Chapter 794: Fate

“The apes on either bank cry on without cease;
My light boat has passed ten thousand mountains.”

Zheng Fan sat aboard the ship with a cup of Daze Xiangshe in his hand.

In the past, whenever he drank this tea, that was about the full extent of what he understood. Only now had he finally learned how it was actually supposed to be consumed.

You had to let it steep properly.

Then touch it to the lips little by little.

Like wine, the tea possessed a strong delayed kick. So one had to savor it slowly, stretching out and spreading apart that pleasant, hazy dizziness it brought to the mind.

Before this, Zheng Fan had basically treated it like a sleeping drug.

Drink one huge cup, or one enormous pot, then bury his head and sleep.

Fan Zhengwen had only just taught him the proper method.

The man truly was interesting.

And when he taught something, he taught it meticulously.

“I never imagined there were this many subtleties even in drinking tea,” Zheng Fan said with a smile.

“Marquis, before this, this official never imagined there were so many subtleties in warfare either. Every craft beneath Heaven has its own specialization. A man who knows and can do everything is almost nonexistent.”

“I’ve met one.”

“Oh?” Fan Zhengwen asked curiously. “May this official ask what extraordinary person the Marquis means?”

Marquis Zheng shook his head.

He had no intention of continuing that subject.

Seeing his mood, Qu Peiluo spoke instead.

“Marquis, the verse you recited just now certainly has a grand breadth and spirit. But this general does not understand one thing. Our ship... is not exactly moving quickly.”

They were traveling upstream.

The vessel also carried a large number of people and goods.

And it had to coordinate with troops marching along the bank.

Naturally, there was no way it could move quickly.

Fan Zhengwen immediately said:

“The Marquis’s poem is not describing this present return journey. It describes the last time the Marquis led troops into Chu by ship and personally opened an entirely new pattern in the Yan-Chu war. At that time, the Marquis stood in heroic prime, tiger warriors beneath his command waiting to strike. Though he traveled by ship deep into enemy lands, it was like a great Peng spreading its wings. The confrontation of a million soldiers between Yan and Chu was about to be broken by the Marquis’s own hand. The cries of apes along either bank were nothing more than the impotent fury of Chu troops, hardly worth mentioning. Such intent, such passion, such ease and boldness. Even ten thousand mountains were merely ordinary ground to cross.”

Qu Peiluo listened, then sighed helplessly.

“Ai. I shouldn’t have asked. Turns out the clown was me.”

Chu had many forms of theater and countless performing troupes. The image of a comic clown had existed there for a very long time.

During the last war against Chu, Marquis Zheng had led a surprise force inside the state, burned Yong City first, then blocked the Regent.

Afterward he turned back and smashed Qu Peiluo and his Azure Luan Army to pieces at Qingtan when they came to rescue the sovereign.

Yet who could have imagined that today... they would all sit aboard the same ship and drink from the same pot of tea?

“Ugh! Ugh!”

The sound of retching came from nearby.

It was not someone suffering a physical reaction to such shameless flattery.

The person bent over the railing and vomiting was a young personal guard.

He wore silver armor, however, marking him as someone of unusual standing.

Chen Xianba.

“Xianba. How many times now?” Zheng Fan asked.

Chen Xianba finished vomiting, wiped his mouth, and cupped his fists.

“Marquis, this subordinate lacks experience. I’ve embarrassed the Marquis again.”

Fan Zhengwen said:

“Little Brother Chen killed a Pillar of State of Chu in battle at such a young age. If that counts as lacking experience, then Fan truly has no face to keep sitting here and drinking tea.”

In the battle outside Fan City, the Dugu Clan army had been crushed.

Dugu Mu personally led the central force in covering the retreat.

In the end, he died in battle.

The man who took his head... was Chen Xianba.

A feat like that could have justified enormous rewards.

Instead, Marquis Pingxi transferred Chen Xianba from Jin Shuke’s personal guard camp into his own Brocade-Clad personal guards.

No one believed the Marquis had failed to reward merit.

In truth... this was the greatest reward possible.

Everyone beneath Heaven knew Marquis Pingxi himself had once been kept beside Prince Jingnan and personally instructed.

Chen Xianba already possessed great military merit.

Let him remain at Marquis Pingxi’s side for several years, learning by what he saw and heard, then release him afterward... and he would inevitably soar.

He could be trusted with an entire front.

“Xianba, didn’t you say you were best at fishing?”

“Reporting to the Marquis, when this subordinate said fishing, I didn’t mean sitting aboard a fishing boat. I meant diving straight into the water and catching fish by hand.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

Among people born in the heartland of Yan, nine out of ten were pure landlubbers.

Precisely for that reason, the new Wangjiang Navy would absorb a very large number of Jin men.

“Adapt to it gradually and you’ll be fine. Don’t be afraid. A commander does not need to master everything, but he should have some familiarity with every kind of warfare. When we campaign against Chu or attack Qian in the future, the navies of those two states will both become serious problems for Great Yan’s iron cavalry.”

“Thank you for the Marquis’s instruction. This subordinate understands. Once we return, I will practice swimming.”

“Mm.”

“This child has the face of someone blessed by fortune. Marquis, you have good fortune indeed.”

The Old Ancestress of the Fan Clan emerged from the cabin.

Fan Zhengwen rose.

Qu Peiluo hesitated briefly, then stood as well.

In earlier days, Qu Peiluo had been the master.

No matter how senior the Old Ancestress of the Fan Clan might be, before him she had still been a slave.

But everything had begun anew now.

In a formal setting, even the Emperor of Yan should probably count as a junior before this old woman.

Zheng Fan remained seated.

He touched a little tea to his lips and sipped slowly.

The Old Ancestress took Fan Zhengwen’s former seat and looked at Zheng Fan with a smile.

“Marquis does not believe it?”

“I do.”

Zheng Fan’s cool answer seemed to leave the Old Ancestress uncertain how to continue.

The atmosphere turned faintly awkward.

Fan Zhengwen stepped in.

“In truth, the proper way to say it is that the Marquis himself possesses fortune reaching Heaven. The rest of us are merely able to share in a portion of that blessing because we follow at the Marquis’s side.”

The classic flattery of which came first, the chicken or the egg.

The Old Ancestress glanced at her grandson.

One had to admit... the boy was truly good with words.

And yet in front of her, he always deliberately said things that made her furious.

Zheng Fan put down the teacup and shook his head.

“This Marquis believes in fate, yes. But this Marquis has never believed I belong among those with particularly good fate.”

Then... he pointed toward Chen Xianba.

“You are the same. Do you think your fate is good?”

Chen Xianba hesitated.

But the man asking was Marquis Pingxi.

The idol he had worshiped for years.

And after joining the army, experiencing this long-distance raid personally led by the Marquis, and watching it end in victory...

Marquis Pingxi now stood in his heart almost like a god.

“Reporting to the Marquis, this subordinate believes my fate... is very good.”

“Was Grand General Nian’s fate good? He rose from a household slave all the way to the post of Grand General. And now? Were Dugu Mu and Shi Yuantang born to good fates? The accumulated blessings of clans several centuries old fell upon them. And what happened in the end? If your fate is good, do not become complacent. Because you do not know whether the man standing opposite you possesses an even better fate. This Marquis says my own fate is merely average. You may not believe me. But it truly is so. On this point, this Marquis has no need to pretend at humility and thereby elevate myself. How many times has this Marquis hung by a thread between life and death? A few times I escaped through opportunity. But most of the time, I simply forced my way through on one breath of stubbornness. And there is something else. Many people who believed themselves blessed by fate have already died beneath this Marquis’s hand. So many that this Marquis cannot even count them anymore. Among those people... some possessed fates even this Marquis envied. Fate is water. You yourself are the tea leaves. Some people say spring water from the mountains makes better tea, or water drawn from an old well does. But at root, the quality of the tea still depends on the leaves themselves. If the leaves are poor, pouring in more water, even the finest water in the world, is useless.”

Chen Xianba dropped to his knees and kowtowed.

“This subordinate will remember the Marquis’s teaching!”

Qu Peiluo rose and saluted as well.

The Old Ancestress, however, sounded faintly dissatisfied.

“Marquis, speaking that way is rather like standing up straight and claiming your waist doesn’t ache.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“If you speak to this Marquis like that again, I’ll order someone to strip you naked and hang you from the mast.”

“...” The Old Ancestress.

Fan Zhengwen wiped sweat from his forehead.

The Old Ancestress’s face turned red, then white.

In the end, she stood and saluted.

“This old woman knows her mistake.”

“When the Fan Clan was still a slave household, inside your own home you were still local Emperors. Later, in Fan City, you became genuine little regional lords. No one stood above you. You could speak and act according to your moods. But this time the entire Fan Clan is relocating to Yanjing. You’ll be guests entering the official world of Yan. Your grandson will certainly act carefully. This Marquis is not worried about him. You, on the other hand... wealth and honor will probably not be lacking. But after half a lifetime admiring yourself in isolation, growing flowers and plants, if you do not restrain that eccentric temperament of yours, sooner or later you will cause trouble. Do not assume the Emperor will indulge you because of some kinship. Put it this way. In this regard... the Emperor and this Marquis are very similar.”

Fan Zhengwen immediately saluted.

“Many thanks for the Marquis’s guidance.”

“This old woman... this old woman... this old woman is going back inside to rest. I never should have come out. Marquis, this old woman takes her leave.”

She truly could not endure being lectured like a child by a man so much younger than her own grandson.

So she rose and left.

After she was gone... the men present all began laughing.

“Ai.”

Fan Zhengwen sighed.

“Truthfully, this official really wanted to go to Fengxin City with the Marquis. I imagine life there would be much freer.”

Marquis Zheng shook his head.

“You would be useless there. This Marquis already has someone far better than you at managing money.”

“...” Fan Zhengwen.

The Blind Man paid more attention to concrete administration, ideological and political work, and building the bureaucratic system.

Siniang, by contrast... was the true operator of the finances.

The reason Marquis Zheng had been able to win battle after battle over these years could not be separated from Siniang’s management at home.

Siniang... was Marquis Zheng’s Xiao He.

Fan Zhengwen’s strengths overlapped with hers.

Both were skilled at large-scale financial planning and institutional design.

If all they needed was someone to oversee one subordinate category of work, there was no reason to use someone of Fan Zhengwen’s caliber.

More importantly...

Marquis Pingxi Residence had already become, in substance, an eastern Jin “state.”

How could its finances possibly be handed to an outsider?

That would mean having no secrets at all.

“Marquis, you really are direct,” Fan Zhengwen said with a bitter smile.

“Direct is good. Both sides feel comfortable. Once you reach Yanjing, work hard. Help the Emperor straighten out Great Yan’s finances and restore the realm’s strength as quickly as possible. This Marquis does not want to keep fighting wars where we win... and still have to withdraw afterward.”

Winning a battle only to retreat afterward, at most looting once and leaving, might look profitable.

But compared with truly opening territory and expanding the borders... it lacked that solid, satisfying feeling.

Unfortunately, although Yan’s territory was vast... the state could not sustain uninterrupted wartime logistics.

“Marquis can rest assured. This official will exhaust every ability I possess.”

Qu Peiluo spoke next.

“Marquis, how will this general be arranged?”

He asked very openly.

“How do you want to be arranged?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Naturally, I obey the Marquis’s orders.”

“You are genuinely difficult to place.” Zheng Fan stretched lazily. “Fan City already has someone assigned.”

Gou Moli.

“As for Zhennan Pass, putting you there would be inappropriate. You wouldn’t dare accept it, and this Marquis wouldn’t be at ease. Snow Sea Pass? Although this Marquis’s loose-control policies over the snowfields have already achieved considerable results, I still have not had the chance to fully integrate the snowfields. Put you at Snow Sea Pass and this Marquis would not be at ease either. The lesson of Great Cheng is not far behind us. Yupan City? That is too close to that side. This Marquis would worry someone might win you over.”

The corner of Qu Peiluo’s eye twitched.

The former Young Master Qu felt he had responded to Marquis Zheng’s earlier speech by being frank and open.

Despite his awkward identity, he had voluntarily asked where he would be placed.

Who could have expected Marquis Pingxi to practice exactly what he had just preached... laying bare his true thoughts so thoroughly that Qu Peiluo wanted to crawl into a crack in the deck and disappear.

Fan Zhengwen, meanwhile, heard words like “someone might win you over” and simply pretended he had heard nothing at all.

Marquis Zheng propped his chin on one hand and smiled.

“How about this? Putting you outside genuinely makes it difficult for this Marquis to relax. I know what you can do. Fan City surviving this time also depended heavily on you.”

If Fan Zhengwen had defended the city alone...

Fan City would have lasted two days at most.

Not more.

Qu Peiluo had received the finest education and military inheritance of the Qu Clan. He had always been a genuine elite among noble heirs.

The reason he lost to Marquis Zheng at Qingtan was partly simple lack of experience.

Over these two years... he had matured considerably.

Marquis Zheng changed tone.

“Fengxin City still lacks a Garrison Commander responsible for the city’s defenses. You take it.”

Nominally, the former primary and deputy men in charge of Fengxin City’s defense had been Xue San and Fan Li.

Those two had essentially only carried the names.

Giving the post to Qu Peiluo... fit perfectly.

Qu Peiluo knelt.

“Thank you, Marquis.”

“Will you think this Marquis is deliberately humiliating you?”

Qu Peiluo shook his head.

“Marquis, this is extraordinary breadth of spirit.”

To humiliate a man merely for the satisfaction of mockery... and in the process hand him responsibility for your own home and life?

Thinking that way would underestimate Zheng Fan too much.

It would also be childish.

“Good.”

Zheng Fan stood.

“Then it’s settled. I’m going back to the cabin to rest. Oh, right. Are those Chu troops behind us still following?”

Qu Peiluo answered:

“They should still be there.”

The force traveling with Marquis Zheng had not chosen the shortest road back to Fengxin City.

Instead, they had taken a slight detour.

They followed the great river north, entered Wangjiang, and would first stop at Yingdu.

Because of the delay created by distance and information...

Marquis Zheng still did not know he had already been enfeoffed as Prince Pingxi.

By the same principle, the edict making him a Prince had only just left Yanjing.

The capital still did not know the extraordinary feat its new Prince had performed by carrying out the “rite of castration” on Great Chu’s Grand General before tens of thousands of men.

Marquis Zheng had, however, received the first imperial edict from Yanjing.

The Crown Prince... was coming.

Before Zheng Fan left the capital, the Emperor had already told him he intended to send his legitimate eldest son to stay with him.

First, it symbolized the deep relationship between the Emperor and Marquis Pingxi Residence.

Second, it was something of a Ji family tradition.

The friendship and trust between the late Emperor and Li Liangting had likewise been established in childhood.

But sending the Crown Prince now, at this particular moment... also carried the Emperor’s full support for Zheng Fan.

Marquis Zheng planned to go personally to Yingdu to receive the Crown Prince.

No.

Not the Crown Prince.

Little Sixth’s child.

He should give Little Sixth that much face.

Precisely because they had chosen the “main road,” they had in some sense left the area Fan City could actually control.

And because the troops used in this campaign had been divided into several routes and batches on the return journey, aside from those left behind for Gou Moli... the guards currently around Marquis Zheng, whether aboard ship or marching beside it, were not especially numerous.

Even so... the Chu did not dare attack.

The Chu main force assembled for the region still remained south of Fan City.

The Chu troops shadowing them here were merely garrisons from nearby military forts and county towns.

Rather than say they were driving the “Yan invaders” out... it would be more accurate to say they were seeing them off.

Qu Peiluo thought for a moment.

“They’ll probably follow us a little farther.”

“They’ve worked hard too. Heh.”

Marquis Zheng patted Qu Peiluo’s shoulder and turned into his private cabin.

Siniang sat inside reading account books and writing notes at the same time.

“Still busy?”

Marquis Zheng walked over and embraced her from behind.

“Master, the Fan Clan is relocating entirely to Yanjing, while Little Dog has taken Fan City. Naturally, the business route that once passed through Fan City has to fall into our hands. This servant still needs to arrange and plan the takeover.”

The battle was over.

Business would continue.

The Emperor might prohibit smuggling.

But the people below could never all be controlled by the Emperor alone.

Smuggling had existed since ancient times and could never be completely stamped out.

The Chu were like that.

The Yan were the same.

And for many Chu people...

I may hate the Yan.

But I have no quarrel with silver.

Eastern Jin’s established development plan had always been to use trade as the great carriage pulling rapid recovery and growth in every other sector.

“You work too hard. You should rest too.”

“This is a small matter. No need to rest.”

Siniang did not care in the slightest.

Very often, when Zheng Fan was with Siniang, he felt as though he were a kept man being supported by some powerful career woman.

In truth... that was not far from reality.

Apart from those occasional moments in war when he looked especially manly... in ordinary life, whether in bed or out of it... he seemed to be the one under her control.

“Next, let’s focus properly on that problem and see whether there’s some way to solve it,” Zheng Fan said.

“There’s no need to rush. Little Sister Liqing is already pregnant, isn’t she?”

“It’s different.”

“They’re all Master’s children. What difference does it make whose belly they come from?”

Zheng Fan sat beside her.

“It is different. We can spend more time looking. Find famous physicians. Find Qi Refiners too. We have money and power now. We don’t have to worry about being unable to find anyone. Here. Have a grape.”

Zheng Fan personally peeled a grape and brought it toward Siniang’s lips.

Siniang suddenly pushed his hand away.

Then covered her mouth.

“Ugh...”

[End of Chapter 794]