Taiheiki

Chapter 42 Decision
"I understand, my lord, don't worry!"

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Zhang family's back hall.

"No matter what, it's better to send someone to that Wei Congshi first to test his attitude. What do you think?" Zhang Boan asked everyone.

"Is this a good method? It's much better than just blindly fighting!"

"Yes! In my opinion, it would be best if we could settle it with money, even if it's three million or five million!"

"Three million, five million? You're so boastful!"

"Three to five million is a lot for hundreds of lives in the entire clan? Even ten million wouldn't be a big loss! Zhang Bolu has looted and plundered these years, so he must have at least ten or twenty million in his treasury, right? He's using it to save his life right now!"

"I'm afraid it's not that much. The money comes and goes quickly, given to the higher-ups and used to feed guests. In my opinion, if there's four or five million left in the treasury, it would be quite a big deal!"

"The remaining funds will have to be chipped in by each family. How can we buy our lives? After all, we can't defeat them on the water, and we can't defeat them on the shore either. We can only pay for it!"

Because Zhang Ping, the leader of the pro-war faction, was absent, the people in the back hall were very reasonable. They believed that at this point, buying lives with money was a very cost-effective deal. Just as Zhang Bo'an was about to order someone to leave the city to contact the officers and soldiers, a man entered from outside and whispered something to Zhang Bo'an. Zhang Bo'an perked up and shouted, "That Wei Congshi has a letter; he's in the outside room!"

"Oh, is there such a thing?"

"That's great news. You wrote to say you still want to talk!"

"I don't know what the conditions are in the letter, but I guess the price is quite high!"

"Any price is better than no price at all. God, please bless our Zhang family to survive this ordeal. We will ensure that our offerings remain intact for generations to come!"

Zhang Boan called Chu Hui to the classroom, opened the letter and read it, his face looking grim. The old man next to him asked, "Boan, what's in the letter?"

"Look!" Zhang Bo'an handed the letter to the old man. The old man took it, read it, and sighed: "Executing the main culprit is indeed the right thing to do. After all, resisting the soldiers is a serious crime. If we don't hand over a dozen heads, this matter will not be resolved!"

"Aping and the others are our family!" Zhang Boan whispered.

"How can we care about that now?" the old man said. "Besides, there's no mention of money in the letter, which means we can still negotiate. At most, we can send more money and see if we can use someone else as a substitute, or delay the matter until the amnesty comes. At least we can save our lives!"

"That's all we can do! Where are the guests and their troops?"

"We have no choice but to hand them over!" the old man sighed. "Most of those people have committed murder. When Bolu was here, he could lead them to rob houses and forge coins. You're not cut out for such crimes. Wouldn't it be a disaster if you kept them at home?"

"That's true!" Zhang Bo'an nodded. He didn't intend to act arbitrarily, so he handed the letter to everyone in the hall to read one by one. Everyone's attitude was basically the same. They generally accepted Wei Cong's conditions. At most, they would pay more money to see if they could bribe Wei Cong and save a few family members from dying.

After unifying everyone's opinions, Zhang Bo'an was about to find someone to write a reply, but he heard a fierce quarrel coming from the hall. Just as he was stunned, he saw Zhang Ping coming into the hall with more than ten people, holding knives in their hands and with murderous faces.

"Aping, what are you doing? Put down the knife!" the old man next to Zhang Boan said sternly.

"Fifth Uncle!" Zhang Ping sneered. "With my life in the hands of others, how could I let go of the knife? I'm sorry for what happened today! Someone, bring me the letter!"

"A letter?" Zhang Bo'an also understood at this time. He glanced at Chu Hui and asked, "Did Zhang Ping ask you to deliver this letter?"

"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself!" Zhang Ping sneered. "You said I sent this letter, so the official seal on it can't be fake, right? Let me ask you, if it's such an important matter, why didn't you send someone to call me to discuss it? Am I not considered a member of the Zhang family?"

At this moment, Zhang Ping's men had already snatched Wei Cong's letter and brought it to Zhang Ping. Zhang Ping glanced at it and sneered, "What a promise! If the culprit isn't handed over, the entire family will be exterminated! So, presumably, the 'culprit' mentioned in this letter is me? Uncle, how do you intend to deal with me? Kill me or abduct me? Tell me, and let this nephew know for sure!"

Zhang Bo'an looked gloomy and speechless for a moment. Facing Zhang Ping's questioning, Zhang Bo'an was unable to refute. No matter whether he had the idea of selling Zhang Ping and others to save the family in his heart, actions speak louder than words. The fact that he excluded Zhang Ping from the discussion of such an important matter said it all.

At this time, the old man next to Zhang Bo'an stepped forward and took over the conversation, saying, "A Ping, your Third Uncle is not to blame for this. After your eldest and fourth uncles died, he had to consider the whole family. We have just discussed it. Wei Gongshi didn't ask for money in his letter. Give him more money and use you as a substitute, or change it to exile to buy time. When there is an amnesty, you should be able to save your life!" "Fifth Uncle, so I have to thank Third Uncle?" Zhang Ping showed a mocking smile. "But I was not the only one who attacked Wei Gongshi. There were more than 20 brothers in the clan alone. What should we do with them? Change them all to exile? And I was the one who sent people to assassinate this guy. There were countless incidents of robbery and murder when I followed my eldest uncle out. What about the guests and followers at home? What are you going to do?"

"This..." The old man hesitated for a moment: "A Ping! There is no other way. As for the family members and guests, there are too many lawless and desperate criminals among them. When your uncle was alive, you could still control them. Now that your uncle is gone, keeping them around will only bring trouble!"

Zhang Ping didn't seem annoyed when he heard this. Instead, he smiled and said, "So, Fifth Uncle, you want to sacrifice the lives of us, as well as our family members and guests, to protect our family? Am I understanding this correctly?"

The old man's face was grim, but he nodded. "Yes, although this is hard to accept, we have no other choice. To be honest, if I could trade my life for yours, Ah Ping, it would be great. After all, I won't live for many more days. But compared to the annihilation of our clan, sacrificing some people is also a last resort!"

"Is this your choice?" Zhang Ping's gaze swept over everyone in the hall. Most of them lowered their eyes or turned their heads away, avoiding his gaze. "Okay, even if that official took your money and didn't break his promise to spare the rest of you, don't forget that your uncle has committed countless acts of plundering people's property, wives, and daughters, and even taking their lives. You've exploited the Zhang family's reputation to seize land and property, and the acts of bullying and forced buying and selling are countless. Those who were oppressed and robbed endured it not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't dare. They feared the Zhang family's prestige and the hundreds of guests and followers they maintained. Now, to save your own lives, you're trying to eliminate all of your minions. Do you think those enemies will let you go, or will they come back for revenge?"

A dead silence fell in the hall. Zhang Ping's words revealed a brutally harsh reality. For much of the Han Dynasty, the prefectures and counties below the county level were a world of bare jungle. If, after the rise of the imperial examination system, the wealthy without official titles gradually lost their wealth due to unfair distribution of labor and taxes during the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, they could either cultivate a prodigy proficient in Confucian classics from within their family to secure official titles, or else offer their land and pay tribute to the literati, becoming their dependents.

The grassroots society during the Han Dynasty was even more direct. The powerful and wealthy simply took in criminals and exiles, formed clan armed forces, used violence to arbitrarily oppress the people in the countryside, and even robbed and killed people in the streets in broad daylight, openly disregarding the laws of the country. What's even more exaggerated is that the boldest of these powerful and wealthy people even paid assassins to kill officials they were dissatisfied with. Some even colluded with the central government of the court or even the inner court officials to take action before the amnesty and kill their enemies to avoid legal punishment.

In such a winner-takes-all society, there was absolutely no legitimate mechanism for exit. Either you won unchallenged, achieving a family monopoly on prefectural elections, holding the rank of "2,000 shi" (two thousand stone official positions) for generations, becoming a Confucian scholar with thousands of descendants, and becoming one of the most powerful families in the empire. Or, your descendants were driven from their homes, their family wealth wiped out, and their remains wiped out. Losers had no chance of exiting and preserving their family. Consequently, the brutal officials of the Han Dynasty often arrived at a prefecture and immediately began slaughtering the wealthy areas, rewriting laws as they went, slaughtering hundreds or even thousands of people and leaving rivers of blood flowing for miles. The remaining wealthy families were terrified, either abandoning their family roots and migrating to the next prefecture or keeping their doors locked in broad daylight, keeping their family and servants indoors to avoid giving them a chance to exterminate their entire clan. Of course, for the Zhang family now, neither of these paths was feasible. After all, the enemy's forces had already blocked the gates of their Wu Fortress, making it too late to do anything.

"Then what are you going to do, Aping?" Zhang Boan finally asked.

"It's very simple, just keep fighting! Wei Cong has so few men, he definitely can't capture Wu Fort!" Zhang Ping said.

"They're soldiers!" Zhang Bo'an shook his head. "As long as they can surround our house, the county governor will send troops. Then you definitely won't be able to defend it!"

"This will take time. As long as we keep dragging it out, there will be a turning point!" Zhang Ping said coldly, "Uncle San, don't tell me you don't know that my family also had connections in the court. They definitely won't allow Wei Cong to continue to be surrounded like this!"

"It's my eldest brother who's involved, not our family!" Zhang Bo'an shook his head. "At most, the fourth brother knew something. Now that they're all dead, this relationship is useless. They want a crimson-robed general who can roam the Jiangbei area and be controlled by the prefectures and counties, not the Zhang family trapped in Wubao by a mere 100-stone thief Cao Gongshi. If you can defeat Wei Cong on your own, perhaps they will acknowledge this relationship. Otherwise, they'll just pretend nothing happened!"

"How could this be?" Zhang Ping seemed to be defeated by Zhang Bo'an's words: "Then, what are we in the eyes of those people? Pet dogs?"

"That's right!" Zhang Bo'an laughed. "What else could it be? The reason those high-ranking officials protect us from the wind and rain is, frankly, to get us to do things for them that are inconvenient for them. It's like your hunting dog. If it gets old, its teeth fall out, it can't run fast, and its claws are no longer sharp, so it can't catch rabbits for you, will you still keep it? Or will you tie it up, beat it to death with clubs, and eat its meat?"

The hall fell silent once again, but this time the advantage shifted back to Zhang Bo'an. Zhang Ping, who had just lost to Wei Cong on the battlefield, no longer believed that he could defeat his opponent on the battlefield with his own strength. Just as he was panicking and helpless, a guest standing beside him suddenly rushed forward and stabbed Zhang Bo'an in the chest, cursing, "You peasant, you are stirring up trouble with your words and stirring up trouble in our army. A real man should die, but how can you bow your head and suffer humiliation from the jailer?"

Everyone in the hall was completely caught off guard by this sudden event. They watched in amazement as the guest stabbed Zhang Bo'an in the chest, then struck him again. Suddenly, as if awakening from a dream, they drew their swords in anger and hacked the guest to death in just a few strokes. Zhang Ping walked over to Zhang Bo'an in a daze, looking at his uncle, whom he had never looked down upon, with mixed feelings. He said in a trembling voice, "Uncle, Uncle! Can you believe me? I really never intended to kill you!"

Zhang Boan was lying on the ground. Although others tried their best to stop the wound, blood continued to flow out. His face was as pale as milk, and everyone could see that he was not going to live long.

"I believe you!" Zhang Boan hissed, "But maybe the person who killed me was right. Everyone will die, but having your hands tied behind your back, kneeling on the ground and having your head chopped off by the executioner is the worst!"

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Outside Zhangjiawu Fort, there is a camp on the river bank.

Yang Zheng placed the sliced fish on the fire, steam rising in the cool night air. He carefully greased it with oil and sprinkled it with seasonings, and the enticing aroma filled the air.

"My dear, how cooked do you want it?" he asked cautiously.

"Well-cooked, right?" Wei Cong looked at the fish sashimi that looked unhygienic with some suspicion. He didn't want to get a stomach full of parasites just for a few bites. There was no anthelmintic medicine these days.

"Well-done?" Yang Zheng asked in surprise, "But, but that wouldn't be tasty. In fact, this fish sashimi is most tender when eaten raw with garlic paste. It's much worse when roasted!"

"Of course I know sashimi is delicious, but the Japanese eat frozen sea fish. You're making me eat sashimi from a freshwater fish. Aren't you playing tricks on my health?" Wei Cong secretly complained. Wang Shou, who was standing next to him, had already scolded him, "My dear, you're from Luoyang. You can't be used to your country tastes. Just grill it well-done when I tell you to. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

(End of this chapter)