The Luo Prefecture area — whether for the management of the Yellow River or the relief of disaster victims — to describe it with the phrase “not easy” would in fact be a compliment. It had reached the point of moving forward one step at a time with extreme difficulty.

Luo Prefecture was the first place to see its embankment breach. When Li Qin investigated, what he found left him truly alarmed. The dike walls had been constructed with goodness-only-knows what unscrupulous materials — more brittle than tofu, as though they might crumble to pieces in the wind at any moment.

It was fortunate that the disaster had been discovered in time. Otherwise, the entire Luo Prefecture would have been submerged.

Therefore, of all the embankments along the Yellow River, the Luo Prefecture stretch required the heaviest repairs — the entire dike would need to be overhauled from the inside out.

The local officials were largely incompetent, and Li Qin had to personally oversee every detail.

Yet what Li Qin had never anticipated was this: matters that had proceeded smoothly in every other prefecture and county — when they reached Luo Prefecture, they encountered resistance from the disaster victims themselves.

“Why do you have money to repair some wretched embankment instead of giving it to us for relief? Are human lives so worthless that they matter less than a dike?”

There was nothing to be done. The disaster relief funds allocated by the court were limited. Even if the officials had kept not a single coin for themselves, the relief funds were still only so much. Distributed per person, a bowl of porridge held only a few grains of rice; a single padded garment was shared among an entire household. Such destitution was enough to make anyone’s grievances boil over — small wonder the people’s resentment was seething.

All manner of complaints intertwined. When they were not lining up to collect porridge, the disaster victims spent their days making a racket at the embankment construction site, and the work progress was delayed again and again.

Li Qin was beside himself with worry, at a complete loss for what to do.

“Still rioting! Repairing the embankment is clearly a good thing that benefits the nation and the people — how can they be so shortsighted!”

Listening to the noise of the disaster victims causing trouble outside the tent, even Li Qin’s fine temper had been entirely worn away, and he paced back and forth inside the tent in agitation.

He simply could not understand — why couldn’t those people take a longer view?

Just as he was stomping his feet in frustration, the tent flap was lifted by someone from outside, followed by two or three coughs, and then a voice said, “Your Highness, do not be angry — this official just managed to send them away.”

Among Luo Prefecture’s subordinate counties, Jingren County had the most severe disaster, and its embankment was also the section most in need of complete reconstruction. The troublemaking disaster victims were all from Jingren County, so Shen Xiao — as the county’s magistrate — could not escape responsibility.

Shen Xiao pressed a fist to his lips and coughed again lightly. His voice was slightly hoarse. “The disaster victims causing trouble are all from Jingren County — ultimately, it is because this official has managed them poorly.”

He still wore his blue-green official robes. To ward off the cold, he had draped a black cotton cloak over them. Even so, his complexion was tinged a pallid, slightly bluish hue from the cold.

He was thinner than before, and this somehow made him appear taller — a lone, upright figure.

Seeing him in this state, Li Qin let out a helpless sigh. “It is not your fault either. The court allocated only so much disaster relief grain, and your county bears the most severe disaster.”

In truth, with Shen Xiao’s fall from favor, Li Qin had lost a major source of support at court — claiming he felt no disappointment would be a lie. Yet he was not the sort to abandon allies when they were no longer useful. Moreover, after Shen Xiao arrived in Henan Circuit, the two had coordinated effectively and accomplished no small amount of tangible, meritorious work. And so his disappointment had gradually dissipated.

Li Qin had maintained a low profile for so many years; in political matters, he was not nearly so intolerant of setbacks as Li Shu. He did not find the current situation unbearable.

Shen Xiao’s duties as county magistrate had left him utterly overwhelmed. For the past two months he had worked day and night managing disaster relief and soothing the disaster victims — yet with little result.

A clever woman cannot cook without rice. The disaster relief funds from the court were insufficient, and there was nothing he could do no matter how capable he was. Day in and day out, he was either calculating figures on an abacus, trying to stretch every coin to its limit, or going to other prefectures and counties to borrow money to tide things over.

There was simply no way around it — they were poor. Not only was Shen Xiao poor; the prefectural treasury was poor too. Not only was the prefectural treasury poor — the imperial treasury was poor as well.

This year there had been disasters both large and small without interruption, and the imperial treasury had been hemorrhaging money like flowing water.

First there had been the great drought in Guanzhong. By the time that drought finally ended, winter wheat had only just been sown in the ground. One would have to wait until next summer for Guanzhong to produce a harvest. The millions of people in Guanzhong were clamoring for food; they all looked to the court for relief grain.

Then came the Yellow River disaster. Repairing the embankments required yet another enormous sum.

By now the funds allocated for disaster relief were truly almost exhausted. If the imperial treasury had kidneys, they would have been thoroughly drained by this point — utterly depleted, a sorry sight. Officials from the Ministry of Finance went about with long faces day after day; ask them for money again and they would sooner end their own lives.

Furthermore, Luo Prefecture was a special case. When Gao Jin had been in power, he had wrung the prefecture dry to its bones — even the farmers in the fields were utterly destitute. Then a disaster of this magnitude struck, wiping out the little they still possessed. The bitter resentment that arose was far heavier than in other stricken counties.

The disaster victims had nothing to do, their hearts full of hatred and grievances. Reduced to desperation, they cared about nothing anymore and began making trouble at the embankment. If you have money to manage the Yellow River, why is there none to feed us?

One might say that whether Li Qin’s task of repairing the Yellow River could be completed well depended entirely on how well Shen Xiao could manage the disaster relief.

Li Qin was anxious too. Resorting to desperate measures, he paced back and forth in the tent like a caged beast, then suddenly announced, “I’ll go ask Imperial Elder Sister Pingyang for grain!”

At the sudden mention of that name, Shen Xiao stiffened. His complexion shifted slightly — just then Li Qin had already charged to the desk, picked up his brush, and was about to write a letter.

Shen Xiao said quickly, “That will not work.”

Li Qin’s hand paused mid-stroke.

He knew these two had a disagreement, and what he had feared would come to pass had indeed come true. But was it worth letting private matters delay public business?

He heard Shen Xiao say, “Disaster relief is a long-term undertaking. It will not be until next autumn’s harvest that the fields yield crops — that is the better part of half a year. For Jingren County’s entire population over that time, has Your Highness calculated how many tens of thousands of dan of grain would be required to see them through?”

Shen Xiao paused, then continued in a neutral tone: “She cannot produce that much grain.”

“Moreover, if she were to suddenly transport grain to Jingren County without explanation, the matter would be far too conspicuous. Even if converted to silver drafts, the price of grain in Luo Prefecture is exceptionally high — it simply would not be worth it. And taking a step back ten thousand paces: even if we truly obtained enough grain from her, how would I explain where it came from when people ask how I managed the disaster relief?”

Better that the two of them had as little involvement as possible. Who knew what His Majesty might think otherwise.

Upon hearing this, Li Qin acknowledged that Shen Xiao spoke reasonably. He slammed his brush onto the desk with a crack and declared, “Then I’ll simply call in troops. The next time the disaster victims cause trouble, I’ll seize a few of the ringleaders and see if they dare disrupt the progress of my embankment repairs!”

Shen Xiao exhaled a sigh, knowing Li Qin was at his wits’ end.

Not just Li Qin — he was at his wits’ end too. The disaster relief weighed heavily on his heart. If the disaster victims were not properly pacified soon, he feared the colder the weather grew, the more easily serious trouble would brew.

He had chosen from the outset the very worst option — the most difficult road. If he had stayed in Chang’an, he would never have had to face such hardship as this, buried in work without end.

Shen Xiao pressed the jade hairpin in his sleeve, thinking — no matter how arduous this was, he had no regrets.

He lowered his voice to advise: “I understand Your Highness is anxious, but if it can at all be helped, do not send soldiers to suppress the disaster victims. You and the Crown Prince are different — you do not contend with him on the court floor; you walk the path of the people. Winning over hearts and minds is all the more important for you. The disaster victims’ troublemaking is shortsighted, yes, but understandable in its own way. If you bring in soldiers for this, will you not lose the people’s hearts?”

“If this approach won’t work and that approach won’t work — do they expect this Prince to just let them make trouble every single day? How is this Prince supposed to get his embankment built?!”

Li Qin was beginning to grow impatient.

Shen Xiao lifted the thick curtain of the tent. A cold wind blew straight in from the banks of the Yellow River. He did not retreat from it; the colder it was, the better it sharpened his thinking.

He looked toward the embankment along the riverbank not far away. The disaster victims who had been stirring up trouble had just been dispersed; the laborers had now resumed their work again, calling out a work chant in unison.

It was the dead of winter, yet they labored with blazing energy. More than a few of them had stripped off their outer garments, exposing powerfully built bodies.

The Yellow River was a perennial source of trouble — nowhere could be allowed to be negligent, and the Ministry of Finance had tightened its belt and drained the imperial treasury to fund the Seventh Imperial Prince’s embankment repairs. The Seventh Imperial Prince’s hands were clean; he did not touch a single coin of those funds. And so the money for repairing the embankment was, at least just barely, sufficiently available.

Shen Xiao narrowed his eyes, watching the winter sunlight fall across the laborers’ bodies. An idea suddenly surfaced.

“This official has a method that can simultaneously resolve the problems of repairing the embankment and relieving the disaster victims.”

Shen Xiao turned around and smiled. “Relief through work.”

*

The roads were slippery and difficult to travel in the cold, and Li Shu’s courier took a full five days to reach Luo Prefecture — only to discover that the Seventh Imperial Prince had already left Luo Prefecture to inspect the Yellow River management situation in other areas.

The courier drew a blank at the outskirts of Luo Prefecture, seeing only laborers busily at work on the Yellow River embankment, and outside the city, a gruel distribution station had been set up — the gruel was surprisingly thick and substantial, sturdy enough that chopsticks inserted into it would stand upright without tipping over. Yet the number of disaster victims lining up to collect the gruel was surprisingly small.

The courier found it strange at heart, thinking to himself: “I thought Luo Prefecture suffered the most severe disaster — how is it that there are so few disaster victims collecting gruel?”

This puzzlement followed him the entire way, until at the border of Henan Circuit he caught up with the Seventh Imperial Prince’s traveling party. He entered the Seventh Imperial Prince’s tent, delivered Li Shu’s sealed letter, and finally could no longer hold back the question.

“This lowly one thought Luo Prefecture would be filled with famished disaster victims everywhere — yet it turned out…”

Li Qin took the letter. With the embankment repairs progressing smoothly, his mood was good. He tore open the letter as he explained: “This Prince was just about to have Official Shen submit a memorial proposing that this disaster relief method be promoted throughout the region.”

The courier hastened to say, “This lowly one is too ignorant to understand — what exactly is this fine method?”

Li Qin smiled. “Just right — let me tell you, and when you return you can tell the Princess all about it. This is entirely Official Shen’s doing.”

Li Qin truly never missed an opportunity to play matchmaker — he had an absolute addiction to drawing the red thread of fate together.

“The principle is simple enough — just four words: ‘relief through work.'”

“When all is said and done, everything comes down to money. The disaster in Luo Prefecture is severe, yet the disaster relief funds allocated by the court are insufficient. The disaster victims are starving, have lost their land, and have nothing to do — gathering together, they inevitably cause trouble, disrupting this Prince’s embankment construction. Official Shen said: why not simply hire those disaster victims to do the work of repairing the embankment? First, they earn rations and will not starve to death; second, it keeps them occupied and out of trouble; third, the relief grain can be saved for better care of the elderly, the sick, and the weak who cannot labor.”

The grand principle was not complicated once spoken aloud. The courier nodded repeatedly in admiration. “Official Shen is truly remarkable.”

With such meritorious achievements, it would be the simplest of matters to be promoted after his three-year performance evaluation.

Having finished speaking, Li Qin finally lowered his head to read the letter — and as he read, his brow furrowed.

The Crown Prince re-emerging into power would surely have his eyes on him. However viciously the Crown Prince had once torn into the Second Prince, he would tear into him just as viciously now — and his own power was far weaker than the Second Prince’s had been.

Li Qin gripped the letter, knowing that from this day forward he would need to maintain his highest vigilance at every turn. In any matter he handled, not the slightest error could be allowed — for if the Crown Prince seized upon a mistake, he would press it relentlessly and crush the Seventh Prince down completely.

The Yellow River management — he would have to supervise it with even greater intensity.

Li Qin swept through the letter at a glance and reached the very end — his eyes pausing.

The days grow cold and the weather harsh. Add more layers of clothing.

Goodness — was this really something Imperial Elder Sister Pingyang would write? It did not sound like her at all. He would never have thought that, beyond helping him in matters of state, Imperial Elder Sister Pingyang would also be concerned about his health. It seemed that beneath that cool exterior, she truly held deep sibling affection for him.

Li Qin folded the letter and asked, “Did the Princess say anything else?”

The courier quickly replied, “Nothing else, Your Highness — but there was also a bundle she had this lowly one deliver.”

He unstrapped the bundle from his back and set it on Li Qin’s desk. “She also sent two attendants along — exceptional individuals, selected from a hundred candidates, ones who have not gone out with the Princess before and are therefore not conspicuous. The Princess says to mind your safety.”

Goodness, Imperial Elder Sister Pingyang truly looked after him so — he already had plenty of guards at his side, and she had even specifically sent him two more. Li Qin was utterly overwhelmed by her consideration. He thought to himself that after entering the capital for the New Year, he absolutely must share a proper conversation with his sister to express this depth of sibling feeling.

Li Qin opened the bundle and shook out a large cloak of grey squirrel fur — the lining was fine and close-stitched, soft to the touch; the outer fabric was only an ordinary ink-grey silk, yet worn it would be both warm and unobtrusive.

Li Qin lifted it and immediately felt something was off. This cloak reached all the way down to his ankles — clearly it was not cut to his measurements. And moreover, if it had truly been made for him, there would have been no need for the outer fabric to be quite so discreet.

For whom this was meant, it was perfectly obvious.

Well, well, his own self-importance had gotten the better of him. Li Qin thought to himself: so it turned out he was nothing more than a messenger.