Chapter Forty-Four: The King's Relative

  The New Year is all about eating, drinking and having fun. This year, the Zhao family spent a lot of money, even the small vendors in the state city knew that several villages had prepaid wages, and those who carried sedan chairs and pole loads came to receive a small fortune. The Zhao family was even more generous with their wealth, inviting a theater troupe and an acrobatic troupe, one performing inside the mansion and the other outside, two stages performing at the same time, making the New Year's celebration lively and exciting.

  Today is already the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, after eating big meals for several days, even 'Little Black' and 'Little White' want something light now. Zhao Chu hid in the backyard today without going out, he himself is not a person who loves noise, there are also several reliable Zhangs to take care of things, but as the head of the family, there are some things he has to face personally.

  Today, Zhao Zhan closed the door and refused to see guests. He stayed alone in his small study, took out his own set of tools, carefully inserted a paper tube made of cowhide into a fire cap, which was an improvisation by Zhang Liu Jin that day. He connected the two firmly together. Then he took out a sheet of command paper, carefully cut it to size and put it into a thin copper hat made of copper skin, and installed it on the fire cap.

  "Whew!" Zhao Chu let out a long breath, wiping the sweat from his hands on his clothes. Carefully, he poured some of his own specially prepared gunpowder onto a small scale in the medicine cabinet, measured it out, and then poured it into a paper tube. He also picked up a piece of pastry from the table and stuffed it into the tube, then used a rod to tamp it down twice, sealing the opening. One "blank cartridge" was now complete.

  "Mother's, can we succeed this time?" Zhao Chu fixed the bullet and then struck the bottom fire with a small hammer, 'bang' a crisp sound, the paper tube was blown to pieces. "Hiss, is it that the gunpowder is too much or the mouth is sealed too tightly!" He checked for a while and spat out the medicine dregs that splashed into his mouth, muttering to himself.

  "Second Master, what's wrong?" asked Guihua, pushing open the door from outside.

  "It's nothing, just a firecracker fell into the fire pit, you go ahead!" Zhao Yan said with an embarrassed smile.

  "Second Master, don't fiddle with this in the house, it's not good if water leaks out!" said the scraps of paper on the Osmanthus fragrans floor, furrowing their brows.

  "Alright, alright, I know, I won't do it!" Zhao said with a sly tone. Guihua gave him a white eye and had an expression that said "I trust you, yeah right". After Guihua left, Zhao started repeating his work from earlier, the sound in the study room didn't stop for half a day, but was soon drowned out by the continuous firecracker sounds outside, without drawing any attention from outsiders.

  "Shunzi, haven't you received any news back yet?" Huang Jingchen might be getting old and didn't like the commotion, so he stayed in his room drinking tea, reading books, and avoiding the noise outside.

  "Report to the superior officer, no!" A voice came from the corner, if it wasn't him answering, nobody would have noticed that there was still someone standing there.

  "Hmm!" Huang Jingchen nodded, slapping the book onto the table and standing up. He felt a bit annoyed in his heart, but couldn't quite put his finger on why.

  Early in the morning, Wang Ye came to pay his respects and surprisingly performed a ritual of juniority, which left Huang Jingchen extremely surprised and moved. As someone who had long given up on having children, he knew that he would never have any descendants. He had once thought about adopting a child from his family like others with status did, but he found that those people were either after his money or his power, which cooled down the enthusiasm in his heart and made him give up on this idea. So why was Wang Ye doing this? Neither wealth nor power could be compared to what Huang Jingchen had, the only reasonable explanation was that Wang Ye considered himself a close relative, like an elder!

  "What's wrong with the high official? Is it that he can't bear to give up his position in the palace and wants to return to the imperial court?" Shunzi was worried about him, and as soon as they entered the first month, Huang Jingchen felt uneasy in his heart, asking for news from the capital every day.

  Actually, Shunzi misunderstood him. Huang Jingchen was thinking of the story that Wang Ye told him that day, which said that this year in January he would be promoted to a close prince, and maybe Zhao Che had already forgotten about it, but the old man still hadn't forgotten, and his heart was always secretly worried. Because according to the Great Song ancestral system, the emperor's son must be enfeoffed as a king, but it wasn't a one-step process of directly being enfeoffed as a king. This rule had been revised several times. The most recent revision was during the reign of Emperor Renzong, when the Grand Minister of Rites revised the practice of granting names and official positions to members of the imperial clan. They changed the previous practice of granting names and official positions at the age of seven to instead doing so at the first major ceremony after the birth of the eldest son, with younger sons being granted official positions at the age of five. However, the official positions granted were generally those of duke or marquis, and they would be promoted slowly until they were enfeoffed as kings after their coming-of-age ceremony at the age of fifteen. And among kings, there were also distinctions between princes of commanderies and close princes. Now that Zhao Che had already been enfeoffed as a prince of a commandery in violation of the old system, would the emperor really break with precedent again?

  Suddenly, a few coos were heard from outside the window. Shunzi quickly got up, opened a small window, and caught a snow-white pigeon. He took out a thin bamboo tube from his leg, smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, smoothed the pigeon's white feathers, and poured some beans from his pocket onto the windowsill. As soon as he let go, the pigeon flew away, pecking happily at the food.

  "Important official, news from the capital has arrived!" Shunzi pulled out a scroll of paper from the bamboo tube and handed it to Huang Jingchen with both hands.

  "Oh, recite!" Huang Jingchen sat down in the chair, picked up his teacup and said, Shunzi's sharp eyes noticed that his hand was slightly trembling.

  "Yes!" Shunzi unfolded the paper strip and moved it under the lamp. "The emperor issued an edict to pardon the Yuan party people. The former officials who joined the party, except for those who were treacherous, resentful, and slandered the court, could be released in batches according to their crimes; The barbarians from Fu Prefecture, Anhua, and Yu Prefecture have surrendered to our dynasty, with nearly 3 million people and tens of thousands of miles of land. Cai Jing led the officials to present a congratulatory memorial, and the emperor appointed Zhang Zhuang, the prefect of Guilin, as the pacification commissioner of Qian Nan, with the land surrendered by Zhao Tai and others in Yu Prefecture as Liao Zhou, and the land of the Fu Yi people as Zhen Zhou.

  "Is that all?" Huang Jingchen frowned and asked.

  "Oh, there's one more thing!" Shunzi said, flipping over the note.

  "Hurry up and recite!"

  "On New Year's Day, the Emperor issued an edict at the morning court, and the Crown Prince was renamed Heng and promoted to King Ding; the second son, Shi, was promoted to King Yan; the third son, Kai, was promoted to King Yong; the fourth son, Jue, was promoted to King Jing; the fifth son, Shu, was promoted to King Su. The sixth son, Qi, the seventh son, Xuan, the eighth son, ?, and the ninth son, Gou, were all enfeoffed as Dukes of various regions." As Shunzi read on, he suddenly noticed that Huang Jingchen's face had turned bright red, and the tea in his hand had spilled all over his chest, yet he seemed completely unaware. He hastily went forward to support Huang Jingchen and asked him what was wrong.

  "It's true, it's really true, what he said is actually true" Huang Jingchen seemed to be completely unaware, muttering to himself.

  "What are you talking about, sir?" Shunzi was frightened and shook his head, asking Huang Jingchen loudly.

  "Haha" Huang Jingchen suddenly slammed the teacup heavily on the table, laughing wildly and patted Shunzi's hand, saying: "Shunzi, we've met a wise lord!"

  "Has the official gone mad? Won't he be overjoyed that his lordship has been promoted from a duke to a prince and gotten dementia from excessive happiness?" Shunzi had never seen Huang Jingchen, who usually didn't show his emotions on his face, lose his composure like this. "Someone, quickly go call the royal physician!" He shouted at Little Huangmen guarding outside the door.

  "What's the point of calling him?" Huang Jingchen slapped the table and shouted, "Go and let all the managers come to the front hall for a meeting. We received a letter today, and the imperial envoy who will announce the edict tomorrow has arrived. We need to prepare, I'll go inform Prince Wang!"

  "Yes, sir!" Shunzi replied while wiping his sweat, and the old man disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

  "Your Highness, Your Highness!" Zhao Zhan was concentrating on making the fifth bullet when the door suddenly burst open. He looked up to see Old Huang wearing casual clothes, grinning from ear to ear, and shouting as he rushed in. His hand shook, and this time the bullet really fell into the fire pit, producing a loud "boom" sound and sending sparks flying everywhere.

  "Huang Bo, you've gone mad?" Zhao Yan scolded while busily pouring tea and putting out the fire.

  "It's a crime, it's a crime! I'm so excited that I've startled Your Highness, I was too overjoyed for a moment!" Huang Jingchen stomped out the scattered sparks with his foot and said with a smile.

  "What good news is this that makes Huang Bo so happy!" Zhao Shu shook his clothes, and the fine satin robe had several more holes on it.

  "Your Highness, news has arrived from the capital that the Emperor has issued a decree, promoting you to Prince of Yan!" The old man said as he bowed.

  "Huang Bo, didn't I tell you earlier? You still have doubts about me!" Zhao Chu said with a bitter face. The old man's face turned red, fearing that he would get a stroke or heart attack because of this matter, and now there was no emergency rescue medicine, it would be unjust if he died.

  "I, an old man, have faith in you this time. Your Highness will surely receive the guidance of the immortal master and become a great person one day. I was blind to your talent before, but I hope Your Highness will forgive me!" Huang Jingchen said with a deep bow, his face filled with shame.

  "Huang Bo, I was abandoned by my father the Emperor and forced to leave the palace and the capital. Lonely and helpless, it's all thanks to you that you didn't abandon me and followed me to this poor and remote place, always staying by my side. I've long considered you as one of my own family!" Zhao Che hastily stepped forward two steps and supported Huang Jingchen, saying.

  "Your Highness, I'm ashamed to call you Uncle!" Huang Jingchen said with tears streaming down his face.

  "Huang Bo, the immortal master warned us that within twenty years, the Great Song will inevitably face a great calamity. As a prince, how can I sit idly by and watch foreign tribes occupy our good rivers and mountains, slaughter our people? Let us strive to welcome the coming great disaster!"

  "Your Highness, I will follow you to ride horses and wield guns, sweep away the barbarians and protect our Great Song Dynasty's peace. Even if it means sacrificing my life, I am willing!" Huang Jingchen said firmly as he grasped Zhao Shi's hand, but no one knew that this handshake between an old man and a young man would be the starting point of changing history.

  "Well, let's work together to make the Song Dynasty prosperous and bring peace to its people. Let's face this great difficulty together!" Zhao knew that Huang Jingchen had surrendered, gaining a great advantage.

  "Your Highness, if you want to achieve great things, you should first accumulate grain and train soldiers, gather wealth. Now, however, you are lavishly spending money, isn't this going against the right path?" The two sat down again, Zhao Ke poured him a cup of hot tea, Huang Jingchen asked.

  "Huang Bo is right, this matter is too big, but with just the two of us, we can't stop the million-strong iron cavalry of the barbarians!" Zhao Che smiled and said, "Now we are too weak, if we stockpile grain and train soldiers, I'm afraid Father Emperor will cut off our heads first. At that time, even Mother Empress won't be able to save us, so we can only bide our time."