Chapter 465: Utterly Empty

The Fifth Princess was embroidering, and the Great King stood beside her handing her the wrong-colored thread.

The Fifth Princess was painting, and the Great King stood beside her grinding the ink until it splattered everywhere.

The Fifth Princess was feeding the fish, and the Great King stood beside her throwing stones to make them skip……

The Fifth Princess, exasperated, said, "Younger brother, don't you have anything else to do?"

"Yes, this is the business. I, the king, am currently following my older sister to understand her life, seeing what kind of prince consort would suit her! If there isn't a suitable one, we'll cultivate one in advance!" Baili Jin made a fuss and also reminded the Great King, who then put this matter on the schedule.

The Fifth Princess said, "... Then I ask you, who could I marry to make my life better than it is now? My older sister only wants to live like this with you and her aunt; she doesn't want to marry anyone, so give up hope!"

The Great King, stern and imposing, said, "You don't understand—people change! If you want to marry well and someone snatches them away, what then? So let's first pick a few good ones to keep."

The more the Great King spoke, the more he felt it was absolutely right, saying, "From my group of little buddies, which one do you find pleasing? I'll whip them into shape, make them more upright, so they're worthy of my older sister!"

The Great King didn't even want his fish meal, sat down, and began counting on his fingers with great enthusiasm, saying, "Aside from the two cousins who are too closely related—we'll rule them out—among the rest, Xie Tu and Liang Bin are good-looking; which one does my older sister like? Also, Lu Xiu is not bad-looking; he's a newcomer, the nephew of Minister Lu Tingwei, and his background fits… Older sister, say something!"

The Fifth Princess: ……

You've been observing for half a day, and now you're really starting to judge by looks……

"Or do you prefer military commanders? I, the king, can also pay attention to outstanding officers in the army!" The Great King thumped his chest, "Just tell me what you want—I can get anything!"

The Fifth Princess had no choice but to placate him, saying she hadn't thought about this yet, and would tell him once she had figured it out.

The Great King considered his older sister's age, realized there was still plenty of time, and thus temporarily let her be.

As autumn arrived, it was clear the northern lands would soon harvest; after the harvest, winter would come quickly, and construction on frozen ground would be difficult, so the Great King, not worrying about anything else, decided to break ground on the Taotie's purse first.

The Great King directly issued a notice through the Ministry of Commerce to recruit laborers, allocating two thousand of the five thousand quotas to Youzhou and dividing the rest equally among the other three prefectures; after the grain distribution, Youzhou, which had been quiet for two days, became lively again.

The distant Liangzhou directly sent Zhetian on a trip, and the Great King's earnest effort to solve food, clothing, and employment was genuine.

To curry favor with Daoists, the Great King specially went to the Northern Border Medical Bureau for a stroll, then came out bringing along a Daoist and a divine doctor, and grandly observed the Northern Border's specialty—the open recruitment of laborers.

The Great King personally invited Qingxu to select a site for this 'warehouse,' saying he intended to use it to store supplies, and that this new warehouse shouldn't be ordinary—better to make it one of Youzhou's landmarks.

Since it was to store important supplies, Qingxu believed the site still had to be inside the city walls to be safe; he truly brought his disciple to search around the city, and finally chose a location near the South City Gate. Taking the Taotie's attributes into account, this tower faces south.

Upon hearing this, the Great King was very pleased, and turning to the court, he summed it up in a nutshell: the Daoist had picked a site for him to build a warehouse to store supplies……

The Daoist only followed orders to pick a site, but in the Great King's telling: the Daoist suggested he build a tower, the Daoist calculated the position, what did he do? He agreed.

You ask what role he played in this; the Great King blinked and said, "I heard people advising to eat a full meal, and I think the Daoist is right!"

Xie Tu, who had watched the whole thing, was completely convinced.

When the laborers selected from the three prefectures arrived in Youzhou, construction officially began, and the autumn harvest in the northern lands also started.

The Great King's enthusiasm for school had waned, so he started leaving the city to watch the peasants' harvest, and when he was happy, he also lent a hand at the Field Foundation Farm.

During that time, he received his first letter from Baili Heng.

The Great King read it over twice and sensed a hint of impending storm.

Wei Shen saw him finish reading and idly fold the paper, obviously distracted, and asked concernedly, "What did your younger brother say? Why are you troubled?"

The Great King shook his head, "On the contrary. He didn't say anything; he only recalled his visit to Youzhou… and their brief reunion back in Chang'an."

Wei Shen laughed, "You're starting to reminisce about the past? That shows you're getting old. I heard he had a son or a daughter?"

The Great King slipped the folded letter into the drawer, saying, "He's trying to remind me, the king, not to forget what I said before."

Wei Shen widened his eyes, "Back then you were just a kid; whatever you said as a child doesn't count! … So, what did you say?" He feared the Great King was being led on.

"As long as he can always be my good older brother, I can always be his good younger brother, and we won't clash with the forces of Guangling."

"Huh!"

"The situation to the south might be worse than we imagined."

That year, the northern border's harvest was poor, the Great King did not reduce taxes again, and he quietly stepped up his efforts to stockpile grain.

The people of Youzhou also had a sort of tacit understanding; they knew the Great King was a generous ruler, and that only with well-maintained cavalry would they be safe, so they gritted their teeth and paid their taxes.

The other prefectures weren't as smooth, but after a slight delay they eventually managed to gather everything.

Upon entering winter, every day there were refugees seeking entry at Luo River Pass, and every day the southern carrier pigeons brought chaotic, disordered bad news.

The Great King complained to Baiyang, "Although we've been shouting about chaotic times for two or three years, before this it was only minor skirmishes…… 'I feel that from this winter onward, the turmoil has truly arrived. I even feel a bit sorry for Baili Jin—he has lost control over most of the Great Jin's territory. Under his reign, it's utterly empty. Now, aside from the various rebel kings carving out fiefdoms, the powerful clans each hold their own strongholds, and today I even heard that the Wei Commandery Governor's Office was burned down.'

"The powerful clans have already stockpiled grain and raised troops—not just for self-defense, but some also intend to seize the opportunity to rise up! History tells us there are plenty of such people. Does the northern border have none?"

The Great King chuckled, "Who dares to imitate the south by building forts and raising troops? Look, I'll break his hands! I actually hope someone would do so—just perfect for the newly arrived refugees who have nowhere to go!"

The king is quite confident, who would have thought he misplaced his affection, the northern border actually does have it.