Chapter 664: Steppe Turmoil

"Better to kill by mistake. We're returning to the city at once!" the King quickly made up his mind.

If mistaken, it was all for nothing; if correct, who knows how many livestock avoided freezing to death.

The helpless Xiao Jin was still frolicking on the mountain; the King no longer feared this creature as before, and didn't wait for it to mount up and return to the city. Only Zhetian's view was unmatched; seeing everyone turn back, it also followed.

The uneasy Weini was already anxious; after wearing himself out and taking a break, he chased desperately—anyway, today's exercise volume was excessive.

Upon reaching outside the city, from afar they saw a silvery-white patch on a withered yellow hill; even in this gloomy evening it shone brightly.

It was Bai Ze.

It stood there, head raised, gazing at the northern sky, posture graceful, still as a deep pool.

This static scene changed its flavor when the King rushed into the frame; this creature charged up the slope in a frenzy, its voice booming: "Is a cold wave coming? Is it, is it? Give me a hint! Can you tell the people to get ready or not?!"

Bai Ze nodded: "The land will soon be frozen. Not just the northern borders, but even reaching the Central Plains."

The King's heart sank; without a word, he turned back to the city at once. "I knew that damned Little Ice Age wasn't that simple—it hasn't even started yet! Zhetian!"

The King shouted to the heavens, and the freely flying Lord Zhetian descended to stand on the white dragon's back.

"I've raised you for a thousand days; today you're truly needed!"

As soon as the King returned, he immediately issued a string of orders.

Express riders notified all of Youzhou of the impending great cold wave, urging immediate preparations.

Minister Zhang was still enjoying the New Year at home when suddenly he was snatched by scout riders to the palace to report Youzhou's coal reserves. Learning that they had accumulated plenty over the past two years, reserves were abundant, the King waved his hand: "Households with elders and children may each receive a hundred jin of coal for free to keep warm."

Wei Shen asked beside him: "What about the able-bodied—do we not care for them?"

"They're resistant to cold. Besides, every household has elders and children. Youzhou is sparsely populated; besides, there's Yizhou and Bingzhou—sending some over might ease the urgent need, even if we just burn trees to make the northern borders bald!"

The King spoke while writing notes, with Wei Shen beside him applying the imperial seal. The King wrote a dozen or so in one breath; Zhao Bao rolled them up, tied them, and placed each into a sachet.

When Senior Ministers Xie Yuan and Xue Lin'an, among others, heard the news and hurried over, the King was showing Zhetian where the letters needed to be sent: the distant passes of Shanyang, Shuofang, and Luoshui, plus the governor offices of Yizhou and Bingzhou, and further south the commanderies of Shangdang and Qinghe. For places without maps he could do nothing; Chang'an, due to its large population, still hadn't sorted its household registries, so the King hadn't even received any rewards, and now he lacked a full topographic map. Then he thought, a prosperous city like Chang'an probably wouldn't have anyone freeze to death, so he turned his gaze back to the northern borders.

This was Zhetian's first time taking on such a multi-point delivery mission—this job… isn't easy!

Several bigwigs looked on bewildered as the King stuffed a string of sachets holding secret letters into a cloth bag, solemnly handed it to Zhetian, and then the man and the bird began pulling on it.

Those two were haggling over the price.

How to put it? Lord Zhetian's trade is a monopoly—no one else can do it, and the King ended up producing another Beast Feed Pill.

After paying six thousand taels, Lord Zhetian finally set out, with the King shouting from behind: "First go to Shuofang Pass and Shanyang Pass, and find Tang Qian first!"

Several old-timers had no idea when the King's letter would reach Shanyang Pass, nor could they imagine whether such instructions would be useful; they hurriedly asked the King how he had predicted the cold wave.

The King waved his hand: "It doesn't matter. Sir, you must have read many books in the Imperial Academy; cold currents usually flow from north to south, or from northwest to southeast. The south might be affected, but the focus is definitely our northern borders—we still need to find ways to reduce losses."

After a while of discussion, Youzhou, having undergone multiple rounds of infrastructure conscription, now had richer commoners and greatly improved civilian housing. Xie Yuan suggested setting up several relief points, where families with poorer homes could relocate temporarily.

For example, the Imperial Academy outside the city, and the Lintong Coal Mine with its fully equipped facilities, etc.

Order after order issued from the Ziwei Palace; this night was destined to be restless. Who would have thought that their meeting here hadn't even ended when Lord Zhetian returned!

Xue Lin'an saw Zhetian fly in, paused mid-sentence and asked: "How did you come back?" He meant how you turned back, not imagining you had finished your business and returned.

The King, who had been slouching in his chair, instantly straightened up proudly: "Of course I came back after finishing the delivery!"

Xie Yuan accidentally snapped off several beard hairs with a clumsy hand.

Lord Zhetian jumped onto the King's desk, threw the cloth bag that the King had used to hold the letters back at him. The King casually tipped it out, saying, "Let me see if there's anything left—I wrote just the right amount…"

Indeed something came out—mixed in was a tiny message tube sealed with the Intelligence Section's mark.

The King first opened that sheet; the few hurried strokes showed how anxious the writer was, the signature being Li Zhong of Shuofang Pass.

While the border troops were on a northern patrol, they rescued a seriously wounded Jin person; it was also a coincidence that this person had just been brought back when Lord Zhetian arrived. As usual, this creature caused a big commotion at Shuofang Pass, blowing sand and stones at the enemy's camp. The seriously wounded person was an intelligence officer; of course he knew Lord Zhetian, so he quickly took out the message he was responsible for transmitting and handed it directly to Zhetian—undoubtedly the quickest, safest way to send the news back to Youzhou.

A few brief lines highlighted two points: serious injury, and extreme urgency.

A wind rose outside the hall, the sky turned completely dark, and the King felt hungry. He held the message tube, examining it, and caught a hint of an approaching storm.

When unfolded, there turned out to be two messages; after reading them the King felt even hungrier, as if he could see his own future of not having enough to eat.

Seeing everyone waiting for him to speak, the King said gloomily: "Two bad news, one good news— which would you like to hear first?"

With his appearance, no one below believed there was any good news.

Here Xie Yuan held the highest rank, so he was the first to speak: "Why not start with the good news?"

"Good news, the Xiongnu Chanyu Hudu'er Shi has died."

Without waiting for a reaction, the King continued: "Bad news, his young sons all failed to seize power; the Right Wise King Punu succeeded as Chanyu—he's a warlike radical with great ambitions toward the Central Plains. Second bad news, he has already begun invading the territory of the Bald Xianbei."

Xie Yuan sighed; the King's other teacher that day spoke: "Your Majesty, wasn't summoning the Eastern Xianbei earlier meant to stir up the steppe, keep them preoccupied so they wouldn't interfere with our unification project? Now… the situation is much the same, right?"

"That's because I know the Eastern Xianbei's strength; there's a difference between taking the lead and being reactive. Grand Tutor, the Xiongnu are ambitious, beginning to unite the steppe."

The corner‑dwelling Wei Shen, who had been pretending to be a pillar, suddenly spoke: "The Xiongnu think that relying on themselves alone they can't beat you; so they want to unite the steppe to strengthen the Xiongnu, hoping for a future chance to invade the Central Plains."

The King concluded: "Overall, this is a huge piece of bad news."

The officials: ……