“I’m setting out tomorrow. Please look after things at home.” Zhù Ying instructed Zhao Su.
Zhao Su bowed and said, “Yes. If the Gu family from beyond the mountains comes inquiring again, what sort of reply should I give them? Should I brush them off, or offer them some bait?”
“Wait and see what results A’Lian and the others bring back.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Zhù Ying said, “Send my regards to the Lu Guo family. He and Xi Jin are around the same age, and he has fallen ill.”
She spoke with delicacy, and Zhao Su understood her meaning clearly: “Should he happen to pass away, I will have Su Sheng lead troops over to maintain order.”
“Be courteous about it. Hopefully nothing will come of it.”
Zhao Su said, “At times like these, there are always minor disputes. We are well used to them and have experience handling them. You may set your mind at ease.”
“After I leave, you will have your hands full. Inform the people on the list to pack their belongings and prepare to begin the westward migration once the winter wheat is harvested — we cannot afford to miss the spring plowing in West Prefecture. It should be done in batches. Those households left without able-bodied men should be helped to complete the process. The houses they leave behind should be bought back at a fair assessed price. Everything must be handled equitably.”
“Yes. Livestock and means of transport will also be readied. Xiang Le is quite capable.”
“Good. Then that is settled.”
The New Year celebrations of the various tribes did not coincide with the lowland capital’s New Year, and the festive atmosphere in Zhù County was somewhat more pronounced — though it hardly stretched on for half a month. Zhù Ying’s departure from Zhù County did not stir much commentary. On this journey, Zhù Qingjun, Su Zhe, and others accompanied her, while she left Su Sheng and Jin Yu behind.
The accompanying troops were not numerous, and they moved at considerable speed. Three years of warfare had honed them all, and the party pressed quickly along roads that were far from ideal. They were expected to reach West Prefecture in fewer than ten days.
Su Zhe still had energy left to talk as they marched: “If the roads were even slightly better, we could move faster still.”
Zhù Qingjun said, “Nowhere in all of Annan can match the roads of Wuzhou. These past years, in order to transport military supplies, they have been leveled and improved — before that, they were far worse. Once the new city is completed, we can repair them gradually.”
Wu Ren said slowly, “And now we are about to relocate the people westward. Roads like these are going to be a problem.”
Su Zhe asked, “Did they not relocate some people the year before last? Was it very difficult?”
“Nothing on the road is easy,” Wu Ren said candidly. “Moving whole families with all their belongings. The people migrating east from the west had nothing to begin with, so it was relatively simple. But those migrating west from the east have accumulated some household goods. If the road deteriorates and it rains, it will be utterly miserable.”
Zhù Ying listened to their discussion without interjecting. What they spoke of was itself part of her plans — the repair of the post roads.
Annan’s military governorship had only recently been established. Most of the territory had previously been very “wild,” even more remote than Wuzhou, and there was an enormous amount to be done. But one could not be hasty. The people’s strength had been exhausted; they needed time to rest and recover. There could be no more large-scale conscriptions. Things would have to be handled one by one.
Zhù Ying turned over the calculations in her mind: tackle the two most labor-intensive undertakings first — the construction of the new city and the repair of the post roads within the territory’s borders.
Once those two were finished, she would move on to checkpoints and water conservancy.
Of course, all of this required proper planning, and she glanced again at Wu Ren, who remained completely unaware of her gaze, still talking with Su Zhe about how much labor road repairs would require and the like.
Along the way, they also stopped at whatever “county offices” they encountered. These offices were all newly established, and the further west one traveled, the newer the officials were; the household registers and account books grew thinner and more painstakingly assembled. Even capable and practiced hands like Jiang Wan found that their county offices could not match Zhù County, or even Asu County. The local office buildings were converted from the former chieftains’ great halls — the chieftains had been illiterate, so there had been no studies, and certainly no place to store documents. Literate people were so scarce, you couldn’t fill half a dustpan with them.
Zhù Ying stood in the room designated for storing archives and surveyed it: the grand total was one room and two bookshelves.
Jiang Wan was somewhat embarrassed: “Three villages still have not been fully registered. It is my failure as an official.”
Zhù Ying said, “You were doing perfectly well in Gan County, and then I transferred you far away to a place with no established base. Of course it would be difficult.”
Jiang Wan said, “I will not fail in my duty!”
Zhù Ying then asked how the local students were faring: “We must not let them think of us as enemies. We are so few in number, and if we are surrounded by enemies, it is not only dangerous — it can also drive a person to madness.”
Jiang Wan smiled hastily and said, “I have not dared to forget this matter.” As she spoke, she glanced at her husband. The one who was usually called “Jiang Wan’s husband,” who had been very quiet until now, finally spoke up about the school: “The people in the villages are all illiterate, so I thought — there is no need to be strict about the quota of twenty or forty students. They are all starting from nothing. Any who wish to come to class, I will teach. When the time comes to finalize the quota, we can hold a selection examination and choose the ones to receive more advanced instruction.”
Zhù Ying looked at this unusual person and found him admirable. “Very good,” she said. “I print books and erect stone tablets precisely because I want more people to stop being illiterates.”
The young, quiet man was visibly pleased. He pressed his lips together, and a faint dimple appeared at the corner of his cheek.
“There is a limit to what one person can accomplish alone, and nothing ever goes perfectly in every regard. She is busy, so more of the family burden falls to you.”
The young man nodded. “Yes. This junior…” As he spoke, his expression brightened briefly, and he glanced at his wife with a slight hesitation.
Jiang Wan understood, and said to Zhù Ying, “My lord, would you be willing to bestow a name upon our child?”
Zhù Ying looked at Zhù Qingye, who nodded and quietly whispered in her ear, “I have already told her.”
Zhù Ying said, “Gladly.”
Jiang Wan had the nurse bring the child out — a plump little baby boy, sound asleep. Jiang Wan hesitated over whether to wake him. Zhù Ying had no particular feelings about whether a small infant paid her any attention; she would much rather the child stayed quiet. So she did not take the baby into her arms, and simply gave the child a name: “Yannian.” Jiang Yannian.
It was a name that was conventional and proper, and the new parents were quite pleased with it. “All we ask is that he grows up well and healthy.”
Zhù Ying then asked Jiang Wan, as if in passing, “What are your plans for your parents back home?”
Jiang Wan’s smile stiffened slightly. “I can no longer return to them, and they are unwilling to come here. Why put either side through that difficulty?”
“If you ever wish to send word home, find Qingxue.”
“Yes.” Though Jiang Wan gave her answer, the expression on her face suggested she had no intention of seeking out Zhù Qingxue. Zhù Ying had never been one to meddle in others’ affairs; seeing this, she asked nothing further.
When it came time to set off, Su Zhe was nowhere to be found. When Zhù Qingxue went out to look for her, she found Jiang Wan in conversation with Su Zhe, who was saying, “When newly relocated people are allotted land, one must consider both the individual and the household. If one household has many members and another has few, and both are given the same amount, the large household will not have enough, while the small one cannot work it all and will let it go fallow — or sublet it, and then wealth disparities arise. Those with many mouths to feed will be resentful, and resentment leads to conflict. Nor can you only look at the current population; they will multiply in the coming years…”
Zhù Qingxue cleared her throat, and Jiang Wan stopped. Su Zhe said with evident reluctance, “I will come back to learn more from you next time.”
The party pressed further west. Wang Jiu received them there, and his situation was little better than Jiang Wan’s — the household registration was even less complete. Consequently, it was necessary to employ certain locally “capable” individuals to help maintain order. These were commoners, slaves, and merchants of one kind or another, sharing one particularly common trait: a reasonably good memory and a broad knowledge of local conditions.
Given that the household census was still unfinished, information about each village’s situation and what could be conscripted from it all had to be gleaned from these individuals.
Among them, Zhù Ying spotted two people who had been brought to her main camp to “further their studies.” She addressed them: “Since returning, have your studies fallen behind?”
A flicker of alarm passed through both their eyes. Zhù Ying had some self-awareness — she rarely taught classes herself, but she could not help dropping by occasionally to “offer some guidance.” This was virtually every student’s nightmare. Her disdain for you could be delivered without warning: “Then let me explain it once more.” The very tone of voice inspired dread.
These two had initially learned a little from Zhù Qingxue, and they now involuntarily looked toward her. Two adults pulling such expressions made for a rather comical sight.
Zhù Ying paused, then said, “Even when occupied with work, do not neglect your studies.”
“Yes, yes,” the two replied, squeezing out a few syllables of imperfect official Mandarin.
Leaving Wang Jiu’s post, they had not gone far when the vanguard came riding back to report: “My lord! There is road construction ahead!”
Zhù Ying was startled. “Road construction? What road?” I gave no such orders!
Su Zhe volunteered, “I will go and look.”
Zhù Qingjun spurred her horse forward and rode up to flank Zhù Ying. Hu the elder sister-in-arms also reached for the hilt of her blade. Zhù Ying waved her hand and said, “There is no rush. Hu, shall we go and see for ourselves?”
Hu, the elder sister-in-arms, said disapprovingly, “There is no room to turn around here. Please wait a moment longer.”
Su Zhe again begged to be allowed to go and look. Zhù Ying said, “Go then. Speak to people properly.”
“Yes.”
After some time, Su Zhe came back and said, “It is—”
This place was a newly established prefecture, named Dai Prefecture, which fell under Zhù Ying’s command. Annan was severely short of competent officials. Much as Zhù Ying wished to nurture young talent, she would not install them in such senior positions from the very start. And aside from herself, there was no one else capable of managing three prefectures at once, so she directly oversaw all the county magistrates of all three prefectures — because the prefectural governors’ offices for all three prefectures did not exist yet, only a handful of subordinate officials who, lacking a governor’s office, were temporarily attached to the military governorship’s secretariat in West Prefecture.
Such was the rough-hewn state of a newly founded military administration.
If it were a simple matter of distributing spoils — you take a village, I take a mine, and off you go to exploit them however you like — that would be easy enough to divide. But to govern well, you could not operate that way.
Zhù Ying therefore paid especially close attention to the matter.
The local county magistrate was yet another person whose name had been bestowed by Zhù Ying — Zhù Chonghua.
Zhù Ying mentally reviewed Zhù Chonghua’s record: not a blemish on it. She recalled their brief time together and found no ill omens there either. All assigned tasks had been completed, and there was nothing in her record resembling “vainglorious ambition.” Even so, initiating road repairs at this moment was indeed somewhat premature. Zhù Ying was a little worried she might not handle it well.
It was true, of course, that when the chieftains were in power, the slaves had never had a single day of rest. But Zhù Ying felt she and the chieftains were somewhat different.
As she was thinking this through, Su Zhe returned, bringing with her a young person covered head to toe in dust and grime. “It was the county magistrate who ordered the road repair,” Su Zhe reported. “I had a look. The workers on site are not in too terrible a state.”
The young person stepped forward and bowed. “My lord.”
The naturalness of the address immediately marked this person as someone from Zhù County. Sure enough, this was a former student from the county school there.
Zhù Ying asked, “What is going on?”
“The county magistrate said that the road would have to be repaired eventually. Since there is nothing pressing for people to do right now, she has them rotating shifts to tidy it up, which will also make travel easier going forward. The stretch of road leading to West Prefecture has already been improved. Timber is also being felled — once it dries out, it can be transported to West Prefecture for building houses…”
Su Zhe and the others were astonished. “Is she mad? The people have barely had a moment to catch their breath.”
The young person said, “The county magistrate does have her arrangements in order. It is not quite so arduous as it sounds.”
Zhù Ying said, “Tell me in detail.”
It emerged that after the fighting ended, Zhù Chonghua had begun organizing the county straightaway. Being only semi-literate herself, she studied as she went, while having the deputies and students Zhù Ying had assigned to her do the actual clerical work. She knew the local terrain intimately — she could pinpoint every village with accuracy — and therefore had a somewhat larger pool of people she could deploy. Her arrangements had all been reasonably sound. The construction of West Prefecture required building materials, and she had thought of this too, organizing people to go into the mountains to fell timber.
“When the order came down from my lord reducing the tax burden, the county magistrate said the time had come to begin.”
Zhù Ying said, “Let us go and see her.”
“Ah — the troops may need to be drawn in a little; I will go ahead to clear the way. For now, only half the road can be passed through.”
“Go ahead.”
Very shortly, they passed through the section under construction. Beyond it, the road ahead had been repaired to something almost resembling the roads of Zhù County. The young person said with a proud stammer, “It was — it was this junior who said — that is how the roads are in our Zhù County.”
Zhù Ying nodded, and the young person’s face turned red.
Zhù Chonghua came out to meet Zhù Ying halfway. Zhù Ying noted that she looked slightly fairer in complexion than before, and more spirited. The two exchanged greetings, and Zhù Ying said, “Not taking a rest even over the New Year?”
Zhù Chonghua said, “The New Year ended several months ago! I heard there are winter wheat seeds, but we have not had the chance to learn how to grow them yet, so these past months we have had nothing in particular to do.” Their New Year was not the same as Zhù Ying’s; it fell roughly at harvest time, and also served as a celebration of the harvest.
Zhù Ying said, “I see. But after all the fighting, did the people not need time to rest?”
Zhù Chonghua said, “It is precisely because of the fighting that things are as they are. You have reduced the rent and taxes, my lord, so life has become easier, and people are in high spirits. I asked the children, and they said: ‘Are the rents always going to be this low from now on?’ But the old levies were heavy! Doing a little extra now, they do not feel it as hardship. If we let them get used to doing less first, and then ask them to do more, that will be the difficult part. Is it not better to reduce things slowly, piece by piece?” As she came to the end, her voice dropped.
An unexpected delight!
Zhù Ying clapped her on the shoulder. “Each prefecture and county is already permitted to levy local conscript labor — this is not out of order. Just be careful not to overwork them; there is a limit to how many days per year… Above all, do not interfere with the farming season. Spring plowing is nearly upon us.”
“Yes!”
Zhù Ying continued westward, and along the way there were those who were doing well and those who were doing only tolerably. People of Zhù Chonghua’s caliber were exceedingly rare, and Zhù Ying was not in a hurry.
West Prefecture’s land had only a small, scattered planting of winter wheat. This had been the last place where the fighting ended, so it was not surprising that the winter wheat had not been properly sown.
Lin Feng came forward to meet her, looking somewhat uneasy. “Why have you come so soon? The first month is not yet over.”
Zhù Ying said, “I have come to celebrate the New Year together with all of you. How are things going?” As she spoke, she gazed into the distance: the walls of the new city had already risen to a considerable height.
Lin Feng looked a little ashamed. “I — I have not managed things well.”
“You have only just taken over. You have already done quite well.”
“There is — there is no proper accommodation. We are still living in tents.”
That was embarrassing enough. In the new city and the old city alike, he had not been able to keep up with both simultaneously. The old city was perfectly sound and finding accommodation there would not have been hard. But Zhù Ying’s plan was to demolish the old city once the new city had its walls, and he did not feel right about setting up home in the old city. As for the new city — the walls were not even finished, and it was one vast construction site. How could anyone live there? So he had ended up living in tents the whole time. Meanwhile, the original West Prefecture residents were less fussy about accommodation; they simply threw together a rough shelter, or moved into the former barracks, or went back to find a spot in the old city. They were all more comfortable than he was.
Eyebrows and beard all in a tangle, he had been in a perpetual state of frantic scrambling.
Lin Feng was consumed with regret. In the years he had spent at Zhù Ying’s side, he had thought those days simply passed in peaceful contentment — and even when problems arose, there had never been anything to fear. Even going into battle, he had never worried about anything. He had drifted through those days carelessly. What a golden opportunity that had been, to have learned so much at her side!
And he had squandered it.
Lin Feng said, “If it were Elder Brother Zhao, or A’Lian, either of them would certainly do better than I am.”
Zhù Ying said, “So you have come to realize your own shortcomings?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop standing there — come along and get to work! What are you daydreaming about? I have things to instruct you in!”
“Coming!”