Chapter 42: Zhang Erlang’s Scheme

Several days ago.

Li Mou took out fifteen gold coins and handed them to Zhang Erlang, a trace of displeasure in his voice: "Erlang, when you needed to borrow money, why didn't you come to me?"

"You honor me by calling me Uncle Li, which makes you family to me. Whatever difficulties you face, you should discuss them with me and never treat me as an outsider."

"Many thanks, Uncle Li." Zhang Erlang did not decline. Accepting the fifteen gold coins, a wave of emotion stirred in his heart as he expressed his gratitude to Li Mou.

Recently, he had planned to gather some funds from acquaintances to finance a major venture, but the amount he needed was simply too vast. Most of his close acquaintances were as impoverished as he was, and very few could produce such a sum.

After much piecing together from various sources, the total still fell short of his target, even though he had already mortgaged his ancestral home.

He had indeed considered turning to Li Mou, but recalling that their usual interactions were strictly limited to official duties—coupled with the fact that Li Mou was the sole breadwinner of his household, supporting a large family entirely on his meager official salary—he ultimately decided against troubling him.

Yet, to his surprise, Li Mou had somehow caught wind of the matter and sought him out with fifteen gold coins in hand, his words brimming with deep warmth and affection. This filled Zhang Erlang with a profound sense of respect and gratitude.

Zhang Erlang made a solemn promise: "Uncle Li, in days to come, I shall repay this tenfold."

"Such talk makes us seem distant." Looking at the peerlessly heroic and spirited Zhang Erlang before him, Li Mou sighed in admiration of his youthful vigor and waved a hand in refusal.

With that, Li Mou took his leave and departed.

Zhang Erlang watched him go. Once Li Mou was far out of sight, he turned back inside and retrieved a small chest. Inside were the forty-five gold coins he had managed to scrape together over the past few days. Combined with the fifteen gold coins from Li Mou, the total came to sixty gold coins.

This sum should be more than enough to accomplish the grand ambition he held in his heart.

After a brief tidy-up, he set off toward the Chengdu marketplace.

As the largest trading hub in the southwestern territories of the Great Han Empire, the marketplace of Chengdu was a bustling vortex of human traffic. The crowds moved like rolling clouds, and their sweat fell like rain. Celebrated as the "Abyss of a Myriad Merchants," it was a place of thriving crafts and flourishing commerce.

Everything Zhang Erlang desired could be found here. Having already set his sights on a specific target, he walked at an unhurried, steady pace toward a horse-trading establishment.

The shopkeeper recognized him at a glance and greeted him warmly: "Erlang has arrived."

"Uncle Zhang, is that white horse from last time still here?" Zhang Erlang addressed the shopkeeper as Uncle Zhang, inquiring about the white horse he had previously set his eyes on.

"It's still here. Since Erlang fancied it, how could I possibly sell it to anyone else?" the shopkeeper replied enthusiastically. Having recently heard rumors of Zhang Erlang wandering about to borrow money, he paused for a moment in thought before continuing, "If Erlang truly wants it, I will discount the forty-five gold coins further. You can just have it for forty gold coins."

"If I were to sell it to someone else, I fear it would only waste such a supreme steed."

Zhang Erlang did not decline either, offering his thanks: "Then many thanks, Uncle Zhang."

"There is no need for such polite thanks. I recognize Erlang's extraordinary talent, and only you can truly allow this fine horse from Liangzhou to fulfill its potential," the shopkeeper said with a hint of emotional resonance.

The young man before him possessed a strikingly heroic face and unmatched horsemanship throughout Shu Commandery. Yet, born of humble origins, he had been denied any opportunity to rise, currently serving as nothing more than a minor scribe.

Before long, Zhang Erlang led a white horse out of the shop. As he walked, he observed the creature closely: its neck was long and gracefully curved, its torso robust and solid, its limbs slender, and its gait light and agile. Even among Liangzhou horses, it could be considered of the highest quality.

Ever since the rebel bandit Zhang Lu severed the mountain passes, the horse-trading market in Chengdu had grown increasingly exorbitant. The price of the short-legged horses from Nanzhong had soared to match the previous cost of Liangzhou horses, while genuine Liangzhou horses commanded astronomical prices, often completely unavailable despite having the gold to pay for them.

Had it not been for his personal friendship with Uncle Zhang the horse merchant, how could he possibly have secured such a magnificent steed for a mere forty gold coins? He would certainly find a way to repay this kindness in the future.

With the horse purchased, he made his way to a shop specializing in ironware.

The Han imperial court had established a large-scale state-run workshop in Chengdu known as the Shu Commandery Iron Works. This allowed the people of Shu to acquire iron-smelting technologies from the Central Plains, significantly elevating the quality of iron manufacturing in the region. In particular, the puddling process, which utilized puddled iron as raw material through repeated heating and forging, could produce exceptional hundred-refined steel products.

Zhang Erlang still required a spearhead forged from hundred-refined steel. However, a plain, unadorned spearhead lacked the striking visual impact he desired. After a moment of contemplation, he said to the blacksmith who was busy working the forge: "Can this spearhead be silver-plated?"

"As long as the pay is sufficient, let alone silver-plated, I can gild it in gold without a second word." The blacksmith was a rough-hewn man whose speech was unrefined, yet his words carried absolute confidence in his own craft.

Zhang Erlang smiled and nodded. Once he went to purchase a white robe made of Shu brocade, his preparations would be complete.

-----------------

In the inner courtyard of the Provincial Governor's Mansion.

Liu Mao was in exceptionally high spirits—arguably the happiest he had felt in a long time.

Some time ago, because he had beaten the palace maid Aunt Wang to death under the heavy rod punishment, his younger brother Liu Zhang had placed him under house arrest. He had been forced to put on a meek and compliant facade just to have the confinement lifted.

While regaining his freedom was certainly a joyous occasion, submitting to such humiliation offered nothing genuinely pleasing; instead, it only deepened his resentment toward his younger brother Liu Zhang day by day.

He glanced toward the courtyard entrance, where two stalwart guards dressed in cyan garments stood watch.

"Qingqiang." Liu Mao spat the two words through clenched teeth. His dear brother had actually assigned Qingqiang tribesmen to guard him. Unlike the ordinary servants of the mansion who held a certain degree of awe and reverence for him as the third young master, these Qingqiang guards obeyed only his brother's commands, utterly indifferent to matters of noble status or social rank.

Nursing his bitter hatred for a moment longer, Liu Mao's expression finally relaxed. The Qingqiang guards at his door were of little consequence; what truly mattered was the intelligence he had received. As someone who had entered Shu alongside his father Liu Yan, he still retained a few loyal confidants within the mansion, apart from the now-deceased Li Da.

Just moments ago, a confidant had sent word that a man named Liu He, claiming to be the Assistant Governor of Jingzhou, had incited the three major clans of Ba Commandery—the Xie, Yang, and Bai families—alongside several disgruntled commandery and county officials, to launch a rebellion.

At this thought, a sinister smile crept across his face: 'Jiyu, let us see how you manage to salvage this mess.'

Liu Mao indulged in pleasant fantasies. Once his younger brother proved utterly incapable of suppressing the rebellion in Ba Commandery, the ministers and officials of Shu would naturally remember him—a young master bold enough to shoulder heavy responsibilities. When that time came, they would surely return and beg him to assume the post of Governor of Yizhou, replacing his cowardly and incompetent younger brother.

His opportunity had finally arrived.

During this period, there was nothing that could possibly bring him greater joy.

In the outer courtyard of the Provincial Governor's Mansion.

Zhao Wei was growing restless from waiting.

News of the rebellion in Ba Commandery had just arrived, prompting him and several other high-ranking ministers to rush to the Governor's Mansion, awaiting Liu Zhang's appearance to arrange candidates for the suppression campaign and measures to stabilize the Ba region.

Yet, after waiting for a full three quarters of an hour, there was still no sign of Liu Zhang.

'He is utterly spineless! Is he truly this terrified?'

The rebel bandits of Ba Commandery were hundreds of li away from Chengdu, yet their esteemed Governor was so frightened that he cowered inside his mansion, not even daring to show his face to receive his ministers in audience.

Zhao Wei could not help inwardly sighing, attributing Liu Zhang's persistent absence entirely to his excessive cowardice.

This was severely delaying his expedition to Ba Commandery, and his mood grew intensely impatient; he wished he could sprout wings and fly to Ba Commandery this very instant.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed from the entrance. Thinking that the Governor had finally arrived, Zhao Wei turned his head, only to find that the newcomers were not Liu Zhang, but Pang Jing, the chief steward of the mansion, and Wang 商 (Wang Shang), who held the post of Assistant Governor.

'Hmm?' Confusion instantly arose in his heart. Why was it these two individuals?

The two men walked side by side to the front row and parted ways. Pang Jing proceeded to the seat of honor at the head, while Wang Shang took his seat at the very front of the civil officials' section.

Once Wang Shang was seated, Pang Jing spoke aloud: "By order of the Governor."

The assembly of ministers, who had long grown weary of waiting, hastily adjusted their attire, stepped forward, and bowed deeply to listen to Liu Zhang's decree.

So that was it. Zhao Wei, who had also stepped forward to bow, suddenly understood. The young Liu Zhang had simply sent chief steward Pang Jing out to issue the decree on his behalf, allowing the Governor himself to continue hiding away where no one could see him.

This filled him with a slightly dark sense of amusement, as he had hoped to witness Liu Zhang's terrified expression firsthand and savor the spectacle.

Pang Jing continued: "The rebel villains of Ba Commandery threaten the safety of Yizhou. As the Provincial Governor, it is naturally my duty to lead the punitive expedition in person."

"The Governor has already led an army to Ba Commandery, entrusting Assistant Governor Wang with the responsibilities of Xiao He to guard Chengdu. Director of Laws Dong is appointed concurrently as Protector of the Army, commanding two thousand Di and Qiang soldiers to assist Assistant Governor Wang. All others shall remain steadfast in their respective duties."

As these few brief words fell into Zhao Wei's ears, it felt as though countless peals of thunder had exploded inside his skull. His entire mind descended into a state of dense fog, and his kneeling form swayed unsteadily.

Regaining his wits, Zhao Wei found himself utterly unable to believe this piece of intelligence.

'How can this be possible? That spineless brat Liu Zhang actually dares to personally lead a massive army to Ba Commandery?'

'Could this truly be that same cowardly Liu Zhang?'