Taiheiki

Chapter 59 Welcome
"Of course. Such a major matter certainly requires more consideration! General, please take your time!" Ying Feng had clearly anticipated Feng Gun's reaction. He didn't believe that just a few words from him would lead Feng Gun to gamble his entire clan's lives. However, he was confident that the matter would succeed; after all, the tide of the world was on his side.

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Outside Jiangling City, Wangting.

The cold wind blew fiercely, stinging his face. Even though Ah Jing had stuffed a fox fur vest under his brocade robe before leaving, Wei Cong still felt his hands and feet freezing. "Ancient winters, without the heat island effect of industrial pollution, were truly unbearable!" Wei Cong thought to himself, missing his down jacket and his hand warmer.

"The hand warmer should be available now, right? Never mind. It doesn't matter if I don't have it. I can just ask the craftsmen to make one for me. But now the craftsmen are busy making weapons. I'm afraid they don't have the time to make this thing for me! Oh, or maybe I don't have enough manpower!" Wei Cong was daydreaming in his mind when he suddenly felt his sleeves being pulled twice. He turned around and saw Gongcao Kuai Sheng looking at him with a smile.

"Meng De is from Jizhou. The winter there should be colder than in Jiangling. Why is he so afraid of the cold?" asked Kuai Sheng.

"Because we have heaters, space cotton, wool socks, and down jackets!" Wei Cong muttered inwardly, but then added, "Gong Cao, you don't know. Although Jizhou is colder than Jingzhou, it's much drier. The cold in Jingzhou is a damp chill that penetrates the bone marrow, making it even more unbearable than the dry cold in Jizhou!"

"Is there such a thing? I didn't know that!" Kuai Sheng was stunned. He glanced at Wei Cong doubtfully and said with a smile, "You and I are colleagues, so there's no need to be so distant. How about calling each other by our courtesy names?"

Faced with the other party's obvious overtures, Wei Cong did not dare to neglect them. He bowed and said, "Then I have overstepped my bounds!"

"Meng De, there's no need to be so reserved!" Kuai Sheng said with a smile, "I heard that you took over Zhang Bolu's family business. I guess you're going to put down roots in Jiangling and live here forever. We'll have a lot of time to interact in the future!"

"Brother Anping is the respected one in the county. Please take good care of me while I'm here!" Facing the real boss of the county, Wei Cong hurriedly lowered his posture.

"I just said, Meng De, there's no need to be so reserved. This is becoming awkward!" Kuai Sheng smiled and said, "I know some people are reluctant to see you settle in Nanjun, but not me! Do you know why?" Without waiting for Wei Cong to answer, he continued, "Because these are extraordinary times. It takes an extraordinary person like Meng De to accomplish extraordinary things!"

"This..." Wei Cong carefully looked at Kuai Sheng's face, but found nothing: "Brother Anping, are you overestimating me?"

"Absolutely not!" Kuai Sheng laughed and said, "How could the person Deng Zhong of Nanyang has chosen be any bad? It's not just Deng Zhong who wants to stretch his feet south, it's me too!"

Boom boom boom!
Wei Cong was about to say something when he heard the deep and slow beats of drums. He just showed a look of surprise when he heard Kuai Sheng say, "It should be Feng's cavalry arriving, be careful!" Wei Cong hurriedly bent his body slightly and looked at the official road in the distance.

At the forefront of the march were two thousand Qiang infantrymen, known in the Han Dynasty as the "Bandun Man." Because the Qiang were known for their bravery and skill in warfare, as well as their expertise in metalworking and forging, both the Qin and Han dynasties employed a strategy of light taxes and levies (a head tax of only 40 coins, one-third of that of ordinary Han civilians) in exchange for their military loyalty. The Qiang proved their worth on the battlefield, earning them the nickname "divine soldiers" during the Eastern Han Dynasty, alongside the Danyang troops, considered the twin pillars of the infantry.

Almost all of them carried a long shield, large enough to cover their bodies. This must be the origin of their nickname, "Bandun Barbarians." The shields were painted with various patterns. The sharp edges of their weapons winked in their pale eyes. A man with unkempt hair walked at the front of the group, beating a drum larger than himself. "Dong, dong, dong," he beat out a slow, deep rhythm of marching.

"They are indeed strong and capable men selected by Feng Cheqi. The rebellion in southern Jing will not last long!" Kuai Sheng sighed.

Wei Cong narrowed his eyes slightly, carefully observing the infantrymen nearby. Above their heads flew banners depicting a giant snake against a pitch-black background. This must be their totem, consistent with the legend that they were descendants of the ancient Ba State. Wei Cong saw that these men were very different from the Eastern Han army he had seen. The Qiang were not tall, but each one was stocky and had a fierce look. Many had tattoos on their faces and bare arms, and they had thick beards and shoulder-length hair, without a hair bun or crown. Many wore cloaks made from the skins of bears, wolves, or other animals.

"The ones behind should be the Danyang soldiers!" Kuai Sheng sighed, "Most of the troops should still be on the way. Even so, life in Nanjun will not be easy next year!"

"Yes! I hope for a quick victory!" Wei Cong sighed. He understood Kuai Sheng's point. The rebels' main activities were south of the Yangtze River and west of Dongting Lake, and their impact on Nanjun was minimal. However, once Feng Gun's army arrived, Nanjun would inevitably be burdened with the responsibility of supplying them, which would naturally make life difficult.

"I hope so! But at the earliest, it will have to be after spring!" Kuai Sheng's voice abruptly stopped. The banner marking the General of Chariots and Cavalry had already appeared, and the welcoming officials hurriedly straightened their clothes, preparing to welcome the general from the capital.

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"I am Han Chun, the prefect of Nanjun, and I am here to meet Feng Cheqi!" Han Chun moved his fat body with difficulty and bowed to Feng Gun who had just dismounted.

"Excuse me, Prefect Han!" Feng Gun accepted Han Chun's generous gift. He glanced at the officials following Han Chun, but couldn't find the person he was looking for. He frowned and asked, "Where is Wuling Prefect Lu Ju?"

"Prefect Lu has committed suicide!" Han Chun replied, "The body is in the prefect's residence. Feng Cheqi can go and check it out!"

"Committed suicide?" Feng Gun's expression turned grim. "Then why didn't you write that in the letter?"

"Lu Taishou committed suicide after I sent this letter!" Han Chun said, "I assumed the general was already on his way, so I didn't send another letter to explain the matter!"

"Forget it!" Feng Gun sighed in disappointment. He had originally wanted to ask Lu Ju in person about the specifics of the battle in Wuling. Many firsthand information was best obtained from the person involved. He hadn't expected him to actually commit suicide. While he could understand Lu Ju's feelings, the fact that he didn't commit suicide earlier or later, after all the hardships of escaping from Wuling, ended up doing so was truly odd.

"Han Taishou, tell us the story of Lu Ju's suicide in detail and don't miss any details!" Feng Gun said.

As a mere 200-stone official, Wei Cong was still four or five men away from Han Chun, but still close enough to hear what Feng Gun was saying. When he heard Feng Gun ask about Lu Ju, he secretly thought something was amiss. Sure enough, when Feng Gun heard that Lu Ju had been so provoked to death by two lines of poetry, he looked a little strange.

"Who is that person reciting the poem? Tell him to come see me!" "He is an official under me, in charge of the Bandits Division. His name is Wei Cong, also known as Mengde!" Han Chun replied. Then he raised his voice and said, "Mengde, come and meet Feng Cheqi!"

Wei Cong suppressed the urge to curse and hurried to Feng Gun. He bowed and said, "Wei Cong, the thief Cao of Nanjun, greets the general!"

"Get up!" Feng Gun looked at Wei Cong, who was more than half a head taller than him, and a smile appeared on his face. "You are quite impressive. Where are you from?"

"From Yecheng, Hebei!"

"Oh? Not from this county?" Feng Gun looked at Han Chun in surprise. Han Chun smiled and said, "This man was recommended by a good friend, so he was recruited here!"

"Oh!" Feng Gun didn't take it seriously. The Eastern Han Dynasty's prefects had immense power, and while such cases weren't uncommon, they did happen. Wei Cong's appearance alone was remarkable, and with the support of his recommender, it wasn't surprising to see him become a minor official in the county. "What poem did you recite that made Prefect Lu commit suicide?"

"Reporting to the General!" Wei Cong quickly replied, "I was acting on impulse at the time. It was not intentional. Governor Lu was also deeply troubled, and it happened to trigger his own suicide!"

"Alright!" Feng Gun didn't care about Wei Cong's excuses. A mere 200-stone official wasn't worth his time and effort. "Just recite the poem you wrote back then!"

"Yes!" Wei Cong replied, "I said at the time: 'The only difficulty in the world is death, and Madam Xi is not the only one who is sad!'"

"The only difficulty in the history of the world is death. Madam Xi is not the only one who is sad." Feng Kun repeated, the disdain on his face gone, replaced by shock and confusion. After a few minutes, he recovered and cast a completely different look at Wei Cong: "Wei Lang, did you write this poem?"

"It's just a casual feeling from my subordinates!"

"Just a random thought!" Feng Gun sighed, turned around and whispered to the black-clad scholar behind him, "Uncle, what do you think?"

"That should be true!" Ying Feng looked at Wei Cong in surprise and whispered, "If someone else had written such a famous line, it would have spread all over the world long ago. I wouldn't be unaware of it!"

"That couldn't be false!" Feng Gun still had great faith in his friend's memory. It was said that when Ying Feng was twenty years old, he copied a list of criminals from all forty-two counties in the prefecture for the "Jue Cao Shi" (Jue Cao Shi) and headed to Luoyang to submit it to the Xing Cao. Upon returning to the prefecture, the prefect questioned him in detail about the criminals he had sent—thousands and hundreds of them in total. Yet, Ying Feng could accurately recite every name, crime, and severity of the offense, without missing a single thing. If he said he had no recollection of it, then he certainly had never seen it.

"Wei Cong, what is your courtesy name?" Feng Gun asked gently.

"My name is Meng De!" Wei Cong said hurriedly. It was obvious that Feng Gun's introduction to Han Chun just passed by like a passing breeze and he didn't take it to heart at all.

"Meng De! Hmm, good handwriting!" Feng Gun turned his gaze to Han Chun and said, "Grandmaster Han, Meng De is such a talented writer, yet you're sending him off to seek thieves. Isn't that a waste of talent?"

"This..." Han Chun laughed bitterly. "To be honest, when I recruited Meng De as the Bandit Officer, I didn't know he could write poetry. And he was indeed capable of capturing bandits. General, you also pacified the bandits on the Huai River. You must have heard of the name of General Zhang Bolu, the crimson-robed general. It was Meng De who killed him!"

"What? You killed Zhang Bolu?" Feng Gun looked Wei Cong up and down again. The warmth in his words faded away, and he became businesslike. "I didn't expect that. It's getting late. Let's go into the city first!"

"Damn it! Could it be that the man behind Zhang Bolu is this Feng Gun?" Wei Cong thought to himself, then quickly dismissed his assumption. If that were the case, Deng Zhong would have warned him when he learned he'd killed Zhang Bolu. But there must be some connection; otherwise, how could Feng Gun, a dignified General of Chariots and Cavalry, change his ways for a river thief?
Wei Cong cautiously followed Kuai Sheng and welcomed Feng Gun into the city. The rest of the matter was beyond the purview of a mere 200-stone official like him. He returned to his own office, the Bandits' Office, where he watched Wen Sheng train his subordinates while reviewing paperwork and preparing for the upcoming recruitment drive. He had a premonition that the arrival of this General of Chariots and Cavalry would disrupt Jiangling City's brief tranquility, unleashing a turmoil that could lead to disaster if he mishandled the situation.

Luo Hong found Ying Feng in the corridor, where he was talking to a thin, handsome scholar. As they talked, Ying Feng leaned his right hand on the corridor railing, laughing from time to time, looking like they were having a very pleasant conversation.

"Join the army!" Luo Hong bowed slightly: "The general needs you!"

"Yes, I understand!" Ying Feng nodded nonchalantly. He chatted with the scholar for a while longer, and finally said with a smile, "Zi Yan and I haven't seen each other for seven or eight years since we parted in Luoyang. I'd like to have a good chat, but I don't want to be bothered by mundane matters. How about this? I'll come to your house in a couple of days, and we can have a good discussion about Minister Ouyang. How do you think?"

"Feng Cheqi summoned you for something of national or military importance, yet you dare to be so negligent!" Huang Wan laughed and said, "You're really getting mad. Be careful, or he'll punish you for slacking off under military law!"

"Not really, not really!" Ying Feng shook his head. "Zi Yan, remember my words. I'll be here in two days. Prepare some good wine so we can have a good discussion!"

"If you want to come, I'll make sure you're welcome!" Huang Wan smiled, bowed, and turned to leave. After watching the other person disappear through the courtyard gate, Ying Feng turned around, his smile gone: "Come on, take me to see the general!"

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"Have you figured out the matter of Wei Cong killing Zhang Bolu?" Feng Gun asked.

"I just asked Huang Ziyan!" Ying Feng said, "This Wei Cong is quite a character. On his way from Xiangyang to Jiangling, he happened to run into some of Zhang Bolu's men, and a conflict broke out between the two sides. Wei Cong probably didn't know the origins of the people he was fighting with at the time, thinking they were just ordinary thieves and killing them. Among them was Zhang Bolu's cousin. However, when he later learned the origins of the gang of thieves, he immediately found an opportunity to kill Zhang Bolu!"

(End of this chapter)