After Aguda had medicine applied to his wounds with little ceremony, arrangements were made as quickly as possible for a boat to ferry him across the river and send him on his way to Dragon City.
Mingxin and the others held a meeting to discuss the next steps for White Tiger City — or rather, to discuss what everyone should do now that their objectives had been accomplished: should they stay, or should they all leave?
Seated at the head of the table, Mingxin slouched without a care and sipped his tea. "I'm the oldest one here, so everyone just do what I say."
"We have ten thousand Wolf Army soldiers here, ten battalions. Following the Master's vision, let's split them into two regiments for now — five battalions each."
"Mingwu, Mingjian — you two take one regiment back. Mingwei, you keep a regiment here with me."
"There are over ten thousand civilians here now. Every last one of them is poor and struggling. We can't use people up and then toss them aside. We can't give them hope and then shatter that hope — that would be too cruel."
"I'm the one who created this situation, so I'll be the one to see it through."
"Mingwei stays to manage the army. We'll find a younger brother or sister from home to come and handle civilian affairs. I'll only oversee the big picture — I can't be bothered with the details."
The others smiled wryly. A second Master of the household had just been born.
Saying he'd focus on the big picture sounded nice. Put plainly, he was just lazy — a dried salted fish. The Master himself had admitted as much; at the occasional shared meal, he would sigh that he was just a useless salted fish, and that without all of them working so hard to hold things together, the whole family would probably fall apart.
Then, after sighing, he'd go right back to being a salted fish.
Now a second salted fish had appeared in the Zhao family. They could only hope it stopped here — no third, no fourth salted fish. Too many salted fish, and the condition starts spreading. Others might end up cured and salted as well.
"I've been eating and living off the family for years without contributing a thing," Mingxin said. "I ought to give something back."
"Mingcheng is running things at home right now. So let me have a little competition with him — see whether Dragon City develops faster, or White Tiger City."
With that, he shot to his feet. "Getting out here made me realize how wonderful the outside world is! No Master breathing down my neck and scolding me every day — it's truly a relief!"
"Maybe in a couple of days I'll take a trip to the capital?"
"They say the women of Qinhuai are as gentle as flowing water — I really ought to go see for myself!"
"And the famed 'Yangzhou Slim Horses'..."
His younger siblings had gone completely numb. So this was who Second Brother truly was — they had all misjudged him before.
This fish wasn't just salted; it had a rather astringent bite to it as well.
He said he was managing White Tiger City, but in reality he was simply setting himself free. Qinhuai, Yangzhou...
Were those places even north of the Great River?
---
In the capital, news of the defeat of their eighty-thousand-strong army returned, and everything descended into chaos.
No one wanted to accept it, yet no one could deny it. Their Emperor, barely a year on the throne, had been captured. What were they supposed to do now?
If eighty thousand men had been routed, what would happen if the Wolf Army came marching through?
Oh — right. Cavalry weren't suited for siege warfare. No matter how fearsome they were on the open field, storming city walls was just throwing lives away. That was wisdom the steppe peoples had accumulated over decades and centuries.
Since they were safe for now, they turned to matters of governance.
Should they wait and see, or crown a new emperor?
Or perhaps just go home? The Central Plains had suddenly become a terribly dangerous place.
Going home was naturally out of the question. They had only just moved out from home, had only just tasted the splendors the world had to offer — who would willingly go back to herding horses and tending flocks?
But a new problem presented itself: who should be emperor?
Aguda had brothers in their prime by the dozen, grown sons several times over, and a whole pack of children not yet of age. Men with troops at their command were equally plentiful, along with several Han generals holding real power — among them the General Liu who had opened the pass.
The situation beyond the frontier was nothing like life inside the passes.
Aguda had become emperor not because he had unified the steppe, but simply because his power was the greatest — enough to bind a fractious group into a single cord. The majority of those under his banner were, strictly speaking, not his subordinates.
Had he been able to reign for a few more years, he might well have completed that consolidation.
But now, everything had unraveled.
The barbarians had once plotted to assassinate Dragon City's leadership, hoping to plunge Dragon City into a vortex of power struggle.
Dragon City hadn't fallen into infighting. The barbarians themselves had fallen into it first.
When the news broke, the Ming Emperor and his court were overjoyed.
Safe at last!
No more of this endless maneuvering — you nudge here, I nudge there, he nudges somewhere else.
And if the barbarians' internal strife grew severe enough, it might even present an opportunity.
Still, those Wolf soldiers were truly formidable. If they ever set their sights on the realm...
Don't even think it. It won't happen. It can't happen. Absolutely impossible.
The Ming Emperor hurriedly dispatched men to find the assassins he had previously sent out. Whatever you do, don't make a move — don't you dare make a move! Otherwise I'll be the next Aguda.
He was, of course, worrying needlessly. At that very moment, those assassins were already working very hard indeed.
Just not in the way he imagined. They were hard at work inside a prison cell.
---
【Total population has reached 100,000. A Town-Level lottery draw has been awarded. Keep up the great work!】
"Give me information on automobiles or engines — I want a car! A car! A car!"
【Congratulations! Automobile-related technology has been obtained.】
【Related items have been added to the purchase list.】
"Ha! I have a car! I have a car!"
Zhao Baihui looked over the list — sure enough, a great many new entries had appeared, including a purchase option for an automobile.
Brimming with excitement, he went out to the courtyard, waved his hand, and stood there slack-jawed.
"This car... is it older than my grandfather?"
"One million coins, and all I get is a van? The bare-bones budget version at that?"
What appeared before him was a vehicle shaped like a minivan — utterly devoid of aesthetic appeal in his eyes.
Its only distinguishing feature, besides being ugly, was its unusually large wheels.
Zhao Baihui sighed in resignation. He'd already bought it, and besides, however one looked at it, it was still a vehicle — he was now a car owner.
Having sufficiently consoled himself, he pulled open the door, got in, and had a look around.
To his relief, it had an electric ignition — that genuinely pleased him. He understood this was thanks to having previously unlocked electrical technology. Without that, the thing would probably have had a crank starter.
"At least they thought of the user. The big wheels — are those to handle the roads of this era better?"
His disappointment gradually gave way to growing excitement. However one looked at it, this was probably the first automobile in the entire world right now.
"Master, what is this thing? How did you get an iron room out here?"
Jinyi and Jinxiu, who were staying at home, both came running over. Jinyi was still somewhat weak, but otherwise none the worse for wear.
"Hey there, you two beauties — get in, I'll take you for a spin!"
"A spin?"
They didn't quite understand, but if the Master said to get in, in they would get.
"On your side, that's the handle — pull it and it opens," Zhao Baihui said, cranking down the hand-rolled window and pointing to the door handle.
"The front doors pull open, the rear doors slide — grab the handle and pull it back."
Jinyi went around to the passenger side, pulled the door open with curiosity, and sat down.
Jinxiu pulled open the rear door and settled into the middle row.
"Master, this little room you made has wheels on it — does a horse pull it along? Why didn't you make it bigger?"
Bigger ones did exist — there was a large truck in the system for five million coins. Very large indeed.
"It moves on its own — no horse needed."
"Hold on now. Here we go."
Zhao Baihui turned the key. The minivan's engine let out a throaty rumble. He pressed gently on the accelerator, and the van began to move.
"Heavens, Master — is this little room moving by itself? Is it? Is it really?"
"You can see it with your own eyes, can't you?" Zhao Baihui drove in circles around the courtyard, like a child who had just gotten his favorite toy.
Everyone in the Zhao household was roused by the commotion and came running to see what was happening. At first glance, some thought a monster had appeared — but when they spotted the Master through the window, they understood at once that it was simply another one of the Master's remarkable new contraptions.
After a couple of loops, Zhao Baihui felt unsatisfied. The courtyard was too small, too winding, and he couldn't get any real speed.
"Right — let's go pick up Jinwen and Jinyuan after their shift! Then we'll head outside the city walls for a real run!"
"Mingming — come on, get in. Look at you standing there all wide-eyed and eager."
"Let's go!" Zhao Baihui drove the van out of the compound, and a squad of eight Wolf Cavalry riders immediately fell in behind.
The sight of the vehicle moving through the streets predictably terrified a great many people. Fortunately the Wolf Cavalry were following close behind, otherwise it would have been like a street sweeper plowing through the crowd.
Those who glimpsed the Master's face through the window recognized him at once and immediately made their peace with it, finding the whole thing simply astonishing.
Then there were those with a particular talent for catastrophizing, who ran alongside shouting at the top of their lungs: "Disaster! The Master has been swallowed by a monster! The Wolf soldiers are chasing the beast to rescue him!"
It caused quite a considerable panic.