This time, Wei Yuan left two generals of aristocratic clan lineage to guard the military camp. Generals from such backgrounds at least possessed the backing of their family names and would not fall prey to needless caution; when a fight was called for, they would fight. Had Wei Yuan left Cui Yu to hold the camp, Cui Yu would have flattened every man from Anbei at the very first moment, never needing Wei Yuan to rush back. In terms of birth alone, Cui Yu had no reason to fear Xu Tongshou either.
Returning to the relay station, Wei Yuan changed into plain clothes and summoned Cui Yu. "Come, let us take a walk around the city."
Without bringing any retinue, the two disappeared into the streets and alleys amid the light snow.
A short while later, Wei Yuan and Cui Yu emerged at the boundary of the city's northwestern district. This was the poorest part of the royal capital, squalid and filthy at every turn.
Cui Yu had thought his deliberately worn, faded clothes would help him blend in, but walking alongside Wei Yuan down the narrow paths between the shanties, the two remained conspicuous, watched by countless pairs of hidden eyes.
Dusk was still some time away, yet the sky hung gloomy and overcast, drifting with fine, powdery snow that swiftly blanketed the ground in a thin layer of white. The more Cui Yu looked at either side of the lane, the heavier his heart grew.
The shacks lining the road were visibly riddled with drafty gaps. The better ones were stuffed with dry straw and rags, but many had not even that, forcing several people to huddle together in a corner for warmth. A few shacks held faint glows of charcoal embers, but in others, the occupants simply endured the freezing cold through sheer resilience.
Absorbed in the sight, Cui Yu suddenly stumbled, kicking something hard. Looking down, he saw the corpse of a child, appearing no older than four or five, who had collapsed by the roadside at some unknown hour and frozen stiff.
Cui Yu froze for a moment, then stepped over the body. Looking ahead, he realized that beneath the white drifts of snow lay more than a single corpse.
As the two continued forward, Cui Yu murmured, "Three years ago, I would have carried that body away and seen it properly buried. But now... I finally understand what my grandfather told me back then: you cannot bury them all."
Wei Yuan's expression remained calm as he pointed forward. "There is a firewood and coal shop ahead. Let us take a look."
At the corner of the street stood a two-courtyard shop stacked high with firewood and coal. Several raggedly dressed people were buying fuel. Some produced bits of broken silver, others counted out copper coins. Most bought firewood; only two walked away with small half-baskets of coal.
Wei Yuan walked over and asked, "How do you sell these?"
"Coarse firewood is fifteen wen a jin, fine firewood is fifty wen, and coal is a hundred wen a jin." The proprietor was a dark-skinned, honest-looking man. Sizing up the garments worn by Wei Yuan and Cui Yu, his manner grew noticeably deferential.
Wei Yuan asked again, "I noticed many households have no fires lit. Can they survive a night like this?"
The proprietor sighed. "The ones you speak of are unregistered households. For registered commoner households, the imperial court offers a subsidy of firewood and coal. It is not much, but enough to start a fire so people do not freeze to death. For the unregistered, though, it is hard to say. If they go a few days without day labor and run into snow like this, people die."
"Are the corpses on the streets simply left lying there?"
"It is snowing anyway, so they will not rot; they are just left for now. The court sends men every three to five days to collect the dead. Any who died inside the shanties are brought out then as well."
Hearing the proprietor speak of such horrors as though discussing ordinary household affairs, Cui Yu could scarcely believe his ears. He could tell this was a matter of common occurrence, repeated year after year. Yet this was the royal capital of Western Jin!
Cui Yu asked with feigned casualness, "Knowing they might freeze to death, why do these people run here to become unregistered folk?"
The proprietor sighed. "Inside the city, the walls break the wind, and the grand formation offers some protection against blizzards. How could the outside compare? Coming into the city, they still have a chance to live. Outside the royal capital, there is only death."
Wei Yuan placed a small piece of silver into the proprietor's hand. "Thank you. Take this silver for some wine."
Amid the man's profuse gratitude, Wei Yuan and Cui Yu departed the neighborhood.
Over the next two hours, the two spoke with city gate guards, patrolling runners, street stall vendors, and several homeless folk huddled against the wind and snow. A few hot flatbreads were enough to loosen their tongues, prompting them to pour out their life stories.
In the end, the two stopped at a small eatery, ordered a few simple dishes, and struck up a conversation with an itinerant merchant sharing their table.
Seeing that Wei Yuan and Cui Yu carried an extraordinary bearing and spoke with refinement, and having shared their wine, the merchant held nothing back, revealing even the discreet secrets he had picked up over the years.
"My lords, what you may not realize is that unregistered folk and refugees appear in the capital every single year, just as they do in other cities. Every year, those who cannot survive out there run toward the city before winter sets in. If they can find a kind-hearted household to take them in, or have the luck to land odd jobs, they can scrape through the winter. The unlucky ones simply don't make it.
"The royal capital is different from other cities, after all. By imperial grace, the court subsidizes fuel for registered households in winter. Those who cannot afford coal will pay a small fee to share warmth by the hearth of someone who does, paying far less than burning an entire stove of their own. You could call it a unique line of business for the capital's registered commoners."
After finishing dinner, the two returned to the relay station. Cui Yu still did not quite grasp what Wei Yuan had spent the entire afternoon observing.
When Cui Yu asked, Wei Yuan replied, "I only wished to learn where these unregistered folk and refugees come from, and what causes them to become displaced in the first place. With so many freezing to death, you cannot bury them all. Likewise, with so many refugees, I cannot buy flatbread for every single one. Besides, helping them today does not help them tomorrow, and our time here will come to an end.
"Only by understanding the causes of this displacement can I know what I can actually do. Now I understand a bit. Once the New Year state banquet concludes, we will observe more along the journey back, and the picture should be fairly complete."
Cui Yu was well aware of Wei Yuan's long-standing desire to absorb displaced populations, so he chuckled. "Perhaps we could hire someone to compose a ballad to be sung through every street and alley: 'There is no winter in Qingming...'"
Wei Yuan laughed and shook his head. If such a song spread far and wide, he would be forced into rebellion whether he wished it or not.
Night fell. Cui Yu retired to his quarters to cultivate, while Wei Yuan leafed through the mountain of invitations and calling cards. Two invitations were set aside, as he planned to attend both. One came from the Crown Prince, and the other was from Li Weisheng.
Only a few days remained before the New Year, when the King of Jin would hold a grand banquet for his civil and military officials on the first day of the year. Wei Yuan was naturally on the guest list. After the banquet, he would be free to return to Qingming.
Receiving an invitation from the Crown Prince came as somewhat of a surprise. To Wei Yuan's knowledge, the Crown Prince's faction possessed vast military strength and a wealth of talent; when Wei Yuan had first been appointed Military Commissioner, there had been no room for him in their ranks. Only now had an invitation arrived, signaling that he had finally entered the Crown Prince's field of vision.
Even so, Wei Yuan felt that even with his current standing, his utility to the Crown Prince remained very limited—if not entirely negligible.
To put it bluntly, so long as Wei Yuan did not stage a rebellion, the Crown Prince had no need to pay him any mind. When the King of Jin eventually passed away, the Crown Prince would ascend the throne as a matter of course. If Prince Wei wanted to contest him, he was far from qualified, at least for now. Prince Fu was merely a young child, and by all accounts mischievous and unremarkable.
Yet, as Wei Yuan recalled the titles conferred upon the princes, his brow furrowed slightly. The Crown Prince was invested as Prince of Liang, while the Fifth Prince was Prince of Wei. Liang and Wei were both dynastic names from prior eras, conventional choices. But the newborn son born to Consort Yuan had been named the Prince of Chu!
In history, Chu was not merely the name of several major feudal states; it had once united the entire world. When used as a princely title, it ranked alongside Han, Shang, Li, and Tang, second only to Qin. Bestowing the title Prince of Chu strongly hinted at a future heir to the throne.
Though Prince Chu was newly born, between his auspicious title, the omens surrounding his birth, his mother's preeminence within the inner palace, and Wei Yuan commanding heavy armies on the border, he already posed a tangible threat to the Crown Prince—a threat arguably greater than that of Prince Wei.
As for the boy's age, that would not have been an insurmountable obstacle had the King of Jin been able to live another twenty years, allowing Prince Chu to reach adulthood. However, every indication suggested that the King of Jin's lifespan was nearly exhausted, and he would likely not live to see Prince Chu come of age.
The Crown Prince's banquet was set for the very next evening. As dusk settled, Wei Yuan made his way to the Crown Prince's Estate adjacent to the royal palace. After announcing his arrival, he was escorted to a heated pavilion in the western side courtyard.
The pavilion was protected by an array formation. Though its windows stood open to allow guests to admire the snow and winter plum blossoms, the interior was as warm as spring, without the slightest chill creeping in.
Inside, the Crown Prince sat in the seat of honor, accompanied by four civil officials; evidently, this was an intimate private gathering.
The Crown Prince still appeared in his early thirties, bearing a short beard, a commanding visage, and an imposing presence. Seeing Wei Yuan arrive, he rose and stepped outside the pavilion to welcome him, after which host and guests took their seats. Following three rounds of wine and a few casual inquiries about the border conflicts, the Crown Prince turned to the heart of the matter.
Raising his wine cup, he looked at Wei Yuan. "I wonder how Lord Wei views the current state of Great Jin?"
Wei Yuan's thoughts stirred, knowing the main act had begun. To him, however, the question was simple enough, so he replied, "I know little of court politics and cannot presume to judge. But as I see it, Great Jin's external threats far outweigh its internal troubles. Our foremost task is repelling the alien races; only once they are held at bay can other matters be addressed. Yet raising troops and sharpening weapons is the most costly endeavor of all, and our national treasury currently appears somewhat depleted."
The Crown Prince remained impassive, nodding. "Lord Wei has keen insight. The treasury is indeed empty. What counsel might you have for me?"
Wei Yuan said, "On my journey to the capital, I observed the land along the way and found many parts of Great Jin remarkably prosperous. By reason, the national treasury ought to be overflowing. Yet the reality is that the treasury is bare. That can only mean one thing: it is not that Great Jin lacks silver, but that the silver simply does not enter the royal treasury."
An elderly civil official at the table gave a heavy snort, while two others frowned in displeasure. Wei Yuan recognized the elder as the Minister of Works, a minister qualified to deliberate in the Hall of Political Affairs and undoubtedly a core figure of the Crown Prince's faction.
Stroking his beard, the minister said sternly, "Lord Wei's words are utterly mistaken! Storing wealth among the people is the very foundation of a strong state. When local grand clans are affluent, they naturally recruit militiamen and train them during agricultural downtime. This serves as a major source of troops for our Great Jin. The gentry clans are the bedrock of Great Jin. For Lord Wei, at such a young age, to speak so rashly of overturning the institutions passed down by our ancestors—is that not deeply improper?"
Wei Yuan grew irritated as well and retorted, "If paying silver will not do, contributing levies of men is an option too."
The Minister of Works looked even more displeased. He opened his mouth to speak, but after catching the Crown Prince's expression, he held his tongue.
Observing their reactions, Wei Yuan gained a clear sense of the relationship between the prominent clans and the Jin state. These dynamics were recorded in the history books, yet only today did he directly witness how violently the aristocratic clans reacted to any notion of taxing them.
Holding his wine cup, the Crown Prince asked with deep meaning, "Then what are Lord Wei's thoughts on the future of Great Jin?"
Chapter 454