Magomet Timov - The Path of Li

"When was the last time you ate?" The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I don't remember, sir…" "When did the bad people come?" Master Luo continued. The girl pondered, wrinkling her forehead. Then she lifted three fingers. "Three days ago?" Luo Yang tried to guess. The girl nodded. The old man turned to the warrior: "Give them our supplies. We can survive with our rice… They need it more." Li nodded in understanding and pulled the bag off his shoulder…

The Son of Heaven and the Autocrat of All Under Heaven, Huangdi Zhu Youjian, was in a disgusting mood. Vile weather and incessant cold rain did not contribute to the mental balance of the Great Emperor of the Celestial Empire. Somewhere out there, outside of his island Palace, the Capital was noisy, and the life of a big city was in full swing, but here, in the Palace, his jinshi Deming Liang filled the ruler of the Celestial Empire in on the horrific details of the famine in the Shaanxi province. According to him, the things were really bad, much worse than what Ji Chao, the eternal know-it-all, the head of the eunuchs, whispered about. "In Yan'an county, there was practically no rain during the year, and the ground dried up to a state of the stone. Last fall, people ate wormwood in the cities, and towards the end, they began to eat the bark from the trees. By the end of the year, when all the bark had already been peeled off, people began to eat chalk. A few days after that, their bellies swelled, people fell, and they were doomed to death… In all the districts outside the city, huge holes were dug where the city authorities buried several hundred people. In general, hunger is very strong in the north of Qingyang and Yan'an." Liang finished reading, carefully folded the scroll, put it in a buffalo tube and stared at the Emperor with devotion. Zhu Youjian listened to the official with an impenetrable face, for the Son of Heaven could not express his feelings in front of mere mortals. But deep in his soul, fear began to arise. He could not help but understand what would follow: turmoil, peasant riots, robbery on state roads or unrest in large cities. To worsen things, right there in the North, the Jurchens are waiting for an excuse to cross the border and besiege Beijing. And it is still unclear how the army will behave in such a situation… Generals are also people, and although they don't really care how many peasants will die out in this or that district, none of them will miss an opportunity to take over the reins of the sovereign's chariot. Of course, there are troops loyal to the "dragon throne" – there have to be some, but you never know… For almost a century, there have been continuous revolts here and there, and the army never has enough time to extinguish these centres of popular discontent. And, most importantly, no one can offer specific advice on what to do and how to deal with hunger. Even the great wise men have not yet learned how to deal with drought! Monks pray day and night in their temples, but it does not help much… "So the things are that bad," Zhu Youjian said in a cold voice. The official bowed even lower. The emperor sighed. He should have invited some of the highest dignitaries, find out what measures they were ready to take, but how could he discuss his decisions with these jinshis? With a slight nod, the Emperor dismissed the Liang, who left the reception hall backing away and constantly bowing. Zhu Youjian frowned. Now alone with himself, he could give in to anger. From the outside, this was expressed by the fact that he brought his eyebrows together. Being an intelligent man, the Emperor understood that a vicious atmosphere of lies and general distrust surrounded him in the Palace. More than one worthy person has cautiously hinted that power in the Celestial Empire was gradually flowing from the sovereign to his eunuchs, who constituted a great political force. From the "night guards" and the rulers of the secret city, these blameless creatures gradually took the role of "ear" advisers to almost every government official and even tried to influence the decisions of the Emperor himself, although so far they hardly succeeded. Now, alone with himself, the Emperor could admit that things in the country were getting worse and worse. A year ago, this damned drought in the South drove people to the point of devouring their own kind. There are no funds in the treasury to fight this force majeure since the damned ships of the Portuguese practically nullified the sea trade of the Celestial Empire, and in this situation, internal reserves would not last long. Riots in the country have become a common thing, the only redeeming thing being that the peasants will never find a single leader who could unite all the dissatisfied under his banner. On the one hand, this is excellent, as it will not be difficult for regular units to break up these disjointed forces. On the other hand, you could at least negotiate with the leader, discuss something, play for time, and then either the change in weather would help, or the "leader" would sell himself to the authorities in the most usual way and slay yesterday's associates with the same enthusiasm. This has happened many times before, so why wouldn't it repeat in modern history? Zhu Youjian chuckled with the corners of his lips. He wouldn't allow himself more than that, even when he was alone. But then he checked himself. Something is clearly going wrong today. This Deming Liang showed only the very top of the tree, but its roots remained invisible, even in such a detailed report. The bottom line is hundreds of villages were dying of hunger, millions of disgruntled peasants eking out a terrible existence, hundreds or even thousands of robbers blocking postal and trade routes, killing not only merchants and their servicemen but also senior government officials. Among the robbers, there are a lot of people with experience in military service, and although the peasants are mostly disorganised and not prepared for a war with the imperial army, nothing prevents them from doing this seriously in the very near future. The Emperor took a golden bell from the table near the throne and waved it once. Before the ringing of the bell had time to dissolve under the arches of the reception hall, the "nightingale floors" sang softly, almost inaudibly in the hallway. It was Ji Chao, the devoted dog and chief eunuch of the Emperor, who is hurrying up to attend the call. When his corpulent silhouette appeared on the doorstep, Huangdi had already put on a mask of "sovereign concern" and was ready to talk. Ji Chao habitually dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead against the floor. The Emperor chuckled. "Easy, Chao. This way, you will either split your forehead or damage the floor… Both are dear to me… for now…" "I'm all attention, my lord." Chao still did not look up from the floor. Chung Zhen chuckled. For a long time, he had no illusions about the obedience of the chief eunuch, but there was nothing that could be done – one has to live with what one has… "Tell me, my dear, putting away all these grimaces of increased love and respect: is it that bad in the provinces?" "Which ones, my Emperor?" said the chief eunuch, slipping away from the topic of hunger, but the Emperor did not give him the freedom to manoeuvre. "For example, in Shaanxi…" "Should I tell the truth, my Lord?" "Does a servant have the right to lie to his Emperor?" The Lord of the Celestial Empire answered with a question. The eunuch sighed, still not lifting his face from the floor. "This province is like a wineskin full of gunpowder, with unreasonable boys trying to make a fire under it." The emperor was alert. "Who do you mean? I mean, what boys…" The eunuch got frightened to death: the young Emperor was only seventeen! The eunuch knew that he already said too much and had to correct the awkward situation. "Your Imperial Majesty, mighty Huangdi, you perfectly understand that all uprisings begin in the provinces, but the fuse is set on fire in the capital…" "Well, go on…" "In my humble understanding, the Jurchen leaders are behind all this, my Lord. They have already approached the walls of the Forbidden City and entered Korea. What prevents them from setting a camp near the Capital once again? Or even take charge of the rebel troops?" "The capital is impregnable," the Emperor objected, without being too confident. The eunuch grinned at the floor. "The gates that a great army cannot break open can be easily opened by a donkey laden with gold. Do you think that all people surrounding you have no interest, my Emperor?" "I have never made wrong choices about my entourage," the Emperor said brusquely. "Do you have something reasonable to offer, or you will get off with quotations from the treatises of wise men again?" Ji Chao finally lifted his face from the floor and looked into the Emperor's eyes. "Yes, my Lord and Emperor. Otherwise, what else is an old eunuch needed for if not to give good advice on time?" Yujiao nodded brusquely and turned to the window.