Half a Spoiler Chapter 85

Suppressing bandits is a military matter, which naturally involves the exchange of letters beyond verbal reports. However, due to procedural formalities, the memorial personally drafted by Shi Zhuhe remains stalled at the Secretariat.

Upon learning of this, Wen Yanran immediately issued orders to the entourage to expedite their journey.

The imperial guard tasked with delivering the message noted the stark contrast between the current emperor’s temperament and that of the previous ruler. Had the late emperor suddenly received good news, he would have first indulged in grand celebrations before addressing other matters. In contrast, upon hearing the report of victory, the present emperor grew even more solemn, displaying an eager determination to hasten back to the capital and resume duties.

With such a sovereign, how could ordinary officials dare to claim diligence?

Upon taking his leave, the imperial guard was filled with profound admiration for the Emperor.

The [War Sanbox] is currently under maintenance, so Wen Yanran cannot immediately assess the situation in the north. However, after pondering the intelligence provided by the imperial guards for a while, she began to form some general conjectures in her mind.

Just before the imperial carriage officially entered Jianzhou, detailed reports from the northern front finally reached Wen Yanran. Earlier, she had sent separate letters to Shi Zhuhe and Wen Xun, instructing the latter to lead troops on field training exercises, while to the former, she had elaborately described the various dangers of leaving the main camp. Her hope, naturally, was that Shi Zhuhe would simply focus on holding their territory. However, upon later reflection, Wen Yanran realized that she had been influenced by the era’s customary style of communication – her wording carried a somewhat cryptic, riddle-like quality, which likely gave Shi Zhuhe the mistaken impression that she was encouraging proactive engagement.

Fortunately, the outcome wasn’t too bad. Although she had not intended for Shi Zhuhe to take the initiative in battle, she also had no plans to let the forward camp fall into neglect.

As for Wen Xun, her involvement seemed rather opportune – almost as if he had arrived just in the nick of time.

In her letter, Wen Yanran hinted that local powerful clans might disguise themselves as roving bandits to lure the front camp’s troops out. Shi Zhuhe readily adopted this line of thought and, having determined the timing of these “bandit” raids, disguised his own elite forces as bandits as well, launching a preemptive strike that caught the enemy completely off guard.

The soldiers’ willingness to follow Shi Zhuhe’s command stemmed partly from the strict enforcement of rewards and punishments in daily matters. Another reason was that Song Nanlou had originally recruited these troops from areas near Jianzhou, where the proximity to Jianping fostered a natural sense of awe toward prominent clans like the Song and Shi families.

Having stayed at the front camp for so long, Shi Zhuhe had long since discovered that most of these “roving bandits” came from two local clans: the Jin and Tang families. Among them, the Tang family was known as a prominent local power, while the Jin family could even be considered a third-tier aristocratic house.

Caught completely unprepared, both the Tang and Jin families were easily routed by Shi Zhuhe’s forces. Most of the “bandits” were captured or killed – unlike in battles against the Western Tribes, where enemy troops could be recruited upon surrender, those who claimed the mantle of banditry could simply be executed outright.

After one captive shouted that he was a member of the Jin family, Shi Zhuhe personally went over to deliver the final blow. At the same time, he resolutely declared that this bandit, daring to impersonate a Jin clansman, likely meant the bandit leader had taken the entire Jin clan hostage. Having already received intelligence reports, maintaining local stability was the proper course of action. Continuing to use their disguises as cover, Shi Zhuhe deceived the Jin clan’s guards into opening the gates of their fortified manor. He then successfully stormed their territory and completely wiped out all remaining “bandits.”

Hearing of the events, the Tang family initially considered whether they could salvage something from the situation. However, after just one engagement with Shi Zhuhe’s forces, they wisely chose to retreat.

Shi Zhuhe, unable to abandon the main camp for a long-distance pursuit, had initially resigned himself to letting some of the Tang forces escape. However, during their retreat, the Tang troops unfortunately encountered Wen Xun, who had arrived to lead field training exercises.

Seeing the situation, Wen Xun immediately realized that the Emperor’s arrangement for her to be in this location was precisely to cut off the enemy’s retreat. Though she did not understand how the Emperor had even timed it so perfectly, that did not stop her from immediately ordering her troops forward, encircling the Tang vanguard.

Although both Shi Zhuhe and Wen Xun commanded only modest forces, the Tang clan’s troops were not regular soldiers to begin with. Caught in a pincer attack, they quickly collapsed completely.

Afterward, Shi Zhuhe and Wen Xun briefly met to discuss the situation in the north. While their commanding styles differed, they swiftly reached a consensus on one point: the Emperor’s strategies were flawless.

Following the Emperor’s hints in her letter, Shi Zhuhe swiftly took control of both clans’ territories and carefully planted various pieces of evidence.

The convoy on the ground advanced toward Jianping like a moving cloud. The protocol for the Emperor’s return journey was already elaborate, and as this was a triumphant homecoming, the court was all the more eager to stage a grand reception to reassure the public. Initially, Wen Yanran found the arrangements slightly cumbersome, but seeing that the protocol required her to wear the emperor’s ceremonial headdress, she felt somewhat relieved.

Since she had to wear the beaded crown, it essentially meant no major movements would be required of her. Based on past experience, she only needed to remain seated in the carriage throughout.

In addition, there were congratulatory ceremonies involving public participation. Wen Yanran skimmed through the proposals and approved some of the arrangements by the Imperial Household Department, but rejected the plan to re-celebrate her birthday – although she had been away from Jianping on her actual birthday due to the imperial expedition, the Imperial Hosuehold had not ignored the occasion and had already held a banquet in her absence. All the customary rituals had been carried out then, so there was no need for a repeat now.

The following day.

Dressed in full ceremonial attire, Wen Yanran sat in the grand carriage drawn by six majestic horses. To celebrate the great victory, the occasion was meant to be shared with the people, and many ordinary citizens – not cleared away in advance – lined the roads. Wen Yanran noticed that most of them held plants in their hands and moved in an orderly manner. After performing the proper rituals of homage, an elderly man, summoned forward, bowed and said, “Your Majesty, bearer of the Mandate of Heaven, since Your Majesty ascended the throne, cotton production has suddenly doubled…”

Although Wen Yanran knew these people had likely been deliberately arranged to flatter her, she couldn’t help but feel a moment of bewilderment.

She understood that the people of this era tended to attribute various celestial phenomena to the emperor, but what could cotton production possibly have to do with her? The Guide to Becoming a Tyrant wasn’t a farming simulation game!

As a seasoned worker, Wen Yanran usually took good care of her eyesight. Now, as she observed carefully, she suddenly noticed that the cotton held by the elderly man looked somewhat familiar – as if she had seen it somewhere before.

After pondering for a while, she finally retrieved a similar silhouette from a corner of her memory. And the old man’s subsequent words confirmed Wen Yanran’s guess –

“Cotton production in Jianzhou has always been meager. Your Majesty, compassionate toward the people, specially broke a cotton branch as a warning. The following year, the yield indeed doubled…”

Wen Yanran: “…”

She remembered. That day, the Imperial Household Department had invited her to admire flowers. She had casually examined a potted plant resembling hibiscus and then casually snapped off a twig to play with, thinking little of it afterward. Only now did it suddenly dawn on her – the plant she had mistaken for hibiscus back then was actually cotton before it had fruited!

As someone with a science background, Wen Yanran certainly hadn’t forgotten the concept of apical dominance. In an instant, terms like terminal bud, auxin, and the optimal concentrations of auxin in different parts of a plant surfaced in her mind – she knew perfectly well that removing the top bud of a cotton plant, commonly known as “topping,” could promote the growth of lateral branches and increase cotton yield!

So, it wasn’t that Wen Yanran had successfully warned the cotton plant, but rather that she had accidentally performed a highly scientific act, which was then recorded by the Imperial Household – an agency whose focus was to meticulously observe the Emperor’s every move – and unexpectedly popularized.

After that pot of cotton was carried back to the greenhouse that day, it received meticulous care. The eunuchs tending the plants clearly realized that this particular pot yielded more than normal. Although they didn’t understand the underlying principle, since the Emperor had once broken a cotton branch, they simply imitated the action.

Completely numbed, Wen Yanran calmly reflected that her theoretical knowledge wasn’t actually flawed. Even years after graduation, the fundamental concepts hadn’t slipped her mind – she just hadn’t fully connected theory with practice. Before today, she genuinely hadn’t known what cotton flowers actually looked like…

The assembled officials noted that no matter how extravagantly the elderly man sang her praises, the Emperor remained composed throughout, not even allowing the curve of her smile to waver. Truly, she lived up to being an inscrutable ruler.

Some who had privately doubted such mystical matters now found their convictions wavering – if not for bearing the Mandate of Heaven, how could the current emperor have been so precisely selected by the State Preceptor from among the late emperor’s children? If not truly blessed with profound fortune, how could the Emperor’s mere casual breaking of a flower branch cause crop yields to skyrocket?

Wen Yanran couldn’t even clarify the situation for herself. It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to explain it; she was genuinely worried that, in the process of explaining, she might inadvertently plant the seeds of scientific inquiry.

Throughout the agrarian era, farming and weaving were extremely vital agricultural activities. In many instances, cloth and grain could circulate as currency. In Great Zhou, commoners mostly used coarse hemp, while the nobility favored silk and similar fabrics. Cotton production had always been limited – until recently, when it began to increase because the new emperor showed a preference for it and the Imperial Household Department deliberately catered to her tastes.

However, cotton held a pivotal position among textile raw materials. With the promotion of the topping method – now sanctified by the Emperor’s “divine sign” – it was clearly set to trigger a minor economic boom. This momentum was something even Wen Yanran herself couldn’t stop. Previously preoccupied with the royal expedition, she had missed her birthday celebrations. Only after returning to Jianping did she learn that the Imperial Household, in an effort to please her, had already publicized the event on her actual birthday…