Chapter 352: Pillar of the Realm

Hearing this, Xue San did not think his Master shameless in the slightest. Instead, he immediately offered a suggestion.

“Master, let’s build the Chief Commander’s Residence right beside the north gate. Then when we publicize it later, we can say: ‘We live and die with Snow Sea Pass. The Zheng clan guards the gateway of the realm!’”

No matter how shameless an idea might be, the moment you draped it in the banner of righteousness, it suddenly became pleasing to the eye.

“Not bad, not bad. That works.”

General Zheng accepted good advice readily.

Then, as though suddenly remembering something, he said:

“San’er, tomorrow take a group of men into the snowfields and bring First Highness back.”

“Yes, Master. This subordinate understands.”

The First Prince had, after all, completed his mission perfectly. Throughout the entire defense of Snow Sea Pass, there had been no serious fighting on the northern side. That had provided enormous support to the defense in the south.

Zheng Fan looked toward the snowfields to the north and sighed with some feeling.

“Ever since waking up in this world, I’ve either been eating sand in the west or freezing my ass off in the northern snowfields. The only real time I went south was when I followed Li Fusheng into the State of Qian.

“No matter how magnificent ‘a lone column of smoke rising straight over the great desert’ or ‘the round sun sinking beyond the snowfield’ might look, after seeing it long enough, even that gets old. I really do want to visit Qian’s Jiangnan one day and see little bridges, flowing water, and riverside homes.”

Human beings were never satisfied. Once basic material needs were met, they began reaching for spiritual enjoyment.

For the past two years, Zheng Fan had either been killing people or traveling somewhere to kill people. He had seen enough heroic grandeur. Now he genuinely wanted to experience a little true “culture.”

“That’s easy,” Xue San said. “Master, once things settle down here, just take Siniang and sneak off to Qian’s Jiangnan for a holiday. Treat it as a honeymoon.

“Anyway, the Emperor is far away and Heaven is high out here. Whether you’re actually here or not doesn’t really—”

Xue San paused, then smoothly corrected himself.

“With Master here, naturally our hearts are at ease. If Master isn’t here, then we’ll simply work a little harder to keep things running for you.”

“We’ll talk about it later. With my status now, going to Jiangnan won’t be convenient.”

Back when Zheng Fan had merely been Garrison Commander of Cuiliu Fort, it would not have mattered. If he had truly wanted to defect and flee into the State of Qian, it would have been easy enough.

But now, once the court finished distributing rewards for merit, he would become Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass. With that position and rank, slipping secretly into Qian’s Jiangnan for a holiday would become genuinely difficult.

After all, the competence of Qian’s Silver-Armored Guard was something everyone had already witnessed.

“Oh, right, Master. I’ve already had Fan Li put those prisoners to work. We need to clear the land outside the walls first, then repair the damaged sections of the fortifications.

“And there, there, and over there too.

“All of that needs another round of rebuilding. Haaah, it’s a huge project, so we really have to start immediately.”

The repairs Xue San referred to involved both Snow Sea Pass itself and the northern defensive line built around it. Since they were taking over, everything needed to be inspected and rebuilt from beginning to end.

It was an enormous undertaking and genuinely could not be delayed. Once Shengle’s soldiers and civilians relocated here later, most of the construction effort would have to shift toward civilian needs.

Twenty thousand savage laborers sounded like a lot, but considering the scale of the work, it might still not be enough.

They would have to wait until the Blind Man brought Shengle’s soldiers and civilians over. After the army had rested and reorganized, they could think of ways to acquire more labor from the snowfields.

Every primitive accumulation of wealth and power was built on extracting someone’s blood and sweat. Either you squeezed outsiders, or you squeezed your own people.

Fortunately, Snow Sea Pass bordered the snowfields. After the savage army that had entered the pass was effectively “burned to ashes,” the tribes beyond the frontier would have little strength to stir up trouble for some time. That made this the perfect moment for Zheng Fan to suppress and plunder them.

“San’er, build it properly. Put some care into it.”

“Yes, Master. This subordinate understands.”

“Once we finish rebuilding this place, let’s try not to move again.”

“You got it, Master.”

...

For General Zheng at Snow Sea Pass, matters had temporarily settled.

But distance delayed news.

The wind from the Battle of the Wang River had only just begun blowing back into the State of Yan.

From the great officials at court and the Emperor himself down to ordinary commoners, everyone in Yan had been waiting anxiously for the outcome at the front.

It was like the main dish of a feast being delayed until everyone’s appetite had been stretched to the limit.

First came the disastrous defeat at the Wang River. Everyone swallowed their anger and waited for revenge.

Then the Marquis of Jingnan refused the imperial summons. Several eunuchs sent to deliver decrees died one after another, and still he did not move. When the Marquis finally departed for the front, the battlefield then remained quiet for another long stretch.

Hot blood could not burn forever.

As the days continued to pile up, people’s patience gradually wore thin. Restlessness and anxiety took its place.

One defeat was something everyone could accept.

But if Yan lost a second time, the problem would become genuinely serious.

Every kind of rumor began spreading through the streets. Even within the imperial court, undercurrents were moving.

Only after the Emperor of Yan directly ordered the confiscation of one Vice Minister’s household did the officials finally understand His Majesty’s attitude and settle down.

That Vice Minister had chosen the worst possible moment to submit a memorial warning the Emperor to beware of the Marquis of Jingnan. Tian Wujing commanded the entire Eastern Expedition Army and was currently stationed in Yingdu; what if he simply negotiated peace with Chu and the savages, then declared himself independent ruler of the Three Jin?

You could say the Vice Minister had merely been thinking from the perspective of the Ji imperial house and His Majesty’s safety.

You could also say he was making a political gamble.

After all, from the moment the Marquis of Jingnan repeatedly refused imperial edicts, anyone with functioning eyes could smell the change. The relationship between Tian Wujing and the Emperor was no longer what it had been. The iron triangle that had once led Zhenbei and Jingnan cavalry directly into the imperial palace was no longer quite so solid.

But the Emperor of Yan was still the Emperor of Yan.

He was not the kind of sovereign who could be swayed by slander.

The Vice Minister who submitted that memorial had his household confiscated and was sentenced to exile.

During the journey, he encountered bandits.

And died.

Heaven alone knew where such “bandits” had suddenly come from. Great Yan had been fighting war after war for years, to the point that even adulterers and men accused of corrupting public morals were being dragged off for military service. Yet somehow a bandit gang still remained active enough to attack the escort of an exiled court official?

And what astonishing luck that they happened to target this particular man.

But His Majesty’s message was unmistakably clear.

He trusted Tian Wujing.

How Tian Wujing chose to fight the war was Tian Wujing’s business.

The Emperor would not sit in the rear and point fingers.

Even so, while the open wind had been suppressed, the currents beneath the surface continued to surge.

The campaign that trampled the great clans beneath cavalry hooves had purged a huge number of aristocratic powers. But erasing them completely, both physically and spiritually, was nearly impossible.

Over these years, one forceful centralizing measure had followed another. Everyone understood just how much anger and resentment had been compressed beneath the surface.

Only Yan’s repeated victories and territorial expansion had continually reinforced the Emperor’s prestige. That was why so many people dared feel anger but did not dare speak.

If the Yan army suffered another defeat at the Wang River, then all the contradictions previously buried beneath the glory of external victory might finally become impossible to suppress.

...

Crown Prince Ji Chenglang entered the inner palace.

He was going to visit his mother, the current Empress.

“Greetings, Crown Prince!”

“Greetings, Crown Prince!”

Eunuchs and palace maids knelt respectfully before him.

Within the imperial palace, the greatest sun was naturally His Majesty.

The moon was the Empress.

And beneath sun and moon, the most honored person was naturally the Crown Prince.

Ji Chenglang waved for the attendants to withdraw.

He did not ask anyone to announce him. Instead, he walked directly into the sleeping hall.

Under ordinary circumstances, even mother and son were still sovereign household and subject in matters of palace ritual. There was no reason for a Crown Prince to enter without announcement.

But now the problem was simple.

The Empress could not really be “announced to.”

Once inside, Ji Chenglang saw his mother sitting against the bedside, attended by two old palace women. Her hair was somewhat disordered and the clothes on her body were wrinkled.

“This son greets Mother Empress.”

The Crown Prince knelt with perfect propriety.

He remained kneeling for a while. When his mother gave no response, he slowly rose and looked toward one of the attendants.

“Mother Empress is unwell again?”

Naturally, no one inside the palace would ever say the Empress had gone mad.

The old attendant immediately bowed.

“Replying to Crown Prince, Her Majesty was perfectly well last night, but this morning she... perhaps she suffered another nightmare.”

The Crown Prince nodded.

When he looked back at his mother, he discovered she was staring at him too.

Ji Chenglang stepped closer, intending to hold her hand and speak with her, to offer whatever comfort he could.

The imperial house was often described as heartless.

But the Empress had only this one son, and the bond between mother and child had always been genuinely close.

As a daughter of the Tian Clan, she had been protected by her father and relatives since childhood. After entering the palace and marrying the Emperor, her life had mostly proceeded smoothly.

The Emperor of Yan was grand and ambitious toward the outside world, but inside his own household, his temperament was rather cold.

As a result, the inner palace had rarely seen much fighting for favor. With a husband like this, what exactly was there to compete for? The dream of winning the Emperor’s favor and becoming the unrivaled mother of the realm had never been especially realistic.

So the Empress had lived quietly. After giving birth to her son, perhaps three parts of her heart remained with the Emperor, while seven parts were placed upon her child.

But just as the Crown Prince approached the bedside the Empress suddenly shuddered violently.

She began waving her arms and screamed:

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!!!!!!!!”

The smile on the Crown Prince’s face froze.

He began stepping backward.

And as he retreated, the Empress’s emotions gradually settled. The old attendants hurried to soothe her.

“Father... Father... Mother... Mother...”

The Empress leaned against the bedside, eyes vacant, murmuring the words mechanically.

The Crown Prince drew in a deep breath.

His right hand clenched into a fist.

Then, slowly, loosened again.

This was the inner palace. He could reveal anger here. He could reveal dissatisfaction.

But everything still required limits.

The Empress continued muttering:

“Little brother... little brother... Wujing... don’t... don’t... those are our father and mother... little brother, don’t...”

“Take good care of Mother Empress.”

“Yes, Crown Prince.”

“Yes, Crown Prince.”

Ji Chenglang walked out of Fengjia Palace in one breath, his teeth biting hard into his lower lip.

The eunuchs following him—including Li Yinglian—did not dare breathe too loudly.

At that moment, however, a burst of cheering suddenly rose from the palace corridor outside. Eunuchs and palace maids were running about excitedly, passing some joyous news from one person to another.

Before Li Yinglian even had time to ask, voices were already shouting:

“Great victory! Great victory! The Marquis of Jingnan has won a great victory at the Wang River! One hundred thousand savages slain!!!!!!!!”

The gloom on the Crown Prince’s face was forcibly pulled upward.

A smile appeared.

At the same time, he waved one hand toward Li Yinglian and the attendants beside him and declared loudly:

“Good!

“The Marquis of Jingnan truly deserves to be called a Pillar of Great Yan!”

————

Good night.

[End of Chapter 352]