Three knocks sounded at the cabin door. There was no need to ask who it would be at this hour — it could only be Xiao Liu. Hua Zhi withdrew her hand and gestured for Nian Qiu to open the door.
In her heart, she knew Xiao Liu’s identity was far from ordinary. But because he was close in age to Bailin, and had appeared before her in such a wretched state, she had long since grown accustomed to treating him little differently from the way she treated Bailin during their daily interactions. For the sake of her own dignity as an elder sister, she was still mindful around Xiao Liu not to be too openly affectionate with Yanxi.
Xiao Liu came in carrying a gust of cold air. Hua Zhi’s brow furrowed slightly. “Why did you not dress more warmly? The wind is strong on the boat.”
“I thought it would just be a matter of stepping in and out — I forgot.”
Nian Qiu moved briskly to pour hot tea and bring it over. Xiao Liu cupped it in both hands to drive out the chill.
“Xiao Shuang should have reminded you.”
Xiao Liu gave a sheepish laugh and said nothing — certainly not that Xiao Shuang had reminded him and was still standing outside holding his cloak. If he had come in all bundled up and warm, how would he get to hear Elder Sister Hua’s concerned words?
Gu Yanxi glanced at him but did not expose him, and instead redirected A’Zhi’s attention to business. “If we are to do anything in Jinyang, we will need to find someone there to cooperate with us. From my observations these past few days, the people of Jinyang are deeply resistant to and guarded toward outsiders, and will not easily accept the involvement of outside forces.”
“That is certainly true.” Hua Zhi accepted the hand warmer Nian Qiu passed to her and held it in both palms. “But the Zeng Family will not do.”
“I thought you had a favorable view of the Zeng Family.”
“My impression of Zeng Xiangyan himself is not bad — but it extends only to him personally. As for the Zeng Family as a whole… I heard Yu Weiwei mention offhandedly that though the Zeng Family has been entrenched in Jinyang for many generations, they were not nearly as powerful when she was young. It is the eldest son who has the ability — it was he who brought the Zeng Family to the standing it holds now, among the top families here.”
“You mean… the Zeng Family may be connected to the Chaoli tribe?”
Hua Zhi shook her head. “To draw that conclusion from this one point alone would be too far a stretch. I simply have a sense that the eldest Zeng son is not a simple man. Very few family patriarchs willingly hand over full authority to their son while they are still alive. And this was over ten years ago — by my reckoning, he would only be around thirty years old now. I had Yu Mu look into it: the Zeng patriarch does not strike me as the sort of man who would entrust such a large family to a thirty-year-old son without some kind of backing. There must be something behind it. How could one cooperate with a person whose full background remains unclear?”
Gu Yanxi nodded, and then heard A’Zhi continue: “Whether it is the gambling den, the horse track, or anything else — the Zeng Family clearly puts in the most effort of any party involved. By rights, they ought to be the ones receiving the greatest share of the profits. Yet from what Yu Mu has found and what I gathered from Yu Weiwei, the reality does not appear to be that way. I simply cannot believe there is anyone in this world who happily does all the work and lets someone else reap the rewards.”
Gu Yanxi had already considered this point himself. “Is there anyone you have your eye on?”
“I do not dare trust Jinyang people lightly. The Jinyang of today is like a landscape riddled with black gunpowder buried everywhere — no one knows where stepping might set off an explosion and blow them to pieces. In this affair, beyond providing a few new forms of entertainment, I will not be involving myself in anything else.”
Gu Yanxi smiled and agreed readily. When it came to knowing her own place and limits, there was probably no one in the world who did it better than A’Zhi.
Speaking of black gunpowder, Hua Zhi remembered. “How far along is the research on the black gunpowder now? Has it been stabilized?”
“Not yet stable enough. But the power it can produce is already visible. On this trip to Shadow Mountain Pass, I had Wu Xing demonstrate it for me. An enormous section of the mountainside was blown apart. If it were used against people, I doubt there would be whole bodies left.” Gu Yanxi’s eyes shone. “I had Wu Xing keep it under wraps and continue researching. It will serve as Shadow Mountain Pass’s final trump card. With so many malignant forces still lurking within Daqing, the fewer people who know, the better.”
Hua Zhi could not have agreed more. A weapon of such destructive power, once it made its appearance in the world, ought to cut through all opposition in a grand sweep — otherwise it would be an insult to the thing itself.
“Black gunpowder… what is that?”
Hua Zhi paused. Right — Xiao Liu knew nothing of this. Bearing his identity in mind, she quickly weighed matters inwardly and then explained the origins and uses of black gunpowder to him, being as thorough as she could so as not to leave any splinter in his heart that he might later overturn everything with the flick of a hand.
“It is truly that powerful?” Xiao Liu had not overthought it; his expression was alive with excitement. “Does that not mean that even if the Chaoli tribe were to mount another offensive, we need not fear them?”
Hua Zhi and Yanxi exchanged a swift glance. Gu Yanxi took over: “If Wu Xing were given eight or ten years to develop it further, Daqing could boldly say that with full confidence. For now, it can only be effective by surprise. As a hidden trump card while no one yet knows of it, that is workable — and even in its current state, it can give enemies cause for apprehension. But to rely on it in its present form to subdue the Chaoli tribe outright? That would be difficult.”
“Still, it is a wonderful thing.” Xiao Liu was so excited he could barely sit still. He stood and began pacing back and forth. He was a prince — and a reasonably sharp one at that — so he could naturally grasp the significance of such a thing for Daqing. What were eight or ten years? Daqing would surely hold on for at least that long!
“Is the Seven-Constellation Division currently the one researching this? Would it help to transfer some skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Works? Keeping it concealed would not be difficult — find a perfectly legitimate pretext, confine them somewhere, and that would be that. No one would dare ask what the Seven-Constellation Division is up to.”
Hua Zhi had no wish to dampen his enthusiasm, but — “You are being too optimistic. Confining craftsmen for a day or a month is one thing; if you plan to keep people shut away for three, five, or eight years, do you think the Ministry of Works would say nothing? Even if they would not dare poke at the Seven-Constellation Division’s tiger whiskers, there is always one person who would dare. An operation of this scale — how would you explain it to the Emperor? And if the Emperor learned of the existence of black gunpowder, have you thought about what the consequences might be?”
Xiao Liu’s smile froze on his face. “The Emperor cannot know about this?”
“If he knew its capabilities, the first thing he would think of would not be using it against the Chaoli tribe — it would be blowing open the canal he has been dreaming of for years. Do you believe me or not?”
“…”
“Who knows what other ideas might occur to him after that.” Hua Zhi had by now taken the measure of the Emperor well enough to know what things absolutely could not be allowed to reach his ears. “Xiao Liu, the canal — if it were built — would genuinely be a great undertaking for the nation and the people. The south would no longer suffer from floods. With black gunpowder clearing the way, it might even be achieved in three years. But it cannot be now, amid both internal troubles and external threats. I am not holding things back purely to save the glory of this achievement for you. The conditions are simply not ripe. You have seen what Jinyang is like. If the Chaoli tribe has truly been drawing on Jinyang’s wealth for years, the reserves they have amassed by now are already considerable. After years of scheming, and with so many of their informants pulled out by Yanxi, they may not be able to hold back much longer — do you understand what I am saying?”
The last of Xiao Liu’s excitement cooled and faded entirely, replaced by a hint of deflation. “I had not thought of all that. But I know that everything Elder Sister Hua does is for my sake.”
“…That was a nicely played display of compliance.” Hua Zhi looked at him with a half-smile as he revealed a sheepish expression, then thought to herself that she had at last managed to lay all of these matters out plainly in this manner. She had no wish to play games of strategy with Xiao Liu — and precisely because she did not, it was necessary to seal off every possible place where things could go wrong right from the very beginning.