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

Chapter 24 Zhongshan Rebellion

"You'll have to ask my elder brother about this. I really don't know where this horse came from. It could be from a Hu person, the Zhang family of Yuyang, or various gentry families in Zhuojun... There are many sources for these horses, and it's hard to tell."

Jian Yong truly did not know the origin of this jade bow, because when he went to Shili Pavilion, the eighty horses were already mixed together.

"I must first go and ask Brother Xuande! This horse must have come from the thief who killed my father, and I need to know who that person is!"

Qian Zhao seemed a little agitated, which is normal; anyone would react the same way if such a misfortune befell their family.

"But my elder brother is on his way to Luoyang right now, and I don't know where he is... Those who know about these Malay people are all with my elder brother."

Jian Yong shrugged: "Besides, I don't think they might be able to tell the difference."

"Brother Xuande has gone to Luoyang?"

Qian Zhao frowned as he stroked the horse named Yu Gong, then suddenly jumped on and mounted it: "I'm going to Luoyang to find Brother Xuande... My father is in poor health, so I beg Xianhe to take care of him. I must make my father watch his enemy die before his eyes!"

"Hey, Zijing, the saddle! Put the saddle on!"

When Jian Yong heard Qian Zhao say this, he did not object, but simply gave his saddle to Qian Zhao.

Because he had already seen Qian Zhao's father.

At this moment, Qian's father was sitting at the door, trying to stand up while gripping the door frame with one hand, but he couldn't—his leg was crippled, and he was missing an arm.

The man, who was only in his forties, looked like he was in his seventies. His eyes were fixed on the horse named Yu Gong beneath Qian Zhao, but he couldn't say a word and was just trembling all over.

Jian Yong realized that Qian Zhao's father might not live much longer.

Qian Zhao definitely wanted to find his enemy before his father died, so that his father could witness the avenging of his great grudge.

"Brother Zijing, are you going to find your enemies? Take Fei with you! Fei can also lend you a hand!"

Zhang Fei suddenly darted out from behind his father, carrying a bloodstained kitchen knife and with chicken feathers smeared on his face.

He was cooking for Qianzhao's father when he heard the commotion outside.

In fact, after Zhang Fei arrived in Anping, he was not able to become a disciple of Yueyin.

It wasn't for any other reason than that he told Le Yin the truth: he had injured Zou Dan over a mere disagreement and then escaped from prison.

Le Yin didn't like people who used violence to break the law, so he didn't take Zhang Fei as his disciple. But it was understandable for a young man to make mistakes, so Le Yin had Zhang Fei study with Qian Zhao to prevent him from getting into fights again out of boredom.

At the same time, Yue Yin was also helping Qian Zhao in this way, since Zhang Fei was now a strong laborer and could help with some work at Qian Zhao's house.

Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to deliver a lot of money to Qian Zhao, but Qian Zhao refused to accept it. So, during this period, Zhang Fei took care of all the food for Qian Zhao's family—staying at Qian Zhao's house and buying ingredients to feed them every day as payment for rent. This made it difficult for Qian Zhao to refuse.

Zhang Fei's family owned restaurants and taverns, and through his upbringing, he became quite skilled at cooking. In those days, the saying "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen" hadn't been taken out of context, and scholars weren't ashamed of cooking; on the contrary, they advocated for food that was both exquisite and meticulously prepared.

"Sigh... Go, go, all of you go! I have duties to perform, I can't join in this fun, I'll take care of your uncle..."

Jian Yong shook his head, tossed his horse reins to Zhang Fei, and took the cleaver from Zhang Fei's hand.

He was a county official, and he had a job, so he couldn't travel around. He had asked for leave to come to Anping this time under the pretext of visiting his teacher.

……

Liu Bei had not yet arrived in Luoyang at this time.

His and Gongsun Zan's route was south along the Qin Chi Road, taking the main roads.

However, Gongsun Zan brought many carts loaded with hay and horse feed, as well as several young girls, which severely hampered their journey and made them travel very slowly.

When passing through the State of Zhongshan, Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan were very cautious because they had seen many refugees along the way.

Zhongshan is the ancestral home of Liu Bei's family, the settlement of the descendants of Prince Jing of Zhongshan, and was originally a very prosperous place.

At this time, the State of Zhongshan looked very chaotic, as if it had just suffered a major disaster and then fought a major war. There were ragged refugees everywhere, supporting the old and leading the young, walking timidly along the official road in groups.

It seems that most of them are heading north, that is, towards Zhuojun.

Upon seeing Gongsun Zan's entourage, the refugees stepped aside, but kept pointing and whispering at the cavalry, their eyes filled with hatred.

Liu Bei was somewhat puzzled. There had been no major natural disasters this year, and Zhongshan was not expected to be plagued by barbarian disturbances. How could this be?

So he sent Jiu Chi and the others forward to ask.

Only after asking did I learn that the Zhongshan Kingdom was conscripting horses, saying that it would collect horses as tax.

Gongsun Zan's army had many horses, leading these refugees to believe that Gongsun Zan and his men had come to collect horses.

The Xianbei invaded every year, and the imperial court did indeed collect tribute of horses. According to regulations, based on the population of each prefecture, tribute could be collected in the form of one horse per thousand households.

However, this was not a tax, but a tribute. It was to inform the prefects or prime ministers of the various prefectures that they could present horses to the court according to this standard, which was a policy to encourage military buildup.

Moreover, presenting horses was not a mandatory task, since the imperial court knew that most places did not produce horses. This was an additional tribute, just like the tribute of rare plants, flowers, birds, fish and insects from local areas.

Just like Gongsun Zan presenting a white horse, this is something that can be recorded as merit.

However, according to the refugees, the officials in Zhongshan had ordered each post to have ten households of horsemen, saying that each household had to hand over a horse.

If they failed to deliver the horse and complete the service, their entire family would be punished and enslaved.

Each pavilion usually only has about a hundred households, which means that every ten households have to pay one horse!

Few could afford such a tax, and ordinary families simply didn't have horses to levy. Those selected as laborers were almost certain to be punished...

Therefore, most of the families who were assigned to work as horse handlers became refugees, which led to the current situation.

"This excessive collection of taxes, exceeding the limits set by the imperial court by a hundredfold, is simply too much."

Liu Bei was not surprised by this; such situations were quite normal these days, but the Zhongshan side had gone too far.

"Ha, this isn't for taxation... it's for land seizure."

Gongsun Zan shook his head, a hint of disdain on his face: "It's just that the methods were indeed too despicable."

"To occupy land..."

Liu Bei frowned, then immediately understood: "Is this to force these middle-class households who have been conscripted into horse service to flee their homes and abandon their land? But aren't you afraid of inciting a peasant uprising by doing this?"

"Zhongshan probably didn't actually levy a horse tax. He just selected ten households in each post and spread the word about levying a horse tax, scaring some of the households into abandoning their land and becoming refugees. Once one or two households fled, everyone would follow. This created a lot of unclaimed land, which was also good farmland... This unclaimed land would be sold off, and the money from the sale was the real tax."

Gongsun Zan glanced at the refugees by the roadside and shook his head: "These laborers who can be scared away must all be cowards, and naturally they wouldn't dare to riot..."

"That's hard to say... If a powerful clan takes the opportunity to cause trouble, even the most timid person will riot if they can't survive."

Liu Bei shook his head. This was probably the case in all the counties of the Han Dynasty. In comparison, Zhuo County was relatively stable, at least it hadn't been dealt with so harshly.

"A powerful clan causing trouble?"

Gongsun Zan glanced at Liu Bei and smiled sarcastically: "Your Liu family of Zhongshan is the most powerful clan in this Zhongshan Kingdom... I foresee that the Liu family will take this opportunity to seize land. If a peasant uprising really breaks out, ha..."

(End of this chapter)