Returning alongside Zhù Qingjun was Xiang Le. Both of them looked somewhat darker in complexion than before, and Zhù Qingjun had grown slightly taller. After all their travels, the two of them appeared more vigorous than ever.

Zhù Ying’s sentimentality lasted only a moment. She composed herself and folded the quilt onto the couch in her study, then asked them: “Was the journey smooth?”

Xiang Le said: “Yes. On the way there, with the Young Miss’s seal, we traveled without obstruction the entire way. On the way back, we went under the name of Magistrate Su, and there was no hindrance either. Magistrate Su and the others also sent letters.”

This journey had been taken with specific tasks in hand, and coming back they carried so many letters and documents that the two of them had even brought a small chest to the study, from which they continuously produced things to present.

Zhù Qingjun sorted out two letters: “This is Magistrate Su’s letter addressed separately to Little Sister, and this one was dictated by the Shanque family and written down by me on their behalf, addressed to Lin Feng.”

After that came the very thick family letters written in meticulous detail by Zhang Xiangu, Hua Jie, and others — every single one of them extremely thick — along with letters written separately to Zhù Ying by Su Mingluan and others.

Xiang Le said: “The head of the Talang family also asked whether it would be permissible to send A’Fa over. Su Feihu also said he has sons who can be of use, and asked whether you wanted any.”

Zhù Ying gave a nod and asked: “What else?”

Zhù Qingjun produced a sheaf of manuscripts from the chest: “These are the latest drafts from Teacher and Sister Jiang. They say they have made some new discoveries.”

Zhù Ying asked: “What prompted Xiao Jiang’s new discoveries this time?”

It was easy enough to understand Hua Jie having new discoveries — people were constantly falling ill, and it was entirely natural to keep improving methods of treatment through the process of treating sickness. But Xiao Jiang was a forensic examiner — her discoveries could hardly have come from sitting at home with the door shut!

Zhù Qingjun and Xiang Le exchanged a glance, and Xiang Le said lightly: “Well, some people died.”

“Tell me in detail.”

Zhù Qingjun said: “Ah — it is not very serious, actually. It is just that, earlier, the Yigan family — they had moved further away, and the land where they originally lived was quite good…”

The Yigan family had originally occupied a very fine stretch of territory. As a branch of the Huapa tribe, their fighting ability was somewhat inferior to others, so they had chosen a location behind a narrow gorge — convenient for defense. At the same time, the Yigan cave lord had married his daughter off to the Suoning cave lord, partly as a way of borrowing his new son-in-law’s strength.

Unluckily for him, the Suoning cave lord had encountered Zhù Ying, and the entire Suoning family had been wiped out. The Yigan cave lord had led his entire village in a night-time flight, leaving behind what had been a very good stretch of land. At the time, owing to various considerations and the fact that she did not have quite enough people to occupy that stretch of land, Zhù Ying had chosen not to cultivate it, sending only a few people to graze there occasionally.

At the time, Lu Guo, Xi Jin, and others, seeing Zhù Ying and the Asu family divide the Suoning family’s holdings, had been consumed with envy, regretting they had not joined in. With the Suoning family gone, there was still the Yigan family, who had been connected to the Suoning family by marriage. The two of them had wanted to follow up on the earlier victory, swoop down on the Yigan family, and divide them up as well. Zhù Ying had not agreed at the time.

While Zhù Ying was present, she could keep them in check. Once Zhù Ying left, Su Mingluan could not always manage to make her uncles behave, let alone control Lang Kunwu’s uncle. The Shanque father-in-law was somewhat better at restraining himself — remembering that Zhù Ying had not sanctioned this course of action, he had held back.

Lu Guo and Xi Jin had joined forces in the spring, hoping to apply to the Yigan family the same methods Zhù Ying had used against the Suoning family. The land itself was not their main concern — they wanted to seize people to fill out their own villages. These days, a person who could farm and do labor was far more valuable than one sacrificed in a ritual.

The result was that they overplayed their hand completely.

The willpower and methods of Zhù Ying and Su Mingluan were simply beyond what these two were capable of matching.

Moreover, Zhù Ying and Su Mingluan had built up a considerable reputation. When Zhù Ying said she would free slaves, she freed them — on the private estate, there were no slaves in shackles; everyone had land to work, could manage to clothe themselves, had more or less enough to eat, and lived in a house that did not let in the wind. Judgments were fair and impartial. Su Mingluan, though she carried a bit of the cave lord’s manner, basically did what she said she would do.

Lu Guo and Xi Jin were another matter. In dealing with their own slaves, though they had made much noise about freeing them, in practice the treatment was nowhere near as good. If they did not like the look of a slave, beatings and scoldings still happened; rent was heavy, corvée was burdensome. Old abuses from years past remained plentiful. Of course, things were better than before.

But none of this held any great appeal for the Yigan family’s slaves.

They were also Huapa tribespeople, also not particularly strong fighters. The Yigan family had originally vacated their fine stretch of land — an act that was “voluntary” but born of intimidation; what they had feared, however, was not these two families. Now, seeing the two families attacking, the Yigan family fought back with a kind of desperate valor. These soldiers of “a righteous cause” routed the two families completely.

The Yigan family pressed their advantage and in turn seized some slaves from the two families. It was fortunate that Su Feihu was nearby and noticed in time, pulling his uncle to safety. Both uncles returned in disgrace, still wanting to rally their nephews to take revenge. They were held down by the other three families.

Zhù Ying asked: “Is the private estate still safe?”

Zhù Qingjun said: “Old Hou went to meet them, and we did not end up fighting with the Yigan family. Teacher did not allow it! Teacher said you had told them to guard the home, not to provoke fights. Sister Jiang also said we are not anyone else’s hired muscle.”

As she spoke, she produced two very thick notebooks from the chest: “Everything I saw and heard on this trip, I wrote it all in here.”

Xiang Le felt a private stab of shame — he had also written an account, but had only filled seven pages, fairly brief.

Both handed over their documents, then briefly described various other matters. The private estate’s harvest was better year after year; the land was gradually being broken in and cultivated; the population had grown considerably; there were many more children.

Zhù Qingjun said: “That said, each mu of land can only yield so much grain — it cannot be pushed much further. With more mouths to feed, more land will have to be opened.”

The workshops on the private estate were also doing well. The local prefect’s earlier disruptions had in the end forced the workshops inside the mountains to become largely self-sufficient in what they could produce, and the nearby villages all came here to buy goods; the craftsmen’s skills had steadily improved. Though not as refined as those of the large cities below the mountains, they were adequate for their own use.

Zhù Ying then asked: “And the sugar mill?”

Xiang Le said: “Profits are somewhat down compared to before — without you there, all manner of inconveniences arise. But several more workshops have been opened, so the overall volume of profit is still respectable. The Governor Zhang has not been hard on people, and the county magistrates have all been well-disposed.”

“What about the salt?”

Zhù Qingjun said: “Magistrate Su has already found a site; it is just that the salt-making technique is still a bit lacking, and there is not much profit to be had. All written inside. I drew a diagram.”

Zhù Ying nodded. Profit or no profit was not the pressing concern — the ability to produce one’s own salt was what mattered.

Since it had all been written down, she would look it over later: “Leave all of this here, then. What about you two? How is everything at home?”

Zhù Qingjun said that Teacher and the others were all well, that Sister Jiang’s little daughter was toddling all over the place, and so on. Xiang Le said his family was well too, except that his own son did not recognize him and had been frightened into crying.

Zhù Ying said: “You have been away from home too long — that is on me…”

Xiang Le quickly said: “Even without following you, the situation would be the same. A merchant family — which of them does not go away from home for many days at a stretch? I was like that as a child too. And following you, their lives are vastly better than they were when I was a child.”

His mother had also asked about the matter of his sister’s marriage prospects. This Xiang Le had no intention of raising with Zhù Ying — she was indifferent to relations between men and women, single-mindedly focused on other things, and it was truly pointless to bring it up. Besides, from the look of his sister, she had no intention of becoming anyone’s concubine either. Hmm! Just take in a husband and be done with it!

Zhù Ying said: “I have taken note of this matter. You have both been through much hardship on this journey — go and rest first.”

Both withdrew. Zhù Qingjun went to find Su Zhe and the others; Xiang Le went to find his sister.

Zhù Ying remained in the study and began opening the letters.

Each person had written at extraordinary length. Hua Jie wrote about the two elders’ daily lives, the small and large affairs on the private estate, and then added: “Xiao Jiang has settled in, and has been of great help to me. On the private estate, only the two of us have any understanding of how government offices operate; the various managers here can only be considered barely adequate. We can only muddle through by learning as we go. The students are learning better and better — I worry sometimes that eventually I will have nothing left to teach them, and might hold them back.”

There was nothing to be done about it. The private estate’s foundations were thin, and if she could have been given even just one more year living there, things would be very different from now. Zhù Ying felt a pang of regret.

Zhang Xiangu’s reminders covered every conceivable aspect of daily life — food, clothing, shelter, and warmth — and she also mentioned that she had raised a coop of chickens and gathered fresh eggs to eat every day. Her final words: “Don’t economize on the household.”

Beyond these, Zhù Da, Xiao Jiang, and others all sent letters. Xiao Jiang wrote: “The Court of Judicial Review should find forensic examination experience useful — I have compiled some more. I was originally worried that Older Sister might be soft-hearted and unable to be harsh when necessary in order to establish authority, but she has actually done quite well.” Zhù Da asked when Zhù Ying could return for a family reunion. Even Hou Wu had sent two pages, saying he would look after the home.

Su Mingluan gave a detailed account of the trouble her uncles had caused, which matched more or less what Zhù Qingjun had described.

Su Mingluan had written of her own reflections: she could not simply let them carry on this way! She often woke in the middle of the night in a fright, having dreamed that one day their expansion had gone too smoothly, that the people below had grown too confident, and that every one of them wanted a share — a village to be their own chieftain. Yet children beget children, and children beget grandchildren — how could everyone possibly be satisfied?

And yet all people are drawn toward advantage; once they have tasted the sweetness, one fears there is no stopping them. Perhaps because I am a woman, and have no fallback position, any setback will bring me far more blame than it would a man — so I cannot afford to be reckless. Yet I have no particularly good solution to this problem either. The only thing I can think of is to put a stop to this tendency from the very beginning.

But that in turn confines all of “one’s own people” to this small piece of land, which easily leads to internal strife. If there is truly no other way, perhaps the only option is to let those who want to fight go out and fight, let them die off a little, and burn through some of the excess.

Terribly troubling!

Only this letter gave Zhù Ying cause for deep reflection. What Su Mingluan described, she had long since thought through and seen clearly. And it was not only the outer five counties — was the entire realm any different? The descendants of the privileged and noble grew ever more numerous; those who lived off others’ labor formed an ever-expanding mass; expansion outward always had its limits; once that stopped, there would be land seizures; and after that, the people would be unable to sustain their lives, and then upheaval would follow.

Lu Guo and Xi Jin had in fact followed their instincts to the “correct path” available to them given their circumstances.

Zhù Ying set these letters aside and went on to examine the reports Zhù Qingjun and Xiang Le had brought back. Most of the conditions described were things she had mentally prepared for — the general picture across most areas showed some decline. Without the strong support of a governor-level authority, some decline was inevitable. Merely maintaining the status quo was already commendable.

There were also good things to note. Zhù Qingjun wrote that Wuzhou and Jiyuan Prefecture gave a sense that was unlike anywhere else — a harmony between men and women. The proportion of girls who could read was higher than in other places; there were women managers, women workers; women did not shrink away and avoid being seen as they did in other places. The growth in population on the private estate was partly from people who had come to “take shelter from trouble,” a considerable number of them women. Between the lines of Zhù Qingjun’s writing, a spirit of ease and openness was palpable.

She also wrote that affairs on the private estate were now mainly managed by Hua Jie; the estate’s storehouses were well-stocked. There had been only some minor quarrels and scuffles, and so far there had been no fatalities. The smaller villages beneath had seen two homicide cases, but Xiao Jiang had solved them. The “estate militia” were skilled at both hunting and fighting, and very obedient. Hou Wu trained them on a regular schedule and patrolled with great diligence, and they held the Zhù family in great respect — no cases had been found of able-bodied men showing disrespect to the elders and Hua Jie and the others, no “subordinates defying their superiors.”

Zhù Ying felt a private twinge of shame — but! She herself in the capital was engaged in precisely the practice of “ministers using the Emperor to their advantage.”

Xiang Le’s report covered mainly the situation in the inner three counties, which by now was Jiyuan Prefecture — though they still habitually called it the inner three counties. Land reclamation in the inner three counties had gone well; the population had grown considerably. Xiang Le had also written about the conditions of the officials throughout the prefecture and its three counties — their reputations and conduct and so on. He had also visited the government schools, and concluded by writing: “It is a pity the foreign studies academy in the prefecture is gone, but the Zhù Elder Lady is running classes again on the private estate and taking on students. The medical studies section of the foreign academy continues, and various families are sending their children to the private estate again; Chou Wen will not go up the mountain, but Su Deng is willing to come to the private estate and teach, and has taken on twenty new students to continue the original coursework.”

Oh, if only I were still there on the private estate right now! Zhù Ying thought.

Zhù Ying gathered all the documents and placed them back in the chest, closed the lid, and drummed her fingers on the top.

Serving as the Court of Judicial Review Chief Justice — a higher post, yes, but the range of things she could actually do was far narrower than when she had been the Wuzhou Governor!

Zhù Ying felt a strong impulse to request a posting to the regions. At least in the regions, she could have the final say.

She ultimately suppressed that impulse, and instead drafted several letters to the south. First she addressed the affairs of the private estate, urging repeatedly that no impulsive “military action” be taken — their foundations were thin, and without someone coordinating the whole, things could easily spin into self-destruction. She told her family not to worry about her — she was steadying things in the capital, and would in due course find a way to give the private estate a clear and proper footing. She asked everyone to take good care of their health, and said there was no need to send money to the capital — she had enough.

Then she wrote to Su Mingluan, saying that her worries were well-founded — it was not only in Wuzhou; it was the same below the mountains. And so the approach she was now working on was to add “industry and commerce” to the foundation of farming and weaving. Whether it would work she was not certain, but trying it out, the feeling so far was reasonably acceptable. Going forward, whatever problems arose, they would be faced and solved as they came! No one can expect to settle everything at a single stroke. The good news is that we are both still here. Cross the mountain when you reach the mountain, build the bridge when you reach the river — the children will walk this road further behind us.

As she wrote on and on, she found it was beginning to sound entirely like Wang Yunhe. She put down her brush and smiled to herself.

Since she had started writing, she would write everything she needed to write. There were still letters to soothe and settle Xi Jin and the others; and a reply to the Shanque father-in-law, who had heard that Zhù Ying had secured an official post for his son Lin Feng, and had specifically written to express his thanks. Zhù Ying replied without ceremony, assigning him a duty: keep a watch on Xi Jin and Lu Guo.

And there was Lang Kunwu to address — she told him that A’Fa was still too young, and that she would take another look when the child was older. Whatever happened, she would plan on his behalf.

And so on and so forth.

……

Having finished the letters, Zhù Ying specifically sent Zhù Wen with two additional people, along with two chests of items bestowed by the Emperor and some gold silk and cloth, making up a whole boatload of goods, dispatched southward. It was now the ninth month — even if they encountered congestion on the waterways from governors making their way to the capital, the boat would reach Wuzhou by the end of the eleventh month.

That would be just in time for preparations for the New Year there.

For the past two years, the family had been the ones sending things to her — this year it was also time for her to send something home.

Having dispatched Zhù Wen, Zhù Ying turned to take stock of the “southern goods” that Zhù Qingjun and Xiang Le had brought back. The Xiang family, leaning on Zhù Ying’s support these past years, had genuinely made a good deal of money; and though it was not a holiday occasion, they had still put together a selection of things to send along for Zhù Ying.

Beyond this, there were the items Zhang Xiangu had prepared — distinctive local lingzhi mushrooms, southern medicinal herbs, cinnabar and mercury, along with large quantities of preserved fruits and candied sweets. Zhù Ying looked these over, selected a portion, divided them into several lots, and instructed that they be sent to several households.

The one household she went to in person was Liu Songnian’s — bringing a few items including the cinnabar. Liu Songnian had a particular fondness for the sugarcane paper and coarse cloth from Wuzhou.

After that, she continued her routine of attending morning court and tending to official duties.

One day, having just come from morning court and walking back toward the Court of Judicial Review, she was stopped by someone. Zhù Ying spoke first: “Brother Li?”

Li Yan-qing returned the courtesy with clasped hands: “My apologies for the interruption.”

Zhù Ying returned half a bow: “You have some matter at hand?”

“Yes — I come with a request.”

“What might it be?”

Li Yan-qing said: “There are some affairs of the Court of State Ceremonial on which I would like to ask your guidance.”

“Please come this way.”

Zhù Ying brought him to the Court of Judicial Review, first telling her staff: “Continue with yesterday’s arrangements.” Then she led Li Yan-qing to her own office and invited him to take a seat.

Li Yan-qing accepted a cup of tea and said: “As you know, Princess Ande has also passed away now, and Sheng Vice Chief Justice is occupied to the point of being overwhelmed. But this year, foreign envoys have become more numerous than before — they missed the New Year’s Day court audience at the beginning of the year, and now a few of them, having just heard news of His Majesty’s accession, wish to come and offer their congratulations. I would like to ask your guidance on how affairs were handled in previous years. For unusual situations like this, do you have any advice?”

Zhù Ying noted that he had not mentioned Leng Yun, from which she understood there was more being left unsaid. Leng Yun was somewhat better than Luo Sheng had been, but he was not the kind of superior one could follow with one’s eyes shut. A subordinate who wished to actually get things done under him had to do their own thinking. She then laid out in full what she had previously done herself: the housing of trade envoys alongside diplomatic envoys, and the use of the former Zhao Wang residence, and so on — all of it given to Li Yan-qing in detail. Li Yan-qing exclaimed with admiration: “You truly have the talent of Guan Zhong!”

“That is far too generous!”

“If I were being polite, I would cite a different worthy figure. But only Guan Zhong strikes me as resembling you.”

Zhù Ying said: “Then I shall take that resemblance as an aspiration.”

The two of them shared a smile. Li Yan-qing gave his thanks: “I will not keep you from your proper affairs any further.”

Zhù Ying walked him out of the Court of Judicial Review.

The Court of State Ceremonial was genuinely very busy these days. Foreign envoys were not necessarily required to arrive in the capital in time for the New Year’s Day court audience — but many would choose to stay until this occasion, and the court would specifically arrange for certain foreign envoys to be present during New Year’s Day as a spectacle of grandeur before the Emperor. Li Yan-qing was now in charge of exactly this task.

With the previous Emperor’s passing, many of the older generation had also been dying off one by one in the time since. A few days after Princess Ande, General Ruan fell gravely ill. The Emperor dispatched imperial physicians to attend him; they returned to report that he was failing. The Emperor also sent out the palace’s most skilled masters of forbidden arts, but still no improvement was seen.

Many eyes were trained on General Ruan’s position. A steady stream of well-wishers came to call at the Ruan household to inquire after his health. General Ruan, knowing he would not recover, dictated a death-bed memorial, had his son write it out for him, and in it recommended Zhong Yi’s son Zhong Wei to succeed him. Beyond this, he said to Zheng Xi, who had come to pay his respects: “If after death I could be like the late Chief Minister Chen, I could close my eyes in peace.”

Zheng Xi understood his meaning, took his hand, and said: “Rest easy.”

He brought General Ruan’s death-bed memorial back to present to the Emperor. The Emperor looked at the name Zhong Wei, and his brow creased faintly — no response was given. Zhong Wei was a member of the Zhong family, a man of the previous Emperor’s era, and the Emperor did not particularly favor him.

Zheng Xi acted as though he knew nothing of this, simply waiting for General Ruan to draw his last breath before petitioning to have General Ruan also buried alongside the previous Emperor.

Yet on the question of who should succeed as the Grand General of the Imperial Guards, Zheng Xi had no intention of supporting Zhong Wei. He had no close connection with Zhong Wei, and would rather push for one of Zheng Marquis’s old subordinates.

On the other side, the Wei Wang also approached the Emperor and probed carefully: “The Imperial Guards are of direct concern to Your Majesty’s safety — one must not be careless. But they must also be settled quickly. Does Your Majesty have a candidate in mind?”

The Emperor asked: “In your view?”

The Wei Wang said: “One’s own family is always more trustworthy.”

“Hmm.” The Emperor nodded.

The Wei Wang said: “The fourth son of the Prince An household — what does Your Majesty think?”

The Emperor remained noncommittal and vague, without making up his mind. Seeing this, the Wei Wang pressed no further, and instead turned to speak of Princess Ande’s passing, saying she had departed with her heart full of worry for her son. The Emperor was quick to engage with this topic: “Note it down — once the mourning period has ended, tell me.” A close cousin — he had to arrange something for the young man!

The Wei Wang said: “Very well.”

The two spoke again of memories from their youth with Princess Ande. The Wei Wang said softly: “She was gentler than Princess Anren, which is why she was less visible — and yet she was just as much our blood and bone!”

The Emperor agreed: “You are right.”

The two talked for a while longer about old times before the Wei Wang took his leave.

Once the funeral rites for General Ruan were completed, there was no further mention from the Emperor of filling the post. Wang Yunhe was suddenly seized by a sense of foreboding!

His premonition was entirely correct. At that very moment, the Emperor was summoning Zhù Ying and posing a question: “What would it take to have Shi Xi appointed Grand General?”

This was simply making things difficult!

Zhù Ying said: “The obstacle is not whether the Council of State will agree or not — it is whether he can actually command the seasoned and formidable troops of the Imperial Guards.”

By any measure of Shi Xi’s experience, there was no indication he had such ability. Zhù Ying had paid a visit to Shi Kun — bringing a few local southern products as a gift to share with him — and had taken the opportunity to ask for his assessment of the Prince Consort. Over the past month of digging graves under Shi Kun’s direction, the Prince Consort had performed well enough. Coordinating a construction project and commanding troops did have certain similarities in terms of organization, but the Imperial Guards — for the time being, Shi Xi could not handle them.

The Emperor was silent for a moment, then said: “Others are probably not suitable either.”

Zhù Ying said: “In matters directly concerning Your Majesty’s safety, a measure of caution cannot hurt. As for the Prince Consort — you trust him, and you wish to cultivate him. There is no reason not to place him in the Imperial Guards and, starting one rank below Grand General, have him serve in that capacity first, then see how he performs. If he does well, Your Majesty will also have just cause to promote him.”

The Emperor tilted his head back and pondered for a moment, then said: “That may very well work.”

Among the six Generals of the Imperial Guards, one unfortunate soul had been Zhou You’s superior and had been implicated by the Zhou You affair; he had been demoted, and that vacancy was now where the Emperor placed his son-in-law. His resolve to cultivate his own people was unwavering.

The Council of State had no particular objection to this appointment. The Wei Wang enthusiastically supported it from the sidelines. Zhù Ying simply stood still as a pillar, thinking about going to find Yao Zhen for a conversation afterward.