On that day, many people in Taoyuan Town wept.
Their lord was leaving.
The man who had descended from the heavens to deliver them from their misery was going away.
Almost everyone came out of their homes and stood along the main thoroughfare, watching the great convoy make its way through the crowds.
Many wept from morning until evening; the convoy had long since departed, yet they could not bring themselves to go home.
Most of them had never laid eyes on Master Zhao in person, yet his image lived firmly in their hearts.
They knew who was responsible for the good lives they now led. They remembered, they were grateful, and they would never forget.
"Wife, I want to go to Dragon City and keep working for the master."
A man sat in his chair, silent for a moment, then finally spoke his mind.
"If you want to go, go. Things are fine here at home. Truth be told, I'd like to go too—only I'm still working at the textile mill, and the textile mill is the master's business as well. They're swamped with orders right now, so I can't leave just yet."
"Get yourself settled over there first, then send for the rest of us."
"All right, don't worry. I'll bring you all over soon."
"Once I'm there, I'll find someone to write home every few days."
"Plenty of people here know how to write now. Just have Ergou next door read the letters for me."
"Fine, fine. And don't you worry about home. The master leaving doesn't mean he's washing his hands of this place—it's still his territory, the safest place in the world."
"I know. It's just… I'll get you all over there as soon as I can."
"I know you will. Oh, and our eldest is getting on in years—should we send him to enlist under the master?"
"Do it! If he gets to serve the master, that's his good fortune. And even if something were to happen to him, I wouldn't blame the master for it. If not for the master, our whole family would have died long ago."
"All right, then we'll send him. I've heard the Wolf Soldiers are treated extremely well. If our boy makes it back alive, he can count himself lucky."
Scenes like this played out again and again.
Many families faced separation, yet there was almost no wailing or desperate tears—in fact, most people were smiling as they said their goodbyes.
Taoyuan Town had a total population of barely over ten thousand. Zhao Baihui took roughly a thousand people with him directly, and nearly three thousand more signed up to follow afterward.
And many who wanted to go simply couldn't leave right away—they all hoped to settle their affairs as quickly as possible and then make their way to Dragon City.
By the standards of that era, this was nothing short of a miracle.
People were willing to follow him for two reasons.
First, he had brought them enough change and enough benefit to make it undeniable.
Second, every last one of them was convinced that following the master, the future would surely be better than the present.
Within just a few days, Taoyuan Town was nearly half empty.
Rents across the town dropped considerably.
Even the prime shopfronts along the main street, which had always been in high demand, began to open up.
Small merchants had abandoned their businesses and decided to follow in the master's footsteps, heading to the newly founded Dragon City to seek their fortunes.
Those who stayed behind had nothing to fear, however. For ordinary people, life in Taoyuan Town was already better than in most county seats, and fresh arrivals would continue to pour in.
Sure enough, people who had been on the fence came rushing over the moment they heard that rents on shops and houses had fallen.
To steady public confidence, the town government that remained behind announced several new development plans in quick succession.
We need people—come and you'll have food in your belly and work to keep you busy. Come one, come all!
…
After several days on the road, the convoy arrived at Dragon City.
The first district currently under construction was the Northern Dragon District—at present, the only district in existence.
Once all its buildings were complete, it was projected to house thirty to fifty thousand people.
Northern Dragon District Government Office.
The first government assembly was called to order.
Master Zhao Baihui was, as usual, nowhere to be seen. He had gone off to enjoy himself on the river.
One of his reasons for choosing this location was precisely its abundant waterways—by making use of the great river, one could reach anywhere. With such convenience at hand, of course he had to go out and enjoy it first.
The government building was a three-story office block built of reinforced concrete.
Five such buildings were arranged around the perimeter.
The offices of the district chief and other senior leaders were on the third floor of the main building.
The main conference room was on the ground floor.
"All right, let the meeting begin."
"First, congratulations on the establishment of the Dragon City Northern Dragon District Government."
"The master has appointed me, Zhao Jinyi, as district chief."
"And has appointed Zhao Mingcheng, Zhao Jinxiu, Zhao Jinwen, and Zhao Jinyuan as deputy district chiefs."
The four of them rose so that everyone could take note of them.
Not that anyone needed the introduction—they all knew each other—but the formality had to be observed.
Dragon City currently had only one district, which was on par with a county. The population here naturally fell short of the standard, but they would get there in time. The important thing was to build the framework first.
With the promotion in rank came an increase in pay—naturally. Not that Jinyi and the others were in any particular need of the money, but this was about establishing the rules.
Grade 1 base daily wage: 2 yuan.
Grade 3—minor department heads—received 1.5 times that.
Grade 5—village or community heads—received 2.4 times.
Grade 7—town or major precinct heads—received 3.7 times.
Grade 9—district chief—received 5.4 times.
Jinyi's daily wage thus came to 10.8 yuan, making her the only person who actually cost Zhao Baihui money.
The system granted him a subsidy of 10 yuan per person per day.
She was the one woman in the world who not only earned him nothing, but drained him of an extra eight jiao every single day!
Long live the great and magnificent District Chief Zhao Jinyi!
Jinxiu and the others drew Grade 8 pay—4.5 times the base—at 9 yuan per day, leaving Zhao Baihui with a tearful net gain of 1 yuan.
Over this period, Mingcheng and the others had recruited and hired local people, bringing the number of registered residents to around two thousand.
Combined with the three thousand who had come from Taoyuan Town, the total stood at five thousand.
Ten new villages and townships were all under frantic construction, with new arrivals streaming in constantly.
The registered population had now surpassed thirty thousand. With twenty thousand still to go before the target of fifty thousand, the future was looking brighter by the day.
But for everyone else on the Central Plains, life was likely anything but bright.
The wolves from the north had come—and at first they had intended nothing more than a raid of slaughter and plunder.
Then the newly crowned Ming King—or rather, what should now be called the Ming Emperor.
The newly crowned Ming Emperor had, to everyone's astonishment, simply taken fright and fled, surrendering the capital without a fight!
This left the northern barbarians in a thoroughly awkward position: it would be odd to stay, yet equally odd to leave.
After weighing their options, they marched into the city of Beijing.
The people of Beijing, already ravaged by the Ming Emperor, had scattered in all directions the moment word spread that the barbarians were coming. Almost everyone who could walk had fled.
The barbarians found themselves in possession of a ghost city.
Every scholar and man of letters in the realm nearly choked on his own blood.
Why didn't the common people choke on theirs? Because the common people knew nothing of any of this. As long as the killing blade did not fall upon their own necks, they would go on living in their numb, unthinking way.
Ming Emperor, Ming Emperor—what you have done is beyond all decency.
The very emperor you drove out never once considered surrendering the capital, yet here you are, handing it over without a second thought.
How do you expect the people of the world to look at you?
Everyone had assumed that the realm would sooner or later belong to the Ming Emperor.
But now the situation had become murky and unpredictable all over again.
Neither of these two scoundrels had the hearts of the scholars behind them anymore.
Yet the scholars of the realm found themselves in a helpless bind—between these two scoundrels, one still had to be chosen. What else was there to do?
It wasn't as though they could throw their support behind some wild pretender plucked from nowhere.
Oh, but wait—one of the scoundrels was himself a wild pretender. The trouble was that this wild pretender had built up a far mightier presence than the one with a legitimate pedigree.