Gathering Forces (1)
Even if you hold fertile granaries boasting bountiful harvests, you can never achieve real prosperity without new sources of revenue. Relying solely on taxes collected from the common people of the prefectures and counties is nowhere near enough to expand military funds and prepare for a chaotic era.
So I went looking for fresh streams of capital.
The Wo River—
I levied tolls on the merchant vessels sailing from the interior out onto the Yangtze.
Merchant guilds based in the interior, including those from Sili Province and Yan Province, had no choice but to pass through the Wo River if they wanted to head south. In particular, to safely reach Wu Prefecture and Danyang Prefecture, where foreign trade was booming, they were forced to go through Chen Kingdom.
"There's a saying: when a gold mine is discovered, sell trousers and pickaxes."
"Don't look at the trees, look at the forest... is that the meaning?"
The foreign trade moving back and forth between Samhan and Wa was like a rich vein of gold promising immense wealth. That was why the local gentry families who owned countless merchant ships had begun nursing dreams of striking it rich overnight.
Nobody hates money.
And ambitious local gentry hate it least of all.
Plenty of merchant ships would be passing through. I'd secured a tidy source of income by collecting tolls from those very vessels.
"I've already ordered warehouses built at every dock where the merchant ships anchor. Once construction's finished next year, plenty of merchant guilds will use them to store their goods."
"And you'll collect a usage fee from the guilds?"
"Storage fees, to be precise. After all, Chen Kingdom's officers and soldiers will be keeping their goods safe."
"You really do have an excellent sense for practical detail, my young lord. I can see why His Majesty the King of Chen wants to hand the throne to you as quickly as possible."
After that exchange with Lu Xun,
I got to the main topic that had come crashing down on us.
"Imperial relatives reduced to penniless beggars... Honestly, I've got no desire to see the scruffy faces of a pack of losers, but if we turn them away at the door, our royal father will get a reputation for being heartless."
"That's certainly true. Still, they're kinsmen of the Han Imperial House... your relatives, my young lord."
"To be honest, once you get past ten degrees of kinship, they're total strangers."
"Don't they say even brushing sleeves is a form of fate? Blood ties go without saying."
They were all correct.
I answered Lu Xun's words with a shrug, saying nothing aloud.
"My young lord, the imperial relatives are waiting."
"Got it."
First I had the penniless imperial relatives escorted to the guest palace. And I'd already given orders that a meal be served first to the beggars, who'd probably been starving for days.
But they were guests, and kinsmen, so what could I do?
The Han Dynasty's culture placed such weight on public opinion that it was still operating the Local Recommendation System, recruiting officials through communal endorsement. No matter how outstanding your abilities, if your public reputation was vulgar, you'd often spend your whole life never climbing the ladder of success.
Huuuh...
Well, for now, I'd have to greet my guests with a smiling face.
I let out a sigh like that and stepped forward.
"That's the meat I claimed first! How dare you!"
"Insolent cur! You'd speak that way to your own elder uncle, who outranks you in the clan?!"
Crash—
Clatter. Clatter.
The sound of dishes colliding reached me.
And then the squalid scene unfolded: scruffy-bearded men fighting over a piece of meat.
'They really are beggars. What, are they from the Beggars' Sect or something...?'
Beggars. Panhandlers.
Or maybe just tramps and vagrants.
The place was packed with men and women, old folk and children, all draped in clothes that were ragged as filthy dishcloths.
How had they even survived this long? The moment I faced their tangled, wild-haired heads and grimy faces, a sigh just leaked out of me.
What kind of skills would imperial relatives who'd lived half a lifetime in noble status possibly possess? If they'd been vagabonds from birth they might at least have learned a trade, but imperial relatives driven from their fiefs in a single stroke were nothing more than useless mouths who couldn't perform a single day's labor.
"The Crown Prince of Chen Kingdom! A pleasure. I am a descendant of King Yanling, the youngest son of Emperor Gao. Thanks to the kindness you've shown, Crown Prince, I've been able to fill my belly. It's been years since I tasted such delicacies from mountains and seas... I only hope I didn't eat too greedily."
"You're guests who've come a long way. Please, don't give it a second thought, just eat."
A descendant of King Yanling, the youngest son of Emperor Gao.
What the hell kind of fake genealogy is that?
It's been over three hundred years since that line split from the direct descent.
Han had been handing out territories one by one to mongrels like this and letting them levy taxes? Talk about excessively generous hearts. No wonder the dynasty's collapsing.
"I'll instruct the attendants to prepare bathwater and fresh clothes."
"Most grateful!"
Just how much filth had they been caked in? My face twisted the instant I caught the rank stench hanging over the banquet hall.
I had them bathed in heated water and outfitted in new garments.
After that, the imperial relatives—who'd been so filthy even a wild beast would've avoided them—reappeared looking tolerably presentable.
"I'm sure you've come all the way south because of the Yellow Turban rebels' rampage. For now, please stay in the guest palace. Later we'll provide you with residences near the royal capital."
"Ahh... I know full well this is a shameless request, but could you not grant us fief lands and commoners? Once this chaotic age is put to rest and we can return to our own kingdoms, we will repay the favor tenfold."
In other words, they want to live as marquises again.
I've heard there's plenty of empty land in Jiujiang and Lujiang Prefectures.
I felt exactly like a lottery winner facing a horde of total strangers who'd shown up calling themselves family after hearing the news. The sight of the imperial relatives looking at me with eyes full of anticipation reminded me of parasites clinging to a tree and sucking out its blood.
"Though we have indeed fallen, are we not all kinsmen of the Han Imperial House? If we are made to live like ordinary scholar-officials and local gentry, the authority of the Han Imperial House will surely diminish."
"We wouldn't ask for much. Grant us a mere hundred households, please."
Hmph.
I knew it—you can never just give away things freely.
Human nature: as soon as you receive one thing, you immediately start pestering for two, then three.
"All this time, my young lord has fought desperately day and night, leading officers and soldiers to protect the south! And now, without the slightest clue what hardships he's endured, you just blurt out demands for land and people? You abandoned the territories and commoners your ancestors handed down to you and fled—it seems you threw away your last scrap of conscience along with them!"
Their shamelessness had crossed the line.
They were carrying on as if they'd merely left some belongings in storage and were now demanding them back.
Lu Xun, who'd been trembling with clenched fists and suppressed fury, shouted in a piercing voice. The voice of the platinum-haired girl boiled over with rage and contempt.
"Kuh! Judging by your looks, you appear to be a daughter of the scholar-official class... you're being insolent toward kinsmen of the Han Imperial House!"
"Did we say we wouldn't pay a price?! Once this chaotic age that has scoured the Central Plains is put to rest and Han enjoys peace and prosperity once more, we will repay the favor tenfold then!"
The shaggy-bearded middle-aged men shouted, their faces turning crimson. They must have felt stung by Lu Xun's implication that they were being treated like nothing better than common beggars.
"Xiao Sun."
"B-but their attitude is completely shameless!"
"Bring me my bow."
"Huh?"
Bow.
The moment she heard that word, bewilderment spread across Lu Xun's face.
The imperial relatives who'd been jumping up and down in outrage were the same. Soon they apparently recalled that this crown prince of Chen Kingdom was an expert archer renowned for his outstanding skill, and their whole bodies began to tremble.
"I'll just have to kill every last one of you bastards, worse than bugs crawling in the dirt. Who's even going to care if I snuff out the breath of a pack of imperial relatives who are no better than vagrants? They'd probably clap and say good riddance."
The attendants brought my bow.
The instant I received it, I nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring taut.
"Uwaaagh! W-wait, calm yourself!"
"It was a joke...! I retract my rash words! Please, I beg you, spare my life!"
Twangg!!
No questions, no discussion—I loosed the arrow.
The keen shaft grazed past the imperial relatives who'd started waving their hands in frantic denial and buried itself in the wall.
Missed them by a hair's breadth. Some of the imperial relatives who'd just stared death in the face collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
"From now on, you lot are my dogs."
"Hm?"
"Food, clothes... on top of that you're even getting houses. So naturally you've got to obey, don't you?"
"Wh-what in the world are you saying?!"
They'd lived in comfort as Han marquises and received an elite education, so they obviously weren't illiterate. And though the Han Dynasty had collapsed in the vortex of a chaotic age, the imperial kinsmen were still an outstanding and noble bloodline.
The old folk could serve as propaganda tools for legitimacy,
the middle-aged men as civil administrators charged with domestic affairs,
and the young boys and girls could be used in political marriages to build ties with the scholar-officials and local gentry.
"I'm not exactly demanding sacrifice. I mean that you're to carry out your duties as members of the imperial clan."
The commoners who'd sworn allegiance from all directions, seeking Liu Chong's protection, had reached a hundred thousand in number.
A hundred thousand. And even more commoners would be coming south in the future.
The crowds pouring in like the tide had created a sea of people. Since the plan was to relocate the commoners requesting protection to Jiujiang and Lujiang Prefectures and gradually expand our sphere of influence, we naturally needed a bureaucracy capable of shouldering the administrative load.
* * *
King Liu Chong of Chen was the only Vassal King who had shielded his prefectures and counties from the violence of a chaotic age. Among the ambitious men falsely styling themselves warlords of the Central Plains, he commanded the mightiest force.
A descendant of Emperor Guangwu.
A peerless archer of the realm and a famed commander endowed with boldness and strategic insight.
And a sage of the age, who had compassionately received the commoners fleeing southward.
When word spread that he had generously taken in the kinsmen of the Han Imperial House who'd been driven from their fiefs and reduced to beggary, his stature and reputation rose even higher.
"R-right...! I kept forgetting, but you're an imperial relative too, Sis! Let's go to the King of Chen and ask him for a government post!"
A girl with violet hair tied sharply to the side shouted in a brazen voice.
"Yide, we are a Volunteer Army assembled to subdue traitors and rebels. How could we shamelessly beg for office by leaning on a personal connection, like common rogues?"
"Look at the state we're in! We're nothing but beggars, plain and simple! At this rate we'll drown in debt, and the three of us sisters might have to sell our bodies!!"
Military provisions to feed the soldiers—none.
Fodder to feed the warhorses—none.
They were even having to borrow the bare minimum of military funds needed to keep the unit running, handing out promissory notes as they went.
They'd end up facing total collapse from bankruptcy before they ever got to fight the rebels. Unlike her older sisters, the youngest possessed a basic sense for economics and had sensed the danger a long time ago.
"Sis! Xuande, Sis!!"
She didn't expect flexibility from her headstrong second sister.
So the youngest called out to her eldest sister in a desperate voice, trying to talk through a plan.