Chapter 422: The Outcome Remains Undecided

For someone in Shang Shuqing's circumstances, every mention of marriage was awkward. Meng Shanming was different, however. She knew he truly cared about her. He was not like those people to whom the matter had nothing to do with, yet who still insisted on saying a few words simply to make a show of concern. In her eyes, Meng Shanming was still merely an elder urging her to marry. Yet he had raised the subject several times lately, which left her no choice but to answer him directly.

"How many daughters in this world are able to decide their own marriages? Uncle Meng, let me be the one who can decide for herself."

"Girl..." Meng Shanming sighed softly and said no more.

At the Provincial Inspector's Residence in Beizhou, a group of local officials and a group of young students stood in clearly separate clusters among the pavilions and towers, gathered around Shao Pingbo and speaking with him. The local officials were all men who had produced substantial achievements in governing their districts over the past year.

Every year, Shao Pingbo set aside time to receive such officials personally. It was no ordinary audience either. He sent each of them an invitation himself. Praise went without saying.

No matter how tight his own finances were, Shao Pingbo was never stingy with rewards for these people. He went to considerable lengths to remove worries over their households and livelihoods. The other group, the young students, came from Lingbo Academy, an institution Shao Pingbo had personally created.

Every year, Shao Pingbo spent time selecting suitable youths for admission. The academy's teachers had likewise been chosen with great care and invited from all directions. Years ago, Dachan Mountain had thought he was squandering money. Shao Dengyun had not understood either.

With the political situation changing by the day, why spend money on something like this? The education of students already had officials responsible for it. What was the point of creating an academy outside the existing system? Shao Pingbo had even taken several officers from under his father's command and made them teachers there. Shao Pingbo had told his father that the people had been trapped in chaos for so long that they had grown numb and unfeeling.

This chaotic age needed a generation of new people: people with new ideas and real ability. The future of Beizhou, the future of the Shao family, perhaps even the future of all beneath Heaven, could find hope in these people. And all of them would be his students. Seven or eight years had passed.

After all those years of cultivation, the first group of students admitted to the academy had finally emerged. Those who showed talent in military affairs had already been recommended for service in the army. The remaining vigorous young men were those standing here now. After chatting and laughing with the officials for a while, Shao Pingbo pointed toward them and solemnly warned the students beside him.

"What these men can teach you is different from what you've learned from books, and different from what the teachers at the academy can tell you with words. These are people who have truly put principles into practice. They are your best teachers."

"Once you reach the local districts, you will discover that many problems in actual administration are nothing like what you imagined. Thinking about a problem and facing it yourself, then personally solving it, are two very different things."

"Along the way, you will encounter many difficulties. Many will be things you have never imagined, things you could never encounter inside the academy."

"But I hope you can endure."

"Learn to observe what causes a difficulty. Learn to resolve difficulties. Learn to overcome them. When facing hardship and problems, always retain the confidence and courage to solve them."

"You must withstand setbacks. Only then will you be worthy of the name Lingbo!"

"Yes!" the young men answered loudly, brimming with confidence.

"Saying 'yes' with your mouths is useless. What I want to see is how many of you can produce results and come back to face me with them."

Shao Pingbo smiled as he spoke, but the warning beneath the words was serious. Then he extended a hand toward the group of officials.

"Gentlemen, please come dine with me."

The officials immediately followed with great courtesy. At this time every year, Shao Pingbo personally hosted a banquet for such officials. During the meal, he encouraged everyone to speak freely. He used the opportunity to understand problems arising in every part of Beizhou.

This year, he also intended to distribute the students among these outstanding officials so they could take them away and temper them through practical work. The young men cupped their hands and saw the group off. After leaving the pavilions, Shao Pingbo passed the entrance to another courtyard and stopped. Two servants carrying food boxes had just come out.

Already eaten at this hour?

Shao Pingbo raised his head and looked at the sky, then walked over and stopped the servants.

"Has Master already had lunch?"

One servant replied, "Master has been completely absorbed in the maps. He didn't even eat breakfast. We just brought this meal in, but he had us take it back again. Maps?"

Shao Pingbo frowned. He knew Shao Dengyun had spent recent days gathering news about the fighting in Nanzhou. He could understand why his father cared, but skipping meals over it seemed excessive. He turned and gestured to Shao Sansheng.

"Gentlemen, please come with me." Shao Sansheng invited the officials onward and took them first to the banquet.

"You two, come with me."

Shao Pingbo took the servants carrying the food boxes into the inner residence. When he reached the main room, he saw that Shao Dengyun was indeed standing before a map, studying it. From time to time, he planted small flags into the map, apparently reconstructing and war-gaming the campaign. Shao Pingbo took the food boxes from the servants and dismissed them. He went inside alone, set the boxes on the table, opened them, and arranged the wine, dishes, and rice.

Only when Shao Dengyun finally pulled his gaze from the map and noticed him did Shao Pingbo step forward.

"Father, there's no need to rush. Fill your stomach first. There will be plenty of time to study it slowly."

He could understand the feelings of a military commander. Eight hundred thousand troops had been dealt with in only a few days. Shao Pingbo himself had been shocked when he first heard it, much less a general like his father. Shao Dengyun naturally had to understand exactly what had happened in that battle. And this was Meng Shanming's first campaign after emerging from seclusion. As one of Meng Shanming's former subordinates, Shao Dengyun could hardly avoid paying attention. Shao Dengyun turned back toward the map and sighed.

"Marshal Meng is Marshal Meng indeed. The treasured blade has not grown old. This battle was magnificent. It truly broadened the horizons."

Shao Pingbo, however, saw another key point.

"The crucial thing is that in a war on such a scale, with nearly a million troops tangled together, Nanzhou's vitality was barely damaged at all. Its people's livelihood suffered almost no loss."

"That is practically the same as helping Shang Chaozong swallow the whole of Nanzhou intact. At the very least, Meng Shanming has saved Shang Chaozong several years of recovery."

"He truly deserves his reputation as a famous general of his generation."

This point left Shao Pingbo uncomfortable too. It meant the gap between Niu Youdao's side and Beizhou was closing rapidly. How could that possibly make him happy?

Shao Dengyun shook his head. "I'm afraid Nanzhou may have nothing to do with Shang Chaozong anymore. Shang Chaozong and Marshal Meng are in serious trouble this time."

Shao Pingbo froze. "How so?"

Although he had been paying attention to Nanzhou, he had not maintained that attention at the highest level. Most of his energy now remained focused on his own Beizhou. Shao Dengyun casually took up a pointer and indicated the map, explaining the movements of Shang Chaozong's forces.

Then he concluded, "The movements of Shang Chaozong's troops are highly abnormal. They are clearly being cut apart, dispersed, and brought under separate control."

"Shang Chaozong himself would never arrange his forces this way. Tianyu Sect must be preparing to tear down the bridge after crossing the river."

"If Tianyu Sect cannot tolerate Shang Chaozong, how could it possibly tolerate Marshal Meng?"

Shao Pingbo understood. He stared at the map for a while and quickly guessed Tianyu Sect's intention. A trace of delight appeared in him, but then he frowned and sank into thought. After a moment, he slowly shook his head.

"I'm afraid Tianyu Sect may not get what it wants."

"Oh?" Shao Dengyun knew his son's ability. If his son said Tianyu Sect might fail, there had to be a reason. He glanced toward him. "What's your view?"

Shao Pingbo said, "I can't speak for the others, but I understand Niu Youdao. Unless Tianyu Sect already controlled him beforehand, I doubt they'll have much luck. I'm afraid Tianyu Sect may not be capable of taking him at all. If they could, they would have acted long ago. They wouldn't have waited until now. Tianyu Sect may look powerful, but in truth Niu Youdao has always been using them, using their strength to shelter his own safety. Those people from Tianyu Sect may be competent at fighting and killing. But when it comes to brains and methods, they aren't Niu Youdao's match at all. I don't believe Niu Youdao would easily fall into the hands of an opponent he has been guarding against all along."

Shao Dengyun said, "With a situation this large, how could one mere Niu Youdao possibly overturn it?"

Shao Pingbo shook his head. "Father, you're underestimating him too much."

"I don't know how Niu Youdao will turn the situation around, but Tianyu Sect's actions have already struck directly at his interests."

"Shang Chaozong is the core of his interests at present. Once Shang Chaozong's power collapses, everything Niu Youdao has built over there through all these years will turn to nothing."

"There is no possibility he will simply sit by and watch. He will certainly intervene."

"Father, just wait and see. First, I don't believe Niu Youdao will fall into Tianyu Sect's hands. And so long as he has not fallen into their hands, it means he prepared against them long ago..."

He suddenly stopped. His eyes flickered as he stared at the map, almost as though he were talking to himself.

"If he was already prepared, how could he sit and watch something like this happen? Why didn't he intervene beforehand? Why wait until the situation became difficult to clean up?"

"He's not the sort of man who sits still and waits for death..."

The corner of Shao Pingbo's mouth suddenly twitched. He gritted his teeth.

"That scoundrel may very well be deliberately indulging them. He may be using Tianyu Sect's strength to help Shang Chaozong seize Nanzhou!"

"The outcome remains undecided. Those idiots in Tianyu Sect are probably still celebrating, aren't they?"

"Cough, cough... cough, cough..."

Within the rear palace of the imperial compound of the State of Yan, white gauze hung throughout one palace residence, carrying the meaning of mourning. Noble Consort Zhou Qing sat beside the window, still as beautiful as ever, but her eyes were already swollen red from crying. When she first learned that her father had been defeated, she knew the Zhou family was in trouble.

Once responsibility for a disaster this great came down, did she really imagine she could continue living peacefully in the palace as a Noble Consort? Even if she were not implicated and executed, she would most likely be cast into the Cold Palace.

Who could have imagined that her father would instead "take his own life after defeat," preserving his name as a loyal subject, preserving the entire Zhou household, and preserving her position as Noble Consort?

She could not imagine how much courage her father must have needed to take his own life. Even ants struggled to survive. The courtyard where she lived had become desolate almost overnight.

In the past, those so-called sisters who visited because they knew her father was a trusted minister of the emperor, because they knew she had a powerful natal family behind her, now avoided this place one after another. All the preferential treatment she had once enjoyed vanished in an instant, as though it had only ever been a dream... Within the imperial ancestral temple, thousands of oil lamps burned brightly. The spirit tablets of the Shang clan's ancestors stood in ordered rows.

At the very top of the imperial clan's ancestral tablets of the State of Yan, largest and most conspicuous of all, stood the spirit tablet of Shang Song, founding emperor of the Wu Dynasty. Beneath the ancestral tablets, Shang Jianxiong knelt amid the bright lamps in plain, immaculate white robes. He raised his head toward the tablets of his ancestors, shame written across his face and tears glimmering in his eyes. He murmured prayers of self-reproach and confession. Another piece of his realm had been lost under his rule.

Outside the hall, Chief Steward of the Inner Palace Tian Yu and Director of Imperial Carriage Office Ga Miaoshui arrived. A eunuch at the entrance quickly went inside. He moved quietly to Shang Jianxiong's side, knelt beside him, and reported from his knees.

"Your Majesty, the Chief Steward has arrived. He says there has indeed been a change in Nanzhou and has come to request Your Majesty's instructions."

[End of Chapter 422]