Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 278: Road Blocking Strange Phenomenon
On the middle of October in the fourth year of Jian'an, in order to respectfully send off the imperial seal, a team of more than a thousand people, from ceremonial guards to bodyguards, left Jinling with Bai Tu's farewell.
The people of Jinling spontaneously saw him off at the city gate with a little disappointment but full of admiration.
Originally, some people spread rumors that Bai Tu intended to emulate Yuan Shu, to which the common people responded - they were delighted.
This is inevitable. If even the people living under the city of Jinling are not in agreement with Bai Tu, what is the point of him being a general or the Marquis of Chu?
Was all the previous publicity, from the theater troupe, daily notices, and other such publicity, to the various practical measures to benefit the people, all in vain?
The rumor that Bai Tu wanted to become emperor was spread in Nanjing, which would not cause any chaos among the people. Instead, the nobles who were close to the General's Mansion but not close to the center of the six ministries and lacked first-hand information were somewhat panicked.
But now all the rumors have been refuted - Bai Tu is indeed a sage of the time, and those previous slanders were obviously petty and had ulterior motives!
After obtaining the imperial seal, he actually sent it back to the court without any regrets...
Apart from Bai Tu, which other princes have such noble sentiments?
"Zi Yu, please convey my regards to His Majesty on your journey and also let His Majesty know that no matter what others say, the General's Mansion is the most solid backing of the court." Bai Tu instructed.
The backing of the imperial court... If it were a prosperous era, this statement would have been quite disrespectful, but nowadays, no one cares about these things.
Even the white map that voluntarily returned the imperial seal was picked on? Are you still human?
Hua Xin also knew what Bai Tu meant, and said calmly: "Don't worry, my lord. I will not let you down, the court or you."
That’s right, Bai Tu finally decided that Hua Xin would lead the team to deliver the imperial seal and serve as the main envoy.
Originally, Bai Tu hesitated about the candidate, mainly between Hua Xin and Bing Yuan...
Both of them are famous scholars and are perfect for this position.
As for Kong Rong… although he has not yet become the chief escort leader of the Confucian scholars, he is already clearly superior to other famous scholars. Having him be the team leader is not only inappropriate in terms of personality, but also too grand.
The biggest advantage of Bing Yuan being an envoy is that he doesn't have to worry about what Cao Cao will do to him, and Bing Yuan is upright. Even if Bai Tu hasn't discussed anything with him in advance, as long as other people's "work" is done well , Bing Yuan's true character performance will be the best.
Moreover...although Bing Yuan, Guan Ning and Hua Xin were combined into "one dragon", compared to Hua Xin, Bing Yuan's main role in the General's Mansion was as a "mascot".
Without actually doing anything, Bing Yuan's existence itself is just adding a layer of face to Bai Tu.
Even if Cao Cao shamelessly detained Bing Yuan as a court official, Bai Tu would not suffer much loss.
In comparison, Hua Xin did more practical work. The promotion of the Ministry of Rites' local schools and rural schools was mainly planned by Hua Xin. Moreover, out of the 360 days in a year, Hua Xin spent more than 100 days visiting various counties in Yangzhou.
Hua Xin made an indelible contribution to the current scale of rural and county schools.
If Cao Cao detained Hua Xin, Bai Tu would be in trouble for a while...
However, Hua Xin has obvious advantages over Bing Yuan - both of them are famous figures of the time, but Bing Yuan can only play himself, while Hua Xin... can perfectly get the key points provided by Bai Tu.
And then to gain greater benefits for Baitu and the General's Mansion. Even the current situation in Xudu is extremely turbulent!
Historically, before the Battle of Guandu, many ministers under Cao Cao had secretly communicated with Yuan Shao. Even if they did not openly sell out Cao Cao, they at least flattered Yuan Shao and left a way out for themselves.
Just like the eve of the Battle of Guandu in history, in the first year, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao only had some tentative battles around the north and south of the Yellow River - after all, Yuan Shao came with the purpose of crushing them, and it would take a long time to dispatch hundreds of thousands of troops, from personnel to baggage.
And now... under the influence of the White Rabbit Effect, the situation in Xudu will only become more chaotic. Liu Bei is a guest in Xudu as a local lord allied with Cao Cao. There are also many people in the court who are dissatisfied with Cao Cao. The whole Xudu is undercurrent.
Therefore, Hua Xin's judgment was needed so that he could adapt to changing circumstances in Xudu.
Bai Tu took into consideration that Cao Pi was also in Jinling, and thought that Cao Cao would not dare to do anything to his envoy easily, so he finally decided to let Hua Xin lead the mission.
At the same time, a small team of ceremonial guards from the Prime Minister's Mansion, about forty or fifty people, had also arrived in Jinling and would travel with Hua Xin.
It’s not that Cao Cao is stingy and only sent so few people, but... if there are more people, I’m afraid Bai Tu will be disgusted!
Cao Cao also didn't want to provoke Bai Tu now, as if he was "supervising" him to return the jade seal.
What was also somewhat surprising was that the deputy envoy who delivered the imperial seal this time was actually a young girl in her twenties—Xu Rong, the Grand Historian of the General’s Mansion!
In Bai Tu's words, this trip must be grand, and Xu Rong would decide how much to travel each day and when to rest based on the weather.
When they reach the north of the Huai River, Xu Rong will lead a small number of guards and escorts back, and Cao Cao will plan the route later...
Bai Tu suddenly had such a sense of ceremony, and when negotiating the terms, he did not ask for as much as Sima Lang had imagined, which made Sima Lang feel a little uneasy.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the chance to go back with them.
Cao Pi actually wanted to be "Cao Bang" and go back with the team that was delivering the imperial seal. Anyway, Cao Pi was the most important. The General's Mansion didn't care whether Cao Bang stayed in Jinling or not.
However, "Cao Bang" refused. After all, there were still so many dramas that were halfway through. If he returned to the Central Plains, only some wild theater troupes would still perform some "strange" plays every day.
Being in the "enemy camp", Cao Pi did not dare to reveal too much, and naturally could not force Cao Bang to do anything...
The representative of the delegation sent by Cao Cao to Nanjing was Liu Ye, who had been to Nanjing before and was from a royal family.
He originally thought that Bai Tu might have other plans along the way, and sure enough, not long after, this idea came true.
A few days after setting out, when they were about to reach Shucheng, several tigers suddenly rushed onto the official road and blocked the carriage carrying the seal. The power of the beasts caused the engines of the war horses to jam...
Only after being forcibly driven away by heavy infantry wearing armor did the team continue to move forward.
Because there were already people from Shu County watching at that time, rumors quickly spread that God did not want the jade seal to leave Chu and return to the Central Plains!
Originally, Liu Ye was very sensitive to the rumor and suspected that Bai Tu wanted to use these tigers to pretend to be God's will and order the delegation to return to Jinling.
However, Hua Xin did not show any intention of backing down because of these rumors.
Xu Rong suggested that they temporarily stay there to observe the stars and divine to see if this was a warning from heaven. However, Hua Xin refused and continued to urge the troops to move north, encouraging them: "This must be a test from heaven! On behalf of my lord, I am returning the jade seal with admiration for the Han Dynasty. How can we hesitate and delay the auspicious day just because of a few tigers?"
Liu Ye, who had secretly prepared words of condemnation, couldn't help but wonder... Could it be that Bai Tu had someone release the tiger?
Little did they know that the "God's will" that Bai Tu wanted to pretend to represent could not be represented by a few tigers...
On the contrary, Liu Ye seemed a little embarrassed about his own suspicion.
Eight days had passed since they encountered the tiger, and the team had arrived in Shouchun. With the farewell of the soldiers and civilians of Shouchun and the welcome of the soldiers and civilians of Runan, the team crossed the Huai River.
At this point, Liu Ye has already determined that he was too suspicious before, and that "a group of tigers rushing on the road"... maybe it was not really arranged by Bai Tu?
Of course, it is possible that this was indeed Bai Tu's arrangement, but it was not to take advantage of the situation to make the ceremonial procession return, but just to leave a clue, further enhance his own prestige, and highlight his determination to return the imperial seal.
After all, after crossing the Huai River, they would be in Cao Cao's control area, and it would not be easy for the team to return. At least Bai Tu should not have wanted to go back on his decision to send back the imperial seal.
However, the story of "a group of tigers charging on the road" had indeed spread in Jiangdong and Central Plains, making Bai Tu more popular.
After crossing the Huai River, the guard of honor set up camp for a short rest.
There is a small tributary behind, so there is no need for a ferry. There is a bridge over the narrow river, and there is even some loose ice on the river surface.
According to the request of Hua Xin and Xu Rong, before dawn, a large number of soldiers and civilians were waiting to line the streets to welcome them, and the guard of honor would pass across the bridge tomorrow morning.
In later times, it would be a formalism that would make people suffer, and they would deserve to be scolded. However, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the tolerance of the people was much higher, especially since it was the slack season for farmers, so it was just a little bit annoying, but it would be a bit freezing...
Neither Liu Ye nor other think tanks in the Prime Minister's Office were aware of Bai Tu's intentions, and therefore had no way to guard against them.
That night, someone was doing something quietly under the bridge, without disturbing anyone on both sides of the river.
Early the next morning, soldiers and civilians had already arrived a mile away from the bridge.
Suddenly... there was a loud thunder!
According to later folk rumors, in front of countless people, the God of Thunder came down to earth in anger... The small river that the honor guard was going to pass by was shattered by the bridge and the river flowed backwards, accompanied by the God of Thunder's rage, as if it was the end of the world!
When countless people saw this scene, they knelt down spontaneously and kowtowed to the power of heaven, hoping that God would calm his anger.
Liu Ye, as well as other officials of the Prime Minister's Office and ministers of the court were also stunned at this time!
The previous tiger was fine, after all... there are too many ways to fake things, but what is the current situation?
Thunder god destroyed the bridge in anger?
Could it be that God really wants to keep the jade seal in Chu and does not want it to return to the Han Dynasty?
Even Zhong Ji, who was sent by the young emperor to welcome the imperial seal and was loyal to the Han Dynasty, was stunned for a long time when he saw this scene on the other side of the bridge. Although his originally firm belief in the Han Dynasty did not collapse completely like the bridge, it was like the ice below, which was already covered with cracks...
