Chapter 389: Chapter 377 Regret
The waters of Bei River flow unceasingly.
They had finally started their journey home.
Fengyu isolated everyone, thankfully they brought medicine with them. They would be sailing for several days, and by the time they reached Jiaozhou, if someone had contracted the disease, symptoms would have manifested.
Xie Xun sat at the rear of the boat, gazing at the fading silhouette of Yangzhou City. Snowflakes drifted like cotton on Bei River, carried by the biting winter winds. Fengyu, wrapped in a fox-fur cloak, sat beside him, accompanying him as he stared at the receding Yangzhou.
"What are you thinking about?"
"We gave away all the grain and medicine to Yangzhou. How will the Twelve Provinces survive this winter?" Xie Xun’s brows were knit tight with worry. "The disaster along both banks of the river may not be as severe as Yangzhou’s plight, but there are still floods and outbreaks of disease. If the situation isn’t controlled before next spring’s planting season, the calamities will drag on for another year or two. In the past, it took years to recover from floods and epidemics."
Fengyu chuckled lightly and asked, "Do you regret it?"
Xie Xun shook his head. If he had only cared for his own land, countless lives in Yangzhou would have been sacrificed to the epidemic. "No, I don’t regret it. It’s just... what do we do now?"
Fengyu frowned as well. Though the Twelve Provinces suffered less from disasters and disease, they would still face hunger. "Actually, when I was distributing porridge in Yangzhou, I thought of a solution."
"What solution?"
"It’s to mix the rice and flour with some fine bran. First, it fills the stomach. Second, it reduces grain consumption, extending three days of food into five days. Enduring hunger is inevitable, but at least it can help people survive the winter. By the next spring, when the snow melts, the mountains will have wild animals, rivers will have fish, and wild vegetables will start to grow. Life will get a little easier."
For the coming year, Fengyu’s priority was reviving agriculture!
First, let the people eat enough; everything else was secondary.
The breach of the Liujiang levee and the resulting disaster in Jiangnan, in a way, alleviated the crisis in the Twelve Provinces. The Ningzhou Iron Cavalry was militarily powerful and truly an invincible army. But the Twelve Provinces were far too poor. In the past, all of Yanyang supported the Iron Cavalry’s food supply. Now, relying solely on the Twelve Provinces, with trade and grain shipments cut off by the imperial court, even surviving winter would be difficult.
If Zhongzhou waged war again, with Xie Xun lacking adequate supplies of clothing and food, it would be nearly impossible to stabilize military morale. Currently, though the calamities were spreading, they weren’t severe everywhere, yet they would undoubtedly affect next year’s spring planting and significantly weaken military strength.
This was shared suffering across the entire region—enduring hunger together, bearing pain together. In such circumstances, Zhongzhou would find it impossible to stage an offensive.
"At least we have two years to catch our breath. Zhixu, two years... it’s enough!" Fengyu declared. "Together with the Second Young Master, I will restore the production levels of the Twelve Provinces. Even if they cut off trade and grain, we’ll become self-sufficient."
"Let’s hope so!"
Fengyu’s smile carried a gentle warmth. "Since there’s nothing urgent at the moment, shouldn’t we talk about the Soul Suppressing Pearl?"
Xie Xun’s scalp tingled, and the gentler Fengyu’s smile became, the more his anxiety grew.
"I was wrong, but I don’t regret it!"
The drifting snow settled lightly on Xie Xun’s brow, but it couldn’t hide his blazing inner brilliance. The choice between the kingdom and a beauty had never been a binary one—some people simply chose what they deemed most precious, whether a person or a cause.
In Yangzhou, he had faced multiple decisions between Fengyu’s wellbeing and the lives of the common people. While in Yangzhou, he chose the lives of the people. Though Fengyu was physically frail and at risk of contracting the disease, he still brought her along. When Fengyu fell ill during the epidemic, he chose the common people and abandoned her. Even when he clearly knew the epidemic zone was fraught with danger, with opportunists creating chaos and Fengyu being at risk of sinking deep into its perils,
he still chose the common people!
It wasn’t until Fengyu’s life hung in the balance that he finally chose her.
"If it were me, I’d choose to save you too." Fengyu disclosed her heart with unflinching honesty. "I am someone selfish and deeply afraid of death. You gave me the courage to learn not to fear it. If the day ever comes that I must save you at the cost of my own life, I would do so without hesitation. But Zhixu, you have more than just me. You still have the Second Young Master, your closest relative. You still have the tens of thousands of Ningzhou Iron Cavalry soldiers under your command. You are their leader. If you were to die, they’d lose their direction, and the military’s morale would collapse. We might be willing to exchange life for life, but the situation between you and me is different. Many can replace me—Second Young Master, Manager Wen, Manager Wang—they can all carry out West Continent’s affairs as well as I can. You, however, are irreplaceable. You are the indispensable commander of the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry. Xie Zhixu, I hope you understand. If the day ever comes where I must perish, it will be fate taking its course. You must not save me; you must not abandon your responsibilities; you must not forsake hope. You must live in my place to witness the flourishing peace and prosperity of Yanyang."
"That’s not fair. Why can you save me, but I can’t save you?"
"The world has never been fair." Fengyu stated calmly. "You and I were born into privilege; our experiences and the things we’ve seen are vastly different from the common people. Those afflicted by the disease, trapped in hunger and poverty, who have lost their loved ones to the epidemic—do they feel life is fair? What were you thinking when you took off the Soul Suppressing Pearl?"
Her tone was gentle as she posed the question, and Xie Xun remembered the emotions of that night.