Emperor Zhou said General Summoning was the conduit Heaven had chosen for them. Only through this conduit could an emperor's fortune exert its full power.
Until Wu Junji could wield his fortune freely, both he and his summoned general would remain under heavy protection.
If a summoned general died, it was like losing an arm for their master.
Emperor Zhou brought Chen Yu into the palace.
He settled him beside Wu Junji.
Hearing such a sickening piece of news first thing in the morning, the little Crown Prince's face immediately soured.
88 found it baffling. Its previous hosts had drawn clear lines between their past and present lives. Grudges from the previous life ended there; this life was this life. Unless someone from their past crossed them again, they could not even be bothered with them.
This host did not care whether it was a past life or the present one. As long as anyone who had offended him was still alive, they could forget about getting a pleasant look from him.
Even Emperor Zhou, who doted on him, had received a radiation belt.
Did anyone else think they could have an easy time?
Wu Junji held his bowl. For three years straight, he had eaten a bowl of rice paste mixed with milk every day.
When Wu Junji had been raised in a cowshed, he had fought calves for milk. The old cow's teats had stunk of musk, and her fresh milk had an even more unbearable reek.
He had developed a condition that made him vomit whenever he tasted milk.
But his current body needed that kind of nourishment. Emperor Zhou had people add all sorts of medicinal flowers to remove the smell, then mix in rice paste to dilute the flavor. Only then could Wu Junji barely stomach it.
The calmer Wu Junji appeared, the more frightened 88 became. Back in the day, hosts had always pestered it. When had it ever taken the initiative to pester a host so cautiously?
"Host? Could you say something?"
In his previous life, Wu Junji had slaughtered Great Zhou until it was empty, yet his memories contained not the slightest trace of anything related to fortune.
According to 88's original thinking, once General Summoning succeeded, Wu Junji would realize something was wrong with his memories.
Then he should have interrogated it.
Now its host was so quiet that it trembled inside.
"How about... you curse me out?"
Wu Junji did not even raise his head.
"Cursing you would waste saliva."
"Now even demons have appeared. Isn't becoming emperor a rather small goal for me?"
His memories could be false, but he himself could not be, nor could the things he wanted to do.
Everything else could wait. Farming had to go on the agenda.
88: "...?"
Even becoming emperor isn't enough? What, do you want to ascend to Heaven?
Besides Great Zhou, this world also had Great Fan, Great Meng, and the Goryeo Kingdom.
By the later stages of Great Zhou's internal strife, the Seventh Prince had rebelled in the south, Great Meng and the Southern Turkic people were raiding from the north, the Goryeo Kingdom lay to the east, and Great Fan to the west. Meanwhile, feudal lords everywhere were rebelling within its borders.
It had truly been beset by troubles inside and out.
As the commanding general who charged out to fight them, Wu Junji had suffered far more than a little. Hunger, cold, and days and nights turned upside down had been routine. Had he not clung to that last breath to take revenge on the world, he might have closed his eyes one night and never woken again.
Every last one of them could forget about having an easy life this time. Until he settled their accounts, they would sicken Wu Junji even in his dreams.
But war between two countries involved a contest of fortune, drawing in not only humans but demons as well.
From what Wu Junji understood, demons also had territories. Great Zhou's demons and those of other countries did not encroach upon one another, but if one dynasty annexed another, would the demons also erupt into a war for survival?
Would their wars affect humanity?
Where fortune was concerned, some were strong and others weak. If annexing a dynasty meant consolidating its fortune, the same should apply to demons.
If powerful fortune could suppress everything, what changes would bringing Great Zhou to its greatest heights bring to the nation's fortune and his own?
Wu Junji had a staggering vision for the future. He wanted... modernization.
The budding ideas did not yet have fertile soil, but materially, the signs were already there.
The small-scale commodity economy had now reached the pinnacle of what a feudal age could achieve.
Grain shipments could travel between north and south in half a month. Official roads and canals reached in every direction. Though they could not compare to modern asphalt roads cutting through mountains and crossing ridges, they were the crowning achievements of this era.
Although court officials had their factions, they were still reasonably honest and capable administrators.
The tomb-relocation system ensured that powerful local clans were regularly cleared out.
The land policy imposed neither a land-allotment system nor restrictions on consolidation. Although this concentrated most farmland in the hands of a few, landlords actually needed more tenant farmers to cultivate all that land.
Great Zhou's small-scale commodity system freed the common people from worries over their livelihoods. Tenant farmers became desperately scarce manpower, and their treatment improved greatly.
The Zhou Dynasty now stood at the crest of prosperity. According to the dynastic cycle, its next step would be a turn from flourishing to decline.
Signs of decline were already visible, right there in the court.
Normally, people were divided only into commoners and the powerful, but the existence of fortune further subdivided those ranks.
As a result, those unable to open their heavenly eyes could not occupy important positions. Political power at court was monopolized by a group of people with "great fortune."
Scholars could awaken their fortune and perceive the world more easily than military officers, inevitably creating a preference for civil officials over military ones.
Then there was the emperor.
The old bastard was a man with an insatiable hunger for power.
To prevent coups, he kept the army firmly in his own hands.
To establish his authority, Emperor Zhou had personally led countless campaigns throughout his life. Each had been his stage alone, while other generals could only sip a little thin broth from the leftovers, further hastening the decline of military officers.
One consequence was that the army recognized only the emperor, not its generals and commanders.
That was fine with a wise ruler. If they got a Zhao Gou, they could sit back and wait for the country to fall.
Both Great Zhou's court and its economy were drifting toward the historical Song Dynasty.
If it declined, it would likely follow the Song's example.
History either advanced or retreated. Since the economy was already so developed, why could it not develop a little further?
Why could multi-paddle warships not become steam-powered warships?
Ships were already fishing and training troops at sea. Why could they not voyage to the western oceans ahead of time?
Even demons existed now. Why could that great stretch of waterlogged marshland in the northeast not be reclaimed?
Once steamships were built, would diesel engines still be far away?
There was already lightning in the sky. Why could there not be electricity?
If court officials and demons in the mortal world did nothing with all their abilities, what was the point of their being alive?
The more Wu Junji thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Cheering, he ran to the study to find the old bastard.
"Father! I've drawn up three five-year plans for you!"
Wu Junji's three five-year plans promptly became Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Mock Tests.
Emperor Zhou held the little Crown Prince and read memorials to him. From the lengthy discourse, Wu Junji gleaned only one point.
-It was time for him to go to school.
The little sticky-rice dumpling cast him a sidelong look, his childish voice twisting with sarcasm.
"Listen to yourself. Is that something a human being would say?"
"Didn't you promise I wouldn't go to school until I was seven?"
With a lifetime of accumulated knowledge, Wu Junji would merely be going through the motions at school. Only his handwriting needed to be practiced all over again.
Emperor Zhou pinched his little bottom.
"You have the gall to defy Heaven."
"You don't have to go if you don't want to. We'll just give them a few million more taels of gold every year."
Question marks filled Wu Junji's eyes. He had to pay if he did not go?
Emperor Zhou held him in his arms, found several old memorials, and opened them one by one.
"Jixia Academy is the nexus between the two realms. Each year, it accepts only royal heirs from the various countries and noble children who have opened their heavenly eyes."
"Ordinary people couldn't squeeze their way in even if they scraped their heads raw trying."
"Jixia Academy is divided into the Nine Gates according to the differing allegiances of the various races and countries."
"At every month-end examination, the gates compete to win without restrictions on their methods. Unfortunately, your grandfather was useless and lost for three years running. No matter what I did, I couldn't turn things around. To date, we've lost fifty-eight gold mines."
Wu Junji's eyes went round. Fifty-eight gold mines?!
Did all of Great Zhou even have fifty-eight gold mines?
Emperor Zhou's gaze wandered. "Those fifty-eight gold mines are converted into other things. Tea, porcelain, pearls, cattle and sheep, furs, agate, ironware, silver... anything of value."
"To date, we still owe the other countries thirty-three gold mines."
"But it's fine. Our Great Zhou is flourishing and prosperous..."
Wu Junji was so heartbroken that he went limp. "Enough. Stop talking."
He clutched his little heart, aching so badly he could not breathe. Great Zhou's common people had effectively spent decades working for others for free.
How many people could all those surrendered gold mines have hired? Put that into reclaiming the Great Northern Wilderness, and surely they could have gained several thousand mu of fertile farmland?!
Emperor Zhou gave a light cough.
"You weren't supposed to go to Jixia Academy so early, but you carry Human Emperor Fortune. The people of the other countries can no longer sit still."
Wu Junji understood instantly. "They want to squeeze me like a soft persimmon."
"If you don't go, Great Zhou will automatically be declared the loser in every month-end examination and must pay the other countries their winnings."
"If you go, they have agreed to cancel Great Zhou's national debt."
In other words, Wu Junji was now worth thirty-three gold mines!
"Ooh~" Wu Junji supplied ample emotional encouragement.
"Human Emperor Fortune truly is terrifying!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Emperor Zhou ruffled his stubborn little head and laughed heartily.
"If we lose, can we refuse to pay the winnings?"
Emperor Zhou shook his head. "No. They would all rise up and attack us."
Wu Junji understood again. It was a structure rather like the United Nations.
Once you violated everyone's interests, judgment would be passed on you. One-on-one, Great Zhou feared none of them, whether in manpower, money, grain, or horses. But if the other countries joined forces against Great Zhou, Great Zhou would certainly lose.
"Jixia Academy is built on Great Zhou's territory. Who has the greatest say?"
Emperor Zhou: "...Lord of Changbai Mountain."
Wu Junji: "..."
Who came up with this idiotic idea of turning their own country into a strategic buffer zone?!
Wu Junji cursed furiously, "Incompetent ruler!"
Emperor Zhou flicked his forehead.
He did not dare say that Great Zhou had initially held the greatest say in Jixia Academy, but had gambled it away...
Great Zhou had previously had both wins and losses. It was the Retired Emperor's generation that had suffered the worst losses.
"Back then, to avoid exposing my summoned general's ability, I didn't go all out. I won about as often as I lost."
"Jier, victory and defeat at Jixia Academy amount to no more than temporary advantages. If gold and silver are lost, so be it. But a summoned general's ability is a country's ultimate weapon and can even play a crucial role in the War Against the Monsters. I hope you will weigh this carefully."
Wu Junji asked curiously, "What ability does Grandfather's summoned general have?"
A complicated look flashed across Emperor Zhou's face. "I have never seen the Retired Emperor's summoned general. I don't know."
Then there were only three possibilities: they were outrageously powerful, utterly useless, or dead.
Wu Junji leaned toward the middle option.
In his previous life, Wu Junji had only heard Jixia Academy's name. He had not qualified to enroll, but Emperor Zhou had hired a teacher from Jixia Academy for him-Ruan Yuan.
Wu Junji felt like a turtle in a pen. Whenever he stuck his head out, he encountered someone familiar.
"I'll go."
Even if only for the gold mines, he had to go.
Wu Junji was extremely curious about the Demon Race. Royal heirs from every country would attend Jixia Academy, and each country's demon kings would also send members of their clans.
This was an opportunity.
Emperor Zhou said, "Lord of Changbai Mountain presides over Jixia Academy. Your life won't be in danger."
That was why Emperor Zhou felt comfortable letting Wu Junji go to Jixia Academy.
"If you understand the teachers' lessons, listen. If you don't, eat more and sleep more."
"I'm sending you to Jixia Academy so you can broaden your horizons. I've already secretly entrusted you to Lord of Changbai Mountain. Don't be afraid when you get there. Someone will protect you."
Emperor Zhou brushed a fingertip across the center of his forehead, and a pale pink Flood Dragon marking appeared there.
With a rare show of tenderness, Emperor Zhou said:
"I will protect you too."
The safest place in Great Zhou was the imperial palace. Undercurrents swirled through Jixia Academy, but Emperor Zhou had his own safeguards in daring to send Wu Junji there.
Wu Junji touched his forehead and asked 88:
"Could I have been some saintly soul in my previous life who forgave everyone who hurt me and died smiling?"
If even Heaven did not feel indebted to him, how could he be so lucky in this life?
88: "..."
"Aren't you... overestimating your own moral character?"
After thinking it over, Wu Junji felt that 88 was right, but he still insisted that Heaven owed him.
He left the study with his chin raised and came face-to-face with Chen Yu.
"Your Highness, Crown Prince."
Chen Yu obediently bowed, more correctly and respectfully than he ever had in their previous lives.
The little Crown Prince kept his gaze straight ahead, pretending not to see him.
Chen Yu being alive made him uncomfortable, but killing Chen Yu would disgust him too. The best solution was never to meet again, in life or death, yet fate had bound the two of them together once more.
Like a bone stuck in his throat.
Before you continue