The "the ninth guard of Ning" was a military post that he had personally organized and compiled.
Although Zhang Jiuling looked down upon Li Xuan’s policies of organizing households and collecting citizens on the grasslands, he was very ticulous in implenting Li Xuan’s edicts, not daring to slip up in the slightest.
This was because he feared that Li Xuan would find an excuse to demote him to an even more remote place, such as the constantly battling Xi’an or Yunnan.
Zhang Jiuling knew that Prince Fenyang always had a thick face but a dark heart; on the surface, he appeared righteous and moral, a gentleman, but behind the scenes, he was excessively licentious and cruel.
Would it be a troubleso matter for Prince Fenyang to take the life of a civil official on the battlefield?
Zhang Jiuling, braving the heavy snow, journeyed on horseback for over two hundred miles and finally arrived at the fort of the ninth guard of Ning in the afternoon.
——This was a rudintary stone city, with temporary stone walls that were roughly the height of two n and an area of about a hundred zhang square.
The facilities inside were also very rudintary, consisting only of so low wooden and stone houses.
However, scattered around twenty li outside the stone city were a vast number of Mongolian yurts, adding up to more than a thousand, with a large amount of cattle, horses, and livestock nearby.
It is said that County Prince Fenyang intends to use part of the gold and silver confiscated from the Mongolian nobles to build brick and stone houses for these pastoralists.
However, it is definitely too late for this year, as the areas of MoBei had begun to freeze over by mid-August, and MoNan had also started to experience continuous snowfall not long ago.
In such weather, it is utterly impossible to build houses, so the pastoralists of MoBei did not organize households and collect citizens; they still have to follow the water and grass for their livelihood this year.
After "the ninth guard of Ning" settled here, they could only temporarily reside in the Mongolian yurts and then build simple wooden sheds for the livestock to keep warm.
Zhang Jiuling scoffed at this, thinking that if the animals have nothing to eat, what’s the use of these brick and stone houses for the pastoralists?
Brick and stone houses may be warm, but could they possibly prevent the livestock from starving to death?
Without cattle and sheep, how are these pastoralists supposed to survive?
Zhang Jiuling secretly anticipated that if Prince Fenyang naively thought he could manage the pastoralists of MoBei the sa way as the civilians of the Central Plains, he was just waiting for trouble to arise!
If Prince Fenyang dares to transfer grain from the Central Plains to aid these settled grassland pastoralists, then Zhang Jiuling would certainly take the opportunity to fiercely impeach Prince Fenyang.
The Court’s taxes and levies are the hard-earned sweat and blood of the people; they cannot be squandered so carelessly.
But just as Zhang Jiuling approached the stone fort on horseback, he noticed a group of people rushing out from the fort.
Leading them was "the Buzhengshi of Ningyuan on the left," Xue Bai, none other than the elder brother of the current Young Heavenly Master and, it is said, Prince Fenyang’s uncle by marriage.
This man originally held the position of "Official of the Central Governnt in the Ministry of Works," and in mid-July, he was promoted seven ranks, reassigned to MoNan to take on the role of Buzhengshi of Ningyuan on the left, the current chief officer.
Upon seeing Xue Bai, Zhang Jiuling couldn’t help feeling puzzled, wondering what this fellow was doing at the ninth guard of Ning.
Xue Bai, upon seeing him, also appeared slightly surprised, then calmly nodded slightly and said, "Now that you’re here, co along."
He spurred his horse onward, rushing towards the ho of a nearby pastoralist.
At that mont, the commandant of the ninth guard, Han Dong, also spurred his horse and rode along with Zhang Jiuling, side by side.
He casually explained the situation to Zhang Jiuling, "This ti, Lord Xue has co to inspect our silage policies of the ninth guard. After that heavy snowfall the other day, it has beco impossible to find any pasture nearby, so Lord Xue has already agreed to our guard’s request to unseal the silage for the livestock to survive the winter."
"Oh?"
Zhang Jiuling imdiately perked up, "In that case, I am indeed very much looking forward to this."
He knew that the success or failure of Prince Fenyang’s "organizing households and collecting citizens" in MoNan depended on this so-called "silage" policy.
This policy had always been personally managed by Xue Bai, who apart from his trusted subordinates, did not entrust it to anyone else.
However, Zhang Jiuling had also done his research and knew that this so-called "silage" was nothing more than harvesting and storing pasture grass during the spring and sumr seasons and keeping it in underground cellars for use in the winter.
But pasture grass from the spring and sumr, once winter arrives, would either rot and decay or turn into a pile of withered grass; can the livestock still eat it? Aren’t they afraid that the cattle and sheep will get sick from bad stomachs and die?
Zhang Jiuling at the ti nearly burst into loud laughter – the Court had conquered the Mongolian territories in early July, and the implentation of the silage thod in MoNan was also around that ti.
Therefore, most of the forage they stored cos from early autumn, just three months ago.
But even so, it won’t do—the cattle and sheep won’t eat grass that isn’t fresh.
Upon hearing this, Han Dong burst into laughter, "What expectations are thoroughly prepared? You just want to see Prince Fenyang make a fool of himself, don’t you? My lord is wise and insightful with a grand vision; you’re probably worrying over nothing."
Han Dong was promoted to ’Commander of the Guard’ last year through his military achievents, starting his career from a humble background. Since then, he considered himself a loyal hound of Prince Fenyang.
However, due to his administrative duties, he had more contact with Zhang Jiuling.
Initially, because of Prince Fenyang, Han Dong had a profound distaste for Zhang Jiuling.
But the man was responsible and diligent in his official duties and took good care of the herdsn of The Ninth Guard, which slightly changed Han Dong’s opinion, and he would occasionally deign to speak with Zhang Jiuling.
"Right!" Han Dong suddenly rembered sothing, "I heard that the Yellow River’s water has beco clearer this year? Is it because of Prince Fenyang?"
Zhang Jiuling’s face imdiately darkened, and he replied indifferently, "It is said to be a bit clearer than in previous years, but what of it? All this talk about saints appearing and the Yellow River clearing is pure nonsense."
Han Dong scoffed disdainfully, "Pure nonsense? Didn’t the ancients say ’When the river is clear and the sea is calm, a saint governs the world’? The river ntioned in the phrase refers to the Yellow River. The Book of Songs says ’Wait for the river to clear, how long will people live?’ implying it’s almost impossible for one to see the Yellow River clear in their lifeti. I’ve consulted scholars, don’t think you can fool !"
He thought the man probably couldn’t stand to see Prince Fenyang do well, so he stopped talking to Zhang Jiuling.
They quickly rode into a herdsman’s enclosure.
Zhang Jiuling keenly noticed a small earthen platform to the north of the tent.
The platform was five feet square and only as high as a person’s knee.
What caught Zhang Jiuling’s attention was the small wooden Buddha statue placed atop the platform.
Zhang Jiuling noted that the statue was the ’Guanjun Venerable Buddha of Namo,’ which had recently beco popular in the MoNan area.
The Datan people from MoNan sohow believed that this Bodhisattva, which ca from the Tibetan area, was the true form of Prince Fenyang.
On one hand, they were grateful to Prince Fenyang for providing them with cattle, sheep, tents, and pastures, and on the other hand, they believed that if Prince Fenyang was invincible on the battlefield, he must also possess Divine Skills to vanquish demons and evildoers.
Thus the herdsn invited the ’Guanjun Venerable Buddha of Namo’ into their hos to show gratitude and to seek its Buddha Power to ward off evil spirits.
The Court was already aware of this situation, but it was a delicate issue to handle.
When officials asked about it, the herdsn would say they were worshipping the Champion Bodhisattva, which had nothing to do with the Jin Dynasty’s Prince Fenyang.
Zhang Jiuling couldn’t be bothered to pay attention and had no intention of pursuing the matter further.
This issue posed no imdiate problem for the County Prince Fenyang, but when the future Emperor ca of age and assud power, it could beco a charge that might utterly ruin Prince Fenyang.
Furthermore, when the livestock began to die off en masse due to starvation, these ignorant Mongolian Nobles would only grow to bitterly despise Prince Fenyang.
Therefore, Zhang Jiuling quickly shifted his attention to a sheep pen not far away.
At that mont, in front of the sheep pen, several dense bundles of hay were being untied one by one by the herdsn.
"Hmm? These forages actually sll quite nice, sowhat fragrant."
Xue Bai dismounted from the Earth Dragon and strode towards the front of the sheep shed.
He first glanced at the forage with a hint of delight, then his eyes shone sharply as he looked at the sheep pen beside him, "Let’s start feeding them now and see if the livestock like it."
Expectant looks had already appeared on the faces of the herdsn.
Upon receiving the command, they did not hesitate to fork the forage onto the simple troughs in front of the sheep pen.
Zhang Jiuling also caught a whiff of the sweet scent from the bundles and noticed that the forage inside was surprisingly still green in color.
He looked incredulously at Han Dong, "Is this forage really taken out from the cellars?"
He wondered how that could be possible—shouldn’t all the forage in the cellars have rotted away?
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