Chapter 819: A Private Pledge for Life

If Zheng Fan were asked what sort of person he was, he would pile words like “selfish,” “hypocritical,” and “filthy” onto his own forehead without the slightest hesitation.

There was no deeper reason.

Good people in this world often suffered for it.

And playing the saint did not suit his aesthetic sense.

But seeing the young shoots that had been protected, nourished, and allowed to grow because of his existence finally break through the soil... did indeed bring a certain satisfaction.

A sense of harvest.

A sense of accomplishment.

Inside the carriage on the way back, the Prince was still immersed in that rare feeling of thinking rather well of himself.

Moments when he felt this clean did not come often.

He had to hold onto it a little longer.

Savor it a little more.

Like old cotton quilts that had been shut away too long.

When the sun finally came out, you had to spread them beneath it and let them bake.

Liu Ruqing sat obediently beside him.

She did not disturb him.

Of course, she herself was somewhat excited too.

This woman who had once been the Fan family’s widowed daughter-in-law... how could she ever have imagined she would see a day like this?

At last... the Prince pulled himself free from his mood.

Because the Prince’s hand had climbed onto her again.

As practiced as ever.

“Husband, the day after tomorrow this concubine would like to leave the Residence. Zhong’er is getting married.”

“Oh?”

Zheng Fan paused.

If he remembered correctly, Liu Ruqing’s younger brother Liu Zhong swung both ways.

“Tell Xiao Yibo to arrange it.”

“Thank you, Husband.”

His hand still roamed over her with undiminished curiosity.

But the Prince added:

“I won’t be going.”

Ordinarily, if one’s brother-in-law was marrying, the husband should appear and give the event some support.

But Zheng Fan truly could not be bothered.

It was not that he lacked time.

He simply saw no need.

“This concubine would not dare. That was not what this concubine meant either.”

How could Liu Ruqing possibly dare invite Zheng Fan to her younger brother’s wedding banquet?

She had always known her place.

Never entertained any other thoughts.

More importantly... her man treated the Princess’s own elder brother the same way.

If the mood struck him, he beat the man.

Where was the slightest trace of familial courtesy there?

Liu Ruqing only hoped her younger brother could continue holding his little post in Fengxin City, behave himself, marry, have children, and live quietly.

That would be enough.

Besides, if Xiao Yibo handled things, nothing involving ceremony or face could possibly go wrong.

Her own dignity would be preserved.

Her brother’s dignity too.

As a member of the household, she understood perfectly well that her husband might appear to enjoy visiting people and did not often put on airs... but that meant visiting the Sword Saint next door.

Not visiting just anyone’s home.

At that moment... the carriage stopped.

“Impudent!”

“Impudent!”

The Brocade-Clad personal guards on the outer ring moved instantly.

Shield-bearers pushed forward.

Crossbows came up.

The inner ring closed tightly around the carriage.

Zheng Fan lifted the curtain and looked outside.

A group of men carrying sabers stood opposite the carriage.

They were not dressed in black.

They did not look like assassins.

And the moment they saw the formation of Brocade-Clad guards, every one of them threw down his weapon and prostrated himself.

Judging from their hairstyles... they were probably Savages.

Compared with the peoples of all Xia, Savage hairstyles could be unusually strange.

Ordinary commoners did not necessarily care much about the principle that one’s body, hair, and skin came from one’s parents either.

Especially in the army.

Long hair crawling with lice during campaign was misery.

But Savage tribes liked to carve the marks of their totems and customs directly into their hair.

After being absorbed into the Prince Residence system, many gradually shaved and changed their dress in order to blend in.

Yet not enough years had passed.

Traces of their old styles could still be seen on their scalps.

These were not assassins.

Nor had they come to kill him.

If these men were assassins... then whoever sent them truly held Prince Pingxi in far too little regard.

Just then, a group of riders galloped over.

The man at their head was none other than Qu Peiluo, responsible for Fengxin City’s security.

Qu Peiluo ordered his men to bind every Savage who had obstructed the Prince’s carriage.

Then he personally walked before the carriage and knelt to ask forgiveness.

“This general was negligent and allowed Your Highness to be alarmed. Your Highness, please punish me!”

“What happened?”

Zheng Fan asked.

Qu Peiluo had clearly already learned the entire story.

He immediately answered:

“Reporting to Your Highness, these Savages belong to the garrison outside the city, one of Mr. Gou’s commands. One of their comrades was seized today by a Lieutenant Commander and dragged into his home. They were angry, so they picked up weapons and intended to go rescue him.”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan laughed.

“Interesting. Interesting. Even this Prince never realized Fengxin City, where this Prince himself lives, had become a bandits’ den. My people spend every day kidnapping hostages now?”

And it was even Standard households kidnapping other Standard households.

“Why?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Reporting to Your Highness, because of a marriage.”

...

BANG!

The Brocade-Clad guards kicked the gate open directly.

There was another group of men inside.

When someone broke through the door, they instinctively reached for weapons.

They were all Standard households.

How could such families lack blades?

But once they saw the Brocade-Clad uniforms of the intruders, they immediately understood.

Every one of them dropped to his knees.

In the courtyard... a young Savage man had been bound and suspended from a beam.

Fresh whip marks covered his body.

The Brocade-Clad personal guards were highly trained.

After subduing the five or six men in the courtyard, they immediately opened the inner rooms and searched them.

They brought out two children.

One woman.

And a young girl who had been locked in an inner room, her face covered in tears.

At last... accompanied by Qu Peiluo, Prince Pingxi entered the courtyard still wearing the python robe he had worn to the academy earlier that day.

The men in the courtyard, even with their arms pinned behind them by the guards, immediately shouted:

“We kowtow to Your Highness!”

“We kowtow to Your Highness!”

Some things needed no teaching.

For example, Qu Peiluo, who had spent the first half of his life being waited upon as Young Master of the Qu Clan, now took the initiative to move over a chair modeled after a Grand Tutor’s seat and place it behind the Prince.

The Prince sat.

He leaned forward slightly and surveyed the people and objects in the courtyard.

One should not judge a matter from only one side.

But between what the captured Savages had said earlier and what he saw in the courtyard now... the shape of the entire affair was already seven or eight parts clear.

There was truly nothing new beneath the sun.

It was simply another Romeo and Juliet.

The Prince pointed toward the Savage man hanging there.

Two guards immediately stepped forward and cut him down.

The man crawled over unsteadily.

He pressed his forehead to the ground before Zheng Fan.

“This subordinate... kowtows to Your Highness.”

“Whose courtyard is this? Where’s the head of household?”

There should have been one actual head of household.

The other men had probably been called over to help.

A bearded man shouted:

“Reporting to Your Highness, this subordinate’s surname is Zhang. Zhang Da. I was the one who tied up this bastard! Damn his mother, he doesn’t even look at what sort of piss-stained creature he is, and he still dares dream about marrying my daughter! Ptui! A stinking Savage toad like him dares dream such a damned spring-and-autumn dream!”

Zhang Da belonged to Ding Hao’s command.

He was a Squad Leader.

His garrison itself lay outside Fengxin City.

And because the latest war had only recently ended, the soldiers were currently taking leave by rotation.

The Standard-household system did not maintain an enormous standing army during ordinary times.

In peacetime, adult men from Standard households could also engage in other productive labor.

One thing was obvious.

Zhang Da might not be young anymore... but his brain genuinely did not work very well.

The Prince himself had come.

The matter had reached the true highest level.

And yet Zhang Da still openly confessed everything he had done.

No regret at all.

If anything, he seemed convinced that righteousness stood entirely on his side.

Then again... if he had possessed much sense, even if he wanted to tear apart his daughter’s marriage and this supposed private pledge for life, he would not have created a mess this stupid.

“And you?”

The Prince looked at the Savage man.

“Reporting... to Your Highness, my name is Mao Shan.”

“This Prince asked why you came.”

“I came... came to propose marriage.”

There really were pastries scattered around the courtyard.

And two bolts of cloth.

The pastries came from the most expensive shop in Fengxin City.

They were made in what was said to be Prince Pingxi’s preferred style.

Not too sweet.

Not too greasy.

And expensive.

Most ordinary people did not buy from that shop.

Their lives had not yet reached the stage where they feared things being too sweet.

If a pastry was not sweet, was it still a pastry?

The cloth had come from Jiangnan in Qian, brought here by a Qian caravan.

It was expensive too.

In this age, cloth like that could be issued directly as soldiers’ pay.

Sometimes it even served as a unit for measuring wealth.

To Prince Pingxi Residence, none of these things were worth mentioning.

But for an ordinary Standard household... and for the Savage Standard-household soldier kneeling there covered in wounds... they represented nearly everything he had.

Then there was the young woman with tears in her eyes.

The story was obvious enough.

Somehow, the two had met.

They had taken a liking to each other.

Whether they had actually “pledged themselves for life” in the most literal sense was impossible to know.

But they had certainly fallen in love.

So the young Savage had come to propose marriage.

And the result... was that the girl’s Jin-accented father summoned helpers, stripped him, hung him up, and whipped him savagely.

As to right and wrong... there was hardly any ambiguity.

Mao Shan had not arrived acting high and mighty.

He had not tried to force a sale.

Inside the system of Prince Pingxi Residence, Savages ranked below Yan people, Barbarians, and Jin people alike.

They were fortunate enough not to be bullied.

Where would they find the courage to bully others?

At that moment...

Chen Daole hurried in and saluted Zheng Fan.

This sort of matter fell under his responsibilities.

He coordinated and handled conflicts between Standard households.

Fengxin City possessed two judicial systems.

Crimes committed by ordinary households and crimes committed by Standard households were handled by different yamen.

There were two principal reasons.

First, it allowed better management of an organization that had to function in both production and war.

Second, it elevated the political treatment of Standard households.

Chen Daole was one of the officials in charge of that yamen.

“Officer Chen.”

“Your Highness, this subordinate is here.”

“Soldiers privately fighting with weapons. What is the punishment?”

Chen Daole answered immediately:

“Execution!”

Zhang Da froze.

The other men who also served in the army turned pale with terror.

Zhang Da’s wife fainted outright.

The young woman looked stunned.

This was not because Prince Pingxi Residence’s military law was unusually cruel.

Great Yan’s armies had always possessed such a rule.

What an army feared most was not a powerful enemy.

It was internal division.

Private fighting among soldiers was already a serious crime.

One spark in the wrong place could trigger a camp mutiny.

At that moment...

Mao Shan spoke:

“Your Highness, it was not a fight. My father-in-law... my father-in-law said this is a Zhang family custom. When a son-in-law first comes to the house, his father-in-law has to beat him once. After he’s taken the beating and remembers the pain, he won’t bully the family’s daughter in the future. We... we agreed on it beforehand.”

Zheng Fan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

This young Savage... was not simple.

First... speaking the Xia language this fluently already showed real ability.

The Savage forces beneath Prince Pingxi Residence had originally been drawn from tribes north of Snow Sea Pass.

They were not the settled Savage tribes near Jin territory in the Tianduan Mountains.

Those settled tribes could hardly still be called Savages.

Some had spoken Xia for generations and no longer knew the Savage tongue at all.

In the years before Gou Moli rose, a Savage who could speak Xia often found a respectable position among caravans traveling between Jin and the snowfields.

Gou Moli himself had started exactly that way.

Second...

Mao Shan had been seized, and yet a group of Savage comrades had picked up sabers to rescue him.

That proved the young man, despite his age, possessed considerable prestige among his comrades.

And finally... there was this ability to react in the moment.

He had already been tied up and whipped.

Did he hate Zhang Da?

He should.

Any grown man humiliated and beaten this way would find it nearly impossible to swallow the rage.

Yet he...

“Mao Shan.”

“This subordinate is here.”

“You remind this Prince of someone.”

Mao Shan did not dare answer.

He simply kept his head lowered.

“You remind this Prince of Jin Shuke.”

“How could this subordinate compare with General Jin? This subordinate...”

Zheng Fan’s gaze shifted toward Zhang Da, still kneeling there.

“Is that how it happened?”

Zhang Da was stupid.

But he was not an idiot.

Between losing his head and acknowledging a son-in-law... he could still distinguish the better choice.

Especially after Prince Pingxi had just mentioned Jin Shuke.

What kind of evaluation was that?

If Prince Pingxi himself was the myth of a commoner rising from nothing... then beneath him, another myth in eastern Jin had been written by Jin Shuke.

A man born from a convict tribe had risen step by step until he became a fully empowered Garrison Commander.

He even held a noble title of Great Yan.

In earlier years, no one would have imagined such a thing.

“Reporting to Your Highness... yes... yes, that was how... yes...”

Everyone knew it was a lie.

The point was... did the person being lied to wish to accept it?

“When troops were sent to Fan City this last time, were you there?” Zheng Fan asked Mao Shan.

“Reporting to Your Highness, this subordinate was there.”

“Can you still go now?”

“I can!”

Mao Shan answered firmly.

“What about your wounds?”

“They’ll heal on the road. By the time I reach Fan City, they won’t interfere with killing!”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“Stay behind and recover.”

“Your Highness, this subordinate does not want to stay. This subordinate was there when we stormed the city. I was there when we charged the rattan-armored troops too. This subordinate likes fighting. This subordinate wants to fight for Your Highness!”

“Why?”

Mao Shan raised his head and looked at the Prince.

Then he smiled.

A little simple.

A little honest.

Unfortunately...

Prince Pingxi had the number-one idiot beneath Heaven living in his own household.

His threshold for this sort of “simple honesty” had become extremely high.

“If I fight with Your Highness, there’s meat to eat.”

“Heh.”

Zheng Fan raised one hand.

“Officer Chen.”

“This subordinate is here!”

“You handle the rest.”

“This subordinate understands. Your Highness may rest assured!”

The Prince rose.

Then walked out.

Military law was like a mountain.

But beyond the law... there was always human sentiment.

If one pursued military law with nothing but rigid cruelty, it was easy to mistake the means for the end.

For a ruling structure like Prince Pingxi Residence, law existed to reinforce its own foundations and keep everything below it more harmonious.

Executing Zhang Da and the others to uphold military law would certainly be simple.

Satisfying, even.

But it would only sharpen the underlying conflict.

This sort of ending where “everyone is happy” was cliché.

It lacked the clean satisfaction of punishment.

It might not even truly heal the cracks tearing through the larger group.

But at least... it could paste one thin sheet of paper over them and pretend harmony existed.

Everyone knew the paper concealed a dense network of fractures that continued spreading.

Still... even self-deception had its uses.

Zheng Fan felt he had already expressed his attitude clearly enough.

The Prince’s attitude stood above the dignity of written law.

That too... was a law within law.

...

The Prince returned to the Residence.

Soon...

Dai Li was summoned.

“Your Highness, this subordinate is here!”

As the foremost intelligence chief under Xue San, Dai Li might publicly be responsible only for inns and caravans.

But his hands could never be that obedient.

Nor should they be.

“You heard about what happened just now?”

“Reporting to Your Highness, this subordinate knows.”

“Investigate it for this Prince. Find out whether the entire affair was genuinely coincidence.”

Dai Li’s eyes lit up.

“This subordinate understands.”

After all, the fact that the Prince would be visiting the academy around dusk was no secret.

Those young men would naturally have excitedly told their parents and people around them.

Mao Shan’s marriage proposal... and everything that followed...

Zheng Fan added:

“If it truly was coincidence, come tell this Prince. If it was not coincidence, then treat it as though nothing happened.”

“Your Highness’s heart is broad as the sea. This subordinate admires you!”

“Boss Dai.”

“Here. This subordinate is here...”

At last... the identity of the great figure who had given Dai Li his nickname was revealed.

“This Prince once climbed upward using small clever tricks like these too. I have never feared clever subordinates.”

“Yes. This subordinate understands.”

“But sometimes... don’t be so clever that you become cleverer than you should.”

Dai Li understood perfectly well that the Prince was beating the drum beside his ear.

Being warned meant he still possessed enough value to be worth warning.

He immediately thumped his chest and pledged his loyalty again.

At that moment... the Blind Man walked in.

The Prince waved a hand.

Dai Li rose, saluted Mr. Bei as well, then withdrew.

“Master, this subordinate only just learned about the matter.”

Prince Pingxi sat in his chair.

He nodded.

“I didn’t expect the conflicts below us to have become this sharp already.”

“The conflicts have always existed. In truth, what we’ve been doing, the foundation we’ve pieced together, resembles the Sima clan from the history of another world.”

After the Sima clan seized the realm, the War of the Eight Princes erupted.

One Sima killed another.

Another Sima butchered this one.

They even brought northern tribes into the struggle.

In the end, it helped bring about the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians.

And now...

Barbarians and Savages who once could never have entered the lands of all Xia no matter how hard they fought had already become Standard households beneath Prince Pingxi Residence.

As long as Zheng Fan remained alive, none of that mattered.

Raise Prince Pingxi’s great banner... and those internal contradictions could be suppressed completely.

Nothing truly catastrophic would happen.

But if some accident ever happened to Prince Pingxi... then this whole structure might become the key to some enormous upheaval in the future.

And the conflict would only intensify as the Residence continued absorbing more population.

“Is there no way to reconcile it?” Zheng Fan asked.

At court, an Emperor could pull several factions into the arena, let them fight, and act as referee himself.

But this was an army.

If they kept allowing these divisions to deepen... one day they might turn into something much uglier.

One side could simply stand across the river and watch another die without lifting a hand.

The Blind Man asked:

“Master has seen iron forged before?”

“Of course.”

“Only after a thousand hammer blows and a hundred temperings can impurities be driven away and true refined sharpness emerge. A method exists for closing those cracks and uniting the different peoples. In fact, it is very simple.”

Zheng Fan smiled.

He looked at the Blind Man with faint amusement.

The Blind Man pretended he was too blind to notice.

Then answered his own question:

“Keep fighting... foreign wars.”

[End of Chapter 819]