Three days went by in a blink.
At the Sky River landing, Ning Chen and the rest began boarding.
Because this journey was for peace talks and no one yet knew how the talks would end, there was none of the ceremony there had been when the army marched out.
This time Ning Chen brought Pan Yucheng, Feng Qizheng and Chen Chong… and Diaochan, of course.
Li Hongzhuo and Shen Min had both brought guards of their own.
Five days later they reached Lingzhou.
Without stopping, they made straight for Mangzhou.
From Lingzhou to Mangzhou took roughly another five days.
Once he reached Mangzhou, Ning Chen met with the Mangzhou officials.
The Mangzhou officials counted as Ning Chen’s own men.
If Ning Chen had not taken Mangzhou, not one of them would ever have sat in the seat he now held.
And on top of that, Ning Chen was a marquis now.
At the banquet, one after another pledged his loyalty.
Ning Chen did not stand on his rank either. He treated men of ability with courtesy and drew the ties closer.
After the banquet broke up, Ning Chen went alone under cover of darkness to the Mei residence.
The place had been renamed the Chai residence by now.
Chai Dazhuang had come to Mangzhou once the fifteenth of the first month was past.
Ning Chen stepped up and struck the door ring.
The door opened.
The man who opened it was a powerfully built fellow of middle years. At the sight of Ning Chen he was thoroughly startled. “Young Master Ning?”
The man was one of Gu Yichun’s people.
After the fifteenth, Ning Chen had sent them to escort Chai Dazhuang to Mangzhou.
Ning Chen gave a nod and smiled. “Are you settling in all right in Mangzhou?”
The man said quickly, “My thanks to the marquis for his concern… It’s very good here.”
Ning Chen smiled and stepped inside.
When Chai Dazhuang heard Ning Chen had come, he hurried out to receive him.
They came to the main hall, and Ning Chen sat down.
Chai Dazhuang hurriedly served tea.
“Well? Is everything going smoothly?”
Chai Dazhuang said quickly, “It’s all going smoothly… Fourth Young Master, let me report on how things stand in the residence. There are twenty maidservants now—”
Ning Chen waved a hand. “I’ve told you before, small things like that are yours to decide… You and Uncle Chai are my family. If I can’t trust you, who can I trust?”
Chai Dazhuang was so moved his eyes reddened.
Ning Chen took a sip of tea and then said, “Uncle Chai is in good health. We’ve engaged a teacher at the house, and little Huzi has started learning to read and write.”
Chai Dazhuang dropped to his knees with a thud. “Thank you, Fourth Young Master. If it weren’t for the Fourth Young Master, I—”
Ning Chen did not let him finish. He pulled him back to his feet.
“We’re all one family. Don’t go dropping to your knees at every turn, and don’t keep thanks on your lips either… While I’m away, this place depends on you. Keep our home safe for us.”
Chai Dazhuang’s eyes were red. “The Fourth Young Master may rest easy. I’ll keep the home safe.”
Ning Chen made a sound of assent and rose. “I have important business to attend to and can’t stay long… I’ll take a turn around the residence in a while and then I should be going.”
“Then this small man will walk with the Fourth Young Master.”
Ning Chen waved a hand. “No need. I’ll take a turn on my own.”
Ning Chen went alone to the rear courtyard.
Once he was sure there was no one about, he went into the treasure vault.
He was not long inside before he came out again, and then he left the Chai residence.
The next day the party left Mangzhou, riding fast and light.
They were more than ten full days on the road before they reached the frontier.
Back then, Ning Chen had left Yuan Long and Qi Yuanzhong at the frontier.
The hundred-odd thousand men at the frontier were his greatest support and his line of retreat, so they had to be under the command of his own people.
After the last battle at the frontier, Yuan Long had been promoted… He was a general of the Third Rank now.
When the men met again, there was no avoiding a hard night’s drinking.
The next day Ning Chen mustered two hundred men, all musketeers, and made straight for the Wu Kingdom.
At their head was Wu Tiezhu.
Wu Tiezhu had been raised to Captain of a Thousand.
Naturally, his rising that fast was Ning Chen’s doing.
Two days later the party had crossed into Wu territory.
Wu had nothing like Great Xuan’s spread of land, but it was not small either.
They pressed on, and it was five days more before they reached the Wu capital.
Wu’s buildings were no different from Great Xuan’s, and the people looked much the same.
By appearance alone it was hard to tell a man of Great Xuan from a man of Wu.
Before the gates of the Wu capital, men were already waiting to receive them.
When Ning Chen and the rest reached the gates, they dismounted, straightened their clothes and caps, and walked forward at an unhurried pace.
An official in court dress, fat of body, with a smile on him like the Maitreya Buddha’s, came hurrying up to meet them.
“I am Fu Lu, Minister of Rites of the Wu Kingdom. Welcome to the mission from Great Xuan.”
Wu, like Great Xuan, had its six ministries.
At this point another man stepped forward — lean, with a steady, settled look about him, in his middle years. “I am Li Ruishi, Minister of Revenue of the Wu Kingdom. Welcome to the mission from Great Xuan.”
Li Ruishi?
Something flickered in Ning Chen’s eyes.
Before coming to Wu he had been to the Carefree Escort House and seen Silence… and had gone over the factions at the Wu court.
This Li Ruishi was the woman emperor’s man.
Which meant this Fu Lu had to be the Prince Regent’s.
Wu had campaigned year after year and its treasury was empty.
So when the woman emperor proposed peace talks with Great Xuan, the Prince Regent had agreed to them too.
The men sent to receive them could not all be the woman emperor’s.
Ning Chen cupped one fist in the other. “The Idle Marquis of Great Xuan, Ning Chen!”
Every Wu official who had come to meet them turned his eyes on Ning Chen.
Ning Chen’s name had long since gone around the whole Wu court.
A man like Ning Chen was someone every kingdom watched closely.
Fu Lu cupped his hands. “Marquis Ning, your fame has long reached us!”
“Lord Fu is too kind. A little scrap of a name, not worth mentioning!”
Fu Lu’s face was wreathed in smiles. “Marquis Ning is too modest! The marquis is accomplished in both letters and arms. I have read no small number of those poems of yours — every line of them a masterpiece for the ages. I am full of admiration.”
Nonsense. Sure, I lifted every one of them for free, but every line is the essence distilled out of several thousand years of history. Of course they’re masterpieces for the ages.
Ning Chen grumbled inwardly.
After that, the party named themselves to one another and made their introductions.
“Gentlemen, this way please!”
Ning Chen and the rest swung back into the saddle and rode into the city behind Fu Lu and the others.
Both sides of the street were packed with Wu commoners come to see the excitement.
Feng Qizheng edged closer and lowered his voice. “Ning Chen, I brought the war banner. Should we plant it?”
Ning Chen shook his head. “We’ve come to talk peace, not to pick a fight.”
Feng Qizheng made a small sound, then split into a grin. “The women of Wu are nothing at all like the women of Great Xuan. Every one of them looks fierce, but the figures on them are really something.”
Ning Chen shot him a glare.
Wu prized martial skill, and its women did too… So the women of Wu did not look as delicate as the women of Great Xuan; they had a bold, dashing air instead.
“I wonder what the courtesans of Wu are like?”
Feng Qizheng muttered it under his breath.
Ning Chen was speechless, and warned him, “We’re here representing Great Xuan. Don’t shame Great Xuan.”
“Ning Chen, that isn’t right of you… Since we’ve come to Wu, we ought to follow the local custom and get some experience of the place and its people.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. “What you want experience of is the local women, I think.”
“Don’t make me out to be some kind of beast. I hear the women of Wu prize martial skill and have fierce tempers… I’ll go to a courtesan house and sound out how deep it really runs, and see whether it’s so.”
“If even the women of Wu are bloodthirsty and love war, then Great Xuan had better be careful… So I have to go and sound out their depths and get it all clear.”
Feng Qizheng said it with an air of high principle.
Ning Chen’s face twitched. Sound out their depths — what a beautiful choice of words.
(End of Chapter 349)