Chapter 107 — One Palm Against Ten
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Five days later, Shen Mu arrived at Jiangling Commandery. It was far more prosperous than any of the county towns he had seen along the road—a city built almost entirely upon a river. This river was not the Yong River but the Jin, and so Jiangling was also called Jinling.
The Jin ran fierce and swift, its waters spreading vast as a sea. The original Jiangling had been built upon an oasis amid that endless expanse of water, but in time, as boats came and went and the place grew ever more prosperous and crowded, the city was expanded and great works of construction undertaken. The prefect of Jiangling in those days was none other than the present Imperial Preceptor of Jingping.
Already a man of brilliant talent and formidable strength, he displayed extraordinary ability, gathering numerous master craftsmen and countless wielders of divine powers to drive deep stone piles into the river—each pile a hundred zhang in length, more than three thousand eight hundred in all. The tops of the piles stood thirty zhang above the water, allowing great ships to pass beneath and great floods to flow through unimpeded. The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, together with those craftsmen and divine-power wielders, laid roads of massive stone and stabilized them with divine arts, expanding the city of Jiangling. It was a colossal undertaking; tens of thousands of divine-power wielders toiled here for ten years before the new city was complete. Beneath the new city were light wells that provided illumination; in heavy rains they served to drain the water away.
There were also docks built under the city, connected by winches and cables. Along the city's edges were wharves great and small, where passing vessels often moored to unload and take on cargo.
So prosperous was this place that it came to be called the Little Capital, and the scholar-officials of the day criticized it, saying the prefect of Jiangling was suspected of plotting rebellion—that the newly built city had severed the empire's dragon vein—and urging the emperor to put him to death. Others said the prefect had built a dragon's head upon the Jin River, harboring treacherous designs.
After the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping accomplished this feat, he was summoned to the capital.
Many assumed the emperor meant to execute him, but unexpectedly the Crown Prince Yanfeng held him in the highest esteem. The Crown Prince was a man of grand vision and great strategy; after ascending the throne, he promoted the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping time and again, and before long raised him to the position of Imperial Preceptor of Jingping.
Shen Mu had heard these amusing tales from the boatman, and knew not whether they were true, but the talent of the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and Emperor Yanfeng's discernment in recognizing and employing him filled Shen Mu with admiration for both men.
Aboard the same boat were scholars of Jiangling Commandery—some poor scholars from humble families, others from wealthy and powerful houses. Shen Mu made inquiries and learned that most of them came from the primary schools and colleges of Jiangling Commandery, all fellow disciples of the same institutions. Shen Mu was surprised and asked about the primary schools and colleges of Jiangling, and so learned the reason behind it all.
The primary schools and colleges had been established by the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping and had already spread throughout the realm. The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping said to Emperor Yanfeng: "When a child reaches the age of eight, all from the sons of princes and dukes down to the children of commoners shall enter primary school, where they are taught daoyin exercises, rites and propriety, the rules of advance and retreat, ritual and music, archery and charioteering, writing and mathematics, cultivation, and foundation building.