Inside the Palace of Mental Cultivation.
Emperor Tiansheng coughed twice and, with Eunuch Li’s support, slowly straightened himself.
He did not spare the people below another glance. Dragging his stiff, sluggish steps, he made his way toward the rear hall.
Two eunuchs standing with their heads bowed immediately stepped forward and shut the wooden doors.
Xiao Jingxing rose at once and tugged at his inner robe.
The few young princes huddled at the lower end of the hall were trembling so badly that their legs shook. The Ninth Prince’s body went limp, and he nearly slipped beneath the table.
The half-grown boys exchanged glances, but none of them dared to speak first.
Outside the Palace of Mental Cultivation, along the long avenue.
The wind carried remnants of snow that blew straight down their collars.
The senior palace maids and eunuchs sent by the various palaces had been waiting beneath the covered walkways for quite some time. The moment they saw their respective masters emerge, they swarmed forward.
“Oh, my little ancestor…”
The palace servants lowered their voices as they apologized, while taking heavy black-fox cloaks and wrapping the young princes up tightly.
When one of the senior palace maids touched the Ninth Prince’s hand, she found it covered in icy cold sweat.
They did not dare remain for even half a moment longer. They did not even dare raise their heads to glance at the three great halls behind them. Instead, they gripped the children’s wrists and hurried along the red walls toward the inner palace, afraid that lingering in the imperial court might invite trouble.
On the palace road.
Xiao Jingxing, Xiao Jingming, and Xiao Jingyan, the three older princes, fell behind the others.
The three of them walked along the narrow passageway.
Xiao Jingxing gradually slowed his pace and stopped.
Turning halfway around, he positioned himself beside Xiao Jingyan, casually flicking away a few specks of snow that had landed on his cuff.
“This idea of yours for the equalization policy…” Xiao Jingxing turned his head and studied Xiao Jingyan. “Which frustrated, sour old scholar in the Ministry of Revenue did you hear it from?”
He shook his head slightly, a smile playing about his lips.
“Use the imperial treasury to fill the appetites of the great clans and merchants of the realm? Never mind that the Ministry of Revenue’s central granary accounts are already empty. Even if Father gave his approval today and opened the private treasury for you to take whatever silver you needed, you still could never fill that bottomless pit!”
Seeing that his third brother remained unmoved, Xiao Jingxing lifted his chin slightly and continued his lecture.
“The imperial court is a battlefield. It is not something you can handle merely by memorizing a few passages from the sages and uttering a few words about sympathizing with the people’s hardships. If this old ship called Great Qian is to leave port and set sail, the last thing it needs is the musty, rotten air of pedantic moralists from your estates.”
Every word was merciless, delivered with the bearing of a superior inspecting a subordinate.
“Third Brother, stop spouting supposedly brilliant theories of statecraft in the future. Otherwise, you’ll only bring disaster upon yourself for nothing!”
Xiao Jingyan showed no emotion on his face, but resentment weighed heavily in his eyes. He had no choice but to bow deeply before his elder brother.
“Eldest Brother’s reprimand is well taken.” Xiao Jingyan lowered his head slightly. “Your younger brother is merely ignorant and knows nothing of the complexities of the court’s finances. Today, thanks to Father and Eldest Brother’s timely warning, I was spared the humiliation of making a fool of myself. I shall certainly be more cautious with my words from now on.”
He cupped his hands.
“Eldest Brother has won Father’s favor and taken charge of the important task of sealing the examination papers from the capital examinations. Allow me to offer my congratulations in advance. I’ll be counting on you to look after matters at the Supreme Court in the future.”
Xiao Jingxing accepted the salute, his fingers already climbing to the white-fur collar of his cloak.
He was about to seize on those words and apply further pressure when he turned his head and saw the Second Prince, Xiao Jingming, stepping forward and slipping neatly between them.
Xiao Jingming reached out with both hands, grasping Xiao Jingxing’s wrist with one and resting the other on Xiao Jingyan’s shoulder.
“All right, all right! It’s freezing out here. Why are you standing in the wind arguing over grand affairs of state?” Xiao Jingming slapped both their shoulders firmly. “Yesterday, I listened to an opera at Cuiwei Tower. Every play was about brothers turning against one another, and it gave me chills. Eldest Brother, you’ve taken charge of sealing the examination papers—a splendid assignment indeed. Why bicker with Third Brother over it?”
He looked from one side to the other and laughed as he tried to mediate.
“What matters most is that brothers stand united. Whatever you do, don’t harm your own family’s harmony!”
Xiao Jingming released them, rubbed his nose, which had gone red from the cold, and shook his head.
“Court duties are far too exhausting. I couldn’t handle them even if I tried. I’ve already asked Father for permission, and I’ll be leaving the capital tomorrow morning.”
He straightened his disordered robe and flung it outward.
“I hear Jiangnan has produced several eccentric scholars of great renown. I’m going to seek out one or two of them, admire some beautiful waters, and drink some fine wine. You two can stay here and wade through the capital’s muddy waters at your leisure. I’ll be off first!”
With that, he pulled his cloak tight and hurried away down the other end of the covered walkway without so much as another farewell.
Within the space of two or three breaths, his figure vanished completely behind the arched entrance at the turn.
…
Outside Shenwu Gate.
Carriages and horses belonging to the various residences were already lined up in orderly rows along the stone-paved road.
Xiao Jingxing lifted his robe and stepped onto the carriage step of the First Prince’s carriage. Just as he was about to duck into the carriage, he suddenly stopped.
Standing beside the wheel rut, he turned to look at the approaching Xiao Jingyan.
“Third Brother, why do you suppose Father entrusted the capital examination papers specifically to the Supreme Court for sealing?”
“This younger brother does not know.”
“The imperial examinations select the pillars of the nation, not bookkeepers who know only how to calculate the petty accounts of your estates. Think more carefully about the realm. Don’t keep your eyes fixed on a few pieces of timber.”
Xiao Jingxing tossed out those words, then turned to the attendant holding the reins below.
“Don’t return to the residence. Go to the Supreme Court offices.”
The attendant immediately pulled the reins taut. The carriage turned around in the main street and began rumbling toward the Supreme Court.
He intended to seize control of the authority over the sealed examination papers without wasting so much as a moment.
Xiao Jingyan stood in the cold wind, watching the carriage disappear into the distance.
He said nothing. Turning around, he strode to the carriage of Prince Jing’s residence, stepped onto the wooden footboard, and lowered himself into the cabin.
The carriage swayed gently as it began moving along the main streets of the capital.
The instant Xiao Jingyan settled into his seat, he reached out and tugged down the felt curtain hanging beside the window.
The carriage immediately grew dark, leaving only the thinnest sliver of light.
How had Eldest Brother managed it?
At first, he had pretended not to hear, waiting until Xiao Jingyan had laid out the entire equalization policy.
Then, after observing Father’s displeasure from the sidelines, he had risen at once to contradict him—using Xiao Jingyan as a stepping stone to elevate himself!
And if a set of regulations governing shipbuilding materials were truly established?
Who would create those rules? Who would oversee the coordination between the Ministry of Revenue’s ledgers and those of the Ministry of Works? To whom the permits were issued—or denied—would depend entirely on a single sentence from the official coordinating the entire affair!
By then, every wealthy merchant and powerful noble in the capital would have to carry crates of solid gold and silver to beg him for favors.
With one thin sheet of paper, he could seize the lifeline of every wealthy merchant in the realm! He would not need to spend a single coin of the court’s money. Instead, he could use the matter to forge power that reached all the way to the heavens!
Xiao Jingyan’s tapping fingers suddenly stopped.
Still, Father’s intentions were probably to test him.
He silently clenched his teeth. He had lost this round, but there would be another!
In front of Prince Jing’s residence.
The carriage had barely come to a stop when Xiao Jingyan flung aside the curtain and jumped down from the carriage shaft.
With his steps stirring the wind, he went straight through the front courtyard.
Seeing his master return, the chief secretary hurried forward, two letters still clutched in his hand.
“Your Highness, someone from the Ministry of Revenue sent these invitations by fast horse…”
“Decline them.”
Xiao Jingyan did not slow his steps. He went around the covered corridor and headed straight for the study.
The chief secretary was about to follow and ask more questions, but Xiao Jingyan raised a hand to stop him.
“Leave. Without my order, no one is to come within twenty paces of the study.”
He crossed the threshold and shoved both doors closed behind him with a heavy slam.
Xiao Jingyan walked to the brass brazier in the corner of the room. He took up a fire striker and blew on the sparks, coaxing the dry kindling beneath the charcoal to catch.
The charcoal slowly burned through, its dull red glow illuminating half of his profile.
He tugged off his outer cloak and tossed it aside. Then, with a casual reach, he picked up the paperweight and pulled out a sheet of fine Huizhou paper that had been pressed beneath it, spreading it flat across the desk.
Xiao Jingyan picked up his brush.
The Huzhou brush, its mottled-bamboo handle gleaming, was dipped generously into the inkstone and saturated with thick black ink.
On the left side of the paper, he wrote three characters: Pingzhun Office.
Then he shifted to the right and wrote four more: Regulations on Shipbuilding Materials.
Once he had finished writing at both ends, he casually flung the brush into the brush washer, sending ink splattering across the desktop.
Just where had he gone wrong?
Recalling the smug satisfaction with which he had proposed the “Pingzhun Office” in court, he let out a cold laugh.
Using funds from the imperial treasury to buy overpriced timber?
That might indeed be a sound way to stabilize grain prices during a famine. But in the present situation, with maritime trade affecting the wealth and very survival of the great families throughout the realm, what good was such a measure?
It merely patched holes. It merely put out fires—taking on the court’s losses and quelling the turmoil.
And what had he gained in return? He had exhausted himself for nothing, while those merchants walked away unscathed!
What about the Regulations on Shipbuilding Materials?
They directly consolidated the powers of the Six Ministries into a single whole!
With a single shipbuilding approval, they could drain the wealthy merchants of every last tael, even forcing them to undercut one another in a scramble for the available quotas!
She had taught him not to touch the maritime silver, and in return he had earned the words “pure filial piety,” thereby safeguarding himself.
Not competing for it had indeed been the right choice—a talisman against death.
But after surviving, what then, in this quagmire of the succession struggle?
If he refused to fight for ill-gotten wealth, did that mean he should not even fight for the chance to wield a blade?
This blade—the authority to control the Six Ministries’ rules and establish new laws—he had never even thought of taking hold of!
How could someone who only knew how to defend ever reach the summit of this great game of empire?
If the First Prince used the Dali Temple and the Regulations on Shipbuilding Materials to gather all the wealthy merchants under his banner, what would Xiao Jingyan have left to fight with?
A roar suddenly filled Xiao Jingyan’s ears.
He stared at the ink-stained sheet of Huizhou paper for a long while, and at last he felt the full measure of his own inadequacy.
