He Sanlang covered up his teacup as thoughts swirled in his eyes. His gaze shifted to Prince Jin, who was sitting opposite him.
“Your Highness, I want to earn my merit through the military.”
For a moment, Prince Jin froze. The Great Wu Dynasty had been founded for close to thirty years. The emperor was in the midst of reorganising the imperial court, as there were too many founding officials around. There was only one method left for those who wanted to earn some merit and progress quickly through the ranks: military contributions.
As for those who wanted to become influential through their qualifications or birthright, even the smart ones would need at least five years or more to make it.
Although the inner lands of the Great Wu Dynasty were currently prospering in peace, the borders were facing significant threats. The Southern Xinjiang1 people in Mingzhou to the south, the Tuhun and the barbarians in Liangzhou to the north, the Japanese pirates and the Goryeo2 people to the east… even the west border faced the blond, blue-eyed Uyghurs. 3
He Sanlang’s father, Count Jing’an himself, was stationed in Mingzhou.
Since nothing unusual had happened at the border in recent years and their spies hadn’t reported any movement from the neighbouring countries either, the border armies had been slowly relaxing their guard.
Without any battles to fight, even the most hardened and famous generals would lose their edge.
Astonishment flashed through the prince’s azure eyes. “Ah-di, why would you choose the north border? If you want to earn some merit, wouldn’t Mingzhou be better? Count He is there too. Furthermore, the spies have already reported that the Southern Xinjiang people are starting to make their move.”
Although Prince Jin wasn’t the heir to the throne, he still had access to some secret documents, thanks to the crown prince. Out of all of his imperial siblings, he was undoubtedly the one closest to the crown prince.
A glimmer of light flashed through He Changdi’s lowered gaze as he said, “As long as my father’s there, I won’t go.”
Prince Jin was startled, but he continued on, fretting worriedly as he said, “Ah-di, although we were given excellent evaluations in the Imperial College and you’re skilled at martial arts, you don’t have any actual battle experience and you’ve never led any troops before. You should know better than me what kind of person Imperial Duke Lu is!”
Imperial Duke Lu was also known as the Great General Qian, who was currently guarding the northern border. He was the man who had taught Prince Jin and He Changdi horseback riding and archery when they were young, and he was also a very strict and stubborn man.
Going to the northern border under the command of Imperial Duke Lu was equivalent to suffering endless hardship. Furthermore, there would be zero empathy from the duke himself. It would be a true test of his endurance. Nevermind the noble sons, hardly any of the minor officials’ sons would volunteer to go to the borders when they knew suffering and hardship lied ahead.
Even though the northern border had been at peace for almost ten years, Liangzhou had a terrible climate where winters were extremely cold and summers were extremely hot. There weren’t any good farmlands, and all the eye could see was only the endless, dry expanse of dull grassland, occasionally cut by the army tents pitched out in the wilderness. If they tried to go further north, there was a tall, snowy mountain. It was very different from the bustling of the capital and was nearly primitive in nature.
Frankly speaking, even criminals wouldn’t be exiled to such a place.
The citizens of Liangzhou City reportedly never saw a single grain of rice from their harvests all year round. Although the city was half the size of the capital, it didn’t even have 1/20 of the population.
If he could manage to earn some military achievements in the northern border, then all would be fine. However, if he failed… there was a rule at the border that stated that all soldiers without military achievements would have to stay there for a whole five years!
Five years! For the people of the Great Wu Dynasty, whose average lifespan was only about thirty years or so, five years was an extremely long time.
With He Changdi’s noble birth, as long as he wasn’t good-for-nothing, he could still get a fourth rank official title in that same amount of time.
Rushing off to the northern border like this without considering the consequences was practically a gamble in Prince Jin’s eyes. And a reckless gamble at that!
How simple did he think it was to earn merit at the northern border? Firstly, would he even be able to find an enemy powerful enough to earn achievements for defeating? Secondly, once he encountered such an enemy, would he even be strong enough to take them down? If something went awry, what would happen to the He Family? And what about him? Was He Changdi even thinking about his best friend?
“Your Highness, I’ve already made up my mind!!”
Prince Jin’s unusual azure eyes locked onto He Changdi. His stare was unwavering, searching for where he could pierce through his defenses and figure out what this best friend of his was thinking.
“Ah-di, you have to give me a good reason. Otherwise, I’m not going to help you.”
1. Xinjiang – an area to the west of China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang
2. Goryeo – an ancient Korean kingdom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goryeo
3. Uyghurs – an ethnic group found mostly in central Asia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghurs
