At these words, a buzz of discussion swept through the entire court. A single cloud covering the whole territory of the State of Yankang was something that should have been impossible—yet it had happened!
The State of Yankang was vast, stretching ninety thousand li from north to south and eighty thousand li from east to west. That snow now fell across the entire realm, and that the heavy snow had gone on for six or seven days, was equally impossible!
Divine-capability practitioners could call the wind and summon the rain, but calling wind and summoning rain only worked over a small area. There was no spell in existence that could blanket the whole of Yankang.
Yet neither was this a natural disaster. Snow rarely fell south of the Golden River; south of the Yong River, rain and snow were even less likely; and at the Li River, where it was summer all year round, snow was out of the question.
Snow across the entire nation was simply beyond belief!
Emperor Yanfeng coughed and bade the ministers quiet down, saying, "Minister of Agriculture, many of our honored officials likely do not understand just how terrifying this snow is. Explain it to them."
An old minister stepped forward—the Minister of Agriculture of the Yankang court, who oversaw the nation's agriculture. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, honored lords, as for this snow disaster, the crops of the north are hardy against cold and frost, so next year's harvest there is not in danger. The crux lies in the south. After this great snow, I fear the southern crops will be frozen dead to the last stalk. By next year, the south may reap nothing at all."
The Minister of Revenue hurried to speak. "When the Minister of Agriculture says 'the south,' which region does he mean?"
"Everything south of the Golden River."
The assembled ministers drew a collective gasp of cold air, and Qin Mu was startled too.
He had a map of Yankang's mountains and rivers. The Golden River also rose in the Great Ruins, thundering eastward for tens of thousands of li before emptying into the sea.
The lands south of the Golden River accounted for two-thirds of Yankang's territory!
Which meant two-thirds of the nation would reap nothing at all!
"Your Majesty... I believe we should first divert grain and provisions from all regions to the south and prepare for disaster relief!"
The Minister of the Imperial Stables stepped forward and bowed. "The south has just been through war. Many commanderies and counties still need relief, and their granaries are likely already empty. I beg Your Majesty to mobilize the granaries of the north and rescue the common people from fire and flood!"
The Minister of Agriculture sighed. "It cannot be diverted just now. There is something you lords do not know: the great war has already consumed enormous quantities of grain. If we ship grain south now, the starving will simply eat it all. And once it is eaten, come next year there will not even be seed grain left—nothing to plant, and nothing to eat in autumn. Minister of the Stables, when the starving have nothing to eat, they will eat people."
"Are we then to simply let the people of the south starve to death?"
The Minister of Agriculture said, "The grain must still go south—but with rations limited, giving the disaster victims only enough to keep body and soul together. In truth the south still has granaries, but they are all hoarded in the hands of the great aristocratic clans and the landlords. If we touch their grain, I fear they will incite the victims to rebel. Your Majesty..."
Emperor Yanfeng's face darkened. "As for the grain of the great clans and landlords, We will think of something. Continue."
"Yes. Besides the south, there is another great disaster looming between north and south."
The Minister of Agriculture said, "The north is cold in winter as a matter of course, and this year it is colder still. On several journeys through the northern commanderies, I found farm households already felling trees for firewood. Whole stretches of woodland have been stripped bare. If the people of the north, who can endure the cold, are reduced to this, the south can well be imagined. If the southern forests are felled to the last tree, flash floods, mudslides, and great floods will follow one upon another. Natural disaster breeds man-made calamity, and man-made calamity breeds yet worse natural disaster. But if we forbid the victims from cutting trees for warmth, untold numbers will freeze to death. By then, I fear, nine houses in ten may stand empty..."
Emperor Yanfeng let out a turbid breath, and the court fell silent—so silent that even the sound of breathing seemed heavy and grating. No felling, no fire, and the farmers freeze; felling and fire, and worse disasters follow.
A single snow disaster had plunged the great empire of Yankang into a dilemma.
The Minister of Agriculture continued, "The crux is that no one knows how long this cloud will last. If it disperses in the next few days, the losses can be kept to a minimum. If it does not, the nation is in peril, and the ancestral altars are in peril!"
"We... understand."
Emperor Yanfeng sat down, looking drained, and said, "Honored officials, now you see how dire the situation is. Days ago, when those traitors rose in revolt, We remained at ease and thought nothing of it. We knew they could not succeed; sooner or later the State Preceptor and all of you would crush them. But this snow disaster and this cloud may sever the destiny of our Yankang! Honored officials—is there a solution?"
The civil and military officials alike sank into silence.
For all their vast divine abilities, they could not blow away this cloud or melt this snow.
Emperor Yanfeng looked at the ministers below, his heart churning with fury and anxiety. One snowfall, one cloud, and the empire would fall to pieces? Were centuries of effort to vanish like smoke?
A civil official said, "I believe this is because the State Preceptor's reform has provoked Heaven..."
Emperor Yanfeng flew into a rage. "Drag him out and behead him!"
The official dropped to his knees with a thud, wailing to high heaven with all his strength: "Your Majesty, Heaven has its Way! The State Preceptor's reform is an attempt to change the Way of Heaven, and so Heaven is wrathful. When Heaven is wrathful, the people grumble, and none can live in peace—Your Majesty!"
"Guards!"
Emperor Yanfeng could barely contain himself: "With the nation in crisis, he still spreads demon words to deceive the masses! If We do not behead him, must We behead him personally?"
The guards inside the Golden Luan Hall hurried forward and dragged the official away, his wailing fading into the distance.
Emperor Yanfeng paced two quick steps, suppressing his fury: "We want capable ministers who can get things done, not sycophants whose only skill is a slanderous tongue! This reform is what We will—it is not the State Preceptor's doing! If Heaven is wrathful and the people grumble, it is at Us, and at Us alone! The State Preceptor is a pillar of the realm—such a man might not appear once in five hundred years, nor even in a thousand or two thousand! All of you, think of a plan. Come up with none, and none of you goes home—and no New Year either!"
"Your Majesty, why not simply collect that cloud away?"
Suddenly a voice came from below the hall: "Since the cloud cannot be dispersed, then gather the cloud vapor up."
The civil and military officials turned to look toward the voice, and Emperor Yanfeng's gaze followed as well. "Ah, it is the Secondary Counselor. If the Secondary Counselor has a fine proposal, by all means speak it."
Qin Mu said, "Your subject once saw treasures such as fire gourds in the army. In peacetime, the soldiers store their true fire in the fire gourds, then release the fire within when great battles come. When the Imperial Medical Academy's failed alchemy drugged the entire Imperial Academy, it was the former Grand Headmaster who used a gourd to collect the anesthetic and saved the Imperial Academy. I believe this dark cloud might likewise be stored inside a spirit treasure such as a gourd."
Emperor Yanfeng looked toward the Grand General of Heavenly Strategy. "General Qin, do you think it feasible?"
The Grand General of Heavenly Strategy was surnamed Qin, with the given name Jian—the head of the military and the patriarch of the Qin family, one of the great aristocratic clans of the capital. He stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Secondary Counselor's words are feasible. However, the army does not possess so many fire gourds. The army's fire gourds are made from wisteria gourds and issued to the Vermilion Bird armies in every region. Across the entire country there are one million in total. One million fire gourds could just about clear the dark clouds from a single province, but with so many provinces in the whole nation, the army's gourds alone cannot manage it."
Qin Mu said, "Though the army's gourds are few, every region has officials who cultivate spells, the great clans do as well, and the court itself brims with the strong. If Your Majesty issues an edict ordering the divine-capability practitioners everywhere to craft treasures and take away the dark clouds overhead—the practitioners across the land are so numerous, and the county magistrates, assistant prefects, and prefects of every region are all strong in their own right. If each attends to the territory under his own charge, with the army's strong practitioners fanning out to patch things up, I expect seven or eight parts out of ten of the dark clouds can be removed."
Emperor Yanfeng pondered. "Mobilizing the nation's practitioners to dispel the clouds will be difficult. Some idle practitioners of the jianghu do not heed the court's word..."
"That is why Your Majesty must act personally, and set an example for all under heaven."
Qin Mu said, "If Your Majesty leaves the capital and personally clears away the dark clouds in each province, the people will naturally follow in admiration."
The civil and military officials exchanged glances. The emperor leaving the capital to personally clear away dark clouds? The great turmoil had only just been put down—surely the remnants of those sects would seize the chance to assassinate him.
The State Preceptor of Yankang had marched on the Great Ruins and returned in defeat, and had been ambushed along the way. If the emperor left the capital, every manner of assassination was likely!
Just as everyone was about to speak, Emperor Yanfeng's eyes lit up and he laughed. "Approved. Esteemed Qin—do you have further means to deal with this snow disaster?"
"The snow disaster has already happened. Your subject is powerless against it."
Qin Mu said, "But I have heard it said: the Way of the sage is no different from the daily life of the common people. There are so many practitioners in the world. Once the sun comes out and the great snow melts, let those practitioners go down into the fields themselves, clearing the frost-killed crops for the people of every region and replanting—next year there may still be some harvest. When the rice is heading and there is no wind, have the practitioners send wind. When weeds run rampant, have the practitioners weed. When pest plagues break out, have the practitioners exterminate the pests. When frost descends from the sky, have the practitioners drive it off with fire."
"Your Majesty—those are the words of the demonic path!"
A civil official trembled from head to toe as he stepped forward. "Your Majesty, the Secondary Counselor utters demonic words that ruin the nation and scourge the people. He should be executed!"
Emperor Yanfeng laughed. "These words are perfectly correct. How are they words of the demonic path? They ruin no nation and scourge no people—they are excellent counsel for governing the nation and saving its people. You are stripped of your post; go home and reflect carefully. Esteemed Qin, what other good policies do you have?"
Qin Mu thought a moment. "Your Majesty might also have the Heavenly Observation Bureau monitor the weather everywhere. In years of flood, store the rain clouds in gourds and the like. In years when hurricanes run wild, store the hurricanes in spirit treasures. Tornadoes, hail, lightning—all of it can be stored away for later use. In drought years, the great rains can then be released; and if war breaks out with a foreign nation, release the hail, the snow and ice, the lightning, the tornadoes—manipulate the heavenly phenomena and attack the enemy state. This year's snow disaster very nearly destroyed the destiny of so glorious a great nation as Yankang; what state could withstand such heavenly-phenomena divine arts turned against it?"
"Your Majesty, manipulating the heavens defies the Way of Heaven—those are the words of the demonic path!"
Another civil official stepped forward, knocking his head against the floor again and again until it split and bled, crying out fiercely, "Truly the words of the demonic path—this would destroy our dynasty's mandate! Your Majesty, I beg you to execute this demonic fiend at once!"
"You are dismissed from office."
Emperor Yanfeng waved a hand and laughed. "You can produce no ideas, yet you spout nonsense and denounce the Secondary Counselor. We pay you no small salary each month—what use are you? This snow and this cloud are what would destroy our dynasty's mandate! Guards, drag him away. Secondary Counselor: knowing is easy, doing is hard. For this disaster relief, you come with Us."
Qin Mu hesitated, then said in embarrassment, "Your subject still has to go home for New Year... Your subject would like to recommend a few people who might be of help to Your Majesty."
Emperor Yanfeng roared with laughter, feeling as though the dark cloud hanging over his own heart had scattered too. He waved his hand. "Granted. We are in pressing need of capable people right now. If those you recommend prove truly useful, We will not treat you poorly."
The Duke of Wei felt a tremor in his heart. "The Heavenly Demon Cult is about to enter the court... Then again, what am I saying—I am the Guardian Heavenly King of the Heavenly Demon Cult myself. I entered the court long ago. This little Cult Master really knows how to work an angle. The State Preceptor has been away from court only a few days, and already he is planting his own people. If the State Preceptor stays away for a few years, I fear even the emperor will belong to his Heavenly Demon Cult! Where exactly has the State Preceptor gone? Off touring mountains and rivers with his wife for so long, and with a matter this huge he still does not come back..."