“Mildred has no great ambitions, only hopes that if one day father truly does something wrong, Mildred can ensure the entire Dong family remains safe and sound.”

“小双, do you really think we should give that thing to him?”

Charles King’s conversation jumped around so much that Helen Brooks could barely keep up with his train of thought.

The old madam nodded. “Brother, our Cheng family has guarded those things for over a hundred years. If we keep storing them, I’m afraid they’ll just get moldy and rot away. Instead of leaving them there to be ignored, why not give them to Mildred?”

“Mildred, the court is in chaos these days—do you intend to seize power?”

With that one sentence, Charles King made Helen Brooks break out in a cold sweat.

It was undeniable that when he first arrived in this era, he’d had such thoughts. But… although the court is chaotic now, the Yellow Turban Rebellion hasn’t broken out, and imperial power is still stable—he wouldn’t dare entertain such ideas. Even after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, when the Han dynasty declined and warlords rose everywhere, what was Helen Brooks compared to them? How could he possibly compete?

If his father caused chaos, the world would unite to destroy him.

If his father didn’t cause chaos, then talk of rebellion was even more impossible. If he so much as uttered the word “rebellion,” his father would probably kill him first.

Besides, whether or not his father caused chaos, how could he possibly persuade him otherwise?

Any local strongman is a person of firm will. If a little kid went up and told them not to rebel, who would listen? In any era, such things can’t be stopped or persuaded by others—Helen Brooks was confident he didn’t have that ability.

“Grandfather, why would you say that? Father has received deep imperial favor—how could Mildred even think of rebelling?”

Charles King nodded. “Mildred, I want you to swear a deadly oath.”

“What kind of oath?”

“In this life, you must never betray the court, and must never endanger the nation.”

“Mildred swears never to fail the court, never to endanger the nation. If I break this oath, may heaven and earth destroy me.”

Helen Brooks thought to himself: I’m afraid this Han dynasty will fall into chaos without my help—there will always be someone to stir things up. As long as I can protect my Dong family, what does the fate of the nation have to do with me?

Charles King nodded. “Mildred, don’t blame your grandfather for forcing you. Our Cheng family may not be a famous noble house, but this Han dynasty was won by our ancestors fighting alongside the old lord, and we will never allow anyone to destroy it. Your grandmother sent me here to give you the old lord’s relics… just remember the oath you made today.”

The old madam stood up, leaning on her cane, and walked to the door.

“Bring everything in!”

Before she finished speaking, several family retainers drove an ox cart into the small courtyard. Charles King waved for the retainers to leave, then told Helen Brooks to come over. He stood by the ox cart, looked at the cloth covering it, gritted his teeth, and reached out to lift the cover.

On the cart were three chests.

Helen Brooks looked at Charles King in confusion, then at his grandmother, completely unsure what these two elders meant.

“Mildred, do you know who the old lord your grandfather mentioned is?”

Helen Brooks shook his head. “Mildred doesn’t know.”

“Our Cheng family’s ancestor was a founding hero of this dynasty, a general under Lord Fubo, General Ma Yuan. Lord Ma Yuan was a descendant of Zhao She, Lord Ma Fu of Zhao. Inside these chests are the general’s weapons and his lifetime’s military insights. After the general died, these things were entrusted to our Cheng family for safekeeping, and it’s been over a hundred years. Today, I’m giving them to you…”

Chapter 7: The Breaking of Qiang at Jincheng (1)

General Fubo, Ma Yuan?

Helen Brooks had heard this name before. Didn’t the storytelling books say that the famous Ma Chao of Xiliang was a descendant of General Fubo, Ma Yuan? There’s no need to elaborate on who Ma Chao was. After coming to this era, Helen Brooks had also heard people mention Ma Yuan’s name. It was said that during the restoration under Emperor Guangwu, Ma Yuan served under Liu Xiu and was invincible—a true legend.

Helen Brooks just hadn’t expected his own family to be connected to Ma Yuan.

At least in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms storytelling, Master Yuan Kuocheng never mentioned any connection between Dong Zhuo’s family and Ma Yuan.

Military treatises and strategies? That sounded quite tempting.

If you’re not living in the Three Kingdoms era, you can never know how difficult it is to read books. Not to mention that paper wasn’t widely available at this time—most books were made of bamboo slips. And books were mostly controlled by aristocratic clans, so for ordinary people, reading was extremely difficult. Even though the Dong family had some status in Lintao and owned a few books, most of them weren’t to Helen Brooks’s liking. Helen Brooks even thought with some disgust: If I’d known it would be like this, I should have memorized the Seven Military Classics in my previous life before being reborn—anything would be better than reading all this classical gibberish every day.

Charles King said, “The old lord spent his life in battle, and all he left behind was this work. Back then, the old lord had four great generals under him: Cheng, Pang, Yan, and Huang. Cheng was our ancestor, deeply favored by the old lord. When the old lord passed away, Emperor Guangwu actually forbade his burial. In anger, our ancestor took these things and came here.”

“Cheng, Pang, Yan, Huang?”

Another new revelation—Helen Brooks grew even more curious.

“The other three families disappeared later; we don’t know where they went. Anyway, the old lord was unmatched on the battlefield, with spear, saber, hammer, and his military strategies—together called the Four Perfections.”

Charles King pointed to two of the chests on the cart. “Inside here are the old lord’s military insights.”