Lanke Chess Edge -
Chapter 249: Fundamental Rebirth
[T/n: note on chapter title]1
Silk cloth was woven from natural silkworm thread. In its natural state, it had no color, so it needed to be colored with dyes. The Bloody Silk Incident was not only named such in future generations, but it was also formed as a rumor in Dazhen at the time, implying that officialdom was stained with blood.
Once the incident came to an end, if one counted even the minor officials, those that had been brought down would number in the thousands. Those guilty of serious crimes would have been executed in large numbers, and each had countless accomplices and ill-intentioned servants.
The underworlds of the various prefectures of Wan Province had made preparations in advance to receive this batch of sinful souls, so that the weight of their evil souls would not taint the executioners and officials handling the case.
The amount of gold, silver, and other valuables seized from private vaults in various parts of Wan Province was innumerable, and greater still was the number of unresolved cold cases that were brought to light. In addition to the majority of the unresolved cases, which involved ordinary people, there were also many righteous officials who were framed and persecuted.
Yin Zhaoxian, stationed in Lishun Prefecture, deployed many officials in the inspection team who were originally planned to help stabilize government affairs. From overturning unjust cases to calculating statistics, from searching for criminals to the arrest of those that had been overlooked, he personally presided over all matters and inquired about the process and results.
Although six of every ten Wan Province officials were removed, in fact, even eight out of ten was a conservative estimate of how many there should have been. In this environment, there were too few people with truly clean hands.2 However, as long as they did not violate the bottom line set by Yin Zhaoxian, he would turn a blind eye to some minor offenses, or let them go after a light punishment. Wan Province was just too short of officials right now.
When the news reached the capital, the whole imperial court was shaken. All the civil and military officials were horrified. The news even spread throughout the entire country of dazhen, shocking officials and civilians alike.
Wan Province’s handful of upright officials applauded, and even those who did not drink got drunk in celebration at the end of the year. The people of Wan Province transformed from initial apprehension to ecstasy.
This exciting piece of news was the best Chinese New Year gift that thousands of households in Wan Province received at the end of the year.The general outline of the government’s official announcement went as follows: In all prefectures and counties of Wan Province, anyone whose land had been occupied could redeem it at the price at which they were forced to sell it. Even if they had no money, they could mortgage it, for a slightly increased harvest tax for the next three years. They could choose whether they would grow grain or mulberry trees. All parties in the silk weaving industry of Wan Province had to purchase mulberry leaves or silkworm cocoons from the common people at a reasonable price.
Yin Zhaoxian’s most prescient move was to eliminate the corrupt, leaving only officials and a few merchants. With his careful guidance, he did not directly interrupt the industrial chain of silk weaving in Wan Province, but instead made the distribution of profits relatively reasonable, allowing the common people to at least live in peace. Although he had not studied much economic theory, he instinctively felt that this was the most appropriate method.
The vigorous campaign to rectify the officialdom of Wan Province and restore the people’s livelihood lasted until the end of spring before it settled down.
During the process, there were many moments of confusion due to insufficient manpower or inexperience in some areas, but as time went on, all parties became more and more proficient under the leadership of Yin Zhaoxian. Even the grain reserves needed for the people to re-cultivate the fields were taken into consideration, so the silk production did not suffer any delays.
Students and scholars from some of the academies in Wan Province were also recruited by the officials to help out, and thus the situation in Wan Province was just barely stabilized.
Dazhen implemented a quarterly tax collection system. It was originally thought that due to the chaos at the beginning of the year, the economy of Wan Province would definitely be affected, so the amount in taxes collected in the following year would be reduced. However, there was an enormous amount of stolen money. Even if most of it were to be turned over to the national treasury, the rest would be enough to support the reconstruction of Wan Province’s economy.
Wan Province’s economy was indeed hit hard in the short term, but in fact, taxes were still more than 20% higher than in the same period from previous years, because after the layers of exploitation were reduced, the normal baseline amount increased.
After the news reached the capital, Emperor Yuan De, who had been suffering due to illness born of depression, was pleased, which was quite rare for him. He dragged his ill body to the morning court the day after he received the Wan Province report. In front of all the civil and military officials in the court, he praised Yin Zhaoxian’s “talent in assisting the emperor.”
After this battle, Yin Zhaoxian’s name once again echoed throughout the scholarly community, and even throughout the world. Countless people admired and respected him.
Of course, there are also a lot of people who hated Yin Zhaoxian to the core, with him escaping two assassination attempts in the past few months.
In the early summer of the year of Bingxu,3 Yin Zhaoxian and a group of his subordinates bowed their heads and kowtowed in the main hall of the Lishun Prefecture’s government building.
An old eunuch stood in front of the government building and loudly read from a piece of rice paper.
“Receive the Emperor’s edict: Yin Zhaoxian, the Prefect of Lishun Prefecture, is a true patriot and loyal to the Emperor. He has eradicated of corruption, served as an honest official, and made outstanding political achievements. He has governed Wan Province effectively, bringing harmony to the government and happiness to the people. Yin Zhaoxian is hereby appointed Governor of Wan Province, concurrent with his position as Prefect of Yunbo Prefecture. It has been decreed!”
As he listened to the imperial edict, Yin Zhaoxian felt a bit dazed, and he didn’t react until the imperial decree was completely read out.
“Master Yin, Master Yin, do you not accept the decree?”
Only then did Yin Zhaoxian react, and he led his subordinates to in accepting the edict and thanking the emperor for his generosity.
“Yin Zhaoxian thanks the Son of Heaven for his grace!”
. . .
While Yin Zhaoxian was receiving his title in the government office of Lishun Prefecture, Ji Yuan was sitting in the small pavilion, writing something with a brush.
At this moment, he felt something in his heart. Ji Yuan stopped and sat quietly for a while, and a white chess piece appeared on the fingertips of his left hand. It seemed that he could sense his friend’s emotions and mood changes through the chess pieces.
“Surging and overwhelming, a character of pure bright virtue.”4
In his inner world, he could clearly feel wisps of mysterious yellow Qi appear out of nothing. Although he had felt the increase of mysterious yellow Qi before, it was usually as fine as a gossamer thread. On the whole, Ji Yuan could previously be said to be “living off of his past capital.”
This mysterious yellow Qi had long been proven to be mysterious yellow Qi of merit and virtue. It first appeared when he used the imperial Edict in Zhaojia Village. It should be noted that, in addition to the Edict technique, Ji Yuan had also created the alchemy furnace in his inner world to reveal the true conception of the Five Elements, transforming the energy into Yin and Yang fires, and at the same time created the True Fire of Samadhi.
The sound of the Edict was the most practical and versatile technique in Ji Yuan’s hands. On one hand, the True Fire of Samadhi rapidly depleted Ji Yuan’s spiritual energy, but on the other, it was now able to manifest from the illusory world to the real world. If used properly, it would definitely be extremely powerful.
Moreover, the true conception of the Five Elements in the alchemy furnace was something Ji Yuan discovered after he had played a game of deduction with himself. He discovered that it was the fundamental manifestation of the Five Elements Qi within his own body, which in turn indirectly elevated his own cultivation level. Although his Dantian and the acupoints in his body still needed to gradually be developed, his cultivation had as a result become quite efficient.
It could be said most of the benefits of the original “Public Records of Emperor Zhengde” went to Ji Yuan.5
But Ji Yuan could feel that this mysterious yellow Qi, although it was manifested and he could sense it because of the Edict technique, was not created due to the “Public Records of Emperor Zhengde,” but instead existed originally in Ji Yuan’s own inner world, only appearing after that moment.
As for the root cause, it was probably related to the original chessboard.
“Public Records of Emperor Zhengde” was naturally an opportunity for Land God Zhao, but there might also be another reason why it had not revealed itself before now. Ji Yuan didn’t dare speculate that he was the person it was waiting for, but it was definitely someone similar to him; his nature might simply match that of the mysterious yellow Qi.
“A key piece in this game of chess… I only have one!”
Ji Yuan sighed. He did not mean that his other black and white chess pieces were useless, but that the only one who could truly play an important role on the “chessboard” so far was his good friend Teacher Yin, who could be regarded as a firm hand for Dazhen.
At this thought, Ji Yuan took a closer look at a certain chess piece that appeared and disappeared from time to time in his inner world. It represented Monk Huitong.
Its state was quite strange. He could only conclude that it was close to forming into a true piece, and that this phenomenon had not occurred when they left, but was instead a change that began to appear after a while after they separated. At the time, not even Ji Yuan himself knew what was going on, and almost flew off to Tingliang Country to ask.
But even though his piece was not quite formed yet, Ji Yuan can sense that the monk was doing fine, which was good.
‘Master Huitong has been gone for more than half a year, but I don’t know what he might have discovered.’
Ji Yuan sighed, then returned to his senses and continued to write.
The paper on the stone table was ordinary paper, but the characters were extraordinary. Written upon it was his deduction of the laws of his Imperial Edict technique, and beside it was his deduction of how the Dimensional Storage technique worked.
The jujube flowers on the jujube tree above his head head were in new bloom this year. However, compared to the past, the fragrance of jujube flowers no longer filled the streets. Instead, it turned into a fresh scent, which was no longer obvious; one wouldn’t even be able to discern it if one didn’t smell carefully. However, it still made Tian Niu Lane and its surroundings feel more comfortable.
“Tak…”
There was a slight sound of claws scraping, and Hu Yun climbed over the wall and landed in the courtyard. When he saw Ji Yuan in the yard, he hurriedly pressed his paws together and bowed.
“Hello, Mr. Ji.”
“Ah, remember to go through the door next time.”
The fox scratched awkwardly behind his ears, then walked on his hind legs to Ji Yuan’s side.
“I was afraid that you might be sleeping, and it would be bad if I woke you up.”
Hu Yun was telling the truth. Mr. Ji was sleeping longer and longer. Usually, he woke up only once every three days. Other times, it would be normal for him to sleep for ten days consecutively, or even half a month.
Although Mr. Ji said that his eyesight was not very good, well, Hu Yun actually couldn’t tell, but he knew that Mr. Ji’s ears were really sharp, and he wouldn’t miss even the slightest noise. Hu Yun thought that knocking on the door would easily disturb Mr. Ji’s rest or practice.
Seeing that Mr. Ji was ignoring him, Hu Yun lay down on the stone table, disinterested, and informed him of the purpose of his visit.
“Mr. Ji, Lu Shan Jun is starting to lose his hair. He said that he hasn’t lost his hair in over a hundred years. He is a little worried that there might be something wrong in his cultivation, so I came to ask you.”
Ji Yuan smiled and didn’t speak. He simply took out a new piece of paper and wrote four large characters.
Hu Yun watched carefully from the side, and couldn’t help but read out: “Fundamental Rebirth…”
The fox was stunned for a moment, then suddenly looked at Ji Yuan.
“Mr. Ji, is Lu Shan Jun about to transform?”
“It’s still too early to say for sure, but this is a good thing. It is of great significance to be reborn before transforming. Ordinary monsters wouldn’t do this.”
As Ji Yuan spoke, the words on the paper flashed with light. He picked it up and blew on it, and all the ink dried up by itself.
“Then, what kind of monsters will be reborn? Can I do it?”
The fox pointed to himself and asked expectantly.
Ji Yuan just glanced at his sideways, and didn’t answer the second half of his question. he slowly opened his mouth and answered first half of the sentence.
“For example, when an aquatic creature with a unique talent transforms into a flood dragon, it will be reborn.”
T/n: Ooooh Lu Shan Jun is going to be the terrestrial equivalent of a flipping dragon! Let’s gooo! Meanwhile JY is just over here farming MASSIVE good karma
Side note — I have changed the official titles for various governmental positions to be more consistent and make more sense in translation. The head of a county is a Magistrate, the head of a prefecture (like YZX) is a Prefect, and the head of a province is a Governor. Hope that makes things clearer, I know personally I managed to confuse myself before
- 脱胎换骨 (tuōtāihuàngǔ): “to shed one’s mortal body and exchange one’s bones,” idiom meaning “to turn over a new leaf,” start anew, change wholly, etc. Given the context at the end of the chapter, I chose “Fundamental Rebirth”
- Lit. “clean buttocks”
- 23rd year of the 60 year cycle, year of the Dog, with the element of Fire
- Couplet of 4/4 characters
- See ch. 93
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