Volume One: A Thousand Years of the Stream Chapter 12: Matters Beyond One’s Skill

Since realizing that her identity was no longer worth hiding in this place, Jiang Yujin had relaxed considerably. The carriage traveled south for another two days before they finally reached water. Yet, the Ying River was not a gentle stream but a rushing river.

On both sides of the river stretched fertile land. Sun Zikai sighed, “The barbarians could live by the river and farm, but instead, they choose to seize what’s ours.” As they followed the river upstream, although the barbarians hadn’t cultivated grain fields along its banks, the lush vegetation provided excellent grazing, attracting herds that often gathered and settled there.

The two had no choice but to keep their distance, trying not to be noticed by the barbarians. Yet, the deeper they ventured, the more barbarians they encountered. Sun Zikai, well aware of their numbers and locations, knew they could no longer avoid them. So, he drove the carriage toward the riverbank.

How could such a delicate carriage exist beyond the border? And in such a remote place, how could anyone from within the empire come alone? Thus, when the barbarians first saw them, they didn’t suspect they were from the empire but thought they were barbarians from another tribe who had found an imperial carriage.

Jiang Yujin was initially nervous, but Sun Zikai paid no mind and even greeted the barbarians warmly. Because many tribes gathered there, an unspoken rule forbade plundering on either side of the Ying River, allowing the two children to pass freely.

“Are you a cultivator too?” Jiang Yujin asked.

Sun Zikai nodded. Jiang Yujin continued, “Did you study at the Yanming Sect?”

“No. No one taught me. I had to figure it out myself.”

“No wonder. I’ve seen cultivators, but none like you who can press their fingers against a blade.”

“Want to learn? I can teach you.”

“I don’t want to learn that. I want to learn the true path of immortal cultivation.”

“I want to learn too, but I haven’t had the chance.”

“When I succeed, I’ll teach you.”

“Okay, but do I have to pay tuition?”

“One gold coin.”

“What? Then forget it, I won’t learn.”

Curious, Jiang Yujin asked, “Is one gold coin really a lot of money?”

Sun Zikai nodded. “That gold piece you showed me and Old Yang and Old Zhang was the first gold any of us had ever seen—such a large gold bar with intricate carvings. I never even dared to imagine such a thing.”

Jiang Yujin said, “Before, they would demand a gold coin just for a drink of water, and another for a meal.”

“Well, that was foolish of you.”

Jiang Yujin kicked him playfully, frowning. “You’re the fool. I just didn’t know.”

---

“What kind of person are you?” Sun Zikai asked.

Jiang Yujin curled up, embracing her legs, her eyes dim. Sun Zikai said, “Are you like me? An orphan?”

“You too?”

“Yeah.”

“How did your parents die?”

“Unjustly, I suppose... I don’t really know. My parents were minor figures in the sect, insignificant enough to be overlooked, yet they still died. No one gave me a reason, so I had to find out for myself. What about you? How did yours die?”

“They were killed... no, forced to die—suicide.”

Sun Zikai didn’t press further, not wanting to touch on her sorrow. But after holding it in for so long, Jiang Yujin muttered her story aloud.

In brief: thousands of miles away, there were two great nations—the Song and Zhao—and four smaller ones. The royal family of Song bore the surname Jiang. The two great nations had clashed for a millennium without falling, while the four smaller states frequently changed rulers—a result of secret manipulations by Song and Zhao, who treated these small states as shields. When irreconcilable conflicts arose, one of the small states would suffer.

This tactic lasted a thousand years, but the king of Qi, one of the small states, harbored grand ambitions. Years of hard work recruiting soldiers and forging alliances, attracting elites from all four small states, created a battlefront spanning east to west. When he finally revolted, within three years, he shattered the frontier defenses of the two great nations, striking them off guard. With the frontier breached, the four small states advanced deep, defeating the great nations’ armies. Song and Zhao could not muster forces, and the doom of their kingdoms was sealed.

Jiang Yujin was one of Song’s princesses and the last surviving member of the Jiang royal family. Without even a maid, she fled desperately from the capital, disguised as a beggar, traveling over a hundred miles. But unfamiliar with the outside world and burdened by her identity, the journey was perilous. She had to leave behind wealth to seek help from wandering heroes.

Yet she knew no heroes, only a group of swindlers. Originally, she intended to reach a sect a few hundred miles away to cultivate and survive, but those conmen dragged her thousands of miles away for gold.

Sun Zikai was bewildered and asked her what a country was. After a moment’s hesitation, Jiang Yujin explained in detail about nations, royalty, princesses, officials, frontiers, and the martial world.

Hearing this, Sun Zikai was amazed by the monarchical world. “So people can live like that. We border guards are like one army in your country, right?”

“No,” Jiang Yujin said, “even the cooks in a frontier army outnumber all of you.”

“Such a united world is wonderful. But as you said, your country is hundreds of times larger than our borderlands.”

“Thousands of times larger, no, even more.”

“Well then, such a vast land ruled by one family or person—that’s absurd, isn’t it? The highest authority exploits the next level down, who exploit the next, spreading layer by layer. One person exploits ten, ten exploit a hundred, a hundred exploit thousands or tens of thousands. The common people at the bottom—don’t they suffer?”

“Well... there are taxes, but the people shouldn’t suffer.”

“You’re not a commoner. How can you know if they suffer?”

Jiang Yujin insisted, “Taxes are only paid once a year. It’s not hard. When my father was alive, I heard of no place where the people lived badly.”

---

Sun Zikai shook his head, “How can it be just once? You mean national taxes. In a nation like that, every garrison, county, city is under the system. But your royal family doesn’t pay them; they collect from the people. Where do they get the money? From the common folk. The city lord takes once, his deputy takes again, even his children and servants might take more. It’s not publicly declared, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen—it definitely does. That’s human nature.”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Jiang Yujin snapped, furious despite her country’s fall. She could not tolerate slander against her ancestors or her father’s achievements. “You know nothing. When my father ruled, he was called a sage king.”

“And your grandfather?”

“Also a sage king.”

“Great-grandfather?”

“Even more so.”

“Great-great-great-...”

“What are you trying to say?”

Sun Zikai sighed, “You said all power is in one person’s hands. Who’s going to say he’s not a sage king? I don’t understand why armies exist if not for the people. If the people exist only for the nobles and officials, and they suffer, who do they turn to for justice? They’re like grains of sand in the ocean. If they die, it’s no big deal. What’s written on the paper presented to your father—who knows what lies it contains?”

Jiang Yujin was burning with anger. Sun Zikai teased, “Look, you’re on fire.” He playfully brushed a flame from her hair and laughed.

“Hmph, I’m not talking to you anymore! Just drive your carriage properly!” she said, returning to the carriage.

What she didn’t realize was that Sun Zikai was a man full of ideas. Grasping a question, he had to understand it thoroughly and derive other insights.

He ignored whether Jiang Yujin wanted to listen and muttered, “It must be true. The people suffer greatly, and it’s not just recently. Otherwise, your country wouldn’t have fallen.”

Jiang Yujin burst from the carriage, furious, “What did you say?”

“Such a vast country—no, two countries—and yet four small states secretly united and destroyed you in three years. Three years isn’t short at all. The army could be sent to the frontier while conscription continued inland. If officials and citizens were united and the people felt loyal, even thirty years wouldn’t be enough to break through. We border guards have always been just a couple dozen, standing here century after century, like clay statues. Everyone knows death is certain, yet they still come. A thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant’s nest. Your country must have been rotten to the core, and the people broken-hearted to fail such a test.”

“You bastard! You know nothing! You understand nothing!” Jiang Yujin cried, wiping tears in the carriage.

Sun Zikai belatedly realized this and scratched his head, chuckling nervously, “Ah... For your family, this is terrible. Sorry, I was only talking about the country’s problems, not your parents. They must have been good people, just deceived by those below. It’s their fault for not inspecting more often. Such a big country should be constantly overseen... Ah, that’s not what I meant...”

Inside the carriage, the girl screamed hoarsely, “Shut up!”

“Okay, okay, I won’t say more.”

The carriage continued along the Ying River. The girl was still angry, holding her breath and refusing to speak to Sun Zikai. Fortunately, he was used to solitude, his mind filled with wild ideas, never feeling bored.