Chapter 6

When Afei first arrived in this era, he had very limited knowledge of the local customs and people. However, to be fair, the original owner of this body, a true thirteen-year-old boy who had never left the mountain village, probably knew even less. So when he panicked and shouted out the name "Lord Zhang," he later realized that this sentence almost led him to his doom.

Regardless of whether what Old Wang from next door said was true, whether they were really the tenants of the county magistrate's clan, Lord Zhang was a prominent figure in the county. Why would he personally come to a poor mountain village to meet his tenants? And even if he recognized his tenants, what obligation did he have to vouch for them? He could simply say, "I don't know them," and the soldiers would behead these two "Eastern Yi spies" on the spot as a warning to others.

Fortunately, it wasn't necessary for Lord Zhang to step in. A county constable came forward to vouch for them: "They are indeed tenant farmers from the poor valley in the west of the city. I recognize them."

It turned out that the place they lived in was called "poor valley," a name that truly matched its reality, as poor as it could be. Under the pressure of the soldiers, Afei managed to lift his head and glance at the constable, and indeed, there was a vague memory of him in his mind.

Although their family was a tenant, they didn't have to pay rent directly to the imperial court; all the rent went to the landowner, Lord Zhang. As for whether Lord Zhang paid taxes to the state, no one knew. However, their family still had to pay the poll tax, which was a head tax. So the county constable had visited the poor valley a couple of times—poll tax was collected annually, but given how poor the place was, not even a single copper coin could be squeezed out, so even the constable was reluctant to make the trip.

The reason Afei still had some memory of the constable was that after a futile trip, the constable, in a moment of confusion, had his eye on Old Wang's old dog. But when he swung a stick, he missed the dog and was instead attacked by Afei's command, with the hunting dog biting his thigh. Fortunately, Old Wang's dog was too old, probably not much younger than Old Wang himself, and its teeth were almost all gone, so it didn't really hurt the constable. In the end, Old Wang had to hand over two rabbit skins to apologize.

So when the constable, without any coercion or urging, came forward to vouch for them, Afei felt a warm current in his heart: "There are still good people in this world... If it were me, I would have insisted that these two are definitely Eastern Yi spies after they dared to let the dog bite me!"

But then he heard the constable say, "The older one is indeed Han, but the younger one is Yi. To be safe, it's best to execute them both."

Damn, this guy is really not to be praised, and his revenge is too harsh! Afei quickly shouted, "My family has been farming in the county for seven generations. We only know ourselves as subjects of the Han, and we don't know anything about the Yi! Please, Your Excellency, see the truth and spare me. Though I am young, I am willing to help defend the county and fight against the Yi invaders!"

"You, boy," Shi Gongzi slightly bowed and looked at Afei's face, "Have you ever studied with someone?"

In an era where information was extremely limited, it was actually quite easy to make up lies. Afei knew that his speech was a bit unlike that of a true poor country boy—would a poor boy care about the era name or use terms like "subject of the Han"?—but he had already noticed that Shi Gongzi was quite curious about him. If he didn't say this, he wouldn't be able to further pique Shi Gongzi's curiosity, and he might be beheaded in an instant.

The lie was already prepared on the way to the county office. He hastily replied, "When I was ten, I went into the forest to gather firewood and met an old man who was about to freeze to death. I saved his life. That night, I dreamed that the old man gave me several books to read. When I woke up, I could recognize some characters and speak more eloquently."

Shi Gongzi showed a mocking smile, "I don't believe it."

You don't believe it, that's good! Afei knew that it was hard to make up a completely baseless story, especially with Old Wang from next door, who had seen him grow up, nearby. If he said something like a scholar had passed by and taught him to read and write on a whim, and Old Wang (who was definitely a bit dim) questioned it, that would be a big problem. So he decided to make up a legendary story that no one could verify or believe. Shi Gongzi would definitely not believe it, and if he didn't believe it, he would ask more questions, but with the Yi invaders approaching, he wouldn't have time to do so, thus temporarily saving Afei's life.

As expected, Shi Gongzi did not continue to question him but turned to urge the county magistrate to entrust him with the command of the county's troops. The county magistrate had no choice; he neither dared to flee nor wanted to die, so he wrote a few words, agreeing to Shi Gongzi's request.

Shi Gongzi then ordered the soldiers to release Afei and Old Wang, and had them follow him. They quickly arrived at a large house, and over twenty strong men rushed out—probably the able-bodied men from the family's warehouse in the county. He ordered these men to rouse the citizens within the city and block the east, west, and south gates with wood and stones. After completing the task, they were to guard the three gates, and then he turned back to the county office.

At this point, according to his instructions, the county soldiers had already gathered in front of the office. About 70% of them were around fifty years old, and 30% were younger than Afei. They all had sunken chests, flat bellies, and were as thin as skeletons, trembling with fear. Shi Gongzi shook his head repeatedly and asked the county magistrate to open the warehouse to gather the weapons. There were only about ten spears, two swords, one shield, three bows, and two quivers of arrows, most of which were rusty. Finally, the county magistrate took off his own long sword and gave it to Shi Gongzi.

Shi Gongzi had no choice but to distribute these shabby weapons. Afei watched and saw that the prince originally had a confident and ambitious look, as if he believed that with his command, he could defeat the Yi invaders in one battle and gain fame. But soon, this expression disappeared, replaced by helplessness, frustration, and confusion, and finally, a deep sense of tragedy.

While observing, Afei suddenly felt Shi Gongzi turn to look at him, "I saw you holding a deer skin earlier. Where did it go?" Afei smiled bitterly, "I don't know which soldier took it." Come on, when he was pressed to the ground by the soldiers, he felt several hands searching his clothes. Although they didn't find any money, could the deer skin he was holding have escaped?

"Did you hunt that deer? What weapons do you know?" Shi Gongzi asked.

"I can use a bow and arrow," Afei replied.

"Very good," Shi Gongzi picked up a bow and handed seven arrows to Afei.

Shi Gongzi led the soldiers and Afei to the north gate of the city. On the way, he asked Afei's name, and Afei reported it, saying he had no surname—whether his parents had forgotten their family name or whether his ethnic group had not yet developed surnames, only heaven knew.

Afei also tried to get information from Shi Gongzi. After much effort, he found out that the place he was in was indeed the Korean Peninsula. This was the easternmost county of the Eastern Han Dynasty—Lelang County, where Han and Yi people lived together. There were over ten counties in the county, and the county seat was called Chosun, which was probably the modern-day Pyongyang. The current governor, like the county magistrate, was surnamed Zhang. Shi Gongzi's father had once served as a postal inspector under his appointment and had just resigned, but he still had considerable prestige in the entire county.

They soon arrived at the north gate. Shi Gongzi assigned the soldiers to defend the city and kept Afei and Old Wang by his side. Although Afei knew nothing about war, he had at least read some ancient texts. From his limited knowledge, it seemed that Shi Gongzi was quite knowledgeable about military strategy and had assigned tasks in an orderly manner.

It was not yet dark when the Yi invaders arrived. According to Shi Gongzi, these invaders were not from Fuyu or Huimo, but from Goguryeo. Goguryeo was fundamentally different from other Yi tribes in that it had an organized government and was officially recognized by the Han Dynasty as a vassal state. The current king of Goguryeo was named Bokgu.

Afei remembered reading in a book that Goguryeo had been continuously invading the northeastern counties since the reign of Emperor Huan, and only temporarily submitted when the Gongsun clan dominated Liaodong. However, they later helped the Cao Wei dynasty to defeat the Gongsun clan and then rebelled against Cao Wei, suffering a major defeat at the hands of Wang Qian. Of course, at that time, it was probably not Bokgu who was the king, but his son or grandson, which Afei couldn't remember.

The Goguryeo troops that arrived were not as numerous as the "tens of thousands" claimed; in total, there were only a few thousand, just a few dozen times more than the city's defenders. Moreover, they were all armored, and nearly half were cavalry. Their lances were generally short, only about three meters long, not reaching the length of a zhang (ten feet).

Afei, standing on the city wall, saw them from a distance and felt his legs start to tremble. He wanted to lean against the wall to change his posture, but first his left foot, then his right foot, began to shake, creating a domino effect. First, his feet shook, then his calves, then his thighs, and finally his waist. By the time his teeth started to chatter, Shi Gongzi finally noticed.

"Scared?" Shi Gongzi smiled at him calmly.

Afei couldn't speak, so he just nodded—perhaps it was just his chin trembling.

"You have a sage who protects you in your dreams, so you won't be in danger, right?" The mocking look in Shi Gongzi's eyes grew stronger, "Are you sure we can't win this battle?"

"The Art of War says, 'If you are five times the enemy's strength, you can encircle them; if you are ten times their strength, you can attack them...'" Afei felt his heart pounding wildly, estimating his heart rate was already over 180 beats per minute and heading towards 200. He wondered if he would die of fear before the Goguryeo soldiers could kill him.

"You've even read the Art of War," Shi Gongzi sneered, "But at least you can still stand."

Afei glanced around and saw that almost all the soldiers, including Old Wang, had collapsed on the ground. He also had the urge to collapse, but his knees were trembling so violently that he couldn't bend them.

Shi Gongzi, however, remained calm. He looked down at the city and suddenly stomped his foot, "Alright, open the gate and go out to fight!"