“Grandfather, I fear the world is about to fall into chaos!”

……

“You child, what nonsense are you spouting!”

Hearing this, Robert Benson was startled. Although he had seen much of the world in his youth when he traveled to the Western Regions, at heart he was still just a small landowner, his perspective limited to Guanzhong, or even just the small county of Changling in Liewei Commandery. He lacked sensitivity to the subtle changes in the outside world.

In Robert Benson’s view, although the new army had suffered repeated humiliating defeats in battles on the borders and against the barbarians, those matters were too distant. The country was still relatively stable, and life was far from the point where people would be forced to rebel.

But Henry Benson was different. Precisely because he didn’t know the historical details of this era, he paid even more attention to gathering information. In recent days, he would often go to the county seat for no reason, and even sent people to the capital and Hedong to inquire. The news he received left him deeply worried.

“Last year, the weather in Guandong was erratic with droughts and floods. In the southeast, in Yangzhou, there was an uprising in the melon fields, and there are rumors that half of Kuaiji Commandery is in turmoil.”

“And in the east, in Xuzhou, there’s a woman named Lü Mu. Because her son was wrongfully killed by the county magistrate, she gathered hundreds of poor youths, took the county seat by force, killed the magistrate, and now operates along the coast. It’s said she’s already gathered over ten thousand followers.”

“And then there’s what happened this summer and autumn—Jingzhou has suffered years of drought, the people are starving and destitute, so they’ve turned to banditry, gathering in Green Forest Mountain, and their numbers keep growing…”

The term “Green Forest heroes” was something Henry Benson had heard in his previous life; in the future, they would likely become a major force.

These were all he had found out for now, but he feared there were even more disturbances being concealed by the court. They all seemed like mere sparks, but in a few years, would they not become a raging inferno?

After all, the reforms of the new dynasty were riddled with problems, and every class was full of grievances. Meanwhile, Wang Mang was waging wars on all the borders. Even someone like Henry Benson, who didn’t know history, could see that the Xin regime was beset by internal and external troubles, as fragile as an egg on the verge of breaking.

“It’s nothing but a few bandits and vagrants. Lun’er, you really haven’t seen the world. Such petty thieves—what dynasty, what year hasn’t had them?”

Robert Benson didn’t take the uprisings in Guandong seriously, which left Henry Benson speechless. Right, could it be that Wang Mang and those in power at court shared this same attitude?

On second thought, it made sense. Unless one knew, as he did, that the Xin dynasty would soon collapse, it would be hard for any normal person to believe that this seemingly peaceful era would suddenly fall apart in just a few years.

Robert Benson still couldn’t accept Henry Benson’s alarmist talk, so he dropped the subject and asked about the main point of the matter.

“Lun’er, even if you don’t want to enter the Imperial Academy, then just don’t go. Why give the spot to The Foster Family? Isn’t that just benefiting their family?”

Henry Benson was about to explain his reasons when a commotion came from afar. The grandfather and grandson saw a group of people and horses arriving at the southern gate of the manor along the western road, and the gatekeeper came to report: “Master, the clan leader of The Foster Family and his son Charles Foster have come to visit!”

Robert Benson was a bit surprised: “Didn’t The Foster Family have a falling out with our family? Why would that old man come today?”

“Of course they had to come.”

Henry Benson, however, was not surprised. He knew that the news of him yielding the academy spot at the official school had reached The Foster Family.

“They just arrived even faster than I expected!”

……

Meanwhile, in the county seat, the magistrate Matthew Hayes had already prepared a night banquet to entertain Edward Clark and David Carter, two doctors from the capital.

At this moment, David Carter recalled the events of the afternoon and turned to ask Edward Clark, who was absentmindedly picking fish bones.

“Junshan.”

“What do you think—did that Henry Benson genuinely yield the Imperial Academy spot to his clan brother out of true humility and brotherly love, or was it just a ploy to gain fame and profit?”

Chapter 4 Henry Benson Yields the Pear

The reason David Carter doubted Henry Benson was because, in this era, filial piety and brotherly love were indeed profitable virtues.

The Former Han ruled the world by filial piety, and every emperor’s posthumous title began with the character for filial. Brotherly love was an extension of filial piety; as the Classic of Filial Piety says, “Of all ways to teach the people propriety and order, none is better than brotherly love,” advocating that brothers should be close and affectionate, with a clear hierarchy between elder and younger.

After the Xin dynasty replaced Han, since Wang Mang had usurped the throne as a subject, even with the myth of the Red Emperor’s abdication as a cover, he couldn’t very well emphasize loyalty and slap himself in the face, so he continued to promote filial piety and brotherly love.

After hearing David Carter’s question, Edward Clark spat out a fish bone and began to recount an unrelated story.

“In the old days, when His Majesty was still obscure, he served his mother and widowed sister-in-law, raised his elder brother’s orphaned son, and was attentive to all his uncles. When his uncle, the Marquis of Yangping Jingcheng (Wang Feng), was bedridden, he personally tasted his medicine, went unkempt and disheveled, and did not remove his belt for months, earning the praise of the world.”

Wang Mang himself was a classic example of someone who gained fame and rose to power by cultivating an image of filial piety and brotherly love. Edward Clark’s words carried a hidden meaning: “At that time, weren’t there also people like Bóshī who suspected His Majesty’s motives were impure, and that his display of filial piety and brotherly love was just to gain fame and profit?”

“This… what does that have to do with today’s matter? His Majesty is a sage who appears only once in five hundred years after Confucius. Henry Benson is just a country boy—how can they be compared?”

David Carter regretted provoking Edward Clark and simply asked the magistrate Matthew Hayes: “The Benson and Foster families are relatives. Is it possible they colluded, with Henry Benson yielding the spot to gain reputation, and Charles Foster entering the Imperial Academy?”

“Absolutely impossible.”