Chapter 40: Liu Yan

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When a person reaches adolescence, it is only natural to be captivated by the dazzling world outside.

At the same time, boys of that age are bound to become captivated by a girl.

Before meeting Wang Peiling, Qiao Yue was interested in every girl he saw. After meeting her, he lost all interest in anyone else.

The pleasure-loving Fourth Young Master Qiao became utterly infatuated with Wang Peiling. At the time, Old Wang had also opened a Fengxian Pavilion in Chengdu, and in order to see Wang Peiling, the Fourth Young Master Qiao practically booked out the entire restaurant every day.

Yet Wang Peiling still refused to let him through the door.

Though Old Wang disliked the spoiled young master, he could see how devoted the man was to his younger sister, so he simply let him do as he pleased.

Later, for reasons no one knew, Fengxian Pavilion caught fire. The Fourth Young Master Qiao risked his life to save Old Wang and Wang Peiling, then helped rebuild the restaurant. Only then did Wang Peiling slowly begin to accept him.

Although the Fourth Young Master Qiao had once spent his days drinking and carousing, after getting together with Wang Peiling, he spent nearly every day clinging to her side.

Just as their feelings were growing warmer, disaster struck.

It was not Fengxian Pavilion that suffered, but the Qiao family itself.

As the saying went, a tall tree catches the wind. Naturally, the Qiao family had no shortage of enemies.

The Qiao family of Chengdu did not, in fact, possess a pedigree as illustrious as the Yuan family of Hebei, whose ancestors had produced three high ministers across four generations.

The reason the Qiao family could dominate Chengdu was that they were Di-Qiang aristocrats.

More precisely, they were nobles of the Di people. After the Qin and Han dynasties, the Di and Qiang were recognized as two separate ethnic groups, but in earlier historical records, the two names were often combined into a single designation, or at least used to indicate that the peoples shared some special connection.

Under the Western Han policy of conciliation, the Qiao family had been granted immense privileges by the imperial house. They were permitted to maintain a private army, establish their own internal administration, and oversee the affairs of their people in Yuzhang Commandery.

The Qiao family dealt in Shu brocade. The Old Master Qiao and his second son handled the family business at home, while the eldest son had entered government service. He had risen to become Administrator of Yuzhang Commandery and was serving away from home.

The Qiao family’s Shu brocade was both beautiful and inexpensive, and they had nearly monopolized thirty percent of the Shu-brocade trade in Yizhou. Such enormous profits naturally aroused envy, and there were bound to be people coveting such a tempting prize.

The four other major Shu-brocade merchants in Chengdu joined forces to boycott the Qiao family.

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At first, it was merely four families who made their living selling Shu brocade joining together to suppress them. The Qiao family handled the matter with ease. Relying on their substantial wealth and popular support, they fought the other side to a standstill, and for a time even gained the upper hand.

That continued until the local government intervened—the Governor of Yizhou, Liu Yan.

And so, the Qiao family fell.

Liu Yan, Governor of Yizhou—or, to be more precise, Shepherd of Yizhou.

When speaking of Liu Yan, one must offer a proper introduction. After all, he was a renowned warlord of the late Han dynasty.

How should one describe Liu Yan? He was a descendant of Liu Yu, Prince Gong of Lu during the Western Han dynasty. During the Yuanhe era of Emperor Zhang of Han, from 84 to 87, one branch of Liu Yu’s descendants was enfeoffed in Jingling.

In his youth, Liu Yan served in various provincial and commandery offices, using his imperial clan status to secure a position as a Gentleman.

In the third year of the Yanxi era, 160, he resigned after the death of his teacher, Zhu Tian, who had served as Minister over the Masses under Emperor Huan of Han. He then lectured and taught at Yangcheng Mountain. Later, he was recommended as a Worthy and Upright man and was recruited by the office of the Minister over the Masses.

Liu Yan successively served as Magistrate of Luoyang County, Inspector of Jizhou, Administrator of Nanyang Commandery, Director of the Imperial Clan, and Grand Master of Ceremonies. He had accumulated a respectable record of official experience, which prepared him for his next attempt to deceive Emperor Ling of Han.

In the fifth year of the Zhongping era, in other words, 188, Liu Yan witnessed the chaos within the imperial court and the decline of the royal house under Emperor Ling. He therefore advised the emperor:

“Provincial inspectors and commandery administrators bribe their way into office and exploit the common people, driving both the people and their allies away. The court should select upright and incorruptible officials to serve as local governors and commanderies’ leaders, so that they may pacify and stabilize the realm.”

There was something rather subtle about Liu Yan’s words. Upright and incorruptible officials? To put it bluntly, he was trying to restrain a person’s ambition through that person’s character.

Which was, in essence, useless.

Liu Yan himself then requested appointment as Shepherd of Jiaozhou, intending to use the position to escape the turmoil of the age.

The office of Shepherd had an enormous impact on the history of the Three Kingdoms. As Han authority weakened and the realm descended into chaos, Liu Yan submitted a major proposal to the court: members of the imperial clan and powerful ministers should be appointed as provincial shepherds, placing them above inspectors and administrators in the local hierarchy and granting them sole authority to stabilize the people. This became known to history as abolishing inspectors and establishing shepherds.

That fool Emperor Ling actually believed him. The court adopted the proposal, but the result was the rise of regional warlords and separatist regimes. Once appointed, the provincial shepherds—including Liu Yan—were essentially no longer under the court’s control.

At the time, Xi Jian, the Inspector of Yizhou, was extorting wealth on a massive scale throughout the province, and greed had become the prevailing custom. Liu Yan had originally intended to request Jiaozhou as a refuge from the coming disorder, but after the Palace Attendant Dong Fu told him that Yizhou possessed the aura of an emperor, he changed his request and asked to become Shepherd of Yizhou.

Thus Liu Yan was appointed Inspector-General and Shepherd of Yizhou, enfeoffed as Marquis of Yangcheng, and ordered to travel to Yizhou to arrest Xi Jian and reform the administration.

Once Liu Yan arrived in the province, he gave Emperor Ling a thorough lesson in the consequences of his own policy. Xi Jian was killed by the Yellow Turban Army. Liu Yan entered Yizhou, sent Zhang Lu to establish control over Hanzhong, and Zhang Lu severed the roads, killing Han envoys. From that point onward, Yizhou was cut off from the central government.

Liu Yan then suppressed the local great clans and consolidated his own power. Before long, Yizhou had practically become his private domain.

After all, as the man in charge of an entire province, Liu Yan had assumed that once he reached his territory, he would be an emperor in all but name, with anything he wanted at his disposal. The reality, however, was that he had nothing he wanted. Every locality and department was still holding out its hand, asking him for money and grain.

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What made matters worse was that he could not ask the central government for funds.

He had boasted that provincial shepherds should solve their own local problems and thereby reduce the burden on the central government. If he now asked Emperor Ling for money, it would be an utterly humiliating contradiction—and might even prompt the emperor to abolish the entire system of provincial shepherds.

Money and grain were, after all, the most urgent concerns. As the saying went, even a penny could bring a hero to his knees. Liu Yan was therefore deeply troubled.

In Han society, merchants were despised. They stood at the very bottom of the social order. They were forbidden to wear silk clothing, forbidden to ride in carriages, and subject to countless other restrictions. In short, when the authorities exploited merchants, no one cared.

Liu Yan therefore turned his eyes toward several wealthy and prestigious merchant families in the region. Unfortunately for them, the Qiao family came under his scrutiny as well.

Of course, according to rumors, Liu Yan had not originally included the Qiao family on his list. Only those directly involved knew what had later changed his mind.

The government never lacked for excuses. After a few charges were brought against them, the Qiao family’s estate was confiscated, their shops were seized, and more than a dozen members of the household were declared wanted criminals.

The Old Master Qiao looked at the indictment held by the swaggering bailiff before him. The string of crimes listed on it was enough to have every member of the Qiao family executed three times over.

Having spent decades navigating the sea of commerce, the Old Master Qiao knew that the other Chengdu families were nowhere near capable of such a deed. This could only be Liu Yan’s handiwork.

The Old Master Qiao was a ruthless man himself. He decisively abandoned the wealth he had accumulated over a lifetime and fled with his family.

To escape the disaster, he took the Second Young Master Qiao, the Third Miss, and the Fourth Young Master Qiao and fled toward Yuzhang Commandery, hoping to seek refuge with the eldest Qiao son. Old Wang and Wang Peiling were also implicated and placed on the wanted list, so they joined the flight to Yuzhang Commandery.

Yet the disaster was not over. Before they could reach Yuzhang Commandery, the eldest Qiao son was killed by the Yellow Turban Army.

When the Old Master Qiao learned of it, he immediately vomited blood and fainted.

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