Chinese New Year

Chapter 1394 Two
By the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Prince Shao Zhang of Qi had been in mourning at home for more than a month.

Upon hearing the news, he immediately returned to Bian to attend the funeral, without even having time to bring his wife and children—as for his official post and the position of Prefect of Donglai, they were naturally disregarded.

However, his father soon gave him a new assignment: Liaohai Transport Commissioner and Governor of Youzhou.

The original governor was his maternal uncle, Le Kai, who was transferred to be the governor of Yanzhou.

Xu Shi, the former governor of Yanzhou, resigned from his post due to old age and illness and returned to Gaoyang to live out his retirement.

He was somewhat puzzled as to why his father had made this arrangement.

In fact, he was quite content with his job in Donglai. His main tasks were managing the newly built shipyard, supervising the construction of ships, and transporting supplies and manpower to Liaodong, which was just across the sea.

Donglai was still relatively desolate, with many birds and beasts. He would go out hunting from time to time, with his wives, concubines, and children watching and praising him. It was simply a life of paradise.

His grandfather's death was a devastating blow to him. Although he was somewhat prepared, he was still overcome with grief when he thought of the past.

As the eldest son in the family, his father often went to war in his early years, and besides his mother, only his grandparents and aunt accompanied him.

He met his aunt a few days ago. She was over forty years old and even had gray hair, which shocked him and made him feel very disgusted with Yuan Neng.

That bastard must have given his aunt a hard time.

However, he can only stay at home now and can't go anywhere. Even his appointment in Jicheng will have to wait until after the New Year.

On this day, Wang Shizuo Mao and Shao Zhang were playing chess in the backyard.

After losing two rounds in a row, Shao Zhang lost and wanted to quit. He asked, "Lord Zuo, haven't you wanted to leave the government office and take up an official post all these years? I, as the royal army commander, am only a fifth-rank official, and I don't earn much money in a year."

Zuo Mao shook his head and said, "Helping Your Highness with trade will earn you a lot of money."

Shao Zhang was taken aback, then said helplessly, "You are full of poetry and books, don't you think it's a waste of your talents to engage in commerce? It won't do you any good for your reputation either."

"Why care about what others think?" Zuo Mao said, "My family is not of high social standing, so we don't have that kind of custom."

"Okay." Shao Zhang nodded and said, "Just don't regret it."

"No regrets, there might even be a surprise." Seeing that Shao Zhang had stopped playing, Zuo Mao picked up the chess pieces one by one and put them into the box.

"What is a surprise?" Shao Zhang asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Have you never thought about feudal matters?" Zuo Mao asked.

Upon hearing this, Shao Zhang smiled wryly and said, "My father has more than twenty sons. Are they all feudal?"

“No, just the three of you. In fact, the King of Chu and the King of Han are most likely not capable of being feudal,” Zuo Mao said confidently.

Shao Zhang's expression turned serious, and he said, "Even after all I've done, you still won't let me go?"

“Perhaps nothing is wrong, but who can fathom the Emperor’s thoughts?” Zuo Mao said. “Even now, His Majesty is preoccupied with maritime affairs, and now he’s getting involved in military matters. Don’t you find that strange?”

“This…” Shao Zhang was stunned.

After a long pause, he tentatively asked, "Have you heard any rumors, sir?"

"No," Zuo Mao shook his head and said, "It's just a guess, but my guesses are always very accurate. The only thing I can't figure out is when."

"So be it, so be it, it's all fate." Shao Zhang collapsed onto the couch, remaining silent for a long time.

After putting away all the chess pieces, Zuo Mao said, "Why must Your Majesty do this? Isn't it better for a dragon to enter the sea?"

After a long pause, Shao Zhang said, "After listening to your words, I have a better understanding. I recently heard that the King of Baekje has erected an archery platform outside the palace and is selecting the nation's elite soldiers to train. They've gained momentum, and their ambitions are hard to suppress..."

“Actually, the Crown Prince is right,” Shao Zhang said dejectedly. “There are some remote border areas that we can’t defend. It’s not that we can’t fight them, but that we are too far away to reach them.”

Zuo Mao disagreed, saying, "That's because the imperial court couldn't reach us from afar, but that's not necessarily true in feudal times. During the Former Jin Dynasty, there were silver and copper mines. The imperial court sent people to mine and smelt them, but in the end, they lost money. Emperor Wu of Jin reprimanded them, and they replied that they had already been mining them during the Han Dynasty and had exhausted them, hence the huge loss. However, after transferring them to wealthy households and powerful people, they made a fortune, with silver and copper flowing in endlessly. Your Majesty, this is the imperial court's predicament. If you put in ten parts of effort, you can use eight parts in Henan, only six parts in Hebei, three or four parts in Changli, and only one part in Lelang and Daifang. The farther away from Luoyang and Bianjing, the less prestige the imperial court has, the less obedient the powerful, and the more opportunities officials have to manipulate things. This is one of the reasons why the imperial court enfeoffed the Prince of Yan in Liaodong."

“Your silver pit incident is quite interesting,” Shao Zhang sighed. “When I was supervising the shipyard in Donglai, I saw similar situations quite often. There were those who cheated and shirked their duties, and there were those who engaged in corruption and bribery. I don’t know how many people have been punished.”

"There are always more or less of these kinds of people at any time," Zuo Mao said calmly. "They are still relatively few now. You'll see after a few decades of peace in the world. To curb this kind of thing, we have to rely on strict governance, and it must be done locally, otherwise it will be useless. The Emperor sees this very clearly. With Goguryeo and Baekje around, the chances of losing Lelang and Daifang are too high. Even if they don't lose them now, it's hard to say what will happen in a few decades."

"After all you've said, I still don't want to go," Shao Zhang said.

Zuo Mao chuckled, stood up, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty is staying home and guarding the palace; I shall go out for a stroll."

Shao Zhang entered the house in a huff.

******
Seeing the heavy snow falling in the wind, Yuanzhen felt a sense of disorientation; another year was about to pass.

When he saw the group of officials bowing before him again, his sense of disorientation intensified.

He actually has so many subordinates!
"Your Highness." The Imperial Secretary Guo Rong cleared his throat and introduced the newcomers one by one in the corridor.

They were mostly county-level officials under the jurisdiction of Liangcheng Kingdom; some were dressed in Liang people's clothing, while others were burly men with shaved heads.

Behind Yuan Zhen stood more than ten teenagers, all of whom were prominent families from the four counties of Liangcheng. They were almost all dressed in Liang attire, and their demeanor was quite different.

After the introductions, the Liang officials and clerks were still unperturbed, but the burly man with the shaved head prostrated himself on the ground, his head thumping loudly. Yuan Zhen quickly helped them up and led them into the study.

The house is old, but the owner is new.

In May of this year, Yuan Zhen received his birthday gift: the Liangcheng County Duke's Mansion located in Zunxianfang, which is separated from the Yan Prince's Mansion in Jixianfang by only Jianguomen Inner Street.

He didn't really like the new residence because it made it inconvenient to visit his parents. But he was thirteen years old, and to avoid criticism from the court officials (for being arrogant), it was no longer appropriate for him to continue living in the palace, so he had to move out.

Today's group is led by Guo Rong, the Inner Secretary, and includes two other key officials: Xu Chengzhi, the Grand Minister of Agriculture, and Wei Hong, the Commandant of the Central Army.

Xu Chengzhi is likely to be promoted to Inner Historian after the New Year, because Guo Rong is getting old and has submitted three memorials in the past two years requesting to return home.

The elderly couldn't bear the bitter cold of Liangcheng, feeling that if they continued working there, they would die.

The emperor finally agreed, but the choice of the Inner Administrator had not yet been made. In any case, today was Guo Rong's last time reporting for duty as the Inner Administrator of Liangcheng.

"Your Highness, let's start with agriculture," Guo Rong said. "This year, Liangcheng suffered a severe drought, and wild grasses burned themselves..."

Yuan Zhen's eyelids twitched upon hearing this. What kind of fiefdom is this?

He was young when he left the grasslands, and many things have faded from his memory. He traveled north with his father a few times, but his impressions were not very deep. To put it bluntly, he was a grassland native who grew up in Han territory, and he only had a superficial understanding of the north, limited to how much territory it had, how many households it had, and how many soldiers it had. As for what the people on their fiefdoms were like and how they lived, he knew very little.

"Lord Guo, has the imperial court provided any relief?" he asked hurriedly.

Guo Rong was not angry at being interrupted. He just looked at the people who had come with him and said, "You can each explain to His Highness."

“There is relief.”

"Not enough, just enough to make ends meet."

"Fortunately, we received some rewards from the expedition, which we exchanged for grain at Yanmen Pass."

"Some grain was distributed in early autumn, and some captured livestock were given out later in the fall."

Everyone spoke in turn.

Yuan Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and asked again, "Is the drought really that serious?"

"There's too little rain," someone sighed. "In midsummer, I saw lightning and thunder in the sky and thought it was going to rain heavily, but only a few drops fell, not even enough to wet the dust and grass roots."

"We prayed for rain every day, until the willows withered and we had to cut them down to make a tent."

"It's not raining, and it's still hot, but none of the blood-sucking insects have died from the heat."

“The river has dried up, the vegetable plots and farmland have no irrigation, the cattle and horses are dying of thirst, and people can’t stand it either.”

Yuan Zhen felt a chill run down his spine after hearing this.

The grasslands may seem idyllic at times, but a single disaster can severely damage their vitality. In the past, people could move freely to less arid areas, following the water and grass, just to survive. Now, with boundaries established, they can no longer roam freely.

Fortunately, the imperial court provided relief; otherwise, things would have been truly difficult.

After everyone finished speaking, Guo Rongchao nodded to them.

Legend has it that this was divine punishment sent down by Tengri because they betrayed the Tuoba family.

There were actually quite a few believers, but they were all intimidated by the emperor's prestige and remained silent. Only a few tribes actually rebelled, and now they have either been wiped out or fled to distant lands.

The imperial court provided timely disaster relief, turning a passive situation into an active one. Then, it launched a campaign against the rebellious tribes and divided their livestock and the elderly and weak among them. This was actually a brilliant move.

Seeing that Yuan Zhen was still in a daze, Guo Rong coughed again and said, "Your Highness, I am here today on the orders of the Emperor. Your Highness will be fourteen years old next year. You are not young on the grasslands anymore, and it is time for you to take on responsibilities."

In an instant, Yuan Zhen connected many things together.

A few months ago, my father said that he had learned almost everything he needed to learn, and now he would have to rely on "self-study" and start taking over government affairs, understanding how to manage his fiefdom and his people.

After his grandfather passed away, his father took him to sit in the sunset, stroked his head, and said that our family's eagle was going to soar over the grasslands and would help his sixth brother guard the frontier in the future.

He also mentioned that his third brother was about to take up the post of governor of Shuozhou. If the region was unstable, he would lead troops westward to help his third brother suppress the rebels.

He was overjoyed to hear this, feeling that he had finally grown up and could help his older brothers. He never imagined he might have to leave his parents and go far away.
Yuan Zhen suddenly felt an urge to cry, but he held back.

"Your Highness, the country has one upper army, with 2,000 men and 1,600 horses; one lower army, with 1,000 men and 1,000 horses; and sixteen forts and garrisons..." Guo Rong's aged voice echoed in the room.

Yuan Zhen called on his companions, led by Qu Tuhe, to listen attentively, occasionally asking a few questions in return.

Guo Rong was very pleased.

Although the Duke of Liangcheng is only thirteen years old, he is about the same height as an average fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy. After returning to the grasslands and growing a few more years, he will surely win over many people. Furthermore, there are many Wuhuan people in the country, and they are quite appreciative of the Duke of Liangcheng's lineage.

The area on both sides of Yinshan Mountain will be peaceful for at least several decades.

(End of this chapter)