The atmosphere between them suddenly grew tense.
After seeing the ambition in Mengde’s eyes, Liu Bei fell silent for a moment.
But soon after, he stubbornly spoke again.
“Miss, I disagree with your view. If everyone in the Han court acted as you do—manipulating public authority at will for personal beliefs—wouldn’t the entire dynasty fall into chaos? The grand court and its many affairs still require a single, ultimate voice to make decisions. Others may have their opinions, but they shouldn’t hold equal decision-making power.”
“You’re right. There can only be one voice within the Han court,” Mengde acknowledged with a nod.
But then her tone suddenly shifted.
“Still, if everyone is freely manipulating public authority, why shouldn’t I suppress all the other voices and make mine the only one that matters? Wouldn’t that solve the problem?”
“What kind of position do you intend to place His Majesty in?”
“His Majesty? If he’s incapable of using his authority for the good of the people and only abuses it for personal gain, then he no longer deserves to wield such power.”
“Do you intend to be the next Huo Guang?”
“Maybe. Probably even worse…”
Mengde shrugged with a smile.
Hearing her openly admit she might follow in the footsteps of figures like Yi Yin or Huo Guang, Liu Bei seemed completely defeated by the young woman.
His shoulders slumped as he let out a helpless sigh.
“Do you realize, Miss, that if I report this to His Majesty, there’s a real chance he could punish you? Aren’t you even a little worried?”
“I’m not worried. Because I know you’re Liu Xuande. You’re not the kind of person who would resort to petty tattling. Besides—can you really swear that you don’t harbor even the slightest resentment toward the current Emperor?”
As she said this, Mengde’s face curled into a smug, mischievous smile.
Like a scoundrel, she reached out and lightly patted Liu Bei’s cheek, speaking with a touch of menace.
“Even if you did decide to abandon your principles and run off to snitch to that damned Emperor, do you think I’d be afraid? My father is one of the Three Excellencies of the court. I have at least nine ways to kill you before your report ever reaches him. Nine!”
“I trust you wouldn’t go so far as to assassinate me.”
“Exactly. And I trust you, Liu Bei, not to be a petty little snitch.”
After that bit of back-and-forth, the two of them suddenly smiled at each other again.
Mengde shook her head.
“Forget it. Let’s leave it here. Since neither of us can convince the other, let’s set this aside for now. Time will tell who’s right in the end—you or me.”
“Alright.”
Liu Bei first shrugged, then the smile on his face gave way to a trace of helplessness.
“But Miss, from now on, please don’t go around calling His Majesty a ‘damned Emperor’ or saying his name outright. It’s dangerous for you. If someone else hears it and reports it, that would be serious trouble.”
“Fine, fine, I get it! I’m not stupid—I won’t say those things to anyone but you. I’m going to rest now! See you later!”
The girl waved her hand at Liu Bei as she spoke, then returned to her room.
Liu Bei watched her retreating figure and couldn’t help but shake his head with a helpless sigh.
‘She really is a handful of a young lady.’
But… ‘She only told me this?’
‘Miss, you truly trust me, Liu Xuande… But what have I done to deserve such trust?’
With an indescribably complex mix of emotions, Liu Bei also returned to his own room.
***
The group stayed the night in Linjin County.
The next morning, the convoy set off once again, this time heading further north toward Chaona County in Anding Commandery.
The Huangfu clan resided in Chaona County.
Before departing, Mengde requested that Governor Huo Jun assign Hua Xiong and his unit to escort her convoy on the journey to Chaona.
This was her way of placing her personal mark on Hua Xiong’s troops—protecting them from punishment by Huo Jun after she left.
After all, Hua Xiong and his men had turned to banditry purely for survival, and along the way, they had not committed any truly heinous crimes.
If either of these two conditions had not been met, Mengde would never have intervened on their behalf.
But since they had acted out of desperation and refrained from evil, she decided to show them mercy.
***
Several days later, the group arrived at Chaona County.
Mengde once again met with the elders of a local noble family, posing as Liu Bei’s employer.
The elder she met was named Huangfu Quan, a man of the same generation as Huangfu Gui—Huangfu Song’s uncle and one of the three famed figures of Liangzhou.
Huangfu Quan was now over sixty years old.
Due to his age, Huangfu Quan served not only as an elder of the Huangfu clan but also as one of Chaona County’s Sanlao—or “Three Elders.”
In the Han dynasty, Sanlao were local officials responsible for moral education and public ethics.
The selection process for these positions was extremely strict.
A candidate had to be over fifty years old, possess exemplary moral character to serve as a role model for the people, and have a respectable level of education.
Since Sanlao were in charge of local instruction and values, illiteracy would be a serious embarrassment.
The Han dynasty emphasized governing through filial piety, and this ideal manifested in local governance through the Sanlao system.
Because only elders could become Sanlao, the populace was expected to respect and be filial toward them.
In turn, the emperor granted Sanlao various privileges, ensuring their loyalty to the Han court.
In this way, a simple but effective grassroots governance system was born.
The Sanlao in the Han dynasty enjoyed numerous privileges—for example, they were exempt from kneeling when meeting the emperor, received meat and wine as gifts every October, had the right to report on local conditions to the court, and were even allowed to comment on imperial policies.
The Sanlao occupied a political space between officials and commoners, serving as a crucial link between the people and the state.
During the Western Han, Sanlao played a vital role in extending central governance into local areas.
But in the Eastern Han, as noble families and clans increasingly monopolized land, society transformed into a clan-based structure.
As a result, the Sanlao ceased to function as bridges between people and government and instead became tools for clans to solidify their loyalty structures.
Take the Huangfu clan, for example.
Without the Sanlao title, internal disputes might arise over who should lead the clan following Huangfu Song’s departure.
But with a clan member serving as Sanlao, such arguments lost ground.
Since the Han dynasty upheld filial piety as sacred, and people were expected to listen to their elders, who would dare go against the word of a Sanlao?
Prestigious families like the Yuan clan—who had produced three Grand Ministers across four generations—had influence extending across entire commanderies. As a result, Yuannan Commandery’s Sanlao positions were typically monopolized by the Yuan family.
The Cao clan, a newly risen aristocratic family, only held sway within Qiao County.
Thus, they could only control Sanlao appointments at the county level.
Other powerful local clans without ties to the central court had to settle for dominating Sanlao positions at the most basic, village level.
As for Huangfu Quan, he held the title of County Sanlao.
The Huangfu family had maintained control of this position in Chaona County for nearly a century.
These noble families had long since reached an unspoken agreement: each would claim their own piece of the local power structure and rarely interfere with others.
Through this, the Eastern Han court gradually lost its grip on grassroots governance.