Chapter 33: The Virtuous Maiden Offered as Tribute

A new musician had arrived at the Office of Imperial Music, reportedly sent as a tribute from the Pei State.

Wang Meng had seen plenty of musicians in his time. Even the tribute women sent to the palace from various regions had to pass his inspection first, and he was no stranger to beauties. However, he had truly never seen a musician who performed in armor.

She wore what appeared to be a set of Huben-style scale armor—chest plate, pauldrons, shoulder guards, and greaves, all complete, topped off with a helmet. Although such armor was typically heavy, the suit this woman wore appeared light and thin. Faint wood grain was visible within the seams of the scales. It was clearly not iron, but rather crafted from bamboo or wood.

Yet, the armor seemed to be strapped on backward. The ribbons hung down across her chest, forced open at the seams by the fullness beneath. It was likely done intentionally. Wang Meng, a man of vast experience with women, still found the sight novel. The gap between the ribbons narrowed from top to bottom, accentuating the curves of her chest and waist with startling clarity.

The woman was currently practicing a battle dance, her movements wide and bold, carrying the fierce air of frontier warfare. Sweat had soaked through her crimson undergarments, rendering them semi-transparent and clinging tightly to her chest. While not entirely revealing, the effect was all the more enticing. Her bosom was firm and surging like the tides.

"Why is a woman dressed in such a manner?" Wang Meng could not help but walk over to ask. He likely wanted a closer look at the cleavage, but alas, the binding was tight, and there was nothing to see.

"I have come as a tribute, so naturally, I must allow you to see the offering," Zuo Yuan paused her dance, bowing her head in a military salute.

"An offering... and where is this offering?" Wang Meng took the entry register from a minor official nearby, glanced at it, and then looked Zuo Yuan up and down. "Why have you come alone?"

"I am the offering." Zuo Yuan puffed out her chest. "I have come under the orders of the Chancellor of Pei to perform a battle dance to celebrate the birthday of the Marquis of Champion. However, the rest of the tribute was plundered on the way; I am the only one who escaped."

Wang Meng froze, then chuckled. "So it was sent by my younger brother... Where are your travel permits?"

The official nearby hurriedly handed over Zuo Yuan’s permits. "They were verified and stamped by the Northern District Commandant. However, there are no official memorials regarding the tribute; it is claimed everything else was seized, and because the tribute cannot be completed, it cannot be entered into the storehouse."

The Chancellor of Pei was named Wang Ji, a foster son of Wang Fu and, by extension, a younger brother to Wang Meng. Wang Fu was set to celebrate his fiftieth birthday next month, and for this, the Emperor, Liu Hong, had granted him a month of leave from the palace to rest at home as a mark of imperial favor.

Under normal circumstances, one would not use the guise of a tribute to send a woman as a birthday gift to a eunuch. But if sent by one’s own foster son, it was perfectly normal. Like the concubines in the inner palace, eunuchs also needed to secure the Emperor's favor, and they were the most willing to present beauties to him. Since Wang Fu was a favored attendant of the Emperor, it was highly likely that the Emperor would pay a visit to join the festivities, or at the very least, summon him to the Western Garden for a banquet. Offering a beauty to the Emperor naturally required such an occasion.

Moreover, by performing a martial dance, the foster son Wang Ji could demonstrate his filial piety—treating his foster father not as a eunuch, but as a general. Thus, this was essentially Wang Ji gathering a beauty from Pei to gift to Wang Fu, so that Wang Fu might, in turn, offer her to the Emperor to secure his own position. In such cases, the beauty had to enter the capital under the guise of a tribute to the Lesser Treasury. If she were merely a private gift, Wang Fu could not easily present her to the Emperor.

This was the standard, albeit irregular, procedure for presenting women to the Emperor when no official selection was underway. To Wang Meng, this was perfectly normal—at least a third of his own concubines were women he had intended to gift to the Emperor, but whom the Emperor had not taken an interest in.

However, since Chancellor Wang Ji had not actually sent any tribute, the story of it being plundered was necessary for Zuo Yuan to explain her arrival. This was a scheme devised by Liu Bei and Yang Qiu at the Northern District Commandant’s office. They had used the Commandant's seal for verification, and the place of origin had been changed from Zhuo County to Pei County. Zuo Yuan’s permits were forged by Yang Qiu, complete with records of her journey from Pei to Luoyang. She was registered under the name "Lady Zuo," a respectable woman of Pei. Yang Qiu seemed quite adept at this; it seemed every official in these times was skilled at forgery.

"Since you are here to celebrate my father's birthday, why bother with the storehouse?" Wang Meng glanced at the seal on the permit and looked at Zuo Yuan. "Judging by your attire, you intend to perform a battle dance? But now that you are alone..."

"Indeed. The others were lost on the way, so I must demonstrate this to you—at the very least, we need twenty sets of identical bamboo armor to perform this dance for the Marquis of Champion. Please, prepare them." Zuo Yuan nodded and began listing her requirements. "I also need various weapons and twenty dancing girls."

"Hmm, easily done..."

Since this beauty was a gift from Wang Ji to Wang Fu, meant to entice the Emperor, Wang Meng was happy to oblige. He turned to the official and ordered, "Did you hear? Hurry and prepare the bamboo weapons and armor. Select twenty dancers from the troupe to accompany her. Do not let anything delay my father's birthday."

"May I ask, Honorable Official, should I stay here, or go elsewhere?" Zuo Yuan asked, feigning the innocence of a young girl.

"How could you stay here? You haven't been entered into the registry... Go to my private villa and practice your dance."

Wang Meng took Zuo Yuan home and settled her in a separate villa. Although he had many concubines, he dared not touch this woman—she was a gift from his foster brother to his foster father. What if the Emperor took a liking to her?

...

Just two days later, Wang Meng was arrested by the Colonel of the Capital. The charge was the unauthorized manufacture and concealment of armor and military equipment—a crime of treason.

The Colonel of the Capital, Yang Qiu, led the Black-Clad Guards to search Wang Meng’s residence. Sure enough, they discovered twenty sets of Huben armor and several weapons. Wang Meng tried desperately to explain that they were merely bamboo crafts intended for a dance performance, but Yang Qiu remained unmoved and took both the armor and Wang Meng away.

The affair alarmed the Empress Dowager Dong. She summoned Yang Qiu and demanded Wang Meng's release. In response, Yang Qiu presented the evidence of Wang Meng’s crime: twenty sets of authentic Huben armor—the iron armor of the Emperor's own imperial guards.

The Empress Dowager was left speechless. Even so, she forbade Yang Qiu from using torture to extract a confession, citing the need to maintain the dignity of the Imperial family. Thus, Wang Meng was thrown into the imperial prison.

This was actually more complicated than Yang Qiu’s original plan. Liu Bei had reasoned that Wang Meng would likely be stubborn, so he needed to be goaded into implicating his father before he could be broken. Of course, the minor offense of hiding armor would not be enough to take down Wang Fu, as the Emperor would hardly care if his favorite Marquis possessed a few dozen suits of armor. But Wang Meng... he would not be able to withstand the pressure. For Wang Meng, the title of Marquis was truly everything.