Chapter 64 Hoping for Your Prompt Return
Upon learning that it was Qin Xiao's letter, Baili Hong immediately became restless.
He pushed off the chair with his little legs and ran to Chu Jiubian with his short legs.
"Sir, I want to see too." The little boy stood on tiptoe, supporting himself on Chu Jiubian's knees with both hands, trying to climb into his arms.
Chu Jiubian then scooped him up and made him sit on his lap.
Baili Hong stared at the envelope with bright eyes: "Sir, what did my uncle say?"
"Let me see." Chu Jiubian unfolded the letter.
The first thing you see is familiar handwriting, bold and vigorous, penetrating the paper and possessing its own unique style.
[One month after leaving Beijing, I've arrived in the Northwest...]
In a businesslike tone, he briefly recounted everything that had happened along the way.
On the day they arrived in the Northwest, Moba Zanpu changed his mind and prepared to massacre the city that day, but was stopped by Dingbei Wang.
It is said that the people of Shaanxi and Gansu are now spreading the heroic deeds of the Prince of Dingbei, and his reputation for being "incompetent" when he was captured has been suppressed.
Although it sounded like a business transaction, Chu Jiubian could still sense Qin Xiao's sarcasm in the phrase "The King of Dingbei is in the enemy camp, but his name is in Daning."
It seems that the matter is not as rumored.
It's a foregone conclusion that the Prince of Dingbei conspired with Moba Zanpu. His claims of "protecting the people" and being fearless are likely all staged by the prince himself.
He created a stage himself, then incorporated the Great Ning Dynasty and the Western Regions into the stage, and also included Qin Xiao, Moba Zanpu, and even the people of Shaanxi and Gansu.
He not only successfully lured Qin Xiao there, but also made a name for himself.
That's truly a brilliant tactic.
Chu Jiubian's eyes darkened slightly; he hadn't really paid attention to this Prince Dingbei, Baili Yu, before.
This was the youngest prince during the reign of Emperor Seongjong, aged twenty-five, the same age as Qin Xiao.
During the succession struggle in Emperor Yingzong's reign, this Prince of Dingbei was still young, and his maternal clan's power was not too strong. Therefore, they only managed to hastily secure a fiefdom for him and send him away, without involving him in party and government affairs.
For the next eight years of Emperor Yingzong's reign, he remained obedient and even less noticeable than the Prince of Nanjiang, who was far away in the south.
But now it seems that this person is not a peaceful and simple one either.
On the contrary, this person is strategic, daring, and willing to go all out; he is a very difficult person to deal with.
These feudal lords have all been very good at hiding their true intentions, but now that the court is in turmoil, they are all starting to stir.
Chu Jiubian lowered his eyes and continued reading the contents of the letter.
[I sent envoys to negotiate last night. The army will rest for three days before starting the war. I wish you good luck.]
Qin Xiao had no intention of negotiating peace, so he only sent envoys to go through the motions; a war was inevitable sooner or later.
But when Qin Xiao wrote it this way, Chu Jiubian couldn't help but smile.
However, the smile on his lips vanished quickly, and his brow furrowed slightly.
It took four days for the letter to reach him, which means that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Qin Xiao had already started fighting the Sai army yesterday.
It's unclear what the situation is, or whether Qin Xiao has been injured.
Probably not.
If Qin Xiao had been injured on the first day, it would have been difficult for him to "defeate the Sai Kingdom" as depicted in the original story, so he is currently safe.
Chu Jiubian composed himself and continued looking down.
The letter was already down to the last two sentences.
Please convey to His Majesty that I am well and will strive to return to the capital before the end of the year.
Before Chu Jiubian could relay the message, the child had already seen the sentence and immediately hugged Chu Jiubian's arm happily, saying, "Sir, Uncle said he'll be back before the New Year!"
"Mm," Chu Jiubian replied with a smile.
Baili Hong then wiggled off Chu Jiubian's arms and said with a smile, "Sir, I want to continue the arithmetic."
He needs to work hard so that when his uncle comes back, he will see that he is even more amazing than before!
“Go ahead,” Chu Jiu said.
The child returned to his seat and sat down, continuing to work on the math problems Chu Jiubian had given him, showing no impatience but rather full of fighting spirit.
Chu Jiubian withdrew his gaze and looked at the last line of words on the letter.
I miss the jasmine in the courtyard; I wonder if she is well?
He stared at the letter for a long time before putting it away and turning to Qin Chaoyang, saying, "The fighting should have started in the Northwest. Keep an eye out for news."
Qin Chaoyang respectfully replied.
"The prince's residence can be prepared now. Please keep an eye on the banquets and festivals with Eunuch Hong," Chu Jiubian said.
Qin Chaoyang bowed and said, "Your subordinate obeys."
The Lunar New Year is approaching.
In the first year of the new emperor's reign, all seven vassal kings were required to come to the capital to pay their respects, and it was estimated that they would all bring their families, along with some attendants and retainers.
It was impossible to house so many people in the palace.
Fortunately, when these princes were granted their titles, the palace had already provided them with courtyards in the capital. Now, all that was needed was to send people to tidy them up; there was no need to build new ones on the spot.
Moreover, these mansions all had servants to "look after them," so they weren't deserted courtyards, which saved a lot of trouble in tidying them up.
However, there are many details to keep an eye on during the New Year's banquet. Fortunately, the officials from the Ministry of Rites are in charge of coordinating everything, otherwise Chu Jiubian would have been even short of manpower.
And the Ministry of Personnel is also seeing an increasing number of memorials coming in lately.
The annual performance evaluations of officials, as well as those who wanted to be transferred, all started to take place at this time, resulting in a mountain of memorials being submitted, which Chu Jiubian had to review until late at night every day.
Whenever he couldn't straighten his back at night, he couldn't help but think of Qin Xiao.
If the other person were there, they could take on half of his workload, making things incredibly easy.
Qin Xiao won't be back anytime soon.
Chu Jiubian spread out a new sheet of paper, picked up his pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote a reply to Qin Xiao.
His letter was even simpler.
He first mentioned what new things had happened in the court recently.
First, the household registration of the people in Hexi County has been sorted out. Prefect Han Yuandao has used his power to suppress local forces and prevented those local powerful families and various forces from stealing the people's land again.
However, these four powerful families in the court seemed to have guessed that they intended to change the land tax, and they all made some small moves in private.
Secondly, Xiao Yao, the head of the Xiao family, has recently begun to reappear in public.
Although he had lost some weight, he was in good spirits, and Chu Jiubian could tell that he had been able to suppress his addiction to datura.
Although Minister of Personnel Xiao Huaiguan looked more energetic, he was also starting to lose weight, and his already aged face had sunken in the cheeks.
Chu Jiubian subtly told Qin Xiao that the old man was probably not long for this world.
The Xiao family previously possessed a large quantity of datura. After the imperial court banned it, Xiao Yao also ordered everyone in his family to stay away from it.
But Chu Jiubian knew exactly what was wrong with Xiao Huaiguan just by looking at him.
It must be that the remaining datura from the Xiao family were all eaten by that old bastard Xiao Huaiguan.
Even Chu Jiubian knew why he would eat it; he must have thought that he was already old and wouldn't live much longer, so he might as well live more freely, even if it meant accepting poison.
Third is the Wang family.
Chu Jiubian felt that ever since he sent Wang Pengyi, the Vice Minister of Revenue, to deliver military supplies, Wang Zhiyuan, the Minister of Rites, had changed somewhat.
He no longer participated in court affairs, only occasionally speaking, and even then, he tended to side with Chu Jiubian and Baili Hong.
In his letter, Chu Jiubian informed Qin Xiao that: "The Wang family may intend to retire while they are still at the height of their power; this depends on the success or failure of this Northwest campaign."
If we were to say who in the court has the clearest understanding of the situation, it would be Minister Wang.
The Wang family had served as officials and prime ministers during the previous dynasty. However, after the Da Ning dynasty overthrew the previous dynasty, the high-ranking officials and nobles in the court were all weakened. Only the Wang family managed to retain their wealth and power because they had secretly made a deal with the Da Ning emperor beforehand.
This ability to assess situations and make sound judgments is clearly a trait that Wang Zhiyuan inherited.
But there is another very important reason that Chu Jiubian cannot tell Qin Xiao.
That is, he obtained some inside information from Wang Qichen. The Wang family is currently experiencing serious internal strife, and Wang Qichen is already laying the groundwork for the release of "Yaotai Qingzhi". It is expected to be released soon.
At that time, the Wang family's original monopoly on papermaking technology will be broken. If the head of the family cannot come up with a good way to reverse the decline, they will soon be overshadowed by Wang Qichen's side.
Under these circumstances, Wang Zhiyuan, a clan elder with a higher status than the patriarch Wang Huanzhi, remained silent and did not even restrict his grandson Wang Pengyi's interactions with Wang Qichen, which was already a sign of bias.
If Wang Qichen were to actually become the head of the family, then the Wang family would be under Chu Jiubian's control.
The strong alliance and hostility between the four great families were thus broken from within.
Finally, there was the matter of the imperial examinations; the first round of the provincial examinations had already concluded.
Chu Jiubian set up the imperial examination system in a process similar to that of later generations, starting with the preliminary examination, going through the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, and finally the palace examination, for a total of four rounds of examinations.
The county-level examination was held in the county where the students lived. This stage mainly tested basic knowledge, and anyone with a solid foundation could pass.
The provincial examination was held in the prefectural city where the students were registered. The questions in this round were more difficult, and most of the people who were just trying to get by or who didn't know how to adapt were eliminated.
Because this was the first time the imperial examination had been held, Chu Jiubian did not set a quota.
Students who achieve the required score in each stage and score more than 85 out of 100 will advance to the next round of exams.
The third round of examinations was the provincial examination, which was held in the prefectural city.
The scope of the examination questions will be broader and the difficulty will be higher. Chu Jiu Bian has also added some debate topics.
Aside from the candidates taking the classical studies subject, other subjects such as mathematics and weaving did not require particularly good writing skills when answering questions. As long as their values were correct, or only slightly old-fashioned but with the potential to be corrected, Chu Jiubian would pass them.
Those who passed the provincial examination had already secured a place in the Imperial Academy.
These students should then arrive in the capital to participate in the final imperial examination.
In the palace examination, Baili Hong served as the chief examiner, while the other civil and military officials were considered as deputy examiners.
The exam for this final test was not divided into subjects; all of them used the same set of papers, and there were only ten questions on the paper.
These ten questions are not about professional skills, but only ask why you want to become an official, how to improve people's livelihood, how to bring benefits to the people, and how you will do your job in the future.
These questions were created by Chu Jiubian and Baili Hong together, and two of them were questions that the children themselves wanted to know.
The purpose of setting these questions in the palace examination, besides selecting the most outstanding talents who best fit Chu Jiubian's governing philosophy, was also to bring fame to these students.
In front of civil and military officials, the students' answers, whether good or bad, had a certain influence.
After the palace examination, Chu Jiubian would order people to record the questions and the students' answers and spread them out.
These contents would then be spread in vernacular Chinese by storytellers or in crowded places such as inns and restaurants, and then to various markets.
Let the people know that Baili Hong, Chu Jiubian, and Qin Xiao are now in charge of them.
And those who will continue to make decisions for them in the future, and those who will help them live better lives, are the students from ordinary families selected by the Imperial Academy.
Unlike aristocratic families, students of the Imperial Academy were naturally closer to the common people.
Once the reputation spread, the people's hearts would be with the Imperial Academy, which would make it more convincing to send these students to the imperial court later.
He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world.
Chu Jiubian understood the underlying principles well, and so did the officials in the court.
These powerful and wealthy individuals are used to arrogance and do not genuinely care about the demands of the people. They simply use their "good reputation" to treat the people as tools.
When they are needed to charge into battle, just like during the drought in the south, if officials incite them slightly, they will become sharp blades against Qin Xiao and Baili Hong.
But to them, the common people were like ants, a pile of loose sand.
A mere prefectural magistrate could lead his troops to throw them into the turbulent river.
And then there was the recent invasion by the Serbian Kingdom.
The people of Gansu were made into bargaining chips, and the Prince of Dingbei placed them in danger without their knowledge.
But he also needs the support of these people, and wants to gain fame and be accepted by more people.
That's why he dragged so many people into the mess, using the reputation of "standing alone to block the knife" and fearlessly risking his life to manipulate the people's admiration and resentment.
To him, and to those in power, the common people were merely tools.
Therefore, they would not think of "enlightening the people," and on the contrary, they would oppress them to the extreme, considering it good enough if the people could barely make ends meet.
As people become wealthier, they will begin to pursue other things and will have the time and inclination to think about more profound truths.
They will become less controllable and no longer be tools that can be manipulated.
This is not good news for the powerful and wealthy.
Even in later generations, ordinary people are still trapped in information cocoons, seeing and hearing only what certain people want them to see and hear.
However, there will always be people who think about it, and there will always be people who try to transcend social classes.
Society will always progress, and that's a good thing.
Chu Jiubian never naively thought that everyone should become successful. He just wanted everyone to live a better life and to have the opportunity to think, grow, and understand why they were born and why they died.
After rambling on and on, Chu Jiubian looked up and was stunned to find that he had unknowingly written a whole page of letters.
The secret letter will be safe. If any accident occurs, the messenger will destroy the letter immediately. Therefore, there is no problem with Chu Jiubian writing these things. There is no need to worry about outsiders seeing them.
He was just a little surprised.
Previously, when Qin Xiao was in front of him, he did not know that he would talk to the other party so much. Now that he is writing it down, he realizes that he and Qin Xiao usually talk quite a lot.
Considering that Qin Xiao had only written one page in his letter, Chu Jiubian said nothing more, only concluding with: "Your Majesty is well. However, affairs of state are very busy; I am even reviewing memorials in my dreams. I hope Your Majesty will return soon to share some of the burden with me."
After thinking for a moment, he added one last sentence: "The jasmine in the courtyard is in full bloom."
It's almost mid-October now, and the jasmine in the yard is already showing signs of decay.
Qin Xiao received the reply on the evening of October 15th.
The setting sun dyed the sky red, and the rain mixed with a thin layer of snow melted into water as soon as it hit the ground, merging with the dust to form mud.
The boots trod across the muddy ground.
Qin Xiao's face still carried lingering ferocity, blood splattered on his chin, and his black armor gleamed with a cold, hard light.
He strode to the tent entrance, threw his spear to the guard, and lifted the tent flap to go inside.
Just as he reached the basin to wash his hands, the guard silently landed a few steps away, holding up a secret letter and saying, "My lord, a reply from the capital."
Qin Xiao suddenly turned his head, took two steps toward him, but stopped, turned back to wash his hands, and then walked over to take the secret letter.
The bodyguard vanished in a flash.
Qin Xiao sat down on one of the only two stone benches in the tent, and before he could even pour himself a glass of water, he unfolded the letter.
The young man's handwriting was vigorous and powerful, with strong and elegant strokes.
The fierce look on Qin Xiao's face slowly dissipated, and his gaze slowly moved over the letter.
The letter's wording was sometimes concise and literary, and sometimes plain and simple, reminiscent of Chu Jiu Bian's style.
Upon seeing him write, "That old bastard Xiao Huaiguan is doomed," Qin Xiao chuckled softly.
Seeing "Your Majesty is well" brought him peace of mind, but he still felt that something was missing.
Until the very last sentence, his gaze lingered on it for a long time.
That sentence is—
The jasmine in the courtyard is in full bloom.
By this time, the jasmine flowers in the garden must have already withered and faded.
However, Qin Xiao didn't recite "jasmine," and Chu Jiubian didn't answer with "flowers blooming."
After a long while, Qin Xiao placed the letter on the table and gently tore it in half.
The first half of the book describes various events in the capital, which Qin Xiao then burned completely.
The second half only contains the last two sentences of the letter.
Qin Xiao got up, put the thin half of the paper into a small box beside his pillow, and then hid it under his pillow again.
After getting up, he didn't rest and walked straight out of the tent.
The people in the capital are waiting for him to return and review the memorials; he needs to speed things up.
Inside the camp of the Sai general, a subordinate rushed in to report: "Your Majesty! Prince Ning has attacked again!"
"Didn't he just go back not long ago? Why is he here again?!" Mobazanpu was so angry that he smashed the wine cup in his hand.
Luckily it was made of bronze, otherwise it would have been damaged.
He glared at Baili Yu, who was sitting to his left, and said angrily, "I have already lost five generals, and you did not say that this Prince Ning was so brave!"
Baili Yu's eyes darkened slightly, and he said in a low voice, "The king should understand that there are no free lunches in this world."
Previously, he was eager to cooperate with Baili Yu because he wanted to seize the land in Gansu. Now that the Prince of Ning has attacked him, he is in a hurry.
Even now, how could Moba Zanpu not know that he has been completely fooled by Dingbei Wang and these people from the Central Plains?
He was used by the Prince of Dingbei as a weapon to resist Qin Xiao.
But Mobazanpu is currently in a real dilemma.
If he were to retreat now, not only would he lose Gansu, but the morale of his army would also collapse, which would greatly affect his rule within the country.
But if he doesn't back down, then he'll have no choice but to actually fight Qin Xiao.
His 130,000 soldiers, facing Da Ning's 110,000 soldiers, it's really hard to say who would prevail.
However, this was within the territory of Daning. Qin Xiao had a military supply corps sent from the capital behind him, with ample provisions, and the environment of the Central Plains was more suitable for Daning's army to fight.
At present, it seems that the only advantage Mebazanpu has is this terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and his murderous gaze fell on Baili Yu. He said, "Since we have to confront Prince Ning head-on to take Gansu, then the deal between us is of little use."
“And you—” he sneered, “you’re useless too.”
Since they're useless, let's just kill them.
Even if the other party is very clever, so what? The person is still in his hands.
"What's the rush?" Baili Yu sipped his tea leisurely and said, "In war, supplies come first."
He looked up at the king on the throne and said, "My men have found out that the Da Ning army's provisions are stockpiled at Ganying Post Station, fifty kilometers away. I ask Your Majesty to hold out for two more days. Once the weather clears up, we can burn down the Ning King's provisions, and then the initiative will be in our hands."
In fact, his men already knew where the army's provisions were stored. They thought that Wang Pengyi, who was escorting the provisions, came from the Wang family and his purpose should be the same as theirs, or at least that the delivery of the provisions should be delayed.
Unexpectedly, the other side worked diligently, buying grain along the way, and moving extremely fast. They have now caught up with Qin Xiao's army, and are stationed in the rear to ensure the most basic supply of food.
Baili Yu vaguely sensed that the Wang family seemed to intend to pledge allegiance to the emperor, but now was not the time to concern himself with that.
Since Wang Pengyi has escaped his control, he might as well just order his men to burn down the grain and fodder camp.
However, it has been raining and snowing for the past two days, and starting a big fire would be too noisy. I'm afraid that before the fire even starts, his men will be exposed.
That's why he hasn't taken any action.
However, just in case, he prepared a backup plan, such as the strategist Qian Ziming who was currently in the Da Ning army camp, and the 6,000 Dingbei Prince's troops led by the other side.
When Moba Zanpu heard him mention the location of the grain supplies, his expression changed slightly.
The people of Serbia admire the strong, and he secured his position as king by subduing them with his military prowess.
However, he was not a mindless warrior; on the contrary, he had quite a talent for military affairs.
Therefore, he had an idea at that moment, and immediately called over a trusted general and whispered a few words in his ear.
After that, the general accepted the order and left, while Moba Zanpu also stood up and walked outside, picking up his long sword as he went.
Upon seeing this, Baili Yu knew that he was going to personally confront Qin Xiao, and he was secretly delighted.
This king's martial prowess is considerable. Even if Qin Xiao is powerful, he can't compare to a true general. This battle is going to be quite a fight.
It's a pity he's currently "imprisoned" and can't show his face, otherwise I would definitely want to take a good look at him.
At the front of the battle, Qin Xiao stood on his tall horse, gazing at the dark mass of the Sai army in the distance.
A burly general rode his horse and shouted something in front of the Serbian army.
Qin Xiao couldn't understand, so his strategist Qian Ziming translated for him: "They said that in our Da Ning army, there is only one general, you. Are all the others dead?"
Qian Ziming was Baili Yu's strategist. He was muscular and upright, and his presence was somewhat weak. He was more like a bodyguard than a strategist, like Qin Chaoyang.
He lived in Gansu for many years and traveled to the Western Regions, so he naturally understood foreign languages.
Shouting insults in front of the enemy seems to be an unwritten rule, but Qin Xiao was too lazy to do such things. Upon hearing this, he directly called to a young deputy general behind him and said, "Go."
"Yes." The lieutenant rushed out without saying a word.
Upon seeing this, the fierce general from the Serbian country stopped shouting and charged over as well.
After several rounds, the deputy general's robe was torn on the shoulder by a long sword, but the enemy general was wounded in the shoulder and ran back to his troops in a sorry state.
The deputy general didn't return either; he just stood in front of the Serbian army and shouted, asking them if they had no one left to fight.
Then another burly and fierce general stepped forward and confronted the deputy general.
Qian Ziming's eyes flickered slightly as he glanced at the people around him, and his heart skipped a beat.
No, he seems to have overlooked something very important.
He hadn't seen the valiant General Cheng Shuo since last night!
The other party was Qin Xiao's most trusted deputy general, and yesterday during the day, he had killed four enemy generals in succession, making him even stronger than Qin Xiao!
Qin Xiao would not send away such a fierce general casually; there must be some important arrangement for him.
Just then, Qian Ziming suddenly saw a middle-aged man wielding a long sword step out from the enemy camp. Who else could it be but the King of Sai?!
Qian Ziming instantly understood everything, and his heart sank completely.
"It's over," he thought.
Your Highness's plan is doomed to fail.
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