Chapter 599

【Note: Added 5000 characters before; if you missed it, refresh the previous two chapters】

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Seeing the man worried, he again whispered in comfort: "... No one in Chang'an knows me." He suddenly slimmed down, looking nothing like his childhood self—quite a transformation.

He was firm; seeing the crowd grow, the man had no choice but to shut up.

The tall man escorted the child all the way to the vicinity of End Rite Gate at the west gate of the imperial palace; the vast open space was packed with heads. He also could no longer afford to say useless things, focusing all his energy on gripping the child tightly—if they got scattered in the crowd, they wouldn't find each other again even after half a night.

As night fell, Baili Jing led his Heavenly Regiment and the civil and military officials who had been busy all day up onto the city wall; outside End Rite Gate was already a sea of people.

He had already shed the cumbersome ceremonial robes, smugly changing into a plain dark outfit, wearing a white jade crown, posing there as a handsome young man. As soon as he got up, he wanted to act deep and share some reflections, but before he could finish striking a pose, he saw the dense crowd of heads below.

He immediately let out an exclamation: "Wo de tian~"

The solemn act he'd just put on vanished in an instant, not a trace left.

"Chang'an actually has this many people!"

Feathered Forest Guard Commander Wei Ke followed behind him, unable to resist twitching the corner of his mouth. No matter the occasion, Baili Jing always has the knack to make people lose their composure in a second.

The endless sea of heads below watched as lights lit up the city wall, each craning their necks to look up. At that moment they were utterly confused, afraid the fireworks show had already started and they had missed it.

Some wondered if this was just mystifying nonsense—with so many people packed here, only those in front could see, right? Yet the tone was bold, even asking the whole city to watch the fireworks display?

"Can you really see it?"

Wei Hang, who hadn't left the house in ages, was dragged out by his sister and cousin, complaining listlessly: "... What good could there be in the poor, remote Youzhou to warrant you all crowding here?" Even with maids and guards surrounding them, he felt uncomfortable—there were too many people, the air reeked of sweat, and his cleanliness obsession could barely take it.

He was just about to say, "Let the guards clear a way and we'll head home," when there was movement on the city wall.

At first, the area outside End Rite Gate was a murky darkness, with only the faint glow of someone's oil lamp. Suddenly, a long whistle tore through the night!

"Whoosh—bang—!"

The first golden chrysanthemum burst open suddenly against the dark sky.

It wasn't a flower, but liquid fire, a reverse meteor shower. Thousands of golden threads shot outward and fell, as if an immortal had used the heavens as paper and painted with light a "splashed-ink grand style".

Whether the common folk of Chang'an below or the civil and military officials on the wall, when have the people of Jin ever seen such a miracle!

Exactly, to them this is a miracle.

After the dazzling explosion, the scent of gunpowder drifted down, mingling with the sharpness of sulfur and the smoky aroma of charcoal, ancient and fervent, as if the cosmic furnace of the alchemical cauldron from the Huainanzi had melted into Chang'an's air.

Immediately after, all sounds rose together. Everyone's eyes couldn't keep up.

On the ground, dozens of "fire dragons" roared out of bamboo tubes, twisting and soaring into the sky. Before the fire dragons faded, a new item called "Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix" exploded.

The sharp crackling was as dense as a sudden downpour, as if countless light-feathered birds were holding a fleeting morning assembly in the clouds; the crowd gasped in waves, instinctively screaming.

The deafening blasts had half of Chang'an's residents pouring out of their homes to gaze upward in the courtyards. Not long after, the most spectacular sight arrived.

Dozens of strong men lifted the "scaffold fireworks" to the center. The fuse lit, and in an instant a glowing pavilion appeared in the night sky!

The doors and windows were distinct, the eaves upturned, and one could even see the light outlining the railings and curtains. This phantom existed only for the span of three heartbeats before it boomed apart into myriad green fireflies, slowly drifting to the ground. The crowd burst into a long "Oh——", full of awe, then eagerly grabbed nearby friends and relatives, wondering if they had just caught a glimpse of an immortal's dwelling!

That night, heaven and earth became an inverted river of stars.

In the sky, silver snakes writhed, peonies vied to bloom, and strings of "grape jade pour" seemed like the heavenly river breaking its banks; on the ground, myriad upturned faces were lit by flickering light, each pair of eyes dancing with tiny, obsessed flames. Elders forgot to stroke their beards, children forgot to swallow their candy drawings, and even the usually restrained ladies joined the crowd in gasps and applause.

Sound and color peaked, roaring like war drums, splendid beyond brocade, the air thick as if one had opened a tome recording all fire and fantasy.

The king felt his floating pagoda tower was now real.

Starting tomorrow, this name will spread to every corner of the Great Jin.

The final act was "Ten Thousand Thunder Silence".

A stout crimson‑gold fire column shot up, exploding at high altitude into a glowing dome that covered half the horizon and slowly descended.

The king, too, gaped: "Will Chang'an tomorrow rumor that the floating pagoda tower can control thunder?"

The crowd: … "How do you know what I was just thinking?!"

When the last speck of light dust vanished into darkness, silence crashed back to the ground—deeper and fuller than before, as if the earlier clamor had stretched it out. People still looked up, their pupils retaining the afterimage of light.

Baili (uncultured) Jing: "This is way too awesome!"

Beside him, Xie Tu: "Fire trees and silver flowers unite; the star bridge iron lock opens."

The king: ……

I said I don't like playing with overachievers—it's utterly boring!

An instant becomes eternity.

Afterward, year after year, Chang'an remembered the king's coronation day with its grand fireworks. That instant's ultimate splendor was like a golden edge etched into memory, giving them countless ordinary nights thereafter a beauty illuminated by it.

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A magnificent dream‑performance ended, and everyone remained dazed for a long time.

Everyone stood where they were, motionless for a moment. The Feathered Forest Guard hurriedly announced that the fireworks show had ended, asking the populace below to withdraw in order and watch their safety.

The officials on the wall hadn't snapped out of it either, but Wei Ke had already gone down to direct the evacuation of the crowd.

The king didn't leave either; the child hadn't had enough.

"Is that all? Come again for another half an hour!" He turned back to look for Chief Steward Zhu, but he wasn't there, and he saw his family's He Guang.

He Guang felt awkward; we only bought these!

He had no choice but to report to his master the price of half an hour of high-end fireworks, which converted to silver amounted to exactly 200,000 taels. Not when the Great King ascends the throne; even in special times, the Ministry of Commerce cannot be so extravagant.

The Great King heard it and exclaimed, "Too expensive!" But he didn't say he disliked the expense; he said, "Our Secluded Prefecture populace hasn't seen this yet; next time we return to the Secluded Prefecture we'll set it off."

Xie Yuan, who had listened to the whole thing: ……

The Great King's intention to relocate the capital remains unchanged.

Baili Hu was quietly surrounded by the guards in the middle, and he remained dazed for a long time.

The King's newly issued armor for the Feather Forest Guard has arrived; their armor differs in style and color from the cavalry's, being slightly lighter, with an eagle-shaped totem on the right chest designed after a covering-the-sky motif, which is the Feather Forest Guard's exclusive insignia.

The superior raptor, the Cloud-rolling Eagle, serving as the Feather Forest Guard's totem emblem, is also quite fitting.

Today marks the Feather Forest Guard's first appearance in Perpetual Peace; they are responsible for today's security. After the afternoon crowds surged in, the Feather Forest Guard forcefully formed lines and inserted themselves into the dense crowd, splitting the thick mass into sections, breaking the whole into parts. By now they have changed formation to guide the people out; Baili Hu observed for a while, likely fearing that too many people would cause falls and trampling.

The common people naturally fear the troops; under their direction, no one dares to push, and they file out slowly in all directions.

Tens of thousands of people exiting in orderly fashion did so quietly and swiftly, as if rehearsed many times—something never seen before. And without the emperor present, how would the exalted imperial guards possibly ensure the people's safety?

Baili Hu felt that this Perpetual Peace was no longer the Perpetual Peace he knew.

For a moment, among tens of thousands of people, the only sound he heard was the Feather Forest Guard's armor rubbing together.

Baili Hu then lifted his head, squinting at the straight-standing Mysterious Armor Soldiers on the city wall; even the dim yellow light did not dispel their murderous aura. Unlike the soldiers of Jing Prefecture, they have been on many battlefields, campaigning against the various steppe tribes and the Western Regions states, having slain countless people.

The smell of gunpowder in the air had not yet cleared; he glanced up at the now-quiet sky, realizing that this was the difference between You Prefecture and Jing Prefecture.

They also withdrew following the Feather Forest Guard's orders back to the inn; Baili Hu tossed and turned all night, only falling asleep when it was fully light, having ordered that no one disturb him and not mentioning the return to Jing Prefecture.

The King didn't have it so easy; he had already ascended the throne and officially become a worker who must clock in every day.

He must attend court.

From then on, sleeping in was no longer an option for him, and the King sighed long and short for a long while.

Fortunately, everyone in Perpetual Peace knows he keeps his word; when this guy insisted on changing the court audience time, surprisingly no one objected. Lu Tong circled around Xie Yuan, discussing for half a day, very curious about what the King had been doing in Perpetual Peace that could make these rule‑spouting folks so agreeable.

The King's first audience was packed with substance; first, he posthumously honored his birth mother, Lady Wei, as Empress Xiaoyi. The character "yi" is already the best character for a female posthumous name. Xiaoyi is an extremely high‑grade honorific posthumous name.

At this moment the officials also recalled that Lady Wei was still lying in state outside the mausoleum of Emperor Ningde; the perceptive ones immediately asked whether she would be buried jointly with the former emperor, but the King flatly refused.

Early in the morning, doing nothing at first, he brought up the posthumous honor for his birth mother as soon as he started, and upon mentioning it he was no longer in a hurry.

He had made up his mind to relocate the capital, and of course his mother would have to come along; but mentioning it now would only add trouble. The King knows the people in the palace well—if he cited Perpetual Peace's proximity to the Western Qi as a reason to move to Luoyang or Jiankang, they would readily agree, even if it burdened the people and drained the treasury; but if he moved to You Prefecture, which borders the northern frontier, they would rise up in fierce opposition.

Sitting here he could already list their objections—one, two, three, four—and now saying anything is too late.

Logically, after the new emperor's accession, the imperial harem should be greatly ennobled, but the King himself is still a single, treating himself like a child, so there is no one in the harem to confer titles on; still, he has sisters and aunts.

Now, without further ceremony, enfeoff Baili Zhao as Princess of Ningguo with a fief of ten thousand households, and Consort Wei as Noble Consort.

When the newly returned Princess Changchun married, the old man had already granted her a title; the King simply promoted her to Grand Princess. Lao Qi, for now, just set it aside—although he has been made a king without a fief, which is a bit sensitive, the King simply skipped over it.

This time the court was restless; the new emperor was a bit too generous, and moreover he threw the rules over the wall.

The officials first glanced at Grand Chancellor Xie Yuan, unmoving like a mountain; then they looked at the Minister of Justice from the Fanyang Lu clan, seemingly deaf.

Well, there's no hope from the direct line.

After many clashes, Old Man Cheng really doesn't like sparring with the King—he's never won and has suffered quite a loss. But duty calls, and in the end this task still falls to the Grand Minister himself.

He slowly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, in Great Jin the rule is that a princess receives a title only upon marriage, and a fief is normally two thousand households. The Princess of Ningguo directly receiving a ten‑thousand‑household fief … there's nothing more to add." He spoke as tactfully as possible. Previously there were examples of emperors repeatedly increasing the fief of their beloved daughters, but those were additions of one thousand or two thousand households. The Princess of Ningguo, still unmarried, already has a ten‑thousand‑household fief—what will happen in the future?

Upon hearing this, the King exclaimed in astonishment, "Only two thousand? Who's being so stingy?!"

One move finished him off—Grand Minister Cheng was KO'd.

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As soon as the King's dangerous remark was made, the entire hall fell silent.

If you say he's unfilial, he knows that as soon as he came to power he posthumously honored his birth mother with the beautiful posthumous name "Xiaoyi"; if you say he's filial, he dares to openly disparage his ancestors.

When he asked that, even Grand Minister Cheng would struggle to list who's who among the one, two, three; and who doesn't know that Baili Jing fears nothing?

No one spoke; the guy cleared his throat and began to find an excuse, "I mean nothing else—it's just that the times are different; we must view problems with a developmental eye."

The officials: …… didn't understand.

"You think ten thousand households is a lot only because Great Jin currently has too few registered households. Disasters and military calamities have kept the realm losing households. You think I have strong troops and sturdy horses, so why not march straight south to sweep the Central Plains? It's not for that reason— … well, I've gone a bit off track, let me get back to the point.

"Now that I occupy this position, I have confidence in leading Great Jin out of the slump and building a new golden age. When the population booms, ten thousand households will be trivial."

The officials: …… bombastic!

But no one dared say it to his face.

The King had already dreamed thus: "Rice flows with fat, millet gleams white; public and private granaries are abundantly filled. The roads of the nine provinces harbor no wolves or jackals; distant travel incurs no labor on auspicious days. Qi silk and Wu linen roll in cart after cart; men till and women weave without loss." ①

"Then the field lanes will crisscross, lights will shine in myriad homes, and the age of prosperity will also arrive."

In everyone's mind the same two words floated up: nonsense!

Putting it into plain speech, you're just bragging!