Chapter 19: Not Good at Observing Virtue

Today this duty is not easy to handle.

Zhao Jia finished announcing the official document at dawn; having seen hysterical pleading crowds before, he too had been scolded and driven away more than once.

However, the Du family maiden's distant, calm reaction was genuinely somewhat unexpected.

It was actually......

Not worrying about her own household's grain tax, she gazed far into the distance, as if worrying for others?

This thought had just risen when Zhao Jia suppressed it in his heart——

How could that be!

The sudden grain tax is vexing enough for me; these poor peasants are worse off than I—how could they not be worried?

Moreover, the household head is a woman, yet she has taken in six men!

Six!

By year's end they must deliver six dan of grain and over three taels of silver!

Waiting for the market grain to sell out before paying the tax, who knows if even more will be needed!

Such a situation, to say it's not pitiable is definitely false.

Even though Zhao Jia is usually fierce and ruthless, never thinking of doing good deeds, thinking of today's weeping, pleading neighbors still leaves him somewhat uneasy.

He reached out to take the money bag, then casually pulled the IOU from his bosom and returned it to Du Shanü, before lowering his voice to instruct:

"Drive out those vagrants from your home early; then, when you come to the county office to report their flight, a few coppers for clemency will save you more than paying the grain tax."

Du Shanü, though observant of ritual, also understands worldly ways, so she naturally would not rebut this to his face.

She gave a slight nod, stepped back, and thus respectfully saw off the official and the village elder.

Old Village Head Huang remained immersed in the sudden grain tax, tears streaming, yet he ultimately followed Zhao Jia's steps, preparing to inform the next household.

Du Shanü watched the two leave; seeing their figures about to vanish, she could not hold back and suddenly asked again:

"Sir, may I ask why this grain tax is so sudden?"

In my impression, Cangnan lies extremely remote within the Nine Provinces, with mountains and wilds full of miasma.

To put it nicely, it's a secluded corner; to put it bluntly, it's a place armies contend over.

For centuries, life-and-death struggles have raged on the northern border, yet warfare has never reached this place.

The common folk open their eyes each day to farm; their customs are exceedingly simple, stealing chickens or dogs is rare, and they pay taxes honestly.

Former tax categories, though varied, were at least within bearable limits.

But once this grain tax arrived......

This time, who knows how many commoners will have to abandon their registrations and flee.

Isn't this just inviting rebellion?

Du Shanü couldn't understand, but she had a mouth and a mind, and knew to ask.

Although the bailiff before her might not know the answer, she would someday figure it out.

Zhao Jia's uniform, nearly blended into the fields, paused; he didn't turn his head and replied offhand:

"How would I know?!"

"Yesterday a noble came to the county office; today the magistrate ordered us to come out and announce the notice...... perhaps it's the higher authorities' intention."

Noble......

Noble?

Du Shanü turned her head, her gaze sweeping over each face in the household, finally settling on A Chou, whose ferocious countenance could not hide his pallor.

Trembling.

A Chou was trembling.

Du Shanü walked to his side, pressed his shoulder, and dragged him toward the back of the house.

The man was quite tall; though he had wandered the roads, starving to the bone, he was still very heavy.

After dragging him dozens of steps away from the shaky, tumble-down hut, Du Shanü finally released him, rubbing her sore shoulder and said:

"You recognized that noble earlier, right?"

A Chou still trembled, head bowed low, letting others manipulate him without any response.

Du Shanü recalled those two characters and exhaled:

"That person, seemed to be called...... Chinu?"

As soon as the two syllables 'Chinu' were spoken, they completely stimulated A Chou's still-uncertain mind, making him sway, collapse to the ground, clutching his head and sobbing.

A Chou clearly fell into memories too painful to recall; his already ferocious face was etched with fear and struggle.

Du Shanü waited calmly, continuing to wait.

Until, Liu Wenyuan called from dozens of steps away:

"...... I'll send the carpenters back to town, then buy some supplies."

Du Shanü gave a slight nod; the clear-featured youth who had spoken turned and walked into the setting sun.

Du Shanü asked softly:

"If you won't speak now, when do you plan to speak?"

At this moment, the sun was already setting westward.

Worldly affairs, when one faces water they sink themselves; the sun slants toward the western mountains.

Taizong has fallen, the realm has fallen, the Young Emperor is in peril.

Now not speaking, when do you plan to speak?

We can't wait for everything to pass, lest the master die in the wilds, can we?

Then who would still know that this master, the Young Emperor, once worried for the state and the people?

A Chou let out a sob, as if possessed by some ghostly impulse, and said to the country village girl before him:

"Run... run..."

"That day, I truly felt Chinu's gaze...... If we wait for him to come, I fear everything will be too late......"

Du Shanü did her best to understand these words, but still gave no answer.

A Chou, unable to bear it, covered his own face, riddled with a thousand wounds, trying to calm himself:

"The blind person in the room is none other than the Young Emperor."

"The Young Emperor is the heir of Taizong, originally surnamed Yu, named Yiai; after inheriting the line, following Taizong's lineage, he took the name Zhu Lian."

"Before Taizong's death, he had prepared five senior officials for the Young Emperor, each taking one character from greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt as their name; among us five, the one with the deepest scheming and greatest talent for calculation is none other than Chinu."

Chinu, Chinu.

This name, since the establishment of the false dynasty, perhaps few know it; but before the foreign tribes entered the pass, this name was known to virtually everyone.

The Young Emperor's nature is kind and pure.

Chinu......

At one point he even held the imperial seal and acted as regent.

The northern border tribes wielded this lethal weapon of fiery oil; wherever they passed, hardly any armor remained.

Outside the Central Plains, three kingdoms and hundreds of tribes, big and small, none could withstand more than half a year.

Yet under this fierce pressure, the Central Plains managed to hold out for eight years; aside from the valor of Taizong's Mysterious Armor Army, the second reason is that the Yin Dynasty had Chinu to prolong its life.

As the saying goes, "Before troops move, supplies must go first."

Supplies and baggage, troop deployment and formation, planning and strategizing...... all require effort.

Yet even such a Chinu can only delay the foreign tribes' incursion, unable to completely block that damned 'petroleum'!!!

A Chou recalled the two words repeatedly mentioned by the Young Emperor's birth mother, feeling as if his heart were being cut by a knife, and he swallowed the last two words back.

Du Shanü pondered for a moment, piecing together all the scattered bits and pieces, then spoke again:

"Then isn't this 'Chinu' quite formidable?"

"When Yu Baobao previously spoke of Chinu, she often joked; why are you so afraid? And you even had us......"

Run quickly?

Du Shanü turned over those two words in her mind, and for the first time her face showed a hint of solemnity.

A Chou, hearing this, was somewhat stunned; after a long while he twitched his facial muscles, revealing a strange expression:

"Because Chinu...... is not good at observing propriety."

Not observing propriety?

What does that mean?

Du Shanü startled, unaware that the sunset behind her had already fallen.

The setting sun like blood, beneath the vaulted sky, the gaunt youth, accompanied by three carpenters, wound his way through the mountain path into the city.

The carpenters received their wages and left happily.

The gaunt youth, however, did not go shopping as he had told Du Shanü; instead, he took many twists and turns, winding through alleys, and finally stopped before the side gate of the county office.

I didn't catch that; say it again.

Du Shanü furrowed her brow:

What does 'not observing propriety' mean?

Playing word games with a science-minded girl really doesn't work!

She just doesn't get it!

A Chou pursed his lips, as if on the verge of tears but not quite:

"......"

He is not a loyal subject.

He is not a loyal subject.

He will pick his master, and he utterly despises an incapable lord.

After Chinu realized his lord could not bear the affairs of state, he made several attempts...... to kill his lord.

【Knock knock knock—】

After three knocks, someone inside the county office answered the door.

The gaunt youth's fingers, hidden in his sleeve, twitched slightly; his brows lifted slightly, and he smiled, saying:

"The envoy who came to the county yesterday, could it be Xu Min, the former attendant of the Central Secretariat?"

Please inform Chancellor Chen...... just say that the visitor knows the Young Emperor's whereabouts; if His Majesty today wishes to eliminate the Young Emperor, now is the perfect opportunity.

?? is dripping, not Chinu's personal card placed early, but Chinu indeed appeared early! Those who want to see what the Young Emperor and Chinu look like can go to the book friends circle / review section ha!

? (Trying to set up a book friends circle, but accidentally updated in the middle of the night...... hiss.)