Chapter 49: Miraculous Skill?
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“Who exactly is this Ding Yuan?”
Wang Rou sighed and inquired further. He had never even heard the name of the colleague who was about to take office in his home.
“Ding Yuan is from Nancheng County in Taishan Commandery, in present-day Shandong.
“He was originally nothing more than a minor county clerk. Heaven alone knows what connections he used, but somehow he rose to the skies in a single bound, won the Grand General’s favor, and was transferred to serve as Inspector of Bingzhou.”
“One of the Grand General’s men?” Wang Rou frowned. Even from beyond the frontier, he had heard of the conflict between the Grand General and the eunuchs. With a trusted man of the Grand General suddenly being parachuted in, he truly could not tell which way the wind would blow.
“Yes, but that is a good thing. Ding Yuan has no foundation whatsoever in Bingzhou. If he wants to accomplish anything, he will have no choice but to rely on our Wang family.
“Once you return home, Brother, take the opportunity to befriend him. If he governs Bingzhou well and manages to quell this Xiongnu rebellion, everyone will be delighted. You will have contributed to his success, and your past failures will be balanced out. Your future should then be secure.
“If he cannot govern Bingzhou, any trouble that follows will have nothing to do with you. You can simply sit comfortably at home. Who could possibly do anything to you?”
“You think he can actually govern Bingzhou?” Wang Rou asked skeptically.
He was not some hot-blooded young man. He would never believe that a newly appointed official could cure Bingzhou’s ills. Anyone who thought that would have to be hopelessly naïve.
Sure enough, Wang Ze shook his head.
“No. I fear the Great Han is already terminally ill, beyond all remedy. That is why the first thing you ought to do, Brother, is return home, gather the clansmen, and build fortifications and stockades in preparation for the upheavals of these troubled times. An official without troops or authority is hardly worth holding.”
By the final years of the Later Han, abandoning office and fleeing whenever trouble arose had become commonplace. At that time, the great families with deep reserves began to value a return to their local strongholds over momentary standing in officialdom. They built fortresses and stockades, placed their clans first, and made preparations in advance in the hope of surviving the perilous chaos that lay ahead.
“Very well. Then this old man shall return to Jinyang first.”
“Consider it done. I shall not be returning to Jinyang. I fear I will have to trouble the commandery governor here for a while.”
The Office of the Governor of Henei.
Wang Kuang, Governor of Henei; Ding Yuan, Inspector of Bingzhou; and Wang Yun, the former Inspector of Yuzhou, who had been stranded there, sat facing one another.
It turned out that before Ding Yuan had set out to take office, he had already received orders to station troops in Henei. He was to guard against the White Wave Army, which was ravaging Hedong Commandery to the west, and protect the imperial capital in case they moved south.
Thus, upon arriving in Henei, his first act had been to pay a visit to the local governor.
“Inspector Ding, you may rest assured. Since this is the Grand General’s command, I shall do everything in my power to assist you in carrying out your mission here,” Wang Kuang said readily.
“However, I have heard that the White Wave Army numbers some hundred thousand men. How many troops have you brought with you, Inspector?”
At those words, Ding Yuan’s aged face flushed scarlet. After a long silence, he finally forced out a single answer.
“Five hundred.”
“What?!”
Wang Kuang was stunned, and even Wang Yun’s hand trembled as he raised his cup.
“Five hundred? With so few men, Jianyang”—Ding Yuan’s courtesy name—“you truly have taken on a poisoned chalice.”
How could Ding Yuan not know that? But what choice did he have?
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“If the court still had troops it could use, it would hardly have been necessary for every province and commandery to recruit soldiers for self-defense.” Ding Yuan was not entirely without hope, however. “I have already ordered each of Bingzhou’s nine commanderies to send another five hundred men. Once the disturbances in Taiyuan have been put down and the roads are open again, they will assemble here.
“By then I shall have five thousand men. If Governor Wang permits me to recruit a few more soldiers here, I believe that even if we lack the strength to advance, we will have more than enough to hold our ground. Completing the court’s task should present no difficulty.”
“I fear your numbers may have to be reduced somewhat, Inspector Ding.”
Wang Yun handed him several letters.
“These are reports from Taiyuan. Xihe and Shang Commanderies have already fallen into the hands of the Hu, while enemy activity has also been reported in Shuofang and Wuyuan. Those capable of responding to your order may now number only five commanderies.”
“This... The situation in Bingzhou has deteriorated to such an extent?”
Ding Yuan clenched his fists. He had known Bingzhou was in dire straits, but this was several times worse than the information he had received when reporting for duty just days earlier.
“There is not a complete lack of good news,” Wang Yun said slowly, cupping his hands.
“The disturbances in Taiyuan have already been quelled. I must also congratulate you, Jianyang, on discovering an extraordinary young hero.”
“A young hero?”
Ding Yuan froze for a moment, then immediately understood.
Wang Yun was recommending someone to him.
That made sense. Ding Yuan had only just taken office and knew no one here. Whoever he had discovered must surely be a young member of the Wang family.
Though Ding Yuan himself had risen from humble origins to become Inspector of Bingzhou, he had no intention of offending the local great families. Their dignity had to be respected.
Still, he had not expected even the renowned Wang Zishi to be unable to escape such vulgar customs.
“Which young member of the Wang family is it? Zishi, speak freely. I will have someone summon him to the inspector’s office at once.”
Wang Yun chuckled.
“You misunderstand, Jianyang. This young man is not my kinsman. He is a youth from Qi County, currently serving in the Bingzhou army as a squad captain.”
Indeed, without Su Yao’s knowledge, his lack of official registration had been resolved naturally before it could cause him any trouble.
Su Yao was now a fully legitimate commoner of Qi County. Such was the power of the great families.
“A squad captain in the Bingzhou army?”
Ding Yuan took the document Wang Yun handed him and glanced over it before crying out in surprise.
“Good heavens! He was jointly recommended by the Wang family of Qi County and the three elders of the local district? Su Yao, not yet twenty? This fellow certainly has powerful patrons.”
“It is not a matter of powerful patrons.”
Wang Yun shook his head, his expression complicated.
“It is because this young man’s military achievements are extraordinary. What he has done is beyond the capability of an ordinary person.”
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“That is high praise indeed, Inspector.”
Wang Kuang was curious as well.
“What can a mere squad captain accomplish?”
Indeed. A squad captain commanded no more than fifty men. What could he possibly have done amid this chaos?
Wang Yun, known as Wang Zishi, was no ordinary man. Though he had now been stripped of office and dismissed, that was precisely because of his proud and unyielding character. He had been willing to stake his entire career and future against the eunuch faction, and that was what had brought him to this pass.
Before that, he had risen through the ranks from the lowest local offices in Bingzhou, eventually serving at the central court. During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he had accepted his assignment in a moment of crisis and been appointed Inspector of Yuzhou, personally taking the field to crush the Yellow Turban forces there.
A man like that was not one to offer even a polite compliment without good reason. Yet here he was, praising some unknown young squad captain so highly.
Ding Yuan’s expression grew deeply suspicious.
“You should read the reports yourself, Jianyang,” Wang Yun said.
After handing over the final documents, he closed his eyes and fell silent.
Had he not repeatedly confirmed that the handwriting truly belonged to his clan elder, he would have dismissed this recommendation as absurd nonsense.
How could anything so outrageous possibly be true?
“More than eighty men seized Reed Reed Fort by storm?!”
“Fewer than a single squad annihilated three thousand Hu cavalry?!”
“By his own efforts, he slew the enemy commander, captured the standard, broke the formation, led the assault, and was first over the walls?!”
“Wang Zishi! Do you dare stake your name on the contents of this document?”
To stake one’s name meant to guarantee its truth with one’s own reputation.
After reading the reports, Ding Yuan’s face flushed, while Wang Kuang covered his lips and said nothing. Had Wang Yun not personally delivered them, they would have taken the whole thing for a rather unfunny story.
Even so, believing such outrageous claims was extraordinarily difficult.
Would Wang Yun stake his name on them?
Of course not. Without witnessing the matter himself, how could he risk his reputation over such an astonishing account?
“If what my clan elder has said is accurate, then the official request for commendation and the detailed battle report from your inspector’s office should arrive within the next day or two. Jianyang will know the truth once you have seen them.”
With the matter thrown back into his hands, Ding Yuan could only solemnly promise to verify the circumstances and examine the reported achievements as soon as possible.
“If this young man named Su truly accomplished such extraordinary deeds, I shall recommend him to the court with all my strength. A rare prodigy like him is precisely what our Great Han needs at this moment!”
What he left unsaid was that if the matter proved false, it would be the greatest scandal imaginable. He could not afford to handle it carelessly.
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