Chapter 140
Once Elder Gu had redrawn the plans, he had a rough idea of what the work would take. He shook his head. This was clearly going to be difficult. “Your Highness, with the manpower currently available in Liaozhou, I’m afraid we won’t finish on schedule.”
The snow in Liaozhou was so heavy that practically everyone had been sent out to clear roads and transport grain. Gathering another large workforce to make everything needed for the Ice Sculpture Festival…
Given enough time, it could certainly be done. Finishing before the New Year, however, would be difficult.
Xie Chengze frowned.
He had anticipated the possibility, but actually hearing that they were short of workers still worried him.
He had already counted every one of his household soldiers. If even they weren’t enough, he would have to borrow more people from the surrounding prefectures.
“I’ll handle the workers. Elder Gu, take your people to the Hun River and start on the snow and ice sculptures. If I can’t borrow enough workers in the end, we’ll have to cut some things from the plan.”
Xie Chengze tapped the desk with his fingers, settling the matter.
Elder Gu nodded. “Very well.”
They began discussing the details of the Ice Sculpture Festival. The candles burned all night, melted wax running down their sides and hardening again, over and over. Only when dawn began to break did the door open. Elder Gu strode out looking thoroughly refreshed, ready to put his skills to work on the frozen Hun River.
He had a feeling this would be another achievement to secure his place in history before his life was through!
Su Qinghe and the two Chiefs also left the room without a trace of sleepiness or fatigue. They were probably all accustomed to late nights; one little all-nighter was nothing to them.
Once they had dispersed, only Xie Chengze and Shen Yuan remained.
The young man quietly gathered the plans on the desk. Beside him sat the warm rice porridge Zhu Xiaobiao had delivered early that morning to warm his stomach, but he had no appetite for it. Head lowered, he aimlessly stacked the drawings, then stared at their contents with unfocused eyes. His thumb and forefinger kept rubbing a corner of the paper back and forth until it was covered in creases.
Shen Yuan stirred the hot porridge with a spoon. “Thinking about where to borrow workers?” he asked calmly.
Xie Chengze came back to himself a little and nodded. “Mm.”
Borrowing workers from other prefectures would be troublesome. He would have to provide food, lodging, and somewhere for them to piss and shit, while also making sure they were diligent enough to do the work. Hiring suitable workers wasn’t as simple as having a prefectural office slap up a notice.
Besides, hiring them would take a great deal of time. That was why Xie Chengze had such a headache over it.
He sprawled across the desk, rolling his little head back and forth like a whole, washed potato being tossed around a pan with an iron spatula. “Heaven! Can’t you just drop a few people down here for me?! Is that so hard? It’s not like I’m asking for the stars, the moon, and the sun!”
Shen Yuan couldn’t help laughing. He pressed his broad, lean hand against the restless head on the desk, curled his forefinger, and knocked on that hard little skull. “Don’t sit here agonizing over it alone. Didn’t I tell you? You can leave the difficult problems to me.”
“You have a way?” Xie Chengze’s eyes lit up as he looked at Shen Yuan expectantly.
“Eat first.” The man smiled and passed him the porridge he had stirred to a comfortable temperature. His easy composure was reassuring.
“You needn’t appeal to Heaven anymore,” he said. “I will answer your wishes, Your Highness, and summon the men you need.”
Heaven couldn’t hear Xie Chengze’s wishes. But he could.
…
Somewhere in Shenzhou, a mass of troops had halted on a patch of snow-covered ground that had been partly cleared. In battered iron pots, they melted snow to cook thin, bland flour soup. To add something to it and make it a little less miserable, some soldiers dug wild greens and grass out of the snow and tossed them in with pieces of bark. Once boiled soft, it was edible enough to get by on.
“Your Highness, we’re nearly out of provisions.”
The colonel approached a rock, his face drawn with worry. Sitting on it was an expressionless man in dark black armor, with a highly distinctive Black Dragon Tasseled Spear. He was none other than the Eldest Prince, Xie Shoujun.
“Does His Majesty not want us to return?” the colonel complained. “He knew about the heavy snow on the roads. He sent warnings to every prefectural city, but somehow left us out. Fine, he won’t pay us, but he’s given us so little grain, too! How are the men supposed to make it back to the capital on this?”
Xie Shoujun was wiping his spear. At the colonel’s words, he raised his eyes slightly, his handsome, austere face betraying nothing.
“Disaster prevention costs a great deal of silver. The court is probably short of funds and can’t spare any more,” he said quietly. “Whatever happens, I will bring you home.”
He knew that although Emperor Jian had allowed him to lead his troops back to the capital, the emperor remained wary of the military power he held. He feared that years on the frontier might have given Xie Shoujun ambitions of rebellion. That was why they were being worn down by hunger and cold along the way. By the time they reached the capital, the exhausted army would have no strength left to rebel.
As both a subject and a son, he could understand the emperor’s suspicion and wariness.
Xie Shoujun had no intention of rebelling. For him, defending the cities along the northern frontier had become a way of life. He had no interest in the throne and no confidence that he could govern a country well.
He only wanted to see his second brother again, to find out what he looked like now and whether he had grown up well.
“I’ll resolve the matter of provisions.” Xie Shoujun lowered his dark eyes and rubbed the Black Dragon Tasseled Spear in his hands, his expression unreadable. “Tell the men they needn’t ration their food.”
They had been living on thin soup for days. In this snow and ice, with a march ahead of them, how could they withstand the bitter cold without enough to eat?
The colonel nodded and left. He didn’t let the soldiers eat as much as they pleased, however; he merely told them to add a little more rice.
After their meal, the troops continued toward the nearest county town. Few prefectural cities in the north had military grounds that could accommodate an army. Often, the soldiers could only pitch tents outside the walls and light fires to keep warm, as they would on this occasion.
That evening, they reached a somewhat larger county town. With a faint hope of success, the colonel went to speak to the officer guarding the gate, asking whether any old grain could be spared to help feed the army.
He never noticed someone quietly leaving the troops and entering the town in disguise.
Jinyu Pawnshop.
“Shopkeeper. I have something to pawn.”
A low, hoarse voice broke the silence. The dozing shopkeeper rubbed his eyes. A tall man stood before the counter, his bearing striking enough to suggest a seasoned, itinerant martial arts master.
“What is it?” His gaze fell to the counter. On it lay a black tasseled spear with a brightly polished blade. It had a bloody, murderous air about it: clearly a deadly weapon that had taken many lives.
The shopkeeper wasn’t surprised that someone would pawn such an object. He simply asked, “Your own, or someone else’s?”
If it had been stolen from someone the man had killed, the price would have to come down.
“My own,” the man said evenly. “This spear has killed Xiongnu. I’d appreciate a little extra for that.”
Oh? It had killed Xiongnu?
Startled, the shopkeeper looked the man over again, privately speculating about his identity. He also reached out to examine the Black Dragon Tasseled Spear. He could tell that it must have been crafted by a master. Its shaft was sheathed in black iron, exceptionally resistant to wear, with not a trace of wood anywhere.
Such a fine weapon was rare. Why would its owner pawn it?
Curious though he was, the shopkeeper was so taken with the spear that he could hardly put it down. “Will you be redeeming it, or selling it outright?” he asked.
“How much if I redeem it?”
“For a redeemable pawn, I can only give you thirty silver taels. But if you’re willing to sell outright, I can offer this much.” The shopkeeper held out his thumb and forefinger. “Eighty silver taels.”
That was already a generous offer. He had heard that Liaozhou would soon hold a grand festival, with wealthy merchants from elsewhere attending by invitation. Even His Majesty might come. The Liaozhou Merchants’ Guild had therefore warmly invited the Shenzhou Merchants’ Guild to set up at the venue and bring local rarities to sell for a good price.
With “killed Xiongnu” as a selling point, this spear was sure to fetch an even higher price when he sold it on.