Chapter 190

The Great King's unit left Ever Peace City through the east gate; the City Gate Colonel had indeed been replaced, and without any difficulty they opened the main gate and respectfully sent off the Prince You's procession.

The Secluded Province's unit had no infantry, just a sea of black tall horses, now neat and tidy, exuding a deadly aura; no one cleared the street, and the townspeople spontaneously made way.

Only after the unit had gone far did they begin to move.

"Which feudal lord is that, just leaving now?"

I also don't know; lately in Long Peace City, even a random signboard falling could hit a noble—who knows who it is…

What imposing cavalry!

You didn't see the insignia on the carriage, the You King.

I was saying, the feudal states on the border… this retinue probably hasn't seen battle?

The You King? The one who beat the Wusun prince until his head was bloody? I'm telling you, the rumor on the street is that the emperor's son gave that Wusun prince a terrible beating…

Well struck! Those not of our kind must have different hearts! What good intentions could the steppes and deserts hold?

……

After leaving the city, the King lifted the curtain and gazed back at Long Peace City once more, 'I don't know when I'll be able to return to Long Peace next time.'

Zhao Ba saw he was a bit down; in Secluded Province he didn't think much of Long Peace, but after all that back-and-forth, having to leave the child again still left him a bit lost—after all, he at least had a father here, which was one of the few relatives he had.

He coaxed, 'Your Majesty's fiftieth birthday?'

The King pondered: 'Ah, it's so far off; by then I'll be old…'

Wei Shen was almost counting on his fingers, puzzled: 'In ten years you won't still be eighteen, will you? Are you cursing someone?'

The King suddenly laughed, 'Ah, by then you'll be nearly thirty, with such a long beard—hahaha~'

Wei Shen: ……

After leaving the city, they went another ten or so li east, found an uninhabited spot, and the King, with Ling Yin and Wei Shen, broke away from the entourage to return, while the You King's retinue continued onward to Secluded Province.

That evening, the King and his two companions rode to the west of Long Peace City and met up with the two hundred owl cavalry.

The two hundred split into three groups; only seventy or eighty went with the King, while the rest still followed secretly.

One group went ahead to clear the road, responsible for scouting the route. The rear group posed as a merchant convoy, pulling wagons with the King's luggage and baggage plus the Bai Ze; this creature stubbornly refused to trot alongside the horses, insisting on riding in the wagon, which suited the King fine since he disliked how conspicuous it was.

The three groups surrounded the King's party in the middle, and the entourage traveled southwest through the night, heading straight for Benefit Province.

This was the first time the King had done something so covert, and the creature immediately grew excited, not feeling tired at all; galloping through the night filled it with enthusiasm.

The next day they entered Benefit Province's territory; their plan was to avoid major cities as much as possible, especially those with enfeoffed lords, to avoid drawing attention.

When forced to pass through a city, they scattered and moved in batches; the King enjoyed it immensely.

After two days his fresh enthusiasm wore off; that morning they broke camp, and having barely set out, they encountered what the King least wanted to see—a tide of refugees.

Every time he saw them his heart would skip a beat; this was yet another confirmation that the Great Jin was not as stable and prosperous as Long Peace.

Fortunately the weather was hot, so these people sleeping out in the wilderness didn't freeze to death. Seeing this, the King felt ill at ease—these were all subjects of the Great Jin.

'Send someone to ask where they're from and where they're headed.'

Soon the palace guards returned and said they were from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, where their homes had been washed away; they were preparing to go north to find a place to survive.

'The south suffers frequent floods, the north's yellow earth is parched and cracked—where is there a place to survive?' the King said, a little dejected. 'This is too far from Secluded Province, but we have to try. Send someone to negotiate with their leaders; best to persuade them to reclaim land in Secluded Province. As long as they make it there alive, I can guarantee I'll find them a way to live, so they can survive this winter.'

They stopped again to ask, 'How much dried rations do we have left? Just hand them all out—what persuasive power does empty talk have?'

The guards went down to collect everyone's dried rations, then discussed their talking points; the main point was not to expose the King's identity, and after deliberation they selected a few eloquent individuals to persuade the refugees.

Wei Shen asked the King, who was gazing into the distance, 'Are you not eating before we reach the next county, or are you waiting for the baggage?' Their unit's dried rations had been completely scavenged.

The King rummaged in the satchel on the little date's back—actually he was rummaging in the warehouse; with a warehouse the King never goes hungry, he has many stored snacks. Failing that, grain supplies suffice, but that would be hard to explain.

The King produced an oil-paper parcel and handed it to Wei Shen, who opened it to find a series of dark-colored snacks.

'This much is enough for me to eat.'

Da Wang protested, "I still have more! Just saying these, at the very least it's enough for ten people—clearly ten pieces."

Wei Shen picked up a piece, took a bite, and found it was all sugar and nuts—very fragrant and sweet, sweet to the point of making his teeth ache.

He was astonished: "What kind of snack is this?"

Da Wang proudly raised his little neck and said, "Called 'Horizontal Sweep Hunger'! It's very high in calories—eating high-calorie food, you don't need to eat much to stave off hunger, and high calories can also prolong the feeling of fullness. I plan to, if I have money, buy more to add to the army rations—light and easy to carry; one such bar can replace a lot of millet." Thinking about it, if one were to trek far into the grasslands, each person would have to carry several hundred catties of rice—what a headache.

Wei Shen obviously liked it too, exclaiming, "So fragrant! It's all sugar, but doesn't it stave off hunger? The key is that this thing is expensive, right? You eating it yourself is fine." At this time, the sugar in the Great Jin was merely brown coarse sugar—not even brown sugar—yet it was very precious.

"Your Changzhou produces sugarcane for making sugar; we in Youzhou have planted many peanuts this year and also have a large ranch. Later we can cooperate to make this 'Horizontal Sweep Hunger', so that the Youzhou Army and the Southwest Army can take it on campaigns. Making it ourselves would definitely be much cheaper." Da Wang had indeed studied army rations with Bai Yang; he knew food was indispensable, but there were also ways to save grain.

Buying in bulk from Bai Yang is fine, but Youzhou also needs to be able to make it itself.

Wei Shen thought he was being too optimistic: "Changzhou does have sugarcane, but the recipe for making sugar is firmly in the hands of the aristocracy; our family certainly doesn't know it."

Da Wang grinned: "I will!" He rummaged in his satchel and pulled out a pile of messy copied notes, flipping through them and soon found several sheets about making white sugar.

Wei Shen was utterly convinced: "Is that your bag of treasures?"

The Zhetian perched on Da Wang's horse also got curious; it wasn't so polite, thrusting its head into the satchel and instantly pulling out a full cloth bag of rubbery candy.

Wei Shen snatched it away, saying, "Oh oh, Zhao Bao isn't here, so no one's supervising you, right? If you eat this bag of sugar, your teeth will be ruined! Confiscated!"

Da Wang gave the Zhetian a hard slap, saying, "You're biting the hand that feeds you!"

In a short while, those refugees began to gather in dribs and drabs; Corporal Zhao, who had successfully coaxed refugees in Qingzhou last time, resumed his old trade, and Da Wang didn't even have time to feel sorry for his private stash.

"Looks like there could be over a thousand people—sending them to Youzhou to reclaim land would be great!"

★