Chapter 28

"I beg you, sir, to teach me."

She stood up and bowed to the middle-aged scholar across from her.

The scholar stroked his beard and smiled at her, "Your Highness has not yet recovered from your injuries, yet you have already issued orders to return land to the people, sparing the citizens of Xingyuan Prefecture from displacement. Your virtue is already sufficient to outshine the sun and moon."

"You flatter me, sir," she replied. "Though I wish to return the land to the people, the Taoist temple has no hands to spare."

"Clearing away the lingering poison of the eunuchs is indeed a difficult task," Yuwen Shizhong nodded. "Has the county government not sent men to the countryside?"

"The county government loves the people and has indeed helped me a great deal, but it is not a long-term solution," she said. "That is why I have come specifically to seek your guidance."

Her teacher understood half of what she meant, but the other half remained elusive. "But I have heard that there are men of talent who have recommended themselves to the Lingying Temple?"

"Do you truly believe them to be talented, sir?"

The teacher finally understood, and the look he cast upon his student changed.

Teachers generally like students who are clever—those who learn what you teach, draw inferences about other cases, and bring forth new ideas to verify with you, allowing you to pour out all your knowledge and creating a legendary bond between master and apprentice.

But if a student is *too* clever—if, the moment you finish a sentence, she is already preparing for the civil service examination—it is easy to develop a complex, subtle, and unsettling sense of crisis.

As Yuwen Shizhong stared at the pale celadon tea cup with crackle glaze in his hands, reflecting the blurry face of the Imperial Princess Zhaozhen, he felt this complex and subtle sense of crisis. It was not that he feared the Princess would pass the imperial examinations and come to Sichuan to steal his livelihood; it was simply that what she wanted was not quite what he had imagined.

"The Princess wishes to use them to collect land taxes. They can do that."

"Can that alone be called 'talent'?"

Yuwen Shizhong stroked his beard. "The Princess need not worry about civil unrest."

"Can that alone be called 'virtue'?"

"What kind of 'virtuous talent' does the Princess seek?"

"Someone who can help me collect land taxes, dredge rivers, dig irrigation channels, and who will neither exploit the people nor bully them. He should also be intelligent, patient, loyal, and possess authority."

The look Yuwen Shizhong cast upon her was kind and appreciative.

"High-minded indeed," he sighed. "For the Princess to be so young and yet seek such exceptional men shows a heart that loves the people like her own children, and it also shows that the Emperor..."

The teacher began to praise her. To be precise, he began to praise the Emperor by praising her; to be even more precise, the teacher began to spout empty platitudes.

He was truly a teacher well-versed in poetry and books. It was said his elder brother was even a *tanhua* (third-place scholar)! The whole family seemed full of talent! Even his empty words were so flowery and magnificent!

When the teacher finished his platitudes, he smiled and said, "If the Princess finds such a virtuous man—"

She pricked up her ears.

"Be sure to recommend him to me," he said.

The platitudes were over, leaving an absurd feeling of wondering who was truly the one speaking nonsense.

Seeing her crestfallen expression, the teacher sighed.

"The Princess's ideas are noble, but among the common scholars, one who possesses both integrity and talent, and who also understands practical affairs, is one in ten thousand."

"Perhaps there are a few," she persisted.

"If there were such men, why would they not take the examinations, enter the imperial court, achieve great deeds, and leave their names in history?"

She was stumped, then thought to say, "I can offer him a very high salary here."

This was still a bit naive. As Yuwen Shizhong had said, if a true "thousand-li horse" existed, he would have already passed his exams. Why would he covet her money and become a servant to a princess in a Taoist temple?

"When he passes the examinations in the future," Yuwen Shizhong said, "his reputation will necessarily be somewhat tarnished."

...To hell with the future, and to hell with fame.

Her inner retort was not entirely concealed, and now it was the teacher's turn to ask.

"The Princess does not seek a mere local official; what is it that you truly desire?"

"I wish to share the burdens of my father, the Emperor," she said.

***

Yuwen Shizhong was even more confused. He raised his tea cup to take a sip. "What burdens?"

"Sir, you have forgotten," she immediately accused. "Did you not say that the Jurchens would sooner or later invade?"

He spat out his tea!

The teacher was utterly horrified!

"I did not! I said no such thing!" He broke his composure instantly. "Princess, you cannot say such things!"

The Jurchens? Yes, it was possible, they might invade. But it was not certain.

The teacher had lost his composure; his robes were covered in water. A page boy tried to come over to help him clean up and offer a change of clothes, but he was driven away.

Usually, he was a man who valued propriety. When meeting the Princess, the gates would be wide open, with two pages standing by to demonstrate innocence and respect. But it was useless; he had to drive the pages away just as the Princess had left her own attendants at the steps, leaving the two of them alone in the great hall.

It was absurd, Yuwen Shizhong thought. He should have just kicked the Princess out, but he dared not, for he was not certain what massive amount of gunpowder was packed inside that small frame of hers!

She could suddenly topple a chief minister, and she had just handled a group of arrogant eunuchs with ease—did he dare drive her away now?

The Pacification Commissioner of Lizhou Circuit and Prefect of Xingyuan, Master Yuwen, did not stand up to change his clothes. He adopted the stance of someone preparing for a long war:

"The Jurchens may not necessarily move south."

She shook her head. "It is hard to say."

"Wanyan Aguda has recently passed away. Have you not heard of the succession from brother to brother, Princess?"

"I heard that their uncle and nephew are on good terms," she remained unmoved.

The teacher frowned. "From whom did the Princess hear this? Could it be from Zhao Liangsi?"

She did not answer.

"Even so, our Great Song has a million soldiers in the Imperial Guard."

"Yanjing has not been conquered," she reminded him.

The teacher's brow furrowed so deeply it could have crushed a mosquito. "We are not skilled in northern warfare; an occasional setback is only natural."

"The Jurchens are watching," she reminded him again.

The teacher's thin, handsome face, which possessed the typical aesthetic of a Song Dynasty scholar-official, began to twist, twitch, and darken: "Why does the Princess fear the enemy so much? At the very worst, we can just send some annual tribute!"

Zhao Luming blinked. She felt that whether or not she had managed to "pluck" anything else, the hair on the teacher's head was surely about to be plucked clean. His expression was one of a person whose rationality had hit zero, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"I trust you, sir," she said sincerely.

The teacher looked even more devastated.

This kind of breakdown was very normal for a Northern Song official.

Because the Northern Song had already lasted over 160 years. Other dynasties by this time would have shown some signs of crisis—though some weak dynasties like the Jin Dynasty hadn't even lasted this long—but looking back at the Great Song, it was incredibly stable!

There were uprisings, but they were suppressed; there was land annexation, but the great landlords were mostly officials in the court; the military's combat effectiveness was poor, but it was stable and did not revolt! If the scholar-officials stood behind the Emperor and looked down from their high vantage point, it truly felt as if the Great Song would last for ten thousand years!

And look at the Jurchens—what of them? Were they not just an updated version of the Liao? Had they not maintained a begrudgingly friendly relationship with the Liao for over a hundred years? By relying on annual tribute, hadn't they dragged the northern giants to their deaths? Wouldn't doing it again solve everything?

And if one took a step back! Suppose the Jurchens really arrived at the city gates!

The walls of Bianjing were so tall and thick! Dozens of meters wide and long! Inside were layers of barbicans—what could the Jurchens possibly use to attack them?

Standing in this peak era, even the most vigilant among the scholar-officials were unwilling to admit that the Northern Song could ever fall.

To them, this was such a great dynasty; it was destined to last for ten thousand years.

"If the Princess is troubled by fear," Yuwen Shizhong sighed, "it would be better to take some time during your studies to observe the lives of the people."

"I have the same intention," she said. "That is why I wish to travel and seek out men of talent."

The topic circled back perfectly, but Master Yuwen had gradually regained his calm.

***

He already understood what the Princess wanted; the question was whether he should help her.

This question could be dug deeper: were these ideas her own, taught by the Taoists of the Shenxiao Sect, or were they the ideas of Prince Kang, Zhao Gou, which the Ninth Prince had hidden well, letting the Princess reveal only a glimpse?

Regardless of which it was, she had her special status as protection. Unless she caused trouble outside of Sichuan, the Emperor would not express any opinion on this "immortal fruit" far away in the wilderness.

But he had to ask one last question.

"Princess, you seek men of talent," he asked, "is it to share your father's burdens, or to protect your own safety?"

He looked at her, his gaze gentle yet serious.

As she sat above him, hearing these words, her whole body seemed to tense up.

Like a soldier hearing a bugle call in a camp, she gripped her spear and shield, tensed and ready for battle.

Her gaze told him the same.

"Before I arrived in Xingyuan Prefecture, the people on forty thousand acres of land lost their food and clothing because of me," she said. "I am sustained by the common people."

Yuwen Shizhong was silent for a long time. He stood up, bowed to her, and turned to walk out.

"What is this?" She reached out in confusion, wanting to pick up the booklet on the table, but Jilan and Peilan both frowned intensely.

"This is not something the Princess should look at," they said. "Master Yuwen's actions are even more absurd!"

She grabbed it quickly and was shocked after a closer look.

It was a roster of disgraced officials who had been tattooed and exiled to Lizhou Circuit. In theory, she should not be seeing this. Firstly, the exiled soldiers were under the jurisdiction of the military system; secondly, their status was low. Her Lingying Temple was a sacred place built by the Emperor for his daughter's quiet cultivation. Even the officials of Xingyuan Prefecture dared not step foot in it without the Princess's permission, let alone these "thief-soldiers."

However, the civil officials currently only kept their distance from her. Yuwen's subtle hint showed that her protection by the Emperor was a double-edged sword; scholar-officials would not seriously deal with a mascot of the Emperor—even a scholar who had not yet entered office, if he had confidence in his own abilities, would not take this path.

Yet Yuwen Shizhong was himself a scholar-official. Why would he help her in such a surreptitious way?

The Princess rubbed her nose, feeling that there was no dust on it this time.

There were many kinds of "thief-soldiers." It took effort to see the truth. For example, she discovered that among these exiled men, several had come from the northwest of the Huai River.

It was rare for officials to be tattooed and exiled; it was even stranger for four such disgraced officials from the northwest of the Huai River to appear at once.

Although everyone called it the "Northwest," Xingyuan was in the west of the Great Song, while the "Northwest of the Huai" referred to the area northwest of the Huai River. It was very strange. The Great Song was very lenient toward civil officials; why were there so many disgraced officials here?

She took the roster to find Cao Fu. The old eunuch was napping in the sun and was unhappy to be shaken awake.

"This," he stood up slowly, "was when Commissioner Yang was in power, he established authority in the left of the Huai."

"Who is Commissioner Yang?"

"Yang Jian, Lord Yang. He first established the 'Paddy Field Bureau' in Ruzhou, then went to the left of the Huai," Cao Fu drooped his head. "Princess, you have such grand plans, how do you not know about Yang Jian and Du Gongcai?"

She thought for a moment and realized.

To translate: the one who made money for Emperor Huizong was Yang Jian, and the petty official Du Gongcai advised him to nationalize land in the northwest of the Huai. After nationalization, the people were forced to rent it at high prices, leading to public resentment and the ruin of local officials.

Then Yang Jian took action, beating a thousand innocent people to death in Queshan County alone—if one were to say this was intolerable, the Emperor was the law! The Emperor showered Yang Jian with honors, and when the great eunuch finally died, he was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Preceptor and Duke of Wu! Does anyone still dare to question the law of heaven?

As for those ruined local officials, their fate depended on their backers. Those with strong ones could be demoted or sent home to farm, but those without, or those who were stubborn, were made examples of, tattooed and exiled.

Now, there were a few such men in Xingyuan. Born of humble families and down on their luck, their knowledge was unknown, but their stubbornness was certain. They would likely not give her a pleasant look either.

But the teacher's meaning was clear: if you are picky, try challenging this lot.

"I thought when Father sent me here, he only sent the clan members," she mused. "It turns out he was kind after all; he also sent me this."

"They are exiled soldiers," Cao Fu reminded her. "According to the law, they should not be here."

She nodded. "If we go by the law, they indeed should not be here."