章 39: 第39章: To Luoyang
Dianyu looked near the edge. As much as they knew that things were not changing. Nor was it helping them at all. Things had changed since the last time they were here. And as she knew that it had changed.
"It was busy closer to Eastern China. And now the West is facing plenty of issues." Something they realized was awfully off. And even wrong. And that the west may have been a show. Using the things they had used so far. This was just the only thing that had been a change from them.
Which meant that this had been a move. A distraction which they needed to do. A distraction which they had planned from the very start. Something which they were now using purely to distract them.
"It was a calculated move to have us shift to the East." And leave only a few in the West. Albeit they didn't predict that Feiyu was here.
"And then attack us from the West." A move which had been calculated well. A plan that had been in the making for a while.
Even as they didn't know what caused the sudden shift in direction. Or rather Dianyu was unable to tell. But it was clear that they were baffled. Baffled by actions of them. Which gave further clue that this had been a sudden thing. Sudden in the sense that one of them would not have really known.
Or even fully guessed that this has been the extent they were going to. It was a quick thing. Eventually culminating in this. A subtle takeover. Her mother termed it even as new businesses sprung and her aged. What she did have was a certainty of quality and a reputation.
And they had used the same thing to engineer this. Since she knew strayers were far less in quantity than anyone who followed the Master of Fate. It was easier, it didn't require someone to reach out deep inside himself and slowly dig out what was most important to them. What it did require had been the ability to look at themselves and figure out just what were they doing in their lives.
It was something few could accept. As it meant that their eventual outcome was their own doing. And it was far easier to trust in a higher power and believe that it was a lesson they need to learn. Then to think back and realize that it had been their own mistake for causing something like this.
To be them was to know that humans were not infallible. It was also to accept their flaws and mistakes for what they were. And to face them without the same sort of fear that others did. Without feeling as though it shows them as weak or vulnerable.
Such was the nature of all the traditions they adhered to. It was the belief that following them meant that they were complete, being respectable was to be the same as an upstanding person as they would be respected in turn.
Without ever knowing what it meant to them deep inside.
Just as his mother made her appearance. "It's clear that they are trying something; the time to change the dynasty."
"So, they are preaching the mandate of heaven is turning to a new family?" It was the most powerful way to change an entire country. Doing so was treason to the Emperor, as no Emperor would have wanted to see their Empire fall. The same could be said for any owner to see their business fail and collapse.
"That itself would take time. And it also means that they would try to eradicate us completely." There was no better chance than a time of troubles. To have so many people killed and called them traitors.
To tell others that to defy was to lose the faith of their god. And to lose faith would mean to lose protection. People had no power here, they were insignificant and lives were worthless in those times.
And it meant that they had to prevent the collapse in any form. Or even to find out how and why. "To gather enough wealth, they use this tactic. That way they can hire enough people to take over the country. As quickly as possible."
"This was not a random move." She had looked at all of it. Nothing about it had been random. It was a calculated approach they had taken. With the full intention of taking all advantages. Especially in their numbers. Which had been the only thing that was necessary to them?
"As such, it means that they are likely already in Kaifeng. Chang'an was simply a chance to take wealth because of the influx of foreigners here. As this is the beginning of the silk road."
While Kaifeng remained unaware and away. A play to keep them from realizing that the temples were using them. And that they had intended such a takeover from the start. While planning which cities was the best for such a sack of its wealth. Chang'an was strong but rarely the focus of anyone else. It could never hold up as a capital city, despite it being so for close to a thousand years.
The recent collapse has brought Chang'an down with it. Allowing it to only remain a prosperous city. But it would never be living up to the name of capital.
"There's still one more city. We need to look at Luoyang." In the south, it has been touted as one of the two capitals of the Dynasty. Done so since the Tang dynasty, where there were alternate capitals. Choosing between them each.
"I'll have to call some of them back. And also, assign someone down to the South." Even as the next moment both Dianyu and Yuan Shao had been asked to leave. An almost certainty because of their own youth.
Zhixun had looked outside. "Either way, I can't really enter as I don't have the seniority." That all of them had. "And I had only been recently promoted." And hence why he had been excluded out.
"If it is in Luoyang you might be the one heading there." She wondered why.
"It is a place Feiyu is familiar with, while not having anyone looking for her. Kaifeng is out as it is her family's base. She does have contacts there, but they are more sympathetic to her situation." Even as she was curious. Luoyang had been mentioned as another great city.
"I would like to see the place. It's an ancient old city to be living in."
Inside, even as they had three cities and only a hundred people at most. Feiyu knew the odds for her to be heading to Luoyang was high. As much as she would be leading it.
It was clear from the way Madame Yuan looked at her. The woman who had happened to pass by her just as she was fleeing. And gave her an option.
Just the same age as Dianyu then, faced with a terrible situation. She was about to send the imperial palace. Even as she knew that she would bring nothing but misfortune. And the end of her life would be tragic.
It was something that few would have guessed or even thought they would want for their daughter. But it was well known that families sold their daughters as though they were cattle. Whether they were rich or poor. The dowry had been her price. To enter the imperial family, the dowry had been the chance to be elevated to greatness. To have the fate of the country in their hands.
A gamble in every sense of the word. And something in which was not by her. No matter what others might have told her about how this had been her choice. It was not her choice to really enter. But most girls had either been bullied into submission or knew that defiance was futile.
She had too. Until she received that fate. The soothsayer had told her then; it had been true when she saw her future. They were the one and the same. As much as the man has refused to lie about the reality. Her parents were deeply unhappy, although they had taken on other fortune tellers. Who was willing to alter but shown much distress to her fate.
"You might be the key to ending the dynasty." She had dodged it. She was half a country away from the imperial palace. Such a life would not be hers. But Madame Yuan spoke of the possibility.
Remembering those words, she knew that it was still true. She was still a beauty, she could captivate. She had done that to earn her away into brothels, with many owners thinking that she could be kept. Or rather bullied into simply staying with them even as there were far better options.
"And so, I might still be hunted." She looked to the elder woman, asking just what she intended to do with this.
"You know full well that I don't order you to do anything." The same could be said for apprentices. They could leave if they were deeply unsatisfied. Just that none of them had chosen that option.
"Then I'll follow anything you need me to do."
"Then Luoyang would be your territory. And also, continue to keep up with Dianyu. Liu Jin mentioned that the girl is talented and quick to learn. Take Zhixun and my son with you." And that she also had found the one thing. It was something that Feiyu was expected to do with her. More so than anything else.
She had been surprised at how being forced to do it had somehow managed to benefit her more than not. She had turned it around to realize her own goal to be here. It was not something that anyone could do. Even if they spent their lives here.
Yuan Shao was more than definitive proof. The proof is seen in how the boy had not entered until he had reached fourteen. Close to eight years since he had followed her, and spent three of them here.
Zhixun was another, but he had been far older and had certainty on what he never wanted to do. Someone who had really gone into the far depths and found nothing truly worthy of their attention.
All Dianyu had was her instinct. Her sense, even. That she wanted a dream and she pursued it. There had been no particular reason behind it, and she stuck by it. It would have been taken away had she been less determined and if her mother had sought something more conventional.
And the same applied to this. It was clear what Madame Yuan was telling her. This girl had the ability to look deep within herself and pull out answers others would have needed to really experience to know. She had close experience of becoming a bride and having her choice taken away from her.
But her freedom was not. She was allowed to choose and pick. She was able to see it for what it was. And realized her own real choices early on.
"Right now, she needs to be polished. She can be turned to a strayer early on." She had the direction, all it needed was her skill. To control the energy of fate. "I'll be calling all in the city back because they would know to look out for them. Take Zhixun with you, as he is not well known there. And also to help you."
Zhixun could enter halls where learned men entered. She could too, but she rather disliked disguising as a man. If she had not minded, she would have become one when choosing her name. But she did not. Although she did it when it was necessary.
This was not revealed to anyone else. But humans could alter the same energy. This energy formed pathways, and each person had them. Pathways were either positive or negative, much like the concept of Yin and Yang. And a person had the potential to change them.
Just like how some could change their luck and outcome. But the Master of Fate placed it in being faithful. When in reality, all they did was look forward as a possibility and then look inward to see their flaws. And work on bettering themselves.
Hence anyone could break themselves away from the fate they were accorded. Even as she realized that Dianyu may have done that, but only saw it as dreams. The energy surrounding her had always been incredibly possible and always toward the future. Regardless of how she might stumble.
As Feiyu stepped outside to deliver the news. They were anxious as much as they knew nothing could be done. "We're heading to Luoyang." It was not a question. Before they knew they needed to pack. "Along with you, we're both heading this mission."
His eyes widened. Her apprentice had a smile, knowing that it was a nice place. And Yuan Shao could be said to share the sentiment.
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