Chapter 5

The eleventh year of the Ningde era.

After Prince Yu's wedding, it was finally time to take up his fief.

In the Great Jin, only members of the Baili imperial clan were enfeoffed as princes; imperial princes were made kings, and their commanderies became states.

The prince's residence had one tutor and one chief minister, plus several other officials. The tutor was the Grand Tutor, the prince's teacher; the chief minister was the Chancellor, head of all officials. These two top positions were appointed by the emperor; the remaining authority lay with the vassal princes.

Who could expect a five-year-old infant prince of the Great Jin court to manage a region's military and civil authority when sent to his fief at age five?

Thus these two were basically the emperor's trusted confidants.

When Zhao Bao delivered a secret letter, saying that Chancellor Xue Lin'an was a trusted man sent by Marquis Wei Ting, and that the deputy commander of the personal guards, Zhao Chuan, had also followed his uncle at that time, Prince You was impressed; this old man's hands were still unusually long.

Thus he felt somewhat relieved.

At the very least, besides Zhao Bao, he now had two more people to consult.

Outside Zheng'an Gate, two columns stretched for miles; Baili Jing saw that the ranks of armored soldiers were about the same length, and he instantly felt relieved.

As for quality, that wasn't something he could consider; as long as the numbers were enough, it was fine.

He climbed onto the carriage, lifted the curtain, and glanced once more at the majestic imperial city behind him, not knowing if he would ever return in this lifetime.

At this moment he finally understood Baili Jin's red-rimmed eyes; he felt a bit uneasy, let alone the fact that she still had loving parents and lively siblings here…

Tsk! Don't overthink it—just recalling how the Ningde Emperor impatiently waved him off made him heartbroken!

"Zhao Bao, did you have fun with me in the Establishing Chapter Palace just now?"

Zhao Bao: "Your Highness, your sincere heart will be understood by the Emperor." You just need to know that.

Thinking that he was about to leave, even a final farewell to his father wouldn't incur punishment over a trivial matter; he might as well try to earn some favor.

Prince You burst into tears, his face red, breathless as he expressed his loyalty to his father, then patted his small, weak chest, promising to guard the Great Jin's frontier and never let the Xiongnu or Xianbei have a chance to invade south.

The Ningde Emperor was initially moved, but then he thought about the quality of the three thousand personal guards he had given Prince You, and his heart turned cold. If that day ever came, even the border troops at Shanggu Pass couldn't hold—what use would those three thousand be? Merely protecting Prince You's life would count as their loyalty.

So he refused the pastry, waved his hand, and told his flowery-mouthed son to scram.

Prince You's first time leaving the palace, everything seemed novel. As he passed bustling streets, he furtively slipped a gap in the curtain to peek at the outside world, his whole self excited to the point of bursting, like a bird let out of its cage.

But the bird's joy was short-lived; not long after leaving Chang'an, they ran headlong into a wave of refugees.

It was said that Zhangzhou in the east had suffered a great flood, and refugees poured into the outskirts of Chang'an.

Along the road were numb, weak refugees; seeing this line of so many armored soldiers, they dared not loot, instead kneeling by the roadside begging for a bite of food, and Baili Jing's little spark of joy vanished.

That day he saw a woman leading a child about his age; unlike him, the child was starving to skin and bone, eyes vacant. Numbly following his mother, they knelt by the roadside, weakly whispering a plea for a morsel of food from a noble.

Despite Zhao Bao's disapproving look, Baili Jing still had Tongchen give the child two steamed buns.

Zhao Bao sighed, 'It's not that we can't give him two buns; giving food to women and children may be kind, but it could endanger their lives. Once we turn away, they'll be swarmed or even beaten to death by other refugees.'

Baili Jing's face turned pale, "Your Highness knows... we cannot save everyone. Tong Chen, take a few guards with you, go over and watch that child finish eating before coming back."

Hearing this, Zhao Bao let out a breath of relief and nodded at Tong Chen.

Baili Jing knew the provisions they carried had to sustain the three thousand palace guards all the way to Youzhou; there was no surplus at all, so he no longer dared to lift the curtain.

He feared seeing the numb faces of refugees, and also feared seeing corpses piled directly by the roadside.

At this moment he thought of Emperor Ningde again—this father, though he didn't like him, had given him everything he was due, and had let him grow up without worry about food or clothing.

Even when exiled to his fief, he was given enough money to get by; he wouldn't starve for a while, and his life was ten million times better than that of ordinary people outside.

★

Further north, the refugees on the road had disappeared, yet Baili Jing still dared not lift the curtain.

To the north the sky was dry; the dirt road trodden by thousands of people was a sky-full of flying yellow earth!

Stick your head out, and you get a mouthful of dirt.

After a day's march, a thick layer of yellow earth coated the soldiers' armor, making them look like a long line of terracotta figures walking the official road.

In response, Prince You Tong Yanwuji remarked: "We really are like a bunch of burial goods."

Zhao Bao: ……

He really wanted to seize Grand Tutor Xu Zhi and drag him onto the carriage to listen to how His Highness chats!

Even heading north, the road was not peaceful; floods and bandits saw them encounter every kind of trouble. Whenever they passed through some rugged mountains, they could at any moment run into merchant caravans scattered by bandits, and the bloody scenes left after robberies.

Fortunately, no bandits blind enough dared to directly rob them.

Baili Jing sighed all day; sighing so much he even wanted to remark, "Under my father's rule xxxxx…" but the rest was manually muted by Zhao Bao.

Baili Jing: "Ah~!"

Zhao Bao: ……

The one who should be sighing is me.