Chapter 12
Chapter 12
“Enough. Tell Us, what have you two come for?” As the loser, Emperor Jian had to clear the board. He lifted his sleeve and resignedly began picking up the stones.
“This son heard that Father intends to send Vice Minister Shen to Yizhou. I wish to go as well,” Xie Chengze said, stating his purpose directly.
“Oh?” Without looking up, Emperor Jian continued gathering the stones. “Yizhou is remote. You have never left the capital since childhood, so you likely do not understand that the world outside is far less prosperous and peaceful than the capital…”
Before the Jian’an Dynasty, countless dynasties had risen and fallen. Most had collapsed because natural disasters and crushing taxes plunged the people into misery. In the worst famines, families had even been reduced to selling their sons and daughters. Desperate masses rose in rebellion, ultimately bringing those rotten dynasties to ruin.
The Founding Emperor himself had been born a beggar. After ascending the throne, he learned from the downfall of the dynasties before his and devoted himself tirelessly to the welfare of the people.
But the Jian’an Dynasty’s territory was simply too vast – so vast that the emperor’s reach faded with distance and his commands could be defied; so vast that the empty treasury could never bring prosperity to every subject. The mighty lion had long since been starved to skin and bone, yet the rain kept falling and the snowstorms kept battering it. Greedy hyenas watched hungrily from the sidelines, while the lion cubs still lay in swaddling clothes, unaware that a storm approached and death drew near.
The lion could still intimidate those hyenas, but it could not withstand the deliberate cruelty of natural calamity. Emperor Jian knew perfectly well that the Minister of Revenue had been right about one thing: unless they improved the Min River’s dikes, Yizhou might truly become a wasteland over time. Once a precedent was set for abandoning a city, officials throughout the realm would follow suit. The hyenas would exploit the opening, and the Jian’an Dynasty would set foot on the road to self-destruction until it ceased to exist.
The undertaking in Yizhou had to succeed. Even if it took five or ten years, they could never allow the region to become an abandoned wasteland!
The best solution would be for someone in the realm to devise a way to end the Min River’s floods once and for all, turning all ten million mu of fertile soil on the Jiangdu Plain into cultivable farmland. That land could supply abundant grain to the entire south, fill the imperial treasury, and then bring relief to the impoverished regions of the north, allowing the Jian’an Dynasty to endure another five hundred years!
“Chengze, the matter in Yizhou is permitted only to succeed, never to fail. You have never endured hardship, and We cannot rest easy sending you.” Only after Emperor Jian finished collecting the stones did he raise his head and look deeply at Xie Chengze.
His second son had been intelligent and studious as a child. He respected his elder brother and doted on his younger ones, yet for some unknown reason, he had suddenly gone astray.
Emperor Jian had wondered whether the retainers in his son’s residence were such fools that they had led him down the wrong path. He had even considered having them killed by force, but feared that Chengze’s intelligence might truly obstruct the Crown Prince’s path, and so had left them alone.
Yet Chengze’s behavior these past few days made it seem as though his mind had suddenly returned. Emperor Jian had sent men to investigate in secret, only to learn that no new retainers had recently appeared in Chenghuan Hall.
It was as if his clever boy had suddenly returned to him.
Could he trust Chengze enough to send him south to Yizhou?
Emperor Jian could not decide.
Xie Chengze rose and bowed. “Father, this son knows that my conduct in the past appeared extraordinarily foolish, but…”
He glanced at Emperor Jian, his voice ringing with conviction. “The Crown Prince has now been honed into a capable man. This whetstone of his ought to take up a new line of work: becoming the Crown Prince’s support, building up the Jian’an Dynasty, and sweeping the vermin from the court.”
Emperor Jian froze, never imagining he would say such a thing. “Chengze, could you already know…”
Xie Chengze remained bent at the waist and did not answer.
“Do you resent me?” Emperor Jian secretly peered at Xie Chengze’s expression. He had never expected Chengze to realize long ago that he was being used to temper the Crown Prince.
“Father has always indulged this son. If I were unwilling, would Father truly force me?” Xie Chengze smiled faintly. “Whether for Father, Third Brother, or the Jian’an Dynasty, this son is willing to serve as a whetstone. It cost me nothing more than a little dignity. It was worth it.”
“Then when did you learn the truth?” Emperor Jian asked with emotion.
“A long time ago,” Xie Chengze replied, giving the answer that worked for everything.
So he had known all along.
Emperor Jian had wondered how such an intelligent son could suddenly have become a fool. It turned out Chengze had spent all these years deliberately concealing his abilities, solely so the Crown Prince would mature faster…
His sudden refusal to attend court now meant he believed the Crown Prince had come into his own and that he should adopt a new role to help him.
Yet as his father, Emperor Jian had failed to recognize his son’s painstaking intentions and had instead taken advantage of him as though it were only natural…
Emperor Jian could not help clasping Xie Chengze’s hands tightly, his face full of heartache and guilt. “My child, you have suffered. I have wronged you.”
At the sight of Emperor Jian’s expression, Xie Chengze knew he had thoroughly duped another one.
Still, he was rather curious. Was he simply too naive and full of himself, or were Emperor Jian and the Crown Prince far too easy to fool? Somehow, both of them had believed his attempt to whitewash himself.
Were villains always this easy to redeem?
As Xie Chengze puzzled over it, Emperor Jian suddenly declared in an impassioned voice, “Chengze, go boldly to Yizhou. We grant you the imperial sword of authority and the power to execute criminals before reporting their crimes to the throne!”
Xie Chengze: “?”
There was a perk like this?
Xie Zimiao promptly squeezed closer. “Father, I want to go too!”
Emperor Jian waved a hand grandly. “Granted!”
Xie Chengze turned his head. “?”
Wait, what? Were you kidding? When I asked to go, you agonized over the decision. Xie Zimiao asks, and you agree without a second thought?
Also, shouldn’t you reconsider? This wasn’t an excursion. Taking Xie Zimiao to Yizhou would be the same as dragging along extra deadweight – Father? Father, don’t run away – ?!
Father!!!
–
The next day, the emperor appointed Shen Yuan Commissioner of Military Affairs and ordered him to travel south to Yizhou at once with the Second Prince and Fourth Prince to supervise the disaster relief. The court officials debated the decision endlessly, but Emperor Jian delivered the final verdict, settling the matter for good.
Outside the city gates, Xie Jinyu had come to see them off. His face was full of concern. “Second Brother, why don’t I give you a few men? Bandits run rampant during famines. Every additional man will make you a little safer.”
Xie Chengze nodded. “All right.”
Xie Jinyu froze, still unused to seeing Xie Chengze agree so readily. In the past, Second Brother had always feared that Xie Jinyu’s men might assassinate him, so he would never have allowed any of them near.
Afraid Xie Chengze might change his mind after agreeing so readily this time, Xie Jinyu hurriedly added several skilled fighters to the convoy. “Second Brother, they are all excellent in a fight and accustomed to hardship. Whatever you require, simply give them your orders.”
With that said, he turned to Shen Yuan. The gentle smile on his face disappeared in an instant, leaving only a solemn warning. “Remember to protect Second Brother. His life is worth far more than yours.”
Shen Yuan: “…Yes. This subject understands.”
Xie Chengze poked his head out of the carriage and watched with undisguised delight. *Tsk, tsk. A loyal employee stabbed in the back by his own boss. Oh, Little Yuan, how pitiful you are.*
*Don’t worry~ If the Crown Prince won’t dote on you, this big brother will take good care of you on the road~*
At last, the grand procession of carriages set out for Yizhou.