Where Immortals Once Walked

Everyone received a bamboo tube except for the He brothers; He Chunhua did not give them anything.

Wu Shaoyi picked one up and shook it. Something rattled inside, something that sounded solid but small. “What’s this?”

“Open it and have a look.”

As soon as they pulled off the stoppers in their bamboo tubes, the rich, heady scent of tobacco spilled out.

Wu Shaoyi’s face lit up. “Chewing tobacco?”

He fished out a piece and popped it into his mouth, slowly chewing as he nodded in delight. “Good stuff. Excellent, even! Many thanks, my lord.”

He Yue could only look on enviously. “Father, where did this come from?”

“This is a specialty of the State of Beijia, shipped all the way from the north.” He Chunhua rolled a small piece between his fingers instead of chewing it. “Great Yuan has an agreement with Beijia, every year we’re required to import a number of their goods. This chewing tobacco is only one of them. Now that the border has moved all the way down to Xia Province, the job of sending people to the border markets to collect the shipments falls to me. And here’s something I only learned today, our official post stations in Xia Province are required to give Beijia merchants priority lodging. If a Beijia caravan is attacked, local officials must investigate the matter to the very end.”

Post stations mainly served government messengers. Without their water, food, and horses, there would not be urgent courier services that span several hundred kilometers. Yet Yuan had promised Beijia the privilege of these stations being unable to refuse their merchants.

Such privileges were utterly out of reach for Yuan’s own commoners.

Zeng Feixiong wrinkled his nose. He was not someone who used tobacco. His brow furrowed as he asked, “What’s so hard about making chewing tobacco ourselves? Why go through all that trouble?” Transporting such products so far must cost a lot of time, money, and effort.

“Because Beijia’s products are the best, and the people love them.” He Chunhua tapped the bamboo tube lightly. “Just look at this container, it’s made of azure jade bamboo from the southern region of Beijia. The color is lustrous like jade, and when struck, it rings like metal. Some even use it to craft instruments. The outer skin is thin, the whole thing light as a feather.” He weighed the tube in his hand before continuing, “Now compare that to Yuan’s own chewing tobacco. What do we pack it in? What’s the quality? Hm?”

Zeng Feixiong had no reply.

“I was in Shihuan these past few days, and all the nobles were gifting each other Beijia chewing tobacco. That’s how fashionable it’s become. Their tubes are even painted or gilded for decoration, to show off when they’re passed around. Even wealthy merchants use Beijia tobacco to entertain guests. It’s become a sign of status.” He tossed the tube once, letting it land neatly back in his palm. “A single little tube like this sells for one tael of silver, and the farther south you go, the higher the price. If it’s a gilded tube, double it.”

Wu Shaoyi was still chewing, eyes half-closed in bliss. “No impurities at all. It’s been smoked, baked, and soaked in honey. The taste’s divine! I’ll never touch that dog-crap stuff I used to chew again!”

He had been a dirt farmer before; who would have thought that he would ever get to enjoy such luxury?

Watching him, a spark flashed in He Lingchuan’s mind.

The azure jade bamboo looked familiar. When he had redeemed his military merits in the Panlong Dreamscape, were his rewards not packed in the very same kind of tube?

He even remembered that people in Panlong City used to collect these tubes for resale after refinishing them.

Yes, he recalled now. The Bureau of Bright Prospects in Panlong City had issued its tobacco in near-identical azure jade bamboo tubes. The color and shape were slightly different, that was all. But considering that had been a product from over a hundred years ago, some evolution in craftsmanship was perfectly natural.[1]

This meant that the chewing tobacco Panlong City distributed to its soldiers had also come from Beijia!

Come to think of it, he vaguely remembered Hu Min mentioning that Panlong City had business dealings with Beijia as well, and on a fairly large scale, too.

Yuan’s foreign trade was more advanced than he had realized.

He Chunhua sighed. “But the most important reason we buy isn’t because we want to. It’s because we have to. The amount we purchase each year and the price we pay are written directly into the treaty. In recent years, with disasters and unrest everywhere, we’ve cut back on imports and delayed payments, and Beijia’s grown rather displeased.”

If the former He Lingchuan were still here, he would have asked the same question that crossed the current He Lingchuan’s mind, “Why do we have to buy it?”

He Chunhua fell silent for a few breaths before replying calmly, “Because Beijia granted asylum to the Provincial Governor of Xun Province, Nian Zanli. That was a slap in our face.”

He coughed lightly. “Once we reach Xia Province, we’ll be facing a far more complicated situation, and that’s just one of the headaches. I’m telling you this so you’ll be mentally prepared. No matter how we fight Nian Zanli, Beijia is not a state we can afford to offend. Alright, enough digression. Time to discuss business.”

He gave a nod to Old Steward Mo, who immediately left the room and soon returned, ushering in a man dressed as a merchant. “Master, I’ve brought Manager Qian.”

Old Mo closed the windows and stationed himself outside to stand guard. After all, this was a post station inn, and one could never be too careful of eavesdroppers.

He Chunhua introduced the newcomer, “This is Manager Qian. He oversees the Zhu Family’s business in Dunyu. He’s been stationed there for twenty years and knows the capital of Xia Province better than any native.”

“Governor-General He flatters me,” said Manager Qian, bowing to everyone with a genial smile. “Greetings, my lords.”

“I asked Old Zhu for this favor,” He Chunhua explained. “He kindly sent Manager Qian here to brief us on the situation in Dunyu. This way, once we arrive, we won’t be like blind men fumbling in a strange city.”

After returning Zhu Xiu’er to her family, He Chunhua had built a cordial friendship with the Zhu Family. Their trade network in Xia Province was extensive, and of course, they were eager to help the new governor-general.

He nodded at Manager Qian. “Let’s start. What’s the latest news on the northern front, and what’s the situation inside Dunyu?”

Manager Qian began his report in a measured tone.

He Lingchuan already knew that Great Yuan’s northern campaign had gone poorly, but he did not know that it had gone this poorly.

The former Grand General of the Northern Expedition, Nian Zanli, had defected to the northern monster state with his entire Xun Province in tow. Overnight, the front lines had shifted south, moving from the northern border of Xun Province to the eastern region of Hao Province.

For years, Xun Province had served as the border line. The soldiers of Haozhou had little combat experience, and their defenses crumbled in no time. Within a month, Nian Zanli’s army had stormed through.

His advance was unstoppable, pressing the battlefront right up to Hao Province’s southern region.

That placed the fighting mere steps from the border of Xia Province, which was He Chunhua’s new jurisdiction. If Nian Zanli captured the last three cities in the southern region of Hao Province, war would spill directly into Xia Province.

The news of He Chunhua’s appointment to the northern command must have already reached Nian Zanli. The traitorous general who had lost his son to the Hes would no doubt be eager for revenge, and his relentless offensives showed it.

For now, the one holding the line in the southern region of Hao Province was Grand General Zhao Pan, who had been sent directly by the royal court. The two had traded victories back and forth, and Zhao Pan had managed, barely, to halt Nian Zanli’s advance.

There was no doubt that Zhao Pan desperately needed support from the rear. And that rear was Xia Province.

There was no doubt that he was in a similar situation to Ke Jihai.

He Chunhua and the others did not need to say it aloud. Xia Province would have to shoulder the lion’s share of logistical supply. The royal court had already sent repeated orders demanding full cooperation.

Manager Qian sighed. “My family deals in textiles—silks and furs, mostly. But ever since war broke out in the north, every cloth merchant in Dunyu has been ordered to shift to cotton fabric for uniforms and winter coats. The army requested thirty thousand sets of winter wear before the first snow, but even now that the spring thaw has come, only about seven thousand have reached the front, which is barely forty percent.”

He Yue frowned. “Surely Xia Province isn’t the only one responsible for military supplies?”

“It’s the closest to the front, so it bears the heaviest burden,” Manager Qian explained. “Just the cotton-clothing quota alone is over three thousand sets. We merchants had to scrape together funds from our own pockets to fill the order, and the government still hasn’t reimbursed us.

And that’s only clothing. Food shortages are far worse. I’ve heard of one camp that mutinied. Some soldiers were so hungry they defected to the enemy.”

With morale that low, no army could fight properly.

Mozhe Jingxuan asked, “Didn’t Xia Province have two straight years of good harvests? Why’s there still a grain shortage?”

“That’s just it,” Manager Qian said. “Because of those good harvests, the royal court ordered Xia Province to deliver its grain north to relieve the crisis. After three such deliveries, the largest grain depot in Dunyu suddenly caught fire.”

“I heard about that in Shihuan. Over ten million kilograms of grain burned to ash,” He Chunhua said, his face expressionless. “The King was furious. He smashed two cups in a row and couldn’t sleep all night.”

Enough food to feed the front for a year and a half, gone in a single blaze. Who would not be livid?

Manager Qian gave a dry laugh. “Over ten million? Hardly. Nine-tenths of that were empty books. According to reliable word, there was barely over a million and a half kilograms of real grain in that warehouse. No one even knows the exact number, not even the grain officers themselves. The fire simply wiped the slate clean.”

Zeng Feixiong slammed his palm on the table. “Then where did the rest go?”

“In recent years, Dunyu’s granaries have rarely been used. Every autumn, officials would enter new shipments into the books but secretly sell most of it themselves, even swapping old grain for new grain that was meant for the granaries. No one expected General Nian to rebel or Xia Province to become the front line overnight. A great deal of grain had already been smuggled north into Xun Province. When war broke out, the granaries were already nearly empty.”

Several generals cursed aloud. “So the enemy’s been enjoying our grain while killing our men?”

He Lingchuan bit into a pear with a crunch. “Who’s behind it? Someone had to be in charge of this operation. It’s been going on for years, hasn’t it?”

“Dunyu happens to be the ancestral home of Minister of War Li Dushan[2],” Manager Qian said carefully. “His family runs large businesses here, and no one dares cross them. The biggest grain firm in Xia Province is Baoxiang House. The owner’s surname is Liu, but the actual controller of the business is the Li Family.”

“At first, they kept it small, just a few fake accounts. However, year after year, nothing happened. Eventually, others got jealous and started copying them. Now the books are a mess, and the granaries are nothing but a shell.”

Wu Shaoyi’s voice was cold. “That grain officer deserves death. Same old tricks, same rotten stench.”

He had seen such behavior before. Down south, when he served under Hong Xiangqian, the Righteous Army rose up because the royal court kept squeezing the starving people dry. Years of flood, years of drought, and nothing ever changed; they continued to suffer from the same corruption year after year.

Now I’ve turned from rebel to soldier, but the rot hasn’t changed.

He Chunhua nodded slowly.

As the saying goes, a straw shows which way the wind blows. If the granaries in the provincial capital could be this rotten, what about the rest of the province? The more he learned, the clearer it became that this assignment to Xia Province was going to be anything but simple.

1. If you’re wondering, this was not mentioned before. ☜

2. This is a different kind of minister of war. I provide a lengthier explanation in the translation notes/thoughts sections. ☜