Chapter 102

Dong Zhuo frowned and rubbed his chin in confusion.

Jinyang was the seat of Taiyuan Commandery.

Although there was a county government, above the Jinyang County Magistrate were the Administrator and the Inspector.

If it were elsewhere, the head of a county would be the County Magistrate.

But in Jinyang, the seat of Taiyuan, it was different.

The County Magistrate was nothing more than an errand boy for the Administrator or the Inspector.

Dong Zhuo naturally knew this Jinyang County Magistrate.

He was a protégé of the Administrator Liu Wei, and his daily actions were basically executing the orders of Administrator Liu Wei.

This was very strange.

Could this matter have some connection to Administrator Liu Wei?

"Lord, I investigated a little; the Magistrate says they are suppressing bandits, but the ones they are suppressing are that group of bandits in Longshan."

"Hmm?"

Dong Zhuo voiced his confusion.

Dong Yi, listening to the side, was confused, but seeing Dong Zhuo's puzzled look, her heart, already worried, hung in the balance.

So she hurriedly looked at Dong Zhuo and asked:

"Father, what exactly is the problem?"

Dong Zhuo turned to look at the worried Dong Yi, knowing she was concerned about Duan Yu.

So he spoke directly:

"Yi'er, have you ever heard of 'raising bandits to ensure one's own importance'?"

Dong Yi frowned and nodded.

Dong Zhuo took a deep breath and said: "When I first came to Bingzhou, I thought that to gain a foothold, I had to establish my authority first."

"So I thought about taking some heads to establish that authority."

"At that time, I heard that a group of bandits in Longshan near Jinyang City was very arrogant."

"So I thought about clearing them out."

As a powerful local figure from the borderlands, Dong Zhuo had naturally brought many soldiers and trusted generals when he came from Liangzhou.

By all rights, wiping out a group of bandits should have been simple.

But a problem arose.

At that time, when I led troops into the mountains to suppress the bandits, I had clearly figured out their location.

But just as I launched the encirclement, I found that the bandits were gone, and the entire camp was empty.

At first, I thought they had discovered us.

So I thought about scouting again and then encircling them.

After all, I had already made bold claims, and the entire Jinyang officialdom knew I wanted to establish my authority.

So, if I couldn't clear out this group of bandits, wouldn't I lose face?

Not only would I fail to establish authority, but I would also be ridiculed.

So, I ordered people to scout the traces of the Longshan bandits again.

Fortunately, I found them within two days.

And so, I led troops to encircle them again.

Dong Zhuo looked at Dong Yi and said: "At that time, my foothold wasn't stable, and you were still at home in Liangzhou, so you didn't know about these things."

Dong Yi nodded and asked with a frown: "And then?"

"Did Father succeed in the encirclement?"

Dong Zhuo took a deep breath, frowned, and shook his head.

"Ah?"

Dong Yi was stunned.

Outsiders didn't know how strong her family's troops were.

But how could she not know?

"Why?" Dong Yi couldn't believe it: "Could those bandits be stronger than Father's troops?"

"But if that were true, how would the Magistrate dare to encircle them?"

Dong Zhuo didn't speak, but Li Ru, standing to the side, took over the conversation:

"Miss Yi, you misunderstand; how could mere bandits be stronger than the Lord's troops?"

"It's just..."

"This second encirclement was the same as the first; by the time the Lord's troops surrounded the camp, it was empty again."

Listening to Li Ru, Dong Yi understood immediately.

"Someone tipped them off?"

Li Ru smiled and nodded: "Miss Yi is right; someone did tip them off."

"However, the Lord didn't expect that the person tipping them off was a subordinate of Administrator Liu Wei."

After Li Ru said this, Dong Yi finally understood why her father had mentioned raising bandits to ensure one's own importance.

Once she figured it out, the word 'worry' was written all over her pretty face.

"So the bandits on Longshan were kept by Administrator Liu Wei to ensure his own importance."

"Miss Yi knows that Bingzhou produces furs, and every year a large number of merchants come from Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Yangzhou to purchase them."

"Among them, there are some disobedient merchants."

"Liu Wei, as the Administrator and a local official, naturally cannot personally deal with these disobedient merchants."

"And so, the Longshan bandits came into being."

"These Longshan bandits usually deal with those merchants who are disobedient or do not respect Liu Wei."

"Therefore, if the Lord wanted to wipe out the Longshan bandits, Administrator Liu Wei naturally wouldn't agree."

"It was only after the Lord learned of this that he gave up on clearing out the Longshan bandits, though Liu Wei didn't make the Lord lose too much face."

"He provided some heads to pass off as the Longshan bandit leaders, which allowed the Lord to save some face, and the matter was considered settled."

Dong Yi wasn't interested in these official matters.

Nor did she want to know.

The only thing she was worried about now was Duan Yu.

Since the Magistrate was a protégé of the Administrator, why would he order the suppression of the bandits his patron was raising?

This went against common sense.

Why would it be like this?