young Master Sheng has agreed and is preparing to send troops, hence the commotion!"

"Wang Wen? Is that the Wang Wen who came to the mansion to cause trouble last time?" Zhou asked.

"Yes, I've confirmed it. It's that one. Sister has a good memory!" Zhou Jin said with a smile, "Don't worry, Sister. I've already made inquiries. They're only fighting a group of thieves who are looting. Including the old and weak, there are only a thousand of them. They are not the moth bandits. We will definitely win in one fell swoop!"

"That's good, that's good!" Zhou sighed. "Alas, the moth thieves are so powerful right now, and I don't know what will happen next. I can only rely on this child!"

"Yeah!" Zhou Jin sighed, "To be honest, I didn't realize it at first, this little beast--" He used to call Nie Sheng a "little beast" behind his back easily, but this time he realized that something was wrong when the words were on the tip of his tongue, and quickly stopped, feeling a little embarrassed.

"It's not that this child is amazing!" Zhou shook her head.

"Isn't it Young Master Sheng who is amazing?" Zhou Jin was stunned. "Since the E bandits started the rebellion, all the counties in Yangzhou have been in turmoil, with bandits everywhere and the people in turmoil. Even back home in Lujiang, there are three panics a day. But here in Chaisang, we can still be relatively peaceful. He alone has pacified six or seven gangs of bandits and beheaded hundreds of them. This is all thanks to Young Master Sheng. Everyone in the county remembers him well! A boy who is not even seventeen years old, a half-grown kid, has such skills, how can he not be amazing?"

(End of this chapter)