Leaving the Capital

Early in the morning, Princess Lin'an woke up slowly, feeling warm all over. She stretched comfortably and kicked her feet against the table leg with a "clatter".

She opened her hazy eyes blankly and saw a pale sky; the sun had not yet risen.

Like a woman hungover in a nightclub, her eyes went from dazed to confused, wondering if she was seeing things. Why was she seeing the dawn sky instead of a brocade bed curtain?

She gave a slightly coquettish "hmm," a soft moan.

The scenes from last night flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern. She remembered that she had gone boating on the pond with Xu Ningyan, drinking and chatting.

Perhaps because she had never had such an experience before, she readily agreed to the little gong's suggestion. For an unmarried princess, such a bold act could ruin her reputation if word got out.

Later, perhaps after drinking some alcohol, she became increasingly relaxed and, as if possessed, lay down on the deck following his instructions.

When she saw the starry sky, Biao Biao was completely captivated, and the imagery of "drunk, unaware that the sky is reflected in the water, a boat full of sweet dreams pressing down on the Milky Way" filled her mind.

Completely engrossed.

He didn't want to get up anymore, and, fueled by the alcohol, fell into a deep sleep.

It was so warm. Even in the dead of winter, sleeping on the boat, she didn't feel cold at all. Instead, she felt a warmth like returning to the womb.

But she wasn't in the mood to pay attention to that right now. Startled, Biao Biao sat up and found herself covered with a brocade quilt. She instinctively wanted to lift it off, but then stopped. She nervously touched her body under the covers to make sure her clothes were intact and that she had no adverse reactions.

For example, the pain of losing one's gestation period, which is often mentioned in books.

Biao Biao breathed a sigh of relief, looked around, and saw the palace maids guarding the shore. Thus, she transformed from a drunken nightclub Biao Biao back into the dignified Princess Lin'an.

She called over a guard waiting on the shore, had him jump onto the covered boat, and helped row to the shore, casually asking, "When did Lord Xu leave?"

"They left before dawn," the palace maid replied softly.

Lin'an nodded somewhat wistfully, recalling the warm feeling from yesterday. After careful comparison, he realized it wasn't from the bedding. With a stern face, he asked:

What inappropriate things did he do last night?

Yes, yes.

With dark circles under her eyes, the palace maid, who hadn't slept all night, seized the opportunity to complain, "She made a lewd advance on the princess."

"Ah?" Lin'an looked terrified.

"He held the princess's hand the whole time," the palace maid said resentfully. "This morning, before he left, he even patted my bottom and threatened me not to tell the princess."

How could this be so outrageous? Lin'an's eyebrows furrowed, a mixture of shame and anger at having misjudged someone.

The "Second Princess" guard hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped himself.

"Hesitant and stammering." Lin An gave him a displeased look.

"It's freezing cold, and the princess is sleeping on the boat; a single blanket isn't enough to keep her warm," the guard explained.

"I saw it clearly last night. Lord Xu didn't sleep a wink, holding the princess's hand to warm you and dispel the cold."

The energy flowed. She hadn't slept all night. Biao Biao paused, remembering that she had indeed slept well last night, and asked suspiciously:

"I've never heard of such a thing, nor has anyone ever offered me any vital energy."

"This," the guard said with a wry smile, "Is exhausting, sending qi non-stop all night long. Who can withstand that? Unless they are a mid-grade or high-grade martial artist."

"Besides, the princess lives a life of luxury; she doesn't need to do this."

Biao Biao bit her lip and tentatively asked, "How tired are you?"

The guard replied, "If it were me, I would have died from exhaustion long ago."

Her bright, peach-blossom eyes suddenly welled up with tears, soft and gentle.

"When Lord Xu left, he seemed very tired," the palace maid recalled. "But why wouldn't he let me say it?"

Lin'an didn't answer the question, but suddenly walked outside. "He's leaving the capital this morning for Yunzhou. What time is it now? I'm going to see him off."

For some reason, a strange wave of emotion stirred within her; she just really wanted to see that lackey.

"Your Highness, it's past dawn." A palace maid chased after her, saying, "Besides, what kind of princess delivers a gong? If word gets out, it won't be good for either of you."

These words brought the headstrong Lin'an to a halt.

For me, at most I'd get a scolding from my father. But if it concerned my reputation, that lowly copper gong would surely be ostracized. Lin'an glanced at the palace maids and guards, his round, oval face unusually displaying imperial majesty:

"This concerns my reputation. You are all forbidden to divulge what happened last night, or you will all be beaten to death."

"Yes."

The journey from the capital to Yunzhou was long, so to save time, the imperial envoys traveling to Yunzhou chose to travel by water instead of by land.

The official ship cut through the waves, its sails billowing in the wind.

Xu Qi'an stood on the deck, facing the wind blowing from the river. Boats of all sizes sailed on the river, including official ships and merchant ships.

"You don't look well; you've been working too hard." Jiang Luzhong came to the deck, stood beside him, glanced at Xu Qi'an, and chuckled.

"Did you go to the Imperial Academy of Music yesterday?"

"Hmm." Xu Qi'an was speechless.

He did go to the Imperial Academy of Music and even had a farewell talk with Fuxiang. But the real reason he was exhausted was that he had been drained of his energy by the brothel owner, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Look at you, still too young and naive." Jiang Luzhong leaned on the railing, a knowing smile on his face.

"Yunzhou also has its Imperial Academy of Music. The women from Jiangnan are supple and have soft, gentle voices; their charm is different from that of women in the capital. I'll take you to experience it sometime."

"It's different." Xu Qi'an shook his head.

"You're quite the sentimental one?" Jiang Luzhong asked in surprise.

This has nothing to do with being infatuated; it has nothing to do with getting something for nothing. Xu Qi'an said in a deep voice, "Unless Jiang Jinluo treats me."

"What?" Jiang Luzhong was taken aback.

"If you're treating, then it's the same." Xu Qi'an said seriously.

Jiang Luzhong thought for a moment, then pointed to the river. "What do you think of the water here?"

Xu Qi'an looked down at the river and honestly replied, "Not good at all, it's all dirty."

Jiang Luzhong nodded. "It's good that you know."

Xu Qi'an: "."

After a moment, Jiang Luzhong said, "If we travel south along the canal and reach Qingzhou, we'll have to switch to land travel. It should take about ten days by land to reach Yunzhou."

"Lord Jiang, it's not appropriate for me to tell you about such a secret route," Xu Qi'an said.

"It's alright, with your talent, you'll be a top scholar sooner or later." Jiang Luzhong smiled nonchalantly.

Friends are friends, but I'll still be angry if you plant a flag in my name. Xu Qi'an smiled and said, "Thank you for your kind words. Hmm, why change to the dry road?"

"It's by land," Jiang Luzhong corrected, then explained, "Although Qingzhou is adjacent to Yunzhou, there's no canal connecting the two prefectures. If we were to travel by water, we'd have to go around the sandbar next door, so it's faster to travel by land."

The previous dynasty had extensively developed waterways, constructing two major canals running north-south and east-west, with countless tributaries, which led to the prosperous grain transport system of the Great Feng Dynasty. Why then are Qingzhou and Yunzhou not connected by canals?

"There's no waterway?" Xu Qi'an asked, expressing his doubt.

"Originally, there was a tributary connecting Yunzhou and Qingzhou, but more than ten years ago, the river suddenly changed its course," Jiang Luzhong explained.

"We've changed course," Xu Qi'an nodded slowly.

Water conservancy projects have always been a headache for imperial courts, prone to frequent flooding and course changes. Even in my previous life, floods were still a major concern. A man changing course is one thing, at most he'll be passed through the stomach. But once a river changes course, it can cause widespread damage and bring disaster to the people.

Just then, a plume of black smoke rose ahead. Xu Qi'an strained his eyes to see what it was and discovered that a small boat was moored on the shore, and several people were burning cargo.

"What's going on? Why are you burning the cargo?" Xu Qi'an asked in a deep voice.

His first reaction was that someone was committing malicious acts and damaging the merchant's goods.

Jiang Luzhong glanced at it a few times and suddenly realized, "In general, this means the merchant doesn't intend to cross the border and is burning the goods in preparation for returning home."

"We're almost in the capital, why are we doing this?" Xu Qi'an, puzzled.

"Ah, the imperial court has set up numerous checkpoints along the Grand Canal. At each checkpoint, a tax is levied. After a while, many merchants find that even after reaching their destination and selling their goods, the profits aren't enough to cover the taxes. So they simply burn their goods and return, because if they're carrying goods, they have to pay taxes again on the return trip. Empty ships don't have to," Jiang Luzhong lamented.

"Burning goods along the river is a common occurrence."

"Such an unseemly way of eating." Xu Qi'an raised an eyebrow.

"There's something even worse. Because small businesses can't afford the customs duties on the Grand Canal, they can only rely on the Grand Canal Merchants Association. Those associations will buy up goods at low prices and then sell them at high prices. Take the saltpeter mine you once took over in Taikang County as an example. The local quarrymen quarried and burned the saltpeter. The capital couldn't handle such a large quantity, so they had to transport it to various prefectures to sell. But the customs duties were so heavy that they couldn't afford them."

"The Chamber of Commerce took the opportunity to buy lime at low prices and transport it out through its own channels. The lime dealers could only get 10% or even less profit, barely enough to make ends meet."

"The interests involved behind this are unimaginable; even Duke Wei has many concerns."

Xu Qi'an fell silent.

He thought of something else: Emperor Yuanjing's cultivation of Daoism and alchemy involved enormous expenses, and these expenses did not come from the Ministry of Revenue, but were all provided by his own private treasury.

So, where did Emperor Yuanjing get so much silver to support his extravagant spending spree?

He didn't ask the question, but returned to his cabin to breathe and regain his energy. By noon, he was starving.

Stepping out of the room, I heard lively conversation on the deck. It turned out that the boatmen had netted many plump river fish and scattered them on the deck, where they were jumping and wriggling.

Led by Jiang Luzhong, twenty gongs including Song Tingfeng joined in the fun, delighted that they would have fresh fish soup for lunch.

The governor leading the delegation came out upon hearing the noise, his brows furrowed.

He was the Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Principal Fourth Rank official. In the officialdom of the Great Feng, the governor was usually a censor, wielding immense power.

The Censorate was controlled by Wei Yuan, and the Grand Censor also held the title of Left Censor-in-Chief, a Principal Second Rank official.

This censor, who could be considered one of their own, had been seasick all morning, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He was resting when he was woken up by this group of brutes, and he was quite displeased.

"Pick out a few of the fattest river fish for the governor to make soup," Jiang Luzhong said with a smile.

The governor, with his goatee and refined demeanor, waved his hand, his brow furrowed. "The river fish smells too fishy; I have no appetite."

After refusing Jiang Luzhong's offer of help, he glanced disapprovingly at the men, "Quiet down, all of you. What kind of behavior is this, shouting and yelling like this?"

After saying that, he returned to his cabin, looking agitated.

"Tsk tsk, scholars are just too weak; they can't withstand this." A gong player teased, only to be glared at by Jiang Luzhong.

There was fresh fish soup to drink. He added some chicken bouillon for seasoning. Xu Qi'an, who was starving, was looking forward to lunch.

PS: Thanks to the leader of the alliance "Liaoyan Wuye", I will add more updates for you in the future. Well, I have returned the 20th alliance leader out of 26.

Six more chapters and we'll be done. As for the extra chapters for the Silver Alliance, I calculated that I started paying back the Alliance Leader's extra chapters from the 11th. From the 1st to the 11th, I wrote a total of 33 chapters, which, after deducting the two chapters per day, leaves me with 11 extra chapters.

So the first Silver Alliance has already completed its bonus chapters. I'll repay the remaining Silver Alliance members after I've paid back all the bonus chapters owed to them.