Seeing that Yun Ye had matters to discuss with the Crown Prince and Prince Wei, He Shao prepared to take his leave. Yun Ye said with a laugh: “Don’t go. You’ll play a major role in what follows. Why leave? If the great financier leaves, what will I use to develop the Two Lakes plain? That bit of money the Yun Family has—what’s it good for? Even adding yours is just a drop in the bucket. Even emptying the national treasury would be like trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood with a cup of water. From now on, we’ll need to split every coin in half. Damn it, I’ve struggled all these years just to avoid hardship, who knew I’d return to those destitute days in Shuofang City.”
“Ye’zi, does this mean you’ve agreed? Are you really preparing to go to Yuezhou as Regional Inspector?”
“Do you think His Majesty gave me a chance to refuse? Guan Tinglong has already taken up his post, and look clearly—as Assistant Administrator, not Regional Inspector. This is His Majesty sending him ahead to prepare the way for me. When the time comes, believe me or not, the imperial edict will immediately appear at my home.”
Li Tai looked up and said: “It’s true. My father now stares at maps of the Two Lakes every day. The local reports, official records, geographical surveys—they’re all piled on his desk. When everything is ready, you’ll have to leave.”
“The development of the Two Lakes is our Great Tang’s most important task for nearly a hundred years. His Majesty will certainly dispatch high officials to oversee it. I don’t quite count as a high official yet. Since Yuezhou has been given to me, I wonder who will be stationed in Bazhou. Actually, it was fine when it was originally called Baling—why split it up?”
“That’s how Great Tang’s military provinces work—divide and govern. This is part of the art of kingship. Mutual restraint, mutual balance, mutual assistance, mutual support—this is one principle of dividing the empire’s military provinces. Of course, casually changing names is an imperial prerogative.”
“Ye’zi, I’ve carefully examined Master Guan’s topographical maps of the Two Lakes. I must say it truly is a land of fish and rice that could keep the empire standing for a thousand years. Fish in the water, rice on the shore, water and land routes accessible—once development is complete, Great Tang will never worry about famine again. When Master Guan says ‘When the Two Lakes ripen, all under heaven is satisfied,’ it’s absolutely not an absurd statement.”
“Stop dreaming for now. There are fish in the water, but also river bandits. The shores are all mudflats, everywhere flooded with lakes leaving behind marshes. I hear there are even crocodiles. Tigers, leopards, wolves—they’re everywhere. Wild boars can destroy a hundred acres of fields in one night. When mosquitoes swarm, they block out the sky. I’ve heard examples of oxen being drained of blood by mosquitoes overnight. How can you not worry about me and instead all assume that as soon as I arrive I can conjure up a prosperous city?”
Li Chengqian felt somewhat embarrassed. Yun Ye was absolutely right. The current state of Baling was exactly this—dragons in the rivers, tigers on the shores, bandits rampant on the lakes. It truly was a good place to exile dismissed officials.
“How about I petition Father to dispatch a large army to eliminate the mountain bandits? That way it would be better when you go. What do you think?”
“None of that. Since I’m being sent to Baling, the bandits on the lake are mine, the tigers on shore and dragons in the rivers are all mine. Whoever tries to take them from me, I’ll fight them. I already have no people—finally there are some bandits on the lake, and you want to exterminate them all? What would I use to build new cities? Don’t move anything, don’t touch even the ants there.”
“Once you become a civil official, how can you still command armies? My father might take back the Lingnan Navy.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. The Lingnan Navy’s establishment is ten thousand men. His Majesty has long said this is a force for maintaining the seas—very important and won’t be given to others. The Yun Family holds a hereditary marquisate and must have some glory. The Lingnan Navy is it. But His Majesty draws men from the Lingnan Navy every year to establish other navies, then replenishes with new troops. The commander is the Yun Family head, but military positions like adjutant are appointed by His Majesty. This is very good. A nation’s military absolutely cannot be controlled by private hands, or else it becomes a disaster.”
While Yun Ye and the Crown Prince and others discussed the Two Lakes issue, the Dongyang River was alive with song and dance. The songstresses from Yanlai Tower rarely came out to play and all wanted to find their ideal husband from the academy. Those young masters from wealthy families weren’t under consideration—only poor students were their main targets.
The songstresses who didn’t want to end up married to merchants performed very earnestly. The riverbank was packed with students in blue robes, howling and shouting at the boats. Some who fancied themselves romantic had already found small boats to get on the river, preparing to view the beauties up close. The women of Yanlai Tower were far more beautiful than commoner women could compare to, and with their many talents, marrying one wouldn’t be shameful. It was just that the academy students seemed to have rather high standards—sixteen-year-old beauties were the most popular.
“Sir, these songstresses have made a mess of the Dongyang River. Should we send people to drive them away so they don’t disturb the peace of the masters?” As the academy’s most famous upright gentleman, Xu Jingzong naturally couldn’t stand these fluttering birds, although every month during his rest days he would go to Yanlai Tower to meet friends. But concerning the academy’s atmosphere, he had to stand forth and express dissatisfaction.
Li Gang, frowning, looked up at those women, waved his hand and said: “No need. The academy students know how to handle what’s before them. You chase the lower grade students back to class. As for the upper grades, let them be. I want to see whether mere feminine charms can make these children abandon their ideals.”
Xu Jingzong wanted to say something but closed his mouth. It was better not to contradict Li Gang’s words. He turned to arrange for the lower grade students to attend class.
Master Yuanzhang looked at Xu Jingzong’s retreating figure and said to Li Gang: “He’s been at the academy for so long, yet still doesn’t fit with the academy’s atmosphere. He seems fine, but when something happens he everywhere reveals a petty air. A few songstresses make him act like he’s facing a great enemy. Judging others by himself, he must not be too cautious in this regard.”
“Different rice feeds different people. As long as he does his duty at the academy, that’s enough. He handles the academy’s daily affairs very well, seamlessly, so it can’t be called dereliction of duty. His personal conduct is also fairly good. As for a few private hobbies, we shouldn’t interfere too much. We can’t even handle those affairs ourselves.” Master Yushan quietly consoled Yuanzhang.
Master Yuanzhang nodded and closed his eyes to rest. He still had a lesson to teach that afternoon, so resting now was good.
The songstresses’ boat stopped right at the academy gate. Looking at that black gate from afar, they chattered endlessly. Yaoniang stretched out her finger pointing at the academy gate and said to Gao Shanyang: “Noble lady, look, tsk tsk, this is the academy’s first scenic spot—the main gate. I’ve heard that anyone who walks out that gate is an extraordinary person. A while back, I heard a woman walked right through that gate, and finally the academy’s golden bells rang in unison. All the students waited behind the gate to respectfully welcome her, and the academy masters together congratulated her. The next day, that woman became an academy master. You must know, she was a woman!”
“A woman can be a master? What kind of woman?” Gao Shanyang’s interest was successfully piqued by Yaoniang’s words.
“A foreign woman from the West. I heard she specialized in mathematics and natural philosophy. She used just one ladle of water to expand a new wooden bucket—who knows what magic she used.”
“Isn’t the academy forbidden to foreigners? How can there be a foreign woman? When I came, I needed all these people as cover. Am I, a princess, inferior to a foreign woman?”
Yaoniang looked at Gao Shanyang strangely and continued: “That foreign woman originally danced at our Yanlai Tower too. Then she met Marquis Yun, who discovered this woman was actually a saint from the West. You don’t know—the situation then was quite frightening. Even His Majesty came. Hypatia met His Majesty openly and straightforwardly, and finally broke through the academy gate, entering the academy by real ability. Who would dare not admire such a woman? Our Yanlai Tower produces such talent.” She finished by covering her mouth with her handkerchief and laughing softly.
How could Gao Shanyang not know that Yaoniang completely looked down on her? If not for money, she wouldn’t fawn over her like this. Both foreigners, but when speaking of that Hypatia her face showed pride, while speaking of herself…
“Yaoniang, why did you bring your sisters to the Dongyang River today?” A clear female voice called over. Yaoniang immediately ran excitedly to the bow, frantically waving her flowered handkerchief saying: “Master Hypatia, I’m here!”
Gao Shanyang turned her head and discovered a woman wearing an academy blue robe standing on a bamboo raft with several students behind her, continuously placing some strange objects into the water. Beside them sat an hourglass. Whenever the sand ran out, the students would lift up that strange object and look at it.
Hypatia crossed the gangplank onto Yanlai Tower’s large boat and warmly embraced the plump Yaoniang. Yaoniang’s laughter immediately increased several notches. The other songstresses also gathered around, all hugged by Hypatia one by one. The noise on the boat suddenly grew louder. The songstresses pulled out fruits and pastries, placing them beside Hypatia. Hypatia happily embraced left and right, completely ignoring those resentful-looking students on the bamboo raft.
“What are you doing, Hypatia? What’s that strange thing the students are holding?” A small songstress with an oval face nestled beside Hypatia and asked.
“Those are floats. There are three total. We’re measuring exactly how much water flows past in the Dongyang River every hourglass period, keeping records to see how much difference there is between the river’s high water and low water periods. This way we can roughly calculate how much water flows into Guanzhong in a year from these rivers originating in the Qinling Mountains. It’s very important for farming.”
“Oh my, this way you can calculate how much water is in the river!” Seeing the innocent expression on the oval-faced girl, Hypatia laughed proudly, pursed her lips and kissed the girl on the cheek, causing her to shyly burrow into Yaoniang’s embrace.
Yaoniang pushed the little girl right back out, laughing loudly: “This old lady has no milk to feed you. One kiss—you’re both women, you won’t lose any flesh.” Hypatia’s eyes roamed around and suddenly spotted Gao Shanyang sitting alone to the side. Her eyes immediately lit up. Smiling, she came to her side, grabbed her hand and brought it to her nose to smell, laughing: “So fragrant!”