Zhao Ju turned to look at Gaoyi. “Whose idea was this?” Such a complete reversal of black and white—anyone could figure out with their toes that no one would believe it.
Gaoyi smiled ingratiatingly at Zhao Ju and said, “This was what Master Ming said. He said that in this world, truth and falsehood are mixed together. As long as the truth passes through the mouths of a second group of people, it can become hearsay. After passing through a third time, it becomes gossip. By the time it reaches Yuncheng and Luoyang, the gossip can turn into rumors, not to mention spreading to other places.”
“So Master Ming says that as long as we insist they are common people from the Yuzhou border, then that’s what they are—they were simply abducted by Gou Chun.”
Zhao Ju frowned. “How can truth and falsehood be so easily confused? Check the household registers, then look at their residences—anyone can distinguish the truth. If we fabricate like this and the Emperor sends someone to investigate, wouldn’t spreading this story implicate Nulang in wrongdoing?”
It would be better to openly admit it, even saying they simply couldn’t stand watching them bully the common people this way, and these people were willing to come join them.
Gaoyi blinked and said quietly, “General, actually I think Master Ming’s idea is quite good. He’s a strategist, specialized in coming up with plans for people. As this matter spreads, who knows, it might actually become true. Even if the Emperor really sends someone to investigate, at worst we can relocate people from several nearby villages and have them move in. Once the testimonies match up, who would dare say they’re not Yuzhou people?”
The two places were only separated by a ditch. The languages were the same, and everything else was pretty much identical—there would be no way to expose the deception.
After thinking it over, Zhao Ju said, “Let’s go. We should head back first. The important thing is Ming Yu. Gou Chun has a violent temper—I don’t know if he’ll send troops. We need to report this border crossing incident to the Zhao commandery governor.”
Ming Yu temporarily settled at the garrison. He had fallen ill and couldn’t continue traveling.
Zhao Ju had no choice but to invite renowned physicians from the area to treat him. At the same time, he deployed troops along the border because Gou Chun was furious. That very evening, he sent soldiers approaching the border, attempting to cross the boundary line, but they were discovered by the border patrol, who issued a warning and forced them back.
Gou Chun was impulsive and quick to anger, petty and vindictive. No one knew whether he would impulsively attack, so Zhao Ju had to take precautions.
He handed over the relocated villagers to the local county office. The county office had experience handling this type of matter—wasn’t it just a matter of giving them good civilian status, then classifying them according to the lowest grade of craftsmen?
Simple!
While recuperating, Ming Yu would occasionally walk around the garrison camp area.
The area near the garrison camp was all their own farmland, but beyond that section was where the county office had settled those villagers.
The county office was also worried about them being retaliated against, so they deliberately arranged them near the camp. If anything happened, there was a military camp here that could respond quickly.
The government office found them temporary housing in several nearby villages. After distributing a certain amount of relief grain, they provided materials and had them begin constructing houses.
Three villages, still divided into three locations, not very far from each other—about two or three li.
The people from the three villages were already familiar with each other. Now seeing that everyone wasn’t far apart, they felt even more at ease. Moreover, they were now being paid to build houses, which counted as work relief.
But these houses were for them to live in.
They heard that after completion, there would be a lottery—whichever house they drew would be theirs. Because they didn’t know which one they would draw, they were all very conscientious about building the houses, afraid of being uncomfortable living in them later.
Ming Yu occasionally came to see them. They had clearly just experienced a catastrophic disaster and nearly died, yet at this moment they didn’t have that kind of anxious, unsettled feeling. Instead, they were full of vitality.
Compared to when they lived in their own villages, they were even more at ease, even more cheerful.
Ming Yu quietly breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help but smile.
At the same time, Zhao Ming’s message also reached the border. When Zhao Ju reported, he only mentioned that they had crossed the border to rescue Ming Yu and angered Gou Chun, without mentioning the matter of the three villages’ residents.
“The commandery governor says that regardless of the reason, push all responsibility onto them. Say that Gou Chun killed our people, important people at that,” the messenger, a minor official, carefully glanced at Zhao Ju before asking, “Does the general have any brother-in-law or uncle? If not, even a sworn brother would work…”
Zhao Ju: “…”
He quickly interrupted him and said, “We already have an excuse—we’ll say Gou Chun abducted our people, and we went over to rescue them.”
The minor official frowned. “Are you referring to Master Ming? That’s not very good. Why not say they robbed our common people’s property? Didn’t Gou Chun send troops to forcibly harvest grain during the summer harvest?”
“No, this excuse is quite good,” Zhao Ju had originally thought the excuse Ming Yu provided was absurd, but now he felt it was much better than what Zhao Ming had come up with. He said, “We’re not referring to Master Ming, but to some ordinary common people—a total of one hundred thirty-nine households.”
The minor official was somewhat confused. “What?”
Zhao Ju said, “When we went to meet Master Ming, we passed through three villages. They didn’t report to Gou Chun. Given Gou Chun’s temperament, the people of these three villages would all be severely punished, so we relocated them all.”
The minor official fell silent. He had been too naive. It turned out this matter could be escalated to such a degree.
One hundred thirty-nine households, several hundred people—completely different from just taking away one Ming Yu. The former not only made a big commotion but also left many traces.
The minor official could only run back to Chen County to report, while instructing Zhao Ju, “If it really comes to fighting, you can engage, but try not to injure Gou Chun.”
Otherwise, if they injured Gou Xi’s younger brother, this matter truly couldn’t be resolved peacefully.
Zhao Ju agreed.
On the other side, Gou Chun desperately wanted to attack, but he was firmly persuaded against it several times by his staff officers.
On one occasion, Gou Chun was already galloping with his whip leading the army almost to the border line. Zhao Ju had also deployed troops at the border, ready for battle. But then Staff Officer Xu came racing over, firmly grasping him, and whispered in his ear, “This matter has already been reported, but the Grand General has delayed sending word. Clearly the Grand General himself cannot make up his mind. General, shouldn’t you think more carefully about why the usually decisive and domineering Grand General is hesitating this time?”
Before Gou Chun could speak, Staff Officer Xu quickly said, “I fear there are changes in Yuncheng, changes among those around the Grand General.”
Gou Chun grabbed his collar in fury. “What do you mean?”
“General, the Grand General has been indulging in wine, women, and pleasures for the past six months. The various generals already had complaints. In addition, not long ago the Grand General also killed Sir Yan… Yan Heng. Those with complaints have only increased,” Staff Officer Xu said. “The soldiers and officers are losing faith. If we really fight, we may not necessarily win. Moreover…”
He lowered his voice. “There are still the Xiongnu to the north. If we fight with Zhao Hanzhang at this time, wouldn’t we be giving them another opportunity?”
Liu Yuan had always wanted to destroy Dajin and become the true Emperor of All Under Heaven. Now the Emperor was in Yuncheng. If the Xiongnu sent troops, they would definitely head straight for Yanzhou.
Very unfortunately, Jizhou and other areas north of Yanzhou were all in the hands of Liu Yuan’s general Shi Le. So if they sent troops toward Yanzhou, they wouldn’t need to go through Luoyang at all—they could come directly down from Shangdang and Jizhou.