Chapter 405

The Snow Cavalry left Youzhou and headed straight south, passing through Yizhou and making directly for Luoshui Pass.

Except for stopping at night to rest awhile, they spent all other time marching nonstop. They chose routes with few people, entering a city only when the terrain made detouring impossible.

Within the Northern Border's cities, a single badge from the Great King's army was enough to pass; they proceeded unhindered to Luoshui Pass. The Great King also had a grain supply depot at Luoshui Pass, where they replenished their provisions once more; after a brief reorganization they would step into the territory of Great Jin.

Before setting out, Changli stood at the front of the formation and spoke slowly in a voice everyone could hear: 'From now on, once we pass Luoshui Pass, it is no longer our Highness's territory; every move of each of you represents not yourselves but the army of the Northern Border King. Speaking of which, is this still the first time the Highness's troops have marched south?'

We and the Jin people to the south may share origins, but we are already enemies. The realm is split among warlords, each serving his own lord.

From now on, everything you do concerns your own future and my reputation as commander—you all know what to do, right?' Changli considered himself a veteran general, appearing steady and confident. To the Snow Cavalry, however, it wasn't like that; how should one describe this tone? It sounded emotionless, pure threat.

The Snow Cavalry quickly expressed their resolve, everyone tensed up and rode out of Luoshui Pass.

The current commanders of Luoshui Pass are Wu Jian and Liang Heg, the eldest son of the Liang family; the two watched the Snow Cavalry march south from the pass. Wu Jian had never seen this unit before; during the inspection, when he was guarding Shanggu Pass, the shock was indescribable.

"... You see, the world is constantly plagued by natural disasters and human calamities, the Northern Border has no respite, yet the Great King managed to raise such cavalry?! Amazing, amazing!" It's not enough to just have people; you also need huge sums of silver! At a glance, this armor and these horses are anything but ordinary.

The Snow Cavalry had already vanished into the distant horizon; only then did Liang Heg's gaze finally return.

"Next time the Highness holds a review, Uncle Wu really ought to go see it—truly… it cannot be described in words. What's drawn in that newspaper is just the tip of the iceberg; seeing it live is more than shocking! To be honest, after the review three days I'm still fired up. In terms of momentum, I think the Highness's Eagle Cavalry would be even better—just look at them and you'll understand why the famed Lan He never dared to challenge the Great King."

Wu Jian also longed for it, musing to himself for a moment: '... Speaking of which, even the late emperor could now rest in peace. Though he died in his prime, there's… that, but his son's accomplishments have brought honor—he directly hung Lan He before his tomb, which counts as avenging a great grudge. As soon as the Snow Cavalry appears, one knows without calculation that the rebel army is about to meet misfortune; after all the twists and turns, in the end the world still belongs to the Bai Li clan contending for it.'

Liang Heg is certainly not his family's 'second fool'; he shook his head and said, 'The late emperor may not necessarily be pleased—he had his eye on that one in Chang'an. Don't look at Chang'an holding hundreds of thousands of troops; he can't stop the Snow Cavalry now, and later he won't be able to take Luoshui Pass.'

"Hahaha, that's right! With his two hundred thousand or four hundred thousand, he'd never even dream of getting past Luoshui Pass!" When mentioning Luoshui Pass, both men wore identical confident smiles.

A mighty pass, brave and fierce.

No matter how chaotic the outside world, after fortifying the pass they had gained ample supplies, so for a long time they needn't worry about feeding the troops; they only had to focus on training the soldiers and defending the pass. Their soldiers improved daily, and though both had served many years, this was the first time they felt such pure ease.

The Great King again expressed his worry about this year's drought at the morning audience the next day; his sigh was not his alone.

The three senior officials who handle daily trifles know even more than he does; the Great King still has to study and practice martial arts, and all the miscellaneous matters are discussed by them. Seeing the Great King's anxiety, Xie Yuan also offered words of comfort.

The Great King turned the tables, sighing, 'Ah! Such a severe drought—why wasn't I warned earlier~'

Xie Yuan replied helplessly, 'If it were floods, I'd certainly report to the Great King to dispatch troops for relief or rush to repair the dikes, but this drought is beyond human remedy—no one can do anything.' He thought to himself, 'You'd even pray for rain?'

Who would have thought the Great King would actually nod and say, 'I too need to know the true situation—if I only found out at harvest time it would be too late; with so many mouths to feed in the Northern Border, how great is my pressure!'

The Grand Tutor helplessly asked the Great King, 'I thought Your Highness had it figured out, but you don't even feel that this year's weather is extraordinarily hot and unbearable?'

The Great King honestly shook his head. 'No.'

All the officials in the hall: ……

It's Versailles, right, right!

By the way, no one knows how this palace was built, and though they don't use ice, it's not hot; since summer began, everyone prefers to work overtime, and it's voluntary.

"Cough cough! Now I, the king, also know this—we can't just sit idle waiting for a total crop failure; we must do something! Therefore, I decide to personally inspect the disaster situation!"

Before his words even finished, he saw several senior officials open their mouths to rebut, but the Great King gave them no chance: 'Ling Yin happens to know a bit about hydrology—since the surface waterways have dried up, we can suitably tap groundwater! I plan to take a detachment to the severely affected areas to inspect, choose suitable spots in the farmland to sink wells, and try as much as possible to salvage this year's harvest. What do you all think—is it feasible? I see you all seem to have something to say—are you worried that digging wells will be costly and ineffective?'

Xie Yuan nodded helplessly, 'Your Highness probably underestimates the current degree of desiccation; aside from the wells inside our Youzhou city, many wells elsewhere have mostly run dry. It's not that I'm pessimistic—Bingzhou has already begun to see the earth crack and split; even if we put effort into digging wells, we'd likely strike no water. Moreover, digging wells consumes considerable manpower and material; our first priority must be securing drinking water for the Northern Border's populace, and given that this year's grain shortage is all but foreseeable, please reconsider.' In short, conserving grain and water is the best policy; digging wells is useless.

The Great King sighed, 'After all this talk, it really just comes down to lacking money!'

The Great King produced his black-flowered large bowl, descended from the throne, and placed it on a step where everyone could see.

He cast a brick to attract jade as an example, fiddled with his wrist for a moment, removed a string of white jade and gold-threaded ornamental beads, and with a 'ding' tossed it into the bowl.

「I, the Prince, will donate a string of gold and jade beads; later the Floating Pagoda Pavilion will hold a special auction, and all proceeds will go to relief for this drought。」

Three big shots: ……

The Dongdu Marquis who hasn't gone to Shanggu Pass yet: ……

The chancellor was startled for a moment, then immediately regained composure. It's Xie Yuan and Xu Zhi, the two are the Prince's teachers; they find it a little hard to accept.

You damned brat, where did you learn all this?!

Is this what the Prince ought to be doing?!

Xu Zhi hovered, wanting to speak but stopping, while feeling his pockets; Xie Yuan, meanwhile, was less polite, stepping forward to scrutinize the bowl the Prince had placed on the steps, and finally couldn't help picking it up for a closer look—sure enough, he discovered a signature on the base.

It's still a palace tribute!

With this arrangement, if you don't assign it some monetary value, it won't do.

Finally, he took off the white jade ring on his hand and placed it inside……

The Prince, seeing how well-versed Xie Yuan was, was extremely pleased and ordered Zhao Bao: "Take note, and later at the auction explain that it was Mr. Xie's donation!"

With Xie Yuan taking the lead, pretending ignorance and not understanding won't do; hurry up, everyone, support the Prince's disaster relief efforts!

The Dongdu Marquis took off the jade pendant from his waist and placed it up; the Prince saw him still wringing his hands, "Tang Qian let him go too early!"

Dongdu Marquis: ……