Chapter 49: Securing Accommodation for Four Thousand People

“Hmph, you are indeed guilty.”
At these words, the gathered ministers grew all the more fearful.
“We are guilty beyond pardon and beg Your Majesty to restrain your anger and care for your imperial health.”
Those courtiers who had been implicated cast resentful looks toward the faction of the Third Prince.
It was their own reckless actions that brought disaster upon them—why should innocents be dragged down as well?
They felt terribly wronged!
The Emperor’s gaze softened as it fell upon Shen Zhao and Xie Yuheng. In truth, it was always these straightforward military men that most pleased him. His tone grew gentler. “You two may rise. I know of your grievances, and I know all you have done was for the sake of the capital’s soldiers. I will see justice done for you and for those who serve in the capital’s army.”
Shen Zhao knocked his head to the floor repeatedly. “Your Majesty is wise. On behalf of the four thousand soldiers, this humble servant thanks Your Majesty for your imperial grace.”
“However, there is one more favor I must ask,” Shen Zhao continued, not rising. “I would like to request a proper place to live for those four thousand soldiers.”
“That is hardly difficult. They are men who defend our nation and our people. Even without your plea, I would never again let them sleep upon the bare earth,” the Emperor replied.
If nothing else, this silent man truly did care for his subordinates—no wonder he was the general of the capital’s army.
The Emperor looked upon Shen Zhao with even more favor, though the man was a little too blunt for courtly taste, and his actions sometimes left others at a loss. Yet there was no denying that everything he sought was not for himself, but for his men.
A glint of slyness flashed in Shen Zhao’s eyes. “On my way from camp into the city, I passed a plot of land—one hundred and fifty acres in size. That land had been claimed by Grand Preceptor Pang and his associates for the construction of a poetry academy.
The area was already piled with timber for the building, and workmen were present. Yet there are already several poetry academies in the capital, and the surrounding area is filled with teahouses and taverns—an ideal location in my eyes for the soldiers’ residence. Thus, I beg Your Majesty to grant that land to the four thousand unfortunate men who now sleep on the ground.”
Grand Preceptor Pang and his peers immediately stared, wide-eyed.
He truly dared to ask for anything!
That land lay on the outskirts of the city, nestled against mountains and water. They had chosen it for their poetry academy precisely because it would be convenient for future excursions. The neighboring plots had been bought at great cost, and the teahouses and taverns built there were meant to profit from the academy’s presence.
But if the land was given as a barracks for the capital’s army, all their careful plans would come to nothing—even the expensive land would become worthless.
Could they really expect four thousand poor soldiers to have silver to spend at their teahouses and taverns?
Pang Qingyun was the first to jump up—he had the largest stake. “Your Majesty, this proposal is improper. That land was long ago designated for the poetry academy.
All the students of the capital, and even those from neighboring counties, know the court intends to build an academy there. If it is not built, how will they feel?”
Shen Zhao had expected Pang Qingyun’s opposition and was well prepared for it.

“Grand Preceptor Pang! Must the whole world only consider the needs of scholars like you?
Building another poetry academy is merely adding one more place for your amusement and leisure.
But for us, the ones who defend hearth and home, what we lack is a place to live!
Heaven sees all, Grand Preceptor Pang. Aren’t you afraid of divine retribution for holding soldiers in such contempt?
After all, without the warriors you so disdain, what would you use to enjoy your peace and comfort, or to build your precious academies?
Those insipid poems that drip from your lips? Your hands that can barely lift a brush, let alone a sword?
We do not ask for much—not luxury, not pleasure, only a roof overhead. Is even that too much?
Or is it that you, Grand Preceptor Pang, harbor ill intentions, unable to bear seeing our soldiers living as peacefully as the common people, determined to drive them to desperation? Tell me, do you harbor treasonous thoughts?”
Pang Qingyun nearly wished he could stuff his shoe into this blockhead’s mouth.
Yesterday he was accused of greed and corruption; today, of treason.
Would nothing satisfy this man but his utter ruin?
After yesterday’s morning audience, the Crown Prince had been sent away to the imperial villa on some pretext—the Emperor’s warning to the prince, and to all who stood behind him.
The Crown Prince, who had never missed a morning audience, was absent today.
Was this blockhead sent here to ruin them?
“General Chu, mind your tongue! A gentleman—”
“A gentleman, indeed! Do you dare call yourself that? Does a gentleman behave as you do? If all the world’s gentlemen are like you, then there are none left at all.
You oppose this so fiercely only because those newly built teahouses and taverns nearby are your own enterprises!
No one is more cunning than you scholars. The land for the academy is split in several locations, all so you can line your pockets and enrich yourselves…”
Pang Qingyun’s face turned the color of pig’s liver.
How could this man even be called human? Did he know nothing of a gentleman’s code?
With every word it was filth and slander—now accusing him of embezzlement, and soon, no doubt, of rebellion.
“You impudent wretch—”
“Enough! This is outrageous—how dare you behave so unruly in the court! It shall be as General Chu suggests: that land will be allocated to the capital’s army for their residence. And since the surrounding teahouses and taverns belong to you and your associates, they will be handed over as well, as compensation to the army.”
The Emperor’s face grew dark.
Were his warnings truly so ineffective?
Pang Qingyun was struck speechless, his face turning ashen; he dared not protest further.
“We humbly thank Your Majesty for bestowing one hundred and fifty acres for the capital’s army, and we are further grateful to Grand Preceptor Pang and his colleagues for their generosity in giving up their property,” Shen Zhao said happily.
Besides Pang Qingyun, several other ministers’ faces were black with anger, each inwardly blaming Pang for this fiasco.

What was the point of arguing with that blockhead Chu in the first place?
If it was just about those teahouses and taverns, they could have sold them off.
Now, all was lost, and handed over for nothing.

The General’s Mansion.

After Shen Zhao’s departure, Chu Mu finally could not hold back.
He leapt from his bed and rushed to the privy, entering with a red face and emerging with a black one.
Looking down at the cumbersome skirts he wore, he wished he could tear them to pieces.
Women’s clothing was, without doubt, the most hateful thing in the world.
A faint smell of urine followed him as he walked, wafting through the air.
Ha! He had wet his skirts!
Ha! He had forgotten he was now a woman.
Ha! No one had told him that a woman’s dress prevented her from relieving herself standing up.
Ha…
Ha ha…
His expression grew thunderous. Remembering he still had his old robes from his youth,
he immediately rummaged through his chests and found several dark long robes.
He put one on—it fit perfectly.
Looking into the bronze mirror at the spirited figure of Ah Zhao,
he thought, “My Ah Zhao is truly beautiful.”
But the woman’s hairdo was an absolute eyesore.
With a few swift movements, he undid the elaborate coiffure and styled his hair as he used to.
Now, he looked much more himself.
Under the astonished and bewildered gazes of the household servants, he ate his breakfast, then boarded the family’s carriage and set out for Vermilion Bird Street.

The carriage had just come to a stop outside Jinyu Pavilion
when a sharp female voice rang out from within.
“Wretched maid, you’re nothing but a dog of our Shen family! Who gave you the gall to ask me for money?
This shop belongs to my family, and I am the second young lady of the Shen family. How dare you stop me from taking what is ours? Is it that wretched Shen Zhao who ordered you to keep me from our own goods?
She must have done this to humiliate me!”