After the banquet, rewards were bestowed as usual.

The previous rewards for Shen Yang, Guo Rong, Han Qian, and others for their meritorious service attending the Third Prince were given by the palace.

But this time, with the Third Prince formally establishing his own residence, even though Guo Rong, Shen Yang, and others’ positions were all officially appointed and they nominally belonged to the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu’s staff subordinates, these rewards were naturally given in the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu’s name to demonstrate his favor.

Guo Rong, Shen Yang, and Chen De, being military-level subordinates, received the most generous rewards.

Guo Liang, Li Zhigao, Chai Jian, and others held the rank of Metropolitan Police Commander, so their rewards were next in line. Li Chong, along with Female Official Song Xin from the inner palace, the deputy supervisor of the marquis’s residence, and the deputy commander of the guard battalion, all held important positions and received similar rewards.

Han Qian, Feng Yi, Kong Xirong, and the various bureau staff officers and assistants received rewards one grade lower.

Of course, Han Qian had already received the most generous reward yesterday—ten Hepu pearls worth a million cash—so he didn’t particularly care about today’s few bolts of silk fabric. However, looking at the silk fabrics he received today, he could still see palace seals remaining on them. Han Qian could tell these must have just been gifts from Emperor Tianyou or Consort Wang to Yang Yuanpu, hastily stripped of their seals before being given to them.

Yet this also revealed how financially strapped the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu was.

When Yang Yuanpu left the palace to establish his residence, he was enfeoffed as Marquis Linjiang with an estate of three thousand households—not a substantive grant. The court directly allocated estate money: three thousand shi of grain and three thousand bolts of fabric annually, plus rewards from Emperor Tianyou during festivals, totaling an annual income of over ten million cash.

The guard battalion and the inner palace attendants under the Palace Attendants Bureau didn’t need to be supplied by Marquis Linjiang’s residence. If Yang Yuanpu wanted to live luxuriously, this would be more than sufficient, but it was far from enough to cultivate power.

Not to mention anything else, just the garrison military headquarters of the Dragon Sparrow Army alone required at least the equivalent of two hundred thousand shi of grain in money and goods to be poured in to maintain continuous operation—and that was barely maintaining it.

After all, the garrison military headquarters had recruited too many elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people. Over the next three to five years, work to isolate epidemic sources couldn’t slacken in the slightest, requiring continuous investment of vast amounts of money, goods, and manpower.

Furthermore, even if they built dikes on the north shore of Chishan Lake and fully developed and cultivated the lake beach land, the garrison could gain at most one hundred thousand mu of land. Moreover, they had to cultivate dry fields whose yields were far lower than rice paddies. The annual harvest would likely barely suffice to feed the garrison households, with no way to support the Dragon Sparrow Army’s military supply needs.

The Dragon Sparrow Army’s thousands of weapons, war equipment, mules and horses, plus the soldiers’ provisions, military merit rewards, and other expenses—the court’s annual allocation of twenty million cash was far from enough.

Han Qian believed Evening Red Tower and Marquis Xinchang’s residence had abundant financial resources, but he didn’t think their wealth, however abundant, could truly support an elite military force.

Today, urged by Li Zhigao, the military headquarters’ supply officer finally settled accounts with the manor. But when Han Qian was at the manor today and set aside the year-end reward money for the household troops, servants, and kiln workers, he discovered that aside from the ten pearls the Consort had just bestowed, the surplus was only four to five hundred thousand cash.

Mind you, last month after teaching Feng Yi gambling techniques and receiving his share, he still had over a million cash in savings.

Thinking of this, Han Qian felt deep pain, thinking that if his father weren’t so generous, supplying six thousand dan of lime to the military headquarters each month, he could have extracted at least seven to eight hundred thousand cash from Evening Red Tower and Marquis Xinchang’s residence.

…

…

The wine banquet at the marquis’s residence began at dusk and ended before the night grew late. Li Chong said watching Yao Xishui’s sword dance wasn’t satisfying enough and invited Feng Yi, Kong Xirong, and Han Qian to follow him to Evening Red Tower to watch Yao Xishui perform.

Feng Yi and Kong Xirong now had damaging evidence held by Li Chong, so they didn’t dare easily show him displeasure. The group, surrounded by household troops, rode their horses toward Evening Red Tower.

Walking into Yao Xishui’s courtyard, everyone had just sat down in the heated pavilion. Tea, dried fruits, and wine had just been set out, and musicians had been arranged in the adjacent side room to play the zither, when they saw the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu wrapped tightly in a straw cloak, walking in surrounded by Li Zhigao, Chai Jian, and Chen De.

Han Qian also feigned surprise, then together with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong paid their respects to Yang Yuanpu.

“Staff Officer Li says you are all people I can trust?” Though Yang Yuanpu still appeared somewhat immature, he lowered his voice to ask Han Qian, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong, showing considerable grave bearing.

Watching Yang Yuanpu’s performance at today’s banquet and now, Han Qian guessed that now that he commanded the Dragon Sparrow Army, his movements were much freer than before. Marquis Xinchang Li Pu must have arranged for someone else to instruct him.

Yang Yuanpu’s words were meant for Feng Yi and Kong Xirong to hear. Han Qian saw bitter expressions on both their faces and knew what they were thinking.

Even if they were coerced and willing to work for the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu, they couldn’t decide the final choice of the Feng and Kong families.

Han Qian helped them speak plainly, so they wouldn’t need to beat around the bush about whatever came next. He said, “We will naturally do our utmost to work for Your Highness, but if we cannot accomplish things thoroughly, we hope Your Highness will be lenient.”

“As long as you work wholeheartedly, that’s good. For things that cannot be done, His Highness won’t force anyone beyond their abilities,” Li Zhigao said from the side.

Feng Yi and Kong Xirong feared Li Chong would use the damaging evidence against them to force them to do things beyond their capabilities, pushing them into a difficult position either way. With Han Qian and Li Zhigao setting the tone, their expressions relaxed as they said, “We only fear being inadequate and failing Your Highness’s trust.”

“Don’t underestimate yourselves. Han Qian works quite well for His Highness,” Li Chong said.

Han Qian glared darkly at Li Chong. He also noticed Li Zhigao glare sternly at Li Chong, stopping him from needlessly provoking again.

Han Qian saw doubt in Feng Yi and Kong Xirong’s eyes and turned his head to tell them, “Building the lime kilns at the manor was actually a task His Highness assigned me. Fortunately, I didn’t fail His Highness’s trust—and speaking of this, I’ve thought of something you could also do for His Highness.”

Feng Yi and Kong Xirong had found it somewhat strange that Han Qian recuperated at the manor for nearly a month. Now they suddenly understood and asked, “What could we do for His Highness?”

They didn’t want to be pushed too hard by Li Chong, so they should do some things within their capabilities as a gesture.

“Master Shen Yang is well-read in many books and discovered ancient methods suggesting lime can eliminate epidemic poison. Setting aside whether this method works or not, if this claim could become popular, the lime from Autumn Lake Mountain could sell well through your family’s warehouses in various counties, also profiting His Highness!” Han Qian said.

After putting in so much effort building so many lime kilns at the manor, he couldn’t possibly be content without making a profit.

As Vice Minister of Revenue, Feng Wenlan had previously served at the Grand Treasury that specifically collected tributary goods from prefectures and counties. The Feng family also relied on such advantages to operate several warehouses, storing and selling products from prefectures and counties in the capital region.

Han Qian could of course operate warehouses himself, but even if he could control both legal and illegal channels, if he operated warehouses while loudly boasting about lime’s benefits for profit, it would too easily attract the attention of Anning Palace and the Crown Prince’s faction to the Han family.

However, lime was used so little in this era. Without extensive promotion, even exploiting epidemics to create momentum and employing some deception, it couldn’t possibly become popular in prefectures and counties.

Han Qian thought of borrowing the Feng family’s warehouses and the Feng family’s influence. On one hand, he didn’t have that many people under his command. On the other hand, besides dispersing the attention of Anning Palace and the Crown Prince’s faction, he also wanted to use concrete means to bind Feng Yi and Kong Xirong to the pirate ship.

Li Zhigao had arranged this private meeting thinking to create an opening and later figure out how to make use of Feng Yi and Kong Xirong. He hadn’t expected Han Qian’s schemes to turn faster than theirs.

They had previously considered that the lime produced at Autumn Lake Mountain villa sold at extremely low prices, and Marquis Xinchang’s residence also had warehouses that could market it for profit. But seeing Han Qian entrust this matter to Feng Yi, it counted as a means to gradually bind the Feng family over. They raised no objections.

Feng Yi had taken Kong Xirong to visit the manor once, but afterward hadn’t dared go again. He also didn’t know how the lime kilns were actually built and didn’t want to appear too perfunctory before the Third Prince, so he pressed for details.

“Arrange boats to come transport the goods. I’ll supply you at half the market price,” Han Qian said. “But for entering the manor to transport goods, you’d best assign people who can keep their mouths shut. Market it in Jinling and counties throughout Huai for profit. Not only will you have private money in hand, but it’ll also save your family from constantly saying you’re good for nothing.”

Feng Yi thought this matter accomplished multiple goals at once. He had more than ten obedient servants around him anyway—better than having them not work while constantly expecting rewards from him.

With this settled, Chen De, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong naturally found listening to pure water zither here quite boring.

With the year’s end approaching, aside from money exchange shops, opening gambling games elsewhere also wasn’t prohibited. Evening Red Tower was no exception—hearing faint noisy shouting from the front courtyard, they knew several gambling games had opened here tonight for guests’ entertainment.

Seeing Feng Yi and Kong Xirong couldn’t sit still, Yang Yuanpu had Chen De take the two of them out.

As soon as Chen De, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong left, Yang Yuanpu turned around and said earnestly to Han Qian:

“Previously my plans weren’t kept secret enough and nearly ruined things. Henceforth I hope Scholar Han will guide Yuanpu more.”

Han Qian saw surprised expressions on the faces of Li Zhigao, Li Chong, and Chai Jian, wondering inwardly—could it be these words weren’t taught by someone else?

However, even if these were Yang Yuanpu’s sincere words, Han Qian wouldn’t take them to heart. After all, Yang Yuanpu was still a youth not yet fourteen years old. Born and raised in an extremely soft environment, his judgment was too easily disturbed and influenced by others.

Yang Yuanpu’s previous reversals were clear proof. To put it nicely, Yang Yuanpu was just a youth desperately trying to appear mature.

However, what he thought in his heart was one thing. Han Qian still showed exceptional excitement as he knelt in return, saying:

“Working for Your Highness, Han Qian will do his utmost, bend over backwards, until death.”

The corners of Li Chong’s mouth couldn’t help twitching twice. He hadn’t expected Han Qian’s status in the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu’s heart to be so high that he would call him “Scholar Han.” Then as an academic companion, from now on wouldn’t it be confirmed he ranked below Han Qian?

At this moment, the side room door suddenly opened. They saw Su Hongyu and Yao Xishui sitting together in the side room playing the zither. Clearly they were also deeply surprised by Yang Yuanpu’s words just now. Thinking about it, they felt somewhat wronged. Though the strategy was献 献 was Han Qian’s contribution, without Marquis Xinchang’s residence and Evening Red Tower pouring in so many resources, could this matter have shown such scale within a month?

“I didn’t expect another opportunity to listen to Madam Su’s zither music. What an honor,” Han Qian straightened his posture and cupped his hands toward Su Hongyu.

“Xishui and I feel even more honored to hear Young Master Han’s grand plans,” Su Hongyu said with a smile.

Han Qian’s earlier instigation of Feng Yi and Kong Xirong to fall into the trap was mostly about seeking more private profit. But seeing Su Hongyu’s gentle expression, he couldn’t tell if her words carried sarcasm.

“Young Master Han just said at His Highness’s residence that watching this servant’s sword dance wasn’t satisfying. Should this servant dance with the sword for Young Master Han to watch now?” Yao Xishui rose gracefully and asked.

Thinking that Feng Yi had already been frightened quite badly today, he had no desire to ask for trouble himself. He said, “If I could perform sword dance, it should be me dancing with the sword for Miss Yao and Madam Su to watch.”

Seeing Han Qian change faces before the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu faster than flipping through a book, Yao Xishui felt secretly resentful. But she still walked over with a beaming smile, and together with Su Hongyu paid their respects to Yang Yuanpu. Then everyone walked out of Yao Xishui’s courtyard…