A caravan of medicinal herb merchants arriving from Anyang City drew the attention of the Ning Army garrison at Jizhou. They were quickly escorted inside the city gates and temporarily held to one side of the entrance.

The young gentleman who led the caravan — seemingly seventeen or eighteen years of age, with refined speech and graceful bearing — did not appear the least bit surprised, nor did he raise any objection.

His escorts, however, looked visibly displeased. From their bearing alone, one could tell these were seasoned fighters. The faint edge of hostility in their eyes had been somewhat reined in — yet they stood here in Jizhou, the Ning Army’s very heartland, without the slightest hint of fear. Either they were completely ignorant of the Ning Army’s strength, or they were possessed of extraordinary confidence.

The duty officer made a thorough inspection of the convoy and found nothing irregular.

Releasing them without cause seemed unreasonable.

Yet releasing them outright didn’t sit right either.

After all, this convoy had come from Anyang City, and had to be handled with care.

About an hour later, the Ning Army’s inspection of the convoy was largely complete. The only issue that remained was the weapons carried by the escorts.

They had a document issued by the Anyang Prefecture authorizing the carrying of arms for travel within Anyang’s jurisdiction. Under Anyang’s law, this was entirely legal.

But Anyang’s documents carried no authority in Jizhou.

More to the point, had these men been carrying only swords and sabers, the Ning Army would not have pressed the matter — merchants had to protect their convoys, and you couldn’t rely on walking sticks.

But this group’s armaments were more complete than those of Dachu’s finest auxiliary troops.

Bows, repeating crossbows, cavalry shields, spears, lassoes, grappling claws — all of it, and in full supply.

Under Jizhou’s regulations, merchant escort weapons must not include bows or repeating crossbows.

Just then, a column of cavalry emerged from within the city, escorting a carriage that drew up alongside. From it stepped Master Yan, who had been on his way to the government office. He had encountered a soldier en route carrying news of the situation and turned back at once to handle it himself.

“Has everything been verified?”

Master Yan asked.

The duty officer reported the facts. Master Yan nodded.

He looked toward the young gentleman, offered an apologetic smile, and said: “Anyang has Anyang’s rules. Jizhou has Jizhou’s rules. I hope you’ll forgive the inconvenience.”

The young gentleman’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly as he took in Master Yan’s official robes.

Even this calm, collected young man showed a faint ripple of emotion — for he could see at a glance that the cut of those robes matched those of a Military Commissioner. Certain court-specific insignia had been removed, but the rank was unmistakable.

Was it that Jizhou’s appointment of officials was disordered and arbitrary? Or was this man genuinely someone of considerable standing?

That a matter as minor as this — a convoy being held at a city gate — would bring a Military Commissioner himself to the scene in person: the way things were run here in Jizhou surprised him.

“Commissioner, please think nothing of it. Whatever violations may have occurred, you may handle them according to Jizhou’s laws.”

The young gentleman inclined his head slightly, then, with genuine curiosity, asked: “If I may ask, who is the Commissioner?”

The duty officer answered on Master Yan’s behalf: “This is Commissioner Yan, the Military Commissioner of Jizhou.”

The young gentleman’s gaze wavered for a moment, and he bowed again. “My respects, Commissioner Yan.”

“I merely happened to be passing.”

Commissioner Yan said: “Under Jizhou’s regulations, your repeating crossbows and bows will be held temporarily. Your other weapons you may keep. When you leave the city, come to the city gate post to retrieve your items. A detailed inventory will be drawn up, and you’ll sign and seal it. The garrison will stamp it with their seal. When you collect your belongings, both parties will cross-check the list. If anything is missing in count, you may bring the matter to Jizhou’s government office and find me.”

He finished, then said: “Once the handover is complete, you are free to enter the city. I still have official business to attend to.”

He turned to go.

The young gentleman seemed unable to hold back any longer, and called out.

“Commissioner Yan, one moment — there is a matter I cannot understand, and I would like to ask the Commissioner to enlighten me.”

Commissioner Yan turned back. “What is it?”

“The Commissioner is the Military Commissioner of Jizhou, the foremost official of Jizhou. For a matter this minor, why trouble yourself to come personally?”

Commissioner Yan smiled. “As I said just now — I was merely passing by. I happened upon the soldier on his way to the office to report the matter, so I came to handle it along the way.”

“Even so, Commissioner, you could easily have directed your subordinates to make arrangements, and had the proper officer in charge come to look into it. Officials each have their responsibilities, and their own domains. Yet the Commissioner himself came in person — I truly cannot help but feel…”

“You have just arrived in Jizhou,” Commissioner Yan said. “I imagine you know relatively little about how things work here.”

He turned back, faced the young gentleman, and explained in earnest: “Let alone me — if Prince Ning himself had happened upon this matter, he would have handled it on the spot as well.”

“That officials each have their duties is quite right. Having each person manage their own domain makes for orderly work, follows proper procedure, divides matters by category, and does more with less.”

“But in today’s matter — if I encountered it myself and simply passed it along, gave directions, and let it filter through step by step, that would be a waste of time.”

“Because your convoy has come from Anyang, the lower officials would very likely not dare make a decision on their own, and in the end they would still come to me for instructions. You would be waiting at this city gate for no less than a full day.”

Commissioner Yan continued: “You are people conducting lawful business. That you should be delayed a full day simply because you’ve come from Anyang — that is not how Jizhou treats its guests.”

He said with a quiet note of pride: “Prince Ning has said: an official who serves the people without efficiency is an official who is unfit for the position. You’ll come to understand this the more you travel to Jizhou — the government offices here do not delay and do not pass matters off.”

“What I just described — if I had not handled it myself, this trifling matter of yours, as you called it, would have gone up through the ranks until it reached me, and you would have waited a full day. A day is the outer limit Prince Ning sets: any unresolved matter within Jizhou must be reported to me within a day’s time, and I will deal with it. Anywhere else…” He paused. “A day would still be more than they could manage.”

He smiled and asked: “Have I explained it clearly?”

The young gentleman bowed a third time.

The first had been a slight nod of the head — a courtesy. The second, a modest incline of the upper body — showing respect. This third time, he pressed deeply forward, his upper body nearly parallel with the ground.

“I have learned much from the Commissioner. Many thanks.”

Commissioner Yan gave a small nod and left.

Shortly after Commissioner Yan departed, the Ning Army temporarily confiscated their repeating crossbows and bows, and returned all other weapons to them.

The convoy moved away from the city gate and proceeded further into the city.

The escort captain Zhanli smiled. “The officials in Jizhou certainly know how to put on a good face.”

The young gentleman in the carriage gave a slight frown.

“Zhanli,” he said. “I have told you before — you are too flippant. Your thoughts lack depth and you are not inclined toward careful reflection, and yet you always feel compelled to speak up as if to show you understand the situation. That is not where your strengths lie.”

“Commissioner Yan is the Military Commissioner of Jizhou. This entire matter was beneath his notice — that is the first point. The second: would a Military Commissioner of his standing have any obligation to explain himself so thoroughly and clearly to a group of travelling merchants like us?”

He asked Zhanli: “If you say he was merely going through the motions of putting on a good face, then tell me — in all your dealings with Dachu’s officials, have you ever once encountered anyone like this?”

Zhanli immediately bowed his head. “I was wrong, I will not…”

“Don’t say ‘I won’t do it again,'” the young gentleman said, shaking his head.

Zhanli’s face flushed with shame.

The young gentleman slowly let out a breath.

“They say that under Jizhou’s governance, the atmosphere is clean and upright — officials understand the Dao of officiating, the people understand the Dao of living, military officials do not meddle in civil affairs, civil officials do not interfere in military matters…”

He gazed out the window, speaking almost to himself: “Before I came, I didn’t believe it. Now, having met Commissioner Yan, I believe seven or eight parts of it.”

“I had assumed the rumors were somewhat exaggerated. Looking again now, the rumors may not have said nearly enough.”

He paused, then gave an order: “Once we’re settled at the inn, no one is to cause trouble. Keep everyone under strict restraint.”

Zhanli immediately replied: “Understood.”

The young gentleman glanced at the page boy sitting across from him. Seeing the boy’s expression dim, he knew at once what the small figure was thinking.

“You’re probably thinking: we finally made it to Jizhou, and now we’re told not to go out and look around. How dull.”

Moke nodded. “How dreadfully dull…”

“Rest well at the inn today,” the young gentleman said. “One day of rest, and tomorrow I’ll take you out to explore.”

“Hmm…” said Moke.

The young gentleman sighed. “You’re supposed to be a page boy, yet every day I end up having to console you.”

“Hmm…”

While they had been waiting at the city gate, others had been waiting for them. While they were still on the road, an advance man had already found an inn for them in Jizhou City.

After being shown to the inn, everything was prepared and in order.

The young gentleman had just stepped down from the carriage and was about to enter when someone came up from behind.

On inquiry, he learned that the person following them had been sent by Commissioner Yan himself.

The Commissioner had said: because he had delayed their entry into the city, he wished to make amends, and so had sent someone to see where they were staying — and to present them with some local Jizhou specialties.

Even with his habitually unruffled disposition, the young gentleman found himself shaken.

Such governance, such conduct — how could Jizhou fail to flourish?

Conducting oneself this way — what merchant who passed through here would not speak well of the place?

Some places, a travelling merchant visits once and never returns in this lifetime.

But a place like Jizhou — treating merchants with such consideration — any who came once would surely come again.

“In just two or three short years, Jizhou has been restored to such strength — and already far surpasses what it was in the days when Military Commissioner Zeng Ling governed here.”

The young gentleman murmured to himself, then let out a long breath.

“Remarkable.”

He stepped into the inn.

In his room, he walked to the window and watched the streams of carriages and people flowing through the streets below.

Ten years ago, he had visited Jizhou. The Military Commissioner then was Zeng Ling, and the one who held power was Prince Yu, Yang Jixing.

He had been only seven or eight at the time, but Jizhou’s landscape and customs had stayed with him.

Returning after ten years, the streetscape had a faint, familiar quality — yet the atmosphere of the place was entirely different.

Could a place change this quickly?

Just the year before, he had spoken with someone about the question of governing the people. The person he had spoken with was of very high standing indeed, and had a single sentence to say about governance:

The people may be kept ignorant — never let them be enlightened.

But in Li Chi’s Jizhou, what he saw everywhere seemed to say the opposite — Li Chi appeared deliberately to be opening the minds of the common people.

Just then, across the street, a group of children came streaming out of a building with their satchels, laughing and calling to one another, lively as a flock of mountain lambs.

But as they reached the street, they lined up and bowed together toward the teacher who had seen them to the door.

The children wore matching clothes. Yet this was clearly not a government school.

“This kind of private school — you wouldn’t see it anywhere else.”

He murmured to himself.

Just then, one of the inn’s attendants came in with tea and refreshments, and he asked in passing about the teacher at the school across the way.

The attendant smiled and said: that’s no private school. That is one of the thirty-six people’s learning halls established in Jizhou City by Prince Ning — any child of proper age may come to study there, free of charge. Every expense is covered by the Jizhou government office.

Hearing this, the young gentleman felt another wave of astonishment move through him.

After the attendant left, he looked toward Moke and said: “Is this… the work of a bandit lord?”

Moke had no answer to give.

—