IDWBE -Chapter 39 As If the Heart Had Turned to Ash

The farther south they went, the rougher the road became. Just circling a single mountain along its winding paths took three full days.

The mountain road was too narrow. Lin Yi’s carriage was too wide, so it had to be pushed off the cliff so as not to block those coming behind.

After that, they either walked, rode donkeys, or simply lay on top of the grain carts, chewing on dogtail grass and idly gnawing away the whole day.

“Where is this some princely fief? This is clearly exile to the ends of the earth.”

On the seventeenth day of the journey, Lin Yi finally abandoned all his illusions.

Along the way, there had been nothing but wild grass and trees. Forget towns—there wasn’t even a single person in sight!

This was his fief.

The only consolation was that fruit cost nothing. Wild lychees, grapes, and Chinese olives were everywhere. But without human cultivation, they tasted rather astringent.

Song Cheng said, “Your Highness, just a few more days and we’ll arrive.”

In truth, even he spoke without confidence. Aside from one commandant who had once followed the southern expeditionary army to Sanhe, the rest of the group knew almost nothing about the place.

“One day after another,” Lin Yi sighed.

He sniffed himself—he was starting to smell faintly fishy and foul.

Unfamiliar with the local waterways and with no one to ask, how would he dare casually bathe in a river?

A few more days passed before they encountered a group smuggling private salt.

Suddenly seeing people, Lin Yi felt an unusual sense of warmth. The other party, however, acted as if facing a great enemy—dropping their goods and fleeing into the mountains.

Lin Yi smiled helplessly. He deliberately opened one of the sacks, grabbed a handful of coarse salt grains, pinched one between his fingers, and put it in his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, he spat it out—too many impurities, it crunched painfully between his teeth.

Shen Chu said, “Your Highness, trafficking private salt is punishable by death.”

Lin Yi replied indifferently, “Among the civil and military officials at court, how many are not dealing in salt? Why don’t you try executing them?”

There was another sentence he didn’t say aloud: Sanhe was his Sanhe and his king’s Sanhe. Here, would the Liang laws apply only if he agreed?

Shen Chu lowered his head and dared not speak further.

After Lin Yi’s convoy gradually disappeared into the distance, more than a dozen salt smugglers slowly emerged from the forest. After looking around cautiously, they returned to the road.

Seeing that not a single bag of salt was missing from their carts, they were bewildered.

Were there really such fools in the world?

Not even picking up money when they saw it?

Salt carried to prosperous areas could sell for twenty copper coins per jin!

After crossing layers of rolling mountains, they finally reached a vast plain and gradually began to see signs of habitation.

Every few dozen li, they would encounter a small market town. Though modest in size, and with inns that could house only a few guests, food and fodder were no problem.

Most people lived in wooden shacks and were barely clothed.

In transactions, the change they received even included copper coins from the previous dynasty—and banknotes issued at the founding of the current dynasty over two hundred years ago. They were so old that if one wasn’t careful, they would crumble apart.

In the capital, one tael of silver could be exchanged for one thousand copper coins. Here, it couldn’t even fetch seven hundred.

The disparity was enormous!

When they arrived at the prefectural city of Sanhe—Baiyun City—it was already the first day of the ninth month. The heat remained oppressive.

Baiyun City was named after Baiyun Mountain nearby.

Calling it a “city” was somewhat inappropriate. There were no city walls, only several crisscrossing streets—far inferior even to rural towns in the Jiangnan region.

When this group of strangers suddenly entered, the once-bustling street fell silent. People stopped in their tracks and stood by the roadside, curiously observing the convoy.

The tall commandant Bao Kui said quietly, “Your Highness, Shen Chu has already gone to notify the Military Command Office here. Lord Xie should return soon.”

He was forty-seven this year and had come here ten years ago with the southern expeditionary army, serving as the group’s guide along the way.

Lin Yi smiled. “Commander Xie Zan—I believe he and I are old acquaintances.”

Bao Kui reminded him, “Your Highness, the Sanhe Military Command has neither a commander nor a deputy commander. Lord Xie Zan, as Assistant Magistrate of Prisons, Rank Nine, is the highest-ranking official here.”

Lin Yi said, “Rank Nine—and that’s the highest?”

Bao Kui replied, “The Sanhe Command mainly oversees exiled criminals. Aside from the Assistant Magistrate of Prisons, the warehouse and pasture supervisors and their deputies hold no official rank.”

It was midday, the sun at its fiercest.

From the cloud of dust ahead emerged a group of elderly men running at full speed.

“Lord Xie, slow down! I’m not in a hurry for lunch!” Lin Yi called as he rode forward leisurely on his donkey.

A sharp gong sounded, louder and louder.

Hong Ying suddenly shouted, “The Prince of He has arrived! All others step aside!”

Before Xie Zan and the others even reached him, they dropped to their knees with a thud and shouted, “May Your Highness live a thousand years—ten thousand years!”

Most of the onlookers were ignorant of what was happening. But seeing Xie Zan kneel, a few followed suit.

One led to two, two led to many, and soon everyone had knelt.

Riding on his donkey, Lin Yi rarely looked so solemn. In what he believed to be a dignified tone, he said, “Rise.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

After standing, Xie Zan began, “Your Highness—”

“No need for pleasantries,” Lin Yi said with a smile, looking at the group of white-haired old men, lacking any enthusiasm. “Hurry and take me to my residence. The sun is brutal—I can hardly endure it.”

“Yes.”

Hearing this, Xie Zan turned and mounted a scrawny old horse, little more than skin and bones, and led the way. Seven or eight elderly men in tattered clothes followed behind at a trot, panting heavily.

Lin Yi felt anxious for them—what if one of them collapsed from running too hard?

After about a li, they stopped in front of a rammed-earth courtyard. A wooden board nailed above the gate read: “Military Command Office.”

Dismounting, Xie Zan said eagerly, “Your Highness, please.”

With Hong Ying’s support, Lin Yi got off his donkey and entered the courtyard through the low gate.

A dozen chickens flapped about inside. A large black dog barked fiercely at Lin Yi and his group.

A hen flew down from the courtyard wall. Shen Chu reacted quickly, striking it away with the sheath of his blade—otherwise it would have crashed into Lin Yi.

Still, Lin Yi didn’t fare much better—he stepped right into chicken droppings.

“Not knowing the exact day of Your Highness’s arrival,” Xie Zan said awkwardly, “this humble official failed to make proper preparations.”

Lin Yi glanced at the few earthen houses at the far end and said blandly, “I won’t bother inspecting your Command Office. Let’s go directly to my princely residence.”

“Your Highness…” Xie Zan said bitterly. “Sanhe has neither a prefect nor a county magistrate. As Assistant Magistrate of Prisons, I am in charge of—”

Lin Yi cut him off. “Enough nonsense. Tell me plainly—do I have a residence or not?”

Xie Zan lowered his head and said nothing.

Lin Yi felt his heart turn to ash.

“Then where am I to stay?” he asked unwilling to give up.

Xie Zan cupped his hands and said, “If Your Highness does not mind, the Command Office can temporarily serve as your residence.”

“Even if I sleep on the streets, I won’t live in this broken-down shack!”

Furious, Lin Yi turned and walked away.