Chapter 4: He Was Seen Through

Wei Yan was very displeased with Zhao Shaojie’s manner. He could not help but ask, “My lord, Zhao Shaojie says he does not know how his father became acquainted with you. Is he truly the son of your old friend?”

Liu Bei thought to himself, So his family name is Zhao, and his courtesy name is Shaojie. Yet on his face there was no hint of joy or anger as he said calmly, “His father was a wandering hero I met when I was studying in Luoyang.”

When Wei Yan heard this, he was stunned. At the time Liu Bei had studied in Luoyang, he himself might not even have been born yet.

“I see,” Wei Yan said with a sigh. “He really is a descendant of your old friend.”

Liu Bei paid no mind to Wei Yan’s emotion and went to Zhao Shaojie’s room.

Zhao Shaojie had eaten and drunk his fill, so naturally he had sprawled out to rest, legs crossed, idly thinking nonsense as he prepared to sleep.

Liu Bei pushed the door open and came in. Glancing at Zhao Shaojie, he asked directly, “What is your given name?”

Zhao Shaojie instinctively frowned. “Why are you barging in without knocking? That is very rude, you know.”

Liu Bei’s gaze sharpened.

Only then did Zhao Shaojie recognize who had come in, and a pulse of danger shot through him. He gave an awkward smile. “Uncle, it is different in our later age. My name is just Shaojie. We no longer use courtesy names.” Then he hurried over and sat down across from Liu Bei.

Liu Bei was momentarily dazed. “You do not use courtesy names? You simply call one another by name?”

Zhao Shaojie laughed. “That is all too troublesome. In later times, efficiency comes first. We do the most with the least effort! Besides, this is all feudal culture, a tool used by the ruling class to suppress, discriminate against, and divide the poor!”

Liu Bei frowned. He did not understand, but for the moment he was too lazy to probe further and instead asked, “You said Cao Cao marched south, Liu Cong surrendered, I suffered defeat, and yet in the end I turned peril into fortune and came to possess Yi Province and Jing Province. How exactly did that happen?”

Now Zhao Shaojie was a little reluctant to speak. After all, once he said it, he would no longer be worth much.

But if he did not speak, then what value did he have?

Since he had already placed his bet on Liu Bei’s character, he could only continue to gamble. At once he said, “You allied with Sun Quan of Eastern Wu, and you and Zhou Yu defeated Cao Cao’s army at Red Cliffs!”

Liu Bei gave a slight nod, then suddenly frowned again. “Did you not say earlier that Eastern Wu defeated me and left me to die in despondency?”

That piqued Zhao Shaojie’s interest. Slapping the table, he said, “That is exactly the problem. Zhuge Liang was clever, but he underestimated Sun Quan far too much. He treated Sun Quan as an ally, but Sun Quan treated you as a shield.”

“As soon as your strength showed signs of surpassing Sun Quan’s, he would immediately break the alliance and come attack you!”

“Honestly, I look down on Sun Quan a great deal. Whenever I play games, I always behead Sun Quan first! Then I marry Bu Lianshi, and Daqiao…”

“Ahem, in short, you must be very wary of Sun Quan!”

Although Liu Bei did not understand part of what he said, he roughly grasped Sun Quan’s temperament and nodded. “Be wary of Sun Zhongmou? I understand.” After thinking it over, he added, “Kongming wants me to attack Liu, the governor of Jingzhou. What do you think?”

Zhao Shaojie was immediately dumbfounded. You are asking me?

When I play Three Kingdoms games, I just use cheats and brute force my way through, but this is not a Three Kingdoms game.

He frowned and considered it before saying, “Liu Biao is still alive now, and he still has prestige. Can you defeat him?”

“Your reputation for benevolence and righteousness is known throughout the Han realm. If you suddenly attack Liu Biao, you will ruin that, and no one will believe in your benevolence anymore. Moreover, do you have the confidence to occupy all of Jingzhou before the end of next year? By then, Cao Cao will probably have marched south.”

“Of course, most importantly, if you sell off your name for benevolence and righteousness this time, then even if you succeed in taking Liu Biao by surprise, Liu Zhang will not invite you into Yi Province. By then Yi Province will be much harder to take. Still, Liu Zhang and his people are soft targets, with only one or two hard bones among them. If you force the issue, you can still take it!”

Though Zhao Shaojie’s words were somewhat disorganized, Liu Bei understood the gist.

One year. Could he truly seize all of Jingzhou in that time?

If he attacked Liu Biao, Liu Zhang might not invite him into Yi Province, and taking Yi Province would become troublesome.

What struck most painfully was that his name for benevolence and righteousness was actually meant to make others trust him, invite him into their very heartland, and then let him strike by surprise.

Liu Bei felt a violent ache in his heart, as though the Han itself had perished.

“So my reputation for benevolence and righteousness can be used in this way?” he murmured, his expression turning complicated beyond words.

Yet Zhao Shaojie smiled and said, “It is fine, Lord Liu. You are both descendants of the Liu clan. If they could obtain the office of regional governor and carve out a domain of their own, that was already a blessing from their ancestors. What is wrong with you making use of that for the sake of the Liu family’s realm?”

“Besides, I believe in you. If you truly succeed in restoring the Han, you will certainly ennoble the descendants of Liu Zhang and Liu Biao as hereditary princes!”

“That is still better than having their lands seized by Cao Cao.”

“Even if you fail, you will not have wronged them. In troubled times, the strong devour the weak, and one must use any means necessary!”

“That is not so!” Liu Bei shook his head firmly. “To do things in such a manner is truly, truly hard for me to accept…” He paused, then went on, “I see you had many concerns earlier. Since you are willing to trust me, willing to entrust your happiness to me, I will not fail you!”

“To put your mind at ease, I will ask about what happens after Cao Cao is defeated at Red Cliffs only after the battle is over. And furthermore, I will betroth my eldest daughter, Liu Ming, to you!”

Zhao Shaojie, who had been ready to mock Liu Bei, immediately froze.

Liu Bei was planning to have him explain the later events in stages, and Liu Bei had seen through every bit of his thoughts?

And he was going to marry his daughter to him?

After a brief moment of shock, Zhao Shaojie stammered, unable to agree. After all, he had seen Liu Ming and thought she was just a little girl. He waved a hand. “No need. That would be illegal in our time!”

“Hm?” Liu Bei was puzzled.

Zhao Shaojie explained, “If you are not yet eighteen, you are not an adult, and you cannot marry.”

Liu Bei said, “Since you have come to this age, you must follow the customs of this age.”

Seeing Liu Bei’s unyielding expression and the sincerity he had shown, Zhao Shaojie hurriedly said, “Yes, yes. I am just afraid that if I fall asleep suddenly, I might return to the later world.”

“Then we will speak of it again!” Liu Bei said with a wave of his hand, rising to leave.

Zhao Shaojie watched Liu Bei’s retreating figure and grinned. For the moment, he was fairly satisfied with the situation. Liu Bei had given him a very real assurance. Swaying his head, he muttered, “Hah, good thing I don’t think I’m smarter than the ancients just because I can recite the periodic table. Otherwise, with my own shallow cunning, I’d probably be sold and not even know it!”

He had also gained a new respect for the subtlety of ancient men.

The next day, Zhao Shaojie woke and found that he had not been sent back through time. He was just about to complain when he suddenly noticed that a maid was already waiting in the room.

“Young master is awake. My lord is waiting for you to dine,” the maid asked.