Chapter 131: The Present and the Future

First the Marquis of Zhenbei.

Then the Marquis of Jingnan.

Both had eaten duck at Quande Restaurant.

And both had gone straight there almost immediately after entering the capital.

Quande Restaurant’s reputation could be said to have reached its absolute peak.

Yet lately business at Quande Restaurant had been extremely cold.

Its roast duck was expensive.

Ordinary people could neither afford nor bear to eat there often.

And the wealthy households these days, many had no mood to eat.

Some would never be able to eat again.

“How many groups does that make?”

Zheng Fan sat beside a second-floor window at Quande Restaurant and asked.

“Reporting to Little Lord Zheng.

“That was the fourth group.”

“Eunuch Zhang.

“I told you when we first met.

“Don’t call me Little Lord Zheng.”

“Then what should this servant call you?

“Little Fanzi?

“Or Little Zhengzi?”

The Sixth Prince happened to push open the door and enter the private room.

He removed the bamboo hat from his head and tossed it to Eunuch Zhang.

He wore a coarse scholar’s robe.

At first glance, he looked like a poor and unsuccessful student.

Grass and mud clung to his clothing.

His knees were stained with earth.

“Where did you go?” Zheng Fan asked.

“To cry at a grave.

“The little Earth God temple I built for my mother and maternal grandfather was flattened two days ago.

“So I went there in disguise and cried for a while.

“Aiya.

“I’m dying of thirst.”

The Sixth Prince grabbed the teapot in front of him.

He placed the long spout directly to his mouth and drank.

“Gulp, gulp…”

After drinking his fill, the Sixth Prince wiped his mouth and handed the pot to Eunuch Zhang.

“Bring another pot of tea.”

Zheng Fan immediately reminded Eunuch Zhang, “Change the pot too.”

“You’re disgusted by me?”

“Obviously.”

“I’m wounded.”

“Then stay wounded.”

Eunuch Zhang left with the teapot.

“Don’t be too upset,” Zheng Fan comforted him.

“I’m all right.

“I secretly built that temple years ago.

“It was always prepared for Father Emperor to knock down someday.”

“That works?”

“Of course it works.

“Think about it.

“If you want to punish someone, naturally you have to take away something he treasures.

“If he loves wealth, confiscate his property.

“If he loves power, demote him.

“If he has absolutely nothing— then the rod can only land directly on his body and exhaust his flesh and bones.

“So even if you genuinely have nothing you care about— you should still create a few things.

“Then when the time comes, those above can ‘take them away.’

“And afterward, you must act appropriately heartbroken.

“That way, the person punishing you gets the satisfaction of feeling the punishment worked.”

“You can even do that?”

“Why not?

“Look.

“Down there.”

Zheng Fan turned toward the street.

This was already the fifth group of prisoners being escorted along under Imperial Guard supervision.

“Servants from Vice Minister of War Jiang’s household.

“The main clan has already been exterminated.

“These servants are being sentenced and sent away.”

“The Jiang Clan?”

“Mm.

“You were transferred from Tiger Head City to Willow Fort using the Jiang Clan’s connections.

“Their youngest son owed a considerable amount of money at one of my gambling houses.

“I may be an idle Prince— but owing a Prince money is still not an easy debt to ignore.”

“Trading money for official power.

“That openly?”

“The more direct it is, the more upright it looks.”

“That does make sense.”

“Besides, the Jiang Clan owned a mountain in Huwei.

“Officially, it was listed as a coal mine.

“In truth— it was a copper mine.

“I’ve coveted it for a long time.

“Their property has already been confiscated and entered the state treasury.

“In a few days, I’ll have someone buy it from the Inner Treasury.”

“You planned that long ago?”

“Of course.

“The Jiang Clan only has themselves to blame.

“I offered money before.

“They refused to sell.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

At that moment, Eunuch Zhang returned with another pot of tea.

As Zheng Fan poured tea, he thought inwardly:

If this were a game called *The Loving Father and Filial Son* then during the first ten years, the Yan Emperor had tortured Little Sixth half to death.

But Little Sixth was clever.

Very quickly he figured out the game mechanics and began intentionally farming the dungeon in reverse.

“Not afraid His Majesty will find out?”

If the Emperor discovers you are manipulating him and using him as your knife heh.

“Father Emperor handles ten thousand matters every day.

“How could he possibly possess the leisure to examine what this son is doing every single day?

“At most, when he happens to remember me, he asks casually.

“Exactly like I ask Eunuch Zhang right now.

“Wei Zhonghe!”

Eunuch Zhang immediately bent his waist and answered, “This servant is here.”

“How has Chengjue been lately?”

“Reporting to Your Highness.

“Sixth Highness secretly went to the fields outside the city today.

“He knelt there and cried for a very long time.”

“Pa!”

The Sixth Prince clapped his hands once.

Then shrugged toward Zheng Fan.

“That is basically it.”

Zheng Fan picked up his tea cup and drank.

This was Hawk Tea.

The name alone made it obvious it was not the finest tea.

Nor did it have anything to do with luxury.

But inside the current capital drinking Hawk Tea fit the atmosphere perfectly.

“Father Emperor will not ask again.

“He still has far too much to do.

“The strategy for going to war with Qian.

“Which aristocratic clans are to be exterminated.

“Which are to be demoted.

“Which are to be exiled.

“An enormous pile of work is pressing down on him.

“As long as Father Emperor does not ask again—

Wei Zhonghe will not volunteer further information.

“Even if the Secret Intelligence Department under Wei Zhonghe learns that I acquired the Jiang Clan’s copper mountain through the Inner Treasury— he still will not say anything.

“No.

“To be exact— he will not say anything unless asked.

“That does not mean Wei Zhonghe is disloyal to Father Emperor.

“It is precisely because— this is the proper conduct of a servant.”

“Wonderful.”

Zheng Fan gave his evaluation.

This was a high-end player.

Of course, there was one more detail.

Zheng Fan had noticed it.

Little Sixth was definitely doing it on purpose.

When Zheng Fan arrived, Eunuch Zhang had called him “Little Lord Zheng.”

And in front of Zheng Fan, the Sixth Prince now used “I” instead of the princely “this Prince” he had often used before.

Something from inside the imperial palace half a month ago had probably spread to some extent.

“Still, there is one thing I’m curious about.

“What do you need so much money for?”

“Cough! Cough! Cough…”

The Sixth Prince immediately began coughing.

He pointed at Zheng Fan.

His face reddened slightly.

Eunuch Zhang hurried forward and patted his back.

Once he caught his breath the Sixth Prince pointed at Zheng Fan and said, “You heartless bastard!”

“Hiss…”

This tone was wrong.

“Do you know how much silver I have already poured into you since I first began supporting you?”

“A lot.”

Willow Fort itself had been built through money and people provided by the Sixth Prince.

The armor stored inside the fortress warehouses.

The horses raised outside.

Those had also been supplied through the Sixth Prince’s channels.

Many of those goods were contraband so restricted that money alone could not necessarily buy them.

“I’m curious.

“When you were at Willow Fort, every time I sent you a letter and every time you replied— did you even read them?”

“I did.”

Willow Fort tradition: the Blind Man read the letters.

The Blind Man wrote the replies.

“No.

“You definitely did not.

“Do you know that aside from the things you can see—

I poured enormous amounts of silver into places you cannot see as well?

“Across Qian’s frontier-fort system— do you know how many internal contacts I bought for you with silver?”

“Uh…”

Fuck.

The Blind Man never told me about that.

“I understand your intentions.”

The Sixth Prince glared at Zheng Fan.

Then sat back down.

“Do you know— although I appear to possess many merchant houses and properties—

I genuinely have not accumulated much liquid silver?”

“You use money to make more money?”

Zheng Fan had never run a proper business in his previous life.

A comic studio hardly counted as a legitimate enterprise.

He could only guess that the money the Sixth Prince earned was continuously reinvested into expanding and upgrading his businesses.

“Take the Jiang Clan’s coal mine.

“Yes.

“I will buy the mine from the Inner Treasury.

“But before that—

I already sold a large batch of coal to the troops stationed in Yinlang Commandery at half the normal market price.

“I lost money on every load.”

“Oh.

“Not easy.”

He earned plenty.

But he had also paid enormous protection fees.

Who told him to have a father like that?

“The most infuriating thing is—

I knew perfectly well what the Imperial Court was about to do next.

“But I still had to suppress myself and not touch land or grain!”

Zheng Fan took an orange from the fruit tray and began peeling it.

Inside he understood Little Sixth’s frustration perfectly.

Business depended on direction.

You followed policy.

If you could know policy changes in advance or receive inside information then basically…

The Sixth Prince had long ago seen the strange intimacy between Father Emperor and the Marquis of Zhenbei.

He also understood the confrontation was a performance.

A performance staged for Great Yan’s aristocratic clans.

Yet Little Sixth could not use his own political sensitivity to pave roads for his businesses.

At this very moment, Zhenbei Army cavalry were rampaging madly across Great Yan’s aristocratic clans.

The slaughtering blade rose.

Blood ran like rivers.

These clans any family with less than a century of inheritance would almost be embarrassed to greet the others.

Most were fat leeks cultivated for centuries.

So fat their roots resembled ancient trees twisted through the earth.

Once the blade came down farmland.

Grain.

Antiques.

Gold.

Silver.

Everything would be squeezed outward.

The Yan Emperor would naturally swallow the largest share.

But the impact of this one move was enormous.

If a massive merchant house could have prepared in advance it could follow behind the Imperial Court and gorge itself until fat.

Yet Little Sixth could not do that.

Mountains of gold and silver stood right in front of him.

Like women standing at the entrance of a pleasure house, tossing seductive glances and calling:

“Master, come inside and play.”

And he still had to imitate some stiff old scholar bow his head and flee while muttering, “Do not look upon what is improper.

“Do not look upon what is improper.”

“Making money is just something I do to relieve boredom.

“If you never sit in that position— then no matter how much or how little you earn, it ultimately benefits your elder brother.

“Perhaps— your younger brother too.”

The Sixth Prince rolled his eyes at Zheng Fan.

“You won’t even spare my underage younger brother?

“You’re already trying to sow discord there?”

“Instinct.

“Instinct.”

“It isn’t that I cannot bear spending the silver.

“I am anxious.

“Before, I always thought slow water runs long.

“Keep some savings.

“Maintain relationships.

“Prepare a way to avoid disaster later.

“But when the moment truly came to spend money—

I discovered this millstone called money is damned heavy.”

“Tomorrow I’ll think up a few more good products.

“You can take them and sell them.”

“Naturally.

“If your soap and perfume businesses were not supporting me—

I genuinely would not have been able to throw money around so smoothly.

“But things will be better from here onward.

“Making money inside Yan is inconvenient.

“Making money inside Qian— will be much easier.”

For some reason, Zheng Fan suddenly thought of the empire on which the sun never set from his previous world.

Rifles in one hand.

Banknotes in the other.

Fighting wars while establishing companies and making money.

His cooperation with Little Sixth really did carry that flavor.

Yes.

The most profitable business in this world had always been rob the bastards.

“Hey.

“I heard the Marquis of Zhenbei thinks pretty highly of you too.”

“Did you hear what conditions he offered?”

The Sixth Prince shook his head.

Naturally, that information could not have leaked.

At the time including Zheng Fan only four people had been present.

Qingshuang stood beside the Marquis of Zhenbei like an adopted son.

But his true identity was one of the seven Commanders-in-Chief beneath the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate.

Add the Marquis of Zhenbei.

And the Marquis of Jingnan.

If even their private words had leaked there could only be one explanation.

Zheng Fan himself had deliberately released the rumor to inflate his own reputation.

But obviously—

Zheng Fan was not that bored.

“The Marquis of Zhenbei said I’m from Beifeng Commandery.

“That I should belong to the Zhenbei Army.

“He was willing to promote me to Assistant General.

“And assign one thousand Zhenbei Army iron cavalry under my command.”

“And the Marquis of Jingnan?”

“Garrison Commander of Willow Fort, Yinlang Commandery.”

The Sixth Prince nodded.

“You chose correctly.

“Staying Garrison Commander is better.”

“Right?

“I thought so too.”

If that information spread, everyone else would probably think Zheng Fan was foaming-at-the-mouth stupid.

But only one scheming bastard truly understood another scheming bastard.

“The Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate.

“Six garrisons.

“Three hundred thousand Zhenbei troops.

“Seven great Commanders-in-Chief.

“Sigh.

“The hierarchy is severe.

“If you entered— truthfully, you would still have to play the grandson.

“Still follow seniority.

“Even if you gained military merit again and again, you would still have to move upward step by step.

“And the higher you went— the harder every step would become.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

Of the seven Commanders-in-Chief six bore the surname Li.

Unless he, Zheng Fan, abandoned all shame and renamed himself Li Fan.

But that appearance would be far too ugly.

Far too embarrassing.

And besides there was still the mysterious young Marquis.

Entering the Zhenbei Army would be like entering a new, rigid bureaucracy.

However much support the system gave you that was also how deeply it bound you.

“Garrison Commander of Willow Fort.

“Sigh.

“My maternal uncle really does think extremely highly of you.

“Heh.”

Garrison Commander of Willow Fort.

The post did not move.

No Jingnan Army troops were explicitly assigned.

At first glance it looked absurdly stingy.

Yet hidden within it was an enormous degree of freedom.

War was coming.

Want to develop?

Want to grow?

Want men?

Want soldiers?

Want authority?

Want status?

Then fight for it yourself.

Seize it yourself.

Like the small military strongholds scattered throughout Beifeng Commandery.

How fat you managed to grow depended entirely upon your own ability.

The Marquis of Jingnan had not forced Zheng Fan into his own system.

Instead he had given Zheng Fan an opportunity.

If you truly possess ambition if you truly desire it then grow yourself into a new military power.

A national war was coming.

Generals would shine like stars.

Some would fall.

Others would rise.

Outside the Zhenbei Army and Jingnan Army perhaps entirely new armies would emerge.

Before when defending the state two great Marquises in north and south had been enough.

From now onward they would no longer be enough.

“My maternal uncle already returned to Yinlang Commandery some time ago.

“How much longer do you plan to remain?”

“I leave tomorrow.”

Zheng Fan had been kept behind to collect the Tian Clan’s corpses.

The capital had genuinely run out of coffins.

Even the people at the charity mortuaries were completely overwhelmed.

Nobody knew exactly how many people had been killed inside the capital alone.

And outside the capital in the regions where the great clans’ real strength was entrenched the dead were probably far more numerous.

Truthfully—

Zheng Fan was not especially worried this enormous purge would cause the entire state to collapse.

First if the Yan Emperor dared launch it, he had unquestionably prepared.

Replacement officials had certainly been arranged for those being purged.

The rise of men from humble families was now an unstoppable trend.

And among the aristocratic clans there were extermination lists.

Penal-servitude lists.

And clans that had always remained close to the imperial house and were willing to proactively bow their heads and trim their own wings.

Those people could still be promoted and employed.

Turmoil was inevitable.

But unless Great Yan suffered a catastrophic defeat in the coming war against Qian the Yan Imperial Court would remain as steady as Mount Tai.

There was a saying in later generations:

Do not imagine yourself too important.

The Earth keeps turning no matter who disappears.

The aristocratic clans truly controlled almost every level of Yan society.

But Great Yan’s armies remained firmly held by those three great figures.

The clans could not produce much of a wave.

As for damage to the bureaucracy and temporary problems in running the court at most, they would cause short-term disorder.

Soon enough they would cease to be problems.

Three-legged toads were difficult to find.

Two-legged men who wanted to become officials?

They filled every street.

In the history Zheng Fan knew, there were plenty of examples of states founded by peoples with only several hundred thousand in total population who still charged into the Central Plains and established dynasties.

How had they managed to keep the machine running?

“Shaking the foundations of the state.”

“Destroying the political base.”

“Governing a great state like cooking a small fish.”

Those sayings usually mattered because the Emperor and ruling faction were trying to repair the chair while still sitting on it.

So everything had to be done with endless care.

But in Yan the three giants stood together.

Zheng Fan thought of Qin Shi Huang.

After destroying the six states, Qin Shi Huang had not rested.

He standardized writing.

Standardized axle widths.

Burned books.

Buried scholars.

One enormous project after another.

Extremely willful.

Yet as long as the First Emperor remained alive the ambitious men and remnants of the six former states did not dare move recklessly.

The First Emperor’s authority alone was enough to make every disturbance despair.

It was the same now.

The Yan Emperor.

The Marquis of Zhenbei.

The Marquis of Jingnan.

When those three stood together every opposing force inside Great Yan became a paper tiger.

But once the First Emperor died…

“What are you thinking about?” Little Sixth asked.

“I was thinking that tomorrow I return.

“Then it may be a long time before I see you again.

“It makes me a little sad.”

“…”

The Sixth Prince.

“But that is good too.

“A soldier should be clashing with other soldiers.

“That is what makes things interesting.”

Continuing to serve as a knife slaughtering aristocratic clans—

Zheng Fan had already grown tired of it.

It did not suit his taste.

This was one tiny piece of sentimentality he had managed to preserve in this world.

“Truthfully, I envy you too.

“Once you return to Willow Fort— you will be free.”

“Don’t envy me.

“What if the opening campaign goes badly and the Qian army wraps us up like dumplings and swallows us whole?

“Don’t imagine war is an easy thing.”

“That— using the term you taught me is called a reverse buff, right?”

“Good boy.

“You actually remember my words.”

“That character ‘milk’— the more I think about it, the more profound it becomes.

“These days I often turn it over repeatedly.

“The principles hidden within are truly numerous.”

“Dirty bastard.”

The Sixth Prince pointed toward the gloomy sky outside.

Then coughed several more times.

Clearly, acting out that crying scene outdoors today had chilled him somewhat.

Of course, how much of that had been acting and how much had been genuine grief only the Sixth Prince himself knew.

He spoke casually enough.

But kneeling in the fields before the flattened Earth God temple could he truly have felt happy?

“Zheng Fan.”

The Sixth Prince raised his tea cup.

Then said, “They— possess the present.”

Zheng Fan lifted his own cup and clinked it against his.

He thought inwardly that after spending enough time around him, Little Sixth had begun producing quotable lines of his own.

So Zheng Fan completed the sentence.

“We— possess the future.”

(End of Chapter)