Pushing People Too Far

"Pushing people too far..."

"Why are we being sent to campaign against the Orc Tribe again when the old prince has only just passed away?"

"His Majesty must have been beguiled by treacherous villains..."

The middle-aged man delivering the decree turned livid and shouted, "You dare slander the imperial will and discuss court affairs recklessly. Are you plotting rebellion?"

The grounds fell silent in an instant; one could hear a needle drop. No one spoke again, but their eyes seemed to burn with flames as they stared straight at the imperial envoy.

"May I ask the imperial envoy's name and official position? Have you come to Dayuan on any other business?" Qin Mo asked coldly. Could one casually accuse others of rebellion? He represented the court, not some stray cat or dog who could spout nonsense at will.

"I am Tao Yan, the newly appointed Fuzhou Education Commissioner." Seeing this group of killers with bloodshot eyes, the middle-aged man was terrified as well. After all, these were Prince Heng's personal troops, battle-hardened generals fresh from the battlefield, their killing intent enough to seize one's soul.

Fuzhou lay directly across the sea from Dayuan. The Education Commissioner oversaw a prefecture's education and imperial examinations. He had been on his way to take up his post in Fuzhou when he was pressed into service and sent to Dayuan to deliver the decree along the way.

"Then, Imperial Envoy, please retire and rest. You have endured a long journey by boat and carriage; you have worked hard." Qin Mo could not be bothered to argue with a mere bookworm. Tao Yan was not some close court favorite returning to the capital, nor was he worth winning over. Qin Mo immediately had someone give him the prepared gold and silver and arranged for him to rest.

"Your Highness, before I departed, the Central Military Office asked me to pass along a verbal message. For this border garrison duty, your forces must send no fewer than ten thousand men." Imperial Envoy Tao Yan did not immediately withdraw. Instead, he delivered another message to Qin Mo.

"This is outrageous! We are not Imperial Guards paid by the court. By precedent, sending three thousand men to garrison the border is enough. Now they demand ten thousand—do they think they can bully our young heir?" Lin Bo could no longer hold himself back and roared.

"I merely delivered the decree and passed on the message. I know nothing else. Farewell." After speaking, Tao Yan did not remain in the city at all, but headed straight for the docks. It seemed he intended to leave Dayuan at once.

"Lin Bo, what do you think?" Qin Mo watched Tao Yan hurry away and asked Lin Bo anxiously.

"Young Master, this... by all reason, the old prince was summoned only last year and died for the country. No matter what, it should not be our turn to garrison the border this year. And now they demand ten thousand men—someone must have whispered slander into their ears and set a trap for us." Though Lin Bo was Qin Mo's steward, he was no servant. He had been a general who followed Qin Lan in those days and knew every rule and hidden path of military affairs like the back of his hand.

Dayuan lay in the south of the empire, far too distant from the lands of the northern Orc Tribe. Since Qin Lan had come to Dayuan, he had only been summoned twice. Once, he had led three thousand men north; the second time, he had brought only five hundred personal guards. No one had ever criticized this, yet this time they demanded ten thousand men. The expense of feeding men and horses along the road alone would be enormous. If too many died in battle, even the compensation payments would leave Qin Mo run ragged.

"Alas!" Qin Mo did not understand these rules and hidden workings, but he had seen plenty of colleagues tearing one another apart back on Earth. How could he fail to see that this was a difficult problem thrown at him by the court?

"Lin Bo, since the imperial decree has been issued, we can only do our utmost. Tomorrow, bring me the army roster. Also, sort out and prepare the weapons, armor, grain, and provisions we need. See whether anything is lacking." Qin Mo was helpless as well. His bargain-bin father had left him a decent foundation, but it was still far too weak. Before the colossal Great Xia Empire, all he could do for now was obey.

Lin Bo knew it too. Since the imperial decree had arrived, they had no choice but to comply. Defying an edict would truly be rebellion.

Back then, Qin Lan had still been the Duke of Heng. When the Orc Tribe invaded, Qin Lan turned the tide and returned victorious. Yet the court found itself in a difficult position: he had already been rewarded beyond reward and ennobled beyond ennoblement, while the troops under his command were exceptionally formidable.

Qin Lan, however, kept a low profile and requested a change of fief. He left the fertile lands around the Imperial Capital and came to Dayuan. Believing that Qin Lan understood the greater picture and knew when to advance and retreat, the Great Xia Emperor granted him the title of Prince Heng, hereditary in perpetuity.

Originally, after Qin Lan died, Qin Mo, as his sole heir, should naturally have been elevated to a prince of the first rank. Yet this imperial envoy had brought no decree promoting Qin Mo. It appeared this was also connected to the current border garrison duty.

Great Xia had no shortage of enfeoffed dukes and marquises. They possessed considerable authority and freedom within their territories, but likewise had to answer the state's summons. Whenever the nation faced danger, they had to send troops to rescue the throne. This was the best of bad solutions the court had devised during its long struggle against the Orc Tribe.

No emperor wished to have too many regional warlords under his rule, but without generous rewards for military merit, there would not be enough warriors willing to fight. As military achievements accumulated over time, being granted a marquisate was inevitable. So they might as well give them titles and fiefs; when the critical moment came, they would bring men forward and fight the Orc Tribe to the death.

After reading the account book in his hands, Qin Mo let out a long sigh. "We really are poor. Just how did that bargain-bin father manage things? Could he really have been dragged down by me?"

Dayuan Island corresponded to Earth's treasure island in this world. The land here was fertile and yielded two harvests a year. The mountains even held placer gold for mining, while the sea provided the benefits of fish and salt. By all reason, it ought to have been rolling in wealth, yet less than twenty thousand taels of silver remained on the books. An entire Dayuan Island with several hundred thousand people, and only a few tens of thousands of taels of silver—no one would believe it if told.

Even more outrageous, although there were iron mines in the territory, they did not have enough refined iron to equip ten thousand men with armor and weapons. Only after carefully reviewing the accounts did Qin Mo learn that the ironworks had never produced much refined iron to begin with, and most of it had been sold off for gold, silver, and cash.

"Lin Bo, is our sea salt business legal under court regulations?" Qin Mo saw that sea salt brought in considerable revenue in the account book, so he first asked whether it was official salt or illicit salt. If it was the latter, things would be troublesome.

"Young Master, if this sea salt is used within Dayuan itself, naturally the court does not interfere. But if it is sold outside the fief, taxes must be paid to the court. Once the fixed tax has been paid in full, it can be sold throughout Great Xia."

It took Lin Bo half the day to explain before Qin Mo understood. Great Xia had no power to control salt and iron within each fief, but if they were sold beyond the fief's borders, a fixed tax had to be paid. This so-called fixed tax meant setting a tax quota according to the size of one's fief. For example, Dayuan's salt tax quota was ten thousand dan of sea salt. Once it was paid, they could sell as much as they pleased for the rest of the year.

Qin Mo nodded. Great Xia's fixed tax seemed simple and rigid, but it actually cut off tax evasion at the root. If taxes were levied proportionally, such as one part in ten, people could conceal the value of their goods and evade taxes. But once the tax was fixed, things were different. If this year's quota had not been met, then selling even a single jin of salt privately would count as trafficking illicit salt.

Qin Mo had made up his mind and decided to start with sea salt. After all, he had to reach the Imperial Capital by autumn, leaving him less than five months at most. Raising money would take time, and buying weapons and armor would take time too! If he could not put together tens of thousands of heavily armored soldiers, he would be a disgrace to transmigrators.

Over the next dozen or so days, the people of Tamsui City on Dayuan believed that Qin Mo, the heir, had gone mad. He directed every idle person to go into the mountains to quarry stone, dig clay by the riverbank, and build many kilns beside the river to fire something called... "cement."

Lin Bo and the other personal troops believed that Qin Mo should have been selecting elite warriors and beginning their training. If there were money to forge weapons and armor, that would be even better. But everyone knew that the prince's treasury was so empty that mice were nearly ready to move in. It would already be impressive if they could gather weapons for ten thousand men. As for armor, even the court's Imperial Guards lacked enough of it, so there was no need to dream about it for a fief's private troops.

Yet Qin Mo did the exact opposite. He used the little refined iron they had to make several things called... "water-powered millstones," specifically to crush the large bluestones from the mountains into powder. It made everyone secretly call him a prodigal son.

Qin Mo ignored them. He built many kilns by the river, then mixed bluestone powder and clay powder in different proportions and fired them separately. Based on the quality of the cement produced, he determined which mixture came closest to the optimal formula, then improved the experiments again.

At last, Qin Mo found the formula and production process best suited to their current conditions. When he used cement mixed with gravel and river sand to build a simple yet sturdy concrete dock on the river beside the cement workshop, everyone stood with their mouths wide open, unable to say a word.

"Young Master, this cement... are we selling it outside?" Lin Bo's eyes had already turned into the shape of silver.