Chapter 295

After selling his loyalty in the imperial palace, Wang Xiujin left the palace letting out a long breath. In ancient times, things were simply difficult this way: the emperor’s thoughts were impossible to fathom, and one had to speak with the utmost care in his presence. The language of the Great Liang was wonderfully subtle, every word carrying more than one meaning, and an ill-chosen phrase could easily be misunderstood. No wonder people said it was like walking with a tiger at your side when serving the ruler, and that a sovereign’s heart was beyond guessing.

After changing out of his official robes, Wang Xiujin thought it over and still decided to make a trip to the Wang household. He wanted to discuss the emperor’s attitude with his father. He did not wish to think ill of the emperor, but the man’s occasional flashes of whim were always terrifying.

Sitting down with his father and speaking at length, Lord Wang concluded that the emperor was truly sincere in wanting to recognize his younger son as an adopted son, but in his view the matter was simply not feasible. Wang Xiujin finally breathed easier. So long as the emperor was not acting from some messy, suspicious motive and trying to test his loyalty, he would not keep dwelling on whether it was possible or not.

News spread swiftly that the state of Kou had offered a princess to the suzerain kingdom. As for Kou’s conduct, none of the ministers in court dared to say a word. By now they had truly become wiser; no one dared leap out and stir up trouble, for fear of being punished by the emperor. Several who had been beaten before had already gone to seek out the envoys from Kou, but they had little personal feeling toward them, and even less connection with Kou itself. Naturally, they would not speak recklessly. It was not worth losing an official hat, or one’s life, for the sake of strangers.

The Great Liang gave no response at all to the matter, neither agreeing nor refusing the offer, simply leaving Kou hanging. Kou could not tell the suzerain kingdom’s attitude and did not know whether to send the person or not. The princess of Kou, however, was quite pleased at the prospect of going to Great Liang. Great Liang had far richer resources than Kou; as for whether she would win the emperor’s favor, that hardly mattered. At the very least, she would never go hungry. As for repaying Kou? Did she not know perfectly well why her father intended to send her to Great Liang?

When the rulers of several vassal states to the south of Great Liang heard of Kou offering up a princess, some cursed Kou for its shamelessness, while others worried that if the Great Liang emperor accepted Kou’s princess, he might make some move of his own. These rulers could no longer sit still. They carefully chose and re-chose among their own daughters, selecting those of striking beauty and keen intelligence, and intended to offer them as well. But as soon as the rumor spread, the suzerain kingdom refused. For years the emperor’s harem had seen no large-scale selection of women, and he would not accept beauties offered by the vassal states.

The many rulers of the southern tributary states more or less guessed at the truth, and so they waited to see Kou make a fool of itself. Who could have imagined that before the princess of Kou even set out, the princess of Bang had already arrived at the frontier?

A certain prince who guarded the border gates looked at Bang’s palanquin, then listened to the messenger’s explanation and raised an eyebrow. Was the ruler of Bang’s kingdom perhaps out of his mind? Why copy Kou in sending a princess for no reason at all? The emperor was already of advanced age and had begun entrusting many affairs to the princes. To send a princess into the palace at such a time meant the ruler of Bang had certainly been struck in the head somewhere and grown foolish.

The prince did not allow the messenger to proceed farther into the borderlands, but sent someone to the capital with word that the matter should wait for the emperor’s decree.

The ruler of Bang had not in fact copied Kou. He had been frightened by the artillery fire at the seaside from the great ship the last time, and in his terror he sent his lovely younger sister to the emperor, hoping only to preserve his throne. At first he had wanted to send a son, but the son born of the queen was still in swaddling clothes and could not endure the hardship of travel. If he sent one of his other sons, he feared Great Liang might find fault with him. So in the end he could only send his own sister. Her beauty was famed far and wide; even the ruler of Kou had once wished to ask for her hand, though Bang had never looked kindly on Kou. How could they possibly marry her off there?

Bang’s princess was beautiful? The prince thought that the ruler of Kou must be blind. At that level of looks, one could pluck out a handful from the emperor’s harem. Even the maids in the palace were more delicate and lively than she was. A beauty? Spare him.

Inside the capital, when word spread that the ruler of Bang intended to offer his own younger sister to the emperor, people’s first reaction was not to wonder whether the ruler of Bang had lost his mind, but whether Bang’s princess was still a virgin. The ruler of Bang was not young, and the princess’s reputation for beauty had been known for many years. Even a few years earlier, when the ruler of Kou had sought her in marriage, there had been rumors in Great Liang.

Wang Xiujin and Li Lishan, however, had no time for gossip. The boat workshop had delayed Wang Xiujin for a long while. This year, all the workshops and shops had fallen onto Steward Wang’s shoulders, and Wang Xiujin still needed to go and look them over. He was also considering whether to make a trip to Autumn City. That was the farthest workshop he had established, and for several years he had had no time to inquire after it. He trusted the workers, but when the woods grow large, no one can guarantee that every bird flying out will be a good one.

The journey to and from Autumn City would be no short one. As soon as Wang Xiujin mentioned his plans, his family rejected them at once. Especially Ya Chang, who clung to Wang Xiujin’s leg and refused to let go. He did not want his little father to run so far away. “If Little Father must go, then take Ya Chang with you.” With his lips pursed, Ya Chang looked miserably aggrieved.

Wang Xiujin could only stroke his son’s head helplessly. “Not going, then. Not going. In some days, Little Father will take you to stroll around Wang Village.”

Thinking of what his father had mentioned once again, he wanted to go back and have a look at Wang Village. Li Lishan heard Wang Xiujin promising the child and felt a little relieved. “When you go, I’ll accompany you.”

“After autumn, then,” Wang Xiujin said. He sent his son off to study, then brought up the matter of raising a daughter. “It’s not that I think raising a son is bad. It’s just that ever since I started this, Wang Village keeps thinking about it and sending word, which leaves me uncomfortable. If I come across a girl I take to, I’ll bring her back and raise her beside me.”

Wang Xiujin was not speaking falsely. He truly did feel somewhat uneasy. People from Wang Village would send messages from time to time: whose family had produced a son who looked especially clever, whose family had a fat little boy who was simple and endearing, whose family… In short, they kept asking him, openly and covertly, when he would go and recognize a son. Anyone would find that irritating. Perhaps they had no other intentions, but it inevitably made a person overthink.

“I’ll follow your lead,” Li Lishan said, not objecting to Wang Xiujin’s decision. Still, in his heart, he had not given up on the idea of having Wang Xiujin choose a child of their own clan from Wang Village to raise at his side.

As for going to Wang Village, it was not as though they could decide today and set out tomorrow. There was still time. Li Lishan remained busy training troops. The training of the naval forces had now been placed entirely under Liu Qing’s charge, and he did not go to inspect them often; even when Liu Qing invited him, he would not offer opinions.

Liu Qing felt that the days now were nowhere near as comfortable as when he was merely helping Li Lishan. Though he had gained authority, he had also taken on more matters, which made him feel especially ill at ease. He kept thinking of going back to assist Li Lishan. Li Lishan, exasperated, could only tell him to manage things for the time being, and that once the emperor issued an edict, the naval forces would be separated from their side. Only then did Liu Qing finally let out a breath and even begin to show the regular soldiers a somewhat better face.

After hearing of it, Wang Xiujin found Liu Qing rather interesting. No wonder he had been able to work under Li Lishan for so many years. If he had been greedy for power, Li Lishan would have kicked him to some other post long ago.

The palace had not yet made any statement about the Bang princess when news spread that she had fled. Wang Xiujin had not taken the rumor seriously, but once he returned home and heard Li Lishan, who was not one for gossip, mention it, he realized it was true and not merely idle talk. “The place where the princess was staying should have been guarded. How could she still get away?”

Li Lishan gave a brief account of why the ruler of Bang had offered up a princess, then explained that the princess had been escorted all the way to Great Liang. After staying at an inn, she had kept looking for a chance to escape. In the end, she had climbed out through a small window in the inner chamber’s latrine and run off.

“She’s… truly bold. She had courage. Isn’t she afraid that, in a fit of imperial wrath, the emperor will wipe out Bang?” Wang Xiujin did not know how to describe the Bang princess. What the ruler of Bang had done was disgraceful, but the princess’s behavior was not quite proper either. Yes, she had become a woman of iron will, but the consequences were hardly easy to predict.

In court, many people jumped up and shouted that Bang must be taught a lesson, that Bang had gone too far, that its ruler ought to be deposed and another set up in his place. In short, everyone was determined to stand together and help the emperor recover his dignity.

The emperor watched the civil officials leaping up and down and found it all rather amusing. No one had a different opinion; no one mentioned any talk of benevolence or righteous rule. They made it impossible for him to enjoy the spectacle, which was somewhat dull. Then he looked at the military generals, each one rubbing their fists and rolling up their sleeves, as if waiting for a single command before they would lead troops to annihilate Bang.

When the ruler of Bang heard that his younger sister had run away, he collapsed entirely. Without caring whether his son was still in swaddling clothes, he intended to send the child to the Great Liang capital as a hostage.

The ruler reacted very quickly. Just when the emperor was still feeling that there was no play worth watching and it was all rather dull, Bang’s messenger had already delivered the letter. The letter was read aloud in court, and the civil officials looked at one another in confusion, unsure for a moment whether they should continue shouting for Bang to be taught a lesson or shift their stance and accept the hostage.

“Your Majesty, this subject believes that raising a hostage would be a loss,” Lord Wang said, stepping out from the ranks to address the emperor. “The hostage is still in swaddling clothes. He would have to be raised from infancy until the ruler of Bang dies before he can be sent back. Though Bang would bear the expenses over the years, keeping him beneath the feet of the Son of Heaven means there would be gifts at festivals and New Year. In the end, the total would be no small sum. And once the hostage returns to Bang and succeeds to the throne, what benefit can he possibly bring to Great Liang?” He paused there. “This subject thinks it wasteful to spend silver on raising a useless hostage. If we have silver, it would be better spent on building schools, so that Great Liang may have more children who can read and write.”

Some ministers, hearing Lord Wang’s bluntly mercantile words, were very displeased, yet none dared step forward to argue. The reason was the last thing he said: spending money on outsiders to display one’s broad mind—could they truly remember such kindness? More likely, they would harbor resentment. With such money, it was better spent on one’s own people. Unconsciously, the ministers silently replaced “children” with “our own people.”

The emperor felt that Lord Wang made perfect sense. “Tell the envoy this: I never intended to take that princess in the first place. But her behavior displeases me. As for the hostage, since he is still young, and out of regard for the ruler of Bang as a father reluctant to part with his child, there is no need to send his son here. I am the sovereign of a realm and cannot settle this carelessly. The people must be given an accounting. Henceforth, within the next ten years, the tribute from Bang shall be three times what it was last year, and there must be no mistake.”

A note from the author: Racing full speed toward completion.