EWRN - Chapter 70
Chapter 70: The Great Drought
In the blink of an eye, another half-month passed. Huo Jinye, confident that he had completely secured the Imperial City, withdrew the Northern Garrison Army from the homes of the officials. The Northern Garrison Army, led by its general, General Hou, returned to the northwestern border, while the General of the State, Hou Yuwen, remained in the Imperial City. It was a rare sight for a son's official rank to be higher than his father's.
Huo Jinye had his own reasons for keeping Hou Yuwen in the Imperial City. He currently lacked people in his court who would speak up for him, and Hou Yuwen was eloquent and had helped him many times in the imperial court. Huo Jinye thought, My dear subject, you are the only one who can help Us.
However, Hou Yuwen did not think so. He only felt that the Emperor was indeed plotting something improper against him.
Hou Yuwen: Sob, sob, sob, what do I do if the Emperor always wants to sleep with me?
Huo Jinye: Beloved Minister Hou's demeanor has been very suspicious lately. Could it be… that spring has arrived?
Huo Jinye: Beloved Minister Hou, let's meet at the brothel tonight!
Hou Yuwen: Sob, sob, sob, is it about to happen? Is it?
Huo Jinye: Why is Beloved Minister Hou's gaze so strange?
In short, Huo Jinye thought he had the entire situation under control. But in reality, he never imagined that hundreds of thousands of "ferocious beasts" were hidden not far outside his Imperial City.
April was the season of spring rains. In previous years, the people of the Great Yuan Kingdom would wait for the first spring rain before beginning to sow their crops. But this year was strangely different. The spring rains, which usually came in March or April, had yet to arrive. The sky was overcast for days on end, but the rain would never fall. Strong winds blew for several consecutive days, and it was so cold that the common people didn't want to leave their homes.
The people of the Great Yuan Kingdom had no choice but to fetch water from nearby rivers and lakes to sow their seeds.
The southern regions were better off; with plenty of rivers and lakes, they did not lack water. The northern regions were not so fortunate. The weather was dry, and gloomy winds gusted. Not a single drop of rain had fallen for over a month, and the people inevitably began to complain bitterly. Many gathered to set up altars and offer sacrifices to the gods, praying for rain. However, it was all in vain. The heavens remained unmoved. In the end, the dark clouds even dispersed, revealing the long-unseen sun.
The people of the Great Yuan Kingdom: Damn it all! What we want is rain!
Although it was spring, it felt as if the heavens were adding insult to injury. For several days in a row, the scorching sun hung high in the sky, and the heat in the air continued to rise. The water in the people's cisterns steadily decreased, and the water level in the wells kept dropping. When the people saw the dry cracks in their fields, they finally began to panic.
The people gathered and petitioned the local government. They hoped the officials would report to the Imperial City and ask the revered His Majesty to devise a solution. If the imperial family offered sacrifices to the heavens, perhaps it would be effective, and the heavens would be willing to send down rain.
The government officials submitted memorials one after another, and the people's anxious hearts eased slightly. They had already heard about the new emperor taking the throne. To the common people, it didn't matter who was emperor, as long as it didn't affect their normal lives.
However, the poor commoners were about to have this way of thinking turned upside down.
A few days later, a scroll arrived from the government office. The people waited expectantly at the entrance, only to hear dreadful news.
Their taxes, previously four shi of fodder, had been increased to eight shi!
A few people of a more fragile disposition fainted on the spot. The crowd scrambled to carry them to the physician's clinic. The government official was also helpless; this was an order from above, and he had no choice but to carry it out.
During a great drought, the Emperor not only did nothing but also increased the taxes. The harsh taxes emptied the grain stores and savings of many common families. Poorer families were even on the verge of not being able to put food on the table.
The common people still placed their hopes in the heavens. No matter how sincere their hearts were, for some reason, the heavens remained silent.
Northern Kingdom. The Imperial City.
In a small alley, a little boy in ragged clothes was surrounded by a group of older children in equally tattered garments. They were discussing how many copper coins they had begged for that day, and how much congee or how many cold buns they had received.
The boy was the youngest child in the western district of the Imperial City. He had fled there during the coup in the Imperial City a year ago. A group of kind-hearted older children had taken in this young master, not knowing which noble family he came from. They figured he was being hunted by his family's enemies. To prevent the young master from being captured, the group had smeared his face with grime and replaced his silk brocade with a beggar's ragged clothes. But the boy was never willing to take off the jade pendant with characters carved on it that hung around his neck. So the group let him be, only telling him to keep it hidden on normal days so that no one would covet it. The half-grown children had been begging for a living since they were young and had never attended school, so naturally, they couldn't understand the meaning of the characters on the jade pendant.
After joining the army of beggars, the boy took the initiative to teach the older children how to read. The older children learned quite a bit, but the boy never told them what the characters on his pendant said. The older children, afraid of bringing up painful memories, didn't ask further.
They say the most dangerous place is the safest place. Although the boy's life was not as good as before, at least he was still alive. He kept waiting, waiting for his imperial sister, who had been married off to the distant Great Yuan Kingdom, to come and save him. Though he knew this was highly unlikely. A married daughter is like spilled water; his imperial sister might never return in her lifetime.
That's right, this boy was the Fifth Prince of the Northern Kingdom's Yan Clan, Yan Yi—the young prince who had escaped the Imperial Palace with his life.
Yan Yi was only eleven, but in the short span of a year, he had lost almost everything. To have met a group of kind children in the western district of the Imperial City was a stroke of great luck amidst his misfortune.
Yan Yi had been living with the children for over a year. In this past year, he had slept in stables and pigsties, eaten leftovers, and often went hungry. He had worn the most tattered clothes and was nearly left without enough to cover his body in winter. He had endured the cold and tenaciously survived the harsh winter.
Heaven knew how much he hated the Wu Clan that had caused him to fall so low. The Wu Clan had separated him from his brothers and sisters, even killing a brother and a sister. They had even traded his eldest imperial sister to the Great Yuan Kingdom like a piece of merchandise! He didn't know how his sister was faring in the Great Yuan Kingdom. Had the Emperor of Great Yuan bullied her? Had the emperor's harem bullied her? Had she grown accustomed to life in the Great Yuan Kingdom?
All these questions troubled Yan Yi for a long time, until that day.
On that day, gongs and drums sounded to the heavens, and the cries of battle echoed inside and outside the city. Smoke rose from the city walls, and stray arrows occasionally streaked across the sky. Soon, the soldiers in the city could no longer resist, and the city gates were breached. A valiant and heroic woman on a tall, black steed rode in, leading heavily armored soldiers with a murderous aura. The retreating city soldiers were in a killing frenzy, slitting the throats of any Northern Kingdom people on the road who didn't escape in time. The scene was extremely bloody. Yan Yi recognized that heroic woman—it was Yan Xi! His eldest imperial sister, Yan Xi! She had returned!
At that moment, Yan Yi was so excited he wanted to run out. He didn't see the blood-crazed city soldiers retreating in his direction. Fortunately, the eldest boy in the group yanked the stunned Yan Yi back from the alley entrance. He dragged him to hide in a garbage heap deep in the alley, and the children successfully escaped disaster.
After that, Yan Xi reclaimed political power in the Northern Kingdom. The entire Wu Clan was arrested. Immediately after, the Wu Clan Chieftain led his troops on a thousand-li journey back from the Great Yuan Kingdom. Yan Xi and the Wu Clan Chieftain fought for three hundred rounds outside the city gates. The Wu Clan Chieftain was defeated, and then that night, Yan Xi led a surprise attack and captured him alive.
Then came the public execution the next day. Everything happened so suddenly, but Yan Yi was clearly delighted to see it. He used the copper coins he had saved for a long time to buy a large white steamed bun. Taking advantage of his small stature, he squeezed into the crowd of spectators outside the execution ground. Yan Yi's eyes reflected the members of the Wu Clan, kneeling on the platform and trembling with fear. Then, the noon hour arrived. The executioner's blade rose and fell, and blood instantly splattered three feet across the execution ground. The executioners sheathed their blades. The people of the Wu Clan were dead, completely and utterly dead. A look of vengeful satisfaction appeared on Yan Yi's face. Although he hadn't taken this revenge with his own hands, his imperial sister had, so it counted as revenge for the Yan Clan.
Many of the Northern Kingdom spectators took out steamed buns and flatbreads and swarmed forward to dip them in the blood. The "human blood steamed bun" had existed since ancient times; it was nothing strange. Yan Yi also took advantage of the chaos to dip his bun in blood, then left, cradling it. As for Yan Xi, she had left the execution platform as soon as the Wu Clan was beheaded.
Yan Yi returned to the large shed where the children lived, holding the blood-soaked bun. He gave the other children quite a fright. Yan Yi didn't eat the human blood bun. Instead, he let it dry properly and kept it on his person.
Ever since Yan Xi returned to the Northern Kingdom, Yan Yi had wanted to go back to the Imperial Palace. But he was very hesitant. In his current beggar-like state, how could he have the face to see his imperial sister? He was also worried: now that his sister was the empress, would she still be willing to see someone who could potentially covet the throne? Even though he had no interest in the throne.
This must be what they call "the closer to home, the more timid one feels," Yan Yi thought.
Yan Yi had been sullen and unhappy lately. The other children were worried about him, but he wouldn't say anything when they asked. This made the children frantic with worry. Then, what made them even more anxious was that one morning, they woke up to find Yan Yi gone.
The children only knew that Yan Yi called himself "Little Five"; they knew nothing else. So the children searched all over the streets, but to no avail.
What they didn't know was that Yan Yi had finally decided to face his imperial sister. He was also truly fed up with the days of sleeping in the open and eating in the wind.
Holding the Yan Clan's imperial jade pendant, Yan Yi successfully returned to the Imperial Palace. When he first reached the palace gates, two guards shooed him away, thinking he was a beggar. They said things like, "How dare a beggar come to the Imperial Palace," and so on. He suppressed his anger, clutched the jade pendant, and stepped forward again to state his purpose. When they saw the Yan Clan's imperial jade pendant, the two guards were dumbfounded. They hurriedly notified the palace's chief steward, Eunuch Zhang. Fortunately, after the Wu Clan seized the palace, the old servants had not been replaced. Eunuch Zhang recognized the Fifth Prince. Although Yan Yi was in ragged clothes and covered in dirt, his sharp eyes recognized the Fifth Prince at a glance.
Eunuch Zhang had served the Yan Clan for many years and had long since developed an attachment. The Yan Clan's numbers had dwindled, leaving only Yan Xi. Seeing the Fifth Prince return now, he couldn't help but burst into tears.
After Eunuch Zhang tearfully led him into the palace, he was given a bath and a change of clean, proper clothes. Yan Yi was eager to see Yan Xi, but was told that Her Majesty the Empress had gone to the Great Yuan Kingdom and had not yet returned.
Yan Yi was a little disappointed, but he quickly pulled himself together. His imperial sister would return sooner or later. He just had to wait obediently.
Yan Yi summoned a guard, gave a few quiet instructions, and the guard departed to carry them out.
In the alley in the western district of the Imperial City, a group of guards suddenly poured in. It was just past noon, and the children were resting in the stable. They heard the sound of synchronized footsteps approaching. The group of children reflexively tried to run, but their path was blocked by the arriving guards. The lead guard stepped forward. "My master, His Highness, invites you all. Please come with me."
Although he said it was an invitation, the solemn appearance of the guards left no room for refusal. The children could only resign themselves to their bad luck and follow the guards.
Great Yuan Kingdom, Baili Mountain.
Ever since Huo Jinyu and Yan Xi had opened their hearts to each other, they had been inseparable every day. They wished they didn't even have to separate to use the latrine.
It was now past noon. Having just finished their midday meal, the two were walking along the edge of the forest to aid their digestion. They carried bows and arrows, intending to hunt some wild game.
Just then, a fat pigeon flew over from the horizon. The pigeon flapped its wings and landed on Yan Xi's hand. Yan Xi pulled the slip of paper from the pigeon's leg and froze the moment she read it.
Huo Jinyu leaned over curiously. "What is it?"
Yan Xi replied with some excitement, "My imperial brother has been found!"
When Xi'er was happy, Huo Jinyu was happy too. "Does that mean Xi'er will be returning to the Northern Kingdom?" Huo Jinyu asked.
"I must make a trip back to see my poor imperial brother. And to arrange some matters," Yan Xi replied. The heir to the Northern Kingdom's throne needed to be cultivated.
"Xi'er, I've never been to the Northern Kingdom. How about I return with you this time?" Huo Jinyu blinked at Yan Xi, her eyes full of hope.
"Of course you can." Yan Xi poked Huo Jinyu's head. "You little rascal."
And so, their return to the Northern Kingdom was put on the agenda.
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