Chapter 192: Seek Refuge In Chaisang
Bu Zhi waved his hand, “Don’t talk nonsense. Granting death is granting death. The Marquis of Wu has no need to do such a thing that kills both the body and the spirit.”
Bu Xie anxiously said, “Does Father really believe that Younger Sister did witchcraft?”
“How could that be? Our Bu family has never been involved in witchcraft. Your younger sister is even more of a kind person; she absolutely would not do such a thing!”
“So what! If the Marquis of Wu grants her death, and one day it proves not to be her doing, how will the Marquis of Wu face the world? So the Marquis of Wu will not grant her death, but instead give her the charge of committing suicide out of guilt, and Younger Sister will never be able to clear her name.”
Bu Zhi let out a long sigh, “First bury your younger sister properly! I’ll leave this matter to you.”
Eldest son Bu Xie followed the coffin away. Bu Zhi stood with hands behind his back at the front of the steps, gazing silently at the sky for a long time.
In fact, he knew full well that the Marquis of Wu was not targeting his own niece, but cleaning up him. He had followed Sun Ben for many years, and in the Marquis of Wu’s eyes, he was one of Sun Ben’s faction.
After the Sun Ben southern invasion incident, Sun Quan began gradually eliminating Sun Ben’s remnants. Apart from the Gu and Lu families, whose power was too great for Sun Quan to act rashly against, all other officials involved with Sun Ben were one by one dismissed by Sun Quan on various pretexts.
Finally, it was his turn. Although he was not actually one of Sun Ben’s faction, in Sun Quan’s eyes he was, and since Sun Quan could not act directly against him, he used his niece.
His niece practiced witchcraft. If it was witchcraft against Madam Xu, there was at least the motive of plotting to seize the position of main wife, but why would his niece practice witchcraft against the Marquis of Wu? That was her husband! He doted on her so much, and she herself had no son.
Such an obviously unreasonable and illogical matter, yet the Marquis of Wu did not even give his niece a chance to defend herself, directly sending her to Changdong Courtyard, where she committed suicide out of guilt that very night.
Was the Marquis of Wu targeting his niece? No! This was aimed at him. He was determined to be one of Sun Ben’s faction, someone he must completely eliminate. Demoting him to Lingyang County Commandant was just the Marquis of Wu’s first step, just like sending his niece to Changdong Courtyard; the next step would be to make him, like his niece, die by suicide.
This was the Marquis of Wu’s method, just like how he participated in plotting against his elder brother back then, ultimately letting Sun Ben bear all the blame while he himself took the position of Marquis of Wu—such deep scheming, such ruthless cunning.
Bu Zhi secretly clenched his fist and muttered to himself, “Sun Quan, you want to annihilate completely, but how could I, Bu Zhi, sit idly by and wait for death!”
In the Marquis of Wu’s Official Residence, Sun Quan stood with hands behind his back by the window, listening to his subordinate’s report.
“Reporting to the Marquis of Wu, Bu Zhi sent the butler to buy land in Lingyang County.”
“Is that confirmed?”
“Confirmed. This subordinate bribed the butler’s hand, who said Bu Zhi thinks the County Commandant Official Residence is too dilapidated and wants to buy land himself to build a residence.”
Sun Quan gave a cold snort, “Buy land—for himself, buy a grave!”
Five days later, Bu Zhi set off with his family by ship. Lingyang County is located in the mountainous area in the southern part of Danyang Commandery; it is a small mountain county. One could go to Lingyang County by land route, but the land route is very difficult, taking at least two months.
But the water route is much more comfortable: first take a ship from Dantu County to Wuhu Town in Danyang Commandery, then turn into Qingge Water—Lingyang County is located upstream on Qingge Water. In the Three Kingdoms Period, Qingge Water had not yet fully formed; it was just a small tributary of Li Water, navigable only by small ships of less than three hundred stone.
So travelers to Lingyang County all change ships at Wuhu Town, taking small passenger ships of three hundred stone to continue south.
The ship Bu Zhi took was a two thousand stone passenger ship, carrying his wife, two sons, daughters-in-law, grandsons, and a large group of subordinates. The large passenger ship sailed on the Yangtze River, but two li away, several zouge warships followed Bu Zhi’s large ship from afar.
Zouge is a type of three hundred stone scout ship, each equipped with eight men: two deployed fore and aft to scout the river surface, while the other four row inside the black canopy.
Ten days later, the large ship arrived at Wuhu Town. Bu Zhi’s family rested and ate here, preparing to change ships, while several zouge scout ships continued to watch them.
At dusk, Bu Zhi’s family and subordinates rented more than ten small boats and left one after another, with several zouge scout ships hurriedly following.
In one rather old small boat, Bu Zhi’s family of eight crowded together. Watching the zouge go into the distance, the eldest son was just about to speak when Bu Zhi raised a finger with a ‘shh!’ and said in a low voice, “Everyone, follow me!”
They climbed out of the small boat and boarded another two thousand stone passenger ship—this was a ship the butler had rented in advance.
“Father, a two thousand stone passenger ship probably cannot navigate Qingge Water!”
Bu Zhi said indifferently, “Who said we are going to Lingyang County?”
“Ah! Then where is Father going?”
Bu Zhi’s eyes flashed with deep emotion, and he calmly said to the whole family, “Sun Quan wants me to ‘die of illness’ unfortunately in Lingyang County. Of course I cannot stretch my neck waiting to be slaughtered. We are going to Chaisang.”
In the morning, Lu Su hurriedly entered Gan Ning’s Official Residence and said loudly, “General, good news, tremendous good news!”
Gan Ning put down the document and smiled, “What good news has the strategist so excited?”
“General, Bu Zhi has come to defect to the general.”
Gan Ning was stunned—Bu Zhi was the second most important figure in Jiangdong’s Huai Si Group after Zhang Zhao! He had always been highly regarded by Sun Quan, and his niece was Sun Quan’s secondary wife. How could he come to defect to him?
“Strategist, are you sure you are not mistaken! Bu Zhi is actually here as an envoy to Chaisang.”
“No mistake. He said Sun Quan is purging Sun Ben’s faction, and he has been identified as one of them. He fled from Jiangdong.”
Gan Ning felt a bit excited too—if Bu Zhi was really coming to join him, that would be tremendous good news!
“Has he been settled?”
“I arranged his whole family in the VIP Courtyard of the Recruitment Hall; they have been properly settled.”
Gan Ning thought for a moment and said, “Strategist, talk with him again properly and get the situation clear.”
“This subordinate understands. I will go discuss in detail with him.”
As Lu Su was about to leave, Gan Ning called him back, “Strategist, wait a moment!”
Lu Su stopped, and Gan Ning raised the document in his hand, “Have you read this animal husbandry report submitted by Chen Jiu?”
“This subordinate has read it. Chief Manager Chen suggests allowing donkeys to be sold in the public market. This subordinate feels the timing is not yet ripe. In the future, when we campaign against the south, we will need large numbers of mules and donkeys; this is the original intent of our large-scale donkey breeding. Since military use has not yet begun, this subordinate does not agree with Chief Manager Chen’s suggestion.”
Gan Ning nodded, “I understand. Go ahead, strategist! Entertain Bu Zhi well.”
Lu Su gave a salute and left. Gan Ning set Chen Jiu’s report aside; Bu Zhi’s arrival left him no mind to read government affairs reports.
In history, Bu Zhi was a key minister of Eastern Wu, rising to the position of Chancellor, but due to his own appearance, many people’s fates had changed, especially with Sun Ben’s rebellion, which greatly altered the Jiangdong landscape.
In the end, Bu Zhi was still implicated in the Sun Ben rebellion incident and became one of Sun Ben’s faction.
Bu Zhi defecting to him was a typical case of political seeking refuge, but having come this far, he could no longer return to Eastern Wu. He needed to think carefully about how to make use of Bu Zhi.
