Regent (11): 

Gu Juntian wanted to go to the royal estate, and Zhou Qinghao readily agreed.

He thought that Gu Juntian wanted to interact with his soldiers in order to gain their loyalty.

And he would spare no effort to satisfy Gu Juntian.

After all, Gu Juntian had already allowed him to live in the palace.

Thinking of this, Zhou Qinghao once again began loosening his clothes.

Gu Juntian held him close. “Uncle, it’s already late. Let’s sleep early.”

He wanted to as well, but after working in the middle of the night, he was now very tired.

Zhou Qinghao’s body also needed rest, so it was better to sleep early.

Seeing that Gu Juntian wasn’t interested, Zhou Qinghao felt a little disappointed.

But just being able to share the same bed and pillow with the ruler already made him content.

Gu Juntian really was tired. Holding Zhou Qinghao, he fell asleep not long after.

Before sleeping, as usual, he drank a little extra water, and thus woke up early the next morning.

He got up in the dark, planning to go to the study to work, just as he had the previous day.

Yesterday, Zhou Qinghao hadn’t known what Gu Juntian was doing and simply pretended to be asleep. But today, when Gu Juntian got up, he called out, “Your Majesty…”

Gu Juntian said, “Uncle, I’m going to the study to read. You keep sleeping.”

Zhou Qinghao gave a soft “Mm” and watched Gu Juntian leave.

He found it hard to sleep again, his mind turning over thoughts of Gu Juntian.

Finally, he took a deep breath and decided not to think about anything.

Most people in this world leave things to fate—thinking too much is useless, so better not to think at all.

Zhou Qinghao hadn’t slept well the past two nights. Now, with no one beside him, he slept quite soundly until Gu Juntian came back to call him, waking him up.

Just like yesterday, Gu Juntian carried a chill and the scent of ink.

Zhou Qinghao pulled him into the warm bedding, warming his body while asking, “Your Majesty, what do you do when you go out in the middle of the night?”

Gu Juntian replied, “I want to promote a simplified, unified script, so I went to compose some songs and stories.”

He had many things to accomplish, and for these, he needed Zhou Qinghao’s support.

Therefore, he hid none of his abilities in front of Zhou Qinghao.

Soon enough, Zhou Qinghao saw some songs and stories written on bamboo slips.

They were written in pairs—on one side, Gu Juntian’s simplified characters with punctuation; on the other, the characters currently in common use.

Some of the current characters were very pictorial, easy to remember and write, but some were difficult to write and inconsistent.

The characters Gu Juntian produced were clearly unified and very elegant.

Gu Juntian asked, “Aren’t my characters beautiful?” At present in Jin, some writing was in oracle bone script, some in the style inscribed on bronze vessels—chaotic to write.

Once he unified the world, he would ensure that “all under heaven write in the same script”!

“Your Majesty’s characters are indeed beautiful,” Zhou Qinghao said.

Gu Juntian was satisfied.

Zhou Qinghao held the bamboo slips and read through all the stories Gu Juntian had written, memorizing the forms of the simplified characters.

He had been intelligent since childhood and learned quickly.

Whether or not these characters were Gu Juntian’s invention, if Gu Juntian wanted him to learn, he would learn.

He wanted to make Gu Juntian happy.

After breakfast, Gu Juntian and Zhou Qinghao left the city together.

This time, Gu Juntian prepared two carriages.

One carried himself and Zhou Qinghao; the other carried the bamboo slips he had written over the past two days and the rewards he intended to give the soldiers.

When Gu Juntian had the carriages prepared, Zhou Qinghao questioned the subordinates he had stationed around Gu Juntian.

After returning to the capital, he had taken over the palace guard, giving him a clear picture of Gu Juntian’s movements in the palace.

From these guards, he learned that Gu Juntian had ordered them to guard the study and allow no one in or out, and that in the past two days, only Gu Juntian had entered.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Qinghao realized that there was probably a secret tunnel in the study.

After arriving in the capital, he had learned about Gu Juntian’s past three years, during which no particularly close person had appeared around him.

The person secretly teaching Gu Juntian was likely meeting him through the tunnel—perhaps even someone appointed by the late king.

Once Gu Juntian consolidated power, he might appoint this person as prime minister.

Zhou Qinghao instructed his men to protect Gu Juntian well, then went with him to the royal estate.

In this era, iron tools already existed. At the royal estate, some craftsmen’s tools were made of iron.

However, the purity of the iron was low, making it brittle.

After inspecting the workshops, Gu Juntian found that he had many tasks ahead.

Fortunately, he was king, with plenty of people under his command!

He first had the craftsmen make tables and chairs for him, then took their names, intending to divide them into groups and recruit more people to learn skills from them.

After speaking with the craftsmen, Gu Juntian went to find the generals under Zhou Qinghao’s command, saying he would teach them to read.

Those qualified to serve as Zhou Qinghao’s generals were all intelligent, some even being impoverished scholars like Zhou Qinghao himself.

Though called “impoverished scholars,” their families were in fact much wealthier than commoners; in truth, they were part of the landlord class.

Still, in these times, landlords were also looked down upon.

In any case, teaching these men simplified characters was relatively easy.

Unlike stubborn traditionalists who believed the ancient sages’ characters must not be changed, these men were willing to learn.

All the more so since the King of Jin was personally teaching them!

They studied very earnestly, and Gu Juntian promised that those who learned well could become high officials in the future.

This made them all the more motivated.

Gu Juntian also gave them a task: once they learned some characters, they were to teach mid- and low-ranking officers, who in turn would teach the common soldiers.

To make reading easier, Gu Juntian had the carpenters who made his tables and chairs create wooden boards inscribed with his songs and stories, placing them throughout the royal estate.

He also promised the ordinary soldiers that if they studied diligently, he would reward them—not only with good food and drink, but also with titles and family names.

This promise greatly inspired the soldiers’ enthusiasm for learning.

In the barracks, where everyone lived together, many who began learning would encourage others to join in.

And since people’s thinking was simple at the time and they were loyal to their king… once Gu Juntian added some indoctrination methods, making them shout daily, “Learn to read for the king,” they studied even harder.

Of course, they didn’t study all day.

Gu Juntian had them read in the morning and drill in the afternoon.

He also made them sing his songs during drills.

This way they could both learn and strengthen their sense of unity.

For the next month, Gu Juntian went to the royal estate almost every day, and the soldiers’ morale there improved dramatically.

What Gu Juntian found regrettable was that not all soldiers were suited for reading; some were very slow learners.

For such men, Gu Juntian did not force them to study, instead assigning them as guards to keep watch over the estate and prevent unauthorized entry.

Besides this, Gu Juntian also took care of other matters—such as collecting evidence of crimes committed by members of the royal clan, and making props for supernatural tricks.

These twenty thousand soldiers would be his future trusted forces, and he would feel pain even at the loss of one.

If possible, Gu Juntian hoped that none of them would die.

If he wanted to keep them alive, he would need to rely on external means.

After a full month of preparation, Gu Juntian was ready to act.