Chapter Sixty: Zhou Buyi

Shen Chen had no idea that the trap he laid in secret had already been seen through by Liu Biao. It was the year 196 AD—still twelve years before Liu Biao would succumb to senile dementia. As the man who dared to pacify all of Jingzhou single-handedly, Liu Biao was far from easy to deal with. All the little schemes Shen Chen carried out in the shadows had been observed by Liu Biao, who merely chose not to expose them. For none of Shen Chen’s actions harmed Liu Biao—in fact, most of the benefits had ended up in Liu Biao’s pocket.

It was as if fortune dropped from the heavens, with a ratio of nine to one: Shen Chen struggled and toiled for a tenth, while Liu Biao did nothing and received the other nine parts. Who wouldn’t be pleased with such an arrangement? Thus, Liu Biao willingly turned a blind eye, occasionally lending a hand when convenient. Why not?

Recently, Xinye County had a new magistrate. The previous official, Wang Yi, was promoted by Zhang Xiu to the position of Nanyang Deputy, tasked with managing the surrounding cities. The new magistrate was Deng Mao, patriarch of the Deng clan from Huangmen Pavilion. Ordinarily, Deng Mao himself residing in Xinye would violate the Three Mutuals Law, which forbade locals from serving as local officials. However, Deng Mao was not actually a local—he hailed from Xuzhou.

In the Han dynasty, one’s place of registration was not determined by residence but by birthplace. Take the Gan family as an example: according to the Records of the Grand Historian, Gan Ning’s ancestor Gan Mao was from Xia Cai in Huainan. His descendants moved to Nanyang, and after a few generations, they became known as natives of Nanyang. Later, the Records of the Three Kingdoms recorded that some ancestor of the Gan clan migrated to Ba Commandery in Yizhou, and after a few generations, they became Ba Commandery natives, with Nanyang becoming the ancestral home. When Gan Ning moved to Eastern Wu and his descendants multiplied, by the time of Gan Zhuo, his great-grandson, the Book of Jin described him as a native of Danyang in Jiangdong, with Ba Commandery as the ancestral home.

Thus, both the Deng and Shen clans of Huangmen Pavilion were technically outsiders; only after decades and a few generations could their registration be transferred. It was no different from when they moved from their ancestral home in Nanyang to Xuzhou, becoming natives of Xiangben in Xuzhou after a few generations.

This resulted in a rare loophole: the person accepted by the local people as a native was, in fact, a spiritual local—a non-local who became the county magistrate. It sounded convoluted, but that was how it was. The Deng clan had moved to Xuzhou seventy years prior, changed their registration there, and upon returning, were appointed as Xinye officials. They maintained intricate connections with the local Dengs of Xinye.

With Deng Mao as magistrate, he joined forces with local Deng clan members like Deng Qi to take control of the county's power, becoming an overwhelming force—Huangmen Pavilion’s Dengs rose overnight as Xinye’s new aristocrats.

Yet, the people of Xinye felt no resentment about the Dengs’ rise. Over the past two years, the Dengs had welcomed refugees, built canals, cultivated fields, planted mulberry groves, and dug ponds, transforming wasteland into paradise. They used blast furnaces and kiln caves to craft ironware and porcelain, selling them through merchants from Xiangyang and Zhou Lin across Jingzhou, Jiangdong, and Yizhou. Now, even the north had heard of Huangmen Pavilion’s colored porcelain, earning huge profits.

As the saying goes, when poor, one preserves oneself; when prosperous, one helps the world. With wealth and grain, the Dengs began to help the surrounding villages, aiding them in fleeing war, tilling fields, and building canals and ponds.

Deng Hong himself served in the prefectural office, often sent by Liu Biao to handle affairs across Nanyang. He toured the land, seeking irrigation benefits and bountiful harvests. In places like Xinye and Huyang, he frequently returned to encourage farming and sericulture, sometimes inventing new tools to aid the people.

All this earned the Dengs of Huangmen Pavilion a good name around Xinye. When Zhang Xiu invaded Nanyang and the Yellow Turbans gathered, countless families from Huyang, Chaoyang, and Xinye fled to the Dengs’ manor for refuge. Though it proved a false alarm, the manor hosted tens of thousands for a time, attesting to the Deng clan’s influence. Should war return to Nanyang, even more would surely seek their protection.

This was reputation. Now, Huangmen Pavilion had incorporated twenty square kilometers of land, constructed a manor like a fortress, dug extensive tunnels and fortifications in the hills behind. They even recruited a craftsman who once served the Grand Architect, capable of making siege and defense machinery, and lured him with heavy pay to craft many devices.

In terms of population, Huangmen Pavilion had grown rapidly: from about a thousand upon arrival, to over two thousand after welcoming refugees. Now, with half a year passed and many Yellow Turbans resettled, the registered population exceeded eight thousand. Their land holdings surpassed fifty thousand mu, and they employed numerous field slaves and laborers from nearby villages and counties.

The manor’s permanent population now topped ten thousand, and in a few years, it might build a city and become a county in its own right. Though Liu Biao was aware of all these actions, he chose to turn a blind eye—even allowing the Dengs to manufacture forbidden weapons like crossbows and arms without reprisal.

The reason lay in the fact that, though Huangmen Pavilion benefited, Liu Biao gained even more. The grain, supplies, and manpower were astronomical. The noble families of the time all put clan interests first. Deng Hong, while serving Jingzhou, ensured his clan got a small share—a minor issue. Had he been upright and solely devoted to Jingzhou, Liu Biao might have suspected ulterior motives.

In truth, Liu Biao supported Deng Hong’s actions. Huangmen Pavilion’s rapid development owed little to the elders’ efforts to create wealth. It was entirely because Deng Hong held power in the prefecture, profited during Zhang Xiu and the Yellow Turbans’ turmoil, and managed population resettlement. If Deng Hong had not offered the plan to absorb the remaining Yellow Turbans around Nanyang, the population boom would not have happened.

Ultimately, the blast furnace and kiln cave prosperity, and the manure composting techniques to increase yield, were mere side effects. True development depended on power—only power could mobilize vast external resources. Without it, even with blast furnaces and advanced techniques, how much porcelain, ironware, and grain could a mere thousand people produce?

So, whence came Deng Hong’s power? From Liu Biao. Thus, Deng Hong’s strengthening of his clan happened entirely with Liu Biao’s tacit approval.

At least, in Liu Biao’s eyes, he feasted while the Dengs sipped soup—nothing objectionable.

In May, the tumult of Nanyang’s unrest subsided; Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao gained their rewards, and even the Yellow Turban troops largely agreed to descend the mountains. The chaos had been minor, but the gains were substantial, leaving Cao Cao in faraway Yingchuan regretting his lack of profit.

Having orchestrated all this from behind the scenes, Shen Chen concealed his achievements and returned to Xiangyang to resume his studies. Aside from attending the academy, he would occasionally visit Yuliang Isle to seek advice from Master Pang.

His learning advanced daily, and his reputation as a prodigy spread throughout Jingzhou. Yet, he felt some regret at never meeting Pang Tong, who had left last year for Yingchuan to study under Sima Hui, with no telling when he might return.

On May 12th, Shen Chen had visited Yuliang Isle two days prior to consult Master Pang about an academic question, and yesterday had gone to Longzhong to discuss scholarship with Zhuge Liang, staying the night before planning to return to the academy today.

It was a clear midsummer day, the air bright and crisp, cicadas chirping as the fierce sun blazed over the land. The path to the academy was dappled with shade, tall trees lining both sides, their branches lush and drooping.

The carriage moved slowly along the path, which was fairly smooth. Shen Chen read as he rode. At that time, carriage compartments were not enclosed; instead, all four sides were open, with an umbrella raised for shade.

Suddenly, he heard someone call from behind: “Is that Shen Chen?”

He turned to see that a second carriage had appeared behind his, carrying two people, one large and one small. The older one he recognized: Liu Xian, Liu Biao’s aide—the very man who had once brought the elders of Huangmen Pavilion to Xinye and introduced them to Wang Yi. Last year, Liu Xian had been in Xiangyang, friendly with Deng Hong, but later in the year, family matters in Lingling compelled him to request leave from Liu Biao, and it had been half a year since they’d met.

Seeing it was Liu Xian, Shen Chen had his driver halt, then got out and waited by the roadside. After a while, Liu Xian’s carriage stopped as well. Shen Chen greeted him with a bow: “So it is Master Shizong—long time no see. My uncle often speaks fondly of you.”

Liu Xian replied, “My brother-in-law passed away; my sister and nephew were left without support, so I had to return to Lingling to handle family affairs. I just came back a few days ago. Your uncle wrote to me yesterday, asking me to help him with field management in Yin County. Today, by chance, I meet you here.”

Shen Chen noticed a child of about four or five peering at him curiously from Liu Xian’s carriage, and greeted, “Indeed, my uncle missed you greatly—your absence for half a year has left him often away as well.”

Liu Xian laughed, “That’s nothing. Now that I’ve returned, we’ll have plenty of chances to meet. Ah Chen, this is my nephew, Zhou Buyi. I had hoped he could study under Liu Ba in Lingling, but Liu Ba refused. Since you have spent much time at the academy and are well learned, I wish to entrust him to you.”

Shen Chen actually did not know Zhou Buyi. He was not like those later scholars who studied history in depth, able to recite the Records of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of the Later Han by heart. His knowledge came from watching the TV adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, playing various Three Kingdoms games, and browsing online anecdotes and videos. He had only a rough sense of the important figures and general history.

He knew the early major warlords, the Five Tiger Generals, the Five Virtuous Generals, Cao Cao’s five chief strategists, and “Sleeping Dragon, Young Phoenix, Infant Qilin, and Buried Tiger.” But if asked to name the main officials of Wei, Shu, and Wu in later years, aside from Jiang Wei, Ma Dai, Wei Yan, Guan Xing, and Zhang Bao, he had no clue about Shu’s later high-ranking officers.

Thus, he did not realize this child was a famed prodigy of the Three Kingdoms. He merely saw a cherubic, clever, and adorable boy, and took a liking to him, smiling as he said, “Rest assured, sir—no one at the academy would dare bully Buyi.”

Except for me, he added silently.

Liu Xian laughed, “Then I’m at ease.”