Chapter 43: What Defines a Loyal Subject

"This horse is called Jade Bow? Truly a fine name."

Along the way, Liu Bei and Qian Zhao walked and conversed. "I remember this horse; it was captured from a Xianbei elite cavalryman. After we drove those Xianbei cavalry away, this horse ended up in Zhang Shiping's caravan. I remember the crescent moon on its forehead quite clearly."

"Xianbei elite cavalry? No, not Xianbei. Had he encountered Xianbei elite cavalry, my father could not possibly have survived."

Qian Zhao shook his head vigorously. "My father also said that the men who waylaid him were masked Han Chinese, strongly resembling commandery soldiers."

"Commandery soldiers?"

Liu Bei pondered for a moment before offering a hypothesis: "To be waylaid by commandery soldiers in Shanggu—could this have been the work of Zhang Sheng...?"

"Who is Zhang Sheng?"

Hearing this, Qian Zhao's spirits perked up.

"He was formerly a Major of the Northern Army in Shanggu, responsible for many major crimes. He slaughtered the innocent to claim false military merit, murdered commandery administrators and commandants, and even waylaid Zou, the Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan. However, by now, he must have fled to parts unknown."

Liu Bei shook his head. "That Zhang Sheng should have a considerable force at his disposal and is in collusion with the Xianbei; you must not go off searching for him single-handedly, Zijing. First, return with me to Zhuo Commandery; Colonel Zou is likewise bent on revenge."

Liu Bei and his companions skirted halfway around Luoyang, ultimately taking the Mengjin Ford north of the city.

This route was indeed shorter, and Duan Jiong had taken it as well.

...

Not only Zou Jing and Qian Zhao, but Duan Jiong also longed to slice Zhang Sheng to pieces.

If anyone knew Zhang Sheng best, it was undoubtedly Duan Jiong.

Yet, why had that loyal and courageous retainer who once stood guard behind him and saved his life turned out like this?

By now, Duan Jiong had crossed the Yellow River into Henei, heading for a village north of Shanyang.

His clan niece was married to someone in this place.

That was Zhang Sheng's home.

This was merely an ordinary rural village; apart from his niece, no one recognized Duan Jiong, so his whereabouts would naturally not be exposed.

However... Duan Jiong suspected that his niece was most likely no longer here.

Duan Jiong merely wished to see the current state of the Zhang family to confirm his suspicions, and incidentally, to wait for Liu Bei.

The Qin-Han imperial highway cut through Shanyang; as long as he had his attendants wait at the relay station beside the highway, he would be able to catch Liu Bei.

Liu Bei had rescued him and even used himself as bait to draw away the pursuers. Duan Jiong was profoundly grateful and naturally worried about Liu Bei's safety.

Yet, overshadowing his gratitude and concern was a sense of lightness, as if a heavy burden had been cast off.

Though an old man should not pride himself on hot-blooded impulses, that cry of "Fire!" in the imperial prison, along with that roaring blaze, had reawakened in Duan Jiong the memory of his youth, when his soaring ambition could pierce the clouds.

Who has not possessed the chivalrous spirit of youth?

The years spent idling away in Luoyang might indeed have been wealthy... but how could they compare to the days of old, when he wielded his blade in fierce battle without fear of life or death?

—Once a person calculates the cost in their heart, they will inevitably fret over how to recoup that cost. To lose one's original intention is to be perpetually entangled, leading to missteps born of anxiety...

The Duan Grand Commandant who served as an official in Luoyang paid a price consisting of twenty years of hard-fought achievements, a reputation built on the slaughter of tens of thousands of enemies, the bones of countless comrades-in-arms, the wealth delivered to the Western Gardens, and a newly rising clan... his entire person was weighed down by entanglements.

His original intention, too, was buried in the cemetery that was the imperial court the very moment he stepped into Luoyang.

Yet the Ji Ming of today was free; he had become a living corpse stripped of his identity, and thus he was absolved of all constraints, leaving him unencumbered.

Perhaps there was one final matter—the comrade who had once guarded his back had now become a blade in someone else's hand, pointed straight at his own chest.

In that case, he would naturally have to seize that blade with his own hands and drive it back.

No matter whose hand was gripping the hilt.

The fields of the Zhang family appeared deserted, overgrown with weeds, as if they had not been tended to for a very long time.

Duan Jiong walked straight into the village, failing to see a single soul.

Dozens of buildings and several courtyards stood empty, devoid even of a dog.

The courtyard gate of Zhang Sheng's home was ajar. Duan Jiong walked straight inside and tapped the door frame with his sword.

Still, no one emerged.

The door to the main hall was tightly shut, locked from the outside, with a faint, foul odor seeping through.

An ordinary person would likely have turned away.

Without a second thought, Duan Jiong raised his sword and brought it down, cleaving the door latch in a single strike.

The room was filled entirely with skeletal remains.

Judging by their attire, there were maidservants, menial laborers, and tenant farmers, but no masters clad in brocade, nor any young men of robust stature with large bones.

The other courtyards were much the same.

The corpses had decomposed, most gnawed by rats and ants into rotting shreds of cloth, with shattered bones scattered all across the floor. There wasn't even much of an odor left.

They had been dead for a very long time.

Duan Jiong let out a sigh.

He had witnessed sights far more gruesome than this and had anticipated such a scene.

These people had not been killed by Zhang Sheng; they were killed by the eunuchs—or more accurately, by the Imperial Guards.

During those years when the Grand Commandant Duan was weighed down by worldly concerns, he had once witnessed Wang Fu leading the Imperial Guards in carrying out such deeds—slaughtering the elderly and frail servants and tenants of a household, while taking away their clan members, wives, children, and young men.

Among the corpses here, there were none belonging to Zhang Sheng's immediate family or close kin; not a single one.

These servants and tenants died simply because they had eyes that saw.

Zhang Sheng's parents, wives, and children should all be located elsewhere, perhaps in certain imperial tombs.

If one's parents, wives, and children were all laboring to construct tombs for the imperial clan, then no matter who one was, one had to become a loyal subject.

Yet, what if such a loyal subject...

Should they too, like Ji Ming, become a living corpse?

Duan Jiong struck his flint, ignited a torch, and burned these skeletal remains along with the entire Zhang estate to ashes.

He had failed to encounter any living person.

Yet the sole remaining encumbrance in his heart had vanished, and he now knew how to track down Zhang Sheng.

...

"This is Ji Ming, Master Ji, whom I specifically invited from Liangzhou as an instructor in cavalry archery and military strategy. If you wish to become his disciple, bring your tuition gifts without delay."

Two days later, at the Shanyang relay station, Liu Bei encountered Duan Jiong, who was waiting for him, and introduced him to Zhang Fei and Qian Zhao. "Oh, Master Ji also shares a deep enmity with Zhang Sheng. Zijing, you would do well to cultivate a closer relationship with him."

"I harbor no enmity toward Zhang Sheng..."

Duan Jiong shook his head. "Yet I know what he intends to do. If the young master wishes to seek revenge, travel the road with me."

"Oh? Has Zhang Sheng not likely changed his name and fled by now?"

Liu Bei asked, somewhat surprised. "How do you know what he will do?"

"Fled? Not at all; he will continue his crimes. Hou Yan, the Administrator of Shanggu, died of a sudden illness because he had the backing of the Hedong gentry clans and commanded troops. Zou Jing was waylaid because he has the backing of the Hebei gentry clans and commands troops..."

Duan Jiong smiled faintly, though his smile was bitter. "Zhang Sheng is the Emperor's blade, and his entire family is in the hands of the eunuchs. It's simply that his attempt to waylaid Zou Jing failed and exposed his identity. Had he not failed, Zou Jing would have been officially declared as having died valiantly on the battlefield, and someone else who unquestioningly obeys imperial edicts would be appointed as the Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan."

Duan Jiong made no mention of himself.

Grand Commandant Duan, a commander of troops, had been imprisoned and driven to his death when he became the target of a court-co-option attempt by Yuan Feng, a scion of the powerful Runan family; it was only after his death, when he was freed of all worldly weights, that he finally saw things clearly.

"The Son of Heaven actually employs such methods to seize military power?"

Qian Zhao was utterly astonished, having never imagined such a possibility. "Just because he refuses to let the gentry hold military power, he allows the barbarians to run amok and condones Zhang Sheng's slaughter of the innocent for false merit in collusion with the barbarians?"

"Zhang Sheng is indeed slaughtering the innocent for false merit, but at the same time, he is cutting the weeds and eliminating the roots... As for the barbarians, in the eyes of the Son of Heaven, the common people of the realm probably differ little from the barbarians; commoners rebel anyway, and barbarians rebel anyway..."

Liu Bei had already understood. Duan Jiong was entirely correct: Zhang Sheng was the Emperor's blade, and such blades likely existed in other provinces as well.

It was just that this sort of tactic...

This was probably one of the reasons why many powerful gentry families chose to remain behind the scenes and refused to take command of armies during peacetime—they would not become warlords until the realm was plunged into utter chaos.

"Then, who will be Zhang Sheng's next target?"

Qian Zhao asked, eager for revenge and unconcerned with the broader implications.

Liu Bei sighed. "Still Colonel Zou... Since Zhang Sheng's mission remains unfinished, how could he possibly give up?"