Chapter 1020

Jiao Tong: "Then go ask the State Preceptor and Xue Shao for money."

Song Hao: "... My lord, I don't have that kind of influence, but you're Xue Jiaoyu's disciple and Xue Yushi's senior master— if you speak up, Xue Yushi will surely show leniency and loosen his grip."

Jiao Tong glared at him and said: "If he were the type to show leniency, do you think I'd still be standing here?"

Song Hao fell silent.

After Pan Yun appeared, the post-disaster recovery work in Guangzhou Prefecture spread at an astonishing speed.

Following Guangzhou Prefecture, other prefectures all took Guangzhou as their model, and the illicit funds long held in the Spirit Realm finally found use.

Pan Yun delivered a sum of money to each prefecture according to Xue Shao's ledger, ensuring the recovery work could proceed in orderly fashion.

The hardest to handle was actually Chaozhou Prefecture.

Feng Hongde had operated in Chaozhou for twenty years, his roots deeply entrenched.

The younger generation, since they could remember, had known only Feng Ban Cheng—they were born to till his land, sow his fields, and harvest his crops;

Feng Ban Cheng was their landlord, and all of them depended on the Feng family for survival.

But now Feng Ban Cheng had fallen, and the soldiers who arrived declared they were military households, their families once owning good farmland—so they were allotted land and farming tools, instantly transformed from Feng family tenant farmers into military households with land of their own.

One merchant sneered: "You've merely gone from being Feng family tenant farmers to Great Ming's tenant farmers. The land you now till is military farmland—not yours to buy or sell."

"Still, I'm glad," said the young man. "Before, farming for Feng Ban Cheng, we couldn't even fill our bellies all year; now, farming for the army, we pay only one dou of military grain per mu, and everything else is ours. If we reclaim wasteland ourselves, the first three years are exempt from military grain—only after the land is cultivated do we pay."

The boy spoke with deep grievance: "When we farmed for Feng Ban Cheng, we didn't want to reclaim wasteland, yet he forced us to do it—and took every grain we grew. But if we reclaimed wasteland ourselves, he ignored it for the first few years, then claimed the land had always been his, just unoccupied, and seized it back after we'd made it fertile."

In short, things are better now.

They're happy!

The merchant shook his head, looking at them as if they were fools who deserved to be cheated: "Not everyone thinks it's good."

Indeed, some truly believed it was bad.

When Feng Hongde was arrested, they felt as if they'd lost their anchor, utterly desolate.

Even with land allotted, they were not pleased: "What if we ruin the land? What if we can't pay the military grain? What if we're conscripted to a garrison or sent to the front? With Feng Battalion Commander here, at least someone stood between us and the court—now the court is arresting him, trying to drive us to death!"

Shen Shukang flew into a rage and tried to seize back the land deeds, but Shen Boxiu grabbed him and dragged him out of the house.

Pan Yun stood with hands on hips at the edge of the field, feeling the wind, and turned her head at the commotion.

Facing the flushed Shen Shukang, she smiled and waved him over.

Shen Shukang stepped forward reluctantly, ashamed, toes curling, head bowed: "State Preceptor, these people are ungrateful, but they're only a tiny minority— the rest of our Chaozhou Garrison's military households are deeply grateful to you and Xue Yushi; Feng Hongde's arrest has been a great relief."

"I know," said Pan Yun. "These are individual differences; one case cannot represent the whole."

She said: "They may cling to men like Feng Hongde like dodder vines, but the state cannot fail to provide them with basic security—that land deed is that security."

"But they don't appreciate it. State Preceptor, you've done so much for them—don't you feel wronged?"

"Not at all," said Pan Yun. "They're merely foolish, deceived. Without Feng Hongde to cloud their minds, they're naturally terrified." "What then?"

? Co

"Just cloud their minds again." With that, Pan Yun walked toward the low house, not crossing the threshold, but gazing straight through the door at the middle-aged man inside, tears streaming down his face; her gaze swept past him to the woman beside him, expressionless and obedient, and his two children, and said: "Your five elements are water, while Feng Hongde's are earth—earth overcomes water. The better he fares, the worse you suffer."

The middle-aged man looked up, stunned, forgetting to cry.

Pan Yun stood with her back to the sun, making her expression invisible to those inside, yet they felt a golden aura radiating around her.

Pan Yun said: "Your benefactor lies in your wife and daughters. Your wife has solid footing, the bearing of a homemaker. Now that you've broken free from Feng Hongde, your personal oppressor, treat your wife and daughters better, heed her advice— even without looking far ahead, you'll die peacefully in bed with filial children."

The middle-aged man listened, entranced, and stood up: "Really?"

"Of course it's true!" Shen Shukang poked his head out from behind Pan Yun. "This is the State Preceptor! The State Preceptor!"

The middle-aged man swallowed hard, stiffly turning to look at his wife.

His wife's face was even stiffer, utterly incredulous.

Pan Yun glanced once more at the little girl, then turned and walked away, leaving only these words: "The military school opens soon—send your daughter to study. Her month pillar holds the Wenchang Noble Star and a schoolhouse; her hour pillar holds the Huagai Star. It would be a waste not to send her."

The middle-aged man rushed out after her, but Pan Yun had vanished in a blink. He grabbed the still-standing Shen Boxiu: "What did she mean?"

Shen Boxiu shook off his hand: "It means your daughter can become the top imperial examinee."

The middle-aged man stared: "She's a girl—how can she become the top examinee?"

"She doesn't have to become the top examinee," said Shen Boxiu. "After studying, she'll have other paths. Isn't the State Preceptor a woman too? This is your family's affair—whether to send her or not is up to you."

The middle-aged man turned to look at his daughter, hesitating, then slowly looked to his wife.

His wife looked at their daughter.

The twelve-year-old girl's eyes pleaded.

A flicker of resolve crossed the mother's numb face. She said to her husband: "Send her! The State Preceptor said my daughter and I bring prosperity to the household—listen to me on family matters."

The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and agreed.

With new matters and new hopes, the middle-aged man forgot Feng Hongde; the bitter winds and cold rains of his home naturally vanished.

The little girl quietly tucked the land deed under the table, and only at night did she slip it secretly into her mother's hands, whispering: "Mama, we have land now."

No matter how her father felt, she was overjoyed.

The mother was happy too.

The two women quietly rejoiced; soon, their fourteen-year-old son crept in, and the three huddled together until footsteps sounded outside—then the mother swiftly hid the deed and turned to make the bed.

Shen Shukang, chasing after Pan Yun, reported happily: "That's the last household—all others have surrendered their deeds and received military farmland. It's too late this year, but next year, we'll plant plenty of grain."

Pan Yun smiled and nodded. "And you? You're still young—you can't spend all your time farming. Will you enter the schoolhouse to study?"