Zhù Ying returned to the county yamen. The child who had struck his head had already been bandaged and treated. The child was still in a daze—all he had wanted was to get a sweet, and for that he had suffered such an enormous misfortune. It was truly unlucky.
Zhù Ying stroked his head and said, “See to him until his wound is healed.”
Huajie walked over carrying two strings of medicine packets. “I’ve already prepared them. This is the portion for him. And you?”
Zhù Ying said, “I set out tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll go finish packing. With you here, I can visit a few more settlements.”
“Good.”
After answering Huajie, Zhù Ying turned to Xiang Le and said, “As for what happened today—don’t pursue it too deeply, and especially don’t interrogate the local people. We still need to use gentle measures.”
Having had this kind of incident occur in his own territory, Xiang Le felt deeply shamed. He resolved inwardly that he absolutely had to look into it quietly—how he would deal with it once he found out was another matter, but the investigation itself was certain.
Zhù Ying saw the seriousness he couldn’t conceal in his expression and said in an easy tone, “You’ve already done well. Keep it up.”
Xiang Le was moved, and also urged Zhù Ying, “Prefect, when you travel next, please bring more guards and watch your safety. If you want to meet the local people, please screen them first.”
How would that tell her anything worthwhile? Having a batch of pre-coached “village elders” ready to speak rehearsed lines for a visiting superior was one of Zhù Ying’s own signature tricks—she naturally knew every hidden angle of that approach. There was absolutely no way she would allow herself to be placed on a pedestal and managed by someone else’s arrangements. But with what had just happened, she wasn’t going to argue the point. She only said, “Tomorrow we set out. I’ll leave this place in your hands and have Qingjun come with me.”
Xiang Le heartily agreed. “With Qingjun along, we can rest easy.”
Zhù Ying said, “So be it.”
Xiang Le didn’t press the point any further. He bowed and withdrew, and the first thing he did was send people out to look into the brother and sister; the second was to quietly investigate how they had managed to return, how they had been hidden, and who had helped them.
Zhù Ying’s situation grew easier. With Huajie in the lead, and Hu Shijie and Zhù Qingjun flanking her like a pair of guardian gods, nobody was allowing her to run about on her own today. Zhù Ying accepted this gracefully and whiled away the time in the county yamen. She slowly cleaned her blade and said to Zhù Qingjun, “Stop making that face. Go and ask around the settlement—are there any merchants passing through, or women and children visiting relatives who might want to travel along? We can escort them for a stretch of the road and they’ll be safer for it.”
That was proper business. Zhù Qingjun exchanged a glance with Hu Shijie and said, “I’ll go and ask.”
“Oh—if there are merchants who know the Xika or Jima tongues, all the better.”
Zhù Qingjun started slightly, then broke into a smile. “Got it!”
The next day, Zhù Ying set out as planned. Before leaving, she paid one more visit to the ailing grandmother and checked that the family was not being bothered by anyone. She also left some firewood and grain for the injured child’s family. Then she, Huajie, Zhù Qingjun, and the others departed the main settlement.
Once clear of the settlement, Zhù Qingye let out a great sigh of relief. “Goodness me!”
Zhù Qingjun asked, “What is it?”
Qingye said, “I’m not sure why—it was fine when we first arrived, but these past two days it’s felt like a stone pressing on my chest. Now that we’ve left the settlement, I suddenly feel light as air.”
Huajie said, “That’s how it is when something is weighing on your mind. Let’s be on our way.”
Their party had those who rode horses and those who rode donkeys and mules. Behind them came twenty of Zhù Qingjun’s soldiers, making a party of several dozen in all. They set off in great procession toward the next settlement. The roads in Gan County were more primitive than in the other counties—newly annexed, everything starting from scratch, too few conscript laborers, and road building had to be postponed. So the going was not very fast.
For the monotony of a long journey, some soldiers hummed softly. Before long, Qingye and the others joined in quiet song—songs about the scenery of the mountains, the hardships of labor. Zhù Qingjun, however, was extremely vigilant, as though she expected an attacker to leap from the roadside trees at any moment.
Zhù Ying did not stop her. Huajie, seeing this, grew concerned and asked Zhù Ying under her breath, “Is it dangerous? Are we a burden on you this leg of the trip? If our being here makes it harder for you to focus, I’ll go no farther—I’d hate to add to your troubles.”
Zhù Ying said, “It’s fine.”
Zhù Qingjun quickly leaned in as well: “There’s no danger. It’s just routine precautions for travel.”
The three of them rode side by side, with Zhù Ying in the center and Zhù Qingjun and Huajie on either side. Even Hu Shijie found herself pushed back a full two horse-lengths. Hu Shijie rested her hand on the pouch at her waist—if something unexpected happened here, at least she wouldn’t risk hitting the wrong person.
Huajie looked around and continued under her breath, “Those two attackers—?”
Zhù Qingjun cast a careful glance at Zhù Ying and said, “I want to look into them. We won’t kill them, but we should know where they are.”
Zhù Ying said, “That’s right. Don’t move against them for now.”
“Hm?”
Zhù Ying lifted her eyes and looked west. “Since battle is inevitable, why wouldn’t we make preparations? Beyond training troops, comforting the people, and stockpiling grain, we need a pretext as well. Beyond the cause of relieving the oppressed and punishing the cruel, we need one more justification. If those two live quietly from now on, so be it—but the moment they make any subversive move, the Xika clan will have harbored and sheltered those who tried to assassinate me. If I act, isn’t that entirely reasonable? Wherever they flee, I’ll pursue and kill them. Wherever they shelter, that place will be punished.”
Huajie seemed somewhat taken aback. “You—isn’t the cause of relieving the oppressed already sufficient?”
Zhù Ying said, “Because there are two kinds of people I need to convince. For us, that cause is sufficient. But the Xika clan has relatives by marriage—they have allies—and those people have mouths too. If you openly say that you intend to free their slaves, establish a prefecture and county, and cut them out of the picture entirely, it will alarm them. They’ll all too easily band together and fight back with everything they have, cornered animals making a last desperate stand. For those people, a personal grudge is actually a better-sounding reason. As long as some people believe it, it will save us considerable trouble—we can pick them off one by one. Qingjun.”
Zhù Qingjun responded sharply: “Here!” She kept her voice very low.
“In the end, it will come down to force. What we’re doing now is simply getting our justifications in order beforehand. Intrigue and deception are simple enough. Know it, but don’t practice it—and certainly don’t treat scheming as some kind of magic remedy. It’s a hollow trade. Put your mind to leading troops.”
“Yes!”
Zhù Ying looked back. At the tail end of the procession, a few merchants had joined them—people who had purchased goods from Gan County to sell elsewhere. This particular batch was mostly salt. Gan County had also been allocated a share of the salt field’s production at government prices; since this directly affected people’s livelihoods, Zhù Ying had always made a point of seeing to it properly. Gan County was newly established, and had been won through a small-scale military campaign, leaving deaths and losses in its wake. Salt, being an important source of revenue, had been authorized in extra quantity by Zhù Ying for Gan County. The profits from selling it could help cover Gan County’s operating costs.
They packed the salt in large bamboo tubes and loaded them onto pack horses. The bells around the horses’ necks swayed and rang, bringing a thread of vitality to the monotonous, sweltering mountain path.
Zhù Ying reined in her horse. The column continued forward, and she naturally fell back until she was riding alongside the merchants. The merchants were a little nervous, though not exactly frightened—they simply didn’t understand what she wanted. Zhù Ying looked over their clothing, then switched and addressed them in the Jima tongue: “How many times have you come to buy salt now?”
The merchants’ eyes went wide with astonishment.
Zhù Ying asked with a smile, “Too many to count? There surely can’t be enough salt in Gan County to make so many trips worthwhile.”
The merchants collected themselves and hurriedly said, “We’ve come twice.” They also complimented Zhù Ying on how well she spoke Jima.
Zhù Ying said with a smile, “Not that well—I’ve met very few Jima people. Only a handful of merchants are willing to make the difficult journey over. The roads are rough, and it’s not easy for most people to come. I only know that you deal in raw gold. Are there any other interesting items? My mother gets bored at home, and I’d like to find her something interesting. It doesn’t have to be from Jima—if you’ve traded for it elsewhere, that’s fine too, as long as it’s novel and unfamiliar.”
The two of them fell into an easy back-and-forth conversation that continued without pause all the way to the next settlement. Arriving there, everyone ate their evening meal. Zhù Ying was still deeply engaged; Zhù Qingjun was occupied with organizing the rest arrangements and security; Huajie took her students off to see more patients. Zhù Ying, rather than wandering around the settlement right away, continued chatting with the Jima merchants.
By now, she had already extracted a good deal of useful information from them. For instance, “the Xika clan” and “the Jima clan” were not very precise concepts—they were not so much “clans” as “tribes,” each internally subdivided into several families, occupying large territories. Back when the Shanque father-in-law and others were young, in the great war between the mountain peoples and the court, these tribes had also been involved. Only because of their geographic position had they not developed as great a enmity with the court as the Asu clan’s Shanque father-in-law and his people had.
The Jima merchant let something slip: it turned out the salt they were transporting would also be partially sold in the Xika territory when they passed through. Besides salt, they also traded in sugar, wine, and other goods not produced locally but of better quality in Wuzhou and the surrounding areas.
Zhù Ying pretended not to notice the slip and kept chatting: “Apart from raw gold and coal, what other products do you have? Any different kinds of food?”
By the time night fell and it was time to rest, Zhù Ying had already learned that further west, along the river valleys deep in the mountains, there were patches of flat land scattered here and there where people grew crops. Those people had connections with the western tribes and sometimes exchanged goods with them. They had also observed the trade between Asu County and the western tribes and made some money providing food and lodging to Asu merchants passing through. Moreover, they also found ways to cross the great river; on the other side of the river was territory governed by the court, which had salt wells there.
“Oh—that must be six or seven hundred li away,” Zhù Ying said. She knew the place, but the route was extremely inconvenient. The terrain on both sides of the river was quite steep, there were few safe crossing points, the current was swift, and there was no bridge on the river—only marginally better than the cliff face behind Talang territory. Transporting salt from there was extremely difficult. No wonder, once Wuzhou had its own salt source, merchants had begun treating Wuzhou as an important supplement.
———
The Jima merchants never noticed that Zhù Ying had already drawn out nearly everything they knew. She hadn’t put full trust in those merchants either. Watching them leave Wuzhou’s territory, she continued her own inspection within her borders, calling on those living permanently near the frontier—they understood the situation of the Xika and Jima clans even better. Zhù Ying went around questioning them as well.
Only when the predetermined date for her return journey arrived was she obliged to set off back.
The harvest from this trip was considerable—except that the young man who had been trying to sing to Zhù Qingjun was not encountered at all, a fact that left Zhù Ying with some small regret.
Zhù Qingjun said tartly, “An obnoxious person—what’s worth seeing? I’d wager if you actually met him, you’d find him insufferable.”
Zhù Ying made no insistence on seeing this particular person, but said to Zhù Qingjun in a deliberately teasing tone, “Really, child! I was scouting out the enemy—how is that a problem? Isn’t he a nuisance right now?”
The joke having run its course, she also gave Zhù Qingjun her instructions: “The border cannot be allowed to fall into disorder in the time ahead. Work a little harder. Once we’ve finished our preparations, I’ll give you a decisive campaign so you don’t have to keep worrying about this person.”
Zhù Qingjun finally smiled again, happily and fully giving her assent: “Good!”
Zhù Ying also said, “Have fewer quarrels with Xiang Le. He’s skilled at administrative affairs, and he’s been with me a long time. If he hasn’t made any clear mistakes and the friction is between the two of you, you’ll be the one people criticize. Whatever he does that you feel is wrong—take note of it and tell me. Don’t rashly get into a conflict with him, but don’t silently swallow it either. Keep a pleasant face on the surface, but keep a clear head inside about right and wrong. Understood?”
Zhù Qingjun nodded, smiling, though she also felt a reluctance to part. When she was near Zhù Ying, she always found herself at ease in body and spirit. Though this Prefect was often given to shocking behavior, she was genuinely reliable—like coming home on a night of wind and rain, lightning and thunder, to find a lamp lit, firewood piled into the hearth, a pot of broth suspended over it, the walls solid and tight, the roof layered thick with tiles and thatch so that not a drop of rain came through. Safe and at peace.
Zhù Ying ruffled her hair and said, “I can’t be away from the prefecture too long—there are matters there as well. After the autumn harvest, I want to spend another month, while the weather hasn’t turned cold, making a brief circuit into Xika and Jima territory—just a quick probe to gauge their strength. Next spring, after the spring planting, I’ll make a deeper foray…”
Zhù Qingjun stopped smiling. She shot to her feet. Hadn’t she just been calling her reliable? And here comes a shocking move already?!
Zhù Ying continued ruffling her head with a calm smile, and with a mild but steady pressure, pressed the poor girl’s head back down into place. “I’m only telling you. When I get home, I’m only telling you, your teacher, and Grandma.”
Zhù Qingjun’s hand had jumped to her sword hilt.
Zhù Ying strolled away.
———
On her return journey, Zhù Ying stopped once more at the county seat of Gan County to look in on the people of the main settlement. She was relieved to find that the small boy who had struck his head had a scar, but that his speech and movement showed no sign of damage to his mind. The ailing old grandmother, however, had passed away from her illness. Zhù Ying brought out two strings of coins to leave as a funeral offering.
Xiang Le had not been idle this past month either. Through quiet investigation, he had uncovered certain traces. It seemed the brother and sister had once again slipped back into the settlement. Those among the settlement folk who had once been shown kindness by the old shaman wept and said that after fleeing the siblings had been utterly alone and destitute; after much deliberation, they had come back to live. The person who took them in had not suspected anything, and had housed them.
Originally, all of this had nothing to do with Zhù Ying—the “persons of importance” above had their own city walls and fortified compounds, and might visit this area not even once a year. The Yigan clan had never had a written record; once Gan County began compiling its population register, the siblings had only to register to be formally settled here.
As chance would have it, Zhù Ying had come—and here they were.
Xiang Le still did not dare to be complacent. He sent people to keep watch on this household and for the time being made no move—ready to act swiftly the moment the siblings showed up again or the family gave any sign of suspicious activity.
“To prevent further trouble from arising.”
Zhù Ying thought to herself: and what of it? As long as the people of Gan County lived increasingly well, and as long as slaves were allowed to shed their chains and farm their own land, the Xika and Jima clans would inevitably reach a point where they could no longer endure it. Fighting was certain to come. But Xiang Le, for now, was only focused on managing Gan County.
Zhù Ying did not say any of this aloud. She only said, “I gave my word, and my word stands. As long as they don’t harm anyone, we don’t harm them. One must be trustworthy. Lord Shang’s reform began with establishing trust by moving a log. Two would-be assassins are nothing against the greater cause.”
Only the person who watches a thousand days for a thief, never someone who guards against a thief a thousand days—but Xiang Le steeled himself and said, “Yes. I will keep close watch over them and will not let them spoil the Prefect’s good intentions.”
Zhù Ying completed her inspection circuit and returned to Zhu County on the thirtieth day.
She passed by a stretch of paddyfields.
By now, the Yigan chieftain had become nothing but fading smoke. The abandoned main stockade he had left behind and the flat open ground surrounding it had become safe. Zhù Ying had given the order: repair the main stockade, demolish the low and rotting structures, make use of the walls of the larger buildings still in reasonable condition, and renovate the whole into a decent cluster of houses. The flat land around it had always been cultivated, with water sources nearby and simple irrigation ditches already in place. With a little attention, it would yield another stretch of good fields within two years.
It was this stretch of fields she now passed.
Green and lush. A very pleasing sight.
The private estate now had more than a decade of history behind it. A whole generation was on the verge of adulthood; with this additional tract of land, there would be much to offer the population that would grow from within.
The farmers working in the fields straightened up and saw her. Some called out loudly; others laughed and rubbed their aching backs. Zhù Ying waved to them from horseback.
She waved her greetings all the way to the mountain city, from the city gate to the manor, with people calling out to her at every turn. She rode straight home. First she jumped down from her horse, handing the reins to the household attendant, then walked quickly forward and held out her hand to help Huajie dismount.
Huajie said, “Ah—we’re home at last!”
Zhù Ying reached out and tucked a loose strand of Huajie’s gray-streaked hair behind her ear, in a quiet, natural motion, and said, “Yes. Home.”
The two of them walked in hand in hand. Inside, it was lively—a group of young boys and girls were playing; split into two sides, they were going at each other hammer and tongs.
Huajie said, “Isn’t that Jiang Zhen and Jiang Bao? Oh? Zhao Ji? And who is that other child?”
Zhao Ji was Zhao Su’s son; Jiang Zhen and Jiang Bao were the twins adopted by the two Jiangs. The other two were boys she didn’t recognize.
Xiang Yu and Lin Feng came running out. Xiang Yu called out, “Fourth Brother, stop being naughty!”
That one was evidently his own younger brother—Xiang Da’s youngest son. Lin Feng also grabbed another boy by the back of his collar and hoisted him off the ground—a boy dressed in the colors of the Talang clan. “You little rascal—the second I’m not watching you, you’re making trouble. I’ll beat you!”
“Uncle!!!” The boy let out a yell and thrashed his limbs wildly, like a little turtle being dangled in the air by its shell.
My, what a lively scene.
Zhù Ying asked Jiang Zhen, “How did you end up playing together with them?”
The Jiang sisters were slightly older than the boys, and they normally spent their days in school—their presence here at this hour was very unusual.
Jiang Zhen stepped forward and cupped her hands in salute. “Grandma! You’re back! Oh—they had something to do, so Mother and Auntie brought us along and said we could all play together.”
Lin Feng explained, “This little guy’s father sent him to study. A’Fa’s grown and learned a lot following you, Prefect—his father decided to send him along to pick up good habits too.”
Xiang Yu’s younger brother was simpler still: Xiang An had no intention of marrying, and the family was considering whether to adopt an heir for her—they’d sent someone along first to see if she and the child were compatible.
Zhù Ying tugged at the hanging tassel of the small cap on Zhao Ji’s head. “Where’s your father?”
Zhao Ji tilted his head back and smiled up at her. “In the back talking with Grandma. My mother and Jiang Niangzi and the others are all there.”
Zhù Ying picked him up. “Come on—let’s go see.”
———
“So you do know the way home.” Zhang Xiangu gave her a gentle reproach.
Qi Niangzi immediately told her son to get down quickly—she was worried that all his running about outside had gotten him dirty and he’d soil Zhù Ying’s clothes.
Zhang Xiangu pulled them both to her, one hand each, and asked Zhù Ying and Huajie if they were tired.
The scene was warmly chaotic.
Zhù Ying said, “I’m already home now. Let’s take it one thing at a time, quietly and in order. Come—whoever needs to change clothes, go change. In a little while we’ll all eat together. Everyone come.”
Everyone in the two Jiangs’ party agreed.
Before long, Zhù Ying had tidied up and composed herself. Zhao Su then came to report on the month’s affairs in her absence. Zhù Ying also briefed him on her intention to absorb the Xika clan.
Zhao Su was delighted. “I knew it—there had to be a battle sooner or later!”
Zhù Ying said, “Not now—Gan County must be stable first. It will take two or three years at minimum. And it’s not as though the battle is the end of it; how to govern afterward is the real difficulty. Our schools are still far too primitive. The capable people on hand are still too few. Although we’ve brought in some more students, opening another county is starting from nothing, and the manpower needed is considerable. These next two or three years must also be spent intensively cultivating people. Not only for the Xika—for Jima afterward as well. My aim is to reach the western tribes. That’s an enormous stretch of territory—it needs people!”
“Indeed—but as the saying goes, ten years to grow a tree, a hundred years to cultivate a person. There won’t be many who respond quickly.” Zhao Su was thinking rapidly.
Zhù Ying said, “Let’s officially open the civil examinations.”
“What? Even so—for people from beyond the mountains to come into the mountains and serve as officials—that’s something people would need to think carefully about.”
“Not limited by sex,” Zhù Ying said. “Those who pass will be on probation first. If they prove useful, they’ll stay, and I’ll petition the court to grant them titles. Not now—send out the notice. They’ll study and prepare this year. Next spring when the flowers bloom, after the spring planting, we’ll open the examinations and I’ll personally preside.”
Zhao Su was somewhat astonished, thought for a moment, and then said, “Though different from the court’s system, it’s not without merit as an approach.”
“Hmph,” Zhù Ying gave a quiet laugh. “The court? The court doesn’t have a chief examiner like me. A Prime Minister presiding over the examinations—what caliber is that?”
Zhao Su also laughed. Useful people were useful people, whatever their origin.
Zhang Xiangu came back over again: “Dinner’s ready—is no one hungry? Hurry along!”