The Capital. The Imperial Study.
The Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian, sat at his desk as he had for decades, reviewing memorials without rest.
He casually opened one and read the opening lines.
"Wang Gongbi, Right Administration Commissioner of Nanjing, unlawfully distributed tribute grain to civilians, causing chaos at the Anqing docks. Eight thousand shi of tribute grain were lost."
The moment he read this, Zhu Youjian felt as though he had been strapped into a freefall ride.
"Outrageous!" he roared. "The court is already strapped for resources. We are fighting in Liaodong and suppressing bandits in the Central Plains. Every coin and every grain matters. How dare Wang Gongbi casually give away tribute grain? This is treasonous behavior!"
Standing nearby, Cao Huachun sighed inwardly.
Your Majesty, could you please finish reading the memorial before exploding? The second half clearly explains that river bandits were attacking, the grain was about to be seized, and it was given to the people to prevent total loss.
"I am furious!" Zhu Youjian snapped. "Strip Wang Gongbi of his office and arrest him at once!"
Cao Huachun could no longer stay silent. "Your Majesty, there is still more to the memorial."
Only then did Zhu Youjian force himself to read on.
After finishing it, he froze.
Silence.
This was awkward.
He immediately grabbed another memorial to cover the moment.
This one reported that Shi Kefa had arrived in Anqing to take up the post of Right Vice Minister, reorganized the Jiangbei forces, defeated the Huangmei river bandits and the Prince of Taiping, pursued the enemy with household troops and militia, destroyed the bandits' stronghold at Tiantang Fortress, and drove them north in disarray.
Zhu Youjian's mood shot upward like a jet.
"Well done, Shi Kefa," he said happily.
Perfect. This would neatly resolve the embarrassment from earlier.
He tapped the memorial and said, "Demote Wang Gongbi by one rank and transfer him back to Nanjing. Let Shi Kefa take full charge of military affairs in Jiangbei."
Cao Huachun thought to himself, Finally, that sounded like a proper imperial decision.
"Oh, right," Cao Huachun added quietly. "The Qin Prince's household sent a letter."
"The Qin Prince?" Zhu Youjian recalled at once. Zhu Cunji. Years ago, he had clashed fiercely with civil officials over fertilizer shipments, even sending retainers to seize transport carts. The Embroidered Guard caught him red-handed. Only after he donated fifty thousand taels of silver for disaster relief had Zhu Youjian let him off.
That memory was still fresh.
"What now?" Zhu Youjian frowned. "Who did the Qin Prince bully this time?"
Cao Huachun lowered his voice. "This time, it seems the Qin Prince was the one being bullied."
He then read out Zhu Cunji's heavily embellished letter.
Zhu Youjian rolled his eyes. "That brothel madam is too ignorant. The Qin Prince is royal blood. What is wrong with selling him a few courtesans to sing for him? She actually dared to refuse?"
"A mere brothel madam would never dare," Cao Huachun said softly. "Someone must be backing her. The Qin Prince is far away in Xi'an. High mountains, distant palace. The officials supporting her have nothing to fear."
Zhu Youjian snorted. "These civil officials have gone too far. They have blocked the Qin Prince's succession for years. He is forty now and still only a prince, with no Qin King in residence. It is humiliating. And now they even interfere when he tries to buy a few women?"
Cao Huachun gave an awkward smile.
"Do they think the imperial family has no dignity left?" Zhu Youjian said irritably. "Dragging something this trivial all the way to me. Ridiculous. Send someone to Suzhou. Handle this quietly. Make the madam sell the girls to the Qin Prince. Do not let it blow up."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Cao Huachun replied.
At noon.
Shi Lang had just finished his ideological studies class.
He walked toward the mess hall with exhaustion written all over him.
Half a day of martial training would not tire him, but sitting through lectures drained him completely. Mental fatigue left him lightheaded. He staggered inside, picked up his meal, and ate ravenously.
Just as he was getting into it, a shadow fell across the table.
Shi Kefa sat down opposite him, holding a meal tray of his own.
Shi Lang nearly jumped. "Lord Shi? You are eating in the camp?"
"I came to freeload a meal," Shi Kefa said with a smile. "I am quite fond of this luncheon meat."
Shi Lang beamed. "Me too!"
Of course, Shi Kefa had not come just to eat. He was carrying a task from the Tianzun.
After running through the instructions in his head, Shi Kefa asked casually, "Little Shi, you grew up along the Fujian coast, yes? You should know quite a bit about the sea."
"Yes," Shi Lang said quickly. "I was born in Fujian. I grew up by the shore, heard many stories about pirates, Westerners, and merchant ships."
Shi Kefa chuckled. "Then let me test you. If you were to choose a base at sea, a hidden naval port, where would you place it?"
The question stunned Shi Lang.
As a Fujian native, his first instinct was Yizhou Island.
But he immediately rejected it.
Westerners were already active there. The red-haired foreigners had built Fort Keelung. Their merchant ships radiated outward from that base across the southeastern coast.
If a naval port were built there, it would hardly remain secret. Western ships would come snooping before construction even finished.
After a long moment of careful thought, Shi Lang answered, "I would choose Zhoushan Island."
Shi Kefa felt a surge of delight.
Zhoushan Island matched the location the Tianzun had tentatively chosen. This child truly had some ability.
Keeping his expression neutral, Shi Kefa said, "And why Zhoushan? Speak of its strengths and weaknesses."
"Zhoushan has natural deepwater harbors," Shi Lang said earnestly. "Large ships can dock safely without risk of grounding. That is its first advantage."
"Second, the Ming court has already abandoned it. There is no official presence, and Western pirates do not pay it much attention. It would be easy to keep operations secret."
Now Shi Kefa truly understood.
This boy was saying exactly what the Tianzun had said.
"So by your reasoning," Shi Kefa asked, "we could build the naval port right away?"
Shi Lang shook his head. "Not yet."
"Oh?" Shi Kefa prompted. "Why not?"
"Zhoushan is currently infested with pirates," Shi Lang replied. "Beyond the main island are countless smaller islands, all used as pirate hideouts. If we wish to build a naval port there, we must first suppress the pirates."