Chapter 12: The Glory of the Crown

  It was still an hour before nightfall, and if they quickened their pace a bit, they could make it to the county town to stay in an inn. However, Xiao Yanping ordered the porters of the merchant group to set up camp by this small ferry crossing. After entering the interior of the Song Dynasty, Han Shizhong did not interfere with how he arranged his itinerary, and waited until nightfall before a soldier came to report that Xiao, the head of the merchant group, had taken a boat across the river with one of his employees. Han Shizhong then smiled at Zhao Xingde and said: "Indeed, no business is done without deceit. During the day, he told you and me that this bird droppings business wouldn't make much money, but at night, he's eagerly finding a way onto someone else's boat." He spoke lightly, and Zhao Xingde also smiled in response.

  At the Maple Bridge ferry, a boat loaded with bird droppings was moored at the dock, with a lantern made of yellow paper hanging from the rear mast, reflecting the sparkling water. Unlike the usual river boats where sailors would be making noise playing dice and drinking wine in the evening, this boat was quiet, with only a dozen or so pairs of eyes hiding in the dark, vigilantly monitoring the surroundings.

  A servant carrying a lantern led the way, and Xiao Yanping followed him along the plank bridge to the side of the boat. Before he could even greet anyone, a gangway was lowered from the boat, and Xiao Yanping stepped onto it with the servant. The gangway was then quietly withdrawn.

  Inside the cabin, Deng Yuanjue sat upright in a rattan chair. As soon as Xiao Yanping saw him, he bowed down and said, "Disciple of the Sacred Teachings, Xiao Yanping, pays his respects to the Precious Light Law King." Deng Yuanjue waved his hand and said, "Brother Xiao, please rise."

  He gestured for the Ming Cult disciple who had followed them in to leave. After the door was closed, he smiled and said, "Old Xiao, our friendship is not ordinary, so why bother with these mundane formalities? Please sit down." As he spoke, he poured tea for Xiao Yanping.

  Xiao Yanping smiled wryly and said, "Master Fang is about to take action, and once again he instructs us to be strict with the rules. As for me, I will also follow orders." Deng Yuanjue pushed the teacup in front of him and laughed, saying, "Rules are made for those below us to see. At this time, there's no one else around, so let's just call each other brothers like before."

  "I humbly obey the Buddha's teachings." Xiao Yanping had barely spoken when he realized his mistake, and with a cup of tea in his left hand, he patted his cheek with his right hand, laughing: "I spoke too smoothly."

  Deng Yuanjue smiled and put it aside, gazing out at the dark water's surface, he said in a low voice: "The affairs of Liao Guo are going smoothly, right? Those five thousand waist knives, three hundred iron armors, one thousand fire guns, ten thousand catties of gunpowder, have they all been taken care of?"

  "Everything is fine!" Xiao Yanping replied, "The important things are all hidden in the trunk of the big tree, and will be sent directly to Yangzhou by sea from Liaodong." As he spoke, he took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Deng Yuanjue. Deng Yuanjue took it over without looking at it and put it into his bosom, praising: "Well done! The leader's uprising is imminent, everything is ready, only lacking the east wind, now we don't lack people, but only lack weapons and armor, this batch of things is really a timely help." He paused for a moment, then said: "Indeed, all the officials in Liao country are as black as crows, they dare to sell anything for money."

  Xiao Yanping usually managed the financial affairs of the Mingjiao sect, running between officials and wealthy merchants. When he heard Deng Yuanjue's words, he smiled awkwardly. In the midst of chatting with Xiao Yanping, Deng Yuanjue introduced him to the situation of Fang La, the leader of the Mingjiao sect, who was preparing to start a rebellion in Jiangnan. He said that once this batch of weapons arrived in Jiangnan, tens of millions of followers would rise up simultaneously in dozens of states and counties, sweeping across the southeast with Jinling as their capital, and establishing the country name "Daming". Then they would divide the land along the river with the Song Dynasty, and Fang La would ascend to the throne as the Holy Emperor, with the year number being Yongle. Xiao Yanping listened attentively, his face showing hesitation and indecision. After deliberating for a long time, he finally interrupted Deng Yuanjue: "Brother Deng, based on what I have seen in Hebei, the imperial court will inevitably go to war with Liao within a few years. At that time, most of the imperial army's elite troops will be trapped in Hebei and Youyan, unable to look south. Why doesn't the sect leader wait until then to start the rebellion?"

  Deng Yuanjue was taken aback, sizing up Xiao Yanping for a few moments before clearing his throat and speaking in a serious tone, "Old Xiao, it's fine to say this in front of me, but if you were to encounter brothers from other sects, don't be reckless." He paused, then continued in a low voice, "The leader of our sect has calculated the timing of the uprising based on heavenly and earthly signs. It's not something we can question. Not long ago, someone surnamed Jin dared to discuss this within the sect and was taken away by the elders of the Law Enforcement Hall in the middle of the night to feed the fish." Seeing Xiao Yanping still looked puzzled, Deng Yuanjue secretly sighed. This old Xiao had contributed greatly to the Ming Cult over the decades, but remained only a high-ranking executive, never promoted to protector or law king, not even a regional leader. "This year, the southeast is experiencing severe drought, with crops yielding half as much and tea leaves not doing well either. However, the imperial taxes have increased, and the people's grievances are mounting. The southeast is like a tinderbox, ready to ignite at any moment. If we delay, who knows what next year or the year after will bring? As long as the common people have enough food to fill their bellies, they won't follow our sect in uprising." Out of consideration for his long-standing friendship with Xiao Yanping, Deng Yuanjue explained again in a way he knew Xiao could understand.

  "Ah, I see," Xiao Yanping muttered to himself, still regretting the missed opportunity for war between Song and Liao. Deng Yuanjue patted him on the shoulder and said: "If things go well, with your contributions to the Holy Church, it's not impossible to become one of the six departmental ministers. At the very least, being a prefectural governor is a sure thing." "I still need Brother Deng to help me out, I don't dare think about being a prefectural governor, just being an inspector for the Maritime Trade Office would be enough for me." "Don't be polite, we're old brothers who have known each other for decades. We rise and fall together, no need to stand on ceremony."

  Two people met again after a long time, talked and laughed happily, and reluctantly bid farewell. Xiao Yanping left the ferry boat and immediately returned to the merchant team's camp without any other movement. Han Shizhong was even more convinced that this old man did not want to get involved in his own business, so he became less polite in his speech over the next few days. However, Xiao Yanping only responded with humility and caution until they arrived at Hejian Prefecture City, where he again sent a reward of 4,000 strings of cash to Han Shizhong. Han Shizhong used all of it as compensation for the families of deceased soldiers, and after finishing his work, he began to investigate the traces of horse thieves with wolf heads as their symbol along the Liao-Song border, but he did not gain anything.

  After Zhao Xingde returned to Hejian Prefecture, he invested all the 500 taels of silver reward into the charity school, built a small printing house, and specially printed textbooks for soldiers to learn literacy. During this period, he visited Wang Yan several times. Wang Yan had been in charge of the Jinzhou Prefecture's northern border control officer for over ten years, and was familiar with the bandits in the Taihang Mountains and the horse thieves on the roads of Hebei. After listening to Zhao Xingde's account of the horse thieves' behavior and marks left behind, he still couldn't figure out which gang they belonged to, but said that the horse thieves along the northern border of Hebei often split up and merged, so a group of three or four hundred was considered large. The Jinzhou Prefecture would definitely get results after conducting a thorough investigation.

  The Hebei expedition seemed to be busy all the time, and for several months, it had been deploying Tong Guan to increase the military salary of the Zhennan Army to three times that of ordinary forbidden troops. Three deputy generals were promoted, and two regular generals were dismissed, making the Hebei expedition generals somewhat fearful and grateful. Immediately afterwards, Tong Guan began selecting elite soldiers from the original Hebei army to fill the ranks of the Zhennan Army. Those who were not tall and strong were rejected, those who could not carry heavy loads for long distances were rejected, and those who could not lift a 200-pound stone lock were also rejected. However, with generous rewards offered in advance, the expedition's soldiers flocked to join, and within a short period of ten days, the Zhennan Army grew from 5,000 to 12,000 men. Tong Guan dispersed these Hebei soldiers among the original troops of the Zhennan Army, re-established military numbers, and divided them into the First to Fourth Armies of the Zhennan Army.

  Han Shizhong had previously received a personal commendation from the imperial court, and recently beheaded dozens of bandits. After verification, they were found to be genuine strong and fierce bandits. This was the first major achievement since the garrisoning of the northern border, giving Commander Tong a great deal of face. As a result, he promoted Han Shizhong to commander-in-chief of the second army of the northern garrison, often summoning him for private meetings, making him one of Commander Tong's most trusted generals, causing the other generals in the northern garrison to be extremely envious.

  Zhou Dingchen, the chief secretary who was also in charge of the women's camp in Hebei, saw this situation and didn't need Han Shizhong to mention it. He removed Li Hongyu from the prostitute registry and had a friend create a false identity for her as a respectable woman. Under the cover of night, he sent her to Han Shizhong's residence.

  On the day of the wedding celebration in the military camp, Zhao Xingde took several cups of wine on behalf of Han Shizhong, getting drunk to the point where he almost entered the bridal chamber instead of the groom. He was carried out and slept in a room next to the bridal chamber for the night.

  Regarding Zhao Xingde's behavior of opening a free school to teach soldiers, socializing with military generals and others, Wang Yan did not interfere, only reminding him not to neglect his studies of the classics. Although Xingde was more talented than others, next August's imperial examination would still require serious effort, as this was the most important imperial examination since the founding of our dynasty, and who knows how many self-proclaimed geniuses had been disappointed for life because of it.

  Xu Buzhi sent a letter to Zhao Xingde, inquiring about his recent academic progress and encouraging him to seize this rare opportunity with diligence. "In this era, if you want to compete with the world's geniuses, you must focus on the southeast. If you want to rival the heroes of past and present, you must investigate the north of the Yellow River."

  Chen Dong, Zhang Biao and other imperial scholars' sons also mentioned in their correspondence with Zhao Xingde that their fellow students at the Imperial Academy were nervously preparing for the autumn examination. They also promptly informed Xingde that Qin Hui, a renowned scholar, might be appointed as the chief examiner of the ritual examination, and many students from the Imperial Academy were flocking to his residence. Deng Su, however, was rather low-key in the Confucian Society because Qin Hui was his mentor. Recently, he had been diligently studying hard, hoping to make a name for himself in this imperial examination.

  Li Ruoxu also wrote a letter to Zhao Xingde, but the letter asked about Zhao's recent situation in a casual and careless manner, including trivial matters such as clothing and temperature. It was clear that Li had written the letter on behalf of his sister. However, Zhao replied to this letter with great care, writing over 5,000 words in detail to report back. Li Ruoxue was so embarrassed that she never asked her younger brother to write a letter for her again.

  This winter's first heavy snow finally fell, and the sky and earth were covered in a blanket of white. That afternoon, Wang Yan, the military affairs commissioner, brought some good news to Tong Guan, the commander-in-chief of the Hebei expeditionary army: "The Khitan troops have arrived at the Liao border, and Shen Wenyuan has entrusted the matter of internal rebellion within the Khitan tribe to Commander Tong for full authority to handle. The Jinzhou prefecture will provide full cooperation."

  Tong Guan narrowed his eyes and sized up Wang Yan, who was the most disciplined general in the Hebei expedition. He neither acted rashly nor took bribes, but unfortunately, he was not only a member of the Imperial City Guard but also a member of the Jinwei Fu, so he couldn't stay. He stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "The Kereyid tribe has come from afar to surrender to our dynasty, and we should reward them for their loyalty. It's just in time for the winter solstice, so let's first give them 2,000 bolts of brocade and 5,000 stones of grain, and have the Kereyid people move to Hejian to spend the winter." He paused and continued, "Please trouble General Wang to inform the Kereyid tribal leader that these 3,000 brave warriors from the grasslands are now my fifth army in the Hebei expedition. As long as he is loyal to the imperial court and devoted to the emperor, I will ensure his prosperity and wealth for life."