Chapter 24

Sun Gan, also known as Sun Gongyou, was one of Liu Bei's early important advisors. However, his biography in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms" is so short that it's outrageous. It seems that apart from being sent to contact Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, he didn't do much else. It's estimated that he was just a "famous scholar" in name, mainly helping people by making connections, and because of this, although he wasn't very useful, Liu Bei still valued him.

From then on, Shi Xun started studying with Sun Gan. Sun Gan's reputation wasn't undeserved; whenever Shi Xun asked questions about the classics, Sun Gan could always answer them—though whether his answers were reliable was another matter. Through this, Shi Xun discovered two major flaws in the ancient scholars' study of the classics. First, there was no logic. It seemed that apart from using broad and abstract concepts like "benevolence" and "loyalty and reciprocity" to connect some parts, the rest were scattered and often contradictory. The Han scholars were completely unconcerned about this, focusing only on the text and punctuation, never considering the deeper connections between the sentences.

Actually, this flaw was left by Confucius himself: "The Book of Songs has three hundred poems, but they can all be summed up in one sentence..."—sum up your sister!

Second, they had a theory first and then conducted research, assuming that Confucius was always right and trying to prove it from his words, without considering the limitations of the times and the social environment. As a person from two thousand years later, Shi Xun had his own unique ideas, but he didn't dare to speak them—unless he became a great scholar, no one would listen, and if someone did, they would call him a heretic and throw stones at him.

Fortunately, Shi Xun didn't care. The study of classics was just a stepping stone for him to climb up. He didn't want to be Zheng Xuan, nor did he particularly want to be Sun Gan. Being a scholar in a chaotic world was just asking for trouble—better to be a guest of a powerful family!

Unfortunately, one couldn't have high hopes for the heavens. It was only the beginning of summer, and they had been studying for less than three months when Sun Gongyou had to leave the State of Beihai.

It turned out that after Shi Xun and his group returned from Mount Fuzheng and reported their miserable experience in Yingling, Kong Rong, Shi Yi, Wang Xiao, and Wang Xiu, among others, reorganized the defense of the state and quickly sent people to scout the area. For some reason, although they had obtained intelligence about Beihai from Wang Zhong, the Yellow Turbans showed no signs of a large-scale invasion. Instead, they moved from Langya through Tai'an, Jinan, and Pingyuan, heading straight for the Bohai Commandery in Ji Province.

Later, they received more accurate intelligence. It turned out that at the same time, the remnants of the Yellow Turbans from Heishan, led by Yu Du and Bai Rao, had also moved east from the Taihang Mountains—probably planning to meet up in Ji Province. Wang Xiu worriedly said, "The Yellow Turbans from Qing Province number three hundred thousand, and those from Heishan number over a hundred thousand. If they join forces, there will be no peace in the region east of the passes!"

Kong Rong, however, remained calm and reassured him, "Yuan Shao has just taken control of Ji Province. With his lineage as a descendant of four generations of high officials, does he fear the Yellow Turbans? With him in charge, you have nothing to worry about."

Later, when Shi Xun heard this, he rolled his eyes—what logical connection was there between being a descendant of four generations of high officials and being able to fight, or not fearing the Yellow Turbans? It seemed that Kong Rong was still a reactionary who believed in bloodline superiority!

However, the subsequent developments completely defied Kong Rong's expectations. After the Heishan Yellow Turbans left the Taihang Mountains, they did not advance deep into Ji Province—because Yuan Shao had deployed his troops at the border, with strict defenses—instead, they moved south and first attacked the poorly defended Wei Commandery, then crossed the Yellow River and entered the Dong Commandery in Yan Province. The governor of Dong Commandery, Wang Ge, unable to resist, sought help from Yuan Shao, who introduced him to a guest army led by Cao Cao, the acting General of Vigorous Valor. Cao Cao defeated the Heishan Yellow Turbans at Puyang, drove them back across the Yellow River, and then took over as the governor of Dong Commandery.

Yuan Shao continued to watch the remnants of the Heishan Yellow Turbans retreat to the Taihang Mountains, but the poor "descendant of four generations of high officials" was like a rat in a windbox, suffering from both sides. All his troops were used to defend against the Heishan Yellow Turbans, only to be attacked by Zhang Rao and Guan Hai, who led the Yellow Turbans from Qing Province straight to his base in Bohai, almost capturing his starting point, Nanpi.

Yuan Shao had no choice but to use Cao Cao, the acting General of Vigorous Valor, and then Gong Sunzan, the real General of Vigorous Valor, to seek help from You Beiping. Gong Sunzan led his troops into Bohai, killed Zhang Rao in Dongguang, drove away Guan Hai, and even pursued them into Pingyuan, leaving Liu Bei behind as the magistrate of Pingyuan, planting a thorn in Qing Province.

The Yellow Turbans from Qing Province were almost destroyed and had to retreat to the border between Pingyuan and Dong Commandery, where they were repeatedly pursued and exterminated by Cao Cao and Liu Bei. When Kong Rong and others heard this news, they celebrated, feeling that it wouldn't be long before Guan Hai was captured and Qing Province would be at peace.

For some reason, when Shi Xun heard this news, the face of the little maid, with her pouting red lips, suddenly appeared in his mind. If the Yellow Turbans were finished, the maid and her father would probably not escape—people of their rank would surely be wanted and pursued by the local authorities.

After the Yellow Turbans from Qing Province left Langya and were soon defeated, Sun Gan said goodbye to Shi Xun, saying, "Kong Rong has long wanted to invite Mr. Kangcheng to return home. Fortunately, the Yellow Turbans have dispersed, and the southern route is now clear, so he has ordered me to go to Langya to invite him. Once Mr. Kangcheng returns, I will definitely guide you into his school."

Shi Xun thanked him repeatedly. Being a disciple of Sun Gan was very different from being a disciple of Zheng Xuan. The former was like an ordinary university lecturer, while the latter was a towering figure in the academic world—or rather, the largest academic clique. With his reputation, it was likely that he would soon have the opportunity to become an official.

At this time, there were mainly three ways to become an official: the first was through hereditary succession, where officials of the rank of two thousand stones or higher could recommend their children to become court officials—Shi Yi was not of that rank, and even if he were, he had four living sons, so it would be a long time before it was his nephew's turn. Besides, entering the court at this time... with Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu, Wang Yun, and later Li Jue and Guo Si, none of them were easy to get along with, and one's head could be lost at any moment.

The second way was to be recommended as a filial and clean official and then summoned to the capital. On the one hand, as mentioned earlier, the capital was not peaceful, and the officials were all killers, so it was better not to go if one could avoid it. On the other hand, recommending filial and clean officials was the responsibility of local officials, so Shi Xun would have to flatter Kong Rong first. The third way was to respond to the summons of the county, commandery, state, or provincial government, become a subordinate official, and then be recommended to become a regular local official when the superior official was promoted—again, he would have to smooth things over with Kong Rong first.

Therefore, after his studies were put on hold, Shi Xun found various excuses not to return to Yingling and continued to stay in Ju County with Shi Yi, helping with daily work to find opportunities to approach Kong Rong again. Shi Yi was busy, and having a clever nephew rather than his incompetent young son, Jun, was a great help. Shi Xun was now capable of handling some official correspondence and had better arithmetic skills than most officials of the time, so he could handle simple calculations and bookkeeping without difficulty.

He also met Kong Rong a few times and presented him with some fragments of Tao Yuanming's poems that he had recalled and modified. Kong Rong clapped and praised, and it seemed that the emotional distance between them had narrowed. Sometimes, Shi Xun regretted not memorizing more of Tao Yuanming's poems when he had the chance. Why did he only appreciate them through various selections and not think to read the complete works?

Kong Rong was still busy recruiting troops and stockpiling supplies, as no one knew whether the Yellow Turbans from Qing Province would return to the heart of the province when they were in a desperate situation—after all, this was their home, and they were familiar with the terrain and had a good popular base. However, Kong Rong's strength was in education and school management, not in recruiting or training troops, which he found neither interesting nor to his taste, so he left this task to Shi Yi.

However, Shi Yi was also a novice. After half a year, he had only recruited four or five thousand men, and they were all poorly equipped—like a skilled housewife without ingredients, the limited resources of the state could not be entirely blamed on him. But when Shi Xun saw the men his uncle had recruited, most of them were leaning, shaking their legs, pouting, and looking around—clearly, they were all ruffians. Such people were only good for causing trouble; how could they fight in battle?

Moreover, Shi Yi had no idea how to train them. Although he went to the barracks almost every day to watch the soldiers drill, he couldn't tell if they were doing well, and six out of ten days, the soldiers found various excuses to skip drills—whether it was the sun being too strong, the rain, the day being inauspicious, or not sleeping well because of a disturbance in the camp...

Shi Xun almost fell over when he heard this—how could they be startled in their own country, right next to the capital? If they were taken out a few miles, they would all run away before even seeing the Yellow Turbans!

A significant reason for this was the lack of a capable general in the state. As the saying goes, "Without a capable general, Shi Yi is in charge of training the troops." The dozen or so middle and lower-ranking officers were all old soldiers who had been stationed in the area for a long time and had never been in battle. They were good at deceiving their superiors and fooling Shi Yi, and with them leading, how could the army have any fighting power? Shi Xun couldn't stand it and went to discuss with Kong Rong, suggesting that Taishi Ci, who was brave and had received his favor, be invited to help.

Kong Rong replied solemnly, "My help to Taishi Ci was because he had suffered in Youzhou and was known for his filial piety. However, can one expect repayment for a favor? He is from Donglai and has served as an official there. Inviting him here might offend Governor Cai. Besides, a general should be strategic, not just brave. Although Taishi Ci is known for his bravery, he may not be a capable general."

Shi Xun was so angry that he almost spat blood. It was true that a general should be strategic, not just brave, but on the one hand, based on his observations, Taishi Ci was not just brave; he was also intelligent. On the other hand... what the hell, the state didn't even have a brave man, let alone a strategic one! But from Kong Rong's expression, he read, "Old hands are wiser; you're young and inexperienced, you need to learn more from me." He could only seethe in silence and couldn't continue to persuade.

So, he stayed in the capital for another month, the more he thought about it, the more unreliable it seemed, and the more he felt afraid. Kong Rong had once been surrounded by the Yellow Turbans and was only saved by borrowing troops from Liu Bei. Who knew if history would repeat itself? If he continued to stay by Kong Rong's side, he might end up in a besieged city one day—Kong Rong, the great governor, might survive, but what about a small, unimportant person like him?

So, he decided not to have any illusions or hopes for the heavens—better to leave first.

He found another excuse, bid farewell to Kong Rong and Shi Yi, and hurriedly returned to Yingling. As soon as he entered the house, he heard his older brother, Shi Zhuo, and his younger brother, Shi Yu, arguing. One said, "Your sister!" The other emphasized the first word, "Your~ sister!"

Shi Xun felt a bit dizzy.

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