Taiheiki

Chapter 301 Arrival
What a joke! With the foundation left by the Great General, conquering those barbarians in the south would be a piece of cake. Why would he need these Liangzhou people? If they were the Great General or his descendants, that would be one thing, but why should these Liangzhou people be allowed to climb over the heads of the Jiaozhou people and act arrogantly? Thinking of this, Shi Wu angrily slammed his hand on the armrest and stood up. Intentionally or unintentionally, he ignored the fact that these Liangzhou people were also sent by Wei Cong.

It's a pity my brother isn't here! If he were here, he could probably come up with a solution, right?

Shi Wu sighed inwardly. Although he was now the head of the Guangxin Shi clan, he knew in his heart that his talent and wisdom were inferior to those of his elder brother, Shi Xie. If only he were in Jiaozhou right now!
"Brother Shi! Brother Shi!" As Shi Wu's colleague and friend, Yu Wen naturally didn't need to announce his arrival at the Shi family's residence. He went straight into the backyard and asked, "Don't you know? Tonight, the Fifth Colonel will be hosting a banquet by the river to entertain Chief Clerk Duan and his party!"

"Oh, I'm not feeling well, so I won't go!" Shiwu said casually.

"Not feeling well?" Yu Wen could easily see through Shi Wu's thoughts and laughed, "What a coincidence? You're not just making up an excuse, are you?"

"You guessed right, I really didn't want to see the faces of those Liangzhou people! So I simply pretended to be sick and didn't go!"

"Brother Shi, why are you doing this?" Yu Wen said with a wry smile, "The Fifth Colonel's office is in Guangxin. Chief Clerk Duan will be accompanied by the two of us on the way to Panyu. You don't even want to show up at tonight's banquet. How will you get through the next two days on the road?"

"Then I'll have to trouble you, my brother!" Shi Wu beckoned, and a maidservant came forward with a spittoon. Shi Wu knelt on the ground and spat. "After all, I'm sick, my speech is dull, and my appearance is repulsive. It's best not to appear in front of Chief Secretary Duan, or I'll upset him!"

"Brother Shi, why are you doing this?" Yu Wen said with a wry smile, "No matter what, Duan Jiong is here in Jiaozhou as the Chief Secretary of the General's Office and the Commander-in-Chief of all military affairs in Jiaozhou. If you offend him, you won't be the only one who suffers!"

"Hehe!" Shiwu chuckled, walked to the orange tree, patted the trunk, and suddenly asked, "Do you think Duan Jiong is up to the task?"

"I don't know!" Yu Wen shook his head: "After all, he hasn't been in Guangxin for many days. But I heard that he quelled the Qiang rebellion in Liangzhou and beheaded many! The Qiang rebellion in Liangzhou has lasted for decades. He must have some military strategy to have been able to quell it!"

"Liangzhou is Liangzhou, and Jiaozhou is Jiaozhou!" Shi Wu snorted coldly. "Besides, what if he stays in Jiaozhou?"

"What do you mean, Brother Shi?" Yu Wen sensed the malice hidden behind Shi Wu's words.

Shi Wu gestured for the maid holding the spittoon to step aside, and asked in a low voice, "Jiaozhou's current state is entirely due to the General's effective governance and the Governor of Kong's adherence to established practices. But if Duan Jiong stays and brings back the old ways from the Central Plains—"

"This—" Yu Wen's expression turned grim: "It shouldn't be, right? You know what Jiaozhou is in the eyes of those Central Plains people. Duan Jiong will definitely go back after the battle, why would he stay!"

“That would have been true in the past, but not necessarily now!” Shi Wu sneered. “After all, he’s not blind. He’ll see what Panyu is like right away!”

“That’s true!” Yu Wen thought for a moment, “But whether he stays or not is not something Duan Jiong can decide. His official position is the chief secretary of the general’s mansion. He should be returning to Luoyang after the war. Moreover, everyone knows that the general regards Jiaozhou as his own homeland. How could he let an outsider interfere?”

“That’s true!” Shiwu nodded. “But the General’s status is different now. Who knows if he might change his mind?”

“I don’t think so!” Yu Wen shook his head: “You and I both saw how much effort the General put into Jiaozhou back then. Even if he holds power in Luoyang now, who would complain about having too much fiefdom? He will eventually retire and return to his hometown! To put it another way, even if the General stays in Luoyang for generations to come, Jiaozhou can be left to his and Lady Jing’s child, right?”

"That's right!" Shi Wu's brows relaxed. "Indeed, Madam Jing's child should be almost three years old by now, right? We should visit him when we return to Panyu this time!"

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Panyu City.

The curtain blocked out the dust and heat of the street, but it couldn't block out the noise. Ah Jing placed her son on her lap and lifted the curtain a crack so that her son could see the novel street scene outside.

"Make way!" The head guard shouted, cracking his whip on horseback, "Make way for the esteemed Lady Wei!"

Zhou leaned back on the soft crocodile-skin cushion, pouring coconut juice into a gold cup inlaid with rubies. Despite the swaying of the carriage, her hands remained steady. "Sister Jing, are you really not planning to go to Luoyang?" She handed the gold cup filled with coconut juice to A-Jing. "To just hand over the Marquis of Wei to that woman surnamed Dou like this, I really feel sorry for you!"

"It was bound to happen sooner or later!" A-Jing took the cup, stroked her son's head, and the boy, who was already a little sleepy, yawned. She gave a wink to the nanny next to her, who then picked up the child and placed him on a soft cushion.

“A man like him could never belong to me for life!” A-Jing took a sip of coconut juice: “I knew that from the very first day I met him. Even without that Dou woman, there would have been other women, like Master Lu! I have Wan’er, what more could I ask for?”

"Alright, if you're so open-minded, that's for the best, but—!" Zhou sighed. She looked at the woman before her, with her fair face and slender figure. Although she had two children, she was still in the prime of her life, yet she was left alone, wasting her time, just like herself. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow.

“There’s nothing to be unhappy about, I should be content!” A-Jing put her wine cup aside. “Look around, I have everything now. Even the princess of Luoyang might not be able to compare. What is there to be dissatisfied about for a merchant’s daughter?”

“That’s true!” Zhou laughed. “By the way, this time Master Kong is sending a merchant fleet to Southeast Asia. My family also has two ships, but they are a bit small, only about 500 shi each. We would like to go and return together, but we don’t have any connections. Could you please put in a good word for me?”

"Oh? Who's in charge?"

"His name is Wu Ze, and I heard he's from Yuzhang!"

"A man from Yuzhang? He's probably one of the old subordinates who followed you south to Jiaozhou!" A-Jing asked, "Two ships, right? You already have crew and sailors?"

“They’re all readily available. We usually travel between Panyu and Jiaozhi. Going to Southeast Asia is too far, so I was wondering if we could go with the government’s fleet!” Zhou said with a smile.

A-Jing took a blank silk scroll from the maid, pressed the ring from her left index finger onto it, and then scribbled a few words on it with charcoal: "Here, take this to Wu Ze. If it works out, great; if not, there's nothing I can do!"

"Thank you so much, sister! Thank you so much, sister!" Zhou thanked her repeatedly. "With your letter, how could it not be done!" "That's good!" A-Jing smiled. "I don't know anything about business matters, so just take care of yourself!"

The carriage stopped, and the accompanying guards lowered the footboard, allowing the distinguished women inside to disembark. The owner of the best jewelry shop in Panyu City was already waiting at the door. A-Jing, with her son, entered the shop with Madam Zhou. The shop owner and his entourage introduced and displayed the various pieces of jewelry. Madam Zhou found an opportunity to go to a secluded spot, where a man in a brocade robe approached her: "Madam Zhou, is it done?"

"Don't ask me if it's worked out or not, have you prepared the money?"

The man in the brocade robe smiled and waved his hand. A servant behind him presented a brocade box: "This box contains the deed to a manor, half a day's journey from Panyu City. Please accept it, Madam!"

"Oh?" Madam Zhou's eyes lit up. She took out the letter she had just received from Ah Jing from her sleeve: "This is a letter written by Madam Jing herself. It has her seal on it. You can take it to Wu Ze!"

The man in brocade took the letter, and his gaze was immediately drawn to the seal on it. He carefully took a lacquer box from the servant, put the letter inside, and put it away. He smiled and said, "I really have to thank Madam Zhou for this matter!"

"But let me make this clear from the start!" Zhou said with a smile, "I've gotten the letter for you, but I won't be responsible if Wu Ze denies it!"

"Hehe!" The man in brocade robes laughed, "Madam Jing is the young master's biological mother, how could Steward Wu dare to refuse her?"

"That's good! But you spent so much money just so your ship could go to Southeast Asia, don't you think it's a waste?" Zhou asked.

"Hehe!" The man in brocade robes was quite interested and explained with a smile, "You don't know, but the government fleet has a special navigation technique. They don't need to sail close to the coastline. They can go deep into the sea and won't get lost. This way, there's no need to worry about the ships being blown onto the shore and sinking. The speed of travel is also much faster. If my fleet can learn this technique, it can freely travel between Southeast Asia and Jiaozhou. Its value is more than ten thousand gold pieces!"

"Really?" Zhou asked with great interest, "Are there gold mines in Southeast Asia? You really want to go there?"

"A mountain of gold?" The man in brocade laughed, "More than a mountain of gold. Even a mountain of gold can be emptied one day. If you can find the secret of this voyage, the profits will be endless!"

“You men are so greedy! You have mountains of gold, but you still want more!” Zhou sighed. “Take Marquis Wei for example. He wasn’t satisfied with Jiaozhou; he wanted more. In the end, he went to Luoyang and never came back!”

"Lord Wei is indeed a rare hero of our time!" The man in brocade robes revealed a serious expression: "However, I heard that he sent someone from Luoyang to Jiaozhou."

"A messenger?"

"No! It seems he was replacing him to command the army to conquer the barbarians?"

"Conquer the barbarians?" Zhou frowned. "Haven't the barbarians in Jiaozhou already submitted? What else is there to conquer? Besides, with Wu Deng and the others here, why bother sending someone from Luoyang?"

"I don't know!" The man in brocade shook his head.

—————————————————————————————

In the distance, faint light pierced through the thin mist on the water, shimmering near the horizon.

“It’s a star!” Duan Wei sighed.

"No, this is a lighthouse!" the captain corrected.

"A lighthouse? Really?" Duan Wei asked in surprise.

“That’s right!” the captain laughed. “This was built on the orders of Marquis Wei, on the top of a deserted island near Panyu, to prevent ships from coming from the sea from not being able to see the sea at night and crashing into the reefs and sinking. There are two in total, each twenty-five zhang high, built of brick and stone, and can be seen from more than twenty li away!”

"So tall? How was it built?" Duan Wei was startled. With the construction technology at that time, it was not impossible to build such a tall building, but usually a very tall earthen platform was built on the ground first, and then the building was built on top of it. Usually, it was made of wood. The technology of building tall towers with bricks and stones did not spread and become popular until the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties.

"I don't know about that!" the captain laughed. "Actually, Lord Wei has many other novelties, which you'll see when you arrive. I can't explain them all at once!" With that, he turned to the sailors on deck and shouted, "The ship is almost here! Prepare to furl the sails and turn to starboard!"

As the captain gave the order, the barefoot sailors nimbly climbed up and down the two masts, busy maneuvering the rigging and heavy soft sails. Below deck, the oarsmen, sitting on benches, were paddling vigorously. He could hear the deck creaking and tilting to one side as the two-masted oarsman "Changjie" turned to starboard, preparing to enter the harbor.

As the ship completed its turn, Duan Wei felt the deck beneath his feet regain its balance and no longer tilt to one side. Then he saw a second point of light. He remembered the two lighthouses the captain had mentioned to him earlier. Could this be the second lighthouse? Was it really twenty-five zhang tall and entirely built of brick and stone? He secretly resolved that he would verify with his own eyes whether what the captain said was true when he had the chance.

As the sound of oars striking the water grew more rhythmic, Duan Wei saw the mist dissipate before his eyes, the bow parting the jagged gray curtain. The gray-green water was separated, the remaining sails like billowing white wings, and he could hear the cries of seabirds overhead. A raised ridge slowly rose behind the water, covered with gray-black trees. Near the shore, reeds and mangroves grew abundantly, and waterbirds took flight from them, flapping their wings and skimming past the masts, causing Duan Wei to instinctively shrink back.

"So many water birds!"

“It’s not the season yet; there will be even more in the fall!” said a sailor nearby.

Water and wind propelled the boat around a sandbar ahead, the oars churning the water into white foam. After rounding the sandbar, the boat entered a huge bay, the shore lined with boat sheds and docks, where Duan Wei could even see ships under construction.

(End of this chapter)