Knowing Qing Xia’s recent circumstances, finding four wandering foreigners constantly talking about God and Jesus wasn’t difficult. Chu Li even promised them that upon returning to South Chu, he would build them a church and allow them to preach in China. The four were so moved their eyes brimmed with tears, wanting nothing more than to cry loudly to express their joy. While Qing Xia was happy for them, she also felt slightly disappointed—if this were the case, then if she wanted to go to sea again in the future, they wouldn’t follow her anymore.
In the blink of an eye, another two days passed, and the time to return to Chu was not far off. That evening, Qing Xia personally cooked, preparing a table full of Western dishes. Erik and the others ate until they nearly swallowed their own tongues, and even Da Huang held his round belly, contentedly burping.
Ever since Da Huang returned, he had completely ignored Qing Xia. Except for mealtimes, he absolutely refused to come back. Yesterday, it was even said that he had followed Chu Li to court.
Qing Xia deliberately tried to win over his affections. After dinner, she gave him a bath and was using a fan to dry his white fur when she suddenly heard voices outside and slowly walked out.
She saw Galipha and Erik surrounding an old palace maid who was scrubbing the floor, constantly speaking in broken Chinese: “Sister, we are not foreign monks, we are messengers of God, spreaders of the gospel. As long as you believe in God, you will receive salvation of life and peace of soul. Please believe us—we were entrusted by the Pope to cross the vast oceans to save your soul.”
“Get up! Get up!” The old palace maid, thoroughly annoyed, said angrily: “Don’t disturb my work. What nonsense God—is he greater than the Jade Emperor? If you keep pestering me, I’ll report to the authorities. Where did these foreign monks come from? They don’t understand any proper etiquette.”
“Lost lamb! Please do not reject the friendly hands God extends to you. God tells us we are all loving brothers and sisters… Ouch!”
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly stepped on the floor the palace maid had just cleaned, slipped, and fell heavily to the ground.
Seeing this, Qing Xia couldn’t help but laugh with a “puchi,” her eyes crinkling. Just as she was about to speak, the palace maid suddenly knelt on the ground as if she had seen a ghost, loudly calling out: “Greetings to Your Majesty! This servant didn’t know Your Majesty had arrived and deserves ten thousand deaths.”
At the doorway where sunlight streamed in, the man wore an ink-green python robe. His features were handsome and upright, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes—utterly handsome and dignified. Da Huang lazily sprawled by his feet, desperately trying to jump up and bite the jade pendant hanging from his waist.
“Ah! Emperor of South Chu, hello! We were preaching to your palace maid.”
Galipha and Erik hurriedly bowed and spoke.
Chu Li nodded and said to the palace maid: “You don’t need to do the work here anymore. From now on, follow these two missionaries and be their believer.”
The palace maid immediately kowtowed: “Yes, yes, this servant obeys.”
Galipha and his companion were immediately overjoyed. Having mixed around in China for many years, they hadn’t developed even half a believer. They immediately pulled the palace maid away joyfully.
Chu Li walked slowly up to the great hall. Clever palace maids immediately offered tea and snacks. Chu Li sat down and didn’t say much, just quietly drank his tea. Qing Xia stood to one side, unable to find words to say for a moment. After thinking for a long time, seeing Chu Li’s teacup was empty, she walked forward to pour him tea and said: “You’ve been very busy lately.”
“Mm,” Chu Li nodded and said: “There are people in the south inciting the populace to rebel, Japanese pirates constantly harass the eastern borders, and some court ministers even propose plundering East Qi once, then abandoning this chaotic land and returning to South Chu. Some people have even submitted memorials supporting this—it infuriates me to death.”
This was the first time Chu Li had referred to himself as “zhen” (the imperial “I”) in front of Qing Xia. Having just said it, he immediately realized his slip of the tongue and quickly looked at Qing Xia.
Qing Xia didn’t seem to mind. She sat down in a nearby chair and continued his topic: “Japanese pirates? The nation of Japan?”
“You know about Japan?” Chu Li raised his eyebrows, but then thinking that she had traveled far and wide, it wasn’t strange. Suddenly remembering something, he said: “Oh right, I brought something good for you to see.” So saying, he untied a long sword from his waist and handed it to Qing Xia, saying: “Knowing your martial arts are excellent, I happened to obtain a fine blade that cuts iron like mud. I’ll give it to you.”
Qing Xia took it and drew it with a “swoosh.” She immediately narrowed her eyes—the entire room filled with brilliant light, razor-sharp. The blade was both thin and sharp, carved with intricate dragon patterns that seemed lifelike, with cold, keen edges. It was truly a fine blade.
“A Japanese sword?” Qing Xia was stunned, murmuring.
“You recognize it?” Chu Li was delighted and said: “This was presented by generals who suppressed pirates at sea. Seeing the blade’s sharpness was countless times better than our swords, I had the weapons workshop research and develop it. If all South Chu soldiers could be equipped with such weapons, we wouldn’t fear mere border-raiding Japanese pirates.”
Hearing this, Qing Xia smiled lightly and said: “All South Chu soldiers equipped with them? Heh, that’s impossible.”
Chu Li was stunned and asked: “Why? If people from a small Japanese nation can all carry them, why can’t our dynasty?”
Qing Xia stroked the blade, explaining: “The forging technique for this type of sword isn’t very difficult. It’s called steel-wrapping, but requires extremely refined steel, takes a very long time, and refined steel is mostly produced in the Western Regions. With Xichuan blocking the way, South Chu finds it very difficult to purchase large quantities. Moreover, refined steel is extremely expensive, and once damaged, it becomes a pile of useless iron that cannot be reused—the costs outweigh the benefits. It’s truly an unprofitable business. Conversely, Japan is a source of refined steel, and they have a small land and few people with fragmented political powers. When they fight wars, deploying thousands or hundreds of people is already an earth-shaking event worthy of being recorded in history. Therefore, having everyone carry such swords isn’t considered wasteful for them.”
Chu Li said: “How do you understand Japan so well? Is their territory really that small?”
Qing Xia nodded: “I lost my life there—how could I not understand?”
Chu Li frowned and said in a low voice: “Then who is your enemy? Can they still be found?”
Qing Xia smiled and said: “Do you remember what I said in Penglai Valley to deceive the people there? That wasn’t nonsense—my hometown is just like that, only separated by several thousand years from here. Tell me, what person could live that long, except for drinking Emperor Qin Shihuang’s elixir of immortality.”
Chu Li smiled and said: “Is there really an elixir of immortality in this world?”
Qing Xia murmured: “In the past, I could have said with complete certainty there wasn’t. But now that even something like borrowing a corpse to return to life has happened to me, I believe any possibility exists.”
Chu Li said in a low voice: “Borrowing a corpse to return to life? I wonder if she died, would she return to life, and where would she return to life? Oh! I thought of it—she probably attached to your body and came back to life in your hometown.”
“That wouldn’t be good. If that were the case, it would really be quite troublesome.”
“Eh?” Chu Li was stunned and said: “What do you mean?”
“In my previous life, someone cut off my head. If she went there, wouldn’t that be quite troublesome?”
Qing Xia said this matter-of-factly with a smile, but Chu Li’s expression froze, his brow furrowed tightly, and he said nothing more. Qing Xia frowned slightly and said: “Actually, if you want to take over East Qi and reorganize coastal defenses, it’s not without methods.”
Hearing this, Chu Li raised his eyebrows and said: “What insights do you have?”
“I wouldn’t call them insights, just some thoughts.” Qing Xia smiled faintly and said: “Since Emperor Qin Wu began connecting all the nation’s Great Walls into one line to resist the northern Xiongnu, he also established a sea ban, preventing China from trading with foreign countries and forbidding fishermen from going to sea to fish. Although East Qi slightly relaxed the ban, they still had restrictions due to Japanese pirate raids. I believe that to stop Japanese pirates from running rampant, the primary task is to open the sea ban, promote trade, train a navy, and build ships. With these four measures, the Japanese pirates will collapse without attack.”
Chu Li furrowed his brow tightly and said in a low voice: “Continue.”
“What moves people’s hearts throughout the world is nothing but the word ‘profit.’ When profit flows, pirates become merchants; when profit is exhausted, merchants become pirates. The so-called Japanese pirates at sea now are seven or eight parts coastal merchants in disguise, not truly Japanese people. Moreover, there were Japanese pirate raids before the sea ban. Emperor Qin Wu gave up eating for fear of choking—after the sea ban, not only did the Japanese pirates not weaken, they became even more rampant. The ten-thousand-li coastline became the Japanese people’s back garden, where anyone could come and go as they pleased without worry. China’s naval forces lack proper equipment and training. When encountering Japanese pirates skilled in sea warfare, they can only flee in panic. How could the Eastern Ocean people not be arrogant?”
“Japan is a small nation with poor natural resources. Tea, silk, porcelain, medicinal materials, and other goods all need to be purchased from China. After the sea ban, having nowhere to buy them, they took desperate risks and turned to piracy—this is actually due to blocked trade. Moreover, in these three hundred years, the Chinese mainland has been frequently at war, with displaced people and weak national strength, busy with internal strife, naturally lowering vigilance against external threats. Although Japan is small, their shipbuilding industry is advanced. Western Frankish people’s great ships can cross vast oceans and travel ten thousand li to reach China. Their gunpowder technology also leads ours. Although they don’t have large-scale destructive weapons, how do you know that in a hundred years they won’t attack China’s gates with foreign guns and cannons? Therefore, if we want to develop, we cannot close our eyes and block our ears. We must open our vision widely, see others’ strengths and advantages, to promote our own progress.”
Chu Li nodded slowly. After hearing her words, he slowly said: “Opening the sea ban and promoting trade will be very difficult.”
“All beginnings are difficult,” Qing Xia said. “The obstruction of pedantic old ministers in court, the covetous eyes of the two northern nations, the unwilling instigation by East Qi remnants—even if all these can be dealt with, we still need to coordinate coastal offices, establish maritime trade regulations, build coastal military camps, train the navy, deploy personnel, and organize foreign affairs departments. With thousands of threads and countless tasks, it truly cannot be accomplished overnight. But as long as we persevere and advance in this direction, success will come sooner or later.”
Chu Li smiled and looked up, saying: “Bodhisattva methods and Bodhisattva heart may not necessarily bring down sweet rain. Asura methods with Bodhisattva heart can instead benefit the world and save people from hanging upside down. Qing Xia, wandering around like this is truly a waste of great talent.”