Chapter 16 (1/2)

Thousand Autumns – Chapter 16

Translator: MoMoePom

Editor: Isalee

Quality Checker: MochiMochi

First published on Ainushi+

Chapter 16

Synopsis: Why should I waste my breath?

With Yan Wushi+'s presence, they no longer needed to take the official roads which were safer In order to take a shortcut, instead of passing through Chang'an, Yan Wushi+ went straight down south to Luo Prefecture, then went toward Yu and Sui Prefectures from there

This road shortened the distance a lot, but because these places were close to the border between Qi and Zhou, they were not very peaceful Since the disasters at the end of last year, lands that were affected by the drought expanded for thousands oftoward nearby ration storages Yan Wushi+ didn't need to ride a carriage, so he didn't even rent one He simply walked ahead by himself, with much of an attitude of 'If you can follow up, then you should, if you can't, you still have to'

They traveled like this for several days, with one person following the other As they were about to enter the capital of Xiang Prefecture, they ees outside of the city

These people were originally fro Prefecture Because of the fah thousands ofPrefecture However, ould have thought that not only did the Regional Inspector here refuse to open the city gate for theuard, not allowing even one refugee into the city

The refugees didn't have the strength to try their luck at the next place, so they had to stop and settle on the spot — practically waiting for their slow deaths

Froovernional Inspector of Xiang Prefecture would do so because the aees in, then he had to be responsible for settling them down But these people should have been under the jurisdiction of other regions By doing so, it would only addPrefecture Locals would end up being ih food Nowadays, the e pleasure and not in the e national affairs Before the food allocated by the Imperial Court could reach its destination, it was already exhausted through layers of exploitation Even if the Regional Inspector of Xiang Prefecture were to accept all of these refugees into the city, he would not get any reward or commendation from the Imperial Court

Xiang Prefecture was already very close to Mount Xuandu If one traveled southwest for a few more days from here, they would arrive at Mount Xuandu that was located next to Mian Prefecture

The closer they were to Mount Xuandu, the better Yan Wushi+'s mood seemed to become

He even slowed down his pace to wait for Shen Qiao to catch up while getting quite interested in pointing out the local sights and cultures to hilance, people eren't aware of their relationshi+p would probably think that they were a pair of old friends traveling together

He told Shen Qiao, ”In the Warring States period, Xiang Prefecture belonged to Chu, therefore it has kept a lot of Chu culture The place could be regarded as a populous and affluent land, but unfortunately, Gao Wei wasn't in the enerations of meticulous care would probably decline in his hands”

Yan Wushi+ obviously didn't have any respect for the emperor of Qi; he addressed him directly by name the moment he opened his mouth

Shen Qiao squinted his eyes He vaguely saw a lot of people gathering outside of the city — most of which were elders, children, and women Fortunately, the weather was not very hot yet Otherwise, there would probably be a large outbreak of pestilence because of itHe couldn't help but shake his heads and sighed, ”So many hardshi+ps in a peasant's life!”

Yan Wushi+ commented indifferently, ”In fact, these scenes can be found in other countries as well Since the uprising of the five barbarians at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, all parties have been engaging in power struggles, with countless bloodshed and lives thrown into them already This kind of famine appears every year,especially around the borders In order to avoid responsibility and divert the pressure, each country is rather eager to push refugees to other countries When a prosperous year comes by, they would then declare wars and annex the cities of neighboring countries Mutiny occurs frequently within countries, and political powers alternate easily, changing the country's official name [1] every few years Then of course, no one really puts their thoughts into ruling a country, and Northern Qi is just more so compared to others”

Shen Qiao replied, ”But I heard that Sect Master Yan holds soh official position in Northern Zhou and their emperor relies heavily on you I suppose in your heart, you must think that Northern Zhou is more likely to unify the world?”

With his hands clasped behind his back, Yan Wushi+ slowly said, ”There is neverthe emperors, whether it is the wise ones or the incapable ones The only difference is that some are able to restrain their desires while the others either can't or don't want to Even though Yuwen Yong is addicted to war and killing, he banned both Buddhism and Daoism and is not fond of Confucianism either He leans toward none of the parties, so there aren't many choices left for him I also need his help to unify the three sects The Yuwen family has settled in the Central Plains for h their ancestors were the Xianbei people, they were sinicized long ago All of the systems in the Zhou Dynasty are the same as the Han systems [2] As an emperor, he's not necessarily inferior to the one in Southern Chen”

After so eneral understanding of the powers in this world

Zen Master Xueting who tried to stop Yan Wushi+ that night at Beyond Cloud Monastery used to be a supporter of Northern Zhou as well But he was supporting the ex-regent e

Zen Master Xueting was once a disciple of the Tiantai Sect He was the martial brother of Tiantai Sect's current Sect Master, Fayi However, the original position of the Tiantai Sect itself leaned more toward Southern Chen This matter was related to the internal tur it would lead to another lengthy story

After Yuwen Yong reclaimed the power that should have been his in the first place, in order to remove the remnants of Yuwen Hu's influence, it was impossible that he would continue to put the Buddhist school in an i and his disciples were actually in somewhat of an aard position in Northern Zhou They did not co was on the throne, Zen Master Xueting would not be able to reclailory

For Yuwen Yong, the Three Schools each had their own demands Once involved with the about the color of one of the schools This was so sense of autono Moon Sect also had their own objective, they were obviously a better partner to ith than the others; they would neither require Yuwen Yong to promote a certain school's doctrine nor influence his way of thinking

The two of theate

Ordinary people or traveling ether with to guard against harassuard with the group, because extreees had the capability to turn into bandits When they realized that begging was no use, they would then start to rob In thewoees' hands, not only would they lose their chastity, they could even end up in pots as meat stew

Under such a circumstance, Yan Wushi+ and Shen Qiao became a quite peculiar and conspicuous combination

One of them was empty-handed while the other supported hi to have just recovered from a serious illness They didn't look like ordinary travelers no matter what

Fro at thelance that Yan Wushi+ was not soees didn't dare to walk up to hilyShen Qiao

A three to four kids as they walked along the road They were practically nothing but bones, and one could hardly tell if they were still human They seemed more like puppets or zombies — even their expressions looked dead The oldest child was but six or seven years old, and the youngest one was at , but her parents had no strength to carry her Hence, she only grabbed the corner of heras she walked

If the situation were to continue like this, the youngest child would ultimately be the first one to be traded for children from other families to increase her parents' rations Or perhaps she would be cooked and eaten by her parents directly For people living in wartime, when the most desperate circumstances arose, even blood relations and familial love could be put aside for the sake of survival

Seeing Shen Qiao pass by, the couple knelt down right away to beg hiht for a moment, then fumbled around his bosom He took out a pancake [3] wrapped in oil-paper and handed it to the youngest child

The couple went into rapture They koed and thanked hiain The husband seized the pancake directly fro his wife and children all staring eagerly at hi period of hesitation, he finally broke off a save it to his wife

The wife didn't eat the pancake herself after taking it Instead, she broke it into a few pieces with ut so them to the kids

The pancake was not big and olfed down after a few gulps Other refugees on the side were envious after seeing it They all glared covetously at Shen Qiao

The husband begged Shen Qiao, ”The children have been starving for rant us one more cake so that they can make it to the city!”

But Shen Qiao refused, ”I' one to you, I have to keep one for myself too”

After he heard that Shen Qiao still had food on hied at once As he saw that there were no lights in Shen Qiao's eyes and how he had to support hiht sprouted from the husband's heart He threw himself at Shen Qiao