CH 55

“Brother Jiang, you’re finally back!”

When Jiang Ni returned to the ceramics store once more, the shopkeep, Tahei, welcomed him with a grin, “I’ve been waiting for you!” 

As Jiang Ni had been making frequent trips to Jinyang recently, it’d been some time since he’d last went to Gaodu. He smiled faintly at Tahei’s obsequiousness, “It’s been so hectic in the estate, I missed the kiln opening day. Begging your pardon, Tahei…”

“Oh don’t worry about it! I know you’re a busy man now, brother Jiang. I’m just glad you remembered little ol’ me! Come come come, let’s talk inside!” The Xiongnu man grabbed Jiang Ni by the arm and hurried him into his shop without another word.

Jiang Ni acted abashed by his enthusiastic warmth, but in reality, he was unruffled. His current standing was far higher than it was before  – just look at all the people who were lining up to buy Scripture Paper. He could speak as equals with even the stewards of noble families, let alone a mere shopkeep. Judging by how friendly Tahei was, it was likely that news of his master had spread to the Xiongnu divisions. Those barbarians loved Buddhism; how could they miss the chance to obtain the Liang Estate’s wares?

After deferentially guiding Jiang Ni to the head seat and serving him tea, Tahei rubbed his hands and chortled, “Brother Jiang, you’ve been keeping secrets! The Liang Estate’s got such fine goods, and you only sold me some regular earthenware? Are you making fun of me for being a simple yokel? 

Jiang Ni smiled, “That’s not how it is. We just haven’t got much product on right now. Even the Zhongdu Sun family and the Waihuang Yu family are still waiting. How’m I supposed to conjure up goods for you?”

Tahei knew of the Sun and Yu families – they were big names in Bing Province. His bootlicking smile widened, “Hahaha, those nobles aren’t easy to get along with. I don’t got the guts to get any ideas about the Scripture Paper, but you really don’t got any more of that white porcelain? You can name your price!”

The Xiongnu nobles had heard about the Buddhist ceremony in Jinyang. The fact that the Wise Prince of the East had gone out of his way to buy a stack of Scripture Paper only made “bodhisattva’s” reputation shine brighter. The nobles in the big tents were absolutely beside themselves. Even the earthenware that Tahei had in stock was flying off the shelves. Although the Xiongnu’s kingly court had long since been in decline, the imperial court’s largesse hadn’t decreased in the slightest. How could these nobles, who sat on mountains of gold, bear to let the aristocrats of Jinyang swallow up all the Liang Estate’s goods?

Jiang Ni raised his wooden bowl, taking a sip of the viscous curdled milk, and said impassively, “I’ll have you know, white porcelain is bestowed by heaven. It’s not something we can just make willy nilly. Ordinary porcelain, though, is another matter.”

Tahei, ever the canny businessman, complied agreeably, “I’ll take as much porcelain as the Liang Estate can make! I can trade grain and horses no problem!”

It was a shame he couldn’t get any white porcelain, but he could make big profits on coarse porcelain all the same. It was a good deal at the current market price, especially with the fall harvest coming up! And besides, the Jiang fellow only said that making white porcelain was difficult, not that it was impossible! It didn’t matter how much he had to spend to procure white porcelain, he’d make it all back anyways!

Jiang Ni chuckled, “Nowadays we’re getting all our grain from Jinyang, so we don’t need any more of that. We’ve got enough livestock too, so much that we might not be able to keep them all alive over the winter.”

The price of grain in Shangdang couldn’t compare to that of Jinyang. And don’t even mention the question of raising livestock through winter. Tahei choked and coughed dryly, “I can use other goods or coins too. Brother Jiang, don’t hesitate to ask!” 

Jiang Ni had been waiting for him to say that. He put down his bowl and said, “With how much the trade routes have been disrupted, there’s lots of stuff that’s hard to buy. Like cowhide or sheepskin and such… can you acquire any, brother Tahei?”

Tahei dithered for a moment. The Xiongnu had an abundance of leather, of course, but the people in the big tents had banned its export not too long ago. It was a bit tricky to get ahold of. But no matter how tightly they tried to control it, it was always possible to smuggle some out. After some consideration, Tahei finally decided, “It’s not that I can’t, but in exchange for coarse porcelain? That’s too much risk for me. If you can promise me five pieces of white porcelain, I’ll do you a favor and talk to my master… ”

“Five pieces is too much! We can’t even keep up with demand from Jinyang, how’m I supposed to squeeze any out for you?!” Jiang Ni shook his head.

“At least two then! I can’t go any lower!” Tahei set his bottom line. Violating the ban for crude porcelain just wasn’t worth it, and he’d have trouble justifying it to his superiors. This deal wasn’t going through without white porcelain. 

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※ 

“My lord, step onto the stirrup and straddle the horse. The horse is docile, and I’m holding its bridle; it won’t move around,” Yiyan instructed as he stood beside a gentle mare.

Liang Feng wanted to roll his eyes. This horse was barely taller than a donkey, a far cry from the Arabian horses he’d ridden at the country club. He wouldn’t be scared off by a horse like this no matter how bad his condition was!

Too bad, that as the bridle was in Yiyan’s hands, Liang Feng had no room to protest. He got his foot in the stirrup and awkwardly maneuvered his other leg over the horse’s back. The tack he was using was the new and improved version based on modern equipment. Unlike primitive saddles, his curved upwards at both ends, fitted seamlessly against the horse, had the wooden parts wrapped in leather, was stuffed with padding, and secured him perfectly atop the horse. And he had metal stirrups on both sides that he could rest his feet on.

Liang Feng shuffled a bit on the familiar saddle and found it satisfactory. He tried to spur the horse, but Yiyan was already standing in the way, “My lord, make sure you’re steady first as I lead the horse around the corral.” 

Then, he promptly tugged the reins. The horse followed obediently in his footsteps. Liang Feng stared wordlessly at Yiyan’s back. Only little kids at amusement parks “rode” this way. This unbearably slow ambling vexed him to no end.

Still, it was understandable that Yiyan would be nervous about teaching him his first horseback riding lesson. Liang Feng silently endured, and allowed Yiyan to guide the horse.

Two laps later, Yiyan finally let go of the bridle, “My lord, this saddle is very stable, so you don’t need to spend much energy controlling the horse. Just lightly squeeze the sides of the horse with your legs and don’t pull the reins too tightly.”

Finally, some freedom. His excitement roused, he squeezed the horse’s sides and it began to walk along the edge of the enclosure. It was still jolting, but if he kept his eyes forward, it wasn’t nauseating at all. 

After completing a lap, Liang Feng’s patience finally ran out. He pressed his legs into the horse’s and shouted, “Giddyup!”

The horse was extremely well-trained. Its ears perked up and it immediately began galloping around the enclosure. With the wind roaring in his ears, Liang Feng felt enlivened and energetic as if his sickly body had begun to fly. All his worries and stresses were flung to the back of his mind; all that was left was the horse beneath him and the cool breeze rushing past him.

But soon, he heard another spate of clopping. A towering horse raced up to his mare; it was a fine Wusun steed gifted by Liu Xuan. One point eight meters tall, long and powerful legs, it effortlessly caught up to the mare.

Yiyan was tense and afraid of startling the horse. He lowly, “My lord, slowly tighten the reins to slow the horse down. You’re still recovering, you can’t handle riding like this!” 

Liang Feng hadn’t quite had his fill yet. He laughed, “I’ll be fine, this horse is very tame… ah!”

As he was speaking, the horse suddenly decelerated from a gallop to a walk then to a halt. As it turned out, Yiyan had stopped the horse, his equestrian skills so excellent that he hadn’t even needed to touch the reins.

“Galloping doesn’t seem tiring, but it strains the waist and legs. My lord, your endurance is still lacking. It’s best to stick to walking.” It wasn’t often that Yiyan’s expression was so stormy or his words so grave.

Liang Feng didn’t have the heart to keep galloping at full speed, seeing how anxious the youngster was, so he somewhat helplessly went back to walking the horse. Yiyan stayed beside him on his own steed, occasionally correcting his posture, or saying a thing or two about what horses’ temperaments were like so that Liang Feng could better understand the animal he was riding. 

Just like that, a whole hour was whiled away. Yiyan dismounted his horse, “My lord, it’s time to rest.”

Liang Feng wished he could ride a bit longer, but upon feeling how stiff his spine was, he had no choice but to shake his head ruefully and prepare to dismount. But perhaps because he’d been riding for too long, the leg he was standing in the stirrup with abruptly weakened. Unbalanced, as he was about to topple off the horse, a pair of arms encircled his waist. A moment of weightlessness, and Liang Feng found himself standing on the ground.

Yiyan was already grabbing the reins of the panicked mare. He turned and asked, “My lord, are you alright?”

Liang Feng truly hadn’t imagined that his useless body was too feeble for even horseriding. He cleared his throat, “These saddles are incredibly convenient aren’t they? Even I was able to ride at a gallop. If it were the cavalry, their combat strength would be greatly increased.” 

Yiyan knew he was changing the subject, but he nodded anyway, “With the new saddles and stirrups, we’ll be able to double our current cavalry. But that would be rather costly right?”

Liang Feng smiled, “I’ve already had Jiang Ni buy leather from the Xiongnu. There are bowyers and armorers among the craftsmen that Magistrate Guo sent us. With enough leather, they’ll be able to make armors and saddles for you.”

Cowhides could be used to make armor, sheepskin could be made into warm clothing. These were all war materiels, and they were a rare sight in the markets now. According to Jiang Ni’s reports, it was likely that the five Xiongnu divisions were beginning to shrink the market and stop selling certain goods. That they were banning the sale of leather instead of trading it for foodstuff, despite years of natural disasters, was an ominous sign. From the looks of it, he wasn’t the only one stockpiling war materiel.

Yiyan turned out to be more perceptive than he’d expected; he frowned and asked, “My lord, you plan to make armor? Is there going to be war?” 

Wearing armor to deal with the bandits was overkill, but fighting regular armies was another story. Surprised by Yiyan’s quick response, Liang Feng explained, “We’ll have to be prepared. I want you to go out into the surrounding areas, map out the terrain, and make a topographical sand table. Focus especially on the areas that have a sizeable Xiongnu population.”

How could he not understand after that instruction? His lord was anticipating a conflict with the Xiongnu! But then again, the Liang Estate now produced many expensive luxury goods. It’d indeed be troublesome if their transports were robbed by the Xiongnu or other barbarian soldiers. He instantly changed his mental model of the enemy and frowned, “Don’t worry my lord, I’ll make the sand table as soon as possible!”

“One more thing: the barracks will have to be moved out of the main estate and rebuilt nearer to the mountain, so that the two nearby villages can be incorporated into our defense system. In the future, we’ll have even more soldiers. That small courtyard can’t be expanded any further.”

Not only did they need barracks, they needed horse pastures and training fields. They needed to build a defense system based upon the nearby mountain. The slack season after the fall harvest would be the perfect time to begin building military fortifications. 

Yiyan nodded and extended his hand towards Liang Feng, “My lord, I will always be here for you. I will not let those Xiongnu disturb the Liang Estate. You should rest now.”

Liang Feng looked into Yiyan’s utterly earnest gray-blue eyes and smiled, laying his hand on his arm.

※

“Wise King of the East…” 

Liu Xuan waved him off, “I have already passed that title to Yuanhai. Don’t address me as such anymore.”

His subordinated paused and quickly corrected himself, “To report, prime minister: Huyan You has already reached Ye City and conveyed your intentions to the Wise King of the East. The Wise King of the East wishes to rebel as well, but the Prince of Chengdu will not allow him to leave the city. Thus, I have returned with all haste to return his message: prime minister, you must govern the five divisions, to await a twist of fate!”

To think that Sima Ying would detain Liu Yuan and his son. Liu Xuan slammed his fist against the table and cursed, “That Sima bastard!”

But there wasn’t anything he could do. Liu Yuan and his son, Liu Cong, had both grown up in Han territory since youth; ostensibly, they were here to study, but in reality, they were hostages. They were the key component to the imperial court’s control over the five Xiongnu divisions in Bing Province. He couldn’t leave Ye city at will, no matter that he was the Guanjun General, the military commander of the five divisions. 

He just hadn’t imagined that they would rouse Sima Ying’s suspicions, after all of their preparations had been completed. Liu Yuan was their hope of restoring their country. He couldn’t let his nephew die in vain.

Liu Xuan sighed and said, “Forget it. Once the autumn grains have been harvested, tell the leaders of the northern and southern divisions to see me. As long as the five divisions assemble their forces, the time will come, sooner or later, to set our plans to motion!”

The era of the Jin Dynasty was over. In every corner of the empire, insurgents rose up and declared their kingship. Why wouldn’t the five Xiongnu divisions, possessed of a hundred thousand brave soldiers, take this chance to revolt? They’d been under the mercy of the Han for over a century, if they didn’t fight now, their Southern Xiongnu Division might very well die out.

“Send people to oversee the harvest; stockpile animal feed. This winter will be a bitter one. We must preserve our combat capabilities,” Liu Xuan said. “Let anyone with objections come to me!” 

As he issued commands one after another, the sound of footsteps came from outside the door. A person barged in without obtaining permission, “Urgent report, prime minister: the Prince of Chengdu and the Prince of Hejian have sent a joint army, a hundred thousand strong, to siege Luoyang!”

“What?!” Liu Xuan exclaimed, both shocked and pleased. “Hurry and investigate, this is an excellent opportunity!”

The Sima family’s infighting was practically a gift from heaven!

The author has something to say: 

About the five Xiongnu divisions. All the Xiongnu people here are of the southern division. They had already entered the Middle Kingdom as early as the Han Dynasty and settled in Bing Province. Later on, old Cao beat them into submission and their nobles started using Han surnames, becoming Han officials, and the commoners started farming, no different from any other citizen of the empire. They were sinicized to a high degree. Like how Liu Xuan and Liu Yuan studied from great Confucian scholars, and how Liu Cong actually attended the Imperial Academy. If it were a different, more powerful dynasty, they might have ended up being completely assimilated. Too bad they happened to encounter those useless Sima wastrels.

Although, Liu Yuan is an eccentric too. At least Liu Xuan wanted to recover the Xiongnu empire, but Liu Yuan just straight up claimed that he was a descendant of the Liu family and that he ought to inherit the Han Dynasty’s rule. In the end, he named his country Han. Later on, it changed to Zhao, as in the “Former Zhao of the Sixteen Kingdoms.” Perhaps in the underworld, the Han Dynasty emperors and the Xiongnu Chanyus don’t know whether to cry or laugh 囧