Autumn defenses

Once autumn arrived, the capital grew cool in the mornings and evenings. The braziers in the Hall of Mental Cultivation had not yet been lit, but Xiao Huaijin had already rummaged through a cabinet himself and pulled out a lined jacket to put on. Last year's apricot-yellow jacket was too short now, its cuffs reaching only his wrists. He tugged at the sleeves himself, but they were still too short.

"Your Highness has shot up again this year. That jacket is from last year; you can't wear it anymore. I'll have the Clothing Office make a new one later." Liu An came in from outside the hall and saw him standing before the bronze mirror, frowning as he tugged at his sleeves. He smiled and shook his head.

"I can still wear it. There's no need for a new one." Xiao Huaijin tugged at his sleeves again, then went straight to the main hall to find his imperial father.

When Xiao Huaijin reached the main hall, Xiao Lin was standing before a large map hanging on the wall. Kong Wu had delivered it a few days earlier. It covered half the wall, with the mountains, rivers, and strategic passes throughout Great Liang clearly marked in cinnabar. Xiao Lin stood before it with his hands behind his back, his gaze resting on its northernmost edge.

"Imperial Father, what are you looking at?"

"Shuofang City." Xiao Lin did not look at him, his gaze still fixed on the cinnabar-circled dot at the northernmost edge of the map. "Come and look."

Xiao Huaijin walked up to the map and had to stand on tiptoe just to make out Shuofang City's location. The city was marked at the northernmost edge, beyond which lay a vast blank expanse-Kong Wu said that blank expanse was the Northern Di grasslands, where cavalry came and went like the wind, with no permanent cities or fixed borders.

"Shuofang City is the foremost garrison city on Great Liang's northern frontier, with eight thousand troops stationed there. To its north are the Northern Di pastures, to its west the Gobi, and to its east the Liaoxi Corridor. If Shuofang City is besieged, reinforcements setting out from Yunzhong City, the nearest city, would take at least five days to arrive. For those five days, Shuofang City can rely only on itself."

Xiao Lin tapped Shuofang City's location on the map, then traced an arc linking several garrison cities along the northern frontier.

"Northern Di cavalry follow no fixed routes. They can attack Shuofang or cross the Yin Mountains. The defensive line along the border is too long to station large forces at every pass. So whenever the Northern Di head south, they first send small groups of cavalry to probe our defenses, then concentrate their forces to break through wherever they find a weak point. Great Liang can only defend, not attack, because beyond the frontier wall lie the grasslands, and the grasslands are cavalry's home ground."

Xiao Huaijin fell silent for a while.

"Then why can't we raise a few excellent cavalry units of our own?"

Xiao Lin's hand stilled on the map, and he turned his head to look at him. In his previous life, officials had made this suggestion too-to take the initiative beyond the frontier wall, assembling an elite cavalry force to strike deep into the grasslands and catch the Northern Di off guard. But back then, resistance within the court had been too great. Shen Boyong's faction had thrown obstacles in the way, military funds could not be released, and the cavalry could not be raised. The frontier army had fought a twenty-year tug-of-war with the Northern Di at Shuofang City, suffering countless casualties.

"Raising cavalry requires horses, men, and silver. The horses must be bred locally on the northern frontier, the men must be selected from the finest riders in the frontier army, and the silver must be allocated by the Ministry of Revenue. None of those three things is easy to obtain."

Xiao Lin lowered his hand from the map, returned to the imperial desk, and sat down, beckoning Xiao Huaijin over as well.

"But there is a way to save silver-have the frontier army farm its own land. There are vast stretches of wasteland inside the frontier wall. If they can be reclaimed to grow grain, the frontier army won't have to rely entirely on supplies transported from the interior. With enough provisions to eat, the silver saved can be used to raise cavalry."

"Military farming?"

Xiao Huaijin sat down opposite his imperial father.

"The Grand Tutor mentioned it-the previous dynasty established military farms in Liangzhou, but they failed later."

"The previous dynasty failed because they forcibly relocated farmers to the frontier. The farmers couldn't adapt to the local conditions and fled. If the frontier troops farm the land themselves, taking turns working the fields when they aren't on garrison duty, and keep the grain they grow, the chances of success will be somewhat higher."

Xiao Huaijin carefully mulled over those words, then took paper and a brush from the low table and leaned over a corner of the desk to write. When he finished, he handed the paper to his imperial father. It was a rough outline for a policy essay, its general thrust being: outside garrison duties, take turns farming. Let soldiers neglect neither their martial skills nor the fields. With provisions supplied by their own hands, cavalry can be raised.

Xiao Lin looked at the child's still immature handwriting and fell silent for a while. In his previous life, Xiao Huaijin had submitted a similar policy essay on military farming. He had been fifteen then, just returned from supervising works in Huainan, and had presented it at court before all the civil and military officials. Xiao Lin had not approved it. He had merely glanced at it, and the essay had been buried at the very bottom of his imperial desk, never to be taken out again. Now, seeing the same policy essay from the same person's hand left him somewhat dazed, as though he were once again seeing that child from his previous life who had tried so desperately to win his recognition.

He could never make amends for what had happened in his previous life, but in this life, my Huaijin will always be my pride.

He handed the paper back to Xiao Huaijin.

"At morning court tomorrow, I'll have someone make you a copy of Shuofang City's military report. Read what the report says first, then revise what you wrote today. A policy essay isn't finished in a single sitting. You must revise it repeatedly against the actual circumstances."

Xiao Lin stood and returned to the map, his hands behind his back as he gazed at the vast expanse beyond the northern frontier wall. Outside the window, the autumn wind swept past the bronze bells beneath the corridor eaves, sending them jingling for a while before they fell silent again.

"Huaijin, remember this: Great Liang's greatest enemy has never been in the court. Every time the Northern Di come south, people die. Border residents are carried off, frontier towns are burned, and the frontier army's casualty figures arrive on my desk every year. Behind every number is someone who will never return home. Ever since I ascended the throne, I've wanted to put an end to the threat on our northern frontier once and for all, but there were people at court holding things back. Now the treacherous ministers have been removed, and silver is no longer flowing out of the treasury. Once this account is settled, the northern frontier is what I must attend to. Study hard. In the future, these will be your tasks."

Xiao Huaijin stood before the map, following his imperial father's gaze northward. To him, the passes and garrison posts marked in cinnabar were still merely place names, but he had already committed the name "Shuofang" to memory.

"Imperial Father, I want to visit Shuofang City someday too."

Xiao Lin turned his head and glanced at him.

"All right. When the opportunity comes, I'll take you with me."

After morning court ended the next day, Kong Wu delivered a copy of Shuofang City's military report to the side hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Xiao Huaijin took it and opened it. The report read:

"A small group of Northern Di cavalry appeared thirty li north of Shuofang City in late eighth month. Shuofang's garrison sallied out and took over ten heads. The Northern Di withdrew."

A line of small writing was appended to the end of the report: "The Northern Di withdrew northwest into the depths of the grasslands. Suspected reconnaissance; a larger force may follow."

Standing beside him, Kong Wu explained, "The Northern Di come south to raid every autumn, but they don't all charge over in a swarm. First they send small groups of cavalry to probe-strike once and run, testing the response speed of Great Liang's frontier army, its troop deployments, and its weak points. Once they've finished probing, they return to report, and then the main cavalry force chooses the weakest point and concentrates its strength to break through. This time, Shuofang City killed a dozen or so Northern Di scouts, but they withdrew northwest into the depths of the grasslands, which means their main camp is still over there. They'll come again."

Xiao Huaijin listened attentively, then spent the afternoon in the side hall, slowly finishing the revisions to his policy essay.

That evening, Xiao Lin tested him on his studies. He handed over the policy essay he had revised that day, having added two proposals to his original idea of "military farming to support cavalry." First, beacon towers should be established between Shuofang and Yunzhong. When the enemy arrived, fires could be lit, sending word several hundred li in a day and a night so reinforcements could set out earlier. Second, spies should be sent to secretly follow the retreating Northern Di scouts, locate their main camp, and turn a passive position into an active one.

After reading it, Xiao Lin placed the policy essay on the corner of his desk.

"The beacon tower proposal is feasible. There are already beacon towers along the frontier wall, but there's a gap between Shuofang and Yunzhong that the Ministry of War has dragged its feet on filling for several years. I'll have the Ministry of War discuss it at morning court tomorrow. As for sending spies to follow them, Kong Wu is already doing that. The Northern Di main camp isn't hidden very deep in the grasslands, but they have plenty of cavalry, and spies are easily discovered if they get close. Kong Wu has trained several scouts who speak the Northern Di language and had them blend into grassland merchant caravans to gather information. We should have results soon."

Xiao Huaijin froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously. So his imperial father was already doing the things he had thought of. Rather than feeling discouraged, he felt reassured, as though, while walking a road at night, he had suddenly discovered someone waiting ahead with a lantern.

Imperial Father really is amazing.

"Imperial Father, what about the military farming?"

"Military farming can't be rushed. I'll keep your policy essay for now, and we'll discuss it once the northern frontier's autumn defenses are concluded."

Xiao Huaijin voiced his assent, little fireworks going off in his heart. I can finally do things for Imperial Father too!