Chapter 666: Snail Mythical Beast

Usually Little Gold couldn't stay still in the Purple Majesty Palace—either tagging along with the King as a stumbling block or running wildly around the garden. The King hadn't assigned anyone to watch it, so this time, when it didn't come back, nobody reported it missing; everyone just assumed it was fooling around in some corner of the garden.

The King forgot about the great ferocious beast, felt remorse for a second, then hurriedly opened the full topographic map of the Secluded Prefecture to search.

The crucial point was that it was already midnight, and the map was pitch black. The King dragged the entire Yanzi Mountain range across the map but saw no sign of the beast's gleaming golden fur. He didn't have time to zoom in a bit; the Yanzi Mountain range is the largest in the Northern Border, and examining it closely would take all night.

The King thought that the great ferocious beast, having lived among humans for so long, wouldn't eat people, so he quickly dismissed the worry. He didn't believe Little Gold would fail to return for its meals. This creature had once searched the entire Capital for him.

The King rushed into the residence; fortunately, the night-owl Bai Yang hadn't left yet, having just finished packing up to go home when the King blocked his way.

The King asked him to use his vision, advanced by two thousand years, to analyze how he had avoided the great cold snap.

Bai Yang thought for a moment, then said, "This kind of natural disaster can't be stopped by human effort; all you can do is give warnings and provide relief, which you've already done quite well. Heated beds and walls have also been promoted in the Secluded Prefecture—it's just a fuel problem. The animals have already sensed it; they'll probably arrive around tomorrow. Actually, for families with poor housing, digging a temporary shelter is a good option. It works for both people and livestock, especially on the Loess Plateau, which is perfect for that. You lot in the Secluded Prefecture have plenty of stone—isn't the ground frozen too hard to dig now?"

The King imagined the frozen, iron-hard ground outside the city where horses would run, and said, "There's no time; not every household has metal tools—let them dig a backup shelter in spring and summer."

"Actually, digging a cellar isn't just for shelter—it can also be used for storage. You do have cabbage and potatoes, which are storable winter vegetables. As for the rest, you've already thought of it: set up temporary shelters to take in those who can't endure the cold snap on their own, and also set up a porridge stall or something so the people see the court's attitude. You are the emperor now—you should also seek a good reputation."

The King understood all that; he was just poor.

"Fortunately, the Secluded Prefecture has coal mines that can't be sold, so we've stockpiled some over the past two years and already ordered it distributed to the elderly and children for warmth. Setting up porridge stalls is difficult, though—with internal and external troubles, the army can barely feed itself. This cold snap won't be limited to here; the barbarians on the grasslands lack proper housing, and when their cattle and sheep freeze to death, they'll resort to their final move: raiding southward for supplies."

Bai Yang was about to comfort him when he saw the creature bare its little white teeth menacingly and say, "If they come, the sooner the better—don't blame me for keeping their war horses to eat meat!" If conflict with the grasslands is unavoidable, the King hopes it happens before he goes south to suppress the rebellion.

"I'm just afraid that if the northern cold snap gives the southern rebel kings a chance to see an opportunity to shake the court, and they all act together… the treasury that funds the cavalry won't be able to sustain a war on multiple fronts."

The Great Jin, like a leaky ship battered by wind and rain, made Bai Yang feel endless sympathy for the King.

The King had been constantly filling the gaps himself; Bai Yang imagined that, if that unnamed dynasty lacked Bai Li Jing, the beloved son of the manor, it would surely have collapsed into massive suffering, with only one in ten, or even one in a hundred, of the people surviving.

Bai Yang could only say, "These are all tests from Heaven for you, the new emperor; disasters will pass and difficulties can be overcome. How old are you anyway? You'll have more chances to shine later. Listen to me—once you turn things around, you must surely unify the grasslands and the Western Regions. No territory is useless, and foreign peoples aren't impossible to tame; it's just a matter of time."

He unhesitatingly painted a big pie for the King, saying, "Look at this map—our later territory is huge, all these places, the northern lands are also very fertile, and the western deserts can bloom with flowers; whenever we get the chance, we must take them back. The foreign peoples occupying those places now are easy to deal with, as long as you unify first and then turn things around."

The King nodded solemnly, "I know."

Bai Yang felt uneasy putting such pressure on a child, saying, "Tomorrow daytime I'll help you sweep through the Phoenix Market to see if there are any new merchants and whether we can order some inexpensive food."

The King nodded.

Bai Yang added, "You don't have grain for disaster relief—have the gentry and wealthy merchants fund the porridge stalls!"

This time the King didn't nod; the creature slapped its palm and said, "Exactly—the Northern Border isn't the impoverished place it used to be; many gentry and wealthy merchants have moved in, and I forgot about them! All the ministers are gentry, yet not one reminded me!" Who says three clumsy cobblers are useless!

Bai Yang: ……

Even in the middle of the night, the King didn't delay further; after lying down in bed, he kept talking to Bai Ze, saying, "Little Gold this creature actually managed to stay away from home this long—it's gone feral."

All in all, the King felt the great ferocious beast wouldn't eat people now, so he wasn't really worried.

The next day was the fifth day of the first lunar month; the King's last day of vacation was destined to fly by. He got up on time, pulled back the curtain, and felt that outside was darker than usual.

He opened a crack but didn't feel especially cold, still keeping an optimistic attitude. Thinking that after several rounds of infrastructure conscription, the livelihoods of the Northern Border's commoners should be alright, he could bring some coal and food during the day to check on the refugee-gathering towns and villages.

As soon as the King got up, the Suiyu Hall came alive at once, with palace servants bustling in and out of the hall doors; the King didn't feel any temperature change, just an unusual gloom. When Zhao Bao entered for the second time, the King had already tidied up and sat at the dining table. Zhao Bao helped him ladle porridge while chatting, saying that an odd report had come in from outside.

Outside the North City Gate, someone had piled up a heap of cattle, sheep, and horses, stacked like a small hill. The night watch said they hadn't heard a sound during the night; only when dawn just broke did the soldiers on the city walls discover it.

The King put down his bowl and said, "There's even such a thing as a Snail Maiden? Knowing food is tight, doing a good deed without seeking fame…… No, wait—has Little Gold not come back yet?"

As he said that, he turned his head to look at Bai Ze, who shook his head.

All done~!

The King sucked in a breath—this bizarre event made him unable not to think more about it! Could it be that his beloved stumbling block, Lord Little Gold, was out 'hunting' in people's homes?

The King inexplicably began to feel guilty, thinking, "I only ever took it out hunting once when it was young, and I didn't mention hunting yesterday…… Is it that eager? Is it lacking food or drink?"

He couldn't eat breakfast, so the King ordered Zhao Bao to prepare several carts of coal and food; he wanted to first go to the North City Gate to have a look.

The King summoned Wei Shen to come along, and on the way they kept passing the buck.

"... I never taught it to go out hunting on its own; I provide its food and drink…… What if, what if it really was Little Gold who did it? Then we'll just pretend we're passing by and not know it."

"Should we compensate them?"

"Compensate, of course—how could we be so shameless? What I mean is we shouldn't expose our identities; I can't afford to lose face with that person, so later I'll have Zhao Bao make the compensation."

Wei Shen: ……