With This Prince, There Is No Fairness
Xuan Tian Ming’s army set up a camp ten li outside of Sha Ping City, and they officially moved in. At the same time, a portion of the soldiers was left to be stationed inside Sha Ping City. Although they did not take over governing Sha Ping City for the time being, the official in the government office had already been swapped for a military official from Da Shun. It could be said that the inside of Sha Ping City had already become part of Da Shun, as Xuan Tian Ming promised the people of Sha Ping City. One month later, an official from Da Shun would move in and enter the citizens into Da Shun’s census. After this was taken care of, trade would officially return to normal. There would no longer be any need for special procedures because Sha Ping City had already become part of Da Shun. The two sides were part of the same country.
To the people that wished to live in Da Shun from Sha Ping, Da Shun welcomed them. It was just that they needed to take care of all expenses themselves. Of course, there were also people in the South that wanted to go and live in Sha Ping City. This side was also willing to welcome them. Either way, Sha Ping was no longer a city that belonged to Gu Shu. Instead, it had become part of Da Shun’s territory; however, it had not become part of any province. Xuan Tian Ming thought that all he would eventually need to adjust all of the cities in Gu Shu, and a new provincial government would be created. Someone would specifically be dispatched to govern it.
The 300 thousand troops that the eighth prince, Xuan Tian Mo, had left behind were not brought to Sha Ping. They were kept in the South. Just a portion of them had been brought over to repair Sha Ping’s city walls. They obtained bricks from Lan Zhou then used camels to transport them to Sha Ping City.
Those people did not think anything of it at the beginning, but as the city wall was being repaired, they found that something was off! Xuan Tian Ming’s army was responsible for meritorious deeds and providing the methods for the repairs, but they of the Southern Army were the only ones actually working. On what basis?
Some were unhappy with it. Throwing down their tools, they pointed at Xuan Tian Ming’s army and loudly shouted: “Why are you not working?”
Xuan Tian Ming’s people were puzzled and asked: “Aren’t we working? Without us providing the method, would you know how to build it up? There is more to work than just physical labor. There’s a thing called mental work. We are taking care of the mental work. Quickly get building. General said that if, by the evening, the wall is not built up to this high-” He gestured with his hands, “There will be no food for you tonight.”
“On what basis?” The Southern Army exploded, “Working on such a hot day and not giving us any food. On what basis?”
“Because he is the ninth prince! If you have any objections, you can go and bring them up with His Highness the ninth prince. As for whether or not His Highness would care, there’s also the ending that you would meet for bringing it up, but you need to think it through carefully. Don’t blame us for not reminding you. All of these orders were handed down by His Highness the ninth prince himself.”
The Southern Army withered. His Highness the ninth prince was the ninth prince of hell. Who would be so bored as to go and do this sort of thing? But to just endure like this, they felt unreconciled!
The people of Prince Yu’s army revealed a truth to them: “How long have you guys been stationed down in the South? Have you made any progress with your attacks on Gu Shu? Has there been any real effect? We just arrived, yet we took Sha Ping City. Did you put in any effort? Go out and ask around about the battle. Who could possibly walk side-by-side with our general? You’ve all seen the power of the heavenly lightning, right? If you were given three generations, could you possibly make that sort of thing? With just this level of smarts, what can you do aside from fix a wall?”
Who knew if these people had become dazed by the heat or if they had become confused by the argument, but they had begun thinking that their argument was reasonable! Thus they did not continue to argue. They began to silently pile on the bricks once more. They would occasionally look to Prince Yu’s army for guidance. They really felt quite annoyed.
But to speak of the lightning from that day, not to mention the soldiers of Gu Shu, but even the soldiers of the Southern Army felt afraid. Could it truly have been heavenly lightning? These people continued piling on bricks while thinking about the thunderous sounds from that night. They could not help but increase their pace. The ninth prince could not be offended. This was something that everyone agreed to.
The soldiers fixing the wall might have accepted their fate, but the deputy general of the Southern Army had not accepted it. Jiang Xuan was the eighth prince, Xuan Tian Mo’s, right-hand man. Aside from Xuan Tian Mo, the army of 300 thousand would only listen to his orders. After Xuan Tian Mo returned to the capital, the 300 thousand troops were handed to him. The soldiers of the Southern Army had sworn to the eighth prince that regardless of who controlled the Southern Army, the 300 thousand of them would always help His Highness the eighth prince.
That day at noon, Jiang Xuan carefully considered the situation and finally rushed over to Sha Ping City, asking to see Xuan Tian Ming. Xuan Tian Ming saw him in a tent to the South of Sha Ping City. At that time, Ghost Doctor Song Kang was in the middle of handling a needle. The tip of the needle was pointed up. Pushing down with his thumb, medicine came out of the needle. The sight of this caused Jiang Xuan’s facial muscles to twitch, but he had already come. He could not be scared off by a military doctor, thus he gritted his teeth and performed a grand salute to Xuan Tian Ming. He also kneeled and paid his respects; however, he never heard any answer from the other side.
Xuan Tian Ming was not just a general. He was also a prince and part of the imperial family. If he did not call for him to rise, how could he dare to get up, thus he could only continue to kneel. This tent had been built in the desert, thus the ground of the tent was simply just sand, which was extremely hot. He felt extremely uncomfortable while kneeling and furrowed his brow tightly. He wondered to himself, what exactly did this ninth prince of hell intend?
Xuan Tian Ming, however, was reading a letter that his wife had written him. The letter wrote of the mess caused at the mine by old eighth, and this angered him greatly. But she had also written about how Ji An Prefecture had been doing quite well recently. He felt very satisfied. It was as he had said, his wife was the most skilled. Wherever she went, she could calm that part of the world. Even if there were people that wished to cause trouble, they would quickly be flattened.
He finished reading the letter before turning his attention to Jiang Xuan; however, he did not notice that the person had kneeled, reported his identity and paid his respects, thus he asked: “Who did you say you were?”
Jiang Xuan felt even more resentful; however, he did not dare to act out. He could only say: “This subordinate is the deputy general of the Southern Army, Jiang Xuan.”
“Oh, the deputy general of the Southern Army.” Xuan Tian Ming nodded, “Did you come to see this prince for something?”
Jiang Xuan furrowed his brow and said, was this not a waste of words? You took over the right to command the Southern Army and led my people to this side. How many days had it been? Aside from bringing people to fix the city wall, what else was done? They were just left there without any interaction. If I did not come today, did you just plan on leaving us out to dry the entire time?
Jiang Xuan complained internally; however, he did not dare to say anything out loud. But he did say with a bit of a plaintive tone: “Your Highness the ninth prince, we are soldiers. We have been stationed in the South for many years. Ever since general returned to the capital, the 300 thousand soldiers here have been without a leader. Now that we have finally seen Your Highness get sent here, we never thought that Your Highness would attack Sha Ping City without saying anything to us. After taking the city, we continued to be ignored. The soldiers are all extremely puzzled. This subordinate could only shamelessly come and ask. What plans does Your Highness the ninth prince have for us in the Southern Army?”
He spoke with quite a bit of conviction that he had justice on his side, and he felt that reason stood on his side. He could not help but also look up and had a very unhappy expression.
But Xuan Tian Ming still had that lazy look while leaning back in his chair. Staring at him with an evil gaze, he did not speak. He just watched; however, this gaze caused Jiang Xuan to begin sweating a cold sweat on this hot day. “Since general has received the rights to the army, we should all be treated without discrimination.” He gritted his teeth and squeezed out these words. It was as though he had used up all of his strength. It was only at this point that Jiang Xuan found out that His Highness the ninth prince was far more frightening than His Highness the eighth prince. Without even getting angry, just looking was enough to make him feel frightened.
Finally, Xuan Tian Ming spoke but asked him: “Are you speaking with this prince? If you call old eighth, who has already been relieved of his duties, general, why would this prince treat you as soldiers? You are just decorations that act like soldiers!” He leaned back some more in his chair and found a comfortable position, “Also, when it comes to what this prince does, where is there any room for you to interfere? Whom this prince uses and doesn’t use, ignores and pays attention to, when have you ever had a say in this?”
This question caused Jiang Xuan to tremble. He also realized that the earlier anger had allowed the other side to look for trouble. Although he had indeed said that deliberately, he never thought that the ninth prince would be so proficient at finding problems with the things that were said. He did not hold back in the slightest when pointing it out, which left him feeling quite embarrassed. But… “But in the past, His Highness the eighth prince was not like this.” He felt that what he had said was reasonable, “When His Highness the eighth prince was the general, he treated all of the soldiers equally.”
“Since you miss your eighth prince so much, just go and seek him out. Just go now! Soldiers!” Xuan Tian Ming suddenly shouted, and some soldiers entered the tent, as he said: “Take this person that calls himself the deputy general of the 300 thousand troops of the Southern Army called Jiang something… drag him out for this prince. Remove his title and have someone send him back to the capital. He must be sent to His Highness the eighth prince. Allow the master and subordinate to recognize each other properly and embrace each other in tears. Don’t forget about this prince’s compassion towards the soldiers in the South.”
“Your Highness the ninth prince! No! General!” Jiang Xuan was a little incoherent, as he desperately waved his hands and said: “General, you must not be like this. This isn’t just! This subordinate has been deputy general for many years. How can I lose my position just because you said so?”
Xuan Tian Ming shook his head, “Just? When it comes to this prince, there is no such thing as just. This world itself is not just. If you want a just world, create it yourself. Unfortunately, you won’t have that chance. Creating your own world would mean rebelling. Who knows if the things you said mean you yourself want to rebel or if your master, old eighth, wants to rebel. This prince needs to write a report back to the capital to have Father Emperor investigate it carefully.”
Cold sweat dripped from Jiang Xuan’s forehead. Why was the ninth prince like this? How could he speak such nonsense? Things were progressing without any order! He felt as though he was speaking with a rock that would automatically spit out responses. Whenever he said something, the other side would argue back.
Another person entered the tent and dragged him away with the person that had entered earlier. Jiang Xuan had lost it and loudly shouted: “Your Highness the ninth prince! If you do things like this, you won’t get the hearts of the 300 thousand troops in the Southern Army! Even if you have the rights to command them, it’s just an empty position. Nobody will willingly listen to you! If you do things like this, you will be a failure of a general!”
He screamed at the top of his lungs, and the hatred in his heart for Xuan Tian Ming was sky-high. As a result, it was met with a care-free shrug and a smile…