Chapter 1083: Hardship

After all efforts proved futile, Yuan Zhen made one final attempt regarding the northward relocation—the hope of returning to his ancestral home in Caizhou. In his view, this was a solution that satisfied both parties: it met the court's requirement for relocating households while sparing them from settling in remote, unfamiliar, complex, and dangerous borderlands. But he was rejected again—or rather, the official in charge simply ignored his plea, showing no willingness whatsoever to hear his entreaties.

In the end, Yuan Zhen, a man of cultivated bearing, felt anger and resentment surge through him for the first time—disappointment bordering on hatred toward the Great Han court, and boundless nostalgia for the Jinling court. Likewise, because he was a literatus, he could not resort to the drastic measures and resistance that many powerful local families unwilling to relocate had adopted.

The relocation of households from Jiangnan was, as one might expect, not smooth sailing. Flourishing literary culture did not mean there were no men of hot blood; especially when facing severe infringement of interests and matters of life and death, feeling that visceral pain, several rebellions broke out.

However, the court's preparations were too thorough, the government's control too strong. Even when a mutiny and rebellion erupted in Dangtu, incited by former Jiangnan soldiers, their resolve never wavered. All disturbances were suppressed and extinguished by the garrison troops, and all who participated in the unrest, regardless of identity, were either executed or convicted and exiled.

During that period, the news Yuan Zhen heard was always about which prefecture's which family had been wiped out, which family had been raided and convicted, which family had been confiscated and exiled...

Under such overwhelming power, with numerous profound lessons before them, only two choices remained: one led directly to the abyss of despair, the other still held hope. Any intelligent person knew which to choose.

And so, with a heavy heart, Yuan Zhen began to liquidate his family assets and cooperate with the northward relocation.

Being educated, widely read, and seasoned by experience, his actions when facing a major decision were ultimately superior to those of ordinary people. During the preparation period, Yuan Zhen's conduct fully demonstrated what it meant to have foresight, what it meant to be clever.

He distributed his family's land to relatives, friends, and tenant farmers, and sold the remainder to the authorities. At the same time, he liquidated all his property—including the estate that had been continuously expanded over decades of residence—converting everything into gold, silver, and other easily portable wealth.

As for his household servants and bondmaids, he dismissed most of them, granting them land and even money and grain, putting on a complete display of "scattering" his family fortune. As for his concubines, since none had borne him children, he gave them ample money and grain and sent them home to remarry.

In the end, only five households of sufficiently loyal and physically robust servants, along with two sturdy maids, were selected to accompany him north. Yuan Zhen understood very well that a journey spanning several thousand li—even organized by the government—carried enormous danger and risk. Therefore, compared to those who traveled with dozens of servants and wagons laden with household goods, he chose to keep quiet, to stay low-profile.

Of course, this was not because Yuan Zhen was truly generous, truly upright, or truly possessed of such magnanimity. After all, three generations and half a century of accumulated family wealth, after this one relocation, would shrink by more than half—who wouldn't feel the pain? Even if he had squandered it all himself, his heart would have felt somewhat better.

The Yuan family's only weakness was that their bloodline was too thin. He was an only son, and had but one son and one daughter—the son twelve, the daughter seven. For such a family, strutting about openly without concealing their wealth would surely be courting disaster.

However, no matter how low-profile he kept, the few heavy chests and several horse-drawn carts accompanying them proved that they still had some family wealth. In fact, if the Yuan family, like other households, had several able-bodied direct-line descendants in their prime, then Yuan Zhen, even while staying low-key, would not have needed to be so cautious and treading-on-thin-ice careful.

In truth, Yuan Zhen's concerns were not groundless paranoia. What he did not know was that another group relocating north had met with tragedy after crossing the Yangtze. The escorting soldiers, moved by greed at the sight of wealth, slaughtered and looted them all—over six hundred relocated households, men, women, young and old, not one survived.

That band of several dozen soldiers and yamen runners, carrying the vast wealth they had plundered, fled into the Dabie Mountains and became bandits. Though they were ultimately hunted down and exterminated by troops dispatched by the Huaixi Circuit Military Command, the hundreds who had been murdered had no one left to seek justice for them.

Wealth stirs men's hearts, and the consequences of exposing one's riches are that severe—that is the risk. As for the matter itself, from the local authorities to the court, from officials to the military, all strove to cover it up. The truth might one day come to light, but the families of the dead could hardly have imagined that farewell would so quickly become permanent. Those several hundred people never even had the chance to go blow sand in the northwest...

Therefore, for this batch of relocated households from Jurong and Lishui to arrive safely at Binzhou was indeed a stroke of luck. It was just that they wouldn't see it that way. In fact, powerful families of Yuan Zhen's sort also had to thank their generally decent reputations—those who had oppressed the common folk and acted lawlessly in the past had been subjected to a thorough reckoning before being allowed to set out.

And now, what Yuan Zhen regretted most was having chosen to hide away in the countryside when he saw that Jiangnan could not be held, rather than seeking an official post in the government. That way, he might have had the chance to transfer directly into the Great Han's military-civilian system, securing some measure of protection for himself. Of course, there is no medicine for regret in this world.

"Husband, the child seems ill—her forehead is burning..." After who knew how long—perhaps an hour, perhaps two—amid Yuan Zhen's daze, he suddenly heard his wife's panicked voice.

At the words, his brows knit tightly. Yuan Zhen hurriedly bent down to look, and saw the little girl curled in her mother's arms, eyes tightly shut, her small face flushed red—red in a way that was almost too vivid. Yuan Zhen quickly reached out and felt her forehead; even though his own hand was ice-cold, he could feel the unusual heat radiating from his beloved daughter's brow.

"I fear it's a cold fever!" Yuan Zhen's tone was heavy, his eyes filled with worry.

In such circumstances, the worst thing was illness or injury. Hearing his words, his wife could no longer hold back her tears—a cold fever was no minor ailment, and the child was so young...

Yuan Zhen's heart was naturally heavy, for with such thin progeny, he had always treasured his children dearly. On the other side, Yuan Ke also "came back to life," looked at his unconscious sister and weeping mother, then raised his eyes to his father and asked: "Father, is sister going to die too?"

A sharp "Smack!" rang out abruptly. Yuan Zhen turned his head and glared fiercely at his son: "What nonsense are you talking!"

Yuan Zhen had never lost his composure like this before, had never treated his son so harshly, had never raised a hand against him—which showed just how furious Yuan Ke's inauspicious words had made him. Yuan Ke covered his cheek, stunned for a moment, then slowly lowered his head and fell silent.

His words were not without basis—along this journey, old people and children had already died. The road of relocation was truly one of partings between the living and the dead...

"We need a physician to examine her and prescribe medicine! You stay put in the cart—I'll find a way!" Struggling to calm his panic, Yuan Zhen said to his wife, then lifted the cart curtain. Without telling the driver to stop (stopping without permission would cause trouble), he jumped straight out. Though the cart was not moving fast, he still stumbled and fell.

Inside the cart, the mother remained at a loss. The young Yuan Ke looked at his sister and swore in his heart that if she died, he would find a way to avenge her in the future.

If there was still a modicum of warmth inside the cart, outside was another world entirely. The long column stretched on, its head and tail both out of sight. The few loyal servant households that had followed him north each had their own cart, but their treatment was nowhere near as good as the master's—they silently endured the assault of wind and frost, and still had to spare people to watch over the flatbed carts loaded with household goods and valuables.

The vast, boundless sky and earth appeared especially gloomy in Yuan Zhen's eyes. A winter that was ordinary in the eyes of Guanzhong's people was, to these southerners, a frozen hell. Cold weather was not what was frightening—what was frightening was being trapped in such an environment for a long time while still having to keep up with the journey.

After spending considerable time, Yuan Zhen found the highest-ranking officer in charge of this escort—the County Defender of Jurong. The County Defender's surname was Chen. Originally just a lowly petty clerk in Jurong County, in the past Yuan Zhen, even if not exactly a great noble, could have looked down upon such a man with contempt. Now, however, this sort of person had become a "great figure" who could decide his family's fate and very lives.

At the moment of a regime change, the old order is typically broken and a new one established—a process that also presents golden opportunities for opportunists to rise. County Defender Chen was precisely such a "lucky one." Last year, when the royal army marched south to take Jinling and receive the prefectures and counties of the two rivers, he had first led the way in opening the gates to welcome the Han army, then actively cooperated in maintaining public order, scrounging up wine, meat, money, and grain to supply the garrison troops.

Later, when the court-appointed County Magistrate arrived from the south, Chen decisively pledged his allegiance. Through his tireless displays of loyalty before and after, he finally shed his lowly "clerk" status and became a court-appointed County Defender.

When the decree to relocate powerful families came down, he again actively cooperated with his superiors. Being a local, he knew the territory intimately and provided much useful intelligence. Thereafter, he volunteered for the arduous task of this escort duty.

One need not hold high moral expectations for such a man, but it must be said that every state needs people like him—such capable functionaries. And this County Defender Chen had his own remarkable quality: he knew exactly what he wanted and had clear goals.

Upon learning that the officer in charge of the escort was County Defender Chen, Yuan Zhen proactively cultivated a good relationship, presenting heavy gifts in hopes of gaining his protection.

County Defender Chen accepted everything without exception, while also putting on an air of "treating everyone equally." He repeatedly stated that for this assignment, he only sought to reach Qingzhou smoothly, and hoped these "worthy gentlemen" would not cause him trouble or put him in difficult positions—then all would be well.

Therefore, when households attempted to flee, he directly revealed his brutal side. Dealing with such a man required walking on eggshells—at the very least, one must not offend him.

When Yuan Zhen approached him, County Defender Chen's first expression was one of displeasure.