Chapter 128 What Is This Character?
“Off to Luochuan County, then,” Li Daoxuan thought. “The people of Luochuan are in for a rough time now.”
He could only sigh, unable to offer any aid.
Liang Shixian's aide-de-camp met with San Shier's aide, Tan Liwen, and the two began instructing their subordinates to move the five hundred large plastic bows back to the watchtower.
The two leaders, finding themselves with some leisure, steered the conversation toward the cement road. "Manager San," Liang Shixian began, "I noticed a gray cement road stretching out from beyond your fortress gates. It's incredibly smooth, making travel wonderfully efficient. How exactly is it made? Could it be that massive slabs of rock were flattened and paved onto the ground?"
San Shier shook his head. "That's not something humans could possibly accomplish. This 'cement,' as we call it, is a type of celestial mud. Once mixed and spread on the ground, it hardens into such a road after drying."
"Celestial mud?"
Liang Shixian looked a little bewildered.
San Shier had initially considered invoking the name of Dao Xuan Tian Zun, but on second thought, Liang Shixian was a government official. The government was currently engaged in a vigorous campaign to suppress the White Lotus Society, so perhaps it wasn't wise to boast about Dao Xuan Tian Zun in front of him.
He quickly amended, "Ahem, actually, it's a special kind of mud my master, Master Li, stumbled upon by chance."
San Shier shook his head. "Magistrate Liang, I have something to say, and I'm not sure if I should."
Liang Shixian replied, "With an opening like that, it means you're going to say it regardless. Please, enlighten me."
San Shier continued, "Shaanxi has suffered years of severe drought, and the people are barely surviving. Given the current state of Chengcheng County's common folk, if you were to impose more corvée labor and make them repair cement roads on empty stomachs, I fear..."
Liang Shixian snapped to attention, quickly bowing deeply. "Manager San speaks truly. I stand enlightened."
He turned to look at the cement road outside the fortress leading to Zhengjia Village, a touch of envy stirring within him.
Building bridges and repairing roads had always been a charitable act that earned lasting renown. Deep down, he still wished to construct some decent roads for the county under his administration, but... the current circumstances simply wouldn't permit it.
Alas!
He wondered when this accursed drought would finally end.
----
The imperial capital, the palace, the Imperial Study.
The Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian, was poring over memorials.
The memorials from Shaanxi were becoming increasingly dire. Each report brought worse news than the last. Governor Hu Tingyan's memorial stated that border garrisons in Lingong had been unpaid for five or six years, accumulating arrears of over 200,000 taels of silver. Frontier forts at Jinglu were short of funds for two to three years, while payments from Guzhen for transport to the capital, from the 47th year of Wanli to the 6th year of Tianqi, amounted to over 159,000 taels in arrears...
Between the lines of every memorial, three words screamed out: "Your servant needs money!"
But where was Zhu Youjian to find the money for them?
He glanced at the next memorial: "In Luochuan County, Bu Zhan Ni plundered the grain of wealthy families; officials, in their haste to apprehend him, merely drove more people to join the bandits."
The next one: "In Qingjian County, Zuo Guazi rallied ten thousand bandits to rebel at Long'erju in Yichuan County."
"In Hannan, Wang Daliang incited rebellion, gathering four hundred followers and proclaiming himself King Daliang."
...
All of Shaanxi was erupting in chaos.
Zhu Youjian, enraged, slammed the thick stack of memorials down with a resounding thud. The eunuchs nearby scrambled, fussing to pick them up from the floor.
"This is outrageous! Simply preposterous!"
Zhu Youjian's fury blazed. "Is there not a single decent memorial from Shaanxi? I demand good news! Good news! Find me a report of good news immediately!"
A nearby attendant cautiously pushed an urgent military report, dispatched at a speed of eight hundred li, before him.
Zhu Youjian opened it and read, "Cheng Xu, County Inspector of Chengcheng, Shaanxi? A ninth-rank military official submitting a report? Such a minor..."
He was about to utter a dismissive remark when his eyes suddenly caught the contents, and he couldn't help but exclaim with delight, "Cheng Xu killed Wang Er of Baishui, quelled the banditry in Chengcheng, and even decisively defeated Bu Zhan Ni and Zuo Guazi?"
Zhu Youjian's mood soared as if he'd boarded a jet plane.
The Emperor was overjoyed!
"Reward him! Handsomely reward him!"
His trusted eunuch, Du Xun, quietly whispered, "Your Majesty, this Cheng Xu... he's one of Wei Zhongxian's men."
At these words, Zhu Youjian's face darkened instantly, his mood plummeting as if he'd ridden a drop tower.
"Reward him for what, a fart!"
Wei Zhongxian had already hanged himself in Fucheng County, Hejian Prefecture, on the sixth day of the eleventh month. Zhu Youjian had kept this news under wraps, so few people were aware of it.
He hadn't yet moved against the Eunuch Party, but he was making final preparations to do so. He simply awaited the opportune moment to unleash the civil official faction against them. At a time like this, merely seeing someone associated with the Eunuch Party was infuriating.
"Investigate this Cheng Xu," he commanded. "Check if there's any fabrication, error, or exaggeration in the events reported in his memorial. If even the slightest detail is amiss, mark it down. When I deal with the Eunuch Party, he shall be seized along with them."
"As Your Majesty commands."
----
Master Wang had returned.
He returned triumphant and self-satisfied.
His trip to Chengcheng County had been quite the display of swagger. Leading a large retinue of "house guards" like Zheng Daniu, and carrying a massive bag of silver, he was utterly arrogant.
Upon arriving in the county town, he immediately headed for the bookstore.
The Chengcheng Bookstore had been struggling for the past three years. Printed books and novels were all difficult to sell, and the owner was in a terrible bind, unsure whether to keep the establishment open.
Just then, Master Wang arrived with a massive bag of silver, like a divine force descending from heaven.
The bookstore owner, without a word, sold it on the spot!
Master Wang indulged in the thrill of being a "generous spender," becoming the new big boss of the Chengcheng Bookstore. He then led Zheng Daniu and his group straight into the bookstore's warehouse, bundled up all the tools required for movable type printing, and took everything. Oh, and he also "bundled up" and brought back two printing workers.
When they returned to Gao Family Village, each young man was carrying a large sack filled entirely with character blocks for movable type printing.
"We're back!" Zheng Daniu guffawed heartily. "I carried so many characters back, I feel like I've never been so learned!"
"Carrying characters doesn't make you learned; you have to actually recognize them," a villager retorted.
The surrounding villagers all chuckled.
Gao Sanwa quickly darted over. "Let me see what characters you brought back!"
He casually pulled a wooden block from Zheng Daniu's sack, smeared it with charcoal, and then, with a "smack," stamped it onto Zheng Daniu's face.
A large, smudgy black character appeared on the big, simple-minded man's face.
Everyone peered at it, left and right. Well, nobody recognized it.
"Gao Sanwa, aren't you learning to read recently? What character is this?"
Gao Sanwa shook his head. "I haven't learned anything this difficult yet."
Young Master Bai suddenly popped out from the side. "That's the character for 'stupid'."
Everyone: "..."
Zheng Daniu's face flushed crimson instantly. He frantically scrubbed at his face, erasing the character, but in doing so, smeared half his face black.
Enraged, he bellowed, "Gao Sanwa, you did that on purpose, didn't you? You deliberately stamped 'stupid' on my face just to mock me!"
Gao Sanwa clutched his head and fled. "Whoa, no, I didn't! I just grabbed a random character!"
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