Chapter 730: A Great Victory to Go with the Rice

Chop scallions and spread them across the bottom of the bowl. Cover them with steaming hot rice. Add a large spoonful of lard, drizzle soy sauce over the top, then mix thoroughly.

Finally... serve it with a small plate of salted dried radish and pickled ginger.

Zheng Fan picked up his spoon, scooped up a mouthful, and put it into his mouth.

Fragrant.

Rich.

Deeply satisfying.

The problem was... after that first spoonful, he had to pause before taking the second.

Marquis Zheng admitted that if he were out campaigning, then receiving a huge bowl of lard-mixed rice like this would be the sort of thing that made a man smile even in his dreams.

Unfortunately... in ordinary life, Marquis Zheng's belly had never lacked oil and meat.

Eating an entire bowl like this now... grew cloying very quickly.

The laborers seated at the two tables across from him, on the other hand... ate as though they had been given the finest banquet beneath Heaven.

Oh.

Right.

And Fan Li beside him.

Clang, clang, clang.

One enormous bowl of lard rice vanished into his stomach.

Then Fan Li wiped his chin.

And looked at his Master with pitiful expectation.

Marquis Zheng laughed and called toward the busy woman nearby:

"Three more bowls."

"Coming right up!"

The woman immediately began preparing them.

Fan Li's face bloomed with satisfied anticipation.

This place could hardly even be called a proper storefront.

It was simply a narrow alley opening off the street.

Tables and stools had been placed along the walls on both sides.

And one woman managed the entire business from there.

"Good?" Zheng Fan asked.

He looked toward the Sword Saint sitting beside him.

The Sword Saint chewed slowly and carefully.

"Not bad."

"Mm."

Since Marquis Zheng had been the one to ask, he forced himself to take another spoonful.

Fortunately... the pickled ginger was crisp and refreshing.

It helped cut through the grease.

At the small table behind Marquis Zheng sat an old man.

A pot of wine stood before him.

One dish of peanuts.

One dish of spiced dried tofu.

What made it peculiar was that a little screen had even been set beside the old man to provide some separation.

It looked clean and refined enough... but still somehow ridiculous in this alley.

Every time the old man smacked his lips over a sip of wine, he would stroke his goatee, then either slowly shake his head or gently nod.

As though he had long since seen through every matter of the mortal world.

Or perhaps had just comprehended some new principle of Heaven and Earth.

Marquis Zheng had seen this expression far too many times.

Back in Fengxin City, no one knew where the rumor had started that Marquis Pingxi liked to come out and eat soup flatbread at one particular shop near the residence.

After that... every day, the place had filled with scholars claiming their talents had gone unrecognized, men supposedly harboring great ambitions, and various so-called extraordinary figures.

They would eat their flatbread... then repeatedly make exactly these same profound little gestures.

Unfortunately, Marquis Zheng was a lazy man.

He had no interest in imitating Duke Xiao of Qin recruiting Shang Yang.

Nor did he plan to imitate Liu Bei making three visits to the thatched cottage.

When he came out to satisfy a craving... he came out to satisfy a craving.

As for recruiting and selecting talent... the Blind Man basically handled all of that.

So those people really had been... putting on a show for a blind man.

Marquis Zheng truly could not eat any more.

Too dense.

Too rich.

He worried that forcing the bowl down would upset his stomach.

This body was already that of a Fifth Grade expert.

But so long as he was not on campaign... it could still be rather delicate.

At that moment, He Chu walked over carrying a huge pot of rice.

He set it onto a small stove.

The woman took out a handkerchief and tenderly wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Yes.

He Chu had married.

His wife... was a woman of the imperial clan.

But not from any close branch.

The Ji family's Emperor now held power alone.

So there was no chance imperial clan members would become as destitute as the Yu clan had during the Sword Saint's childhood.

But once generations multiplied, distant branches of the imperial clan were not really all that different from ordinary households.

At most... their names could still be scraped out of the clan genealogy.

They were neither noble nor powerful.

Neither officials nor great families.

During the late Emperor's reign, responsibility for the finances and grain allowances of the Court of the Imperial Clan had been transferred to the Ministry of Revenue.

That alone amounted to cutting into the clan's roots.

When the new sovereign had still been a prince controlling the Ministry of Revenue, every time the treasury tightened and spending had to be reduced, his blade fell especially hard on the imperial clan.

And now... just look at the deposed Crown Prince.

The title he had received was only Count.

That alone showed the new sovereign intended to continue the late Emperor's tradition and keep reducing the imperial clan's status and expenses.

So if the Yu imperial clan had fallen below dogs because imperial authority had become too weak... then the Ji imperial clan had become actual dogs because imperial authority was too strong and had absolutely no need for help from all those poor relatives.

Still... imperial kin were imperial kin.

A woman of the imperial clan... was ultimately different from an ordinary woman.

This particular clan woman had been put in a difficult position because her father had run into trouble in his official duties.

He was first fined two hundred taels of silver.

The household did not possess enough spare wealth to pay the penalty.

And so... there was no choice but to count the sum against the bride price.

Normally, a woman of the imperial clan never lacked suitors.

Lower the standards a little and one could always find a decent household among the common people.

But the matter involving her father's duties had not yet been fully settled.

There could still be consequences.

Many households were tempted.

Many could afford the bride price.

But no one dared willingly step into muddy water of that sort.

At the time... the late Emperor was still recuperating in the Rear Garden.

The Crown Prince faction and Sixth Master's faction were fighting furiously.

People at the bottom were not really qualified to take part.

That did not mean one wave from above could not smash them dead.

So... the girl could not be married out.

Old He had spent a long time arranging a wife for He Chu.

His requirements were simple.

Best if his daughter-in-law could read.

When the matchmaker came, Old He sent his son to take a look.

At first... all they were told was that she came from a fallen branch of the imperial clan.

A proper young lady from a respectable household.

And that the family urgently needed money to pay an official fine.

Old He thought that sounded excellent.

A bargain had come directly to his door.

The family foundation from Nan'an County had all been brought to the capital.

The pork business in Yanjing was doing well too.

No local ruffians.

No gangsters.

No yamen runners came around looking for protection money.

Two hundred taels?

Heh.

Old He really could produce it.

Most importantly... although Old He normally kept his mouth shut and strictly forbade his son from saying anything either... he had always understood the situation in his heart.

He would visit teahouses.

Listen to stories.

Listen to gossip along streets and alleys.

And eventually... he had understood something.

Either his entire family would go down together with his son-in-law... or they would rise to Heaven together with his son-in-law.

If his son-in-law rose to Heaven...

Old He had no ambition to rise with him.

But at least... his old age would be secure, wouldn't it?

He did not dare hope the son-in-law would personally mourn him, smash the funerary basin, and send him off.

That honor was too much for him to bear.

But at minimum... surely the man would not watch him lie gravely ill without money to buy medicine?

So...

Old He was genuinely willing to spend.

The fallen imperial branch had been worrying themselves sick over how to pay the fine.

When they suddenly heard a household slap its chest and say they could cover the entire amount... heh.

They could hardly have been more eager.

Every stage of the marriage was rushed.

It was practically one hand taking the silver while the other handed over the bride.

And so... the marriage was completed.

The daughter-in-law's surname was Ji.

Her name was Bihe.

On the second day after entering the He household, she began making breakfast for her husband and father-in-law.

At last... the little courtyard possessed a proper mistress of the house.

And the days there truly began to feel warmer.

The daughter-in-law was capable.

She set up this lard-rice stall herself, directly across from the He family's pork shop.

The customers might mostly be laborers and other common working men... but the income was quite respectable.

After all... her husband's family sold pork.

The lard was basically produced and sold within the same household.

After He Chu married... his life finally settled down.

Every day, he ran back and forth between the two shops.

Whichever side was busy... that was where he helped.

Thanks to the care provided by the He family's pork shop... no.

More accurately, because this stall was effectively a branch business of the He family's pork shop... no gangsters, yamen runners, or constables dared come over looking for trouble.

The household... had finally begun moving toward prosperous days.

Who could have expected that less than half a month after the wedding... the daughter-in-law's grandfather would come knocking?

The old man's surname was naturally Ji.

His personal name contained the character Guang.

So Old He simply called him Old Guang.

Old Guang arrived carrying the deed to the family house.

He had originally been living with his eldest son in Nanwang City.

The moment he heard trouble had broken out back in the old home in Yanjing, he hurried back.

Then he learned his second son had practically exchanged his own daughter for cash, using the bride price to gather the silver for the official fine.

The old man nearly died of rage.

But the girl was already married.

What else could he do?

Old Guang had a stubborn temper.

He put a blade against his own throat and forced his second son to hand over the deed to the house that had fallen to his branch after the family property was divided.

It was the old Ji family residence in the capital.

Their ancestral home.

Not large.

But worth at least three or four hundred taels.

The old man directly left the deed as collateral with the He family.

Whenever his son managed to gather the missing two hundred taels of dowry and delivered it... they could take the deed back.

If they never managed to gather it... then the house would belong to the He family.

Everything was signed and sealed.

That day... the scene had been extremely lively.

The second son was dull-tempered and had barely spoken since getting into trouble.

But his principal wife and one concubine made an enormous fuss.

Even Bihe said she could keep running the stall and slowly earn back the silver.

Old Guang scolded her immediately.

Granddaughter, once you marry into the He family, you belong to the He family.

What kind of logic says the money you earn after marriage should be used to fill the hole left by your birth household?

Your father owes you.

Your father is useless.

Your grandfather will shoulder it for you.

In the end... the house deed remained with the He family.

And then something strange happened.

One month after the wedding...

Bihe's quiet father, the one who had gotten into trouble... suddenly received a new appointment.

He was transferred into the imperial city as a palace guard.

In truth, the palace had always possessed a tradition of selecting guards from the imperial clan and families of merit.

Men of the same surname were easier to trust.

And it counted as a sort of benefit extended among relatives.

But there were so many members of the imperial clan.

If you wanted one of those appointments... you still had to compete through connections and spend silver.

Who would have expected such a good thing to suddenly fall into his lap?

Now... the whole household had hope again.

Gathering the dowry no longer looked impossibly far away.

Old Guang and Old He... after seeing each other again and again... gradually became familiar.

Old He knew how to conduct himself.

Old Guang did too.

Every afternoon when he had nothing to do, Old Guang liked coming to his granddaughter's stall for a little wine.

The wine... he brought himself.

He mooched one small dish of peanuts and one small dish of dried tofu from his granddaughter and grandson-in-law.

In his own words... he had fed this granddaughter plenty of treats when she was little.

Now that he was old, taking a little of it back was only right.

So... after Fan Li had finished another three bowls of lard rice at Marquis Zheng's table and ordered three more...

Old He arrived.

First, he kicked his son and told him to stop hanging around his wife and go watch the pork shop.

Then Old He sat beside Grandfather-in-law.

He pulled a handful of dried fruit or melon seeds from his pocket, probably something some neighboring shopkeeper had given him.

Dumped it onto the table.

His daughter-in-law added another wine cup.

And the two old men began drinking together.

Strictly speaking... they belonged to different generations.

But they still treated one another as peers.

Old Guang was imperial kin.

He had also spent time in Nanwang City.

So he counted as a man who had "seen a little of the world."

He loved boasting.

Loved finding someone to talk at.

Old He... used to spend money going to teahouses just to hear stories.

Now... he could even save the price of tea.

One loved to boast.

One loved to listen.

A perfect match.

"In-law, people used to talk about marriages warding off bad luck, and I never believed a word of it.

"Now...

"I almost have no choice but to believe.

"Look at my second son.

"He's been promoted again.

"He's a Palace Guard Lieutenant now.

"And my eldest son sent a letter too.

"He's been appointed a grain transport officer in Nanwang City.

"Ah.

"This whole family looked like it was about to collapse.

"Who would've expected... less than half a year later... the wind would completely change?"

"Exactly. Exactly."

Old He smiled and nodded.

Your son got promoted.

My son-in-law got promoted too.

And that office... was pretty good.

Emperor.

The new sovereign was Sixth Prince Ji Chengjue of Great Yan.

His former Princess Consort, He Sisi... was elevated to Empress.

When Old He and He Chu first learned the news... father and son sat facing one another for an entire night.

They did not even open the stall.

Bihe was frightened enough to wonder whether both men in her husband's family had run into ghosts.

"Aiya. It's just that right after His Majesty ascended, things turned unstable again.

"Tell me.

"The Chancellor of mighty Great Yan... actually got intercepted and murdered in the street by those Barbarians.

"Those damned Barbarians!"

Marquis Zheng, sitting off to the side... found this rather entertaining.

Then Old Guang added:

"Those Barbarian bastards should have sons born without assholes!"

"..." Marquis Zheng.

Old He nodded.

"So... we're going to war again?"

Old Guang swept one sleeve.

"Of course.

"In-law, do you know how high an office the Chancellor of a state truly is?

"That is genuinely one man beneath the sovereign and above ten thousand.

"How could Yan men swallow humiliation like this?

"His Majesty has already issued an edict.

"He ordered the Northern and Southern Princes to immediately go to Beifeng Commandery, take command of the army, and punish the Barbarians.

"They must pay blood for blood!"

"The Northern and Southern Princes have gone?" Old He asked.

"They've gone.

"Urgency means ordinary rules can be set aside.

"Naturally there was no time to arrange some grand ceremony sending the army off.

"But ah, in-law... have you ever seen the desert?"

"No. Have you?"

"When I was young, I once had a transport assignment and went there.

"The desert... is vast.

"I didn't even truly enter it.

"I only stood at the edge and glanced in.

"Damn.

"Nothing but sand.

"Endless sand.

"And the Barbarians live inside that sand.

"Truthfully... fighting them isn't the hard part.

"The problem is... they can run.

"Ah.

"Barring some miracle... this is going to become another great war."

"That's right.

"Another war."

Another war.

That was the first reaction among the people of the State of Yan when they heard the new sovereign's declaration of war.

War... was one thing for regular soldiers.

Beifeng Commandery already possessed troops.

And outside the capital... there was also one Zhenbei formation ready to be used at any time.

The problem was... a truly large-scale campaign inevitably required mobilizing enormous numbers of laborers and auxiliary troops.

And requisitioning huge quantities of grain and fodder.

Everyone's life was already difficult.

If another great war began... how were people supposed to survive?

Yet afterward... there were not many complaints.

The people did not want another war.

If they kept fighting, life truly would become unbearable.

But they did not oppose this war.

Because the target... was the Barbarians.

Even setting aside the Chancellor's assassination... within the State of Yan, from court down to the common people... fighting the Barbarians was politically correct.

No one dared advise the Emperor to start fresh with the people.

To swallow the insult.

To endure for now.

To proceed slowly.

No one dared.

And no one wanted to.

Over several centuries, through countless bloody clashes with the Barbarians... the Yan people had already understood one principle perfectly.

Against the Barbarians... you could not yield a single step.

As for antiwar sentiment... it truly failed to gather into anything substantial.

If the new sovereign had issued an edict at this moment mobilizing the whole country to invade Qian or attack Chu... the people really might have reached the limit of what they could endure.

But the target was the Barbarians.

Complain if you wanted.

Sigh if you wanted.

The old Yan people still did whatever they were supposed to do.

Those preparing to enlist... enlisted.

Those preparing to serve as laborers... prepared to serve as laborers.

Even every level of the bureaucracy began operating on its own initiative.

Counting how many able-bodied men could be mobilized from each commandery, prefecture, county... even each village.

Old Yan people were human too.

Under the late Emperor, year after year of war had already exhausted them.

If they were ordered into another distant campaign against some foreign state... war-weariness would inevitably appear.

But the problem was... if they did not fight the Barbarians... if the Barbarians rose again... then Yan homes would be the ones affected.

Yan land would be the land set aflame by war.

What the hell did war-weariness matter then?

Fight.

There was nothing else to do but fight.

Great Yan right now was like an enormous beast that looked powerful from the outside... but was actually exhausted beyond measure.

Even so... by instinct... it had already begun sharpening its fangs.

Preparing to pounce upon its old neighbor to the west.

The clouds of war... following the new sovereign's imperial command... had already begun to gather.

At that moment, He Chu slipped away from the pork stall again to come look at his wife.

"Chu, when the levy comes, you should go too," Old Guang called to his grandson-in-law. "Fight the Barbarians."

Old He nodded first.

"Yes. He should go."

He Chu was the Emperor's elder brother-in-law.

His younger sister's husband was Great Yan's Emperor.

Old He felt... if Great Yan was going to war... then his own son ought to be the first one forward.

Ordinary people... even someone like Old Guang, who looked as though he knew plenty of inside information... could not truly calculate the dates on which all these events had occurred.

The Chancellor died.

The new sovereign raged.

First the Barbarian delegation at the Court of State Ceremonial was executed.

Then the edict for war against the Barbarians was issued.

Later, when the result came back... no one would be able to explain exactly why the travel time and sequence did not seem to fit.

Marquis Zheng forced down another spoonful of lard rice.

Closed his eyes.

And swallowed.

The Sword Saint watched him.

"Spoiled."

"Of course."

Marquis Zheng made no effort to deny it.

Just then... a unit of riders with colored banners planted behind their backs galloped down from the inner city, shouting as they came:

"Great victory! Great victory! The two Princes have broken the Royal Court and slain the Barbarian King and countless Barbarian nobles!"

"Great victory! Great victory! The Royal Court has fallen! A skull mound has been raised!"

"Great victory in the desert! The Barbarian King is dead!"

In an instant... the entire street erupted.

Nobles and black-haired commoners alike... all began cheering wildly.

As news of the victory spread without pause, Yanjing, which only days earlier had still been submerged in grief over the loss of its Emperor... became an ocean of noise and celebration.

And then... from the people themselves... came wave after wave of cries:

"Long live His Majesty!"

This was a victory capable of stirring the heart.

Its significance... could even surpass victory against another state.

At this moment, the Yan people felt... their Emperor was gone.

But... their Emperor was somehow still here.

Marquis Zheng pushed away the half-bowl of lard rice he had left.

With faint disgust.

Then smiled.

"Aiyo.

"I was worried to death."

The Sword Saint said:

"You were more certain than anyone before this. You kept saying there was no possibility you could think of where they would lose."

"It's war.

"How could there be no risk at all?

"I was worried I'd said things too absolutely.

"Planted too many flags.

"And get slapped in the face.

"Heh-heh-heh."

The Sword Saint shook his head.

Marquis Zheng clapped his hands together.

"All right.

"The battle is won.

"The Royal Court is trampled flat.

"Heh-heh.

"Old Tian... should be coming back soon too."

[End of Chapter 730]