Zhù Ying slept soundly through the night. When she rose the next morning, Zhù Qingjun and the others were also stirring one by one.

The headquarters kitchen’s food was no worse than back at Zhù Mansion. Su Zhe picked up a slice of crisp lotus root with her chopsticks, chewed it, and narrowed her eyes in contentment — the taste was excellent!

Lin Feng said: “Is it really that good?”

Su Zhe said: “You would not understand!”

The two traded a couple of jibes, then, noticing Zhù Ying eating in silence, quickly fell quiet themselves and sped up their eating. The central hall was five rooms wide — Zhù Ying ate in the center room, and the young men from the northern territories were spread through the two side rooms on each end. The center fell silent, and the side rooms went quiet too, eating in silence for a time with only the clatter of bowls and chopsticks and the sound of people chewing.

When everyone had finished eating, the attendants cleared away the dishes, and only then did Zhù Ying speak: “Everyone get to work promptly. You several — collect the petitions from this locality, categorize them, and look through them. For those who cannot write, arrange for someone to record their complaints. Once done, move to the next locality. While you are at it, inquire about the reputation of the local gentry families.”

Su Zhe and the others quickly said: “Yes.”

Zhù Ying also asked where the gifts the Prefects had sent her were, and Zhù Qingjun said: “As you instructed, only a modest portion was kept; the rest has been returned. Let me go get it.”

Zhù Ying said: “No need — I will go look myself. Go on about your business.” She raised her voice slightly so everyone could hear, then told them all to proceed to their assigned tasks.

She herself called for Jin Liang, and they went together to the room where the things were temporarily stored.

Jin Liang said: “Even if you had accepted everything, it would have been fine. You have run this whole way and put in all this work — these officials could not do their own jobs, and you are the one carrying their burdens. They owe you this.”

Zhù Ying gave a rueful smile: “The north is in this condition — I would feel bad taking it. And if I did not take anything at all… they would be scared to death. It would also break ‘convention,’ making me an oddity, and then affairs would be even harder to manage. What do I have on my side? Just those forty young men, and they were only gathered this past month. I have to ‘fit in with the group.'”

Jin Liang said: “Is there truly no one out there who is both honest and capable?”

“Honest ones are rare, capable ones are rare too, and both honest and capable at the same time — even rarer. With the situation so pressing, I have no choice but to settle for capable. Let us not speak of this. Help me look over what we have — we need to select some gifts to present to Prince Zheng when we visit him.”

Jin Liang heard this and could not help breaking into a smile.

The two selected gifts. Jin Liang was still hesitating, not wanting to bring too much of Zhù Ying’s own things over to Prince Zheng. Zhù Ying noticed and said: “You just go ahead and pick freely — even if you brought everything, it would be fine. What good thing has he not seen? I feel this is too meager a showing as it is.”

Jin Liang said: “The Prince is not an unreasonable man. In the household, how he treats you has always been different from how he treats others. You have always been considerate.”

Zhù Ying said: “In those years, Prince Zheng gave me no shortage of good things either.” The gifts were nothing particularly valuable; she had also had Yin Wen go purchase some pigs, sheep, fruit, and wine to distribute among Prince Zheng’s headquarters — it did not matter how much, but it had to be done.

When all this was finished, Zhù Ying said to Jin Liang: “I will trouble you to supervise the packing of the gifts.”

Jin Liang agreed without hesitation.

Zhù Ying returned to her temporary study. Yin Wen came forward and said: “My lord, allow me.” And began grinding the ink for her.

Zhù Ying wrote quickly at first — a number of official dispatches to be issued in the northern territories. First was a notice to the four prefectures announcing her arrival, what she had come to do, and asking the commoners to set their hearts at ease.

Then dispatches to the various levels of the government offices — for the officials at all levels, saying she had come only to stabilize the northern territories and would not concern herself with anything else. If anyone felt they had previously committed offenses and came forward of their own accord within the time limit, she would treat the matter with leniency and allow them to atone for their faults through merit. If anyone harbored hopes of luck or continued to act against the rules — they would receive no mercy whatsoever. Clerks would be strung up on the flagpole; officials would be clamped in the cangue and escorted to the capital.

Then came the filling of vacancies. Each locality had gaps in its official ranks, so examinations would be held in sequence at each county — primarily candidates from the county school, alongside local commoners of good family standing. Selections would be made based on merit — practical talent. She would personally preside over the examinations.

Then the new levies and labor conscription quotas were announced. She specifically noted one condition: what had already been collected would not be collected again — any excess would be refunded, any shortfall made up. On this point, she attached a small note specifying that her deployed assistants who were collecting petitions should also spread word of this provision.

Finally she took up a blank memorial form and began to write it out slowly.

She had to write a memorial to the Emperor. This memorial would pass through the Council of State, so it required careful thought. She had been away quite some time, sending during the journey only two brief official dispatches reporting her safety — one announcing she had reached the northern territories, one announcing she had reached the border area. Now it was time for a detailed account.

In this memorial she wrote that the living conditions of the northern commoners were indeed worse than before, and that conditions in the sacked cities were especially dire — but that she had already stabilized the north, and the matter of provisions and grain was also being addressed. However, she had a concern: the barbarians, after such a great victory, had not come again for over a month — and with winter approaching, the fact that they had not seized the opportunity of their great victory to plunder again before winter seemed unusual.

The second part described her actions in the four cities. No small number of officials had died heroically for their country — she was submitting a request for posthumous honors and relief for their families. The local northern gentry were loyal to the emperor and the state, donating money and grain, their sons willing to serve the court — she requested that local young men be appointed to certain official and administrative posts. The section concluded with two lists — one of the dead, one of the living, with a note that the remains of those who died would be arranged to return to their home places before long.

The third part described how she had already coordinated with the four northern prefectures on the internal adjustment of provisions and grain, and that the various local officials were being moved around. She also noted that there were vacancies in the official ranks and that some officials were involved in cases, so she would be temporarily selecting a batch of official school graduates familiar with local conditions to fill in for the time being.

The final section noted that she would be departing before long to call upon Prince Zheng and coordinate with him on the issues between the local administration and the imperial army, then would continue her inspection tour of the north, resolving problems on the spot as she found them.

The memorial written, she dispatched it by fast horse to the capital.

At this time she was in Prefect Yang’s territory — estimated travel time for the dispatch horse to the capital was three days at minimum, then some deliberation, then the reply coming back. She would have just returned from Prince Zheng’s camp in time to start on the local affairs.

The memorial was written and dispatched, and Prefect Yang and the others came calling again.

They had first probed things through Chen Fang, then held a small meeting and decided to first watch and see what Zhù Ying intended to do. This morning, before they had even left, they had already received reports — the heavenly envoy’s headquarters had deployed people at the crack of dawn, gongs beating and drums rolling, collecting petitions. But the locality was still relatively quiet, and so far no one had come to file a complaint. The Old Man Zheng who had thrown everything on the line to file his complaint had been brought away by Assistant Magistrate Gu.

The Prefects still held themselves in check and went together to the headquarters.

Zhù Ying smiled: “What a coincidence — I was just about to discuss something with you all.”

Host and guests were seated. Zhù Ying had the several conditions she had just drafted produced and laid out.

Prefect Yang, seeing the “voluntary surrender” provision, concluded that she had no intention of “pursuing exhaustively.” He no longer worried overmuch. He would simply pass the headquarters’ dispatches along to his subordinates, clean up his own affairs, and wait for instructions from headquarters. That was all.

Prefect Yuan asked: “The newly selected officials — what does that mean exactly? Would not appointing people from the local area be inadvisable?”

Zhù Ying said: “We have four prefectures — we rotate among them; that does not violate the court’s regulations.”

The court’s general principle was “officials do not serve in their own native area.” Zhù Ying also had no wish to excessively disrupt this system. Even for the four cities, she had made arrangements: first assign them a loose official rank to cover them, and if they did well, transfer them out to serve in the neighboring prefecture. Then bring in people selected from that neighboring prefecture to serve in their place. A grand cross-transfer across all four prefectures.

Everyone was a neighbor — when a neighbor’s house caught fire, your own was not safe.

This both guarded against local people serving locally and building entrenched power, and prevented them from easily squandering their inheritance.

Prefect Yuan’s expression relaxed somewhat. He said: “Your subordinate and the others will prepare accordingly.”

Prefect Zhang then asked Zhù Ying about the matter of adjudicating cases.

Zhù Ying smiled: “The Court of Judicial Review has always been fair. As long as I am at the Court of Judicial Review, those who enter are not subjected to torture.”

Prefect Zhang drew a sharp breath. He thought to himself: I forgot she is still the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review! So the criminal officials seized here and sent to the capital would pass through the Court of Judicial Review for processing — still falling into her hands. Once in her bag, they were as good as convicted, and there would be no turning back.

No wonder.

Zhù Ying said to Prefect Yuan: “I will depart for a visit to Prince Zheng the day after tomorrow.”

Prefect Yuan quickly said: “Wonderful.”

“Not so fast. If you want me to speak on your behalf, you must first give me some evidence — otherwise I have no grounds to argue. “

Prefect Yuan said: “I have evidence. As far as I know, there are five cases: first, soldiers violated women; second, livestock were killed by stealth; third, grain was seized and an official clerk was beaten and later died of his injuries…”

Zhù Ying summoned Zhù Wen to record this, and Zhù Wen wrote with sweat beading on his forehead. Zhù Ying said: “Just jot down a few key words — the person’s name, the place, what was done is enough.”

Prefect Yuan said: “I have the draft documents. I previously sent official correspondence to General Leng — they replied only that they would handle it according to military law, and then there was no more. And no compensation.”

Jin Liang had been about to say “they already said they would handle it by military law, what more do you want?” — but hearing there was no compensation, he said nothing.

Zhù Ying accepted the drafts, skimmed through them, saw that everything was written clearly, and said: “Good.”

Petitions would take some time to come in, and those surrendering themselves did not yet know the advantage of “leniency for those who confess.” For now, there was nothing urgent pending at headquarters. Prefect Yuan was the first to rise: “Your subordinate will return now and await good tidings.”

Zhù Ying said: “I will come and call on you — do not find me a nuisance.”

The four Prefects all said they would not dare, and Zhù Ying personally saw them off outside the door.

Zhù Ying spent two more nights at headquarters, during which nothing unexpected occurred. Su Zhe and the others had not yet returned. Zhù Ying left Zhù Wen and a few others behind to hold the headquarters, then brought Senior Sister Hu and the others with her and set off with Jin Liang to Prince Zheng’s main camp.

Prince Zheng was not encamped at the border itself but near a city that was still intact, some seventy li from the frontier. The crops along the fields of the city’s outskirts had already been harvested, and the stubble stretched in all directions, bare.

Prince Zheng was not residing inside the city but had pitched a great camp — the city inside was simply not large enough to contain all the soldiers who needed to train.

The camp had a grim and martial air. Zhù Ying sent Jin Liang ahead from a good distance to go meet with Prince Zheng. She followed behind at a slow pace. Sure enough, there were several checkpoints along the way — all quite polite, asking a word and then letting them through. The soldiers hardly glanced at Zhù Ying, but when they saw Senior Sister Hu, they found her a novelty.

Senior Sister Hu was not young anymore, but she had not adopted a deliberately masculine disguise. She wore a close-fitting martial outfit, yet one could still plainly see she was a woman.

That was quite a sight indeed!

In Prince Zheng’s camp, the morale had been somewhat restored since the Prince’s arrival. Then the Prince had taken charge of the defenses. He had started by ferreting out a deputy general who had been bringing women entertainers into the camp and had beaten him without mercy with eighty military strokes of the rod — that deputy general now lay propped up recovering, limp as a dead dog.

“Life in the civil service is better after all…” the soldiers muttered among themselves.

Inside the great tent, Prince Zheng heard that Jin Liang had come, and called him in immediately to the command tent to speak: “How did you end up here? With only a few young people on Third Lad’s side — how can that be adequate?”

Jin Liang’s smile vanished the moment he saw Prince Zheng, replaced by a look of agitation: “My Prince, how have you come to look like this?”

Prince Zheng looked far more worn than he had in the capital! He was dressed in a simple soft suit of armor. His salt-and-pepper beard had lost its luster. His complexion looked dry and withered, and the wrinkles had grown denser.

Prince Zheng said: “Going out on the road, how could one not be worn out? How is Third Lad?”

Jin Liang said: “He is here — just outside. He asked me to come pay respects first, to see whether the Prince was available.”

Prince Zheng said: “Why did you not say so sooner? Go on, bring him in.”

Jin Liang said: “He also brought pigs, sheep, fruit, and wine.”

Prince Zheng, who had been infuriated day after day by the state of the imperial army, said: “At least someone remembers some propriety! These people — even that they are fit to eat well is a stretch!”

Prince Zheng had in fact received Zhù Ying’s official dispatch and knew she was coming. Only Jin Liang, having no thought of such things, had not realized this. Prince Zheng had halberds set up at the camp gate and dispatched a deputy general to receive her at the gate; he himself stood outside the tent to await her.

Zhù Ying first gave Prince Zheng a cupped-fist salute: “I set out two days earlier, went and had a look at the northern border area, heard you had arrived and wanted immediately to come pay respects — but still arrived too late.”

Prince Zheng said: “You have been traveling continuously day after day. Just attend to your own affairs — why come here?”

Zhù Ying smiled: “It is only proper. You have grown thinner.”

“Moving about has lightened me up a little,” Prince Zheng said.

Zhù Ying said: “Please, for the sake of the state, take care of yourself. Truly, at the moment the whole situation rests on your shoulders.”

Prince Zheng said: “Each generation brings forth its own talents.”

A gust of wind blew past. Prince Zheng said: “Let us speak inside the tent.”

After some exchange of courtesies, Zhù Ying insisted on following half a step behind him as they went in. Inside the great tent, in addition to the two of them, there were several generals — most of them Zhù Ying did not know very well. Tang Shan also had white hair now and still stood at Prince Zheng’s side. Zhù Ying first said that she had brought some things to “comfort the troops.” Saying so, she presented two lists — one for Prince Zheng personally, the other being the wine and food.

Prince Zheng looked over them briefly: “You always — so meticulous. You have your own affairs to manage.”

Zhù Ying said: “What I can possibly accomplish — is it not entirely because of you?”

The two exchanged a few pleasantries. Prince Zheng handed the gift list to Tang Shan and told him to go receive the sheep and wine, then had a banquet set — a gesture of welcome for Zhù Ying — saying: “Meat in plenty. The camp forbids wine.”

Zhù Ying said: “Once you win a great victory, I will send more wine to celebrate.”

Prince Zheng smiled: “Good.”

Whole sheep were skewered on roasting racks. With some dishes laid out alongside, Prince Zheng said Zhù Ying had worked hard on the road. Zhù Ying said: “Nothing like the hardships here — I only have to talk with people. Here you have too many people, and they are difficult to manage.”

Prince Zheng said: “If I could only be twenty years younger — the energy is not what it was.”

“Then everyone else would simply not be able to manage at all. Seeing you arrive, I feel more settled too. There are things I can say to you that I cannot say to others.”

Prince Zheng said: “There must be a reason you say that.”

Zhù Ying said: “Is life in the camp hard? Or has the grain allocation from the Ministry of Revenue simply not arrived? If we are short for the moment, let us think of another way together.”

“Why do you ask?”

Zhù Ying produced the cases Prefect Yuan had described: “You know me — I rose from the bottom, and I have no wish to be harsh with them. When I was in Wuzhou I saw the life of soldiers up close — in a month they might not eat meat even once. Hard. And then marching and fighting on top of it — even harder. Eyes turn red with hunger. Looking at the chickens and ducks on the roadside and not reaching out to grab them — that would make them saints. But when this gets discovered, the victims themselves get beaten for it. A few days later the victim died of his injuries. The reputation has not been good.

“If the camp is running short on food — however one looks at it, the court should be told, and the local area can try to scrape something together too. You cannot have soldiers guarding the homeland on empty stomachs. When the people support the imperial army, it is in exchange for a sense of safety. If that is made clear to them — that this is to keep them from being plundered by the barbarians — they can accept it in their hearts. If it is not made clear…”

Prince Zheng’s brow furrowed; he cut in: “These worthless rascals — they have no sense of what is right and what is not!”

Zhù Ying said sincerely: “Do not be angry yet — I say this to you because I know you. Twenty years of dealing with each other — you know my character. If this were anyone else, my asking ‘is it short on food?’ would be an insult. You came north and I came north — we should be looking out for each other. I saw the state of the four cities with my own eyes, and the grief and anger in my heart would not subside. If it is for the good of the state — just say the word. Whatever I can manage, I will manage.”

Prince Zheng said: “No need to say more — I understand! Military discipline has collapsed — that is what led to this defeat!”

Zhù Ying opened her mouth slightly, wanting to say something, then stopped herself. Prince Zheng said: “If you have more to say, say it — do not play tricks.”

Zhù Ying then brought up the matter of harassment of women. Prince Zheng grew angrier still: “Outrageous!”

Zhù Ying said: “There are more cases like these. If I move to seize people, it will not look good on the surface. The three previous victories covered everything. Now they can no longer be covered. The local areas have filed complaints with me — I have held them down for now. At a time like this, we cannot chill the soldiers’ hearts. Better to find the root cause and resolve this from the source. You came north to win — I came north to get the rear areas settled for you.”

Prince Zheng said: “No need to make excuses for them! Collapsed military discipline — they cannot fight with it like this! Soldiers who cannot fight — what use are they? Preying on commoners makes them bandits, and bandits will eventually bring chaos!”

Prince Zheng understood perfectly well what Zhù Ying was also doing — lodging a complaint. What she said was presumably all true, and it laid out his own predicament as well — he had taken over a defeated army. The consecutive efforts had checked the collapse, but expecting these soldiers to deliver a great victory immediately was still somewhat difficult.

What he said was also all true — the army he commanded was an imperial army, not a gang of marauders. Sometimes generals did let soldiers plunder local people to boost morale, but that was for the sake of victory. Without having won anything, finding that preying on commoners was easier than fighting barbarians — the army would be ruined. And harassing commoners too severely, only to have someone bring it all up later, would be problematic.

Zhù Ying said: “And so — ?”

Prince Zheng said: “Leave the petitions here — I will handle it!”

“Very well.”

Prince Zheng glanced at her, then shifted to an entirely different expression, as if the angry man from a moment before was someone else entirely. He said to Zhù Ying: “On the matter of grain — I am not worried about the Ministry of Revenue failing to send it to me. But…”

“Your instruction?” Zhù Ying said.

Prince Zheng said slowly: “The transfer and transport in the north — you must keep an eye on it.”

“Along the relay roads I traveled coming here, all was in good order,” Zhù Ying said.

Prince Zheng shook his head: “As the cold sets in, conscripting civilian porters — they may not be accustomed to the northern cold. Moreover, the main army is encamped in several locations and needs supplies distributed across all of them. And there is a shortage of people. I ordered the forces below to conscript civilian porters, and every one of them pushed back and prevaricated.”

Zhù Ying said: “What a coincidence — I actually had preparations for exactly this. How many civilian porters were sent to the capital in past years — that same number I have set aside for transporting your supplies. I saved them ahead of time. But the northern population has taken some losses — use these people freely, but take care with their safety. We need to keep using them afterward.”

Hearing she had made preparations, Prince Zheng let out a soft sigh: “If only you had also studied military affairs — imagine, with the situation I have now, not having capable people at hand!” At least the logistics and supply line would not require him to worry too much. Having taken over after the fact, he found these soldiers — to be fair to Wang Yunhe, they had genuinely deserved what he put them through. Even in his own hands, they were not running smoothly!

Zhù Ying said: “I am not capable in that area — even if I studied it, I would need to switch careers. It still has to be you. People develop through use — now that fighting has started, there will certainly be needles poking to the surface. With your discerning eye, you will surely see them. Let me congratulate you in advance.”

Prince Zheng finally managed a smile: “Let us hope so! I too am watching — it is time for someone to step up.”

Zhù Ying accompanied him in more conversation, then said: “When you need people, give me word first — so I can arrange personnel and communication channels. This winter, water infrastructure must be repaired — otherwise spring plowing will be a problem. Another bad harvest and there is likely to be some unrest, and then the imperial army would have to be called in to suppress it. That would not be convenient if it coincides with the barbarian threat. And transporting grain requires using the relay roads — once those are blocked, north-south communication is cut off and that easily causes setbacks.”

Prince Zheng said: “Good.”

Zhù Ying had come to settle exactly these few matters. She had also kept a small surplus of northern grain in reserve, and had prepared some winter clothing for the imperial army. Since Prince Zheng could manage for now, she said nothing of it — she would hold it in reserve, to be used later either for an emergency or as a bargaining chip.

At the very end she again raised her concern about the barbarians. Prince Zheng said: “I have already sent scouts to investigate. They seem to have fallen into some internal dispute. Lucky for us that they are quarreling among themselves.”

He left the second half unsaid — if the barbarians continued to push south, he would have difficulty winning against them right away. The hand he held was not strong.

Zhù Ying said: “Internal dispute?”

“Apparently the barbarian chief minister is blaming one of the tribal divisions for disobeying orders — that they set fire to grain and then withdrew on their own initiative.”

Zhù Ying said: “That is bad.”

Prince Zheng gave a nod: “I would actually prefer him to be brutish and violent.”

The two sighed together for a moment. Having finished eating, Zhù Ying took her leave of Prince Zheng.

Prince Zheng turned and had the offending soldiers produced — some were beheaded, some flogged with a whip, their captain was also penalized, and the drilling of the troops was intensified.

Zhù Ying returned to headquarters, only to find the court’s reply to her memorial had arrived: Granted.

Along with it came a stack of appointment documents — all drafted exactly as she had requested, the court having not bargained with her on a single point. For the moment, there was simply no one else who could be found who would as cleanly and efficiently stabilize the northern situation as she had. Wang Yunhe and Zheng Xi had quickly reached agreement.

Accompanying the official documents was also a private letter dispatched by Zheng Xi, asking her to do her best to cooperate with Prince Zheng and take some of the burden off him. Zheng Xi’s letter was written with great sincerity — writing that Prince Zheng was getting on in years, and that as a son, having to see his aged father travel a thousand li into hardship and danger left him deeply ashamed, and so on.

Zhù Ying thereupon issued another official dispatch to the capital, noting that she had already met with Prince Zheng, who had raised the matter of civilian porters, and that she had already begun making preparations.

Then she summoned Qiu Yiming back and sent him off with great fanfare back to his hometown to make an announcement: the officials temporarily appointed in the four cities now had their formal credentials.

Five days after Qiu Yiming departed, Zhù Ying summoned Prefect Yang: “We ought to be getting ready to test them. The candidates you originally had prepared as tributary scholars this year — those willing to take the examination may also come and sit it. I will treat everyone equally. The examination hall — let us use the official school. The tables and chairs are already there.”

Get to work — quickly!