Chapter 790: Not Pretending Anymore?

Some forces have already departed.

He Chunhua thought for a while, then shook his head. "With the disappearance of the Sandstorm Season, I fear Yuanxi will be in chaos."

Others might find such rumors amusing, but as a former frontier governor, his first thought was always the safety of the nation's borders.

"Exactly!" Butler Wu also looked worried. "The Yuanxi border was stable because of the Coiling Dragon Desert, the Sandstorm Season, and the Three-Corpse Worms. Now that the Coiling Dragon Desert is freely passable, then, then..."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," He Chunhua waved his hand. "Never mind. For now, this kind of trouble isn't a top priority. If there's any more news from Blackwater City or the Coiling Dragon Desert later, report it to me immediately!"

Butler Wu left.

He Chunhua stood there, lost in thought for a long time, his mind returning to He Lingchuan.

He had always known his eldest son wasn't dead, but he hadn't known his whereabouts.

He Lingchuan had suddenly returned, more astute, more confident, and also more... enigmatic.

Why had he truly returned?

Although the loan from Rongshan was a significant boon, it was facilitated by his eldest son, who also acted as the special envoy. To some extent, the situation had exceeded his control as a father.

Both personally and professionally, He Chunhua disliked this change.

He was about to go back to his room to change, but as he crossed the courtyard, he saw He Lingchuan half-sitting by the pond, tossing grains of rice to feed the fish.

When the fish swam closer, he threw the rice grains farther away.

When they swam farther, he tossed the rice closer.

He had all the koi, big and small, swimming in circles, churning the pond like boiling water, making quite a commotion.

He Chunhua instinctively softened his footsteps, but before he had taken two steps, He Lingchuan, whose back was to him, chuckled, "Dad, the variety in your pond is too limited. Just a few fat koi, and their colors aren't vibrant enough. Why not get some better fish to make Mom happy?"

"Oh?" He Chunhua casually asked, "What kind of fish are good?"

"Spearfish, Rolling Brocade Pearl, White Dragon Halberd, Seven-Colored Immortal, Striped Shrimp," He Lingchuan rattled off a list of names. "They all grow very large and beautiful."

Beijia's entertainment industry was very developed, with a huge market just for birds and fish. Ordinary fish like koi couldn't even enter the homes of the powerful on the Floating Isles.

"Really? I've never heard of them," He Chunhua also stood by the pond, watching the fish. "Did our family ever keep them before?"

"No."

"Does Yuan Capital have them?"

He Lingchuan let out a laugh, maintaining his playboy demeanor: "It's my first time here, how would I know?"

He Chunhua looked at him and smiled: "Then, does the Sand Wharf in Xuluo Kingdom have them?"

"The fish sold there are for eating, not for keeping in ponds," He Lingchuan tossed a few more rice grains. "Of course, our family's carp are already big enough. If absolutely necessary, they could also be sacrificed."

He Chunhua stopped abruptly, pausing by the pond. Another step and he would have been in the water.

"These fish haven't done anything wrong, why would we eat them?"

"Whether they get eaten has nothing to do with whether they've done wrong; it only depends on our mood." He Lingchuan threw a grain of rice with each word he spoke. "What wrong can such ornamental playthings commit?"

He Chunhua was silent for a few moments, then suddenly said, "Are you still my Chuan'er?"

The question came unexpectedly, but He Lingchuan showed no reaction. He continued to feed the fish, his hand steady, the fish frantic.

He Chunhua's tone was light, as if joking: "It's as if you're a completely different person."

"I've achieved something, aren't you pleased, Dad? Aren't you proud?" He Lingchuan turned to look at him. "I even secured a loan for Yuan Kingdom!"

This large sum, desperately needed by Yuan Kingdom, was also part of his leverage for self-preservation, his trump card for returning to Yuan Kingdom and maneuvering with his father.

Without him, there would be no loan.

If he were gone, the funds would be gone too.

"Well done," He Chunhua nodded firmly. "Well done, otherwise, I wouldn't know how to fight the coming battles."

A clever cook cannot prepare a meal without ingredients; how can a general fight a war without an army?

"Since the money is almost here, what are your plans next, Dad?"

He Chunhua asked him, "Do you want to participate, Chuan'er?" His eldest son had deliberately changed the subject, and he followed suit.

"As a man, who wouldn't want to achieve great things, earn titles, and become a high official? But," He Lingchuan said softly, "the rebellion in the south is one thing, but the Grand Marshal in the northwest will be a tough opponent."

Peasant uprisings usually lacked the discipline and combat strength of regular armies. Of course, Yuan Kingdom's central army wasn't particularly strong either.

"Yuan Kingdom's civil war is a bottomless pit," He Lingchuan sighed. "Three million taels of silver, let alone five or ten million, might not be enough to see it through to the end. What do you intend to do? Although I've been appointed special envoy, I don't want our motherland to be unable to repay the loan, leading to the wasteful outflow of valuable resources."

He Chunhua asked him, "Do you have any suggestions, Chuan'er?"

Previously, He Chunhua would never have consulted his eldest son on military strategy. He Lingchuan threw the last handful of rice grains into the pond, causing the fish to scramble wildly for them. "Dad, it would be best to achieve a swift victory. The rebels are marching north, and the flames of war are about to reach Yazhou. Regardless of victory or defeat, those three nearby prefectures are the Great Yuan's granaries, crucial for grain production. The Hong Xiangqian rebellion, which was only quelled last year, already caused a sharp decline in southern grain production, less than half of previous years. If this year's cultivated fields are again abandoned due to war, there will be no harvest in autumn, and then..."

Great Yuan was already desperately short of grain; this would only create a vicious cycle.

He Chunhua nodded, "Your concerns are identical to those of His Majesty and the court officials."

His eldest son's analysis was quite good.

Was he no longer pretending?

"So what is your proposal, Dad?"

"I'm aware of what you're saying," He Chunhua sighed lightly. "Our army must fight, and fight to win, for our southward advance to have any meaning. Otherwise, marching a thousand miles only to suffer defeat would merely demoralize our troops and citizens, while bolstering the enemy's arrogance."

He paused. "When the Royal Court suppressed Hong Xiangqian before, that bandit Hong only grew stronger with each suppression. He started with just over a hundred men, but by the battle of Woling Pass, he had tens of thousands of troops. Wasn't that precisely due to this ebb and flow?"

He Lingchuan simply uttered, "Oh."

Hong Xiangqian's rise wasn't solely due to the incompetence of the government forces. He didn't elaborate, simply asking He Chunhua, "What do you plan to do, Father?"

No matter how much He Chunhua procrastinated, the Yuan Emperor's patience had its limits. Even with all his capabilities, if the Yuan Emperor couldn't rely on him, he wouldn't be treated kindly.

Therefore, He Chunhua also needed to manage this balance.

"Food and supplies must keep up, otherwise my soldiers will starve at the front lines. Even if we started with a seventy to eighty percent chance of victory, it would dwindle to thirty or forty percent." He Chunhua's tone showed his frustration with the lack of effort. "But you know, Great Yuan's logistics... alas. Even if I'm supported with a hundred thousand shi of grain, at most only thirty to forty thousand shi would reach the front lines."

"Furthermore, even if I reclaim enemy-occupied territory, if I can't win the hearts of the people, how can I be sure they won't rebel again?"