Book 12: Chapter 54: Mistaken Impression

“Lord Lu, we cannot possibly support feeding all of those—” started the new city magistrate before being cut off.

“Children?” asked Sen.

“I just meant to say—”

“That we should stop feeding

the children

?”

“We’ll run out of food,” said the magistrate. “As things stand, we won’t be able to replace it come spring.”

“Yes,” said Sen, his voice pitiless. “If only all of those farmers hadn’t been left outside the city to die. Someone might be left to grow food.”

The magistrate’s mouth opened and closed several times as he tried to think of a response. The motion made his jowls quiver in a vaguely disturbing way. Sen had no doubt that the other politicians and noble houses were pressuring the magistrate to intercede. All for the worthy goal of protecting their food supply at the expense of anyone and everyone else.

“Magistrate, are you under the mistaken impression that I

care

if you, your allies, or the nobles in this city starve to death?”

The man’s eyes went wide as he said, “Lord Lu, certainly you don’t intend for us to die.”

“For people who were all too eager to sacrifice others, you seem oddly reticent to be sacrificed. I only spared you because it would have been more troublesome for me to kill all of you. The moment that stops being the case, I lose any incentive to allow you to keep breathing. Rest assured, this conversation is a large step in the direction of making you more troublesome than you’re worth.”

The magistrate went very still at the blunt threat, even going so far as to hold his breath. Some of this was simply Sen’s irritation being dumped onto someone he didn’t like or respect. All he really wanted to do was ignore the entire world and spend however long it took to master what he’d found in the Shadow Gate manual. That wasn’t going to happen, though. He’d have to figure it out a piece at a time, as and where he could. The rest of it was his genuine dislike for these particular politicians and nobles. Sen hadn’t trusted that reaction at first because he had a long history of disliking nobles on principle.

However, these people’s actions had killed innocent commoners who didn’t need to die. In doing so, they hadn’t just committed crimes, but likely doomed the city to starvation if nothing was done. It had been such a blindingly shortsighted decision. He struggled to imagine how they thought they would feed themselves when the weather turned warm again. Then again, maybe it had been pure ignorance. It wouldn’t surprise him to learn that they believed they could just force whatever commoners were left in the city to go out and farm. His time on the Luo farm had taught him that it wasn’t as simple as most people imagined. No one just decided to be a farmer one day and instantly knew how to do it.

Everything from understanding what crops a particular field could support to the timing of planting required an experienced eye. Put the wrong seeds in the wrong soil, and you’d get a pitiful harvest. Plant the wrong seeds at the wrong time, and you’d get no harvest at all. Yes, the glass structures and ongoing support from cultivators in the capital could offset that problem for a while, but it wasn’t a long-term fix. Most cultivators couldn’t be spared indefinitely to supply a city with food. They also assured him that the soil would degrade over time. It could be replaced, but that would be a huge expenditure of time and effort. No, the real solution was to have experienced farmers on their land, farming.

Of course, if a city’s leaders decided to close the gates and feed all their farmers to the spirit beasts…Sen had to repress a growl of frustration at the thought. It was just so unbelievably stupid that he still struggled to comprehend it. To say nothing of the callous disregard for life at a time when humanity itself faced a genuine threat of being culled from the world. It was like the politicians and nobles in Emperor’s Bay were in league with the spirit beasts. Still, if he kept scaring them with nothing to balance the threats, it was entirely possible they’d try to do something even stupider. He wasn’t sure what that would be or how they could achieve it, but he had faith they could. He needed to give them something.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Magistrate,” said Sen. “Cultivators are coming here from the capital. They will set up a new system to provide enough food to feed the city

for now

.”

The joy and relief on the man’s face did nothing to soften Sen’s feelings toward the man.

“That is wonderful news, Lord Lu.”

“I’m sure you think it is. Those same cultivators will also have very specific orders to kill anyone who tries to interfere with the distribution of that food. You will have no claim on that food. None,” said Sen, and watched the relief drain away from the magistrate’s face. “I suggest that you explain that to everyone. Nobles, politicians, it won’t matter. If someone tries to take that food, they die. If you try to redirect that food, you die. If any of you try to steal that food from anyone, such as the poor, you will all die. I’ll also point out that my people will not provide this service forever. I suspect that a few farmers managed to survive your lunacy. I strongly suggest that you find them, ask their forgiveness on your knees, and beg them to teach others what they know. Otherwise, in a few years, the people of this city really will starve.”

“I understand, Lord Lu.”

“I hope that you do.”

The magistrate rose from the chair and walked toward the tent flap.

“Oh, by the way,” said Sen offhandedly. “I suspect that you or one of your ilk will suggest treating the remaining farmers like slaves. You may even threaten them or their families to do what you want. Maybe you’ll even insist that they work exclusively for your benefit. I’ll see anyone who tries it burned alive. Fortunately, I expect I’ll only need to do that once.”

The magistrate stared like he was seeing a devil in the flesh. Sen knew that it was a particularly barbaric and brutal punishment. The threat alone had horrified the magistrate. He hoped that it was terrifying enough that no one would make him actually do it. That was not something he wanted to order or watch happen. The very thought of it turned his stomach, but it had become increasingly clear that the leaders in this city expected everything to go back to the way it was when his army marched away. He needed them to understand that their old world and their old ways of doing things would no longer be tolerated. If he could scare them enough to stop with threats, that would be best. If he couldn’t scare them enough with his words, he’d scare them with his actions. When Sen waved a hand at the man, the magistrate fled the tent.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a man so happy to leave before,” said Xu Xiao Dan from the chair he sat in off to the side.

The man was still recovering from his advancement, but he seemed determined to fulfill his duties as assistant and advisor.

“Maybe he won’t come around for a while now. I’m tired of listening to him parrot complaints from the city’s nobles.”

“Would you actually do it? Burn one of them alive?”

Sen rubbed his face with his hands before he answered in a tired voice.

“Only if they make me.”

The other cultivator studied Sen for a moment before he answered.

“Lord Lu, I understand what we face. The true scale of the threat. Compared to that, I know that these people seem petty, small, and even delusional to you. And, perhaps, they are.” ℞Á𐌽ȏꞖÊṤ

“But?” asked Sen. “A comment like that is always followed with a but.”

“But,” said Xu Xiao Dan with a nod, “they haven’t seen what you’ve seen. This city is, for most of them, their entire world. Even among the nobles, I doubt more than a handful have ever been more than ten miles away from the city walls.”

“Your point?”

“Because this city is their entire world, they can’t see beyond it. The larger threat is mostly abstract to them. They don’t understand why things need to change, so they’re resisting it. I know it’s easy to hate them for their… For their lack of vision. I also understand why you need to be hard. It’s necessary. I worry, however, that their obstinacy will push you beyond simply being hard and into mercilessness. Perhaps even into cruelty.”

“All cultivators are cruel,” said Sen. “We direct it at ourselves most often as we pursue power, but that cruelty lives in us all. I’ve seen it often enough.”

“Within the bounds of the Jianghu, yes. But this is not the Jianghu.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Sen. “It’s all the Jianghu now. It has been since the moment the spirit beasts declared war.”