Chapter 73

Edited and Proofread by KitKat

The girls’ school was a proposal by An Chang Qing. Because it was located at the border, Yanzhou had been constantly at war with the Beidi people. As a result, its people had been nurtured into strong and brutish people, including the womenfolk. In times of crisis, the women were able to take up arms and march into the battlefield. In fact, there were heroines in the past whose battles against the Beidi people were not in any way inferior to the men.

Being influenced by An Xian Yu and his mother, An Chang Qing never felt that women were any less capable than men. Take An Xian Yu for example. He believed that with her talents, it would’ve been more beneficial were she to be able to take part in the imperial exams. As such, he wanted to promote literacy for the women in Yanzhou so that everyone will be able to read and write.

When he first proposed this idea, he had expected fierce opposition from the older and obstinate officials but strangely, they had all come to agreement after a short deliberation. To the venerable families that populated Yejing, Yanzhou seemed to be the land of lawful negligence and illiteracy. However, it’s with these traits that allowed it to be free from the established normalcy created by the upper classes in Yejing.

After the proposal was put into practice, many women had begun attending classes. Eventually, it reached a point where there were not enough teachers and hence, the government had been trying to recruit female teachers. 

An Chang Qing saw that she was getting nervous, he patted her head and said gently, “The schools have only been established recently, if you go, it won’t be an easy job. Have you given it careful thought?”

An Xian Yu firmly nodded, “Yes.”

Judging from the determination in her eyes, he knew she had given it serious thought and only had the courage now to speak her mind. In his previous life, he couldn’t protect his sister. In this life, he wasn’t going to be obsessed with her marriage, as long as she could live a life of happiness and comfort, he was satisfied. With Xiao Zhige’s influence, even if An Xian Yu does not get married, no one would dare to ridicule her.

“I will personally send you there tomorrow.” An Chang Qing’s tone was with warm encouragement, “It’s great that you know what you want.”

An Xian Yu had assumed that her decision would be met with strong resistance from her brother and mother but surprisingly, her brother had easily agreed. Even her mother did not try to dissuade her and looked at her with eyes filled with joy and pride.

…..

An Chang Qing kept his word and the next day, had personally escorted An Xian Yu to the girls’ school.

The dean of the school was a female teacher in her forties who had been a talented academician in her youth. After the passing of her husband, she had remained widowed with no children. Now, with the establishment of the girls’ school, she was invited out of her retirement to teach. If Xian Yu wanted to enter the girls’ school, she would’ve to pass her test.

An Chang Qing only came to show his support, he had no intention of helping her using the back door. Therefore, he waited in the front while An Xian Yu followed the dean to the back.

Before he could even finish his cup of tea, he saw Qi Wei swaggering over with Xie Ling being dragged along.

“What are you doing here?” An Chang Qing asked, looking straight at Qi Wei.

Qi Wei gave a dubious smile and said, “We heard that Miss An had decided to become a teacher at the girls’ school. We deeply admire her nobleness and so we came to take a look.”

Xie Ling gave him a sideway glance, indicating that he was clearly coerced to come.

An Chang Qing then glared at Qi Wei and beckoned him to sit down.

And, before he could continue to sip his tea, he saw another familiar figure approaching. This time it was Zhou He Lan. There was a slight twitch in his usually straight expression when saw Qi Wei and Xie Ling. He then bowed and said, “I heard that a girls’ school had recently been established. Just nice that I have in stock some brushes, ink, and paper that I wish to donate to the students to express my support.”

Zhou He Lan still had his head lowered and did not notice An Chang Qing’s look of curiosity towards him. After which, An Chang Qing simply nodded and told him to take a seat as well.

The group waited for half an hour before An Xian Yu and the dean returned. The two women were quite surprised to see the additional males in the room.

An Chang Qing explained that Zhou He Lan was there to donate writing materials to the school, causing the dean’s expression to soften and she thanked him sincerely.

An Xian Yu’s eyes were shining bright as she stood next to the dean, bowing at Zhou He Lan to express her appreciation.

Zhou He Lan told her to think nothing of it and then retreated behind An Chang Qing.

At the side, Qi Wei was brimming with annoyance. He stepped forward and expressed that he also wanted to donate some silver to the school. The dean, unaware of the situation, thanked him for his charity.

Qi Wei smugly looked at An Xian Yu but found that she didn’t pay him any heed. She simply walked over and stood beside An Chang Qing.

Qi Wei, “…”

When the group parted ways, Qi Wei tugged at Xie Ling’s sleeve and asked sourly, “Am I not handsome today? Why didn’t Miss An spare me a glance?”

Xie Ling looked at him with some pity and said, “Perhaps she already has someone else in her heart.”

Qi Wei’s eyes widened, “Hey, don’t jinx it!”

Not wanting to bicker with him, Xie Ling rolled his eyes and said, “Just don’t ask me to drink with you when that happens.”

…..

In mid-september, An Xian Yu officially joined the girls’ school. Other than her duties of teaching, she was also helping the dean with managerial tasks and had become incredibly busy. 

Zhou He Lan stayed in Yanzhou for a couple more days before embarking for Liangzhou. He had to deliver the second batch of jade stones southwards.

During his trip to Yanzhou this time, he had brought back 60% of the profit from the sales of the jade stones; the amount was so large that it left An Chang Qing flabbergasted. With this money, it could easily support tens of thousands of Yanzhou’s soldiers.

As such, it was clear that there was wealth to be made in the South.

This was all relayed to An Chang Qing from Xiao Zhige. However, he also expressed that the South would not be peaceful for long.

An Chang Qing could not understand so Xiao Zhige deciphered the reports he had received to him.

All this time, the southern provinces were mainly ruled by local magnates. Even the government’s troops were under their thumb. They had absolute ownership over the entirety of the crop fields in their territories. The common folk could only rent the field and had to relinquish half of their harvest to the landlords, the remaining half was left to them to earn their livelihood. 

The South was indeed prosperous but prosperity was only in the hands of these landlords. They were also the reason why they were able to make a huge profit in such a short time with the jade stones. 

However, as Zhou He Lan ventured North, he had heard that the South had been experiencing a prolonged drought this year. It was foreseeable that the harvest would have low yield on top of it being delayed, causing the commoners to have a hard time paying their dues and sustaining their livelihood. Once the landlords refused to accept the arrears, there was cause for concern that another riot would break out.

An Chang Qing did not hear of any riots breaking out in the South in his previous life. However, it was quite plausible that the riot in the North had some effect on the South after all.

Only, what he did not expect was that Xiao Zhige’s prognosis would come true so soon.

At the end of September, in the news delivered by Zhou He Lan, it stated that the people of Guan Ping, Qin He, and Ding An counties had revolted and things were worse than the Sishui rebellion.

These people had endured being exploited and oppressed by the landlords for many years. Now that the fields could not provide adequate yield, it was hard enough for them to feed themselves, much less able to pay their rent. And instead of showing compassion, the land owners imposed heavy fines called the ‘lamb penalty’ for those unable to pay on time. This penalty forced the debtor to pay double of what they owed as interest for late payments. With no way to pay back such debts, the people were pushed against the wall.

But unlike the Sishui rebellion in which the rioters only killed corrupted magistrates and officers, the rioters in the South targeted all wealthy families and killed with indiscrimination. After massacring an entire family, they would split the loot and divide the food.

By the time the news reached Yejing, September had already passed. Emperor An Qing’s body had deteriorated considerably. After reading the report, he coughed up blood due to anger. Naturally, It was the Crown Prince that led the court in discussing this matter.

The newly appointed minister of Taifu Temple, who was still naive, suggested that the Crown Prince send someone to confirm the root cause of this uprising and annul the power of the abusive landlords. At the same time, they should also exempt the people from taxes and establish shelters for disaster relief. The uprising this time was due to the people’s discontent with the rich and powerful. If the court could resolve this conflict peacefully, it would help to demonstrate the Crown Prince’s goodwill.

The Taifu Temple minister was only recently promoted in haste due to the sudden vacancy of the post. Originally the governor of Chang Yang country, he was still unfamiliar with the situation of the Imperial Court. What he did not know was that the reason the landlords in the South dared to act so outlandish was that they had backing from the Imperial Court. Even the two princes had ties to the South.

With all the riches they could earn from the South, how could they not dip their hand into the honey pot?

The Crown Prince sneered and derisively rejected the proposal. “These lowlives dared to rebel, how could we let them off this easily?!”

On that day, an imperial decree was hastily sent to the South. The southern militia received their order and marched forth, killing everyone on their path. The civilians who had stayed on the sidelines were waiting for assistance from the court but what awaited them was total annihilation from the Imperial Army.

This fueled the people’s anger. Instead of trying to minimize the suffering, the Crown Prince had ordered for indiscriminate bloodshed. With nowhere to turn, more people joined the rebellion and willingly gave their life to fight the army.

The soldiers of Qing Zhou, Yong Zhou, Ruan Zhou, and nearby provinces had always been lax in their training and lived leisure lives. Fighting against these infuriate and driven farmers, the soldiers eventually lost heart and had to retreat. 

First it was Qing Zhou that fell followed by Yong Zhou and consequently, Ruan Zhou was also faltering.

Ruan Zhou’s position was meant to guard the Imperial Capital. If it falls, the rioters can directly advance into Yejing. The Crown Prince was now in a panic. 

Supported by servants, a startled Emperor An Qing dragged his ailing body into court, demanding the courtiers to come up with a solution.

Shu Guifei, who had been cast aside all this time, took the chance to publicly condemn the Crown Prince and his faction. The courtiers who used to stay on the fence simply argued back and forth with each other and provided nothing constructive.

Emperor An Qing coughed angrily and pointed at Shen Tu Bei, “What does General Shen Tu think we should do?”

Shen Tu Bei had strongly opposed the use of military force in this matter but the Crown Prince was too stubborn to listen which had led to such a catastrophe. Even at this point, the court was still divided and courtiers continued to try and step on each other’s toes instead of trying to find a solution. There was an indescribable turbulence in his heart.

When the Emperor called for him, he fell silent and finally suggested the only solution he knew of, “Why not send the Northern Warlord to suppress the rebellion?”

As soon as he spoke, an immediate silence followed. But as things have come to this, no one dared to oppose it. The rioters were gaining momentum and if they opposed this idea, should the rioters manage to break through and attack Yejing, no one will be able to stop them. 

Emperor An Qing gave Shen Tu Bei a long stare. But as his exhaustion took over, he finally said, “Send my order to the Northern Warlord! He has to immediately send troops to Ruan Zhou to cull the rebellion!”