Chapter 23: The Lotus Falls

  "General Meng will guarantee the completion of the task." Zhang Ren said hesitantly, this was still his first time to hesitate when receiving an order.

  After Zhang Ren left, Xiao Furong walked forward and carefully asked: "Was it blown too much?"

  Liu Zhang smiled and said, "If not, Zhang Zhongjing would not have come. This official is going to withdraw the troops back to Chengdu. Miss Xiao can take your father to Fuling City for treatment, and I will leave half of the military doctors with you." Liu Zhang sighed as he spoke, "I only hope that Zhang Zhongjing can cure your father. If something unfortunate still happens, please accept my condolences, miss."

  "I know, thank you." After this night, Xiao Furen's mood had calmed down a lot.

  "Thanks, two words coming from your mouth, somehow it feels uncomfortable all over."

  Xiao Furong smiled and said, "Then I won't say anything, but you also shouldn't always bring up the pacification of Wuxi as an excuse. It's like you don't have any emotions at all. Can't we be friends? When it comes to making friends, I rely on my intuition. I think you're not a bad person. If you didn't look down on us mountain folk just because you're the Prefect, then I, Xiao Furong, will definitely consider you a friend."

  Liu Zhang looked at Xiao Fu Rong's restored bright and cheerful demeanor, also delighted, smiled: "Having Miss Xiao as a friend is my honor." As he spoke, his palm reached out towards Xiao Fu Rong's collar, Xiao Fu Rong was startled, Liu Zhang's action was the same as yesterday, but this time Xiao Fu Rong didn't dodge, only her heart thumping wildly for no reason.

  Liu Zhang patted the scattered leaves on Xiao Furen's collar, took out a silver ingot and stuffed it into her small bag, smiling: "In the future, don't make yourself look like a beggar, go buy some clothes in the city, or you'll be laughed at."

  Liu Zhang finished speaking and walked out of the big tent, Xiao Fu Rong was stunned for a while, only then did she realize that she had misunderstood Liu Zhang's meaning. She reached out to take out the cool silver coins, feeling a sense of loss in her heart for no reason. Remembering what Liu Zhang had said, she couldn't help but mutter: "Is it really better to pick one up on the streets of Chengdu?"

  From this moment on, Chengdu became Xiao Furan's yearning city.

  The large army returned to Chengdu, passing through Bazhou. The city's literary and martial officials came out to welcome them. Liu Zhang looked and saw that Fa Zheng and Wang Shuang were also among them. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Wang Shuang, Xiaozhi, how are you here?"

  Fa Zheng smiled and said, "I heard that the lord pursued the rebels to the Wuxi Man area. Originally, I came to advise the lord not to make a big move against the Wuxi Man, which would result in loss of soldiers and generals, and also create enmity with the barbarians. Unexpectedly, as soon as I arrived at Bajun, I heard that the lord had defeated the rebels and pacified the Wuxi Man, returning triumphantly. I am ashamed."

  Liu Zhang smiled and said: "Alright, although the great calamity in Yi Province has been eliminated, the situation is still unstable. You are by my side as officials, and I can also ask for your advice when I encounter difficulties."

  Fa Zheng listened to Liu Zhang's words and walked forward, saying in a low voice: "Your Excellency, there is currently a difficult situation. When we arrived at Ba Prefecture, apart from hearing the news of your victory and triumphant return, we also saw a phenomenon - although Zhao Wei has been destroyed, the politics of southern Shu are almost entirely controlled by the large families of southern Shu, and government orders cannot be carried out. Local officials pretend to obey but secretly disobey. Your Excellency sent Yan Yan to comfort Jiangzhou, but General Yan is after all a military man, and it's easy for him to discipline the troops. However, these local officials just go through the motions in response, and General Yan has no way to deal with them."

  Liu Zhang frowned: "How are they being hypocritical?"

  Fa Zhengdao said: "I and Wang Shuzao went on an undercover inspection to Jiangzhou, where we found that the local officials from the aristocratic families not only oppressed other low-ranking officials but also embezzled taxes owed to the imperial court, falsified financial reports, arbitrarily appointed their family members to official positions, misused government funds, and bent the law for personal gain, almost to the point of having complete control."

  General Yan stationed his army in Jiangzhou and ordered the prefectural treasury to report on the money taxes. The prefectural treasury official actually handed over three baskets of bamboo slips to General Yan. Not to mention that General Yan was a military man, even we civil officials couldn't make sense of those accounts in a short time.

  General Yan wanted to investigate the former rebels who had colluded with Zhao Wei. The head of the Zhang family, a prominent clan, retorted that as the Eastern Expeditionary General, Zhao Wei had fought battles in the south and north, and if anyone was accused of collusion, then all officials in southern Shu would be considered rebels. Moreover, General Yan himself, being the Governor of Ba Prefecture, would be the most guilty rebel of all. If he wanted to investigate the crime of rebellion, he should start by executing himself first...

  Fa Zheng was speaking fluently, but Liu Zhang's face had already turned iron-green. It seemed that southern Shu had long been under the control of Zhao. Liu Zhang tightly grasped his sword, his eyes flashing with cold light. Fa Zheng saw Liu Zhang's expression and his heart skipped a beat; he could no longer speak, knowing that his lord was about to kill someone.

  However, the big clans in southern Shu are intertwined and involve too many people. The stability of governance and the expectations of the people depend on the reputation of the lord. In today's great Han dynasty, with numerous scholar-officials, how can one achieve greatness by simply killing off the scholars?

  Fa Zheng feared that Liu Zhang would indeed become enraged, and immediately said: "My lord, I have a plan. We can punish the unruly officials in the region while also winning over the hearts of the people in southern Shu."

  Liu Zhang slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, his complexion calming down, and waved his hand at Fa Zheng: "Don't say so much for now, let me do something, we'll go to Jiangzhou together."

  Liu Zhang summoned Zhang Ren and gave him a few instructions. Zhang Ren's face suddenly turned ugly, and he called over a group of soldiers who had been handpicked earlier. With a nod, the soldiers headed towards the city of Ba. Fa Zheng looked at Zhang Ren's expression and saw that the soldiers were carrying drums and cymbals, which made him very curious. He asked Liu Zhang, but Liu Zhang just smiled slightly.

  "Hush, hush, hush."

  A group of soldiers entered Bazhou and beat drums, the city of Bazhou was filled with the sound of drums for a while. The people came out to watch, thinking that it was the triumphant return of the great army, showing off the prestige of the provincial governor. But unexpectedly, a general with a loud voice stood on the high platform and shouted:

  "Gentlemen, ladies, listen up! In Wuxi, there's a divine doctor named Aguda. This time, our governor led the army to suppress the rebellion of the Zhao family in the barbarian mountains, beheading over ten rebel generals. However, he was unfortunately shot by arrows and hit by over ten arrows, cut by more than twenty knives, and fell off a cliff thousands of feet high."

  Let me tell you, our Governor is blessed by heaven and has received the emperor's favor to govern Yizhou. He survived a great disaster and was rescued by the divine doctor Aguada. You can guess how it happened - in just one night, he recovered... Look at that old lady, she clearly doesn't believe it. I'm telling you, Aguada's method of treating injuries is not something ordinary people know about. What's the use of talking about Hua Tuo's sacred hands or Zhang Zhongjing's famous medicine? They can't even compare to him.

  "Hey, don't pout, little girl. Do you know how to transfuse blood? The county magistrate has lost too much blood and is about to meet his maker. But then Aguda, the divine doctor, calmly and composedly inserted one tube into his own wrist and another into the county magistrate's wrist, and blood flowed gurgling into the latter's body..."

  After General Da Sheng's wonderful speech, the people applauded and whispered to each other. The other soldiers were scattered on the streets, explaining individually, with saliva flying everywhere. The young masters and ladies, old men and women listened with great interest. A soldier who had learned "Lian Hua Luo" (a type of fast-paced storytelling) took out a set of bamboo slips, gave a crisp knock, and began to sing with flying eyebrows and dancing colors:

  Good grief!

  Bamboo clappers, this is a dozen, others are not bragging.

  Let's just say that in this Wuxi Manchu area, a divine doctor named Aguada (Da) emerged.

  His left hand holds medicinal herbs, his right hand holds healing flowers.

  With a small needle, dare to sew the governor of the province.

  He can't recognize a single character, his brain is uncultured.

  Upper body wears animal skin, lower body has no pants.

  Exuding an aura of divinity all over, his medical skills are exceptionally brilliant and unparalleled.

  The patient recovered and asked in a hurry, "What's for dinner today?"

  ，！