Chapter 193

A group of elders smiled as they surrounded Da Wang; it was his first time seeing such a grand scene, and the child was momentarily at a loss—this was nothing like the atmosphere at home.

In the end, his aunt rescued him: "Alright, stop teasing the child. Everyone go inside to chat, Wei Shen—you introduce him to everyone one by one; he doesn't know any of us, right?"

Upon entering the house, Wei Shen introduced Da Wang from the beginning: Wei Tinghou, his father, his third uncle, then his mother Lady Yu and his third aunt of the Zhou Clan; aside from the already-met Wei Ke, the next generation also included his cousin Wei Yi, who was about to marry off, and his third uncle's young son Wei Heng—among the ducal and marquis households, the Wei family's lineage was rather thin.

Da Wang exchanged greetings one by one; the gift he brought had not yet arrived, so he could only talk.

Wei Tinghou held Da Wang's chubby little hand and refused to let go, looking again and again, his affection overflowing.

Wei Shen teased from the side: "Grandfather, can you still see me? I've been away from home for over a year!"

His grandfather's gaze still lingered on Da Wang's face, then he casually waved a hand at Wei Shen: "I see you—you've grown ugly. I think, compared to you, Your Highness resembles our family more; these eyes are exactly like your aunt's—just as beautiful."

Da Wang bashfully replied: "Really? Second cousin said I only resemble my mother after he made me cry."

The whole family instantly glared at Wei Shen with anger...

Are you even human?!

Wei Shen:... You black-hearted fatty!

Da Wang left Zhao Bao, leading a rough life under Wei Shen and Ling Yin's care all the way to Changzhou, where his aunt took over; his clothes and hair were tended to, and after cleaning up, he became a refined Da Wang once more.

Da Wang, now tidied up, joined a lively welcome banquet; everyone chatted and laughed, quickly becoming quite familiar.

Da Wang felt this banquet was livelier than a palace feast with double the killings—apparently, the atmosphere of a banquet has nothing to do with the number of people.

After the welcome banquet ended at night, Da Wang returned to rest, and Wei Shen was surrounded by the four men of the household.

He put on a frightened expression: "What are you doing? Still want to torture me?"

His father kicked him back onto the stool: "Enough useless talk—tell us about these two years; how did Your Highness fare in Youzhou?"

Wei Shen pondered for three seconds: "Not bad. Youzhou is incredibly poor, poorer than Changzhou. But Da Wang still has some family assets, a few loyal and useful people around him, his own food and lodging are quite fine—only the threat from the steppes is troubling. Also, this guy is quite precocious; sometimes he thinks more than I do."

His brother gave a speechless look: "More precocious than me? That's just normal."

His father added: "Like you wouldn't even make it out of the palace."

Wei Shen:...

He turned to his grandfather: "Grandfather, did you hear that? They're attacking me!"

Wei Tinghou was still thinking when his third uncle spoke up for him: "Then he's like a Wei family person—in our Wei family, people with this kind of mindset are the odd ones out."

Wei Shen: "... Third uncle, I'm not very happy."

Wei Hu laughed heartily: "Little Two, you're finally back—otherwise, I'd be the one holding down the fort."

Wei Shen:...

He spoke indignantly: "No matter how smart he is, he's still a child with no relatives around, alone in a precarious borderland—he must be lonely. Da Wang must really like this cousin of mine! So I~ stayed there an extra year."

His father approved: "That counts as you still having a bit of brotherly demeanor."

Wei Tinghou suddenly sighed beside them: "How thin you've become—no plumpness from your letters, nor the chubbiness your father mentioned; now you really resemble your aunt..."

"Look at your bias—when your father saw him, how long ago was that? He's eight now, should be shooting up, but you're still worrying about his short, stout build!" Wei Shen said helplessly.

Wei Tinghou glared at him: "You don't understand a thing! Look at you—you're almost grown into a big fool, what good are you?"

"Sigh..." How did it become useless?

Wei Shen was about to protest when his father slapped him back: "Speak seriously—did this journey go smoothly? Did you avoid exposure upon arriving in Changzhou?"

As soon as this journey was mentioned, Wei Shen straightened his expression: "Don't bring it up! Changzhou should still be safe, but coming out of Youzhou this journey has been no easy feat—from Youzhou to Chang'an, there were four large-scale assassinations, two of which involved two hundred and three hundred death warriors respectively."

Wei Tinghou tugged at his beard, a few strands coming loose: "Death warriors?"

The atmosphere in the room grew heavy; Wei Peng asked: "Do you know who did it? Five hundred death warriors—our family would struggle to mobilize that many, truly death warriors?"

"Their strikes were vicious killing techniques, unlike ordinary guards; upon mission failure, they died cleanly by suicide. If this isn't death warriors, what is?"

The room fell silent for a moment, then Wei Tinghou asked him: "Does the Prince of You know who did it?"

"No clues found, but it doesn't look like the Second Prince— the other two are possible.... Nor can we rule out other princely states. Who knows? From what I see, Da Wang truly doesn't want that position, but Youzhou has been well-managed under him, so others have begun to guard against him, wanting to strike first and eliminate him. The Xianbei didn't just make a southern incursion, did they? He's expanded his army—now he could have twenty thousand; given time, this can't stay hidden, and someone won't sit still."

Wei Shen described to them the grand scale of the You Prince's mansion and Youzhou's towering city walls, plus the bustling Zhuque Avenue.

The four exchanged doubtful glances: "Where did the money come from?" Wei Hu voiced everyone's thought.

Wei Lady left no wealth, which they knew, and their own family's situation was clearer to them than anyone—Youzhou is also poor, so where did Da Wang get the money to squander?

Wei Shen wore an expression hard to put into words: "To this day, most people in Youzhou believe that absurd prince's mansion was built by Wei Tinghou! You haven't seen that mansion—our family couldn't afford it even if we sold all our people. Though I've never seen the full imperial palace, I've passed by a princely fief on this route and seen his mansion from afar—that mansion and the You Prince's mansion are not the same thing. Maybe he has a few business-savvy talented individuals under him; I don't know the details—I arrived after construction was complete."

Wei Ke reminded them of the digressing topic: "Running things well is a good thing—now tell us about the rest."

Wei Shen glanced resentfully at his father: "Also nothing much—I've realized these two years that he likes his uncle; just mentioning his uncle makes him beam! Since you're all here, let Uncle keep him company for two days."

Wei Peng glared at him: "At my age, can I play with him? Eldest, you start taking him out to play tomorrow."

Wei Ke:... I'm nineteen—can I?

Wei Tinghou fell silent for a moment, then sighed: "His father truly is cold-hearted—if he'd treated his child better, the child wouldn't constantly pine for an uncle he's only met twice. Zhao Bao wrote that when the eldest left Chang'an years ago, the child cried for a long time."

The room fell silent for a while, then after some more talk, they dispersed.

Although Da Wang was visiting this place for the first time and Bai Ze hadn't arrived yet, he himself slept soundly, completely free of the imagined anxiety and discomfort.

The next morning, upon opening his eyes, his uncle was already standing in his courtyard. The family has a drill ground; Wei Peng took Da Wang to run a few laps for morning horse drills, then brought him to the Old Master's courtyard to eat breakfast together.

Da Wang had never eaten breakfast with so many people before; aside from the women, the Wei family was all present. Everyone gathered around a large table, eating a wildly mixed-style breakfast in loud cheer.

There were Changzhou specialties, common Changzhou fare, and what Da Wang usually ate in Youzhou.

After breakfast, Wei Tinghou ordered Wei Shen and Wei Ke to take Da Wang around the city; they still had to go to the military camp and could only return at night.

Da Wang obediently agreed; after Wei Shen and the others left, he loudly announced: "Go go go, let's play in the streets—it's my turn to protect you!"

Da Wang excitedly said: "Shall we continue being playboys? In Changzhou we can swagger about, buy things without paying?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Ke was shocked: "You two... were that wild before?"

Wei Shen quickly humbled himself: "Before, in Chang'an, only the You Prince did that—I did nothing, I even tried to stop him!"

Prince You scratched his head: "Any?"

Wei Shen pointed at Wei Shen: "You, you, you really can't be trusted."

Wei Shen:...

—————————————————

………………New Chapter………………

………………New Chapter……………………

…………New Chapter…………………………

The main street of Changzhou's capital city soon welcomed a country bumpkin from the north, with completely different local customs, even people's appearances somewhat different. Da Wang spent the whole time with a melon-eating raccoon expression, and he wanted to buy whatever he saw.

All this way we've been rushing, with no chance to stop and watch the fun.

After Da Wang bought another useless fine-mouth grass-woven fish basket, Wei Shen asked helplessly: "May I ask what use is buying a fish basket to take home? To catch koi at home?"

Da Wang looked down on him: "Don't they say it's for fishing? What's the point of catching your own fish at home? Youzhou has the sea!"

"Then may I ask if the fish in the sea can go in? They're catching small fish in small streams, do you know what small fish are? At most palm-long and finger-thick."

Da Wang suddenly understood: "Oh~"

Wei Shen watched from the side, unable to hold back laughter; just watching the two of them liven things up was enough, not boring at all.

At noon, Wei Shen brought the two of them out to eat local specialties. Da Wang discovered not only had he never seen the fish here, he hadn't even seen the vegetables.

"Ten li different customs, Jin Dynasty really is vast~" Then he made a big turn: "Let's go check out the border this afternoon?"

Wei Shen didn't understand the child's train of thought: "Isn't Youzhou also border? What's there to see? Actually, there's no one living nearby."

Wei Shen also figured out Da Wang: "You want to go check out Xixian Pass, don't you?"

Da Wang nodded frantically.

Wei Shen:...

These two guys still have pretty good rapport.

At Shanggu Pass, Da Wang, to avoid suspicion, left a signal with a border soldier he was privately acquainted with, which he had never climbed up to. After finally arriving at Xixian Pass, Da Wang wanted to see Jin Dynasty's gate.

Wei Shen simply brought them there; where to play isn't playing.

Up close, Xixian Pass looked ancient and desolate, built of stone, also quite majestic. Da Wang the whole time went wow wow wow like he'd never seen anything.

Unlike the northern border, here the humidity is high and vegetation lush, the desolate feeling not as strong as the northern border, people have much more vitality.

Wei Shen led them up to the gate where many soldiers stood guard, looking ahead……a stretch of grass and trees with no human habitation, left and right the same.

Da Wang sighed: "Looks like guarding any border is a lonely job, and there's nobody either!"

Wei Shen smiled: "No one is better; if you can see people here, it's barbarians coming, still loneliness is good! War exhausts the people and wastes wealth……"

Da Wang found it hard to calm down: "Those Qiang barbarians these years have really grown bold, previously they wouldn't dare provoke Jin Dynasty. But I also sort of understand why you guys southwest border army got over eighty thousand, while Shanggu Pass faces stronger Xianbei tribes with only fifty thousand~"

Wei Shen smiled and said nothing, Wei Shen let Da Wang speak.

"Of course it's because these Qiang people are too close to Chang'an, we came over in just a few days, if they entered Jin Dynasty from Shu King's side, it would be even closer."

"That's right, with fewer people your dad can't sleep. Adding up both sides, Jade Gate Pass probably has at least two hundred thousand."

Da Wang stretched his neck northward, looked his fill, then looked southward: "Is the south peaceful?"

Wei Shen pointed him the direction: "That direction's end is Ailao, slightly southeast is Dian Kingdom, both still fairly stable, guarded by the Commander of the Southern Garrison. Xixian Pass mainly needs to watch the various Qiang tribes, Qiang territory is vast, terrain extremely high, our soldiers going there completely can't adapt, asthma will quickly take soldiers' lives." It's not saying the southwest army can't beat the opposite side, it's that chasing them up there you can't fight, so the ongoing hostility hasn't yielded anything.

This Da Wang recently learned about it: "I know, it's high altitude with thin air. Also not that it can't be overcome, more practice can adapt somewhat."

Wei Shen's soul questioned: "What is oxygen?"

"It's the air we breathe in, the air we inhale is called air, and part of that air is oxygen. For example, here we take one breath with 20 oxygen, over there the terrain is high with only 15 oxygen, once people go over they certainly can't catch their breath. Actually, you can let people living in 20 oxygen places first go to 19 places to adapt, then go to 18 places, step by step slowly adapt, until they can adapt to 16, 17 oxygen, then it's time to destroy the Qiang. What are you staring at me for? Read more, books have it!"

Wei Shen simply looked at Da Wang with new respect.

Wei Shen and Da Wang are both poor students, now discovering poor students and poor students aren't too alike either, this guy put in effort behind his back.

"Does that Beijiang Academy still teach this?"

Da Wang hurriedly promoted his academy, popularizing knowledge to Wei Shen: "Our Beijiang Academy has natural science, involving this knowledge, cousin can send people to study there~" One more student is one more!

Wei Shen saw his brother still not realizing, "This is an advertisement for promoting the academy, do you have connections? If you do, you can recommend going to the academy to make up numbers, with Bai Li Jing there you can use connections."

Da Wang:... Really annoying, I really understand him.

Wei Shen obviously very interested: "As long as it's closer to Changzhou, I myself also want to go listen and learn more."

Da Wang comforted him: "Later when the textbook is published, I'll send a copy to my older cousin, it's being engraved, it's being engraved."

Wei Shen revealed: "Don't listen to him, he published that book list, you look at it and you also can't understand it, otherwise who would still go to his academy."

Da Wang:...

You know too much!