"You go back and make ready — draft up a list of what resources you currently need, along with a future development plan; after I've reckoned it over on my side, I'll provide the aid. I won't send a fleet to interfere with the Morton System's and the Ellis System's existing institutional systems; you'll continue to administer these two star systems in full, as my representative. I'll only carve out a few military-restricted zones — and, at the same time, the control of the star gate will belong to me; when the time comes, I'll send people to take over the gate. What I need is for you, in the shortest time possible, to restore order in these two star systems, along with the extraction work of the resource mining zones!" Zhao Chen, after having Xu Yifan stand up, handed him his first instruction.
Xu Yifan nodded heavily.
"No problem; all these I'll arrange properly."
Beep, beep, beep.
At this point, Zhao Chen's handheld terminal flickered — it was a text message.
Zhao Chen cast an eye over it, somewhat taken aback.
"You may go back now; this is my comm-address — hereafter, for important matters, you can contact me directly. And remember: I can prop up a Xu family, and just the same I can prop up a Wang family, a Zhang family, a Li family!" Zhao Chen left Xu Yifan his contact-address, and then turned to leave.
As for that last sentence, it was a reminder to Xu Yifan not to do the things he ought not to do.
Xu Yifan looked at the receding back of Zhao Chen in his military uniform, and secretly resolved within himself that he must, without fail, manage well these two star systems Lord Zhao Chen had entrusted to him.
This bore upon the future of his Xu family.
Zhao Chen came to the side of a luxurious restaurant.
"Would this be His Excellency the Owl Dragon lord? The lord is already waiting for you within the booth." A person, rather like a butler, walked up before Zhao Chen and said with all respect.
Thereupon, Zhao Chen was led to the outside of a booth.
Zhao Chen signaled his women-soldiers to wait outside, and walked in alone.
It was a tea room.
Tea culture was a culture that came down from the most ancient ages, carried on to this day, with as many as several hundred kinds of tea within the Starlight Empire.
Zhao Chen could smell a faint, delicate fragrance; he walked around behind a folding screen, and saw the North Wind Governor sitting behind a tea table, just then brewing tea — a tea of a red hue.
"This tea is named Great Red Robe; just how many years of history it has, no one can any longer say clearly. Of its mother-trees, only three remain, and the tea they yield each year is scant indeed. Even with the most advanced gene-cloning technology, one cannot fully replicate this supreme tea tree — one can only produce its sub-strains," the North Wind Governor said slowly, at the same time pushing a cup of tea before Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen didn't know how to appreciate tea, but after this tea entered his mouth, Zhao Chen had a feeling beyond his power to put into words.
"Why did you go so far as to give offense to Marquis North Wolf, all so as to take those two star systems?" the North Wind Governor looked at Zhao Chen and inquired.
"I just wanted to do it, is all," Zhao Chen said with a faint smile.
The North Wind Governor was taken aback; he didn't press Zhao Chen for the reason, and said, of his own accord, "In truth, this move of yours is, on the contrary, one I wanted to see. Those two star systems, and the Morton System above all — I was unwilling to let Marquis North Wolf get them."
"Then why did you, this time, hand them over to him?" No sooner had Zhao Chen asked this than the answer arose in his heart.
"Is this… the empire's side's intent?"
The North Wind Governor looked at Zhao Chen, and said with a smile, "Think again."
"Is it the Prince Faction? This Marquis North Wolf is a man of the Prince Faction's clique!" Zhao Chen said.
The North Wind Governor nodded, and said, "Originally, the matter of enfeoffing star systems — apart from a very few particular cases — was all the charge of that star region's governor. But just a few days ago, the empire's side sent notice, requiring me to hand the Morton System and the Ellis System over to Marquis North Wolf. Marquis North Wolf was, to begin with, the second-largest family in the North Wind Star Region; and if he were, moreover, to obtain these two star systems — adding to that the lord-nobles he gathers in under the Prince Faction's name — then before long, he'd come to stand as an equal to me in the North Wind Star Region. This is an open scheme of the Prince Faction's to split the North Wind Star Region, but I had no way to counter it. This move of yours, though — beautifully done! Only, from this day on, you may well become the target of every arrow of the Prince Faction's, and that Marquis North Wolf will, too, regard you as a thorn in his eye."
Zhao Chen forcibly held down his mirth — the target of every arrow of the Prince Faction's?
This he simply didn't care about; were the Prince Faction to learn of the things he, Zhao Chen, had done, then he, Zhao Chen, would absolutely become the person the Prince Faction most wanted to kill.
"It's no matter; I and the Prince Faction were, to begin with, not on good terms," Zhao Chen said, laying no weight upon it.
The North Wind Governor looked at Zhao Chen with some surprise; he'd never imagined that this lad, on hearing what he'd said, would, of all things, show not the least trace of panic.
Worthy indeed of one whom that old thing Chu Changhe valued.
"That's good, then; I'd originally been worried you couldn't bear up under this pressure. But you may set your heart at ease too — this North Wind Star Region is, after all, my turf; even though that Marquis North Wolf has the Prince Faction as his backing mountain, upon this one-mu-three-fen plot of mine[1] he'd not dare come making trouble for you out in the open," the North Wind Governor said.
Not daring to come at him out in the open — the meaning of that was that, in private, it might well happen.
The North Wind Governor bored his gaze into Zhao Chen, then turned the drift of his words.
"The Starlight Empire's situation now — you ought already to be aware of it, I take it."
"Aware of some of it," Zhao Chen said.
The North Wind Governor took up three empty tea cups and set them upon the tea-stand.
"At present, in the Starlight Empire, it's the Prince Faction that holds the greatest power; the moment the Starlight Emperor's body can bear it no longer and he passes on, then the Second Prince Qin Ming will ascend the throne. Another force is the Chu family and I — the two of us old playful children, unwilling to take part in party-and-faction strife; but the Prince Faction's eye can brook no speck of sand in it. On the day Qin Ming ascends the throne, he'll surely take the knife to us first. And the last force is, of course, the several star regions still, for the moment, keeping to neutrality. But by the look of the present conditions, barring the unexpected, the Prince Faction has victory firmly in its grasp."
"Is the Starlight Emperor truly indisposed in body, or…" Zhao Chen asked in curiosity.
The North Wind Governor looked at Zhao Chen.
"I know what you're thinking. Though the Prince Faction is bold-livered enough to fabricate the matter of the little Princess's bloodline and the Empress's adultery — they still don't dare force His Majesty to his death; that is the absolute reverse-scale of the Starlight Empire's many families. In His Majesty's younger years, in several campaigns, he took, to begin with, some deep-rooted ailments; over these years he's declined by the day, and adding to that the news of the First Prince's death, it directly angered His Majesty into a sickbed from which he can't rise. According to the news that's leaked out, His Majesty's lifespan will not, at the most, exceed a year."
One year.
This seemed as well to symbolize the countdown to the Starlight Empire's calm.
"Then, Governor, your meaning is…?" Zhao Chen probed at the North Wind Governor's meaning.
"I don't offend others if others don't offend me. In truth, neither I nor Chu Changhe cares who becomes emperor; we only want to manage well our own one-mu-three-fen plots, and do the things within our ability. But the Prince Faction can't abide us, and Marquis North Wolf is one placed piece on the board."
The North Wind Governor looked toward Zhao Chen.
"In the future, within the Starlight Empire there will, without fail, be a battle. And the Chu River Star Region and the North Wind Star Region are situated at the empire's border, near, as it happens, the other two empires; and when the time comes, those two empires may act on the wind — with the very real risk of suffering a two-front pincer, of songs of Chu rising on all four sides.[2] But I and that old fellow Chu Changhe, we're stubborn, our tempers like a mule that won't budge. To betray the empire and bring troops within the borders — that we won't do. And, at the same time, to let ourselves be slaughtered like meat on the block — that we can't do either. If it truly comes to fighting when the time comes, then so be it, we fight. I see that you're a man of talent; if it truly does reach that step, then I hope you can take that girl Chu Xuan, along with my family, and flee out to safety. In a certain neutral interstellar force, I've long since made arrangements. Once there, your safety can, at the least, be guaranteed."
Zhao Chen looked at the North Wind Governor in great surprise; he'd originally thought that the other party, in seeking him out for a talk, meant to draw him over — and he'd never imagined it would, of all things, be to arrange a line of retreat for him.