[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-overthrowing-han":3,"chapter-overthrowing-han-overthrowing-han-chapter-195":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Overthrowing Han",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1222954,1620,"Chapter 195","overthrowing-han-chapter-195",195,"\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun, carrying a hint of wine, walked slowly to the rear courtyard — it was hard to tell if he was truly drunk or merely feigning it — and saw his wife, from whom he had long been parted, sitting on a railing under the eaves, gazing up at the stars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A-Yun is in fine spirits,\" Gongsun Xun said as he strolled over, waving away the maidservant standing behind his wife, then bending down to wrap his arms around her. \"The summer breeze is gentle, the River of Stars is bright and clear — truly beautiful.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without turning her head, Zhao Yun kept her eyes fixed on the Silver River above and said frankly, \"I am not gazing at the bright Silver River, but at two particular stars within it…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let me guess,\" Gongsun Xun said, sitting down sideways beside his wife and teasing her. \"Could it be the Herd Boy and the Weaver Girl?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tale of the Herd Boy Star and the Weaver Girl Star had its embryonic form as early as the Book of Songs, and by this time the story was already fully developed — essentially personifying the two stars as husband and wife, then creating the plot that the Silver River separated the couple on opposite banks, allowing them to meet only on the seventh day of the seventh month, thus giving birth to a traditional festival — the Qixi Festival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had also spawned a great variety of local customs and practices across different regions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed…\" Zhao Yun still gazed up at the starry sky, but her voice betrayed a hint of fluster, because her husband had suddenly pressed his nose to her neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did A-Yun specially perfume herself?\" Gongsun Xun asked after taking a deep breath. \"Is it not yet Qixi, yet you are already imitating the Qixi custom of perfuming oneself to pray for a child?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"N-no such thing.\" Under the Silver River, Zhao Yun's face flushed faintly, but she denied it with all her might.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This outfit is also very strange,\" Gongsun Xun suddenly tugged at the purple upper garment she wore. \"Who wears such clothes at home?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is this not…\" Lady Zhao could bear it no longer. \"Is this not the Zhao Kingdom style that you like?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Never mind what Zhao Kingdom style it is,\" Gongsun Xun finally laughed as he held his wife. \"Let us continue talking about the Herd Boy and the Weaver Girl. Customs and stories differ from place to place — I wonder how the tale of those two stars in your Qinghe differs from ours in Liaoxi?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There should be no difference, right?\" Although Zhao Yun was displeased by his abrupt change of topic, she could ultimately 'understand', and so she went along and began recounting the story she had heard since childhood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is that all?\" Gongsun Xun said dismissively after listening. \"The Weaver Girl of Hedong was the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor, married to the Herd Boy of Hexi. After the marriage, the Weaver Girl neglected her loom, provoking the Heavenly Emperor's great wrath, so he made her return to Hexi to weave, allowing her to meet her husband only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What else would it be?\" Zhao Yun asked, puzzled. \"Could it be that your Liaoxi story is different?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I wouldn't say it's different.\" Gongsun Xun shook his head. \"But A-Yun, don't you find it strange — how could a mere Herd Boy marry the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor? You are close with Ziheng's wife, so you should know that even a powerful and wealthy family in a county will disdain the poor and favor the rich, unwilling to marry their daughter to a talented but impoverished man — let alone the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That… that is true.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Therefore, in our Liaoxi region, there is a story about how the Herd Boy managed to marry the Weaver Girl.\" Gongsun Xun pulled his wife onto his lap and said teasingly, \"Would you like to hear it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It would do no harm to tell it.\" Zhao Yun boldly wrapped her arms around her husband's neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, after hearing her husband's new story, Lady Zhao's expression became rather strange, even faintly disturbed. \"Stealing someone's clothes, forcing her to go home and become his wife — is that not abducting a good family's daughter and forcing her into marriage?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed.\" Gongsun Xun was quite frank. \"According to the law, the Herd Boy deserved to be executed and dismembered…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun was not lying. The Han inherited the Qin system, and abducting good families, banditry, and tomb robbing were all considered serious crimes, because beyond the crimes themselves, they all had broader social repercussions — banditry implied organized gangs, tomb robbing destroyed ancestral rites, and abducting good families wreaked havoc on social customs, so all were to be punished with particular severity — that is, execution followed by dismemberment and public display.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, by this moment in time, the unbridled lawlessness of the powerful and the mass emergence of refugees had fundamentally shaken the social order, and the enforcement of these laws had become 'adapted to local conditions' and 'varied from person to person'.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then why would such a story circulate?\" Zhao Yun was naturally perplexed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"First, of course, someone 'unintentionally' fabricated this absurd tale,\" Gongsun Xun sighed. \"Second, the powerful and wealthy households have flocks of concubines and maidservants, while the poor commoners suffer without a single wife… so if one could steal a garment and thereby gain a beautiful wife, how could that not be a good thing? Thus, this kind of story is rarely heard among the middle and upper households, but among the lower poor it is passed from mouth to mouth… truly, they are too afflicted by the plight of having no wife.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yun sat in her husband's embrace, hanging from his neck, opening her mouth to speak, but then her face flushed red, and only then did she force herself to question him: \"Was it not you, my lord, who took a fancy to that Qin Luofu? And even specially asked the State Tutor of Zhao to compose that poem 'Mulberries on the Path' for her sake!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That poem has nothing to do with me.\" Gongsun Xun shook his head repeatedly. Before the banquet, he had immediately inquired into the origins of the Qin Luofu affair — how could he not know the truth? \"It was the State Tutor who composed the poem, having arranged with our family to do the woodblock printing for him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is that so?\" Zhao Yun was half-doubtful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Moreover, the story behind this poem is not just about Qin Luofu and that single incident…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun laughed even more, and proceeded to explain clearly the three matters behind State Tutor Han Tuo's poem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Does A-Yun understand now? Poetry is by nature meant to express emotion and convey intent through words; what it describes may not withstand scrutiny, and sometimes, for the sake of parallelism and structure, things are even forced into place…\" As Gongsun Xun spoke, his hands began to wander over his wife's body. \"Just like this 'a falling chignon adorns her head, bright moon pearls hang from her ears; yellow damask makes her lower skirt, purple damask her upper jacket' — to be honest, I did see that Qin woman at the government office that day, and the falling chignon and the moon pearls were real, but as for the yellow skirt and purple jacket, I only witnessed those for the first time today.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yellow skirt and purple jacket, adorned with moon pearls — only because as a married woman it was improper to wear the falling chignon — Zhao Yun's face burned crimson, and in her heart she already believed seventy to eighty percent. Her husband had only returned at dusk, and immediately upon returning had hosted a banquet to entertain the Inspector of Jizhou who had come to apologize; even now he still smelled faintly of wine and sweat. If he had made it up on the spot, he could not possibly have fabricated the poem's origins so seamlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to mention, his attitude was so frank and direct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That Qin woman…\" After a long while, under her husband's teasing gaze, Zhao Yun finally spoke in a daze. \"The Qin woman's family has already accepted the betrothal gifts I sent.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then let them be accepted,\" Gongsun Xun replied easily. \"The Qin woman does have some exceptional beauty. Though I would not say I had any designs, what can I do about my wife's kind intentions? Should I go and break off the engagement?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Yun was momentarily choked with frustration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"However, A-Yun, you must know,\" Gongsun Xun stroked his wife's cheek with his palm, instantly quieting her. \"I am twenty-four this year, and counting the Qin woman whose betrothal gifts were accepted today, I have one wife and three concubines — and you should know full well the origins of those three concubines. Only my wife is the one I sought with all my heart. Had your grandmother not come seeking me that day, I would have gone to your household to ask for your hand myself.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don't believe it…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Even if you don't believe it, it matters not,\" Gongsun Xun remained composed. \"Husband and wife bound by the knot of hair set out on the road together, and only in death does it end. Unless estrangement grows between us of our own making, how could it be disrupted by other people or other matters?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I only… only saw A-Yu pregnant, and my heart lost some of its composure, that is all.\" Zhao Yun answered with effort — after all, she was ultimately just a wife barely twenty years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then let us borrow the light of the Starry River and give you a child as well.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What a pity that we did not make it to Mount Wutai when we were in Bingzhou. If only… my lord, let us go back inside!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I already dismissed everyone just now — there is no one here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How can we do this in the courtyard…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Book of Songs says: 'Slowly, gently, do not touch my apron!' This is precisely the time to borrow the essence of the stars to seek a child… A-Yun, why is your skirt tied so tightly? I'll use my knife.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The cat… the cat is in the courtyard, it is watching!\" Zhao Yun was practically begging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's been gelded, it's fine… Besides, the Book of Songs says: 'In the grove are shrubs, in the courtyard a gelded cat, bound with white rushes, a maiden fair as jade' — perfectly in accord with the great meaning!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Where in the Book of Songs… where is there a gelded cat?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>………………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Yan did not close his eyes all night, merely sitting in the courtyard staring blankly up at the star-filled Silver River. When the sky began to brighten, he was so exhausted he could barely go on, and with the dew settling in the courtyard, he finally went back inside to rest for a short while… However, just as the sun melted the dew, Gongsun Xun suddenly came to visit, forcing the Inspector of Jizhou to rise hastily and meet with him in the courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My lord!\" Gongsun Xun's eyes were bloodshot — clearly he too had not rested well the night before — but as he sat facing Liu Yan in the courtyard, his words and bearing radiated a refreshed vitality. \"Xun did not sleep the whole night, turning matters over in my mind, and there is something I must say. I have come presumptuously while the impulse is still strong in my chest — please do not take offense.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Magistrate of Handan, speak freely,\" said Liu Yan, whose eyes were equally bloodshot, yawning repeatedly and forcing himself to stay alert… after all, he knew that such private meetings were the occasions where real problems could be resolved, and he had to deal with this seriously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, even his own son Liu Fan had been driven outside the courtyard by Liu Yan at this moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun sat upright and said, \"What I wish to speak of today concerns my governance of Handan, and the reflections it has stirred in my heart…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Reflections stirred in your heart?\" Liu Yan, who had with great difficulty roused his spirits, felt like cursing, but could only stiffen his expression slightly and offer a few mocking words. \"I rather think the Magistrate of Handan governs Handan with reckless abandon — no one above or below dares to disobey, no one dares to refuse.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When I first came to Handan, I was indeed overbearing in my manner.\" Gongsun Xun was completely unruffled by the other's attitude and spoke calmly. \"Only after receiving the admonitions of my subordinate Wang Shuzhi did I somewhat restrain myself. However, after I toured the northwest of Handan and saw the poor folk in the hills there, though I once again became reckless and unrestrained, it was now mostly born of anger rather than arrogance… Does my lord know that I personally killed a County Commandant on that inspection tour?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How could I possibly know such a thing?\" Liu Yan replied, his face still weary. \"And from Liaodong to Luoyang, from Saibei to Handan, the Marquis of Wulu has killed so many — what is one County Commandant?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Though your subordinate has killed many,\" Gongsun Xun said quietly and directly, \"most were on the battlefield, or acts of law enforcement under criminal proceedings… Only this County Commandant I killed out of rage, with no law to support it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Have you come to turn yourself in to me?\" Liu Yan immediately perked up… was this delivering a handle against himself into his hands?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That day I arrived at a mountain hollow village, and happened upon a band of outlaws from Mount Taixing who had come down to plunder.\" Gongsun Xun paid him no heed at all and simply continued speaking. \"After we captured them and interrogated them, they confessed to killing people in such-and-such a place, and plundering in such-and-such a place… Finally, one of them even confessed that during a raid somewhere, he had dashed an infant to its death.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Liu Yan, a man of some years, could not help but be stunned at this. \"Has it truly come to such a pass?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because a concubine in my household was with child, and I know the heart of a father, I flew into a rage on the spot. I questioned him — after all his plundering, why such reckless, boundless cruelty? Does the Governor know how he answered?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Yan slowly shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He asked me in return: 'It was only an infant. I dashed it and that was that. Why is my lord so furious?'\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Utterly shameless!\" Liu Yan's face showed deep disgust. \"A man guilty of such monstrous crimes, who feels no remorse — this is precisely the sort who deserves harsh punishment!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Naturally,\" Gongsun Xun said, lifting his head proudly. \"Such a man is a blight on the world if left alive. I rebuked him for not understanding the natural instincts of a parent, then gave the order for his execution... Yet even facing death, the man remained defiant.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What did he have to be defiant about?\" Liu Yan sneered in reply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He said that of his own sons and daughters, eight in all, he had personally dashed them to death to avoid the poll tax.\" Gongsun Xun spoke slowly. \"And that in the villages, this was common practice. Why then, he asked, did no one say that the nobles in the government offices and the tax collectors did not understand the heart of a parent, forcing him to kill his children just to survive? Yet when he dashed someone else's infant to death, he was to be executed for it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Yan's expression changed drastically... Although he had spent eighteen years in refuge on Mount Yangcheng, he was after all a learned and astute man. How could he not understand the implications here?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The histories record clearly that tax collectors levying the poll tax, in extreme cases, would collect it dozens of times a year, so that the collection parties on the roads stretched end to end... This must have been a similar practice, driving the common people to the point where they dared not raise even a single infant, and were finally forced to flee into the mountains as bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet what was more terrifying was exactly as this bandit had said: ordinarily, others never treated them as human beings. So once they rose up in chaos, how could they be expected to treat those nobles as human beings?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What of it if they boiled you? What of it if they butchered you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, did you nobles and officials not regard us as meat on the chopping block? Did you not trample us like mud? We live as meat on the block, we live as mud — do you truly expect us to know ritual and shame?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I asked him his place of origin, then inquired who the local tax collector had been at the time. The County Commandant, shielding a colleague from his own county, refused to answer.\" Gongsun Xun continued. \"As I was still in the heat of my fury, I charged him with showing me disrespect, personally struck down that County Commandant on the spot to vent my anger, and then had the bandit publicly executed according to the law... Later, it was precisely because of this that when I encountered a bandit who came down from Heishan to surrender, though I disliked the man's character, I still kept him on and employed him. I meant to show these men of the hills and wilds that I am not like the others — that I am willing to accept them regardless of their origins.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Yan, deeply unsettled, cut him off: \"If the Magistrate of Handan has something to say, speak plainly to me. There is no need to go on with this!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Governor!\" Gongsun Xun rose from his kneeling seat and bowed with great ceremony. \"What I spoke of yesterday under the influence of wine was no drunken jest. The situation in the realm today is this: the common people at the bottom have not even a sliver of ground to stand on, their very survival beyond their control. Who is to say that a Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, or the Red Eyebrows and Green Woods, will not arise? Meanwhile, the powerful and wealthy families, though rich in property and influence, have no path of advancement. In their hearts, they hold little reverence for the central authority — just like the nobles of the Six Kingdoms at the end of Qin, or the local strongmen under Wang Mang. Once chaos erupts, I fear there is danger of utter collapse!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why do you speak these words to me, time and again?\" Liu Yan could not help but smile bitterly. \"Why not speak them to others?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because I know others would not believe them.\" Gongsun Xun sighed. \"The officials and nobles of the realm are so many — how many of them would be willing, as I am, to go into the villages and personally count the dead infants wherever they go? The men of wisdom and talent in the realm are also many, but how many of them would, as I do, set their minds on doing things rather than on official advancement? That is why I have never spoken these innermost words to anyone else. And the reason I speak them to you, Governor, is that I vaguely guessed yesterday that you are a man who truly fulfills his duties to the utmost. You are one of the rare few willing to believe my words, and one of the rare few willing to go see with your own eyes the danger of this Great Han's collapse.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Yan was silent, speechless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Governor!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gongsun Xun suddenly threw the broken blade at his waist down before the other man, then unfastened his upper garments, exposing his chest and belly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What is the meaning of this?\" Liu Yan stared, dumbfounded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I know that when you came, Governor, you must have been given instructions by certain people at court to make trouble for me... Do not deny it... And I have no wish to make excuses. That a county magistrate killed a county chief — I did it. The County Commandant I spoke of today was even more blameless, killed by my own arbitrary hand! A Regional Inspector's authority is extremely weighty. So, if you wish to punish me, you may kill me now... I did not bring my seal and cord on this journey!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Nonsense!\" Liu Yan leapt straight up from his mat. \"How could it come to this?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Master Qiao said that I am outwardly hard but inwardly resilient, my sharpness the finest under Heaven,\" Gongsun Xun, bare-chested, argued with awe-inspiring defiance. \"Many also say I resemble Master Qiao... but in truth, I do not! Master Qiao was unyielding through a hundred setbacks, rising and falling three times, but I find it hard to endure even a moment's humiliation! The officials of this realm are mostly mediocre do-nothings, and the few clever ones think only of their own paths of advance and retreat. Men like me, who toil to accomplish things, are exceedingly rare... Those men do nothing yet hold their posts, while I, because I do things, violate the prohibitions... By what right?! Others do not understand this feeling, but does a man like you, Governor, who fulfills his duties to the utmost, not understand it either?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Yan gaped, his face flushing red. Only after a long while did he demand: \"What exactly do you want?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is simple.\" Gongsun Xun pointed at the blade. \"A scholar may be killed but not humiliated. Today, Governor, either you punish my crime of arbitrary killing — take that blade and slay me now to uphold the majesty of the House of Han, and I will have no second word to say! Or you commend my capable conduct, and send documents to the provinces and commanderies to clear my name and proclaim my innocence! Only these two paths exist. Some vague, perfunctory middle course — forgive me, but I will not suffer that humiliation!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Yan tried several times to speak, but each time closed his mouth again. Gongsun Xun merely held his head high and puffed out his chest, facing him with awe-inspiring resolve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long while, it was ultimately Liu Junlang's innate tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong that asserted itself. He let out a long sigh, bent down, and helped the other man up. \"How could I not understand the Magistrate of Handan's grievances? The ways of the world and the hearts of men are mostly frivolous and laughable. The Magistrate of Handan is a man who single-mindedly does real work — that is why they gossip about him... I shall go to Yecheng today to assume my post, and tonight I will certainly send documents to all nine commanderies of Jizhou. I will let all under Heaven know that what you have done is also what I, Liu Junlang, think! Handan... with Wenqi here in Zhao, I can set my mind at ease!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If that is so,\" Gongsun Xun, who had long anticipated this man's temperament, slowly dressed and belted on his blade, replying calmly, \"after breakfast, I shall escort the Governor and his son to Yecheng...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Very well, very well!\" Liu Yan now truly wished only to leave this place... What Wei Song had said was not wrong at all — in dealing with this Marquis of Wulu, do not expect to gain even the slightest advantage. That the other party was willing to close the door and strip off his clothes today was already giving him face. What more could he want?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After breakfast, Liu Yan declared that he had already made his decision regarding the affairs of Zhao and would return to Yecheng. Though the others were bewildered, they had no choice but to hastily form ranks with Gongsun Xun to see him off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When the tenth month comes,\" after helping the other man into his carriage, a thought suddenly stirred in Gongsun Xun's heart. He clasped the other's hand and smiled. \"The Governor may come to inspect this place again... By then, the fields and household registers should be largely cleared up, and the public school should be built as well!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I hope that when I come again, you will let me sleep a peaceful, sound sleep.\" Liu Yan held the other's hand with one hand and stroked his beard with the other, smiling bitterly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two exchanged a smile, each with their own thoughts. Then, escorted by several dozen white-horse riders, Liu Yan's donkey cart slowly trundled off toward Yecheng, several dozen li away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, no one spoke, and everyone remained bewildered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Where is Dong Gongren?\" After pausing for a moment, Gongsun Xun suddenly turned back, his smile blooming like a flower. \"You and I felt like old friends at first meeting. And today I am taking a concubine — how about delaying your assumption of office by one day?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The short, stout Dong Zhao gave a simple, honest grin, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and hastily nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——————I am the dividing line after one hour——————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When (Liu) Yan arrived in Jizhou as Regional Inspector, he traveled in plain clothes, secretly observing the minutest details. Returning to Ye, he issued documents in succession to the nine commanderies, exhaustively detailing the circumstances of each commandery and principality, commending the upright and denouncing the corrupt. In a short time, those who relinquished their seals and fled numbered several dozen. The province and commanderies were awed into order. Among the common folk, a song also arose, saying: 'Liu Junlang fulfills his duties to the utmost!'\" — From the Dianlüe, annotated by Pei Songzhi of Yan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",4368,"2026-06-04T19:42:03.441Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","1b856255d7b3c57770557ff26d1e267fd423901a3bb42fcde4b1f3c8890a8787","overthrowing-han-chapter-196","overthrowing-han-chapter-194",548,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foverthrowing-han-cover.jpg"]