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“Can strategists not ascend the throne?”
Before she returned to Chang’an, there were a few things she needed to take care of.
First up was the cotton planting scheduled for April.
Since Qin Yu was dispatched to Chang’an due to the initial peace in Guanzhong, the people she cultivated in Bingzhou over the years could replace her, but cotton was a closely guarded secret of Bingzhou, so she needed to leave someone in charge.
This kind of task required careful thought; obviously, it couldn’t be handed over to Zhang Niujiao.
And clearly, just because Jia Xu was idly farming in the area didn’t mean he could be regarded as the go-to guy here.
After all, his real job wasn’t farming.
Plus, he still had to team up with Li Ru to examine Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting’s field assessments, so he didn’t have the bandwidth for this.
Qiao Yan looked at the available manpower and decided to transfer Jia Shu here since cotton required careful attention.
Jia Shu was the shining example in Bingzhou who reformed after receiving praise from Guo Linzong, and he was previously responsible for making fertilizer.
Since fertilizer production had become streamlined, he didn’t need to exert much oversight now and could spare some time for this.
Moreover, he had quite a bit of experience with fertilizer, collaborating frequently with Qin Yu, so he was well-versed for the job.
Secondly, she needed to decide how to utilize the remaining cotton.
From last October’s harvest to now, nearly six months had passed, and most of the cotton cloth had already been put to good use.
Plus, when Princess Yang’an ignited the first wave of cotton cloth excitement in Ye City, gifting cotton cloth outfits to Yuan Shu and Tao Qian kicked off a second wave of promotion. Mi Zhu had already sold the first batch at a pretty good price.
Now that spring had arrived, the most urgent demand for cotton had passed. Qiao Yan took the remaining cotton out of storage, which wasn’t a problem at all.
Since the quantity was small, and she needed it for minor uses, it fit perfectly.
Most of it was made into masks as per her specifications.
As Jia Xu pointed out, the finer the screened particles, the harder the resulting solidified cement.
What she needed at this moment was exactly that hardest state.
To achieve this, she had to raise the standards for screening.
But with screening came dust flying everywhere.
For the sake of the craftsmen’s safety, since there were no professional dust masks, using cotton cloth masks for protection was definitely better than having nothing at all.
As for the little remaining cotton and cloth, she had them made into three adorable panda dolls, inspired by the patterns on Qiao Ting’s embroidered tablecloth.
One was hung on Zhu Tan, one was gifted to Jia Xu, and the last one was sent to Leping Academy as a reward for last month’s top scorer.
When Jia Xu received the panda doll, he was utterly at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
Honestly, he didn’t care much that Qiao Yan snatched his stuff.
After all, he had plenty of tablecloths; the patterns agreed upon verbally as gifts still counted as rewards. If she could step it up, it would count as an imperial gift.
But receiving a cotton model of a chewing iron beast was something he absolutely did not anticipate.
Opening the letter that came with the doll, he saw it read—
After contemplating, she figured she couldn’t let Mr. Wen He lounge around too long. Since he has an aggressive nature like a chewing iron beast, how could she force him to hide in the woods like a mystical deer?
She promised she’d find a way to reassign Jia Xu back to Chang’an after the autumn harvest.
This gift served as her commitment to fulfilling that goal.
Jia Xu: “…?”
No! Whatever he thought, he didn’t need such a promise!
Fortunately, Qiao Yan turned her pen in the letter to mention the matters of treatment.
She stated, taking into account his substantial contributions to quelling Dong Zhuo and Li Jue, which basically landed him on the edge of life and death, while others got one day of rest out of every six, he could get two days off out of every four when he returned to Chang’an, citing the need to minimize his exposure to critical tasks.
Honestly, Jia Xu didn’t know if he had gotten too used to being squeezed by Qiao Yan, but he felt satisfied with this treatment, even getting a sense of superiority compared to others.
Wrapped in this contradictory mindset, he squeezed the panda doll in his hands, glanced at his empty table where the tablecloth used to be, and finally decided—
To assign more study tasks to Qiao Lan.
After all, it would be too embarrassing if he still had to face off against Li Ru while heading to Chang’an!
Meanwhile, the third panda doll was delivered into Pang Tong’s hands.
At the end of March, during the monthly exam at Leping Academy, although there were grade distinctions, the overall top scorer across six grades was indeed Pang Tong.
What he had access to before arriving at Leping was already light-years ahead of what most people could ever get.
Others saw him as dull and taciturn, but they had no idea his reading volume surpassed many adults.
Paired with his keen analytical mind, the outcome was remarkable.
In the two to three months at the academy, he had perused a lot of documents from the library and supplemented his knowledge considerably.
This only solidified his belief that coming here was indeed the right choice.
The fourteen-year-old faced this new form of assessment with impressive composure, yet when presented with the panda doll, he couldn’t help but feel conflicted.
He turned to Zhuge Liang beside him and asked, “What do you think the Lord means by this gift?”
Recalling his first meeting with Qiao Yan, he speculated, “Could it be suggesting that I should not be stuck in a black-and-white mindset?”
Pang Tong mused that both he and Zhuge Liang had proposed ways of evaluating people that held limitations, and perhaps Qiao Yan couldn’t bring herself to say it directly back then to avoid hitting him too hard, giving him a nod of acknowledgment as a Fengchu reminder instead.
Zhuge Liang was quiet for a moment before replying, “I think you’re overthinking this. It might just be that the Lord likes it. I mean, the previous Master Yang got demoted for thinking too much.”
Probably because clever people tend to vibe better together, or maybe it was just the mutual acquaintance with Pang Tong. Since Pang Tong’s enrollment in Leping Academy, he and Zhuge Liang had become friends.
Although Zhuge Liang was quite displeased that Pang Tong’s cousin, Pang Shanmin, whom he sent here to confirm his well-being, got stuck at Leping after seeing Zhuge Liang’s second sister, he figured he wouldn’t hold that against Pang Tong. A little reminder wouldn’t hurt.
He had a hunch that Qiao Yan might just have done this casually without much thought.
She might not have even known who the top scorer of the exam was until after handing it out.
But if Qiao Yan were to say it, this might not be considered casual at all.
The students at Leping Academy were generally young; she was essentially conducting a preliminary test.
Indeed, while the cotton harvest wouldn’t suffice to ensure everyone had cotton clothes just yet, aside from using the cotton to sell high-priced cotton clothes for the gentry, she hadn’t intended to jump into making cotton toys. What about a few years down the line?
As she rode along the Ziwuling on the Qinzhidao, her gaze instinctively drifted towards the eastern Shangjun.
With only a little over two hundred acres dedicated to the first batch of cotton fields and this year’s expansion reaching just around a thousand acres, it was still an insignificant area within the vast Shangjun farmlands, and thus, she couldn’t spot those cotton fields from her elevated vantage point.
But one day, she would no longer need to hide them and would turn those cotton fields into distinctive landscapes in Shangjun and beyond.
And one day, she would ensure everyone could afford cotton clothing, making cotton toys a common household item.
She pulled on the reins and headed south.
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In the carriage returning to Chang’an with her, they were hauling limestone, clay, gypsum, and slag from the iron smelting process extracted from Bingzhou.
These materials were destined for further processing in Chang’an.
Upon her return to Chang’an, she quickly chose the spot for the new cement road.
For most people reaching Chang’an today, they came from the south.
People from Yanzhou and Yuzhou had to tackle the long journey before passing through Tong Pass, so most, even those considering relocation, would just stop at the borders of Henan.
More often, people coming over were from Yizhou and Jing Province.
Thus, it’s only logical for this “wonder” symbolic of Chang’an to be placed in the southern part of the city.
Additionally, considering it was spring and not summer, the cement road needed nearly two months for maintenance without anyone or any horses treading on it…
After much thought, she settled on the imperial road that Liu Yu took on his ascension day.
This way, she could take advantage of the public’s inherent awareness without disrupting the normal traffic on other roads, ensuring no human-made damage occurred before it cured.
Doing this renovation was different from the earlier adjustments in the layout of Chang’an, so she’d need to report it to Liu Yu as well.
Once this road became part of Chang’an’s promotional branding, it would need to be open for public use, again needing Liu Yu’s approval since he was the Son of Heaven.
So, on the second day after arriving in Chang’an, she submitted a request for an audience with the palace.
I don’t know if it was just her imagination, but when she met Liu Yu, the glance he threw her way felt like an evaluation—
Was she emotionally unsettled due to splitting off the Qiao family of Yanzhou, leading her to divert her attention toward something else to avoid dwelling on those troublesome thoughts?
But as she explained her plans, his thoughts shifted back.
Liu Yu asked, “Will this cement road really have such a remarkable impact in promoting Chang’an?”
Qiao Yan replied with utmost confidence, perhaps because Liu Yu had seen her turn the impossible into possible multiple times, making it hard for him not to be convinced.
She said, “Your Majesty can rest assured, this has been tried in practice numerous times. Once the road is formed, we will know through trial. Even if it doesn’t work, we can just treat it as a decorative road.”
“As for how to make it a landmark like Hongwen Hall, just wait and see, Your Majesty.”
With that, Liu Yu felt at ease letting her proceed.
Days later, the citizens of Chang’an noticed that the original imperial road paved with blue bricks leading from the Gui Palace to the southern city gate was gradually having its foundation chipped away to create a soil-dirt road about half a foot lower than the paths for pedestrians.
“Wenruo, what on earth are they doing?” Chen Qun and Xun Yu couldn’t help but stop and ask as they passed by.
Both from noble families in Yingchuan, Chen Qun and Xun Yu had a longstanding friendship.
The scene from years ago, where the Chen clan went to meet the Xun family, saw a young Xun Yu being held by his grandfather, while Chen Qun, pushed along in a carriage, was just one of the crowd watching.
Now, they had both stepped onto the political stage themselves.
But even for such insightful men, this situation was perplexing.
What truly left them guessing was Qiao Yan.
This Grand Marshal had decisively distanced herself from her clan, which left Xun Yu—who had already been previously fooled by her—feeling increasingly guilty about his earlier doubts.
Now, at the busiest time for spring plowing, she tossed the agricultural affairs of Guanzhong onto the Grand Minister of Agriculture and his subordinates while leaving the military matters to Zhao Yun, and after finishing the family separation affair, she started working on this imperial road.
Xun Yu saw from afar that Qiao Yan wore a special mask covering all but her eyes, directing workers mixing filtered raw cement with water, stones, and sand, and laying it into the half-foot-thick recessed area.
This was certainly not typical behavior for a Grand Marshal.
Not just Xun Yu and Chen Qun, but the citizens of Chang’an were baffled.
Previously, when Qiao Yan led troops out of Chang’an and returned triumphantly welcomed by Liu Yu, the people had witnessed it all.
Now, she was no longer the bold commander but seemed to be lowering her status by fussing over roads, which was odd to anyone watching.
However, Qiao Yan paid no mind to their curious gazes, focusing instead on the workers packing the twenty-centimeter cement surface and setting up drainage ditches between this new cement road and the original imperial path.
As this cement road was laid down, railings on both sides were installed for further protection.
To those in Chang’an, it was unheard of to have such sticky material paved on a road—
Yet the workers seemed very skilled at handling this novel material, flowing through the digging and leveling motions like it was second nature, likely having done this before.
Chen Qun was so entranced by the scene that he didn’t notice Qiao Yan had come up right in front of him.
Only when she called out “Changwen” did he snap back to reality.
She took off her mask and said, “I remember the new penal code allowed for temporary additions in practical application?”
Chen Qun replied, “That’s correct.”
“Then please, Changwen, along with the others, agree on adding something: anyone treading this road within two months will face a penalty of forced labor.”
Chen Qun quickly grasped the limitation she placed on “within two months” and asked, “Is this a law valid only during this limited time?”
Qiao Yan didn’t answer directly, simply saying, “In two months, the truth will emerge.”
Confronting Chen Qun, casually observing, was just her way of ensuring this cement road’s last measure of safety.
Of course, to prevent any accidents or those knowingly defying the law from coming to test it and ruining her plans, she had people stationed there.
Fortunately, the roads beside the imperial one were wide enough that even with guards stationed there, pedestrian traffic wouldn’t be impacted.
As the citizens passed by, they saw the gray mud filling the depressed spots extending into the distance, yet remained clueless about its purpose.
The surface had been smoothed over, appearing as if it could easily bear tracks, not fitting the expected road characteristics.
Proving this was unusual behavior for a road were Qiao Yan’s very actions.
By the spot nearest to Chang’an’s city gate, she had someone fetch a metal rod, directly using it to poke into the cement surface.
Seeing her do this, someone in the crowd asked, “How is this thing supposed to work as a road?”
If a metal rod could sink so easily, then certainly a cart’s wheels could too, potentially getting stuck and unable to move!
If this were the case, how could the next emperor pass from Gui Palace to Lingtai?
However, she didn’t respond to their concerns but instead continued drawing on the not-yet-dried cement road with the metal rod, unfazed by their skepticism.
This was certainly not a normal way to write.
But remember, after leading Lü Bu and Zhang Liao to battle the Xianbei, Qiao Yan had carved records of her deeds into stone, so writing on fresh cement was hardly a challenge.
Now, those gathering to watch were treated to the spectacle of her elegantly writing two characters.
“Chang—An?”
Someone instinctively read aloud as she penned the words.
Even those who couldn’t read knew what those characters meant.
For above the southern gate of Chang’an also had those very words.
Qiao Yan passed the iron rod to an attendant and stepped back a few paces, looking at her work with a satisfied smile.
Indeed, at the beginning of this cement road, she had left behind two characters marking Chang’an!
