TBFCWTE - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Although over the past nine years, through the concerted efforts of father and daughter, Great An could basically be called peaceful and prosperous, the world was never short of the ambitious.

Outside the palace, many watched them with hungry eyes, ready at any moment to pull them down.

In such a situation, Emperor Zhengning truly did not dare let He Shu go out. Moreover, he could not handle government affairs without her assistance.

"Imperial Father, at present, apart from Tax Reform, no major matters are likely to arise in the short term. Natural disasters, human calamities, or major cases mostly have precedents to follow, and you should be able to decide them. If truly necessary, you can pressure the officials responsible for the relevant affairs to produce a satisfactory plan by a deadline."

Although the flaws in Emperor Zhengning's character meant he could never independently become a qualified emperor, fortunately his strengths were also considerable.

He was willing to learn humbly and could take advice. Though he had little ability or independent judgment, his values were sound, he was willing to bear responsibility, knew right from wrong, and had the heart to seek benefit for the state and the people.

For an emperor, possessing these qualities was already rare.

This was precisely the key reason He Shu was willing to plan carefully for him and wholeheartedly assist him in securing the throne.

With a different emperor, one without ability and without self-awareness, full of bad habits and greedy for power and pleasure, even if he were her own father, she would not have the patience to deal with him.

After nine years of study and training, Emperor Zhengning had accumulated rich experience in handling government affairs.

Moreover, beside him were a group of important and close ministers personally certified by He Shu as trustworthy. Each had his own strengths and could check matters from the side.

This made He Shu believe that even if she left for a time, there would be no great impact on the court.

But Emperor Zhengning and the empress clearly did not think so. To them, He Shu was the stabilizing needle of the palace and court. With her there, their hearts were at ease.

"Shu'er, the outside is truly dangerous. Everyone knows you are my only son. We cannot bear this risk."

He Shu, long prepared for this, said, "If outsiders are not allowed to know I have left the palace, will that not solve it?"

The empress frowned. "The people watching you inside and outside the palace are more numerous than those watching your father. How could your leaving the palace be hidden?"

The empress's words were not exaggerated. Although those watching her had different goals, there were indeed more watching her than watching her father.

After all, her father was the emperor, and daring to spy on the emperor was a grave offense that could cost one's head. She, meanwhile, was the emperor's only "prince."

The risk of eliminating the only prince was certainly smaller, yet it could achieve the same purpose.

He Shu smiled and said softly, "Have someone impersonate me. Say I broke my leg and need to lie in bed to recover. A bone injury takes a hundred days, enough time for me to go out and inspect a round."

Before Emperor Zhengning could say anything, the empress had already raised her hand in displeasure and poked He Shu's forehead.

"Who curses herself like that?"

Although He Shu had experienced the strange matter of reincarnating with memories of her previous life, she still followed a materialist worldview.

"Empress Mother need not be so serious. Those who achieve great things do not stick at trifles. I will certainly take good care of myself."

Emperor Zhengning still tried to persuade He Shu to give up the idea of leaving the palace.

"Shu'er, whatever you want to know, we can send people to record every word of public discussion, and even depict the scene. Why must you insist on risking going out yourself?"

In her previous life, even images and words shown through live broadcast were not guaranteed to be faithful, let alone in this era, where records and portraits were even less reliable.

To discover problems and truly solve them for the common people, one still had to conduct field inspections, see with one's own eyes and hear with one's own ears, so as not to be deaf or blind, or be deceived by appearances arranged for one's benefit.

After stating this thinking, He Shu could not help but sigh.

"Imperial Father, this time I will go out first. When I am older and can legitimately help you supervise the state, you can leave the palace for a turn as well. No need for grand displays. Go privately to see the real living conditions of the poorest people and hear their demands."

Emperor Zhengning had been born amid wealth. Even when he was a prince and commandery prince, he had never personally seen the daily lives of the poor.

Only after becoming Emperor, in some reports sent back by the Shadow Guards, had he seen written descriptions of poor people with no clothes to cover themselves, no food to fill their bellies, and no roof over their heads.

But knowing of such things only through written descriptions was, of course, far less shocking and memorable than witnessing the real scenes with one's own eyes.

He Shu's suggestion stirred a sense of responsibility in Emperor Zhengning's heart. He nodded gravely. "Good. Imperial Father will listen to you..."

Glancing at the empress, whose expression had immediately turned ugly because father and daughter had reached a tacit agreement, Emperor Zhengning at once added righteously, "When the time comes, I will also bring your mother. She is the mother of the state and surely cares greatly whether the people of the realm live in peace and work contentedly."

Love of freedom was human nature. Before, he had never thought he too might leave the palace to see the world, so it had not mattered. Now that the matter was raised, Emperor Zhengning and the empress were quite expectant.

Although He Shu had successfully persuaded Emperor Zhengning and the empress to agree to her leaving the palace, she could not set out immediately.

Rather, she had to be as thorough as possible, making people believe that the crown prince had truly broken her leg and risked becoming disabled, and had therefore been so depressed as to recuperate carefully in the Eastern Palace, keeping secluded and unwilling to see outsiders.

As this news spread, those forces hoping that the emperor's only sprout would encounter trouble, so as to make room for their own descendants, naturally fixed their eyes on her "injury."

But at the short-term peak of attention, they certainly would not dare act rashly.

To be convincing, He Shu not only had to publicly stage how she "broke her leg," but also had to have a trusted imperial physician give the corresponding diagnosis.

To help conceal the truth that He Shu was originally a daughter, and also to protect her daily safety, not only were there always highly skilled guards and Woman Officials around He Shu, but there were also imperial physicians in the Imperial Hospital responsible for covering for her.

The guards and Woman Officials actually responsible for her health all knew she was originally a princess. Those imperial physicians who had no chance to take her pulse personally, and only knew to write medical records and diagnoses in the Eastern Palace when instructed, did not know.

The Eastern Palace officials led by Xu Congyi had all been assigned other work by He Shu. Ordinarily, apart from coming to report to He Shu, they did not need to come to the Eastern Palace for duty.

Those who could remain daily in the Eastern Palace to handle miscellaneous affairs were only a managing aunt and a managing eunuch whom Emperor Zhengning had personally arranged after He Shu's birth, along with more than a dozen people they led who had retired from the Shadow Guard camp.

The guards, eunuchs, and Woman Officials responsible for close protection and care of He Shu were Shadow Guards who had received special training. Their total number was not small, but they were very low-key and skilled at hiding.

Even when on duty, they rarely appeared formally before others, especially near He Shu, and most of their surface identities and duties were unrelated to the Eastern Palace.

These arrangements protected He Shu's surroundings without a single leak and ensured that everyone participating in this plan was trustworthy.

So He Shu's plan proceeded very smoothly. First she personally acted the "deeply stricken crown prince" for several days, receiving some important people who came to inquire about the injury. After obtaining the outside feedback she wanted, she handed the role to a Shadow Guard whose build and appearance were somewhat similar to hers and who could even imitate her voice.

This Shadow Guard, named Guo Wu, was male and the same age as He Shu. At three, his family discovered he was born with a congenital defect that left him incapable of fathering children, and abandoned him in the wilderness.

Fortunately, his life was not meant to end there. He met people from the Shadow Guard camp, was taken back for training, and though life in the camp was hard, he at least survived.

From the time Emperor Zhengning ascended the throne, He Shu had advised him to order that, on the grounds that the palace eunuchs were already at full complement and unnecessary expenses should be saved as much as possible, no more eunuchs be added.

As for those boys who, having nowhere else to turn, chose to castrate themselves, or were sold by their families to the Imperial Household Department, most were arranged to be sent to the Shadow Guard camp. Both Emperor Zhengning and He Shu allocated funds from their private treasuries to improve conditions there.

In addition, the Imperial Household Department was required to purchase only boys under fifteen who were natural eunuchs or had suffered accidental injuries of that kind.

In this way, the Shadow Guard camp and the palace became the best destination for such people.

Living together with people who had similar physical defects and even similar tragic experiences, no one need look down on anyone else. Though disputes among them were inevitable, they were also more loyal to Emperor Zhengning and He Shu.

Guo Wu was one of them. He had been trained early as one of He Shu's doubles, and in both loyalty and ability he was outstanding.

So when He Shu, after disguising herself, quietly left the palace, apart from those involved in the whole affair, only Emperor Zhengning and the empress, who were deeply worried about the crown prince's "injury," knew. Even their close attendants did not.

After all, it concerned He Shu's safety. The fewer people who knew, the lower the risk of leaks.

For He Shu, even just temporarily leaving the deep palace compound where she had lived for nine years made her feel much lighter in body and mind.

If she had never tasted freedom, she might not have been so interested in the world outside the palace.

Or if she could, like the world of her previous life, have advanced technology and see the bustle and splendor of the great world through the internet, knowing all under heaven while sitting at home, she might have been able to stay in the palace.

But in the current feudal dynasty, even if she could, like the protagonists of novels she had read in her previous life, carry a library from her past life with her, she still had no ability to create an electronic satellite network in her lifetime.

To use some of the knowledge she had mastered in her previous life to build industries and earn more money for the court and herself was already her greatest ability.

Of course, He Shu was not complacent because of this. That was why she wanted to leave the palace personally and inspect the localities.

Apart from genuinely wishing to hear the people's voices with her own ears, she also wanted to go out and seek inspiration, to see what practical things she could still do for the people of this era.

Tax reform could only lighten the burden on the poor; it could not change their fate of still living in poverty. The next step was to find ways to help them increase income.

Only when both reducing burdens and increasing income were achieved could the people at the bottom truly live in peace and work contentedly.

He Shu knew her abilities were limited and she had little ambition. Only because she was now destined to occupy this position, and because she wanted to be worthy of her conscience, did she have to do her utmost and do as much as possible for the people of Great An.

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