Chapter 36: Border City
In Yanzhou City, the great families of Yanzhou, waiting for news, all sent people to wait at the city gate. When they heard that the Li King had truly passed through Yanzhou City without entering, because of a minor Seventh Rank official, he dared not enter the city.
The great families and officials all found it unbelievable. Although the Li King’s actions along the way were not overly arrogant, the fact that he dared to execute Jiang Nansheng and openly sold treasures in Wei Prefecture made them think he would be difficult to deal with.
They never expected him to be just a paper tiger!
The young masters in the city mocked and ridiculed him even more. They had heard how formidable the Crown Prince was earlier, but it was clearly an exaggeration. With his courage, he deserved to be driven to Yandi by the Emperor.
In the Sixteen Prefectures of Yandi, there was no place for him to stay, so he could only go to the border camp. That godforsaken place only had a few thousand useless Black Feather Camp and Tuntian Soldiers.
Let’s see how long our Li King can endure there!
Driven by the evil nature of humanity, thinking of the once high and mighty Crown Prince now reduced to living in a border camp, mocked by everyone yet unable to retaliate, these Yanzhou young masters felt incredibly pleased.
What good is being an Imperial Family prince? They are not as comfortable as the young masters of their aristocratic families!
When Jinsui saw what people called the border city, he was dumbfounded. You call this a city? In his past life, he had seen small cities in the Middle East that had been through artillery fire, and they looked more like cities than this!
There wasn’t even a decent city wall. The piles of broken bricks and old tiles weren’t even as high as the courtyard walls of a peasant family.
The roads were still dirt roads, and the horses’ hooves kicked up yellow dust that flew everywhere.
There were no tall trees on the city walls, only some cypresses and pines. It was said that planting large trees was not conducive to monitoring the borderlands, and the tall poplar trees that were there before had all been cut down.
The only tree that was lush and leafy was a soapberry tree, which was spared because it was too practical.
The houses were all thatched mud huts, and more were wooden camps. There were no old people coughing, no children laughing, not even the crowing of roosters or the barking of dogs.
You tell me this is a city? Jinsui looked at Han Xing, who shamefully lowered his head, not daring to meet the Prince’s eyes.
He only said in a low voice, “It’s too late today. Your Highness should rest early, and I will take Your Highness to see the camp tomorrow.”
Hei Hu whispered, “Eldest Brother, the other brothers are all waiting to see Your Highness!”
Jinsui quickly said, “This King is not tired. Gather all the soldiers of the Black Feather Camp. No one in Yanzhou has prepared a banquet to welcome this King, so let’s prepare one ourselves.”
“Let’s have a bonfire party!”
The Black Feather Camp soldiers, who were tired and wanted to sleep early, all became excited upon hearing this. They called their friends and family and all mobilized.
Over a thousand Black Feather Camp soldiers assembled and saluted Jinsui in unison. Jinsui greeted them with a smile, sighing inwardly. Before, she thought the three hundred Black Feather Camp soldiers who came to meet her were too young.
Now it seemed they were the elite of the entire Black Feather Camp. The soldiers left in the camp included those in their forties and fifties, and some with obvious disabilities.
Han Xing also specifically introduced two civilian officials to her, both Eighth Rank Assistant Secretaries. One was Wei Qingquan, who managed provisions and military supplies. He was in his thirties, dressed very neatly, wearing a headscarf, and had a jade pendant hanging from his waist, completely out of place in the border camp.
Amusingly, he had a round face. Perhaps because of a toothache, he only chewed with one side of his mouth, making one side of his face appear larger than the other. When he spoke and inhaled cold air, he would let out a painful “hissing” sound.
He respectfully saluted Jinsui with a fawning smile, but he was filled with anxiety and urgency.
Without Han Xing needing to say it, Jinsui knew he must be a Capital Official who had been exiled to the borderlands, and he was determined to be transferred back to the capital, never forgetting for a moment that he had once been a Capital Official.
The other Assistant Secretary, Cheng Yu, who managed military pay and dispatch, had a completely opposite demeanor to Wei Assistant Secretary. He was around forty years old, tall and slender, with a square face.
He wore ordinary hemp clothes, his hair was messy, his eyes were bloodshot, and he reeked of alcohol as he swayed while saluting Jinsui.
Wei Assistant Secretary’s brows were furrowed enough to kill flies, and he was clearly very displeased with his “colleague.”
Jinsui invited the two Assistant Secretaries to sit at the head, while others prepared the bonfire party. The sheep and chickens bought on the road were stewed and roasted. Rice was steamed, and white flour was made into flatbread.
The over a thousand soldiers were as happy as if it were New Year. Jinsui overheard many saying they hadn’t eaten rice or white flour in a long time.
Cheng Assistant Secretary happily contributed his stored wine, but there were only ten jars, not enough to go around.
Jinsui took out the energy bars stored in her space and melted them in a large pot, eating them with flatbread. This was the best way to eat brown sugar, researched by Hei Hu on the way.
Jinsui also took the opportunity to bring out the four wolves. Although everyone was surprised to see wolf meat, her training along the way was very effective, and no one asked where it came from.
When it was time to eat, Jinsui noticed many people gathered in the distance, swallowing their saliva and craning their necks to watch the firelight.
She asked and learned they were the Tuntian Soldiers.
Hei Hu said, “Don’t look down on them, they eat even worse than us!”
Jinsui found it amusing. These two units were clearly the most miserable in all of Yandi, and they were still competing over who was worse!
She said to Han Xing, “Since they are all border city soldiers, please invite them all to participate in this King’s welcome banquet!”
Wei Assistant Secretary stroked his beard and smiled, “Indeed, indeed. This is an opportunity for Your Highness to win people’s hearts and make these Tuntian Soldiers useful to Your Highness.”
Cheng Assistant Secretary sneered, “They are all old, weak, sick, and disabled. What’s the use of winning them over? It’s just a waste of food.”
Han Xing quickly smoothed things over, “More people make it livelier.”
When they heard that the Prince had invited the Tuntian Soldiers to join the party, they were all excited. However, they didn’t come empty-handed, carrying some beans and grain.
They all came to salute Jinsui, who responded with a smile. She saw some children and women watching from afar, afraid to come forward.
She strictly remembered her current identity, fearing she would be called a pervert again, so she didn’t call the women over. She only asked Hei Hu to send some energy bars to the children.
Because there were too many people, the barbecue was canceled, and everything was stewed into soup, so that everyone could at least get a little meat soup.
It was now past midnight, and the surroundings were silent. The bright moon hung high in the sky, so large it seemed unreal, with countless stars twinkling.
The entire border city seemed to have been thrown into a corner of the universe, beyond the primordial chaos. For a hundred miles around, there was no trace of human habitation except for this place.
Jinsui didn’t feel like she had been exiled or abandoned. Instead, she liked it very much. From now on, this small border city would be her territory!
Haha, in her previous life, she had worked until she died and couldn’t even afford a house, always living in a dormitory.
She never expected that after transmigrating, she would actually own a city!
Of course, she didn’t forget that the Li King’s identity was “borrowed.” She was very open-minded; when Gu Changxiao arrived, she would return the border city and the identity to him.
But during this time, I have had hardships if not merits, so there should be no problem with you giving me a small plot of land, right? I’ll just be a landlord here, reclaim land, plant potatoes and tomatoes, open a clinic, and take on disciples…
“Pah! What’s in this flatbread?” The bitter taste in her mouth interrupted Jinsui’s reverie.
Cheng Assistant Secretary took a big bite of the flatbread and sneered, “Salt mud! Your Highness has never eaten it, have you? There’s no green salt in the borderlands.”
Jinsui had certainly eaten salt mud before, but why did the salt mud here have a salty, alkaline taste, much worse than the salt mud in the Central Plains?
She had always taken salt from her space on the road and hadn’t eaten salt mud for a long time. Perhaps because there were too many people tonight and not enough salt, they had resorted to using salt mud again.
She noticed that Cheng Assistant Secretary carried a sense of decadence and world-weariness. He wasn’t targeting the Li King; he equally disliked everyone.
Wei Assistant Secretary quickly reprimanded, “Lord Cheng, how can you speak to Your Highness like that?”
Jinsui felt that Wei Assistant Secretary was a bit like a fox borrowing the tiger’s might, so she quickly said, “It’s alright, this King is indeed unfamiliar with things in the borderlands.”
She sighed inwardly. The borderlands were so dilapidated, yet they weren’t united. It seemed this team would be difficult to lead!
