Chapter 547: - The Big Picture, My Ass

The Lu residence.

A carriage from the princely residence entered directly through the rear gate.

The front gate was for receiving guests.

Family came in through the back.

Servants dismounted there, but a family carriage could continue straight into the inner residence.

Two women had returned to their maternal home.

One was the family’s “daughter.”

The other was a maid who had grown up at the old madam’s side.

Strictly speaking, when an imperial prince’s consort arrived, proper ceremony could not be discarded. Years ago, when Empress Tian returned to the Tian Clan under imperial permission, the entire household had been required to kneel and welcome her.

But that had been an officially decreed visit.

This was merely an ordinary call between family.

Besides, rules had always been made for people who actually needed to obey them.

Madam Fengxin had once served as Emperor Yan’s wet nurse and enjoyed immense status.

There was no need for her to concern herself with such formalities.

Lingxiang was delighted to be back at the Lu residence.

She had been born here and raised here. Every blade of grass and every tree was familiar.

After the carriage stopped, she personally supported He Sisi as she stepped down.

The Sixth Prince’s inner residence was quiet.

After Lingxiang was taken in, she became a concubine, yet in truth there were only two women in the household who shared the prince’s bed.

Before Lingxiang had gone with He Sisi as a dowry maid, Madam Fengxin had warned her sternly about propriety and knowing her limits.

The most important rule was this: before He Sisi gave birth to a child, Lingxiang was not to climb into Sixth Brother’s bed.

During her pregnancy, He Sisi had actually tried to arrange it herself.

Women of this age still lived by the idea that the husband stood above all.

Her own body was inconvenient.

But how could the master of the household be left with no one to serve him at night?

That would violate propriety.

Worse, if word spread, she would gain a reputation for jealousy.

Ji Chengjue himself had not cared much either way.

Lingxiang belonged to Madam Fengxin’s household.

Sooner or later, he was going to sleep with her.

On this point, Little Sixth was much more relaxed than his good friend Count Pingye.

The woman was his anyway.

If he ate her, he ate her.

Unlike Count Pingye, who treated that particular business as though it were a pilgrimage.

Pretentious.

But Lingxiang had kept refusing.

Sometimes she claimed her monthly courses had come.

Sometimes she said she had caught a chill.

One excuse after another.

She waited until Ji Chuanye was born.

Then waited until He Sisi recovered enough to serve Ji Chengjue herself again.

Only after that did Lingxiang stop refusing and enter his bed.

Her formal title still had not been granted.

Ji Chengjue said there was no hurry. They could report it upward after her belly began to swell.

Lingxiang was not angry about this.

First, within the inner residence, He Sisi was the principal wife. As the concubine, Lingxiang ranked second.

Second, at heart she had still been born a servant.

Everything depended on a mother rising through her son.

Life in the princely residence was actually extremely comfortable.

Lingxiang was satisfied with it.

A woman would eventually have to marry.

The life she possessed now was already better than anything she had ever imagined for herself.

It felt as though even if things improved, there was nowhere higher left to go.

And so, she did not want these good days slipping from her hands.

After helping He Sisi down from the carriage, Lingxiang looked toward the Buddhist hall ahead.

Courage slowly rose in her heart.

Men and women alike lived beneath the roof called “home.”

The men were the pillars holding up its outward face.

But if that face collapsed, the women inside often met a fate even worse than the men.

So no matter what, that roof could not fall.

Absolutely not.

He Sisi reached out and patted the back of Lingxiang’s hand.

She had sensed the tension in her grip.

Lingxiang smiled and relaxed her fingers.

Behind them, a matron lifted Ji Chuanye down from the carriage.

A young woman was already waiting outside the Buddhist hall.

Her name was Lu Yi.

She was Lu Bing’s daughter, and therefore Madam Fengxin’s granddaughter.

“This girl greets the Princess Consort. May the Princess Consort enjoy peace and good health.”

“Little Sister.”

He Sisi reached into her sleeve and took out a purse. After opening it, she carefully removed a gold coin.

Merchant caravans crossing the desert had brought in a number of such coins.

They were said to have been minted in kingdoms west of the desert.

On one side was the image of a woman wearing a crown.

The craftsmanship was quite exquisite.

It made a pleasant little ornament.

Naturally, people in the East found such a blatant “hen crowing at dawn” difficult to comprehend.

To place a woman openly upon the coin, ruling under Heaven for all to see...

Throughout history, the various states had certainly known powerful empresses and dowagers. When a sovereign was young and the realm uncertain, an Empress Dowager and her natal clan could become a force no one at court dared ignore.

But there truly had never been a woman who openly and completely stepped forward as sovereign in her own right.

Ordinary people rarely handled gold in daily life.

Among nobles and powerful families, giving plain gold as a gift could even seem rather vulgar.

But this coin was beautifully engraved, so it still made a fine curiosity.

“Thank you for the Princess Consort’s reward.”

Lu Yi held the coin and could hardly bear to put it away.

“Ahem. Ahem.”

Lingxiang coughed twice.

Only then did Lu Yi react.

She laughed and teased:

“Aiyo, does Sister Xiang want Yi’er to bow to you too?”

“Come on, then. I’m waiting.”

Lingxiang smiled.

Lu Yi often attended Madam Fengxin.

She and Lingxiang had always been very close.

The two could speak to each other with fewer restraints.

“Grandmother is waiting inside,” Lu Yi said with a smile.

Behind the tea table in a side room of the Buddhist hall, Madam Fengxin sat slowly turning prayer beads through her fingers.

When He Sisi and Lingxiang entered, a smile appeared on her face.

She noticed at once that no depression clouded Lingxiang’s brows.

Clearly, the girl’s life in the princely residence had been easy and pleasant.

Lingxiang had grown up at her side and under her instruction.

Outwardly she seemed soft and weak.

Inside, she had an intensely competitive streak.

Madam Fengxin had lived peacefully in the Lu residence for so many years that there was no kind of incense or household atmosphere she had not encountered.

She knew perfectly well that Lingxiang, by temperament, had all the makings of a skilled player in inner-palace intrigue.

But no one was born loving struggle.

If peaceful days were available, who would not prefer them?

One leaf revealed autumn.

A man whose inner household was unstable was not necessarily incompetent.

But a truly capable man would certainly keep his inner household stable.

“Grandmother.”

He Sisi addressed her naturally.

“Come. Sit. Sit beside me.”

Madam Fengxin extended a hand.

He Sisi took it and sat close beside her.

“Lingxiang pays respects to Old Ancestress. Old Ancestress, Xiang’er missed you.”

Lingxiang knelt and kowtowed three times.

Madam Fengxin pointed at her and laughingly scolded:

“You come home and immediately put on this show. What is the point? After all that kowtowing, you’ve ruined your makeup. Were you just after this old woman’s rouge from the beginning? Fine, fine. Yi’er.”

“Grandmother.”

“Take this little hoof away and let her choose. His Majesty sent over another batch not long ago. Let her pick whatever she wants.”

“Yes, Grandmother.”

Lingxiang froze.

She had intended to remain here and continue talking.

She understood perfectly well what sort of situation the Sixth Prince’s residence now faced.

But Madam Fengxin had deliberately sent her away.

Lingxiang did not dare disobey.

After bowing in thanks, she rose and followed Lu Yi outside.

Only Madam Fengxin and He Sisi remained in the side room.

“How is Sixth Brother these days?” Madam Fengxin asked.

“Replying to Grandmother, he is well, just far too busy. He finishes his yamen work during the day and falls straight asleep when he gets home. He never used to snore, but now the noise is enough to make the child cry.”

“Hehehe. Right, did you bring Chuanye?”

“Yes.”

The matron waiting in the Buddhist hall carried the child inside.

Madam Fengxin examined him closely, smiled, and nodded.

“This child is sturdy.”

She removed the string of prayer beads from her wrist and placed them over the child’s swaddling clothes.

“I have recited sutras over these beads for many years. May the Buddha protect him.”

“Thank you, Grandmother.”

He Sisi did not decline.

She accepted them directly.

“Men will handle the affairs outside for themselves. What we women need to do is keep the inner household steady for them, so they do not have to waste worry on matters at home. That is how we fulfill our duty.”

“Grandmother is right. Sisi will remember.”

At that moment, a maid announced from outside:

“Old Ancestress, Madam has arrived.”

“Madam” referred to Lu Bing’s wife, née Wang.

Within the Lu Clan, she was called Madam Wang.

She was also He Sisi’s nominal foster mother.

Now that He Sisi had returned to visit the family, of course she had come to see her.

“I knew her legs would move fast. Let her in.”

“Yes.”

Before long, “Hehehehe...”

The laughter arrived before the person did.

Madam Wang wore a green-water mandarin-duck jacket today with a matching red skirt.

She had lost a little dignity, but gained a touch of youthful liveliness.

The moment Madam Fengxin saw her, she scolded:

“Look at how you’ve dressed yourself today!”

“Aiyo, I heard my daughter had come home. I was still napping earlier. The moment I woke, I wanted to hurry over and see her, so I grabbed whatever clothes were nearest and came running. The girls heard the Princess Consort brought the young heir too. They’re all waiting to see him and rummaging through their chests for greeting gifts.”

“There’s no need, truly,” He Sisi hurriedly said.

“No, that won’t do. Since ancient times, in any household that observes propriety, there has never been a rule that a married daughter returns to her natal home and leaves empty-handed.”

Madam Fengxin nodded.

She said to He Sisi:

“Take the child and let them have a look. We are family, after all. There is no need to become distant. Ordinarily, they do not dare come to my quarters.”

“Yes, Grandmother.”

He Sisi picked up Ji Chuanye and left the Buddhist hall under the guidance of the matrons and maids outside.

Madam Wang shook her head and sighed.

“What a pity. I thought we could use this thread of family favor to climb higher. Who could have imagined it? One moment flowers fill the eye in all their splendor, the next everything is cold and desolate. One word from His Majesty, and no matter how much people below stir, nothing can be stirred up anymore.”

Yanjing was Great Yan’s political center.

Any movement in the court, no matter how small, could raise a storm here.

His Majesty had gone to the Rear Garden to recuperate.

The Crown Prince had formally assumed the regency, taken control of the great seal, and begun directing the hundred officials.

The advisers and staff attached to the Crown Prince’s residence had all been promoted.

The situation was already perfectly clear.

His Majesty was paving the road for the Crown Prince.

The transfer of power within the Great Yan court had begun.

Madam Fengxin smiled after hearing Madam Wang’s words.

“Come here.”

Madam Wang leaned closer.

Slap!

Madam Fengxin struck her across the face.

Madam Wang stared in shock and immediately dropped to her knees.

Madam Fengxin sighed.

She closed her eyes.

The prayer beads were gone from her hands, yet her fingers still moved as if rubbing them.

Two words left her mouth:

“Stupid woman.”

...

War, in the end, was fought with money and grain.

When a large army was normally stationed in one place, its consumption was much lower.

The enormous numbers of civilian laborers conscripted for a campaign could also remain home producing food and goods.

But once war began, an army’s expenditure doubled immediately.

Rewards and pensions poured away like running water.

At the same time, domestic production fell sharply or even stopped.

It was as though the state’s balance had been forcibly snapped from both ends at once.

Cutting expenditure was impossible.

So long as the commander of the army campaigning against Chu was the Prince of Jingnan, neither Yingdu nor the imperial court would dare pinch so much as a thread from his supplies.

That was the value of a famous general.

No.

A famous commander.

As long as a man like that led the army at the front, he not only handled enemy forces with far greater ease, he also reduced pressure from the rear.

So the only choice was to increase revenue.

Taxes had already begun to be collected several years in advance.

They could not be pushed any farther.

If they kept going, everyone might as well stop trying to live in the years to come.

Before the war began, Ji Chengjue had already designed many new revenue plans.

Those policies were now being implemented step by step.

The largest problem, however, was that once war began, commercial activity suffered terribly.

Even smuggling across Qian’s Three Frontiers had become difficult.

No one knew exactly what the Qian people were doing.

They had not launched a northern expedition, yet they were nervous as cats.

Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice.

At present, Ji Chengjue could only barely keep the situation from collapsing.

Everything, absolutely everything, still depended on how the war itself progressed.

Originally, the court’s expectation of the campaign against Chu had been similar to the opening of Jin.

Perhaps the Prince of Jingnan’s earlier victories had simply been too brilliant.

They had caused everyone in Great Yan to misunderstand what war was supposed to look like.

Only when the great armies truly assembled, when civilian laborers had to support them, when the front began grinding forward little by little, did the sensation of a dull knife cutting flesh finally arrive.

The logistical cost of the campaign against Chu was simply too enormous.

For a single cart of rice sent from Yanjing, the civilian laborers escorting it might consume most of the grain before it ever reached the front.

Add bad weather or some other disruption, and whatever finally arrived could barely wet the lips.

And Zhennan Pass still stood there in Chu hands.

Eastern Jin had already been beaten into wasteland by the Savage rebellion and the Chu invasion of previous years.

The army could not possibly live off the land.

More than a million soldiers and laborers campaigning against Chu were like a million mouths crying to be fed.

Every bite and every drink had to be pushed forward from the rear through clenched teeth.

Difficult.

Difficult.

Difficult!

“Zheng Fan, Zheng Fan... finish this damned war sooner. I really am about to run out of strength here.”

A new round of grain, fodder, weapons, and equipment had already been arranged for transport.

Now he had to begin preparing the next.

Ji Chengjue had noticed the riverworks long ago.

But despite how absurdly unreasonable that decision looked on the surface, he had neither spoken up nor raised an objection.

He did not know what exactly they intended to do.

But he trusted that the Prince of Jingnan was not bored enough to waste manpower for fun.

Ji Chengjue left the Ministry of Revenue at the end of the working day and happened to see the Crown Prince’s carriage leaving the palace.

Where was it going?

The Rear Garden, naturally.

Ji Chengjue smiled.

Emperor Yan was recuperating in the Rear Garden.

Wei Zhonghe had even relinquished his post as Seal-Holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial and handed it to Li Yinglian.

But Second Brother did not truly dare “act as regent.”

Father might say with his mouth that he did not want to see the memorials, but no one dared take him literally.

So every day, the Crown Prince still carried all the memorials with him to the Rear Garden to seek instructions.

His imperial father refused to look at the documents.

The Crown Prince therefore respectfully asked him for general guidance on governing the state instead.

Only after the Crown Prince’s carriage had disappeared did Ji Chengjue leave the palace gate and enter his own carriage.

Little Eunuch Zhang was driving.

Inside the carriage, Eunuch Zhang handed Ji Chengjue an ice-cold towel and said:

“The Fourth Prince has been transferred outside the capital to serve as general of the Vanquish-the-Barbarians Camp.”

The Capital Imperial Guards had originally consisted of twelve camps.

Eight outside the city.

Four within.

Together, they were known as Great Yan’s Twelve Camps of the Capital Imperial Guards.

But after the wars of recent years, the Imperial Guards had first been transferred east.

Then a large portion had been sent to Beifeng Commandery.

During the Eastern Expedition, the First Prince took another batch to the Wang River.

After being broken apart time after time, the capital’s security had ultimately come to depend on Li Liangshen’s single garrison.

Of the old Twelve Camps, aside from the two units guarding the Imperial City and imperial palace, which still maintained their full establishment, the other ten had become little more than decorative shells.

“Mm. If Fourth Brother is clever, then in a few days the Crown Prince will probably issue an order to the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War will forward it to my Ministry of Revenue, asking for grain, pay, weapons, and equipment.”

An imperial prince could not be allowed to command troops with nothing but an empty shell.

If the Deng Clan had still existed, then with Fourth Brother taking command of a camp, every officer, every rank of soldiers, and every other detail would have been arranged perfectly.

But now, Fourth Brother no longer possessed that kind of backing.

He could only play the “brother card” and ask for a little foundation to work with.

The court was in dire straits.

Still, if Ji Chengjue spoke from the heart, no matter how dire things became, they were not so desperate that one camp’s provisions would matter much.

“Master intends to help Fourth Highness?”

“Help him my ass. He isn’t Zheng Fan.”

Eunuch Zhang smiled.

Then he said:

“But Count Pingye is fighting a war right now. And even after the campaign against Chu ends, distant water cannot quench a present thirst.”

“Companion Zhang.”

“This slave is here.”

“Things are not that simple.”

“Master is right.”

“But things are nowhere near that complicated either. How did Father solve Great Yan’s century-old plague of aristocratic clans? Heh. He simply sent several thousand cavalry from the northern and southern armies straight into the palace. Simple, wasn’t it? Clean, wasn’t it?”

Ji Chengjue raised a hand and rubbed between his brows.

Then he continued:

“Companion Zhang, I don’t know why, but this time I don’t feel like playing with conspiracies and schemes. We’ve already made countless preparations and laid down plenty of pieces without even knowing whether we’ll ever use them. But I still feel that if I reach that position through those methods, the seat beneath my ass will feel rough and uncomfortable. Ah. Pretentious. I’m becoming pretentious. To think I actually want to fight openly and honorably for the position. That bastard surnamed Zheng really has corrupted me. If that bastard were here, he would definitely say: ‘That is what gives a succession struggle its beauty.’ Besides, the time has not come yet. Before the campaign against Chu ends, nothing will happen to me, and no one will dare let anything happen to me. If the campaign against Chu is lost, well, the whole card table overturns, and I’ll be even safer. Damn it. If the campaign against Chu is won, then just as Fourth Brother said that day, there is no need to destroy Chu. Beat Chu into submission. Take Zhennan Pass and Shanggu Commandery. That will be enough to call the campaign a victory.”

Eunuch Zhang asked:

“Master means that if the campaign against Chu succeeds, we will be in danger?”

Ji Chengjue nodded.

Then shook his head.

“This slave is slow-witted.”

“Once the battle is over, Zheng Fan will finally have time on his hands.”

Eunuch Zhang’s face tightened.

Ji Chengjue laughed.

“Hehehe. Are you about to tell me again that distant water cannot quench a present thirst?”

“Master is wise.”

“When the campaign against Chu is won, that will not be the curtain falling. That will be when the true play finally begins. Hundreds of thousands of victorious soldiers will be returning. Their attitude, which is to say the Prince of Jingnan’s attitude, will be the most important thing of all. Even Father cannot ignore what they think.”

“But this slave feels that the Prince of Jingnan has no attitude.”

If the Prince of Jingnan had shown even the slightest position, the Crown Prince would never have suffered so miserably not long ago.

Even the Crown Prince faction around him had nearly despaired.

And if the Prince of Jingnan would not support his own blood nephew, why would he support you?

“But Zheng Fan has an attitude.”

Ji Chengjue raised one hand and smiled.

“Do you remember the last time he brought the Princess toward the capital, stirring up trouble all along the road and making as much noise as possible? Whose banner was he using?”

By order of the Prince of Jingnan, troops had entered Yingdu.

His personal guards had worn mourning clothes into Litian City to pay respects.

It was not that no perceptive person had realized he was “falsely transmitting the Prince’s order.”

Some men with a clear enough grasp of the political situation could practically state with certainty that the Prince of Jingnan would never have done such a thing himself.

But after Count Pingye returned, he was not punished.

He continued to be heavily trusted and employed.

That meant even if he really had “forged the order,” the forgery would become a genuine command after the fact.

Tian Wujing was like a mountain standing there.

At the mountain’s foot stood a temple to the mountain god.

The mountain said nothing.

The mountain did nothing.

But the temple priest could announce the mountain god’s decrees to every villager for miles around.

And Count Pingye was that temple priest.

Eunuch Zhang spoke with some concern:

“But if His Majesty truly insists on pushing the Crown Prince onto the throne, Count Pingye may very well choose to preserve the larger situation. For the sake of the hard-won stability Great Yan possesses today, he might not...”

He might not allow hundreds of thousands of returning troops from the Chu campaign to stand against the central government and the imperial court.

Even if they did nothing, even merely transmitting and displaying that intent, would be almost equivalent to deliberately pushing Great Yan toward fragmentation and collapse.

Ji Chengjue looked at Eunuch Zhang with a puzzled expression.

Seeing that, Eunuch Zhang looked back at his master with even greater confusion.

A long time passed.

Then Ji Chengjue said with a laugh:

“There is one thing I learned a very long time ago.”

“What is it, Master?”

“That is...”

Ji Chengjue stretched lazily.

Then continued:

“The big picture, in Zheng Fan’s eyes, isn’t worth a fart.”

[End of Chapter 547]