Chapter 915: The Emperor Leaves the Capital

The second day before New Year’s Eve was commonly called Little New Year’s Eve.

Following old custom, the people of Fengxin City began setting out small household feasts to entertain visiting relatives and friends. At the same time, incense was lit outside the home as an offering to Heaven.

The rites of All Xia had been passed down to the present day. Yan, Jin, Qian, and Chu differed in clothing and hairstyles, but the basic sequence of their festivals still shared the same roots.

As for the Barbarians and Savages living in Fengxin City, people who had originally never observed these festivals at all, they had long since been swept into the same rhythm.

Ordinary people could put down a year’s worth of labor and enjoy this rare stretch of peaceful days.

Some people, however, could not stop.

On the second floor of Moon-Gazing Tower in Fengxin City, the leaders of a merchant caravan from the old Yan lands had gathered in a private room for a banquet.

There was no possibility they could make it home for the New Year.

They still had to wait here for a batch of goods that would only be released after the year turned.

Eastern Jin’s commerce flourished for two reasons.

First, it occupied a strategic crossroads and controlled the flow of goods among three directions.

Second, eastern Jin’s own workshop districts were the source of some of the most sought-after products in the world.

Supply was tight.

Merchants had to bid.

They had to queue.

And productivity inevitably slowed toward the end of the year.

Caravans waiting for goods were therefore nothing unusual.

The caravan manager seated at the head of the table lifted his wine cup. First he reminisced with his section leaders about the hardships of the past year, then painted a picture of the profits waiting in the next.

The procedure was still the same old procedure.

A speech and a round of wine later, the atmosphere had become lively.

After several rounds of drink and the meal had progressed well, the manager called for singing girls to perform.

Nearly half the section leaders at the table then found excuses to “use the privy” and slipped away one by one.

Everyone knew where they were actually going.

Such trades could not be eradicated even in later generations, much less in this age.

In Fengxin City, however, the red-curtained establishments were themselves publicly run.

Rumor had it that the true proprietor behind them was one of the female gentlemen of Prince Pingxi Residence.

As for that woman’s actual relationship with the Princess Consort, rumors did not spread widely.

Ordinary people found it difficult to imagine that one of their own Prince’s consorts might personally manage this sort of business.

Too few believed it.

Naturally, the story never traveled far.

Because of that, Fengxin City’s red-curtained trade rarely saw women forced into prostitution.

Customers also had to obey the rules.

A transaction was a transaction.

Nobody was allowed to use force.

Nobody was allowed to go too far.

Host and guest alike had to remain courteous.

Paradoxically, that atmosphere gave Fengxin’s pleasure trade a culture distinct from other places.

Little by little, its reputation even began eclipsing the famous “slender horses” and courtesans of Qian.

In truth, very few local Fengxin women entered the red-curtained establishments anymore.

The first reason was that Prince Pingxi had built eastern Jin upon an army.

The army came first.

Then military settlements.

Only afterward did cities, populations, trades, and industries grow around them.

So soldiers made up an unusually large share of the population.

Unlike Qian, where condemned soldiers had once occupied the bottom of society, marrying a proper soldier here meant entering the Standard Household register.

The benefits were simply too attractive.

On the marriage market, soldiers were absolute treasures.

A good soldier was hard to find.

The second reason was that the workshops hired women.

For example, before giving birth, the Sword Saint’s wife had worked in a workshop.

That had solved at least part of the employment problem for local women.

Incoming refugees continued to fill the remaining gap.

From time to time, traveling red-curtained troupes from elsewhere would enter Fengxin City in groups and provide fresh blood for the trade.

So the industry had continued without much difficulty.

While the others either watched the singing and dancing or slipped away to seek their own amusements, one young man sat in the corner of the room with a wine cup in hand, leaning silently against the window and watching the crowds below.

The caravan manager walked over and asked with a smile:

“Why aren’t you going to have some fun with the rest of them?”

The young man smiled.

“I have a virtuous wife at home.”

The manager replied:

“As though none of them do.”

The young man nodded, too lazy to explain.

The manager treated this young subordinate with great courtesy.

His surname was Wu.

His name was Wu Zhaonian.

He was a distant nephew of the caravan’s owner and had only recently come to join him.

From the look of things, the owner intended to cultivate him carefully.

“Manager Li travels back and forth to eastern Jin all the time,” Wu Zhaonian said. “What do you think of this place?”

Manager Li smiled.

“Ever since Prince Pingxi was first enfeoffed at Snow Sea Pass, I’ve come roughly once every half year. Snow Sea Pass, Fengxin City—every single visit, the place seems completely different. The first time I traveled this road, apart from Snow Sea Pass, eastern Jin truly was empty land with nine houses out of ten deserted. Look at it now. The smell of human life is already this thick. To outsiders, our Great Yan’s Prince Pingxi is the God of War of this age. But in my eyes, the way His Highness governs a region is the truly miraculous thing.”

Wu Zhaonian nodded slightly.

“That is why Prince Pingxi Residence, with only this corner of eastern Jin, can now stand alone against the State of Chu.”

At that moment... a wedding procession came down the street below, drums and horns sounding in celebration.

Strangely, the procession contained two sedan chairs.

One was a bridal sedan.

The other had plain blue curtains.

Taking both a wife and concubines was normal in this age.

A household with spare wealth taking a secondary woman was nothing unusual.

But there could only be one principal wife.

Even Prince Pingxi Residence’s two Princess Consorts were an exceptional honor personally granted by the Emperor, recognizing both as equal wives.

Ordinary households—even the gates of the rich and powerful—did not dare play that sort of game.

Most interesting of all, the procession stopped directly outside Moon-Gazing Tower.

No matter how elegant the name sounded, this was still a place of flowers and willows.

The groom was very young.

He wore armor, with a red flower pinned to his chest.

Soldiers enjoyed high status in eastern Jin.

And on the day Prince Pingxi had formally invested his two Princess Consorts, he himself had appeared on the ceremonial platform in black armor.

Because of that, among common families here, grooms with military backgrounds had also begun favoring armor for their weddings.

Manager Li laughed.

“Is he marrying a courtesan?”

Wu Zhaonian shook his head.

“There’s already a bride in the wedding sedan.”

The young groom dismounted and walked to the bridal sedan.

He personally helped out the bride, whose face was covered by a red veil.

“You. Go down and find out what’s happening,” Manager Li ordered one of his men.

“Yes.”

Once the man left, Manager Li guessed aloud to Wu Zhaonian:

“Surely he isn’t marrying his principal wife and picking up a courtesan as a concubine on the same trip?”

Wu Zhaonian said nothing.

The entrance of Moon-Gazing Tower was already packed with onlookers.

Before long, a young woman from the establishment came outside and delivered a reply to the groom.

The groom’s expression became grave.

He said something very solemnly.

Then, holding his bride’s hand, the newlywed couple knelt together before the entrance of Moon-Gazing Tower on their wedding day.

Manager Li clicked his tongue.

He looked back.

At last, the man he had sent downstairs returned.

“Did you find out?”

“I did, Manager.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s like this. The groom was only recently accepted into Prince Pingxi Residence’s Brocade-Clad personal guard.”

“Oh? That’s a fine future,” Manager Li said.

Anyone familiar with eastern Jin knew exactly what it meant to enter Prince Pingxi’s Brocade-Clad personal guard.

When the Prince traveled, they protected him.

When the Prince went to war, they guarded the commander’s tent.

Whether a man remained a personal guard and accumulated years of personal affection with the Prince, or later received a chance to be sent out and promoted... either way, the future was extraordinarily bright.

“And the woman he’s marrying today is the daughter of an Assistant General.”

“Then why come here?”

“The groom was an orphan. Back when Prince Pingxi was still in Shengle City, His Highness opened a charitable school and took in orphans. Soldiers who died in battle, or even ordinary people, could donate money to the school and choose one of the orphaned children to take their surname and maintain their ancestral tablet.”

At the beginning, the arrangement had been created because some soldiers who died in battle left no relatives capable of receiving their death compensation.

So the school simply selected an orphan to inherit the dead man’s surname.

The compensation could then serve as that child’s living expenses.

Fundamentally, Prince Pingxi Residence did not spend any extra money because of this.

The death compensation had to be paid anyway.

And the orphans themselves were children the Blind Man had decided long ago should be taken in and raised as a future foundation.

So the entire matter was little more than a formal mechanism.

But because of it, plenty of outsiders had begun donating as well.

“There’s an older madam here at Moon-Gazing Tower,” the man continued. “She entered the red-curtained trade back in the days of Shengle City. At the time, she donated a sum of silver and sponsored one of the school’s orphans. That orphan is today’s groom. He finished school last year and spent a year training in the army. Not long ago, he was selected into the Residence’s Brocade-Clad personal guard. Then an Assistant General took a liking to him and chose him as his son-in-law. Today is his wedding. But the groom insisted that today he would also bring his A’Mu home.”

“Bring his A’Mu home today?” Manager Li looked confused.

“Yes. An A’Mu with no blood relationship. The groom had actually gone to her several times before and asked her to leave this place and live with him. But the older woman always believed her background would stain his future, so she refused every time. Today, though, on his wedding day, the groom came here with his bride to bring her home. Earlier, the older woman sent someone out with a gift of wedding silver, but once again refused to leave with him. The groom is stubborn. So he and his new wife knelt outside the door. He also said half his life was given to him by the Prince. If the Prince ever needed it, he would gladly throw that half away for His Highness. The other half of his life was given to him by his A’Mu. Now that he is grown and married, how could his household lack an A’Mu sitting there to receive the new daughter-in-law’s tea? He said that if she refused to come out... then he would not finish this wedding today.”

Manager Li sighed after hearing the story.

He said with some emotion:

“That groom is a loyal and righteous man.”

Then he looked toward Wu Zhaonian.

Wu Zhaonian lightly tapped the window frame.

At that moment... perhaps because the groom’s persistence had finally become a threat she could no longer refuse... an older woman emerged from Moon-Gazing Tower.

The groom and bride stood and escorted her to the second sedan chair.

Then the groom mounted his horse again.

Full of spirit, he shouted to the surrounding crowd:

“From today onward, I, Zhou Chang’an, have both a mother and a wife!”

“Good!”

“Well done!”

The Fengxin City commoners gathered around them burst into praise.

Nobody mocked him.

Nobody jeered.

Wu Zhaonian remembered something from years ago.

There had once been a high official of Qian who fled persecution by enemies and ended up stranded on an island.

The man became Wu Zhaonian’s teacher for three years before dying of illness.

One sentence the teacher had spoken remained vivid in his memory even now.

He had said that a land where people returned lost property, customs were simple, rulers and ruled trusted one another, and loyalty, filial piety, rites, and righteousness were honored... could only be raised from living water.

And Great Qian... already resembled a stagnant pond.

Looking now at Fengxin City’s customs... and then at the present momentum of Yan and eastern Jin...

Wu Zhaonian finally understood what that teacher had meant.

On his way north, Wu Zhaonian had encountered his younger brother Wu Xiang.

That unlucky younger brother of his had once been captured by Prince Pingxi in Qian and later released.

In Wu Xiang’s description, Prince Pingxi was a true warlord and formidable schemer.

Hearing was unreliable.

Seeing was believing.

Everything Wu Zhaonian had witnessed since entering eastern Jin... how could any of this be the work of a mere warlord?

Search through the histories.

How many founding rulers, while still building their great enterprise, had ever possessed foundations this solid and steady?

What a pity.

The lands of Yan and Jin were too far away.

The Wu Clan lived upon the sea.

At this stage, the question was no longer whether the Wu Clan wished to place a bet here.

It was whether the other side would even bother to look at them.

Lost in thought, Wu Zhaonian only then noticed Manager Li was still looking at him.

He smiled.

“A fine man indeed.”

...

“A good child.”

The Prince was practicing archery while listening to Xiao Yibo report the fresh happenings around Fengxin City that day.

An arrow flew.

Bullseye.

The Prince asked:

“Who is the father-in-law?”

“Assistant General Xu.”

“Oh. I vaguely remember him.”

The Prince nocked another arrow.

“How did he react?”

He had probably thought he had chosen an incomparably promising son-in-law—an orphan without parents, so his daughter would not have to suffer under in-laws or be tormented by household rules.

Who could have guessed that halfway through the wedding, another in-law would suddenly appear... and with that sort of background.

“He was furious.”

“Hahaha.”

The Prince laughed.

This arrow drifted slightly, but still struck within the red center.

“And then?”

“Assistant General Xu originally wanted to bring men over and demand an explanation, but Chief Commander Jin stopped him.”

“Jin Shuke was there too?”

“He was attending the wedding banquet.”

“Oh.”

The Prince understood.

If Jin Shuke was present, there was no possibility that Assistant General could stir up much trouble.

Zheng Fan loosed another arrow.

Then he lowered the heavy bow and rolled his neck.

He ordered:

“Send a wedding gift in the name of the Residence.”

“This subordinate obeys.”

“Also, have Liqing send a piece of head jewelry to the groom’s A’Mu.”

“This subordinate understands.”

“Finally, have Xianba carry my princely order to Assistant General Xu’s residence. Whip him ten times for me. Blind bastard. No matter how unhappy he is inside, he should know enough to swallow it. His own daughter understands things better than he does.”

There were many meanings buried in those orders.

Whipping the father-in-law while rewarding the son-in-law deliberately enlarged the incident.

That was useful for shaping social custom.

More importantly... the army of fostered orphans was one of the future foundations of Prince Pingxi Residence.

Zheng Fan was not merely their Prince.

He was also their schoolmaster.

He had to protect them.

When they were children, he protected their food and clothing.

Once they grew up, he protected their dignity.

Only then... would they willingly sell their lives for him.

Of course, the Prince’s thinking was not quite so cold and calculating.

Assistant General Xu was unhappy inside.

But after the Prince whipped him ten times as a public gesture, the man would actually gain face.

His colleagues would not mock him.

They would envy him for having gained a son-in-law with excellent character whom the Prince himself valued.

Ten lashes were nothing.

These were rough military men.

If the Prince kicked one of them, that counted as affection.

Xiao Yibo left to handle the arrangements.

At that moment... the Blind Man approached carrying a letter.

“Master, the Haidong Wu Clan has sent someone. He slipped in with a merchant caravan and has already reached Fengxin City.”

“Oh. You go see him.”

At present, Zheng Fan truly had little interest in meeting the Haidong Wu Clan.

The Wu Clan were imperial merchants of Qian and possessed enormous power at sea, but they also existed largely outside the main struggle of All Xia.

To put it unpleasantly, the Wu Clan was not even as useful right now as some great native chieftain in southwestern Qian.

By the time the Wu Clan truly became useful, Great Yan’s armies would first need to completely smash northern Qian and reduce the state into Southern Qian.

Only then could the Wu Clan play a meaningful role.

And even at that point, their main use would probably be striking from the edges and cutting off financial channels feeding the Southern Qian court.

“Understood.”

The Blind Man lifted the letter in his hand.

“Master, there are two more matters. Both concern Yanjing.”

“Speak.”

“News came from Yanjing that the era name will change next year.”

“Again?”

“Last year still saw war. Changing the era name again can at least be taken as seeking a good omen.”

“What will it be?”

“Ying’an.”

“That really is an era name so plain anyone can understand.”

The Prince laughed.

One glance at the name told you what the Emperor intended: restore livelihoods on a large scale.

Accumulate national strength.

Fill the treasuries at every level.

The Blind Man smiled beside him.

“And the other matter?”

“In truth there are two connected matters. We received the Emperor’s secret decree first. The public news should spread in a little while.”

“Let me see.”

Zheng Fan took the letter and glanced through it.

He skipped directly past all Ji Old Sixth’s nonsense at the beginning.

The important content lay in the final three paragraphs.

The first said:

Zheng, my Empress misses her son. I miss my son too. Is my son doing well in eastern Jin?

“Beast.”

The second said:

Zheng, living inside the imperial palace is boring as hell. In the old days, Father could still demote me and send me wandering around. Now every time I look at the golden bricks and jade tiles inside the palace, I feel sick.

The third said:

So I intend to come personally and bring my son home. While I’m picking him up, I can look around a little too.

Zheng Fan frowned.

“The Emperor intends to make an Eastern Inspection?”

“Yes.”

In truth, the Blind Man badly wanted to answer:

We could turn that Eastern Inspection into an eastern hunt.

After all, once the Emperor arrived, the Crown Prince was already here.

The father and son of the imperial household would both be neatly gathered in one place.

Since ancient times, what rebellious military governor had ever begun with such a god-tier opening hand?

But the Blind Man did not say it.

He knew Master would never agree.

Especially not while this Emperor was being so open and straightforward... and while All Xia had not yet been unified.

There was no need to bore himself by saying something Master would reject.

Fortunately... he still had Zheng Lin to look forward to.

And far more time in which to enjoy the process.

“He truly got tired of living in the palace and wants to come outside for a change?”

“This subordinate believes the Emperor is...”

“Is what?”

“He misses you.”

[End of Chapter 915]