Chapter 618: - Granny

Thrum!

An arrow struck a water deer.

“Marquis, your archery is superb. This subordinate admires you!”

Zheng Fan smiled. He found Gou Moli’s flattery quite pleasant, because Gou Moli’s own personal combat ability was, in truth, rather ordinary.

When Tian Wujing had left a few days earlier, he had said that Sixth Grade was enough for practical use. That was exactly what he meant. If you wanted to achieve something in one field, other areas would inevitably be squeezed.

Gou Moli was an extremely standard example.

The Sword Saint was the corresponding example on the opposite extreme.

“What a pity. Such good land, and now it has become wilderness,” Zheng Fan sighed.

Once the people were gone, the animals came out.

“Marquis, don’t worry. Give it two or three years and this place will be densely populated again. In the end, this truly is good land. Good land never lacks people.”

“It feels a little strange hearing you comfort me about that.”

Gou Moli smiled somewhat sheepishly.

Indeed, the chief culprit responsible for turning this entire region into a “hunting ground” was none other than the short, scar-faced fellow standing before Zheng Fan.

“Marquis, shall we rest for a while?”

“All right. Let’s rest.”

Zheng Fan dismounted from his Pixiu and sat down directly on the ground. A personal guard beside him offered a waterskin.

After taking a couple of drinks, Zheng Fan asked, “You went to Yupan City not long ago. How did it feel?”

Gou Moli had traveled west to Yupan City. He currently enjoyed a great deal of freedom, but even so, before leaving he had still submitted a request. Only after Zheng Fan’s side, which in practice meant the Blind Man, wrote a single “Approved” did Gou Moli actually leave his military encampment.

“This subordinate wanted to look at the disaster situation.”

“It’s already winter.” Zheng Fan rolled his neck, joints cracking. “Hadn’t the disaster eased?”

Ever since summer began, torrential rain had fallen across the Jin lands. The Yan people’s supposed river-dike construction had, in reality, been cover for their campaign against Chu, and that had even caused one section of the Wang River basin to suffer a dike breach.

So when Tian Wujing said he had never cared about the people of the world, he had indeed been telling the truth.

The State of Yan had drought.

The Jin lands had suffered flood after flood.

And the places struck by disaster happened to be some of the richest and most fertile regions of both countries.

“Marquis, have you noticed that this winter is colder than in previous years?”

“Oh? I genuinely haven’t felt much difference.”

Zheng Fan was a Martial Artist to begin with, so the qi and blood in his body ran hotter than an ordinary person’s. On top of that, he had spent so long fighting that he had only recently begun resting. He had barely had time to properly taste last winter, much less this one.

Besides, he had started in Beifeng Commandery, then gone to Shengle City, then Snow Sea Pass. Aside from Cuiliu Fort in Yinlang Commandery, the so-called Little Jiangnan of Yan where the climate had been relatively pleasant, none of the other places had ever felt particularly warm or nurturing to Zheng Fan.

“Marquis, this subordinate was born on the snowfield. We Savages live by herding, fishing, and hunting. The Xia peoples depend more heavily on agriculture and pay close attention to the seasons and weather. But in truth, the Savages of the snowfield are even more sensitive to changes of this sort.”

To a certain extent, pastoralism was far less resistant to natural disaster than farming, and far less stable.

“Go on.”

“A great freeze is followed by great calamity. This subordinate believes that the weather in the Jin lands next year will not be good either. There will most likely be disasters one after another.”

Zheng Fan narrowed his eyes. “How certain are you?”

“That is difficult to say. It is only a judgment based on this subordinate’s own experience.”

“So next year will be another restless year,” Zheng Fan sighed.

He genuinely hoped for “peace throughout the realm and safety for the people.” If the common people were driven completely beyond endurance and one stretch of land after another turned into empty wasteland, what was the point of fighting to seize it?

Was Shanggu Commandery not a whole commandery of territory simply sitting there untouched right now?

“This subordinate thinks it is also an opportunity. If disasters continue across the Jin lands, then the attraction that you, Marquis, and our Marquis of Pingxi Residence exert on refugees from the entire region will only continue increasing. Eastern Jin has few major rivers, so large-scale floods are much less likely to reach us. If next year’s harvest fails again, the people of Jin will most likely begin migrating here on their own.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

Time.

In the end, it still came down to time.

Give him enough time and he could train enough iron cavalry to take into the field, and he could absorb enough population as well.

Although the Savage King was nominally the commander of one garrison, he himself understood where the line lay. He currently held military authority, but absolutely could not appear too eager about using it. So he had begun working together with the Blind Man to find other areas in which he could contribute.

“There is one more matter. This comes from a guess of mine.”

“Wasn’t that last thing also a guess?”

“This one is even more unbelievable.”

“Speak.”

“This subordinate sat down and reviewed the entire campaign against Chu. Then I combined that with the natural disasters that struck Yan and Jin this year. I began to have a feeling...”

“Why are you hemming and hawing?”

“Based on the Regent of Great Chu’s arrangements and actions during the war, this subordinate wonders whether he had foreseen this disaster long ago. I heard several of the Misters mention that the spirit of the Fire Phoenix still resides within the Regent’s body.”

“Foreseen... a natural disaster?”

“Yes. This subordinate knows the idea sounds absurd.”

“No. It isn’t absurd. It’s possible.”

In the historical timeline Zheng Fan knew, there had been a Little Ice Age, and it was even believed to have influenced the rise and fall of dynasties.

Large areas of the north had suffered disasters at the same time.

That no longer looked like a simple coincidence.

Could this world possess climate cycles of its own?

And if one wanted to identify such a pattern, then one needed...

Zheng Fan suddenly thought of someone.

An old man who had returned from Yanjing to Chu before the campaign against Chu began.

That old man had once been the teacher of the Prince of Jingnan.

The man who had compiled the historical records of the Four Great States...

Meng Shou.

Many mysteries suddenly became clear.

His elder brother-in-law’s battlefield decisions, even abandoning Ying Capital, had carried the strange certainty that Yan could never sustain the war indefinitely. He had begun using the Yan blade to scrape away rotten bone and purge poison from Chu’s body.

“Heh. That elder brother-in-law of mine really does believe in science.”

“Marquis, what is science?”

Zheng Fan looked at Gou Moli.

As expected of the Savage King.

He had actually managed to think his way this far.

“When we get back, tell the Blind Man everything you just told me.”

“Yes, Marquis. This subordinate understands.”

Zheng Fan stood, intending to move around some more and hunt a few additional animals to bring back.

Then, from the forest in the distance, came the sound of Buddhist bells.

There were many kinds of bells. The reason one could immediately tell these were Buddhist bells was that the sense of dust and impurity being washed away by the sound was simply too obvious.

Never mind Zheng Fan himself.

The personal guards beside him were all men who had fought their way out of real battlefields. Otherwise they could never have been selected into the personal guard camp responsible for protecting the Marquis of Pingxi himself.

Men with blood on their hands were especially sensitive to this kind of aura.

Zheng Fan mounted his Pixiu.

He had not brought the Sword Saint this time.

After all, when he and Fourth Lady had consummated their relationship, he had made the Sword Saint keep watch for an entire night. The Sword Saint seemed to have noticed a few clues afterward and was hovering somewhere near the edge of an outburst.

So for something as trivial as hunting, Marquis Zheng genuinely did not dare summon him again.

A favor was like anything else.

Overdraw too much at once and you had to let the account recover.

For example, arrange something nice for the Sword Saint’s wife.

Then arrange something for Liu Dahu.

Then perhaps appoint that elderly mother-in-law of his as a squad leader in charge of sweeping the streets.

Every one of the Demon Kings was busy too, so none had come along.

Even A’Ming had recently been buried in work improving production efficiency in the workshops. Otherwise Marquis Zheng would never have fallen so low as to practice archery by shooting water deer.

After all, harming these pitiful little lives was simply too inhumane.

How could that compare with shooting A’Ming, which was far more practical?

Still, that did not mean Marquis Zheng traveled without experts at his side.

He had always cared deeply for the common people and understood that the future welfare of all the soldiers and civilians of eastern Jin depended upon his single person.

How could he possibly fail to cherish his own life?

“Hero Chen.”

“Mm.”

Hero Chen stepped out and moved to the front of the group.

Marquis Zheng frowned slightly.

Fortunately, Gou Moli understood immediately and shouted:

“Protect the Marquis!”

The personal guards instantly tightened their formation.

Now Hero Chen stood alone in front, with the guards behind him.

In truth, the best arrangement would have been for the personal guards to stand in front while Hero Chen remained beside Marquis Zheng to protect him directly.

But...

Hero Chen was Hero Chen.

Mm.

Marquis Zheng understood.

From the forest emerged a bald monk whose build was in no way inferior to Fan Li’s.

The monk had huge earlobes. Two symmetrical fleshy growths protruded from either side of his neck. Behind him, he pulled a wooden handcart.

A string of Buddhist bells hung from one side of the cart, chiming as it moved.

Sitting atop the cart was an old woman.

She wore a red skirt and flowers in her hair.

The skin of her face had become completely wrinkled and sagged downward. Her eye sockets were sunken extremely deep, and within them one could faintly see a dim green glow.

Marquis Zheng thought of the fox demon back at his residence that Tian Tian treated like a toy.

The old woman before him genuinely gave off the impression of an ancient fox demon nearing the end of its life.

“Hero Chen.”

Standing alone at the front, Hero Chen turned his head and said to Zheng Fan:

“The monk is a Fifth Grade Martial Artist. It’s fine.”

Barring extreme circumstances, in one-on-one combat a swordsman was unrivaled within the same grade.

And Hero Chen was already faintly approaching Fourth Grade.

Although after following the Sword Saint and studying the sword, the man had also become somewhat mystical, as though he had thrown the very idea of cultivation grades out of his head.

That being the case, Marquis Zheng relaxed.

In truth, unless one encountered a Third Grade expert, most other masters were nothing to worry about so long as one had enough personal guards nearby.

And genuine Third Grade experts were not cabbages growing beside the road.

How could one possibly run into one so easily?

“A’da, move aside.”

The monk let go of the cart and stepped aside.

“A’da, kneel.”

The monk dropped to his knees.

Only then did the old woman sitting on the cart smile.

“If this old woman has not guessed wrongly, then this honored gentleman must be the Marquis of Pingxi of Great Yan, whose name shakes all beneath Heaven. Truly, this old woman must have accumulated blessings across three lifetimes to unexpectedly encounter you, Marquis, in a desolate place like this.”

“She’s lying,” Hero Chen said. “When the monk approached earlier, he deliberately concealed his aura. They came toward us on purpose. The reason they rang the bells just now is that they knew they couldn’t hide once they got any closer and were afraid we’d wipe them out in a single wave before they had the chance to speak.”

“...” the old woman.

As expected of Hero Chen.

Resolute, upright, blunt, and painfully straightforward.

In Hero Chen’s world, there was no need for this sort of hypocritical courtesy when both sides already understood the truth.

The old woman quickly recovered from the awkwardness.

“Please forgive this old woman, Marquis. My legs are inconvenient, so I cannot rise and salute.”

“What do you want with this Marquis?”

“This old woman came looking for someone.”

“Who?”

“A woman. A woman with very wide hips. This old woman is her Granny. I asked around these past few days and heard that she was fortunate enough to have been taken into your chambers, Marquis?”

“...” Zheng Fan.

[End of Chapter 618]