Chapter Thirty-Nine: Ten Thousand Volumes of Books

"Are we supposed to return these books to Grand Scholar Cai?" Zhao Yun carefully tucked the selected scrolls into the saddlebags on his horse, then asked with a hint of melancholy, gripping a handwritten copy of the History of the Han.

Zhang Fei was stuffing stacks of scrolls and paintings into the saddlebags of his and Guan Yu’s horses with the demeanor of a bandit.

"Don't be ridiculous," Chen Xi rolled his eyes. "You don't say anything, I don't say anything, and who would know? Once Luoyang is set ablaze, the city will be gone, and who would know if the books are gone too? Alright, pack them up. Take whatever catches your eye; these will be our sharpest tools for poaching scholars in the future!"

"This doesn't feel right," Zhao Yun muttered, perhaps feeling that acting like a robber—and a book-thief at that—was going too far. He offered a half-hearted protest, yet his hands moved with relentless speed, gathering every scrap of bamboo slip from the floor until not a single trace remained.

"Why are you being so wishy-washy? If you don't like it, Zilon, give me the books you're holding. I see you’ve tucked away a copy of the *Wei Liaozi*," Zhang Fei said, picking and choosing the scrolls he deemed useful while tossing the rest into a cart they had prepared in advance.

"Alright, alright, Yide, Zilon, enough. Since we've taken them, we've taken them. You must understand that it is actually most consistent with ritual and law for us to be the ones holding them," Chen Xi said, casually rolling up a copy of the History of the Han and tossing it into the cart.

"Uh, Zichuan, what kind of logic is that? And why did you stop calling me 'Second Brother'?" Guan Yu interjected, looking puzzled.

"Calling you 'Second Brother' is a private matter. This is a public matter—or rather, a state matter. Haven't you thought about whose residence this is?" Chen Xi rolled his eyes.

"Grand Scholar Cai's residence. So what? The people have all cleared out. If we don't save these things, they’ll be lost. If we save them and take them, what's wrong with that? It's better for us to take them than for them to be burned in the fire," Zhang Fei said dismissively.

"Sigh, that’s not what I meant. Don't you think there are a lot of books here?" Chen Xi retorted.

"Now that you mention it..." Zhao Yun’s eyes lit up. "So these are all ill-gotten gains! Very well, I shall consider this robbing the rich to help the poor."

"They aren't exactly ill-gotten gains. These books are from the Eastern Pavilion of the Han court. After Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, the great noble clans feared the Xiliang soldiers would do the same as Xiang Yu, so they divided the three hundred thousand scrolls of the Eastern Pavilion among themselves. Grand Scholar Cai was originally compiling the national history at the Eastern Pavilion, so when the books were divided, he took a larger share. He gave ten thousand scrolls to Wang Can, Wang Zhongxuan, and this is all that remains," Chen Xi said with a shrug. "That is why I say it is most compliant with propriety for us to take them back now."

"Ten... ten thousand scrolls?" Guan Yu clearly stammered.

"Yes, ten thousand," Chen Xi said helplessly. "Lord Xuande is a member of the Han imperial clan; it is only right that he recovers these treasures of the Han. I am even thinking of going to Wang Can to reclaim those ten thousand scrolls."

Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun were all cursing internally. They found it difficult to acquire even a single scroll for their own family collections, yet Cai Yong had simply given away ten thousand.

"Zichuan, where is that fellow Wang Can? I shall go and retrieve those ten thousand scrolls. How can the treasures of our Han house fall into the hands of outsiders!" Guan Yu stood up, clutching his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, looking righteous.

"If I could find him, would I have brought you here?" Chen Xi rolled his eyes. His own family was a branch of the Chen clan, and while his forebears had once been prosperous, their home library consisted of only one shelf—a hundred or so scrolls, totaling no more than a dozen books. To have ten thousand scrolls would be enough to anchor a family’s status and allow one to call themselves a house of learning without anyone being able to say a word.

In this era, the noble clans held a monopoly on knowledge. As the primary medium for knowledge, books were possessed only by the wealthy and powerful. For a common family, owning one or two scrolls was enough to make them heirlooms passed down through generations.

This is also why great Confucian scholars were so deeply revered; they were willing to share their knowledge rather than hoard it like a precious broom. Although they only took in three or five inner-chamber disciples and a crowd of auditors, they undoubtedly imparted knowledge that, while limited, was enough to change lives.

Seeing the three men with bloodshot eyes and indignant faces, Chen Xi could only offer slow comfort. Three hundred thousand scrolls—the entire collection of the four-hundred-year Han dynasty, excluding what Wang Mang had destroyed—had all ended up in the pockets of the noble clans. What could one call that?

"It's fine. I will find a way to recover those scrolls in the future," Chen Xi said, soothing their gnashing teeth.

"Zichuan, there is no need for that. For the great clans, life is secondary; family heritage is paramount. And at the heart of that heritage are land and family learning. The scrolls they have taken will never be returned," Zhao Yun said, shaking his head to indicate that Chen Xi didn't need to console them.

"Aren't these what we have here?" Chen Xi shook the scrolls in his hand. "This sort of thing is relatively simple. You will see in the future that they will return them, provided they aren't fools! Pack up. We will reunite with Lord Xuande. The anti-Dong alliance is coming to an end, and we must go to collect our assets."

***

When Chen Xi returned with Guan, Zhang, and Zhao, Hua Xiong was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the tent. Seeing Chen Xi enter, he stood up stiffly. "Zichuan, has the Chancellor left?"

"He has. We intend to pursue and strike him," Chen Xi said, looking at the somber Hua Xiong. "Will you come? You will encounter Lu Bu."

"I do not wish to go. As we agreed, I, Hua Xiong, have defected to Lord Xuande; there is no dispute there. As for Chancellor Dong, I do not wish to face him," Hua Xiong sighed. He wasn't entirely devastated by Dong Zhuo's actions—he might have been in the past, but now he had a new choice. He only hoped he hadn't misjudged this time.

"You won't encounter Dong Zhuo. I only need your help to retrieve what belongs to us as spoils of war. You wouldn't want the elite Xiliang cavalry to be ground into dust, would you?" Chen Xi explained with a smile. Hua Xiong was a critical figure, the greatest general of Xiliang before Lu Bu, and held great prestige among the troops.

"Very well!" Hua Xiong hesitated before agreeing.

Leading the four fierce generals, Chen Xi found Liu Bei. "Lord Xuande, did Lord Cao invite you to pursue Dong Zhuo earlier?"

"He did, but I refused. I trust that Zichuan has his own arrangements. Zijian, since you have joined me, I shall not treat you poorly. For now, take your orders from Zichuan." Liu Bei seemed quite familiar with Hua Xiong; he didn't engage in grand displays of winning hearts, simply placing him under Chen Xi's command.

"Understood!" Hua Xiong cupped his hands and stood behind Chen Xi, looking every bit the bodyguard.

"This..." Chen Xi had initially wanted to decline, but then recalled his own past attempts to slip away. He guessed that Liu Bei thought he was planning to leave, so he sighed inwardly and accepted the arrangement. *Even with the thought that I might leave, he has no intent to kill me, using our shared bond to keep me. Rest assured, I will not leave unless it is absolutely unavoidable.*