Chapter 4

Compared to Yuan Shao's ambitious aspirations, Fei Qian is truly the best example of someone who just gets by.

Fei Qian felt that in this highly pressurized Three Kingdoms era, with countless formidable figures taking turns to make their mark, each leading the trend, he had neither the martial prowess nor the intellect to compete. What could he possibly use to match them?

Therefore, it would be more practical and less risky to find a powerful patron to firmly cling to.

However, before doing so, there were a few things to consider first.

Fei Qian dipped his finger in the tea on the table and began to draw, not using ink, so he could simply wipe it away later to avoid being seen.

Influenced by many classic TV dramas from the future, Fei Qian was quite good at keeping secrets and being meticulous, as many secrets are often revealed in the details. If his secret were to be exposed, who knows if he would be considered a demon and dismembered?

Fei Qian roughly drew the outline of the Han dynasty map based on his memory.

The thirteen provinces of the Eastern Han: Yongzhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Jizhou, Youzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yizhou, and Jiaozhou.

Fei Qian first crossed out Liangzhou and Youzhou, then erased Yizhou and Jiaozhou. Liangzhou bordered the Qiang and Xiongnu, and had been suffering for years, making it unsuitable; Youzhou was frequently raided by the Hu and Xianbei, similar to the Japanese in the future, although Gongsun Zan could still control them for now, he would soon be killed by Yuan Shao, making it unreliable; Jiaozhou was still the territory of the Southern Yue, with its hot and humid climate and numerous insects, and there were no insecticides in this era; Yizhou might be nice, but to enter Shu, one had to climb the difficult栈道, and from Luoyang to Chengdu, there were no planes, trains, or cars, only two legs, so he decided against it...

Bingzhou was also out of the question. When Dong Zhuo came to the capital, he killed the leader of the Bingzhou warlords, Ding Yuan, and the Bingzhou army followed Lu Bu in exile, leaving the province without a military defense for a long time, allowing the Xiongnu to come and go as they pleased... Crossed out, crossed out.

Qingzhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, and Jizhou... These four provinces were the most severely affected by the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Even now, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, and Jizhou still had remnants of the Yellow Turban forces, and Fei Qian remembered that these four provinces had the most frequent wars, almost depopulating the regions, as described by Cao Cao's "No rooster crows for a thousand miles."

That left only Xuzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou. Fei Qian rubbed his chin in thought. If he went to Xuzhou, he would have to move again before Cao Cao's father was killed, otherwise, even if he avoided Cao Cao's massacre, the internal strife between Lu Bu and Liu Bei would still cause many deaths. Too much trouble, Xuzhou was out.

Jingzhou, at least before the Battle of Red Cliffs, was still manageable, but after the battle, it was divided into three parts, with frequent changes of ownership and countless casualties...

Yangzhou, hmm, quite good. Although Sun Jian, the Little Tyrant, had a short life, the Eastern Wu was the last to surrender in the Three Kingdoms. As long as he wasn't caught up in the Battle of Red Cliffs, he could survive until Sun Hao's time without being conquered by Wei. Fei Qian heavily marked Yangzhou, that's it!

Having decided where to go, the next problem was to solve the issues of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, in other words, "money."

In the late Eastern Han, the wuzhu coin was still the main currency, but copper was expensive and scarce, unable to fully meet the trade needs. Therefore, cloth was often used as a general equivalent in the market. Gold and silver were rarely used by ordinary people, similar to large checks in the future, which had to be exchanged for copper coins at a silver shop to be useful.

Fei Qian counted on his fingers. He had bought two pieces of glassware and exchanged some gold and silver, but with the widespread wars in the Three Kingdoms, prices were bound to soar. How long would this gold and silver last?

If not, he could make a few more pieces of glassware and, upon arriving in Yangzhou, exchange them for money to start a shop or something similar.

Good, this was a path to avoid the world, and that was about it.

What if he wanted to participate in this chaotic battle?

Fei Qian wiped away the water stains on the table and wrote down three names: Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan. Other minor characters were not worth considering.

If he chose based on the winner, Cao Cao of Wei would be the best choice, but it would also be the hardest to survive in Wei. Cao Cao was naturally suspicious, and his subordinates were all cunning and intelligent. What could he, with neither martial prowess nor intellect, achieve? He might be sent to Xiliang as a county magistrate...

Sun Quan, who spent his whole life fighting against the local forces in Jiangdong, and even with his father and brother, they couldn't fully resolve the issue. He was often manipulated by the Jiangdong gentry, and the near-surrender at the Battle of Red Cliffs was the best proof. Could he, an outsider with no roots, compete with these local snakes?

Liu Bei... He could tolerate everything, but this tolerance was out of necessity. He wandered from place to place, and wherever he went, trouble followed. When he joined Gongsun Zan, he ate and drank at will and even poached Gongsun Zan's subordinates; when he joined Tao Qian, he occupied a large territory but couldn't hold it; when he joined Cao Cao, Cao Cao trusted him with troops, but he fled; when he joined Yuan Shao, he killed two of Yuan Shao's best generals; when he joined Liu Biao, he occupied Liu Biao's son's territory and refused to return it; when he joined Liu Zhang, he took both the territory and the troops...

Fei Qian maliciously recalled the irresponsible speculations on forums in the future: Is Liu Bei a celestial demon star, capable of overcoming everyone except himself...

Fei Qian's finger tapped on the three names, blurring the characters...

Forget it, if it can't be solved immediately, put it aside. The problem-solving method he brought from the future took effect. The question of which lord to join would be decided later...

Fei Qian suddenly felt hungry. Two meals a day were unreliable and made him hungry easily! He called out to the door, "Uncle Fu! Uncle Fu! Is there anything to eat? I'm hungry!" Uncle Fu was good in every way, but he was too stubborn. He insisted on always having some food ready in case Fei Qian got hungry, but he refused to change the two-meal system to three, no matter how much Fei Qian argued.

Eating is the most important thing. Regardless of Sun, Liu, or Cao, he had to eat first. Fei Qian sat cross-legged on the ground, supporting his cheek, thinking that Dong Zhuo must have received the imperial edict by now. Dong Zhuo was coming, and he needed to prepare to run.

Soon, Uncle Fu came in with a tray.

"By the way, there's one more thing," Fei Qian thought, "I need to convince Uncle Fu to come with me. I can't leave him behind..."

On a small hill outside the Dong Zhuo army camp in Mianchi, dozens of burly Xiliang soldiers surrounded the base of the hill, clearly guarding an important person on top.

A silk tent was set up on the flat top of the hill, open only to the east. A breeze blew, and through the silk, a figure could be faintly seen inside.

A white-robed scholar, with a broad sash and wide sleeves, knelt alone on a mat inside the tent. A wine pot and a few dishes were placed on a small table beside the mat, and the scholar was drinking alone.

He had a delicate face with a thin mustache, elegant and graceful, but his brows were slightly furrowed, as if troubled by something.

After a while, a low voice came from behind: "Brother Wenyou, what a refined taste!"

The white-robed scholar took a wine bowl, poured a bowl of wine, and said, "Come, Wenhe, let's drink a bowl together before we talk about anything else."

These two were the top strategists of the Xiliang army, Li Ru and Jia Xu.

Jia Xu took the wine bowl, sat down cross-legged, and drank it in one gulp. He placed the bowl on the table, poured another bowl without waiting for Li Ru to refill it, and smiled, "It's been three years since we last drank together, quite rare."

He glanced at Li Ru, who was kneeling properly, and said, "Hey, it's just the two of us here, no need to be so formal, right?"

Li Ru held the wine bowl steadily, drank slowly, and lowered his eyes, "I'm used to it, can't change. Do as you please, don't worry about me."

"Alright, alright, as you wish, as you wish." Jia Xu didn't insist, picked up a piece of beef with his hands, and chewed it.

Li Ru didn't mind Jia Xu's impolite behavior, as if he didn't see it, gently rolled up his sleeves, placed the wine bowl, and gazed eastward, his eyes gleaming with an indescribable light.

"Wenhe, it's only a hundred miles to Luoyang. I never thought I would return to Luoyang in my lifetime, but now I'm about to step foot there again."

Li Ru looked far into the distance, as if he could already see Luoyang, his voice calm but slightly trembling.

Jia Xu, who was about to pick up another piece of beef, paused, dropped it back onto the plate, and washed his greasy fingers in his wine bowl. He then drank it in one gulp and laughed, but his laugh was somewhat hoarse, "Yes, it's been over three hundred years, and we're finally back!"

"It's been three hundred and thirty-seven years..."

Jia Xu was stunned, speechless, "You... you remember that clearly, Wenyou?"

"How could I not? In these three hundred and thirty-seven years, we were driven to the desolate lands of Liang, living with the Qiang and Xiongnu, without grain to eat or a place to sleep, and we almost forgot how to wear these clothes..."

"Twenty years ago, my father and I came to Luoyang with a Hu merchant," Li Ru said slowly, "The city was tall and wide, prosperous and beautiful, almost like a paradise. I thought all the beauty in the world was gathered there... But I was wrong. In a moment of playfulness, I accidentally bumped into a market official, who, in the cold of winter, had us castrated and expelled from the market... Fortunately, a family took us in, or we would have frozen to death that night..."

Jia Xu was silent, put down his wine bowl, and slowly knelt properly, staring eastward with Li Ru, his eyes deep and dark, "When I was young, my father... had a food poisoning. We searched all the surrounding tribes but couldn't find any fine tea to help him. When people from Luoyang came, we knelt and begged for a little to save my father, but that person..."

"That person said," Jia Xu gripped the table edge tightly, took a deep breath, his fingers turning white, "How can we save these evil barbarians... Ha, ha, hah, we were considered evil barbarians, only fit to die..."

The two were silent for a long time.

"Brother Wenyou, in my opinion, this is not a good opportunity. Moreover, Dong Zhongying, although bold and passionate, is not a good lord to unify the world..."

"I know," Li Ru said calmly, "But time is not on our side. In my father's time, there were still dozens of wise people among us, but now, how many can carry on? Two hundred years ago, we lost once, but we forced them to move the capital to Luoyang. Even if I lose again now, what does it matter?"

Li Ru poured a bowl of wine, drank it, and threw the bowl, shattering it against the rocks: "If I can, I will take it; if I can't, I will disrupt it!"