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

Chapter 84 He's a Thief
one year later.

In the early part of the fourth year of Guanghe (181 AD), at Xihe Pavilion.

This is the new name for the river bend.

Before Liu Wei was transferred last year, he registered all the unclaimed land along the Juma River within the Zhuojun area as Liu Bei's land.

And it only used the name Xiheting to encompass the entire land.

In fact, that area is larger than Zhuoxian County.

Subsequently, Liu Wei removed Xiheting from the official documents of Zhuojun, citing the fact that part of Xiheting was located in Shanggu and had "fallen into the land of the Hu people".

This is a common tactic used by many powerful clans to acquire land, and Liu Wei was using this to make things easier for Liu Bei.

If you only look at the county documents, there is only one pavilion in that place, and its ownership is very unclear.

The pavilion was built in Zhuojun, and later it was incorporated into Shanggujun. However, there is no record of this pavilion in the Shanggu documents. Moreover, that area was not under the jurisdiction of any county, and the nearest county was Guangchang County of Daijun—no one could govern it, and no one would govern it.

A total of 120 households were registered in the pavilion, which is the number of households a pavilion should have. It was Liu Bei who registered the people of Taihang Mountain.

However... these 120 households actually have a population of 30,000, which is about the same as the population of small counties like Anxi.

The vast majority of people are elderly, women, and children, so the number of registered households is naturally small.

Zuo Zi's parents, wife, and children were also at Xihe Pavilion. In fact, many leaders in the Taihang Mountains had sent their parents, wives, and children there. They were all notorious thieves registered with the imperial court, and none of them wanted their children to become thieves in the future.

A large amount of fertile land has been reclaimed in Tingli. The land here is fertile and water is plentiful. There have been no natural disasters or man-made calamities this year, so the harvest is very good.

There are no government offices in Xiheting, but the security is excellent, with no petty theft.

After all, every household here is a Taihang bandit, every family has a wanted criminal, and everyone has rich experience in committing crimes... Outsiders rarely appear in Xiheting. Once they do, every family will keep an eye on them, and the news will spread faster than the army, making it really impossible to commit crimes.

Sometimes the world is strange—Xiheting is arguably the most densely populated area of ​​bandits in the entire Han Dynasty, yet its public security is better than that of Luoyang.

Perhaps there are more thieves in Luoyang...

The only person who dared to commit crimes in Xiheting was Liu Xuande. He could even collect protection money in this place that could be called a valley of villains.

Collect 20% of the grain... or you could call it a grain tax.

The person in charge of collecting protection fees was Zhangba, who was also the head of Xihe Pavilion.

Zhangba was honest and simple-minded, illiterate and unable to count, so in theory he was not suitable for a job that required arithmetic.

But the people inside the pavilion would bring the food over to Liu Bei's thatched cottage.

Moreover, Liu Bei didn't verify anything at all; he accepted whatever was sent and that was it.

No one would shortchange anyone; otherwise, the people from the Taihang Mountains would be the ones most worried.

Trust is sometimes built up gradually in this way, not because of character, but because it has to be this way.

In fact, Liu Bei's "thatched cottage" was not a thatched hut, but a large estate.

The manor has many warehouses and a large horse farm—which stores a lot of grain and hay, so it really is a thatched cottage.

This is also the only place in the entire Xihe Pavilion where outsiders can enter and exit, because many people usually come to Liu Bei to solve problems.

For example, people looking for jobs or seeking advice from Liu Bei.

Those looking for food wouldn't come here; Shili Pavilion was specifically responsible for providing meals. Liu Bei gave Shili Pavilion back to Taiping Dao, along with the two thousand acres of land, as a way of providing land for the people of Taiping Dao to distribute porridge and medicine there, which could also be considered an act of charity.

Right now, someone is asking Liu Bei for advice.

"Lord Xuande, when shall we head south to trade horses? The horse farm already has hundreds of fine horses, incurring huge daily expenses, and the farm is already overflowing..."

Su Shuang seemed rather impatient: "The Emperor has issued an edict to collect fine horses from various prefectures and has also appointed a stable manager for Luji. At this time, horses in Luoyang are expensive, costing 200,000 each. It's the perfect time to sell them to those high-ranking officials and nobles!"

"Don't rush, wait a little longer... The Emperor just issued the decree, it's not time yet." Liu Bei seemed quite calm: "I still need to continue collecting horses, and if your horse farms aren't enough, continue building more."

"But if we miss this period, we might miss out on the high prices—two hundred thousand a horse!"

Su Shuang shook her head and clicked her tongue, saying, "The Emperor's conscription order has really ruined those nobles in the South..."

"It's not a high price now... Wait a few more days and you'll see what a high price really is; two million won't be unusual."

Liu Bei thought for a moment, then found a bamboo slip and wrote a letter: "Could you send a letter to Xianhe and ask him to go to Luoyang with Qianzi Jing? Xianhe will go to find a buyer. Just wait for my news at the horse farm."

"Isn't 200,000 a high price? How could it be 2 million..."

Su Shuang didn't quite understand, but she still obeyed Liu Bei's wishes, because Liu Bei had acquired all the horses and paid for most of the costs.

The horse farm at Liu Bei's thatched cottage in Xihe Pavilion was used to collect horses and raise military horses.

Su Shuang's horse farm near the Juma River military camp was for selling horses—horses that Liu Bei didn't like or didn't need would be sent to Su Shuang.

"The emperor has issued an edict to requisition horses... Do you really think the various prefectures will follow the emperor's orders?"

Liu Bei shook his head slightly: "The imperial court taxes grain at one-thirtieth of the harvest, but in reality, which place would only collect one-thirtieth of the harvest?"

……

A few days later, Luoyang.

This was Jian Yong's first time here, but Qian Zhao was already quite familiar with the place.

Qian Zhao was actually in Luoyang to report on his duties. He was Zou Jing's subordinate and was there to report to the imperial court on Zou Jing's behalf.

Jian Yong was there to do business.

In fact, Jian Yong didn't quite understand why Liu Bei wanted him to do business with that advisor named Cao Mengde.

Jian Yong knew that Liu Bei had been pursued by Cao Mengde—Liu Bei had told him about robbing the Li family of Lihu.

Logically, Liu Bei should have avoided Cao Mengde in this situation, but he actually went to him, which seems to be somewhat like walking into a trap.

Moreover, Liu Bei also had Jian Yong bring over a very beautiful warhorse.

This horse is named Jueying, a name given by Liu Bei, because it is extremely fast. This is not the black horse that Liu Bei gave to Zhang Fei, but rather the one that Liu Bei bought from the Wuhuan people of Shanggu. He spent ten bolts of cloth, fifty bushels of millet, and two sacks of good salt.

Cao Cao's position as a Consultant didn't actually involve any specific work. When he wasn't assigned any specific duties, he was essentially a remonstrating official, only needing to serve as an advisor and offer suggestions at court meetings, which was a relatively leisurely job.

Qian Zhao and Jian Yong easily found Cao Cao—they found him in the music hall.

This is what Liu Bei told Jian Yong: either in the music hall or in the official residence; Cao Cao is quite famous and easy to find.

“Jian Xianhe from Zhuojun has come to deliver a letter on behalf of my brother Liu Xuande, and also has gifts to present to Lord Cao.”

When Jian Yong met Cao Cao, Cao Cao was drinking with women... or rather, drinking alone. The female entertainer accompanying him was wearing a pair of straw sandals with a strong Zhuoxian flavor, and Jian Yong couldn't help but glance at her a few more times.

"Liu Xuande?...Who is Liu Xuande?"

Cao Cao frowned, took Liu Bei's letter, and after only a couple of glances, his eyes widened: "Big-eared scoundrel! This bastard actually dares to come looking for you!"

Jian Yong wiped his face, thinking that his elder brother was probably in trouble, and quickly pointed to the outside of the music hall: "Lord Cao, look at that horse outside! My brother said he would give it to you..."

The beautiful female musician beside him quickly handed Cao Cao a cup of wine: "Why is Mengde so angry? You big-eared scoundrel... could you be Liu Lang?"

"You're still thinking about him?"

Cao Cao seemed even more enraged: "He's a thief!"

(End of this chapter)