Taiheiki

Chapter 7 Li Gui
The donkey cart was stopped. Wang Shou exchanged a few words with the cart's owner, then beckoned Wei Cong to get on board. Wei Cong climbed aboard and sat cross-legged on a pile of straw. He noticed the cart's wheels were solid—there were no spokes at all. He couldn't help but feel secretly excited—this was a good technical improvement, and he had to make a note of it.

The donkey cart had limited space, so Wang Shou and the other two could only follow on foot. They puffed out their chests, their spears resting on their shoulders, like two guards. A gentle breeze blew in, bringing with it the aroma of ripening wheat. Wei Cong yawned, feeling a little sleepy again. Aside from the jolting jolting of the donkey cart beneath him, everything seemed fine. How could the carriage be dampened? Springs or belts? Wei Cong began to search his mind for an answer. As he pondered, he suddenly heard the donkey driver ahead of him sing, "Sowing wheat in high fields will never produce ears of wheat. A man in a foreign land, how can he not grow haggard!"

Wei Cong couldn't understand what the driver was singing, but the high, lingering melody had a unique charm. He was just wondering how he could quickly learn to speak and understand, to overcome the language barrier, when four or five men burst out from the bushes on either side of the road, armed with bamboo spears and short knives. Before Wei Cong could comprehend what was happening, something hard pressed against his waist. A thought flashed through his mind—he'd been robbed again!
"Who are you? The person sitting in the carriage is a guest of Cai family in Jingzhou! Let him go!" Wang Shou reacted the fastest. He and Wang Ge stood back to back with spears to stop the thieves around them, and shouted to the people in the carriage.

"What a bullshit Jingzhou Cai family!" The driver pressed a dagger against Cai Cong's waist, forcing him to jump out of the car. He said with a smile, "Have you ever heard of the name of General Jiangyi? Put down your weapons and hand over your property, and I will spare your life!"

"General in crimson robes? Oh no, it's Zhang Bolu! We're doomed if we meet this guy!" Wang Shou was shocked when he heard this. It turned out that Zhang Bolu was originally from Jiangling. He was brave and fierce since he was young. He took the bad boys from his hometown to rob property and ships. He liked to wear a red turban and a crimson robe. He called himself General in crimson robes. He had four or five hundred people under his command, all of whom were frivolous and desperate boys. The officials of the neighboring counties could not do anything to him, and even sent people to give him gifts to make friends with him to avoid being robbed by him.

However, Zhang Bolu was known for his extravagant lifestyle and his emphasis on ostentation. He would travel by land with chariots and horses, and by sea with canoes as escorts. Even his attendants wore brocade robes. These robbers, dressed in ragged linen clothes and armed only with bamboo spears and short knives, were clearly ordinary petty thieves, not at all like the men of the renowned Jiangyi General. Seeing this, Wang Shou became suspicious.

"Don't let them put down their weapons, or I will kill you!" The driver shouted at Wei Cong when he saw that Wang Shou and Wang Ge refused to put down their weapons. Wei Cong guessed that the other party wanted to use him to force the two soldiers to do something. He gritted his teeth, hooked his foot, and took his backpack off the donkey cart.

The backpack that fell to the ground immediately attracted everyone's attention. Wang Shou suddenly had an idea and shouted, "General Zhang, you are just looking for money. This bag belongs to this young man. It contains countless rare treasures. Why don't you take the bag and leave? It will be better for everyone!"

The driver looked at the bag on the ground and wanted to bend down to pick it up, but was afraid that Wei Cong would take advantage of him, so he kicked Wei Cong and pointed at the bag. Wei Cong bent down, opened the bag, and took out a small round mirror from it. He opened it and took a look, which immediately attracted the driver's attention.

"This, this, is it a crystal mirror?"

Wei Cong ignored him, handed the mirror to the man, and then pulled out another object. He pulled out four or five more objects in this way. No one had ever seen or even imagined such wonderful things existed in the world. At this time, Wei Cong took out a black stick from his backpack and handed it to the driver. The driver subconsciously reached out to take it, but as soon as his hand touched the stick, he felt a violent electric shock. His whole body trembled violently, he lost control of his bladder, his hair swelled up, and he fell to the ground.

"Thunder, thunder and lightning! God, god!" Wang Shou stood close and saw clearly that the driver had just been struck by lightning. He had never thought that this man of unknown origin, Wei Langjun, could actually control thunder and lightning. He must be a living god. Thinking of this, his knees softened and he knelt down subconsciously. Wang Ge quickly followed suit.

Wei Cong swept his gaze over the thieves around him, his expression intentionally cold and emotionless. Clearly, the electric shock had left a deep impression on these thieves, and he decided to strike while the iron was hot. He raised the electric baton above his head, allowing everyone to see the end clearly. Then he pressed a button. Light blue sparks danced at the end of the baton, making a slight crackling sound, unleashing an unknown, mysterious power that instantly crushed the thieves' last will to resist.

"Please, God, spare my life!"

"I have been blinded by my ignorance, please spare my life!"

The thieves dropped their knives and bamboo spears, knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly. Wei Cong put away his electric baton and gestured to Wang Shou, who quickly stood up, found a rope on the donkey cart, and tied the thieves and the driver together. He tied them to the shaft of the donkey cart, puffed out his chest, and walked triumphantly towards Cai Buyi's villa.

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Cai Buyi's other business.

"What? Lord Wei is a living immortal?" Cai Buyi stopped as he was about to put his foot into the bucket.

"That's right!" Wang Shou's face was full of satisfaction, and he was very proud of his discovery. He had already listed himself as Wei Cong's chief follower, and felt quite proud of it. He recounted the incident of encountering thieves on the way and how Wei Cong used thunder magic to capture and subdue them. Finally, he said, "Those thieves came out to rob and hit a wall. What bad luck!"

"Is it really General Zhang Bolu?"

"How could it be!" Wang Shou laughed. "He was an imposter. He was originally from Xixiang Village, named Zhang Yuan. He wanted to use Zhang Bolu's reputation to rob people. I was surprised at the time. Why were Zhang Bolu's men so shabby? They only had bamboo spears and short swords!"

"So that's how it is!" Cai Buyi breathed a sigh of relief and said with a wry smile, "This world is really getting worse and worse. In broad daylight, a few petty thieves blocked the road and robbed the guests escorted by the county soldiers!"

"Who says it's not?" Wang Shou sighed, "Then what should we do with these little thieves?"

"The wheat harvest is coming soon, and I don't have enough manpower at home. I asked them to harvest the wheat in my field first and then send it to the county government office!" "Yes!" Wang Shou replied. He hesitated for a moment and asked, "You Jiao, you just came back from the county government office. Do you know how the county magistrate dealt with Zhao Yannian?"

"You're asking about the reward, right?" Cai Buyi laughed and shook his head. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the county magistrate has already pardoned Zhao Yannian!"

"What? Pardon Zhao Yannian!" Wang Shou was shocked. "How is that possible? He wiped out the entire Cao family! At least twenty lives were lost. Even if Zhao Yannian only had ten lives, that's all he would have lost!"

"You don't know, the new county magistrate is a disciple of Ma Rong (a famous Confucian scholar in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, whose students included Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan), and he uses the Spring and Autumn Annals to decide cases!" Cai Buyi sighed. "Zhao Yannian owed money to Cao Wujiuzi, and when he couldn't pay, Cao Wujiu occupied his parents' grave and even leveled the grave. The county magistrate, following the Spring and Autumn Annals' principle that a son must avenge his parents' humiliation, pardoned Zhao Yannian's death sentence, gave him a few words of advice, and then let him go!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Shou was stunned and speechless. The so-called "Spring and Autumn Judgment," also known as "Quoting Scriptures to Decide Cases" or "Judgment Based on Scriptures," refers to the judicial practice of Confucian scholars during the Han Dynasty, who, while setting aside national laws, cited Confucian classics such as the "Spring and Autumn Annals" as the basis for adjudicating cases. After Emperor Wu of Han, Confucianism gradually became an official discipline, and Confucian scholars often used their positions as judges to directly participate in case trials or discussions.

In the process of participating in case trials, Confucianized judicial officials, faced with the Han laws formulated in the early Han Dynasty that embodied the spirit of Legalism, and unable to promptly amend the criminal laws or distort the criminal laws, adopted the approach of directly quoting Confucian classics as the basis for case trials, thereby achieving a Confucianized transformation of judicial activities.

Take the case of Zhao Yannian, for example. It applies to the Confucian principle of original intention, which states that whether an offender has committed a crime and should be punished is determined based on the goodness or evil of their subjective motives. "Thus, the Spring and Autumn Annals, in administering justice, judged the crime based on the heart. Those with good intentions but violating the law were pardoned, while those with evil intentions but within the law were punished." Although Zhao Yannian murdered Cao Wujiu's entire family, his motive was revenge for the humiliation suffered by his parents. This is the essence of filial piety, and he should not only be exempted from punishment but also be commended.

Looking at Wang Shou's disappointed back, Cai Buyi curled his lips. In fact, the truth of this matter was not just that. The county magistrate's pardon of Zhao Yannian based on the Spring and Autumn Annals was just a superficial reason. The real reason was not here. Cao Wujiu, the money lender, had formed a clan with Cao Jixing, the Grand Chamberlain in the palace, a few years ago. Every year, he would transport large sums of money to Luoyang. He was considered the eunuch's local cronies. This county magistrate should be a member of the party. Perhaps he pardoned Zhao Yannian to use him to crack down on the eunuchs' cronies. As a small patrolman, there was no need for him to get involved in such a vortex. Otherwise, he would be swallowed up at any moment.

Cai Buyi suddenly felt the water in the wooden barrel getting a little cold. He winked at the maidservant waiting by the door, who then filled it with hot water. Cai Buyi closed his eyes in contentment, enjoying the feeling of his feet being enveloped in the warm water. Now it seemed that his earlier assumptions about the identity of this Lord Wei had been somewhat reckless.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, people had a unified name for those who possessed supernatural powers - alchemists. Of course, this does not mean that a student cannot also be an alchemist. In fact, among the scholar-officials at that time, there were many who spent a lot of their spare time on astrology, prophecies, alchemy, taking medicine to seek immortality, and practicing the art of sex.

But this was no longer the era of the Huang-Lao school of thought. Ever since Emperor Xiaowu abolished all schools of thought and promoted Confucianism, Confucianism had become the dominant school of thought among the upper classes of Eastern Han society. These alchemists, once active in the upper classes, were gradually marginalized and mystified. Many of them moved down to the lower classes, where they combined with existing folk traditions like witchcraft to form a new religion: Taoism. This religion flourished particularly in southern regions like Shuzhong, Jianghuai, Wuyue, and Jingchu.

This kind of religion inevitably combined with the resistance movement of the lower classes, becoming a powerful ideological weapon. This peasant uprising with a religious background was called a demon by the ruling class of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and these religious figures were undoubtedly potential dangerous elements in the eyes of Cai Buzhi.

"Is he a demon or a student? It's hard to tell!" Cai Buyi muttered to himself, "Forget it, let's just listen to his words and watch his actions. Let's wait and see what happens!"

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"Wang Shou, do you think the car is much more comfortable after this modification?" Wei Cong asked with a smile. Wearing a sleeveless blue cloth shirt and a scarf on his head, he looked no different from most civilians at that time, at least on the surface, except that he was very tall and had fair and smooth skin.

"It is much more comfortable! At least my butt doesn't shake as much, but it shakes more violently now. I will feel dizzy if I sit for a long time. I would rather walk!" Wang Shou answered with a smile.

"An ignorant bumpkin!" Wei Cong complained helplessly. During the one month he stayed at Cai Buyi's villa, in addition to seizing the time to learn language and writing, he spent his time on improving the carriage. After discovering that new wheels had already been available at that time, Wei Cong further improved the four-wheeled carriage at that time, especially the suspension system. He changed the original rigid connection of the carriage to a leather rope hanging on the support rod of the frame, so that the longitudinal ups and downs of the carriage during driving would be converted into lateral shaking, which would not only make the passengers' buttocks more comfortable, but also improve the safety of the vehicle.

Wang Shou, oblivious to Wei Cong's discontent, beamed, looking out from the roadside at the wheat fields, where heavy ears of wheat swayed in the wind. From time to time, he could see peasant women walking along the roadside, bringing food to the men working in the fields. Whenever he saw these women, Wang Shou would cheerfully break into some vulgar folk song, drawing a good deal of scolding.

"Old Wang, considering your age, you must have a wife at home, right?" Wei Cong asked with a frown.

"Yes, they already have three!" Wang Shou answered nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on a young woman tidying her clothes on the side of the road. "The eldest one will have to pay his tax next year, and it gives me a headache just thinking about it!"

"It's considered a tax?" Wei Cong was stunned when he heard this. He then remembered that this should mean a poll tax and asked carefully, "Is this a lot of tax?"

"Is it a lot?" Wang Shou turned around and said with a wry smile, "My dear, you are a noble, how would you know this? Every half-grown child, regardless of gender, who turns fifteen has to pay the government 120 coins, which is equivalent to one dou and two dou of rice. There are also labor service, military service, and land rent. Even younger children can only eat and cannot work, and they still have to pay a head tax. Do you think it's too much?"

(End of this chapter)