Chapter 616: - Westward

The soul of a bowl of saozi noodles lay in the saozi broth.

It was an exceedingly ordinary dish, yet one that demanded proper color, aroma, flavor, and above all, authenticity.

Zheng Fan and the Blind Man sat facing each other. They raised their chopsticks together and took their first bite at the same time.

Ah.

Comforting.

Satisfying.

He Chunlai, standing to one side, asked, “Marquis, next time, would you like me to make it with red broth?”

He Chunlai knew Zheng Fan’s tastes. He liked a little heat in his food.

Zheng Fan shook his head. “Bring me some dried chili powder. I’ll add it myself afterward. If you put too much chili in from the start, it overwhelms the freshness of the broth.”

“Yes. This subordinate will remember.”

The chili powder was quickly brought over. Zheng Fan added two spoonfuls to his own bowl and one to the Blind Man’s.

As they ate, they talked in the pauses between lifting noodles and adding more to their bowls.

“We can put the prophecy aside for now,” Zheng Fan said.

He had reached that decision after hearing the Blind Man’s full account.

“Yes, Master.”

The Blind Man agreed. There was no reason to waste too much energy on something that did not yet even have a shadow. Whoever your future enemy might be, burying your head and developing your own strength in the present could not be wrong.

As Liang Cheng had said earlier, Heaven alone knew whether the prophecy’s “seven plus one” were truly all lone wolves.

“We have plenty of charlatans scattered around the snowfield. Send Master Kongyuan and his disciple Liaofan into the Far North to have a look. Those two look blessed by fortune. Tell them that if they find what we’re looking for, I’ll build them a Buddhist temple outside Fengxin City when they return.”

By “blessed by fortune,” Zheng Fan meant that the master and disciple looked exceptionally difficult to kill. Sending people like that to probe a minefield often produced unexpected surprises.

“All right, Master.”

“Our focus from here on is still here.”

Zheng Fan tapped the table in front of him. “Our center of gravity isn’t steady.”

Of course it was not.

Viewed across the whole East, eastern Jin really was not large. Roughly speaking, it amounted to perhaps two-fifths of the Situ Clan’s territory after the Three Great Clans divided Jin, perhaps even a little less.

The region around Yupan City did not belong to Zheng Fan. Strictly speaking, traditional eastern Jin could not simply be defined as everything on one side of the Wang River.

Its total area was roughly comparable to Beifeng Commandery.

Of course, if one included Shanggu Commandery, which they had taken from Chu, the territory immediately became much larger. But Zheng Fan would have needed to be kicked in the head by a donkey before he rushed off to develop Shanggu, an even emptier blank slate than eastern Jin.

There was another point as well.

The land actually occupied was one thing. The area influenced outward by Snow Sea Pass and Zhennan Pass was another. In that sense, the Marquis of Pingxi Residence’s true sphere of influence was quite considerable.

And that brought them to the present problem.

The frame was enormous.

There simply was not enough flesh to fill it.

Keyan Dongge could hold Snow Sea Pass. Jin Shuke had led his troops to garrison Zhennan Pass only yesterday.

Fengxin City also had to be guarded. The Marquis Residence stood here. This was the foundation.

As for Gong Wang, Gongsun Zhi, Gou Moli, Ding Hao, and Liang Cheng’s direct field army, they were currently using little more than token forces to prop up an impressive facade.

Training recruits and replacing armor could not be completed overnight. There was no way to accelerate it beyond a certain point unless one wanted to swallow everything whole, fail to digest it, and ultimately drag down the army’s fighting strength.

Training troops was one of those things where haste truly made waste.

Just look at Qian.

It lacked neither men, grain, nor silver. But after the Yan army had driven all the way south to Shangjing years earlier, Qian had spent the following years rapidly reorganizing its armies, including the Three Frontiers.

The fictitious padding on the muster rolls had clearly been reduced. The Western Army and the other main forces were still there. Yet even while Yan and Chu fought themselves bloody, Qian still had not dared launch a northern expedition.

If you had numbers without fighting quality, all you did was create more postwar work for Yan soldiers tasked with taking prisoners.

“By this subordinate’s estimate, after next autumn’s harvest, filling out the new units and completing the re-equipment should both be finished.”

Zheng Fan nodded. “We’re fortunate to have enough veterans to promote into section leaders and Commandants. The officer framework is already there.”

In an army, veterans, or more precisely the middle- and lower-ranking officers, were its true soul.

What an army feared most was not losing a battle. It was annihilation. Once those experienced veterans were gone, once that seasoned system of middle- and lower-ranking officers was destroyed, rebuilding the force was not as simple as handing out money, grain, men, and a unit designation.

Fortunately, Zheng Fan’s own original core army might not have been especially large, even after including the men under Gong Wang and Gongsun Zhi, but there were also the elite troops he had once transferred from various commands under Prince of Jingnan’s military orders.

He still held more than half of those men.

And they themselves were willing to remain under the Marquis of Pingxi rather than return to their old units.

That meant the veterans under Zheng Fan who could truly be called “soldiers of a hundred battles,” together with the officer system built atop them, were as solid as solid could be.

What remained now was development that simply could not skip steps.

It needed time.

“Oh, right.”

As though suddenly remembering something, Zheng Fan reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of wedding candy, and placed it before the Blind Man.

The Blind Man nodded and accepted it.

“Congratulations, Master.”

“Save the congratulations until Fourth Lady’s belly starts showing.”

“Without accumulating small steps, one cannot reach a thousand li, can one?”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan gently set down his chopsticks, picked up the damp towel beside him, and wiped his hands and mouth.

“Keep a close eye on news from Yanjing. Make sure our replies get there as quickly as possible too. I’m afraid the Emperor of Yan’s body really isn’t going to hold much longer. And I’m guessing that no matter whether the successor ends up being the Crown Prince, Old Sixth Ji, or some other Ji-family egg, there’ll have to be a process. The Princes of North and South and the Marquises of East and West may all have to make a trip to Yanjing and bear witness alongside the civil and military officials.”

The Blind Man sighed with feeling. “Speaking from the heart, the Emperor of Yan and this subordinate truly are different. Perhaps because this subordinate is blind, I prefer hiding myself in the shadows. That Emperor of Yan, however, has always practiced the imperial art openly and uprightly. He forms momentum himself, creates momentum himself, and wields momentum himself.”

Zheng Fan asked with interest, “Which do you prefer?”

A faint smile appeared at the Blind Man’s lips.

“That is why this subordinate has always handled the scattered bits and pieces of conspiracy, so that you, Master, can stand in the sunlight.”

Zheng Fan closed his eyes.

Now that was flattery with genuine craftsmanship.

Not forced.

Not abrupt.

And carrying precisely the right measure of emotion.

Then Zheng Fan smiled.

“I didn’t advance.”

The Blind Man nodded. “Then was it wasted?”

“Maybe it can be banked?”

“By precedent, I’m afraid not.”

“I haven’t stopped cultivating lately, but it feels...”

“Has Master hit a bottleneck?”

Zheng Fan shook his head. “I can’t even feel a bottleneck. Going by precedent again, that probably means I’m still a long way off.”

“Crossing from Sixth Grade into Fifth is a different level entirely. Fifth Grade can already be called a minor grandmaster. Naturally it is more difficult, and it also depends somewhat on opportunity.”

“Minor grandmaster, major grandmaster, all these different ways of dividing things are making my head spin. I’ve learned military strategy well enough for now. I’ll find a chance to see Old Tian and have him guide my martial training.”

“Wasn’t Master the one who said your scripts are different?”

“What else can I do?”

Marquis Zheng spread his hands.

“Just muddle along like this forever? I have to think of some way forward.”

“This subordinate brought a prisoner back this time as well. His name is Xu Chuang. He came down from Wenming Mountain. The people there cultivate both saber and sword. Master could try it and see whether one path might illuminate the other.”

“I’m afraid of biting off more than I can chew.”

“Perhaps it will give you some inspiration.” The Blind Man continued, “A sword at the waist and a saber across the back would look rather handsome too.”

“Add a full suit of armor, and once I reach the battlefield, anyone who doesn’t know better will think some opera performer wandered onto the wrong stage.”

“Heh.”

“Hahaha.”

Both men laughed.

Compared with Ding Hao, Zheng Fan’s first martial instructor in the old days, the teaching resources now available to Marquis Zheng were extravagant to the point of overflowing.

If he wanted to learn the sword, he had the Sword Saint.

If he wanted to learn the saber, he had the Prince of Jingnan.

Marquis Zheng lifted a hand and lightly patted his own forehead.

“This can’t be rushed. I’ll do my best.”

“Master works hard.”

“No need to be polite. Anything else?”

“This subordinate also wanted to ask whether Prince of Jingnan’s stance on the succession is still the same as before.”

Zheng Fan nodded. “Mm. Meaning he has no stance.”

“Understood.”

The Blind Man rose. Before leaving, he deliberately looked at He Chunlai.

“Your cooking keeps getting better.”

He Chunlai lowered his head slightly.

“Take an apprentice. Pass your craft down. Then come work for me.”

He Chunlai froze and looked toward Marquis Zheng.

Zheng Fan pointed at him.

“You have to train the apprentice properly first.”

He Chunlai immediately dropped to one knee.

“Many thanks, Marquis!”

The Blind Man left the room. Outside, the sun was already sinking in the west.

Madam Ke came over. Seeing the Blind Man, she immediately dipped into a small curtsy.

“Mr. Bei, Miss Yuexin asked this servant to inquire about the three chests of sachima you brought this time. How should they be divided among the various households and courtyards?”

Sachima was not difficult to make. Fourth Lady had originally made it as a snack for Master to sample. Later, they simply handed the recipe to one of the Count Residence-operated confectioneries at Snow Sea Pass and sold it as a regular product. It had remained extremely popular.

If the amount brought over had been small, Yuexin would never have specifically sent Madam Ke to the Marquis Residence to ask her husband about it.

But this time there were three entire chests, and once night fell, it would be improper to go around delivering gifts.

Brown-sugar sachima.

Buckwheat sachima.

Nut sachima.

There was nearly half a chest of each kind.

“Oh.”

The Blind Man looked as though he had suddenly remembered.

He said to Madam Ke, “Tian Tian likes eating those as snacks. They’re all for him. We’re not giving any away. Please have all those chests sent to Tian Tian’s room.”

“All... all of them?” Madam Ke froze.

Several whole chests.

How could one child possibly finish that much?

“Yes. All of them. Even if he can’t finish them, at least they’ll be pleasant to look at.”

“Yes... this servant understands. I’ll arrange it immediately.”

“Mm.”

After Madam Ke turned and left, the Blind Man remained where he was.

He took a mandarin from his pocket, peeled it, and put one segment into his mouth.

Chewing slowly, he murmured to himself:

“It’s almost dark. Are you coming or not?”

Just then, Xiao Yibo came hurrying over.

The Blind Man kept eating his mandarin.

“What happened? Why are you in such a panic?”

Xiao Yibo immediately reported:

“Mr. Bei, inform the Marquis at once. His Highness’s carriage has left the city and is heading west.”

The Blind Man suddenly felt that the mandarin in his mouth was no longer quite so sweet.

“All right. I’ll notify Master. You go catch Madam Ke and tell her to divide the sachima among the various households and courtyards after all.”

[End of Chapter 616]