Chapter 319: I Left a Gift for the Great Tang

At the ferry dock of Guangyun Tan on the outskirts of Chang'an, Fang Youde, accompanied by Fang Laique, prepared to board a court official boat to travel by water to Bianzhou. This canal transport route is the result of Wei Jian's development of the Guanzhong canal; it halts during the winter low‑water period, but is navigable from early summer to late autumn.

Calling it an official boat is just a slight modification of a grain transport canal boat. Generally, officials with some status who aren't in a hurry don't take it; Chang'an bureaucrats who have left the passes still prefer the two‑capital highway, enjoying the free services at the stations along the way.

The water route boarded at Guangyun Tan runs from Chang'an to Shan Zhou, passes through Sanmen Gorge to Mengjin, then to He Yin County ferry, finally through the Biankou where the Yellow River meets the Grand Canal, where one transfers to a canal boat to Bianzhou. This route is more convenient than the overland two‑capital highway between Chang'an and Luoyang.

Except for a slight "tiny" risk when crossing Sanmen Gorge.

"Ah Weng, the two‑capital highway is safer; why bother taking the water route through Shan Zhou? Going to Bianzhou for the appointment later is fine, right?"

At the Guangyun Tan ferry, Wang Yunxiu, whose lower abdomen was slightly rounded, pleaded with Fang Youde with a worried expression.

The water route through Shan Zhou must pass Sanmen Gorge, whose name derives from "Human Gate", "Divine Gate", and "Ghost Gate".

Legend says that when Dayu controlled the floods, he carved Longmen, opened the Pillar of Stone, and used a divine axe to split the mountains. In the river, ghost stones and divine stones divide the channel into three streams, like three gates.

Among them, the currents in Ghost Gate and Divine Gate are treacherous, as if only spirits could pass; Human Gate has a milder flow, yet still deep and swift, making navigation difficult.

Each time a boat passes Sanmen Gorge, it's like a lottery—draw the wrong number and you die. If you could avoid risking your life, who would gamble like this for fun?

These three gorges are the most dangerous stretch on the Yellow River, without exception. In his previous life, Fang Chongyong, during the New China era, blew up the towering river pillars and then rebuilt the waterworks; since then, the peril of Sanmen Gorge has gradually faded from people's view.

Thus Wang Yunxiu's worry is not baseless, nor is it unreasonable.

"Men make decisions; where does a young lady have a say! Young lady! Go back and nurture the fetus; you aren't needed here!"

Fang Youde stayed silent, while Fang Laique, beside him, bluntly retorted.

Wang Yunxiu took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in their heart, not wanting to spar with Fang Laique.

"The fool says something to you; can you even bite him back?"

"No problem; a life of war has made me accustomed. This kid is outspoken; you should be more tolerant of him in daily life."

Fang Youde smiled calmly, gesturing with his finger at Fang Laique while waving his hand at Wang Yunxiu.

"Then… Ah Weng, take good care on the journey."

Wang Yunxiu bowed and said, a trace of worry flashing across their brows, without asking further.

If she hadn't heard that Fang Youde's portrait was placed in the Lingyan Pavilion, she would truly think the Fang family had lost divine favor, seeing not a hint of smile on his face. Which normal person, even in such a joyous occasion, would wear a worried frown?

Fang Youde harbors a secret that must not be spoken to anyone!

But Wang Yunxiu knows Fang Youde's temperament well; if he doesn't want to speak, he truly says nothing. In that case, her further questions are just idle chatter.

"You also take care. In the future… never mind, return now." Fang Youde seemed about to say more but stopped, merely instructing Wang Yunxiu to go back.

The official boat slowly left the ferry, and the route ahead gradually narrowed; this was a newly dug canal from recent years, shallow in water, so the helmsman at the bow steered very carefully, closely watching the occasional jutting rocks outside.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Fang Youde spotted a semi‑familiar face he had met several times before. Now, being in a "half exile" state, he wasn't keen on court affairs and felt relatively relaxed. He walked to the other side of the deck and said to the person admiring the riverside scenery, "Sima Du, what are you looking at?"

"Ah? So it's Jiedushi Fang! Du has the honor!"

Du Fu turned his head; the speaker was Fang Youde, and he quickly offered a warm bow, looking a bit flattered.

"No need for formalities; Jiedushi Fang now resembles a retired man returning home. We can simply talk about mountains and rivers."

Seeing Du Fu a bit restrained, Fang Youde waved his hand and said.

Hearing this, Du Fu also relaxed, offering no reply. In fact, Fang Youde had just been self‑mocking; whether he answered or not made no difference, so he let it pass naturally.

According to the itinerary, Du Fu will disembark at Mengjin ferry and head to Anyang County in Xiangzhou; the two will part ways then.

"I've heard that Du Zimei is full of poetry; looking at the clear mountains and waters of Guanzhong, does Du Zimei have any verses to praise them?"

Fang Youde, with a thought in mind, deliberately teased Du Fu with the question.

Unfortunately, Du Fu's mind is now consumed with worries about his official career, pondering how to manage after arriving in Xiangzhou, still clueless.

He has no mind to devote to the scenery!

Du forced a wry smile and apologized to Fang Youde: "It's not that I, Du, am unwilling to write poetry or intend to embarrass the Jiedushi; I was just demoted to Xiangzhou, truly lacking the mood for verses. Please forgive me!"

Hearing this, Fang Youde said to the Fang Laique beside him, "Back when you and the young master went to Kuizhou and passed Baidi City, you improvised a poem, right? Recite it now for Sima Du."

"Leaving Baidi amidst colorful clouds at dawn, a thousand miles to Jiangling in a day's return. The monkeys on both banks howl incessantly, yet the light boat has already passed ten thousand layers of mountains."

Fang Laique's mechanical, emotionless voice rang out. A genuinely joyous seven‑character quatrain, yet he recited it as if chewing wax.

Nevertheless, the poem truly is a good one!

"Jiedushi Fang, you as a household servant are truly literary! Du feels inferior!"

Du Fu couldn't help but exclaim, he now can't even match another family's servant in poetry! Indeed, the stench of officialdom and petty scheming have blocked his literary creation, hasn't it?

Seeing his sincere attitude, Fang Youde decided not to press him further.

He sighed, "To attain a high office, one need not be a great poet. Du Zimei's official career is flourishing; even when demoted, he can serve as a Sima in Shangzhou, so naturally he won't focus on poetry. After all, the official path is more important—this is simply human nature."

Indeed, hardship may not make everyone succeed, but it certainly deepens many people's thoughts.

With a smooth official career, Du Fu lacks nothing in food and clothing, and is often flattered; naturally, he cannot comprehend the anguish of talent unrecognized, nor the darkness of opulent mansions' wasteful feasts while the road bears frozen corpses.

Fang Youde seemed to understand something; seeing Du Fu's ashamed face, he didn't continue the topic. The two exchanged some idle talk, then hurriedly part, each entering a different cabin.

When Fang Youde entered the cabin, Fang Laique was reading a copy of the Analects, and moreover, the book was held upside down!

He silently watched the other read, and after a long while, Fang Laique finally set the book down, prompting Fang Youde to ask in puzzlement:

"Young man, this book—why can't I understand it no matter how I look at it?"

Fang Laique asked with a certain righteousness, not noticing anything amiss.

Fang Youde didn't want to explain why illiteracy makes a book unreadable; he closed the cabin door, pulled Fang Laique close, and with a smile asked, "Good child, tell me, has Fang Chongyong ever told you anything?"

He had no particular expectation, merely recalling a certain promise and asking casually.

Unexpectedly, Fang Laique instantly set the book down, his tone blank as he said:

"Bianyi Die, this time I'm going on a campaign to the Western Regions. Few have returned from ancient wars, so to set a reverse flag, I now entrust you with my posthumous affairs. If you, my cheap son, fail to march five thousand li and die in the Western Regions, then you should handle a few matters according to my arrangement."

"That counts as a great sacrifice, right?"

Hearing this, Fang Youde was both amused and bewildered, yet perked up his ears and continued to listen to Fang Laique's expressionless words.

"First, in the future Chang'an will be unsafe, and Bianzhou even more so; you should know that, right?"

"If I don't return, remember to bring your daughter‑in‑law, grandchildren, and granddaughters to live near Lingyin Mountain outside Yuhang County, Hangzhou. I asked old Zheng to purchase a farm there, as a bride price for Fang Laique, so make good use of it."

The Zheng family isn't short of that money, so they shouldn't claim they have to seize even this modest profit, breaking their word and getting fat.

When the time comes, you must not go to rescue the Great Tang, it isn't worth getting yourself involved. Of course, that's just the general case; now I'll speak of the special case.

Fang Youde was still stunned when he heard Fang Laique continue:

"The second: I left a gift for the Great Tang. You've probably already seen the Chang'an Jiaozi, isn't it marvelous to use paper as money?"

I used this paper to replace silk and brocade, and the court and the people suddenly gained a windfall! Just like the first rent deposit you receive when you lease out a house!

If Ji Ge and the court could use this windfall to develop the south, to expand production, to give tenant farmers startup capital for reclamation, then it could prolong the life of the Prosperous Tang for a while.

However, if Ji Ge and the court squander this money, wage endless wars, and officials and nobles indulge in extreme extravagance, drunk on a life of illusion, then what ends up happening is hard to say.

Because no matter when, anyone who lives in the world eventually has to repay! It's fun when borrowing, but don't blame the bitterness when repaying.

Of course, I've always repaid kindness with kindness and vengeance with vengeance. Whatever Ji Ge says, he's done me a favor, so I opened a private server in He Xi, as a fallback in case the Chang'an Jiaozi collapses.

Right, you probably don't know what a private server means; you don't need the details, just know that I have a backup.

"How to explain this backup? If the court can guarantee the Chang'an Jiaozi's value stability, then my backup—well, the He Xi Jiaozi—will naturally depreciate slowly because its transaction volume is smaller, eventually disappearing, swallowed by the Chang'an Jiaozi.

It's just a harmless joke.

You don't understand, right? It doesn't matter; I'm just speaking casually, you don't need to grasp the reasoning.

But if the court truly exhausts the world's resources, scraping three feet of earth to endlessly print Jiaozi as money, until the Chang'an Jiaozi becomes waste paper, then the He Xi Jiaozi will achieve a snake‑swallow‑elephant feat, seizing the court's minting rights.

Still don't get it, right?

It doesn't matter! Because the He Xi Jiaozi is originally a backup of the Chang'an Jiaozi, the situation remains controllable.

If I can return from the Western Regions, I'll step in to fix the situation, unless I'm forced to quit, or Ji Ge wants to kill me.

All the above, just treat them as a fool's nonsense, like flatulence.

But if I cannot return safely from the Western Regions, you must remember the following words, not a single character may be forgotten.

If I die and the court continues to squander, the world will fall into chaos, and no one can restore order!

This time there won't be an Anshi Rebellion; the Great Tang won't survive another hundred years, and there will be no Middle Tang or Late Tang. If Ji Ge doesn't open his eyes and use the He Xi Jiaozi to strike, it means the people of Longyou become rebels, a turmoil ten times larger than the Anshi Rebellion!

The He Xi Jiaozi will bury the Great Tang; when that happens, you must flee with your daughter‑in‑law and grandchildren, the farther the better!

It's best to run to Yi Zhou (Taiwan) to avoid disaster.

Of course, you'll ask why I'm playing like this.

There's no concrete reason; thinking it through, perhaps I feel that if I die for the Great Tang, it's reasonable for the Great Tang to be buried with me.

I'm already dead, and I can't see what the living world looks like, so what's the point of the Great Tang? The world's people don't die if the Great Tang disappears.

If you truly want to resent, then resent yourself for why you didn't put me × on the wall back then.

By the way, the name Xuanwu Army just feels inauspicious. You like the Ya troops, right? After going to Bianzhou, why not simply form a Ya troop called the Kong He Army?

Your unfilial son Fang Chongyong reports personally, with respect.

After finishing, Fang Laique's gaze returned to a dead‑fish stare, and he looked bewildered at the anger‑suppressed Fang Youde, asking confusedly, "Why is Ah Lang angry?"

"Nonsense! I'm not angry!"

Fang Youde, hypocritically, flicked his sleeve, turned, and clenched his fist hard; at this moment, he could even kill Fang Chongyong in his heart.

But he knew he could probably do nothing now, or rather, he dared not disrupt the trap Fang Chongyong had set.

This unruly wolf cub harbors a beast within that has no precedent.

That beast isn't the reckless ambition of someone like Zhu Quanzhong 'I will seize the world', but an unpredictable unknown!

The unknown, in a sense, is scarier than a flood‑like beast.

Outsiders simply can't grasp what Fang Chongyong intends, nor the bizarre world in his mind.

He's like a clear‑headed brat, reshaping the Great Tang into the form he needs and wants, and outsiders can't predict his next move.

Back then we should have put him × on the wall; we were careless.

Fang Youde let out a long sigh, thinking silently. He had to admit that Fang Chongyong's assessment of him was accurate.

He is the greatest variable in the Great Tang's future!

(End of chapter)