After parting from Chief Administrator Zhang’s grain-transport fleet, they drew ever closer to Wuzhou. Along the way there passed a spot near the county where Gu Tong was soon to take up his post. Per regulations, he was permitted a brief trip home before reporting for duty.
The county was not right beside the canal, but said to be not far off. Gu Tong could not help standing at the prow and gazing in that general direction for a long time. The maps of the time were imprecise; he knew only the rough direction and secretly peered that way countless times. The people behind him on the boat nudged each other and shared hushed laughter.
Gu Tong seemed to catch something, whipped around suddenly — and saw nothing amiss. Turned back and went on staring.
After this stretch was passed, Zhù Ying had Xiang Le call Gu Tong into the cabin. Gu Tong was still a little giddy and distracted.
Zhù Ying asked: “About to manage your own people directly — are you ready?”
“Yes, yes!” Gu Tong nodded vigorously.
Xiao Liu and the others laughed. Gu Tong’s face went red.
Zhù Ying said: “What’s your plan?”
Gu Tong said: “Winter wheat is already starting to be sown! Teacher — give me a bit more seed grain…”
“And then?”
“Um…plant…”
“You’re a deputy magistrate. If there’s no one above you at first when you arrive and then your superior is assigned after you’ve settled in — how do you plan to get along with that person? The court selects officials — it’s not like going to a restaurant and ordering whatever you feel like. Even at a restaurant, you can’t control what’s on everyone else’s table. Do you understand what I mean?”
Gu Tong’s head cleared a little.
Zhù Ying continued: “Subordinates won’t necessarily listen to you either. Neither relentless punishment nor endless favors will necessarily work. Don’t tell people ‘if everyone just makes a greater effort and gets this done, everyone will benefit’ — unless they can already see the benefit right now; otherwise that has no credibility. As for everything else — you have this journey home to think it over. Think it through before you report for duty.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been at my side — you know what to do in practice. Dealing with those above and below you is something you’ll have to figure out yourself.”
“Yes.”
Gu Tong put aside his excitement. He pulled out some of the case files that Zhù Ying had obtained from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue and began carefully studying them.
The boat traveled a few more days. The long procession of grain-transport boats had already passed heading northward, and the river broadened again. Their own boat moved faster. A few more days on, they shifted from water to land. The boat could carry a great deal more than a cart, and you didn’t notice the load until you were on solid ground — at which point every item needed to be loaded onto vehicles. The enormous wagon train gave Zhang Xiangu quite a shock. Just her quilts alone took up two large carts.
Zhang Xiangu said: “How did it get to be this much?”
Zhù Ying said: “We had this much when we left the capital; then along the way we picked up some local products, so naturally there’s more.”
Taking advantage of the boat, whenever they passed through places they’d traveled before, she’d known which local specialty was good and they had purchased quite a lot. Various familiar faces along the route — old townspeople, old acquaintances — had also given gifts.
Zhang Xiangu said in some alarm: “Is it too much? Won’t it look bad if people see it?”
Zhù Ying said: “It’s fine — it’s not as if we’re heading to the capital with all this and people could say we’ve been extracting the people’s fat and blood.” Even going to the capital, this amount of baggage was not especially extraordinary.
They spent half a day loading the carts. Zhù Ying gave the order: “Split into two groups.” Her party would take part of the luggage and go ahead to Wuzhou — that is, the former Nanfu prefecture city. Xiao Liu, Ding Gui, and the rest would follow with the second batch in a couple of days.
Zhù Ying helped Zhang Xiangu up into the carriage. Zhù Shenhan insisted on riding on horseback; she said: “Very well.” They set off at a slower pace.
A few more days of travel, and even in the south the air had turned cold. The party dug coats out of their bags. Zhù Shenhan sneezed twice, dropped the pretense, wiped his nose, and climbed into a carriage.
Not much further — and there was Wuzhou’s border. They had arrived.
……——
The Wuzhou people had been working with tremendous energy. Upon receiving word one day, the next day they had sent for stonemasons and had the old inscriptions of “Nanfu” and such chiseled off the boundary markers, with “Wuzhou” freshly carved in their place. By the time Zhù Ying’s party arrived, everyone in the vicinity already knew — there was no more Nanfu; it was called Wuzhou now.
The moment Zhù Ying stepped into Wuzhou’s territory, someone came sprinting to report. By the time Zhù Ying checked into the relay station, the station master came forward with a face full of smiles: “Welcome, Prefect, welcome to Wuzhou! Congratulations, Prefect! Blessings, Prefect!” He poured out a carriage-load of auspicious phrases and announced that the rooms, food, and drinks were all prepared.
Zhù Ying said: “Same congratulations to you.”
Station master: “Yes, yes — we ordinary folk are sharing in your glory. Prefect, please this way.”
Zhù Ying’s party entered and rested. Xiang Le and the others couldn’t rest yet — still unpacking and arranging the carts. The station master bustled up and down, calling relay workers over to help.
The party rested the night, and the next day on the road, about halfway along, they saw someone running toward them in the distance, shouting when he caught sight of them: “Is that ahead the wagon of Wuzhou Prefect Prefect Zhù?!”
Gu Tong said: “Why does that voice sound so familiar?”
The person ran close — it was Xiao Wu, with two attendants. Gu Tong said: “Is that you? What are you hollering about? You sound completely false.”
Xiao Wu’s face was red with excitement: “What’s false about it? What did I say wrong?! Our lord is a prefect now!!!”
Gu Tong was so startled he nearly fell off his horse: “Don’t say this in front of Teacher — Teacher has never liked empty ceremony.”
Xiao Wu said: “What do you know? In serving a superior, there’s no such thing as overdoing it! Overdoing it gets you a scolding; underdoing it gets you sorted out! That’s much worse!”
Gu Tong said testily: “That’s for other people — not Teacher! Acting like this makes others think Teacher is the sort who enjoys being flattered — that would make Teacher look like a mediocre fool!”
Xiao Wu said: “I’m not arguing with you. I’m going to see my lord!”
Gu Tong’s words did have some effect, for Xiao Wu appeared quite normal by the time he saw Zhù Ying — he knelt in front of her horse.
Zhù Ying said: “What is this? Get up! You are a court official!” Though there was a considerable gap in their official ranks, when both were officials, occasions for kneeling in deference were actually rare. If her own subordinates knelt every time they saw her, a censorate official hearing about it would surely cause a major scene. One of the major distinctions between an official and a commoner was precisely this matter of “ritual” — at a hearing, a commoner had to kneel, while someone of rank did not. Between officials and commoners there were students at official schools and similar figures, who could at least kneel on a cushion.
Xiao Wu was helped up by Gu Tong and smiled again: “Everyone’s been looking forward to my lord’s return! The whole crew kept saying I’d made the most trips to the capital and knew the road best, so they voted for me to come out and meet my lord!”
Zhù Ying understood perfectly what he was thrilled about. The prefecture had been promoted to a prefectural-level unit; everyone was promoted one rank across the board. She had worked hardest for this, but among those who gained the most at a stroke, the biggest beneficiary was Zhang Jiong, who had jumped straight over the hardest hurdle. The others below had all risen one rank too; those who’d been in the lower tier crossed into the upper. Xiao Wu had also gotten his promotion!
Zhù Ying said: “The office hasn’t prepared anything excessive in the way of ceremony, has it?”
Xiao Wu smiled: “Certainly not.”
Zhù Ying said: “Gu Tong, ride ahead and check — no wasteful extravagance. Our Wuzhou’s foundation isn’t thick, you know.”
Gu Tong accepted the order and set off at speed. Xiao Wu, left behind, was too late to stop him and had to console himself by going to kowtow to Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Shenhan. This was acceptable — they were elders, so official ranks didn’t apply.
Gu Tong galloped ahead, arriving in the prefecture city — now Wuzhou city — to find smiling faces on every person in the streets, commerce proceeding normally, life going on as usual. He looked at the prefectural office — now the prefect’s office — and saw the old signboard already taken down, the new one not yet hung. A row of white guards out front were sweeping, sweeping while laughing and complaining: “Swept it just yesterday, and there’s horse dung again!”
Yet they were happy. Before long, Officer Peng also came out: “Hey, over there — hurry up, give that door another wipe!”
Gu Tong looked more carefully: the main gate had been freshly lacquered with bright red paint. Officer Peng whirled around and gave orders. His peripheral vision caught Gu Tong in mid-turn; he stopped dead, spun his head: “Young Master Gu?! My lord is back?! That Xiao Wu! He’s always bragging about how efficient he is!”
Gu Tong cut off his rambling: “Teacher is still coming up behind. I was sent ahead to take a look…”
“Everything is splendid and grand!” Officer Peng cut him off!
Gu Tong said: “Teacher said — no ostentation! We’ve only just become a subordinate prefecture — don’t get carried away! Rein it in.”
Officer Peng looked troubled and ushered Gu Tong into the compound, saying: “Young Master Gu, look — everyone’s happy and wants to celebrate together! The establishment of a prefecture is such an enormous thing! The elder townspeople also agree — when my lord arrives, everyone wants to go out and welcome her together. Elder Jing and the others said so.”
Gu Tong said: “Going out to welcome is fine. Just none of those things that make people cringe.”
With him keeping watch, the welcoming party finally settled down somewhat. They went out twenty li to meet the procession instead of the originally planned fifty. Elder Jing and the others brought tea and refreshments; various local gentry and elders also came with Registrar Wang and the others to go out of the city gates.
Twenty li took half a day to walk; the line of people behind stretched very long.
Zhù Ying said to Registrar Wang: “Everyone has taken such trouble. This is quite the grand welcome — I’m not sure I deserve it.”
Registrar Wang said: “Your humble servant and the rest only regret that it is not grand enough, and cannot begin to express our feelings!”
Then Elder Jing and others said: “Since my lord came, the lives of officials and common people alike have improved day by day — what is there to be undeserving of?”
Their entire speech was flattery, and they escorted Zhù Ying back to Wuzhou city.
The city’s residents too had heard the news and came out in families, young and old, some to welcome her at the city gate, some watching from in front of their homes. Zhù Ying bowed from atop her horse toward all sides. All the way to the gate of the prefectural compound.
Registrar Wang got in first: “The new sign has been prepared and is waiting for my lord to inscribe it before it can be made and hung. We have also prepared stone slabs; waiting for my lord to return and supply the inscription, and the stonemasons will then chisel through the night to have the new boundary markers ready to replace the old ones.”
The inscription had to go to the superior. Registrar Wang’s heart was like a clear mirror.
Entering the compound, the guards had already formed up in neat rows. Together they called out in one loud voice: “Welcome, Prefect!”
When Zhù Ying arrived at the main hall and sat down, the officials and clerks of the office stood arrayed before her in proper formation, faced her, and bowed in unison: “Welcome, Prefect, on your return to the office! Congratulations, my lord!”
Zhù Ying stood up and helped Registrar Wang to his feet: “What is all this? If everyone’s happy, then be happy — but this sort of thing isn’t acceptable. No second time. Everyone rise, please.”
Su Mingluan and the others were stunned silent. Shanque’s father-in-law thought: These mountain people are really something…
Registrar Wang, seeing Zhù Ying’s face showed not a trace of complacency, hurried to say: “My lord’s instruction is noted. Please give us a few words.”
Zhù Ying restated that from this point on no one should bow to her in this manner, and only then said: “Wuzhou is newly established — everyone knows that.” A round of cheers from below.
Zhù Ying said: “Wuzhou is starting from scratch. There’s much that will require everyone’s help going forward. As before: I will not fail you, and you must each apply yourselves, follow my orders, and fulfill your duties.”
Officials and clerks alike said: “We shall obey your orders.”
Xiao Wu pressed forward again and said: “The banquet is prepared. Please, my lord, change your clothes for the feast.”
Zhù Ying pointed to the people below: “Is there enough for everyone?”
“Yes.”
Zhù Ying nodded.
The reaction of those in the office had been within her expectations. She kept mild control, without deliberately dampening anyone’s spirits or publicly humiliating anyone. Rather than scolding people mercilessly, she preferred to give them more work to do — keep them busy enough that they had no time for theatrical displays.
Zhang Xiangu and the others first went to rest in the rear compound. She and Huajie and others needed to receive and entertain the wives and dependents of the various officials.
Zhù Ying was even busier. She changed clothes and came out to find people had already carried a table over for her to inscribe. One flowing stroke of the brush and she wrote all the inscriptions bearing Wuzhou’s name. Beyond these were a number of official documents requiring her signature as Wuzhou. And she also announced: “Any within Wuzhou’s borders who voluntarily wish to join the registered household rolls — this is permitted!”
Huajie thought: And that means my household registration would also…Truly worthy of Little Zhù.
The Wuzhou officials found this unremarkable. In many areas, officials working to root out hidden households did exactly this sort of thing. Proactive officials went out to the countryside on “sweeps,” entering unregistered farmland and people into the tax rolls. Passive ones declared: come register yourself!
Wuzhou was newly established and the prefect wanted to build up the population count — nothing more natural.
After all arrangements were attended to, Zhù Ying said: “Dismissed.”
Everyone dispersed. Huajie lingered behind. Participating in government affairs and in the full capacity of a proper official had been novel and exciting for her — more exciting even than it had been for Gu Tong. Still, she knew she had to stay composed, and did not fidget.
She said: “My lord — the foreign studies school’s medical students: can they be illiterate to start with? Could they be older in age?”
Zhù Ying said: “Of course.”
Huajie was pleased for a moment: “Then I — your official — will go ahead with arranging.”
Zhù Ying smiled.
That evening Zhù Ying learned that the first student Huajie intended to recruit was not some little girl from a family. It was a middle-aged woman, and one of her patients. The woman had lost her husband early and kept a small wool-thread shop going on her own. Her son had married; the son was filial, and seeing his mother’s ailments, had asked Huajie to treat her. Huajie diagnosed it as an old injury from childbirth in earlier years and treated her.
In their chats, the woman learned that Huajie had only begun studying medicine after her own husband died, and wanted to learn medicine herself!
Huajie had been happy to agree.
In the daytime she had received Zhù Ying’s permission and gone to finalize the arrangement with the woman. That evening she specifically found Zhù Ying to explain.
Zhù Ying said: “Then take Mother along as well.” She had never quite figured out what Zhang Xiangu enjoyed. Zhang Xiangu didn’t enjoy jumping-spirit performances; honestly, Zhù Shenhan didn’t either. Since Zhù Ying had become an official, neither of them had seemed to miss their old life at all — not compelled to give it up, just genuinely not missing it. They worshipped Buddha and the celestial lords; sometimes said “I see that such and such a person has bad features,” but had never once seemed wistful for the old days.
Zhù Shenhan had a small fondness for drinking; Zhang Xiangu worried about this perpetually. The two of them had been slowly learning to read and reading a few dispatches in recent years — at least it gave them something to do. Now there was nothing to do again.
Huajie said: “All right! Does this…count as official school students?”
“No. If she’s willing, bring her along. Or ask what she likes. Actually — ask and you already know the answer: she wants me to be well, and she wants me to have a child.”
Huajie gave a helpless laugh: “I’ll poke around gradually. Don’t get annoyed — they’re worried about you. These past few years watching you work yourself this hard, they’ve only worried in the back of their minds; didn’t dare say it to your face.”
“I know.”
Huajie suddenly said with feeling: “Am I truly…really…an official now? I’ve been afraid that if I do it badly and people say women aren’t suited to hold office, it could ruin everything.”
“Haven’t I done quite well?” Zhù Ying said.
“That’s you.”
“Mm. There will be more. Forget me — just look at Military Minister Wu and Cui Jiacheng: both served ten-plus years without a single slip. Beyond that, I’ve never heard anyone say that since so many men break the law in office, men are clearly unsuitable to hold office.”
The mountain beyond kept outside hands from reaching into her “villa.” The people inside the mountains had no jurisdiction over her. Within her “villa,” she could do as she pleased — as long as she could feed the people of this small city, she was fine.
Huajie said: “Managing a household — anyone can do that.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Zhù Ying said. “Right now it’s a villa. In the future, might it be a county town?”
Huajie gave another start, then smiled: “Doing this sort of thing — it could only be you! I’ll go talk with Adoptive Mother now.”
“Ah — have her start getting ready too. Look over what she wants to bring. I’ll do a round of inspections below, and then we head into the mountains.”