Chapter Ninety: A Letter from Liu Bei (Sixth Update, Please Subscribe)

In the year 193, Taishi Ci, in gratitude to Kong Rong, fought his way out alone from the army of the Yellow Turban chieftain Guan Hai and went to Pingyuan to seek aid from Liu Bei, whereupon he became acquainted with Liu Bei.

Yet in history, after that, the two of them had no further contact.

For Liu Bei later fell into hardship in Xu Province, fighting day after day against Lü Bu and Yuan Shu, while Taishi Ci, after his mother died in the year 195, went south to Yang Province to seek refuge with his fellow townsman Liu Yao. There he eventually met Sun Ce and became one of the famed generals of the realm of the Yangtze.

But now history had been greatly altered. Before Shen Chen left Xu Province that year, he had once told Liu Bei that Taishi Ci was a mighty warrior who could be invited to Xu Province.

After Shen Chen left, Liu Bei once wrote to Kong Rong, remembered those words, and mentioned the matter to him.

Just so, Taishi Ci's mother passed away in the year 194, and Taishi Ci observed mourning at home. Kong Rong wrote to inform him that after his mourning period ended, he could introduce him to Liu Bei in Xu Province.

After a year of mourning, Taishi Ci did not follow his original plan of going south to seek out his fellow townsman Liu Yao. Instead, he came to Xu Province with Kong Rong's letter of introduction.

By then, after Liu Bei had become Governor of Xu Province, Zhao Yun, because his elder brother had died, resigned and went north back to the kingdom of Zhongshan to handle his brother's affairs.

Liu Bei lamented the loss of a great commander by his side, and then, unexpectedly, Taishi Ci came to join him. Overjoyed beyond measure, he appointed him as Commander of the Household.

And this time, too, it was Liu Bei who sent Taishi Ci in person to deliver a letter to Shen Chen.

Hearing that Liu Bei, though now trapped in hardship at Xiaopei, still remembered him, Shen Chen was deeply moved. After thanking Taishi Ci, he accepted the letter and sat cross-legged upon the mat.

On the bamboo slip outside were the words "To Shen Chen." He unrolled it slowly, and within were just a little over sixty characters.

Because there was no punctuation in those days, the reader had to break it into lines by hand. After reading it, Shen Chen organized it into the following passage:

"To the young gentleman: We parted in early summer of the first year of Xingping, and now, before we know it, it is the cold of winter in the Jian'an era. It has been long since we last met; how have you been of late? I hear that Cao Cao is marching south against Zhang Xiu, and knowing that you are in Nanyang, I could not sleep at night, so I instructed Ziyi to seek you out in the southern city and entrusted this letter to him. Time passes swiftly, and there is much left unsaid. I only hope you will take care of yourself."

In other words: Hello, young sir. We parted in early summer of the first year of Xingping, and now it is already the winter of the Jian'an era. It has been a long time since we last met. How have you been? I heard that Cao Cao was preparing to attack Zhang Xiu and knew that you were in Nanyang, so I was very worried and sent Taishi Ci to find you and place this letter into your hands. Time flies, and words cannot fully express what I wish to say. Please take good care of your health.

Letters in the Han dynasty were actually not long. Since bamboo slips allowed only a limited number of characters, and writing too much made them cumbersome to carry, a letter usually contained only a few words or a few dozen at most, enough to explain the matter clearly.

Only letters written on silk could be a little longer, but even then they were generally only a few hundred characters. Before paper existed, an ordinary person might not even manage to write one letter in several years.

After reading the letter, Shen Chen was deeply moved.

Writing a letter in the Han dynasty was an extremely difficult thing. Though there were relay stations and postal services at the time, they were used mainly for official matters.

For example, delivering documents among the various commanderies and counties, or reporting urgent military intelligence from the frontier to the court.

For private individuals, sending a letter was nearly impossible. Even the clerks of the relay stations could not waste state resources by casually writing home letters at will.

So for Liu Bei to send this letter, he had mobilized private means to have it delivered.

He had written it in January of this year, then sent Taishi Ci across a thousand li to Nanyang. Along the way there was wind and meal, lodging in the open, and great danger; one could say it took tremendous effort to place this letter into Shen Chen's hands.

In a time of chaos, the postal system had already collapsed. Taishi Ci could obtain no supplies along the route and had to rely on his own strength to come from the realm of Pei.

From this alone, it was clear that Liu Bei still cared deeply about Shen Chen's safety.

Perhaps if Taishi Ci had not previously been a clerical officer specially suited to such work, experienced and formidable in battle, Liu Bei would not have let one of his men risk such danger to send a letter to Nanyang.

Seeing this, Shen Chen said with profound emotion, "For Lord Liu to still remember me is truly my great fortune. General Taishi, you have labored hard on the road."

Taishi Ci laughed and said, "Not really. I actually came from Runan. Before I set out, Lord Liu had been appointed by the Son of Heaven as Governor of Yu Province, and the court sent him to garrison Pei. When he heard that the Commander-in-Chief was marching south to attack Zhang Xiu, he was very worried for your safety, Young Sir, so he sent me here. There was not much danger along the way; only because the Commander-in-Chief was at war did I have to delay for a time in Runan."

After the Yellow Turban forces in Runan had been cleared out, public order was indeed much improved, though the region was still severely desolate, no different from a land where nine out of ten households had vanished. So for Taishi Ci to come from Runan on Liu Bei's orders was still very safe.

Only Cao Cao was at war, so Taishi Ci could only wait there for a while, and it was not until Cao Cao had recently returned from the campaign that he dared come.

Shen Chen then asked, "How fares Lord Liu now? Is he well?"

Taishi Ci said, "His body and daily life are well enough, and he can eat heartily and drink wine, but last year he suffered a covert attack by that thief Lü Bu and lost Xu Province. Every day he sighs and grieves over it."

"Lü Bu, that fellow..."

Shen Chen frowned. Cao Cao was ruthless; Lü Bu, fickle and treacherous.

The character of those two was indeed not very good.

"Since I left Xu Province, I have not known what Lord Liu has experienced these past years. General Taishi, can you tell me?"

"Of course."

Taishi Ci then told him of Liu Bei's experiences over these years.

It turned out that after Shen Chen left Xu Province, Tao Qian died not long afterward, and Chen Deng, Mi Zhu, and the others therefore recommended Liu Bei as Governor of Xu Province.

At that time, Liu Bei had appointed Chen Qun in Xiaopei. Chen Qun advised him not to go, and at first, remembering Shen Chen's words, he did not go either. But in the end he could not withstand Chen Deng and Mi Zhu's persuasion and took up the post in Xu Province.

Regrettably, however, history still moved along its own track, and Shen Chen had changed nothing.

Xu Province had always been a land where a dragon was trapped, and with both internal troubles and external threats, there was no one anywhere willing to obey this Governor of Xu Province, so Liu Bei's power was in truth very weak.

Aside from Chen Deng and Mi Zhu supporting him, the local great clans and aristocratic families, such as Cao Bao and Xu Dan, the leader of Tao Qian's remaining elite Danyang troops, were all at odds with him, leaving his control over Xu Province very limited.

Especially Cao Bao and Xu Dan, who paid lip service while disobeying him in secret. As a result, the troops Liu Bei could truly command were only the three or four thousand men he had brought from Pingyuan, plus several thousand newly recruited soldiers locally. Together, they numbered fewer than ten thousand.

Even so, when Yuan Shu sent troops to attack Xu Province, Liu Bei resisted them tenaciously and prevented them from advancing.

Then, by the end of the year 195, after Lü Bu was defeated by Cao Cao and came to Xu Province to seek refuge with Liu Bei, the situation immediately changed.

Lü Bu was a fickle man. While Liu Bei and Yuan Shu were locked in stalemate, he launched a surprise attack on Liu Bei and seized Xu Province.

Liu Bei was nearly annihilated, and had no choice but to take the remnants of his forces to Guangling, only to be defeated again by Yuan Shu. In the end, thanks to Mi Zhu's support and a plea for peace to Lü Bu, he barely managed to establish himself in Xiaopei and struggle on there for survival.

At the end of last year, Lü Bu attacked Liu Bei again, and Liu Bei was defeated.

Just at that time, Cao Cao had already received the Son of Heaven and established the capital at Xuchang, so Liu Bei went to Xuchang to attach himself to Emperor Xian.

At that time he believed that, by following Emperor Xian, he would be able to make a great display of his abilities in court. He never expected that Emperor Xian was merely Cao Cao's puppet, with the two forces secretly contending for power.

When he arrived, Emperor Xian was also pleased, thinking the loyalist faction had grown stronger again. So, searching the genealogies, he recognized Liu Bei as the Imperial Uncle.

Cao Cao also wished to win Liu Bei over, and to prevent him from growing too close to Emperor Xian, he submitted a memorial to the court, appointing him as Governor of Yu Province and giving him some grain and troops, sending him back to Pei to continue resisting Yuan Shu and Lü Bu.

Many people thought Cao Cao admired Liu Bei and intended to cultivate him as a trusted general, which was why he entrusted him with such important responsibility.

In truth, Cao Cao did indeed admire Liu Bei, but to say he was nurturing him as a confidant was somewhat far-fetched.

First, there was the matter of Liu Bei's office. He had originally been Governor of Xu Province and General Who Pacifies the East, so in arranging his appointment, Cao Cao could certainly not give him a rank lower than Governor of Xu Province. And since the eastern frontier needed defense, he therefore memorialized him as Governor of Yu Province.

Second, if Cao Cao truly intended to cultivate him as a trusted inner man, he would not have sent him back to Pei but would have kept him at his side to campaign against Zhang Xiu.

So in the end, Cao Cao did admire Liu Bei, but his main purpose was that he planned to launch a southern campaign against Zhang Xiu that year and feared Yuan Shu and Lü Bu would come causing trouble. Thus he had Liu Bei stand as a shield on the eastern front in Pei.

In this way Liu Bei served as his bulwark, and at the same time was removed from Emperor Xian's side, preventing the loyalist faction around the emperor from growing too powerful. It carried considerable political significance.

For the moment, however, after receiving Cao Cao's support, Liu Bei could at last breathe a little easier and remained safely stationed in Pei.

Hearing this, Shen Chen let out a breath, feeling both relieved for Liu Bei and glad that he could continue to follow the track of history.

It was not that Shen Chen feared history would change. Rather, he felt that Liu Bei's nature remained a major problem. Without these years of wandering hardship, without the experience of moving among official circles and courtly halls, he might never truly grow.

If he remained that same fiery-tempered Liu Bei, that would be troubling.

Of course.

As the saying goes, mountains and rivers may be altered, but a man's nature is hard to change.

Judging from how, in his later years, he insisted on avenging Guan Yu and launched the campaign at Yiling, his temperament had not changed all that much.

But even if these experiences merely made him more adept in the world, more thoughtful when facing problems, less impulsive than before, that would already count as a good thing.

So Shen Chen was very glad to see Liu Bei endure more hardships and grow step by step.

After hearing of Liu Bei's experiences over the years, Shen Chen sighed to Taishi Ci, "Lord Liu has indeed had a hard time. Still, heaven helps the worthy. I believe that one day he will surely see fortune turn from adversity to prosperity."

Taishi Ci then said, "Does the young gentleman have any words that he would like me to convey back to Lord Liu?"

Shen Chen thought for a moment and said, "General Taishi, please rest for two days at Huangmen Pavilion. Let me return and write a letter to thank Lord Liu, and in addition there are some things I need to entrust to you to take to him."

"Very well."

Taishi Ci nodded. After traveling all this way, wind and meals, camping wherever he could, he did indeed need to rest a little.

Shen Chen then had quarters arranged for Taishi Ci and the several horsemen. His original plan to head south to Xiangyang that day was also postponed. He returned to think over and write a letter, and prepared some other items to send back to Liu Bei with Taishi Ci.

Today, I'll start with six chapters and twenty thousand characters. I'm a bit overwhelmed. What is worse, in a couple of days a friend is getting married, and I still have to attend the wedding. I will do my best to keep the updates at ten thousand characters a day. Everyone, rest assured: unless I suddenly drop dead, there will absolutely be no interruption in the updates.

The End of this Chapter.