Yan Guan’s case finally settled. There had been some commotion just a few days ago, but ever since the court session concluded, things had started to calm down.
Yan Guan numbly shovelled the rough food into his mouth. He had to eat carefully, otherwise the small stones inside the gruel would chip his teeth.
After he sent Auntie Yang off that day, someone had come to see him, and his only hope of appealing to the Capital had been completely destroyed.
Yan Guan stared intently at the oil lamp on the side of the dungeon passage, where a piece of paper had once burned. There was nothing too unusual about it - just a list of the properties and wealth of some ordinary citizens.
But the moment Yan Guan saw it, his blood ran cold.
He was like a small wounded animal, cowering behind the wooden bars and roaring helplessly, only to be met with derisive sneers from the other side.
"You better watch yourself. If you dare appeal to the Capital, everyone listed here will suffer. After being in prison for this long, you should know what that person is capable of.”
It was Kong Ding… Kong Ding again! He was convinced that Yan Guan had witnessed everything onboard the enemy ship, and even if it meant killing the wrong person, he wouldn’t let him go.
Yan Guan had never seen him before, but fate is unpredictable and it insisted on oppressing him. With a hoarse voice, he stammered, "I understand... I won’t go..."
The other person burned the paper, satisfied with Yan Guan's ability to adapt to the situation.
There were still a few days left before they left, and the formal orders had yet to arrive. Yan Guan and his group remained in the pitch-dark prison, where not even the daylight could reach.
“Hey, stop staring at it. The fire’s too bright, it’ll hurt your eyes,” the man next to him reached out and covered Yan Guan's eyes.
Yan Guan pulled his gaze away and continued to eat with his head down.
"Little doctor Yan, help big brother take a look later, will you? My back’s been aching ever since I took that beating last time," knowing that Yan Guan practiced medicine, everyone had gotten used to calling him that out of affection for the young half-grown boy.
“Alright,” Yan Guan smiled at him.
……..
On one side, the prison was cold and dark, while on the other side, at the Willow Bridge Tavern, the songs and festivities were warm and lively.
"Since King Wugan has traveled from afar, let this old man offer the first toast," said the elderly man with white hair and beard, raising his cup with a smile.
Chao Ge raised his hand to signal and finished his cup as well.
This spring, he had traveled to the Capital to meet the Emperor. Upon hearing that the southern regions were rich in resources, he continued southward to Yangzhou.
After staying here for a few days, he felt that this place was truly a paradise on earth. The scenic beauty of the small bridges and flowing waters alone was overwhelming, not to mention the abundance of the local products.
Wugan was far up in the North and much of its cloth and grain still needed to be imported from the Central Plains. His trip to Yangzhou this time was motivated by a simple desire to inspect the area. He wondered if it was possible to use the sea route to transport goods to Wugan. That way, they wouldn’t have to rely on border market trade every year. However, this would be difficult to implement, so it needed to be pursued gradually.
Even though he was a foreign king with a different surname, since he had come here, it was inevitable that he would have to meet with the local officials, and Chao Ge willingly accepted this.
The South valued literature, and most of the guests present were scholars. Chao Ge had initially thought he might be looked down upon, but to his surprise, the customs here were so open-minded that not only did they not differentiate between “barbarians,” but even the distinctions between the four classes - scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants - were not very obvious.
It was probably due to the opening of sea trade, Chao Ge thought to himself. Wealthy merchants here had frequent dealings with the imperial court. This certainly made it much easier to move around.
After drinking several pots of wine at the restaurant, the guests at the table began engaging in the poetic game of "feihua caisi" (flying flowers, plucking poetry). Chao Ge, whose literary talent was average, didn’t join in the refined festivities and took his leave. He sent his subordinates back first and wandered along the city’s waterways to sober up.
As he strolled aimlessly, he eventually reached the City Gate. It was unexpectedly lively today, with a large, noisy crowd gathering.
Chao Ge, being tall and broad, stood on the outside, trying to catch a glimpse of the commotion.
It turned out that a group of prisoners was being transported. Chao Ge overheard bits of conversation.
“Isn’t that the Yan family’s boy?!”
“Hush, hush! Don’t say anything,” an elderly woman quickly lowered her head and pulled her daughter-in-law away.
Chao Ge moved a bit closer and clearly overheard some scholars talking.
“Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Tsk, Brother Yang, I don’t think it’s entirely that way. How long has it been since the navy last trained? Everyone can see it. Could we really lose just because a half-grown boy colluded with the enemy?”
Brother Yang was silent for a moment. “That’s true, sigh…”
Chao Ge rolled his eyes. Great, yet another unclear and murky case. He instantly lost interest. When he first came to the Liang Dynasty years ago, he felt the politics here were too complex. But as for Liang’s internal affairs, it wasn’t his place as a foreigner to comment.
Chao Ge looked into the crowd and saw the so-called “traitor who colluded with the enemy”.
Amid the soldiers, he appeared particularly small and thin. His pale face was smeared with blood and ashes, and his hair was a tangled mess like dry grass. Who knew how long he had been in prison? His eyes were fixed on the ground, and his lips were tightly pressed together, yet he didn’t cry.
Chao Ge felt a little amused. This kid didn’t really seem capable of such a feat - colluding with foreign enemies?
The soldiers escorting the prisoners urged them along, and Chao Ge was pushed back. He reached out to steady himself by grabbing the person in front of him, but to his surprise, the man looked up and let out a frightened gasp.
Chao Ge was puzzled. Do I really look that scary?
He was a man raised on horseback, and his stature, of course, needed no explanation—broad shoulders, a tall and muscular build. In fact, he had a strikingly handsome appearance, though he didn’t seem like someone easy to get along with.
Yan Guan heard the commotion not far away and finally lifted his head for a glance, just in time to meet Chao Ge's gaze.
But in just a brief moment, he lowered his eyes again. Nothing interested him anymore. Whatever spirit he had once had had long been worn away in prison.
For some reason, that fleeting glance caused an inexplicable pause in Chao Ge’s heart. There's a saying that you can't judge a person by their appearance, but Buddhism teaches that outward appearances come from within. Chao Ge had seen plenty of people in his life—many with the crafty look of scheming scoundrels, or the shallow faces of slick and common men. Yet despite the boy’s filthy face, his bone structure seemed refined, and there wasn’t the slightest trace of malice in his eyes.
He’d heard that this group of people was headed to Wugan in the northern lands. Could someone as frail as this boy, with a body as thin as reeds, survive such a journey? Chao Ge found himself momentarily lost in thought.
But it was only for an instant. The man who had fallen earlier realized his embarrassment, and repeatedly thanked Chao Ge.
Chao Ge came back to his senses and nodded slightly. When he looked ahead again, the boy had already been pushed through the City Gate.
The heavy shackles scraped across the ground with a harsh, grating sound. From a quick glance, Chao Ge could tell that the yokes on these men’s shoulders weighed at least seven or eight jin (~3.5-4 kg).
Chao Ge didn’t stay long. Liangzhou was under his rule. The people of Wugan benefited from the gifts of the grasslands and believed in the protection of Menghe Changshengtian (The Eternal Heaven). They had their own set of customs regarding rewarding the good and punishing the evil, which didn’t entirely align with the harsh laws of the Liang Dynasty.
Liangzhou had also adopted the Liang Dynasty’s legal code. Although it gave the lower classes the fair opportunities to pursue justice, under the corruption, it covered up even more unbearable things. Chao Ge absentmindedly thought that revision of laws would benefit future generations, but realistically it would require a long time to polish.
There were many willows trees in Yangzhou. As Chao Ge walked back, stepping on the damp fallen leaves, he couldn’t help but start worrying about state affairs again.
He shook his head, smiling to himself, and muttered, "Come on, I finally got out of there and I’m still thinking about unnecessary things."
He didn’t expect to accomplish anything great during his short term in power. As the saying goes, “When one's belly is full, one ponders virtue; when one is cold and hungry, one turns to theft(1)” His tribe’s basic needs of food and warmth hadn’t even been solved yet, and here he was worrying about laws and such future matters.
Upon returning to the inn, he sent a letter to Wugan, instructing several officials at court to keep a good watch over things. He also wrote a family letter to Chao Bao and Chao Lun, sharing some small talk.
His younger sister had always been sensible from a young age, so there wasn’t much to say. But Chao Lun was truly a headache—already fifteen and still so irresponsible. If not for the fact that in five years he would have to inherit the throne, Chao Ge wouldn’t have even bothered with him. Thinking about this, Chao Ge ultimately couldn’t resist and added a few more lines to the letter.
It was, admittedly, a bit awkward.
The succession of the Wugan throne followed the principle of “xiōng zhōng dì jí, fù sǐ zǐ jì”(2), i.e. elder brother passing to younger brother, father passing to son. The previous Wugan King was Chao Ge’s uncle and Chao Lun’s father. By all rights, Chao Lun should have ascended to the throne, but he was too young and the people were not convinced. Moreover, he had no grasp of managing state affairs.
Thus, Chao Ge, who governed his own fiefdom at the border, was summoned. He swore an oath not to marry or have children, silencing the critics, and managed to stabilize the court. Bringing order to the chaos was not an easy feat, and it was only this spring that he finally found the time to come to the Liang Dynasty to present tribute.
Chao Ge bit the end of his pen. He wasn’t the type to write gentle, affectionate words of admonishment. Instead, he sternly wrote a few commanding sentences, ordering Chao Lun to stay in the royal camp and diligently study and practice martial arts, before putting down his pen.
He was, after all, someone entrusted with the throne in a time of crisis. The court was filled with differing loyalties, and Chao Lun’s maternal family was especially hard to deal with.
Chao Ge sighed, sealed the letter, and prepared to stay in Yangzhou for a few more days. Yet, for some reason, the soft cloud-like bed that he had slept on for days seemed exceptionally uncomfortable tonight.
Chao Ge tossed and turned for a long time, unable to sleep. In a hazy dream, he once again saw the scene at the city gate that afternoon. The hurried glance they exchanged was prolonged, and Chao Ge could clearly see the boy’s face.
Footnotes:
飽暖思□□，饑寒起盜心 (bǎo nuǎn sī... jī hán qǐ dàoxīn): “When one's belly is full, one ponders virtue; when one is cold and hungry, one turns to theft.” A idiom which refers to how one’s morals go out the window in times of desperation.
兄終弟及, 父死子繼 (xiōng zhōng dì jí, fù sǐ zǐ jì): lit., older brother dies, younger one takes over; father dies, son takes over.
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