Chapter 9: The Newly Baked Prince

  "The Emperor's Decree: The weight of the world is not solely on the ruler's comfort, and the achievements of emperors are not just one person's strategy. A gentleman establishes himself with many virtues, but sincerity and filial piety come first. Now, there is the eldest son of the Eastern Palace, Yang Zhao, who although still young, has excellent learning and conduct, capable of handling state affairs. Strong and upright, he adheres to the law without wavering. In his time, he did not fear hardship and danger, bravely taking on responsibilities, sharing the worries of his ruler and father, which greatly comforted my heart. Therefore, I specially promote him to be the King of Henan, adding the position of Neishi Commander, concurrently holding the Left Guard General, in charge of palace security. Also, permission is granted to establish a separate household, and a residence is bestowed upon him. He should strive diligently and not disappoint his ruler and father's expectations. Now, this decree is proclaimed to the world, so that all may know."

  "The Emperor's Decree: Now, there is the Extremely Blissful Sect, with profound and subtle Buddhist teachings, saving and liberating all kinds of sentient beings. All living beings are protected by it. The sect leader Mahayana has high virtues and prestige, suitable to be the Imperial Teacher. Therefore, we specially decree that the Extremely Blissful Sect shall be the orthodox teaching of the state, and Mahayana shall be the State-Protecting Dharma Master. We bestow 800 qing of good fields, a fiefdom of 1,000 households, respectfully obey this."

  "By the order of Emperor Yang of Sui: The Koguryo envoy, Yi Jeong-mun, is coarse and unrefined, speaking without decorum, with a reckless and arrogant attitude. He should be severely punished, but considering it's his first offense, he will only receive a light punishment. He will be flogged thirty times in front of the Taiji Hall, expelled from the country, and handed over to King Gao of Koguryo for strict discipline. He is forbidden from entering Sui territory again for the rest of his life."

  The first year of Kaihuang... no, it's the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Emperor Yang Jian of the Great Sui has already issued a decree to change the era name to Renshou and grant amnesty to all under heaven. So now, it is the thirteenth day of the first month of the first year of Renshou. The sun shines brightly, the sky is clear and cloudless for thousands of miles. The weather is so good that it makes one feel extremely comfortable from head to toe, inside and out.

  Yang Zhao, riding on horseback, was in a good mood. Not only because of the weather, nor entirely because of that "appointment as King of Henan, Inner History Commander, and Left Guard General, jointly in charge of palace guards and imperial security. Also granted permission to open a mansion, and awarded a residence" reward.

  He was made the Prince of Henan, but it was just an empty title. Since Qin Shi Huang, the idea of a unified China has been deeply ingrained in people's minds, and would never allow for the existence of a state within a state. When Emperor Wu of Jin unified the country, he enfeoffed his princes with great powers, but soon after, the Eight Princes' Rebellion broke out, throwing the world into chaos, forcing the Jin court to flee south, marking the beginning of the era of division between north and south, and the tragic period of the Five Barbarians' invasion.

  After nearly four hundred years, it was finally reunified. With Yang Jian's wise and powerful leadership, he would not repeat the mistakes of history. Therefore, whether it was the division of the five sons in those days or the promotion of Yang Zhao as the King of Henan today, they only represented a special honor. Although they could eat fiefs, they did not actually take charge of affairs, nor could they interfere with local officials handling government affairs.

  Gan Neishi Ling, concurrently Left Wei Da Jiangjun, cooperated with the palace to guard against prohibition. The reason is also about the same. The Sui Dynasty's official system, in general, still followed the old example of the previous dynasty, but also had some innovations. It was divided into three provinces: Shangshu, Menxia, and Neishi. The Neishi Province was mainly responsible for participating in national policy-making, drafting and promulgating imperial edicts. In modern terms, it can be compared to a National Legislative Committee, which is extremely important in status.

  But Yang Zhao is only fifteen years old now, and neither his talent nor his reputation are sufficient to truly take on the role of Neishi Ling, and with that little foundation in national studies, picking up a brush to write would absolutely make people laugh (in fact, when Yang Zhao used pencils and ballpoint pens to do homework before, he was criticized by teachers for writing like a child), and the Four Books and Five Classics are dizzying to read (the lack of punctuation marks is really painful). As for the situation of the people, officials, geography, and customs in various places in Great Sui, it's even more unclear, so what laws can be expected from him, what imperial edicts can he draft?

  As for concurrently holding the position of Left Guard General to assist in the management of the palace guards, the Sui dynasty originally had its own personnel. Everything was well-organized and there was no need for Yang Zhao to suddenly descend upon them to interfere with trivial matters. Therefore, Yang Guang specially instructed Yang Zhao that he did not need to get involved in the affairs of the Left Guard, and it would be enough if he just showed up for a few days each month.

  Only the grant of "opening a mansion" made Yang Zhao truly happy. Thinking back to those days... no, that's not right. From the perspective of this era, it should be said as "later generations". In true history, nearly twenty years later in the fourth year of Tang Wu De, Li Shimin defeated Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande's allied forces with his identity as the Right Guard General, and captured Luoyang. Emperor Li Yuan then appointed his second son as the Heavenly Strategy General and granted him a mansion. That was the origin of the famous Tian Ce Fu in history.

  Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Hou Junji, Luo Shixin, Li Jing, Xu Shi, Qin Shubao, Cheng Zhi, Wei Zhengde and other ancient famous ministers, at that time all entered the Tian Ce Fu, for Li Shimin to plan strategies, charge into battle, and make great achievements. Moreover, at that time, many of these people were only in their early twenties, still unknown, seeking opportunities to make a name for themselves. Now that Yang Zhao has also obtained the right to open his own mansion, it's like when he played the game "Taizong's Ambition" before, finally being promoted from a humble household manager to a city lord, able to freely recruit his own ministers without restriction.

  Not long ago, Yang Zhao had just inquired about the second son of Li Yuan's family, who was exactly three years old this year and still wearing open-crotch pants. However, thinking about the history to come, Yang Zhao felt that if he wanted to change something, it would be better to start preparing now. At this point, he secretly made up his mind to find time to visit Yang Su's mansion, entrust him for help, and gather all those impressive people in his own Henan Wangfu.

  Of course, Yang Zhao was happiest about being able to move out of the Daxing Palace and have his own mansion outside. For half a year since crossing over, he had been cooped up in the East Palace every day, never taking a single step out. At first, it didn't feel so bad, but as time went on, he naturally couldn't take it anymore. To think that before crossing over, even when Yang Zhao called himself a shut-in, his record was no more than seven days without leaving the house (of course, back then he lived in a house of only over 50 square meters, whereas now it's at least thousands of square meters).

  Besides, it's not easy to travel through time and space, if you can't come out and take a walk, see the prosperous world with your own eyes, wouldn't that be a pity? In the past six months, he has gradually established real family feelings with his current grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, especially with Xiao Shi. However, since he is a traveler from another time, there will always be some secrets that cannot be said. Moving out of the palace to live would also make it more convenient for him to do things in the future. So, even though he was reluctant, Yang Zhao bid farewell to his parents and Xiao Shi, and left the palace without looking back.

  At this moment, Yang Zhao rode on the white horse presented by the Huihe tribe, and the fragrance bag hanging from his waist was a gift given to him by Yang Guang and Xiao Shi before they departed.

  Later generations of Northern Song Dynasty ci poet Liu Yong wrote in his poem "Wang Hai Chao":

  The southeast shape wins, Jiang Wu's metropolis, Qiantang has been prosperous since ancient times. Smoke willow painted bridge, wind screen emerald curtain, ten million households are different. Cloud tree encircles the dam sand, angry billows roll frost and snow, heavenly moat is endless. The market is lined with pearls and jade, the household is full of silk and brocade, competing in luxury and extravagance.

  Heavy lotus fragrance, three autumns of osmanthus fragrans, ten miles of lotus flowers, shepherd's pipe plays in the clear sky, water chestnut song floats at night, happily hanging lotus lanterns. A thousand riders surround the high bank, drunk and listening to the sheng drum, chanting and appreciating the misty haze. On a future day, I will draw a picture of this beautiful scene, returning to the Phoenix Pool to boast.

  It's just a mere 130 words, yet it vividly depicts the prosperity and beauty of Hangzhou, this metropolis in Jiangnan. However, during the first year of the Taishi era, Hangzhou was merely a small county called Qiantang in a remote area of Jiangnan, not even ranking among the top in the great Sui dynasty. The number one prosperous metropolis in the world is actually the city of Daxing where I am now.

  The so-called "thousand streets are like a chessboard, twelve streets are like vegetable fields". The twenty-six streets in the north, south, east and west are indeed like a chessboard, dividing the entire Daxing City into 110 neat squares. Especially the Zhuque Street that runs through the north and south of Daxing City is even more bustling with cars and horses, and people are as crowded as fish. Whether it's the location or the prosperity, compared to Beijing's Chang'an Avenue in 2009, it's not inferior at all. If Liu Yong's lyrics only need to be slightly modified and used to describe today's Daxing City, it would be truly perfect.

  Yang Zhao rode on a tall horse, surrounded by seven or eight newly assigned palace guards. Even without any fanfare, they still attracted attention as they paraded through the streets. Yang Zhao couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart. Since communicating with Tianjian and meditating for seven days and nights, his martial arts skills had improved significantly, and his temperament had also become more stable. He not only disliked this kind of flashy display but also wished to avoid it as much as possible.

  In her heart, Yang Zhao secretly decided that she would come out alone again to have a good stroll. With a tug on the reins, she urged the horse to quicken its pace and left Zhuque Avenue to enter Xishi Street.

  This side of the city is close to the imperial palace, so many high-ranking officials and nobles live here. Yang Zhao's Henan Wangfu was located on Yong'an Street, a bustling section that was also known as Zhuque Avenue. The mansion was not newly built, but rather the old residence of Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou from the previous dynasty. Although it had been vacant since the change of dynasties, it was regularly cleaned and maintained, and had not fallen into disrepair. Now that Yang Jian has awarded it to his grandson, orders were transmitted on this side, and personnel were arranged by the inner court on the other side, so they could move in immediately, which is very convenient.

  Along the street of Jingyangfang, turning to Yong'an Avenue, only a wide canal over ten zhangs in width was seen cutting off the north and south, flowing forward. There is a magnificent stone arch bridge standing on top of the waterway. Yang Zhao sighed and asked casually: "What place is this? Does that bridge have a name?" A clever young servant next to him rushed forward and said: "Young master Wang... The canal below is Yong'an Canal, which connects Wei River. Half of the residents in Daxing City rely on it for water use, as well as cargo transportation. This bridge is called Jiamabridge, the largest stone bridge in our Daxing City. Because the households on both sides of the bridge are either rich or noble, it is also called Fugui Bridge."

  "Oh? Is this the Jumping Horse Bridge?" For a moment, Yang Zhao felt a sense of absurdity in his heart. After a while, he couldn't help but laugh foolishly. Yang Su was at the height of his power and favor with the emperor. How could he possibly build a treasure trove under the emperor's nose, preparing for a future rebellion? The idea of Yang Gong's treasure trove should not exist in this world!

  Although that's what he said, Yang Zhao was still driven by curiosity and jumped off his horse, walking onto the bridge with a steady pace. He secretly mobilized his internal energy and stretched out his hand to pat the dragon head pillar. Of course, there was no reaction. In front of so many people, even if he were a prince, it wouldn't be possible for him to crawl under the bridge to look for some mechanism. So he just laughed it off and let it go. He thought back to that little fellow being quite clever earlier, and realized that in the future when he went out, he would also need someone to help take care of things. Therefore, he intentionally tried to promote him, but then turned around and asked: "What's your name, where are you from? What position do you currently hold?"

  The young man was overjoyed and smiled apologetically, saying: "Young master, my surname is also Xiao, with the double name of Bai Lang. I am a distant relative of the princess's family. If we consider our clan's generation order, it would be more appropriate for me to address you as 'Uncle'. Currently, I belong to the Imperial Palace's Inner Servants Department. The princess was worried that you had no one by your side, so she specially appointed me to attend to you."

  "Oh, you're from the Imperial Censorate?" Yang Zhao was slightly surprised. The so-called Imperial Censorate referred to the department in charge of managing eunuchs within the imperial palace. This Xiao Bai Lang looked quite decent, but unexpectedly turned out to be a eunuch? He asked, "You are a maternal relative, from your mother's side of the family, how did you end up like this?"

  Xiao Bailang's expression turned gloomy, and he said, "It wasn't supposed to be like this. But it's because of our family's own doing in the past... It would be better if you didn't hear about such a despicable matter, young master."

  Yang Zhao saw that he was unwilling to speak and did not force him. He nodded and said, "Well, then you can follow me from now on as a long-time follower." Xiao Bai Lang was overjoyed and immediately expressed his gratitude, almost kneeling down to thank him in front of everyone.

  Yang Zhao waved his hand and walked a few steps forward, resting his hands on the railing to gaze out at the distance. The scenery was exquisite, and for a moment he felt carefree and exhilarated. But just as he was indulging in this feeling, he suddenly sensed a faint movement in his heart, as if some ferocious beast with an aura of extreme danger was lurking far away, staring at him with piercing eyes.

  Yang Zhao was suddenly startled, subconsciously operating his internal energy to be on guard, and the feeling in his heart became increasingly clear. Turning back to gaze intently, he saw that the flow of people at the south end of the stone bridge had suddenly been cut in two by an invisible sharp knife. Passersby were shocked, automatically parting to either side. At the far end of the long street to the south, a tall and thin lone figure was slowly approaching Jumping Horse Bridge.

  He wore a kasaya, with half his arm exposed, and his skin was as dark as raw iron. Wherever he stepped with his bare feet, the left footprints were frozen with cold frost, while the right footprints were scorched black as if burned by fire. It was indeed Tianzhu monk: Fa Ran!