Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Because this world possessed methods for sending messages across long distances, its official gazettes were remarkably up to date.

Before seven each night, every commandery and county would compile the major events of the day and report them to the imperial capital. Then, through the night, the Court of Scholar’s’ Morning Dispatch Office would sift through the reports, select the important pieces, and edit them into a formal bulletin.

Before dawn at five, the finished gazette would be transmitted back out to the various commanderies and counties. By seven in the morning, local bailiff offices would post the notices right on schedule outside their gates, and printed copies would be bound and sent off to bookshops throughout the city for sale.

It was, in a sense, an alternative kind of morning paper, and for most people in the realm, it was the only way they ever learned about affairs of state.

A single issue was a little thicker than the paper newspapers from Xu Yuan’s previous life, though the layout was much the same. Main headline, subheading, then blocks of text. Some sections even included illustrations.

As he read on carefully, Xu Yuan’s expression grew stranger and stranger. Aside from the usual annual winter cold wave in certain northern prefectures, which had killed some people, the rest of the Great Flame Empire could be summed up in a few words... Peace, prosperity, and merry song.

Compared to the Azure Point setting he knew so well, it was not merely a little off. It was practically an entirely different world.

After a long silence, Xu Yuan lifted the curtain of the carriage and glanced out at the thriving streets beyond.

The common folk bustled through the marketplace, hawkers wove through the crowd calling out their wares, well-dressed young men and lovely ladies strolled among them laughing together, and under the coming dusk, glowing inscription lamps had already begun to light up one by one. What he saw with his own eyes really was prosperous.

He withdrew his gaze and continued reading.

And very soon, Xu Yuan found the information he had been looking for. At this moment, the northern frontier of the Great Flame Empire was at war. But it occupied only a tiny corner at the very end of the gazette.

“The Ninth Princess led the army north and won a great victory over the barbarian forces beneath Frostnorth, slaying more than ten thousand enemies.”

Just one easy sentence, and it was brushed past in haste.

Xu Yuan set the gazette down, confusion in his eyes. He did not remember any such war in Azure Point. Yet from the sparse few words here, the scale of it ought to be enormous.

He had a vague memory of Frostnorth. When the Third Young Master was a child, he had once gone there with Xu Changge. It was a massive military fortress on the Great Flame Empire’s northern border, its walls a thousand feet high and stretching beyond sight, vast and imposing, cold air rolling off them in waves.

One glance downward showed only a boundless haze of snow and frost, like the edge of the world. All around it stood numerous garrison towns, echoing Frostnorth’s defense from afar and forming a mutually supporting network.

Xu Yuan vaguely remembered Xu Changge saying to him back then, when he was still very young.

“Frostnorth is the gateway to the northern provinces. If it falls, then the plains behind it will have no defensible ground left. The barbarians will scatter like locusts, and the devastation they bring will be beyond measure. This place must never be lost.”

And yet a fortress of that scale had, barely a dozen years later, already found barbarian armies at its very gates.

Xu Yuan raised a hand and rubbed at his brow. He forced his thoughts back into line, stopped dwelling on it, and spoke directly instead. “Do you know anything about the war in the north?”

“Hmm?”

Hearing Xu Yuan speak so suddenly, Zhou Chen let out a small sound of surprise. After a brief moment’s thought, he shook his head.

“Not in any real detail. I’ve never been to the northern frontier myself. Mhm... Third Young Master, did you see something in the gazette about our Great Flame Empire fighting those barbarians?”

Xu Yuan gave a slight nod. “Yes. I never paid attention to it before, but now that I’ve seen it, I find myself concerned. So I thought I’d ask.”

“You truly care for the nation and its people.” Zhou Chen clasped his hands toward the back of the carriage in salute, then said with a grin, “I really don’t know the specifics, but if you truly care about it, once we return to the estate, you can have the steward prepare an internal briefing from the Chancellor’s Manor. The gazettes circulated within our manor are far more detailed than the public ones.”

“An internal briefing?” Xu Yuan arched a brow.

Zhou Chen sounded utterly unconcerned. “The official gazettes have all been filtered through the Morning Dispatch Office. A lot gets left out.”

Xu Yuan understood at once and said nothing more.

But Zhou Chen, perhaps reminded of something by the topic, suddenly let out a long sigh. He lifted his wine gourd, took a hearty swig, and began muttering under his breath. “That pack from the Morning Dispatch Office only ever reports good news, never the bad. Things are already such a mess outside, and they still pretend not to know?”

At that, Xu Yuan’s brows immediately drew together. Such a mess? Stillwater was flourishing like this, and yet the world outside was in chaos? If that were true, then at least it would line up with the plot.

After a moment of thought, Xu Yuan asked, “What exactly do you mean by things outside being such a mess?”

Zhou Chen glanced back in surprise toward the small window of the carriage. Nowadays, with demonic beasts and bandits running wild across the land, wasn’t that common knowledge? How could the Third Young Master not know?

But after a brief thought, he quickly understood, and smiled with a trace of helplessness. This Third Young Master had either been in the Imperial Capital or in the vast prefectural city of Stillwater. He had hardly ever left the city at all. Raised in honey, so to speak, it was only natural he knew nothing of the outside world.

Zhou Chen chose his words carefully and lowered his voice. “Third Young Master, you’ve spent all your time within the prefectural city, so there’s much you don’t know. In recent years, disasters natural and man-made have never really stopped across the realm.”

As he spoke, Zhou Chen sighed, his tone turning more complicated.

“I was previously ordered to travel from the Imperial Capital to Stillwater. On the way, I ran into demonic beast attacks more times than I could count. Flying overhead, I passed village after village where all I could see were ruined walls and scattered bones.”

Xu Yuan’s heart sank. “Demonic beasts attacking people?”

Zhou Chen explained, “Not the domesticated ones harming their handlers. I mean the ones still roaming the wild mountains and fields.”

“I know that. What I mean is, where are the people from the Directorate of Celestial Oversight? If demonic beasts are attacking the common people, isn’t that exactly their responsibility?”

This time, Zhou Chen did not answer.

After a long pause, and seeing that Zhou Chen still said nothing, Xu Yuan spoke first. “Whatever it is, just say it. There’s no need to hold back on my account.”

At that, Zhou Chen stopped keeping silent. He smiled. “Because the court has no money.”

There was a faint trace of mockery in his laugh. No money meant the Directorate of Celestial Oversight was understaffed. And with too few people, they simply could not keep up. As for why there was no money?

The carriage fell quiet for several breaths. Only after a long while did Xu Yuan speak again. “Can you explain the reason to me? Official corruption?”

Hearing that, Zhou Chen no longer seemed to have any reservations. He simply replied in a low voice, “That’s only part of it.”

“And the rest?” Xu Yuan asked.

Zhou Chen did not answer directly. Instead, he tossed back a question of his own. “Third Young Master, do you know how many businesses in Stillwater belong to the sects?”

Xu Yuan’s gaze sharpened slightly. He shook his head. “I don’t.”

Drinking as he spoke, Zhou Chen rambled on, “The Drunken Immortal Tower, the Misty River Pavilion, the demon-beast textile market in the east of the city, the hundred thousand hectares of fertile farmland outside the city, all of it and more belongs to the sects. The silver needed to support that pack of sect disciples who produce nothing is several times greater than the yearly military budget for the border army.”

Zhou Chen’s tone was casual, but his voice remained low and heavy. “But those sects pay no taxes. What they talk about is tribute. And as for how much tribute they offer each year... heh, they decide that themselves.”

Xu Yuan felt his scalp go faintly numb. He more or less understood now. The example was sitting right in front of him.

The Drunken Immortal Tower was Mister Qin’s property. And the fact that Xu Changge had tried to kill Mister Qin outright during the Celeste Assembly meant the man was also from one of the local sects.

The Drunken Immortal Tower alone, as a den for burning silver, probably earned an astronomical sum in a single night.

And that was only one tiny corner among the sects’ countless industries. Yet the court did not receive a single coin of it.

Even the gentry of ancient times in his previous life had never been this outrageous. No matter how things played out in practice, at least on paper those people merely received tax reductions and preferential treatment. But here, these sects simply paid nothing at all.

Seeing that Xu Yuan remained silent for a long time,

Zhou Chen clasped his hands toward the heavens. “Third Young Master, the Chancellor has repeatedly petitioned the Crown Prince, hoping to deal with this problem. But every time, the Crown Prince rejects it, saying that ancestral law must not be altered lightly. My guess is that Mister Qin made his move against you mostly because of this.”