Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 21 The Uegaya Rebellion
While Liu Bei was waiting for Gongsun's retainers to brand the horses, Jian Yong handed Zhang Shiping and others over to Zou Dan, who had just recovered from his injuries.

Zou Dan's face is still somewhat deformed, suggesting that her nose was completely broken before.

Jian Yong was the thief officer, responsible for maintaining order and apprehending thieves, so the horse thieves naturally had to be led by Jian Yong.

Since the thief magistrate had arrested someone, it was natural for Zou Dan, the clerk in charge, to handle the criminal case; it was all official business.

But Jian Yong told Zou Dan directly that the stolen goods were now in the hands of the Ming court, and that Zou, the clerk, had better deal with the horse thieves as soon as possible...

He also directly stated that the horse thieves claimed to be from the Zhang family of Yuyang and that they were operating as a gang.

Zou Dan ran to the official stables and saw that the stolen goods indeed bore Gongsun's seal...

Having failed to properly address Gongsun Zan's reputation, which led to widespread rumors in the county that "the county magistrate is plundering outside," Zou Dan was naturally worried about what might happen next.

Moreover, he was a retainer of Gongsun Zan and knew that Gongsun Zan was indeed capable of such things...

Therefore, Zou Dan acted swiftly, and with a stroke of his pen, he turned Zhang Shiping's horse theft into an ironclad case, even detailing when and where the crime was committed.

Zhang Shiping didn't even get to see Gongsun Zan before he was immediately labeled a criminal, and the sentence was very harsh—because of the large number of horses he stole, Zou Dan wrote a death sentence for him.

According to Han law, stealing one horse was punishable by corporal punishment; stealing three or fewer horses would result in additional forced labor or exile; and stealing more than three horses would be a capital offense. This judgment was perfectly sound.

Of course, Zou Dan, the clerk, only wrote the verdict; a death sentence required the county magistrate to imprison him and report it to the prefecture before a final judgment could be made.

Therefore, Zhang Shiping was temporarily imprisoned.

Gongsun Zan was overjoyed to have acquired those white horses, but despite Zhang Shiping's repeated cries of innocence in prison and his demand to see the local court, Gongsun Zan completely ignored him.

He never liked the Zhang family of Yuyang, so he was naturally unwilling to see Zhang Shiping and never went to imprison him.

……

After giving the horse to Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei went to the guesthouse.

Zou Jing is resting in the inn. His injuries are not too serious, but there are quite a few. He didn't feel any pain when he was first injured, but once treatment began, it became difficult for him to get up.

Seeing Liu Bei return safely, Zou Jing was very gratified: "Liu Junwei saved my life, I will definitely repay this great kindness! I left in a hurry before and did not ask Liu Lang's name?"

"By Xuande, how is Commander Zou's injury? Is it serious?"

Liu Bei wasn't actually asking about the injuries, but rather whether Zou Jing needed help.

After all, a high-ranking official was almost assassinated, which is a major case of treason, and there must be a lot of things to be done.

"The flesh wounds are nothing to worry about, but it will be difficult to travel these next few days... If Xuande is not afraid of the trouble, could you help me out?"

Zou Jing didn't stand on ceremony; after all, the man had almost been killed, so he didn't have much time for pleasantries.

"Of course I'd be happy to help, but I don't know what happened to the Commander-in-Chief. Could you please tell me the details?"

Liu Bei knew that Zou Jing was fleeing alone, without a single follower by his side, and that he probably couldn't trust anyone but himself.

"This story begins when I took over as Protector of the Wuhuan..."

Two years ago, when Liu Bei had just become a second-hand time traveler.

Emperor Liu Hong, incited by the eunuch Wang Fu, went to war with the Xianbei.

The result was a crushing defeat. Due to heavy losses, most of the Han army died outside the Great Wall, and the former Protector-General of the Wuhuan, Xia Yu, and others were demoted to commoners. Zou Jing succeeded Xia Yu as Protector-General of the Wuhuan after that.

Upon assuming his post, Zou Jing discovered that the battle was somewhat suspicious.

The Wuhuan had been allied with the Han Dynasty for many years and had always been enemies with the Xianbei. Due to the countless deaths and injuries suffered when they followed Xia Yu on his northern expedition, they were constantly being eroded by the Xianbei. Gaoliu City was captured, and most of the Wuhuan tribes retreated to the vicinity of Yuyang, Shanggu and Daijun.

To appease the Wuhuan, Zou Jing stayed in the border region for a long time and often traveled around with minimal entourage.

Some Wuhuan people who participated in the war told Zou Jing that when the Wuhuan cavalry followed the Han army to fight against the Xianbei, they were ambushed everywhere they went, as if the Xianbei were commanding the Han army.

Part of the reason for this was the hasty deployment of troops; the war was launched in a rush and there had been no serious preparations at all.

But the main reason should be that someone colluded with the Xianbei and sold intelligence about the Han army to the Xianbei leader Tanshihuai.

When the Xianbei invaded at the beginning of last year, Zou Jing discovered that the same thing happened when the border troops in Shanggu, Yuyang and other places went out to fight. No matter where the county troops went, the Xianbei seemed to know in advance.

Moreover, in May of last year, the soldiers of Shanggu Commandery reported another Xianbei invasion, along with the news of the death of the Commandant of Shanggu Commandery—the Commandant of the Commandery was the highest military officer in the commandery.

Zou Jing knew that the Hu people usually wouldn't invade at this time, because May was the season when the grass and water were plentiful. The Xianbei invasions always occurred in winter, when the north was covered in snow and survival was difficult. Even if Hu people occasionally entered during the summer, it wouldn't necessarily lead to the death of the captain in battle.

So he took his entourage to Shanggu to investigate, only to find that there was not a single Xianbei in Shanggu County, but there were many county soldiers who were not carrying banners and were looting everywhere.

In other words, someone in Shanggu killed innocent people and took credit for their crimes, and even killed the commander of the prefecture, shifting the blame onto the Xianbei people.

This was a matter within the prefecture. Zou Jing informed Hou Yan, the governor of Shanggu, about it, but not long after, Hou Yan also died suddenly from an illness.

The governor and the commandant of the prefecture died under mysterious circumstances.

So Zou Jing sent a letter to Luoyang, but after writing several reports, they all disappeared without a trace. Whether he sent the letter by official post or by his personal attendants, none of the messengers returned.

Zou Jing knew he was being watched and planned to return to Luoyang on his own, but he was intercepted and killed before he even left Shanggu County.

The man who intercepted him was named Zhang Sheng, who was the military commander when he was a county soldier nine years ago.

Moreover, they used Xianbei people to ambush and kill him, and even threatened to pin the blame for killing innocent people and claiming credit for colluding with the Xianbei on Zou Jing.

Zhang Sheng was merely a military commander in Shanggu County. It's understandable that he colluded with the Xianbei to kill people, but it's definitely not something a military commander could do to frame someone.

“Killing innocent people and claiming credit for them, murdering the prefect and the commandant, intercepting and killing the Wuhuan commander-in-chief—such arrogance… There must be other great evil behind Zhang Sheng, and the mastermind must be a high-ranking official in the court, otherwise it would be impossible for him to arbitrarily frame the commander-in-chief.”

Liu Bei realized that things were getting serious, and he was afraid that his weak arms and legs were not up to the task.

"Yes, Zhang Sheng is definitely not the mastermind; he was just the one who carried out the work."

Zou Jing nodded: "And you, Xuande, you may also be in danger."

"I know... what the warlord needs me to do?"

Liu Bei nodded, knowing that he had been in danger from the moment he rescued Zou Jing.

"I would like to ask Xuande to send a message to Luoyang to report this matter to Yang Fangzheng, the Commandant of the Capital Region, and ask him to thoroughly investigate the real culprit behind it."

Zou Jing frowned and said, "I don't trust the officials in Zhuo County either, so I can only ask Xuande to do the hard work. But if those Xianbei cavalry know that I have entered Zhuo County, then Zhang Sheng will naturally know as well. If this news reaches Luoyang, he will wipe out his entire clan. I think he will fight to the death to intercept and kill me again... If Xuande wants to help me, it will be extremely dangerous."

(End of this chapter)