At this, Vice Minister Pei brightened. "For your information, Prince Consort, I have already gathered two hundred cartloads of agarwood."
Li Ling said, "Excellent. More than I expected."
Vice Minister Pei said, "How could I dare neglect a task you entrusted to me, Prince Consort? I have been searching far and wide these past three months, intending to deliver it to your residence once everything was ready. However, I am still a little short of the original target..."
Li Ling said, "You have been very diligent, but I intend to use it at this ritual assembly now. There is no need to wait until the end of the year."
Vice Minister Pei paused, then asked cautiously, "Will... will that be enough?"
Li Ling laughed, unconcerned. "Enough. Besides, with the River God involved this time, the city's wealthy merchants and nobles will eagerly contribute as well. When everyone gathers firewood, the flames rise high."
Vice Minister Pei said, "That is true. Do you have any other instructions, Prince Consort?"
Li Ling said, "I also urgently need a batch of incense sticks, but the workshop's craftsmen will handle that. You need not trouble yourself."
Two days later, in the southern outskirts of the city.
At first light, large numbers of officials and commoners gathered there. A broad stretch of open ground had been cleared and leveled, and more than a hundred woodpiles had been erected in advance, standing before them like a forest of little mountains.
These were no ordinary piles of firewood. Anyone approaching could distinctly smell a variety of fragrances. Most of the wood was actually agarwood, mixed with rosewood, huanghuali, and other fragrant woods donated by the city's merchants and nobles. Assorted aromatics had been sprinkled over them.
At the very center stood an enormous woodpile over fifty feet