Chapter 024 – His Majesty says you don’t listen

General Xue’s family had been loyal and upright for three generations.

What did “loyal and upright” mean? It meant that the continuity of the bloodline was more secure than the imperial family’s, with high ranking generals in every generation. It also meant that the common people, soldiers and cavalry were all familiar with them.

The family’s good reputation only kept strengthening as time went on. Their loyalty and righteousness was widely known. On the outside, their glory was great. On the inside, it was a scythe.

Xue Yuan’s madness was due to these three generations of loyalty and righteousness. The madness he developed from his father’s lap, the madness of leadership, the madness from the countless lives taken by his bloody hands.

No matter how respectful a general from the family might be after three generations of being loyal and upright, it wouldn’t make the Emperor lower his guard against him. After three generations, with the general that had opened the borders, the Xue family, was unshakable. Xue Yuan’s wild behavior, the madness of the general and his madness when groveling, they all made sense.

Because he was afraid that We would punish his son, because he was afraid that his son would hurt his family.

After three generations of loyalty, such a good reputation couldn’t be killed so easily. Killing so coldly, it’ll make his name go down in history as a synonym of infamy. Xue Yuan was quite talented, just very arrogant, and it was better to be openly mad than to be shrewd and hard to read.

Since ancient times, most wise rules have been known to be tolerant of all sorts of people.

Gu Yuanbai, of course, knew what the Xue household was thinking, and he didn’t plan to force this loyal family to die. And, as it turned out, Xue Yuan’s madness was always right below the limit.

Gu Yuanbai had originally wanted the protagonist from the novel to take over his legacy and create a prosperous Great Heng with calm seas and clear livers. He could also take advantage of Xue Yuan’s bad behavior by using the carrot and stick method to restrict General Xue as well as Xue Yuan in the future, and even show the soldiers how magnanimous the Emperor was.

However, Gu Yuanbai was really annoyed by Xue Yuan.

He took the jade pendant from Xue Yuan, and the couple across the river who had been having a tryst in broad light, seeing they had been found out, attempted to escape. “Catch that boy and send him to the abbot,” Gu Yuanbai said.

The guards moved at the command, jumping across the stream like a gust of wind. The man that had stuck his head out was startled and got up, wanting to escape. However, he was a step too slow, and he was immediately captured by the guards who rushed over.

“What are you doing?!” As the man struggled, his red dudou1 fell off. “This is Chengbao Temple! I am a lay disciple2 from the Chengbao Temple. Why are you still arresting me?!”

The guards pursed their lips, frowned, and dragged the man away. As for the woman, leaving her with a garment to cover her body was already benevolent and righteous.

Gu Yuanbai heard the man’s yelling across the river, and, when someone dragged him over, he discovered that this lecherous monk still had a clean and proper appearance. He asked, “Are you a lay disciple of Chengbao Temple?”

The man was pressed down onto his knees, knowing that anyone who could enter and leave Chengbao Temple freely would not be an ordinary person. Obediently, he stopped struggling, but he said with a bitter face, “This evildoer hasn’t cultivated enough to take the vows, so a man loving a woman doesn’t break the law. Sir, I have been suffering in the temple for over two months, and now I can’t help myself, I can’t… everywhere around me are men, and looking at monk faces all day long, I just can’t stand it anymore.”

They were all men, so of course, Gu Yuanbai understood how he felt. Those that weren’t yet angry at him before now were a bit jealous.

Look at that, look at that, a lay disciple, halfway through becoming a monk, and he still got laid more than him.

Gu Yuanbai asked uncomfortably, “Even if you are a lay disciple, you should still realize that you are in Chengbao Temple. If you defile the holy grounds of a buddhist temple, are you still a lay disciple?”

The man looked straight ahead. “My lord, if Chengbao Temple were really a sacred buddhist temple, of course, I would not dare to do something like that.”

Gu Yuanbai squinted and asked slowly, “What do you mean?”

The man laughed and said, “My lord, it doesn’t take much thinking. What I mean is that there are many monks in Chengbao Temple, and their vegetarian diet is very rich.3 They get a full stomach and get stained with oil. As such, this disciple also becomes more daring.”

As he spoke, the man shook his head. “As the saying goes, if the upper beam isn’t straight, the lower beam gets crooked.”

“It looks like Chengbao Temple is already rich and prosperous,” Gu Yuanbai murmured, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Good. Very good.”

The man looked at him strangely, then looked at the group of guards behind Gu Yuanbai, and finally turned his eyes to Gu Yuanbai again. He looked at him carefully, and, finally, he showed a bit of nervousness.

Gu Yuanbai asked, “Who are your parents?”

The man lowered his head cautiously and replied, “This one’s father is Jingxi Zhang.”

The families of Jiangnan Yu, Huainan Lu, Henan Yang and Jingxi Zhang.

These four were all great merchants, great enough to do business with the Imperial family. Out of the four, Huainan was the one closest to the southern Jinghu region. The families of Jiangnan Yu and Huainan Lu were part of the powerful forces that Gu Yuanbai intended to use to break his enemy’s hands.

Gu Yuanbai could tolerate merchants, and he even looked forward to the emergence of more honest merchants that would push the social and economic development. But he couldn’t tolerate collusion between merchants and local officials. What was a despot? Someone who was stubborn and arrogant and had power would become a despot. The powerful scholar clans from the Qin and Han dynasties had only weakened after the imperial examination system was created. However, in the Qin and Han dynasties, conquering land and population, the scholarly clans had planned everything to their advantage as much as they could, and, at the end, they managed to become a hereditary family.

When they did business, they just did business, but they wanted to have power and collude with officials. After colluding with officials, both the officials and merchants would become very powerful.

The Yang family in Henan was careful and meticulous, and the Zhang family in Jingxi was not far from the Imperial capital. They were used to acting right under the Emperor’s eyes. These sort of merchants were the ones Gu Yuanbai liked.

However, he didn’t expect to meet someone from the Zhang family right there by coincidence.

“In that case, why did you come to Chengbao Temple and become a lay disciple?” Gu Yuanbai asked.

At this time, with the sun high in the sky, Xue Yuan looked at Gu Yuan’s white face and saw that it was turning red from the sun. He said in a particularly considerate manner, “Why don’t we find a pavilion to speak without hurry?”

As soon as he spoke, the kneeling man glanced at him, looked shocked for a moment, and spoke suddenly without thinking. “Young master Xue?!”

Xue Yuan raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a smile.

The kneeling man figured it out in an instant. His breathing suddenly became heavy, and he looked up at Gu Yuanbai subtly, filled with anxiety and excitement. He swallowed suddenly and opened his mouth, but he didn’t dare say a word.

His upper body was still bare, and there were scratches and red marks from branches and leaves on his body. When looking at the young emperor, it was easy for his expression to be misunderstood.

The guard captain shouted, “Shameless!”

The man shook violently and quickly bowed to the ground, “Your servant Zhang Hao pays homage to the Emperor!”

Before Gu Yuanbai could speak, Xue Yuan sneered and asked, “Greeting the Emperor without clothes?”

Zhang Hao’s face went red and he was unable to say a word.

At this time, the guard who had gone ahead to look at the route came back. “Your Majesty, there is a pavilion ahead. This official also met someone sent by Grand Imperial Concubine Wan who informed me that she was tired and had already returned to the village ahead of time.”

Gu Yuanbai nodded and followed the guards to the pavilion. Xue Yuan followed at the end, with his hand on Zhang Hao’s neck. Zhang Hao was trembling, looking very afraid of Xue Yuan.

Xue Yuan asked, “Do you like women?”

Zhang Hao cautiously replied, “Master Xue, I only like women.”

So don’t take my head, I’m scared.

Xue Yuan smiled slightly. “Have you been with many women?”

Zhang Hao smiled. It was the smile of a smug man. “I am too lecherous, and I only came to the Chengbao Temple because my father forced me to.”

“Oh,” Xue Yuan suddenly realized something. He stretched out his hand and drew closer to Zhang Hao, asking him in a low voice, “Look at the color of the little Emperor’s lips. Does it look like he has never eaten a woman’s rouge?”4

Zhang Hao broke in a cold sweat immediately. “This evildoer doesn’t know, this evildoer didn’t look at it.”

Xue Yuan let go of him with a smile, and didn’t say anything else. He stepped forward and caught up with the young Emperor.

Zhang Hao breathed a sigh of relief, stroking his frightened chest and catching his breath slowly.

He didn’t dare talk about the Emperor, but the face of the elder5 Xue was easy to see. With thick eyebrows and a high nose, he was tall and broad, and he certainly had to have a lot of energy! The point here was that he had never heard of young master Xue having any confidant, or a beauty in the spring boudoir. He was obsessed with training soldiers and fighting, and he had such an energetic look but still no woman. How terrible would it be for him to have one?

The pavilion was fairly clean, and an attendant spread a blanket on the seat. After Gu Yuanbai sat down, the attendant took a towel dipped in some cold water to wipe off the slight sweat on the Emperor’s face.

After getting refreshed, Gu Yuanbai felt more comfortable. As he was about to speak to Zhang, Gu Yuanbai glanced at Xue Yuan.

Xue Yuan’s clothes had been dragged to the point where they now had a few holes. Although he had cleaned up the mud and sand on them, Gu Yuanbai could guess how many injuries he had suffered from the state of his clothes.

Feeling suddenly happy, Gu Yuanbai raised the corners of his lips, and a gentle breeze blew. He instantly felt the joy of traveling around the mountains, and he smiled as he spoke to Zhang Hao. “How far do your father’s trade routes reach?”

Zhang Hao was shocked when he heard the question, and thousands of thoughts poured into his mind. The Emperor’s expression was normal, and, when he heard the question, Zhang Hao felt excited, and a faint bold idea came to his mind.

He detailed sincerely and thoroughly all the business routes used by his father one by one, from Henan in the north, down to the south of the Yangtze River, to Lizhou in the east, and Shandong in the west.

Gu Yuanbai listened carefully, sometimes pondered, and then asked a few sharp questions.

After some conversation, the sweat on Zhang Hao’s face was already heavy, and a guard returned to the creek and came back with his clothes. He hurriedly put them on and then wiped off the sweat on his forehead with his sleeves.

The Emperor’s thoughts were clear and distinct to the frightened man, and he startled Zhang Hao several times. If it wasn’t for the fact that Zhang really didn’t have those sort of plans, he feared what words the Emperor might say back.

For many generations, the Zhang family in Jingxi had been talented at business, but for scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, when they did many businesses they would also get abused a lot. The amount of money that the Zhang family had lost at the hands of all sorts of powerful people was so large that it was scary. One after another would come to take it, one layer at a time, and, since they all thought that the Zhang family from Jingxi was rich, they couldn’t complain about their suffering.

For example, the Jiangnan Yu family and Huainan Lu family both had backers behind them, and filial piety was enough to honor one. The Zhang family had had enough of all these struggles, and they wanted to find a backer. Looking around, they found news that the Emperor wanted to build a road for commerce.

In the winter, the Emperor had also released an announcement saying that border exchanges would be opened, but in the end it did not happen. After receiving this news from the Emperor, Zhang Hao’s father returned to the capital from the provinces.

Zhang Hao had vaguely heard of the family’s plans, talking about using a certain official’s power to show the Emperor their sincerity. However, he didn’t expect that, at the end, he would run into the Emperor at Chengbao Temple.

After Gu Yuanbai asked all the things he wanted to ask, he had a general idea in his mind. He kept his face calm, and, after nodding, Zhang Hao stepped back.

The palace attendant asked softly, “Would Your Majesty want some refreshments?”

Traveling with the Emperor, of course, had many requirements. Gu Yuanbai nodded, and the palace attendant took out a delicate small wooden box, set out some soft, smooth and delicate pastry from it, and prepared tea with warm water.

Ignoring anything else, the little blanket that Gu Yuanbai sat on was a blanket from the palace. The wool used was the most velvety hair from lambs, woven in addition with soft silk, and then dyed with juice squeezed out of plants several times over and over, until each strand was dyed evenly. Finally, the finished product would still carry the delicate fragrance of the flowers and plants for a long time.

The carpets covering the palace floors were also made in the same way. Imperial luxury was always about the small details. This was part of the Emperor’s dignity and the ultimate enjoyment pursued by the common people.

If the Silk Road was rebuilt, even just such a small blanket would sell at a satisfactory price to Gu Yuanbai’s standards.

The treasury stored the national revenue, and Gu Yuanbai also kept many luxurious and delicate items such as these, just waiting for real money to be funneled from abroad in the future.

Gu Yuanbai drank the tea in the pavilion, thinking about how to use the Zhang family in Jingxi to form a fixed business route with the border nomads. While his thoughts were flying, he listened to the guard captain say reluctantly, “Your…”

Gu Yuanbai remembered that the imperial doctor had told him that he shouldn’t worry too much. He pursed his lips and smiled. “Well, We don’t want to.”

It was a rare occasion for him to come out to play, so he didn’t want to think about these things.

“You all should take a break, too,” Gu Yuanbai said. “After resting, let’s go down the mountain. Although the meals at Chengbao Temple are delicious, they lack a bit of meat.”

The guards each found a place to sit down, and the breeze in the mountains passed by. Gu Yuanbai closed his eyes and leaned on the backrest to relax. After a while, he suddenly heard several bird calls coming from a nearby area. He opened his eyes and saw a few birds that had landed on the stone table in the pavilion, pecking at unused refreshments with their heads lowered.

Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand and picked up a remaining piece of the pastries, placing it in his palm to feed the birds. However, he overestimated himself. After a few birds bowed their heads and pecked at it, Gu Yuanbai felt that his palm hurt so much that it should have certainly turned red.

He put down the scraps in his hand, looked around, and shouted, “Xue Yuan.”

Xue Yuan, who was standing by the pillar, raised his head and glanced at him. He walked over. “Your Majesty?”

Gu Yuanbai motioned for him to stretch out his hand. Xue Yuan glanced at the birds on the table and suddenly smiled.

Obediently, he stretched out his hand, obediently he let the Emperor put the shredded food in his hand, and obediently he remained motionless as the wary birds thought about stepping forward.

In the end, his humanoid bird feeder gained their trust, and the birds pounced head first and pecked at his palm.

The palms of Xue Yuan’s hands were covered in all the wounds from getting dragged by the horse, but the light pecks of these birds did not make him feel any pain. Instead, he just felt rather itchy.

“Your Majesty,” Yue Yuan asked, “isn’t this official obedient enough?”

Gu Yuanbai replied, “An obedient official wouldn’t hurt my horse.”

“This official has already been punished by the Emperor.”

“You dared put Us in a gallop.”

Xue Yuan smiled. He clenched his hand shut and the birds flew away. One bird, too slow to fly away, was directly caught in his hand. Xue Yuan touched the crying bird with his other hand, revealing its head under his palm.“ “This bird has soft feathers. Your Majesty, do you want to try it?”

Gu Yuanbai lazily raised his hand and abruptly patted the top of the bird’s head a few times. “It’s alright.”

The jade-like fingertips touching the gray bird feathers were even more delicate. Xue Yuan looked down and the evil spirit inside his heart came out again.

So, the young Emperor dislikes being touched?