Regent (9): 

Gu Juntian carefully examined the condition of Zhou Qinghao’s military camp.

In this era, cultural knowledge was passed down from generation to generation — and so were the skills of marching and waging war.

Most of the generals came from military families; they would never teach their methods of commanding troops to outsiders.

Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of soldiers were not easy to lead. If a general lacked ability, he couldn’t even handle the basic needs of so many men.

Moreover, at this time, the common soldiers — and even mid-ranking officers — were illiterate and couldn’t do basic arithmetic. They didn’t even have a concept of “country.”

If Jin drafted them today, they would fight for Jin. If Qi drafted them tomorrow, they would fight for Qi.

Such soldiers were difficult to manage.

Zhou Qinghao did not come from a family of military officers. The way he managed soldiers was something he had figured out and learned by observation.

In such circumstances, for him to still become a famous general showed just how capable he was.

Compared to the other generals of this time, who did not treat ordinary soldiers as human, Zhou Qinghao was already very good to them — and his soldiers were utterly loyal to him.

Especially these twenty thousand men, his carefully trained elite troops.

When they went into battle, the conscripted laborers were managed by these elite troops.

But in Gu Juntian’s eyes, the soldiers’ living conditions were still terrible.

Their living quarters were poor, their clothing was not uniform, and their food was no better than that of the warhorses.

The warhorses ate beans and fodder; the soldiers ate beans and wild vegetables.

Gu Juntian chatted with them for a while.

The language on both sides was not quite the same — the speech of Jin’s nobility differed greatly from that of its commoners.

Fortunately, it was not completely incomprehensible; speaking slowly and listening carefully was enough.

After gathering enough information, Gu Juntian left with Zhou Qinghao.

When he left, the soldiers’ gazes toward him had changed drastically. Each one looked at him as though they were ready to die for a confidant who understood them.

Zhou Qinghao noticed this and felt a twinge of jealousy toward the soldiers.

He had thought Gu Juntian would only treat him respectfully; he didn’t expect him to treat ordinary soldiers without the slightest disdain.

Even knowing this might be an act, a king who could do this was worth fighting for.

And judging by Gu Juntian’s demeanor, it didn’t look like an act at all.

Once they were in the carriage, Gu Juntian said, “Uncle, I have an estate near the capital — fertile fields, serfs, and granaries full of food. Tomorrow, take those soldiers there to live.”

Zhou Qinghao said, “Your Majesty, how can the royal estate be given to commoners to live in?”

Gu Juntian replied, “The estate’s harvest has long been monopolized by the royal clan. I never see any of it. If you take the soldiers there, you can help me manage it.”

In Jin’s ruling class, apart from the few great families from the kingdom’s founding, all were Gu family nobles.

As the King of Jin, Gu Juntian was the head of the Gu clan.

He inherited a large number of ancestral estates. Some of their output was his private property; some was used to cover the expenses of the palace and royal tombs.

In theory, these many estates should bring him a considerable surplus each year, but the royal clan claimed he was too young to manage them, handled them in his stead, and every year had excuses for poor harvests, never giving him anything.

Compared to ordinary people, his life was comfortable — yesterday’s bath alone had cost enough firewood to last a commoner a year.

But his life was still less luxurious than some members of the royal clan, whose extravagance extended even to spending unknown sums on building their own tombs.

Since he couldn’t get the estate’s income anyway, he might as well use it to feed his soldiers.

Zhou Qinghao’s troops were his troops — there was no difference.

Thinking this, Gu Juntian kissed Zhou Qinghao on the cheek.

He had dragged Zhou to the camp early in the morning, and Zhou hadn’t had time to shave.

But for some reason, even unshaven, Zhou still looked pleasing to him.

Still, the beard had to go.

Gu Juntian said, “Uncle, when we get back, shall I shave you?” In this era, shaving meant using sharp blades — he didn’t trust anyone else to do it for Zhou.

Zhou Qinghao smiled. “Alright.”

Travel was inconvenient in this time; going out of the city took effort. By now it was past noon.

Gu Juntian took some food from the carriage for Zhou to eat and fill his stomach.

When they returned to the palace, lunch had already been prepared — millet rice and several boiled dishes of vegetables and meat.

In his mind, Gu Juntian thought of other recipes.

In the future, he would make them for Zhou Qinghao to taste.

After lunch, the official documents that the King of Jin should review were finally brought in.

It was a cartload of heavy bamboo slips, written in Jin’s script of the time.

The writing was a mix of oracle bone script, bronze inscriptions, and zhouwen — a confusing mess. Even though he had studied since childhood, he had to read them several times to understand.

The scripts of Chu and Qi were different again.

Just looking at them made one dizzy.

Gu Juntian felt slow at reading them, but in others’ eyes, he was extremely fast.

His comprehension far surpassed the original king’s, and he had a photographic memory — a glance was enough to clearly see the characters, and a few more glances to understand.

But while he understood, he knew little of local affairs and officials, so he needed someone to explain them.

Zhou Qinghao was his teacher in these matters.

Before Zhou went on campaign, he had always explained the documents to the king, but the original king disliked reading and thought Zhou had ulterior motives. Anyone Zhou praised as capable, he suspected of being Zhou’s man, and guarded against them.

Now, after three years, many personnel had changed… If Gu Juntian wanted to govern personally, someone had to teach him.

As Zhou patiently explained, he noticed that Gu Juntian was different from three years ago.

Surely someone had been carefully teaching him in that time.

Gu Juntian hadn’t listened to Zhou before, but to that person, he had obeyed completely.

Many of the documents were meaningless, written just to fool the King of Jin.

But Gu Juntian still read them carefully and gave his replies.

By the time he finished, night had fallen.

The day had passed quickly.

After dinner, Gu Juntian took Zhou to bathe again, and then shaved his beard.

Afraid of hurting him, Gu Juntian shaved slowly.

For Zhou, it was torture — the blade scraping his face made him tense.

Soon, he sighed and stopped worrying.

If the king wanted to kill him, what could he do?

For hundreds of years, how many great generals had died at their ruler’s hands?

In the end, he just focused on watching Gu Juntian.

Gu Juntian liked this look on him.

They had only known each other two days, but it felt like they had known each other for centuries. Neither had the slightest guard against the other.

He even felt as if he had come into this world for Zhou.

Without the beard, Zhou’s chin was a little paler than his face.

With some care, his complexion might return to full fairness.

Gu Juntian chuckled and kissed Zhou’s chin. “Uncle, it’s time to sleep.”

Back in the bedchamber, Gu Juntian told Zhou about the matters to watch for when he went to the estate tomorrow, and gave him his token. “If the estate’s overseers refuse to hand it over, kill them. But leave the common farmers and craftsmen.”

The farmers were skilled, and the craftsmen were treasures.

Once Zhou took the estate, Gu Juntian had many things he would need the craftsmen to make.

Zhou agreed.

Seizing the royal estate was a capital offense.

But he already had too many offenses to count — he no longer cared.

Surely the king was letting him stay tonight just to give him this task. Next, he would simply serve the ruler well.

With this thought, he began to undress.

By lamplight, Gu Juntian saw his movements, paused, and then felt heat stir in his chest.

Was Zhou thinking of that again?

He was, too.

Without the beard, Zhou truly had a different kind of charm.

Gu Juntian embraced and kissed him, all the while thinking he would have to restrain himself in the future.

He had too much to do to indulge in pleasures.

Worried about injuring Zhou, and knowing there was much to be done tomorrow, Gu Juntian only took him once.

Afterward, he helped Zhou clean up and said, “Uncle, sleep quickly — there’s work tomorrow.”

Then he drank extra water.

He wanted to wake early, so he drank enough to let the urge to relieve himself wake him.

It worked. In the latter half of the night, Gu Juntian woke.

Beside him, Zhou was still asleep. Gu got out of bed quietly, dressed, and left the chamber.

Outside, guards were posted. Gu told them to stay silent, then went to the study next door.

The servants lit the lamps, and he took out blank bamboo slips to write on.

He wrote out every character he knew, and next to each, he wrote a simplified form.

He had few people he could trust, so he needed to train the twenty thousand soldiers Zhou had brought.

The first step was to teach them literacy.

But Jin’s characters were too complicated… He could simplify them before teaching, and even create stories and rhymes to help with learning.

Simplifying all the characters would be a big task — but fortunately there were few characters, and even fewer common ones.

He planned to work out about two thousand for teaching.

By lamplight, Gu bent over his work.

In the dark, Zhou opened his eyes, unable to sleep.

He had always been alert, and when Gu rose, he had woken immediately.

But he kept up the act of sleeping.

Was the king leaving in the middle of the night to meet the one who advised and taught him?