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

Chapter 7 Seeking a Master and Pursuing Benevolence
To be fair, Yue Yin was indeed a good official.

He was not only kind and honest, but also incorruptible in his official duties, and never engaged in any underhanded dealings.

However, these days, honest and upright officials don't last long.

Because the current emperor is selling official positions.

The current emperor, Liu Hong, is selling official positions with the air of a wealthy merchant. He charges 20 million coins for an official position with a salary of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain), and 6 million coins for an official position with a salary of 600 shi. He is honest with everyone, young and old, and his prices are clearly marked.

Moreover, this money isn't something you pay once and then forget about.

Not only do you have to pay when you take office, but you also have to pay when you are reappointed, transferred, or promoted...

It does resemble the style of some later platforms that charge membership fees.

Zhuo County was the seat of Zhuo Commandery (which had not yet been renamed Fanyang at this time). It was a large county, and the county magistrate was an official with a salary of 600 shi (a unit of grain).

Le Yin has been serving here for two years, which is considered the end of his term. If he wants to continue serving, he needs to pay another six million coins.

If you can't afford to pay, of course you have to replace the person.

Le Yin's departure is a foregone conclusion; the one who will arrive soon is Gongsun Zan, whom his predecessor has turned into an enemy.

That being said, Gongsun Zan might not have wanted to be the county magistrate.

Because this is the seat of a prefecture—being the magistrate of a county attached to the city is no easy job.

In the past two years, Gongsun Zan has served as the Chief Administrator of Liaodong Dependent State, which is the diplomat in charge of affairs of the vassal state in Liaodong Commandery.

The chief clerk was originally a civil official, but when dealing with the Hu people, civil service was of little use. The Hu people preferred to gesture with the size of their fists, so the chief clerk in charge of foreign affairs became a military officer.

Gongsun Zan fought several battles with the Xianbei in Liaodong, beheading dozens of people with his unique double-edged spear, earning him a lot of military merit and making a name for himself, which made the Xianbei dare not enter the pass from Liaodong again.

Not only that, they also trained some cavalry in Liaodong, preparing to cross the border and fight back against the Xianbei.

Logically speaking, such meritorious service, which combines victory and troop training, should be promoted to a border military post, such as Commandant of a Prefecture, or the military supervisor of a vassal state, which is unique to Liaodong.

If all else fails, this merit is more than enough to make him a county lieutenant in a major county in Liaodong. Even if it's half a rank lower, it's still much better than being a county magistrate in a sub-county. At least he'll still have troops under his command.

Gongsun Zan earned his reputation through military prowess, and with the Xianbei invading the border, it was the perfect opportunity for him to continue his achievements and seek a title.

However, Gongsun Zan was transferred to the heart of Youzhou, far from the battlefield, and relocated to Zhuo County as its magistrate.

After all, it's normal for a civil official like the Chief Clerk to be promoted to County Magistrate.

It's obvious that Gongsun Zan was tricked. This was to prevent him from gaining any more military merits, and they probably also planned to take away the soldiers he had trained.

Last year, Gongsun Zan's patron Liu Kuan was dismissed from his position as Grand Commandant due to a solar eclipse and reassigned as Commandant of the Guards, no longer in charge of military affairs.

However, Liu Bei doesn't care whether Gongsun Zan has been tricked or not; what he cares about is how to get Gongsun Zan to reason with him.

After much thought, I realized that if I became the former magistrate's student, the new magistrate would certainly not openly harm me; at most, he would secretly sabotage me—which would fall into the category of reason.

If you want to succeed in the future, you can't stay a gangster forever.

Even gangsters need to be educated, so they need to have a master or mentor.

Of course, the significance of a master-disciple relationship is not for the study of scriptures, but for status and connections.

After all, without a great Confucian scholar as a teacher, others wouldn't consider you a scholar. And these days, if you don't have the status of a scholar, you're not considered a person in many people's eyes.

Having a reliable teacher makes me feel much safer.

It was indeed a great loss that his ex-wife was expelled from the family by Lu Zhi.

Liu Bei planned to make up for the losses.

Although Yue Yin was not well-known in later generations, he was a highly respected Confucian scholar at that time, especially among the gentry north of the Yellow River, almost everyone knew the name of Master Yue of Jizhou.

Because Yueyin has an ancient style.

Regardless of whether the students came from noble families or impoverished backgrounds, Le Yin always accepted only a string of dried meat as tuition.

This is an ancient ritual, not for money or food, but truly for the purpose of teaching knowledge.

There aren't many Confucian scholars who still uphold ancient traditions these days.

Perhaps this is why Yue Yin was not very wealthy. Before Yue Yin left Zhuo County, Liu Bei planned to seek him out as a disciple.

With Jian Yong's introduction, Liu Bei brought a string of cured meat to the inn in Zhuo County and knocked on Yue Yin's door.

"I, Liu Bei, have known Xianhe since childhood. I know that Your Majesty is a benevolent and virtuous elder whose virtue is known throughout the land. I earnestly request Your Majesty to teach me the way of benevolence and virtue."

Liu Bei's speech at this point no longer sounded like that of a modern person.

However, Liu Bei did not mention studying the classics or even getting started; instead, he asked Yue Yin to teach him the way of benevolence.

Le Yin stroked his beard, but hesitated.

In fact, Yue Yin had a rather favorable impression of Liu Bei at this time.

Le Yin is now Jian Yong's teacher. Jian Yong once told him that Liu Bei had committed a crime in Luoyang and was kicked out by Lu Zhi.

Therefore, Yue Yin had no intention of recruiting Liu Bei as an official—of course, even if he had, Liu Bei would not have gone.

However, in Zhuo County, Yue Yin never saw Liu Bei engage in any illegal activities.

On the contrary, Liu Bei always advised the wandering knights to prioritize benevolence and righteousness, and he often led people to help Jian Yong capture bandits or help the neighbors solve their problems.

He didn't even charge money—after Liu Bei became the leader of the wandering knights, he never took money from the neighbors again, but he would still do things for them.

The beacon tower north of Zhuo County was also funded by Liu Bei himself. Yue Yin knew that it was effective in preventing the Xianbei from invading, and could indeed be used as a military facility when necessary.

This makes Liu Bei appear to have the true spirit of a chivalrous hero.

A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold. What young person hasn't made mistakes? As long as they correct them, that's all that matters.

However, Liu Bei was Lu Zhi's abandoned disciple.

The Lu family was a prominent clan in Zhuo County, and Lu Zhi himself had already risen to the position of Minister. It wouldn't be easy to recruit a former disciple of the Lu family...

"I heard from Xianhe that you committed a crime in Luoyang, but I have observed that you are quite virtuous in this county. Why is that?"

Yue Yin didn't mention Lu Zhi, but instead asked about Liu Bei's thoughts.

“In lawless and evil places governed by immoral people, one can only survive by breaking the law. But in good places governed by virtuous people, one can only survive by being virtuous.”

Liu Bei bowed slightly, his posture at the entrance of the inn extremely humble, yet he spoke with extraordinary audacity.

"The capital region is the most virtuous place, yet you describe it as a place of immorality and evil? What makes you say that?"

Le Yin frowned and tugged at his beard, thinking he probably knew why Liu Bei had been punished...

"Guanzhong and Henan are both under the emperor's feet, yet the waterways are never repaired. Even when the Yellow River floods and causes great disasters, the governors and prefects simply pin the blame on the emperor with a few words of so-called 'immorality'... and the emperor actually acquiesced to it. So the capital region and the three surrounding areas are naturally considered to be immoral and evil places."

Liu Bei's answer was reasonable and well-founded.

"...You come here to learn, why do you seek benevolence and virtue instead of the meaning of the classics?"

Le Yin remained silent for a while, then changed the subject.

"I personally witnessed in Luoyang and other places that there was revelry every night in the city, while outside the city there were refugees everywhere, starving corpses filled the river channels, and white bones were exposed in the wilderness."

"The powerful families in the capital only care about profit, disregarding the lives of the people. They would rather watch as corpses starve everywhere than sell a single grain of rice to the common people..."

"At the gates of the Imperial Academy, the nation's classics are being compiled and engraved on stone, yet no relief is provided during this year of great famine. Instead, vast sums of money are spent on the stone tablets, and not a single word of the profound principles is for the benefit of the people..."

"Ming court, if this is the meaning of the classics, then what use are they?"

Liu Bei remained humble, but his words became increasingly sharp: "I seek knowledge not to become an official, but to understand principles. Therefore, I do not seek instruction in the classics, but only in benevolence and virtue."

Liu Bei's words were sincere.

It's true that I didn't want to become an official.

But "to understand reason" means that becoming a disciple of Yue Yin would enable Gongsun Zan to understand reason...

At least they should be able to understand the principles to the point that they don't resort to violence.

(End of this chapter)