Two days later, Mengde and her group arrived in Fuping County.
Although Fuping was technically the seat of Beidi Commandery, the county itself had a population of only a few thousand.
In fact, the total number of Han people across all of Beidi barely exceeded several tens of thousands.
Beidi Commandery was a border region adjacent to the grasslands, and almost every month, small nomadic tribes would raid southward.
Civilians couldn’t survive outside the city walls.
But staying within the city meant there was no land to farm, no means to support themselves.
For a borderland like this, civilians were simply a burden that had to be fed with grain shipped in from the interior.
Eventually, they had no choice but to leave, leaving only the soldiers stationed here to guard the frontier.
Of the few thousand people in Fuping, nearly half were soldiers.
The rest were also connected to the military in some way.
There wasn’t a single true civilian in sight.
So when Mengde’s convoy entered the city, it immediately drew everyone’s attention.
In less than a minute, Huangfu Song received word from the gate guards.
“A convoy from the interior…?”
Huangfu Song stroked his chin, falling into thought.
***
Meanwhile, due to the severe lack of population in Fuping, there weren’t any households capable of hosting guests.
As a result, Fynia’s convoy didn’t even stop after entering the city.
They went straight to the governor’s office to pay a visit.
Mengde got off the carriage with Liu Bei and walked up to the gates, only to be stopped by the guards.
“Who goes there?!”
“Tell them that Cao Cao, also known as Cao Mengde of Qiao County’s Cao family, is here to pay her respects.”
Mengde spoke calmly and respectfully, handing over the letter of introduction written by Huangfu Quan.
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
Realizing this visitor might be someone important, the guard quickly accepted the letter and ran off toward the governor’s office to report the news.
***
About ten minutes later, the steward of the governor’s office came out to greet them.
“May I ask, are you Lady Cao Cao—Cao Mengde?”
“I am.”
The steward bowed respectfully in front of Mengde.
She gave him a slight nod in return.
The steward immediately stepped aside and said, “Please, come in.”
He led the group into the governor’s residence.
Mengde was promptly taken to meet Huangfu Song, while Liu Bei took charge of settling the rest of the convoy.
In a room located in the rear courtyard, Mengde met the renowned general enshrined in the Martial Temple for his role in suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion—Huangfu Song.
Born around the year 130, Huangfu Song was only in his early forties.
But perhaps due to years of enduring the harsh winds of the frontier, his appearance was severely weathered.
Despite being in his forties, he looked like a shriveled old man—thin, worn, and prematurely aged.
Miss Mengde did not like this shriveled old man.
The reason was simple: he had slaughtered prisoners during the Yellow Turban Rebellion and had even used their bones to construct mounds of corpses, known as Jingguan.
****
Light Harmony, Year 7, Eleventh Month.
General Huangfu Song, together with Guo Dian, the Administrator of Julu, captured the final Yellow Turban stronghold—Quyang.
They killed Zhang Bao, the younger brother of Zhang Jue, and took over 100,000 prisoners.
After capturing the Yellow Turban remnants, Huangfu Song ordered the mass execution of more than 100,000 prisoners to strike fear into any would-be rebels.
He had their corpses piled up in the southern part of the city to form a gruesome mound known as a “jingguan.”
As for Mengde, she found herself fond of one particular saying—
“If the people do not fear death, how can death be used to threaten them?”
Even after the Yellow Turban Rebellion was quelled, the people of the Han Empire did not cower at the sight of the jingguan.
Instead, they rose up again and again, using the Yellow Turban name as a rallying cry.
Mengde firmly believed that even without the ensuing chaos of the Three Kingdoms era, the Eastern Han would have eventually crumbled under the weight of repeated peasant uprisings.
In the end, a new dynasty would emerge from the chaos and unify the land.
Mengde understood Huangfu Song.
After all, in a feudal society, commoners were treated as nothing more than blades of grass.
For the imperial court to massacre rebellious soldiers was, tragically, all too normal.
But understanding didn’t mean acceptance.
Mengde couldn’t help but dislike it.
Miss Mengde also understood why, in the original timeline, Cao Cao had carried out the massacre of Xuzhou.
But that didn’t stop her from despising what her historical self had done.
After all, what had the commoners done wrong?
They only wanted to survive.
When all was said and done, the Yellow Turbans were just a group of desperate people who had run out of options.
If the common people under Liu Hong’s rule had been well-fed and clothed, only a fool would have followed Zhang Jue and his brothers to rise in revolt.
The Yellow Turbans made many mistakes—so many that they quickly lost the support of the people.
That’s why they were swiftly crushed by a coalition of three factions: Liu Bei, who represented the common folk; Sun Jian, from the aristocracy; and Cao Cao, a member of the high-ranking gentry.
In just a few months, a massive rebellion involving hundreds of thousands was completely put down.
But if the Yellow Turbans had made mistakes, didn’t the emperors of the feudal age commit far worse?
Liu Hong, for example, sold official positions, taxed farmland across the realm just to build his own palaces—how were those actions any less cruel or unjust?
Wasn’t it because of him that the Yellow Turban Rebellion happened in the first place?
The desperate peasants were defeated and wiped out for their mistakes.
But Liu Hong—who made even greater mistakes—got to live out his life in peace and die of old age?
Mengde swore to herself: if she ever gained true power one day, she would dig up Liu Hong’s corpse and whip it, just to ease the hatred in her heart!
***
But for now, Miss Mengde couldn’t let her emotions interfere with her work.
Especially since the Huangfu Song standing before her hadn’t yet committed the atrocity of slaughtering prisoners.
There was still time to prevent it.
So she held her temper, bowed respectfully, and said: “This junior, Cao Cao—Cao Mengde—greets General Huangfu.”
“Rise.”
Huangfu Song immediately stepped forward to help her up.
Then he asked: “You’re the daughter of Minister Cao Song? The famous ‘Young Pillar,’ Cao Cao, Cao Mengde?”
Hearing that nickname again made Mengde inwardly cringe, but she managed to maintain her composure and nodded.
“That’s me.”
Huangfu Song smiled, clearly pleased.
As a member of the Partisan faction himself, he naturally treated the daughter of one of the Four Eminent Officials with respect.
“Good. A fine young lady! I just read a letter from the elder Huangfu Quan, and he mentioned that you wanted to help the northern barbarians. Is that correct?”
“Yes—and no.”
“Oh?”
Huangfu Song raised an intrigued eyebrow.
“Yes and no? What do you mean?”
With a confident smile, Mengde replied, “Last year, the northern barbarians were hit hard by a snow disaster. That presents both a danger and an opportunity for us. The danger is obvious: come autumn, if nothing changes, they’ll most likely raid southward.”
“But the opportunity is this—they fear death too. We can use their need for food as leverage to strike a deal and weaken them.”
“Weaken them? How exactly do you plan to do that?”
“By making them trade horses for supplies, of course. We shouldn’t give them our grain for free,” Miss Mengde said proudly.
“I call this strategy ‘bottom-fishing.’ I wonder, has General Huangfu heard that term before?”
“‘Bottom-fishing’…?”
Huangfu Song repeated the unfamiliar phrase, his interest clearly piqued.