Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 31

Volume 02 Chapter 31: Rewards From The Emperor Finally Arrived And Was Not Late

Billowing snakes of smoke, orchestras of galloping hooves. The dogs barked and chickens cooed, the morning bell sounded for long. The sky showed its first red, and the grass was heavy with dew. Who was in a hurry? Riding as fast as a passing rainbow.

"Hyah! Hyah!"

Five horses and five people. The horses galloped like shooting stars, and the riders leaned forward like bows. They stirred up clouds of dust on the road on the entire way. The person leading in the front occasionally urged his horse to go faster as he shouted out to any oncomers.

"Eight hundred li1 urgent report, make way."

At the San'shui County, the people who came out to set up their stall in the morning when the day was just dimly lit, heard this sound, and stepped aside to both sides of the road. Many people looked scared. How many years has it been since they last heard of an eight hundred li urgent report? What happened? Did a battle start?

Perhaps the people on the horse realized that the people's expressions were not right, so they changed their words, "Eight hundred li good news, make way."

The people who were about to go home just now stopped, and they were even more puzzled. How could they use the speed meant for delivering urgent reports to deliver good news?

The horse riders didn't care what others thought, as long as they didn't think that there was going to be a battle. They rode at the fastest speed possible and an hour later, they arrived at a post house. There were horses ready for them to exchange their old horses with. The five people hopped off their horses, showed their badge, and then rode off with new horses.

It took seven quarters of an hour to rush from the administrative office in San'shui County to the Zhang manor in Tu'qiao Village.

"Chen Dong, the bailiff of San'shui County's office, wishes to see the Cloud Rider Officer2." The man jumped off his horse and came to the outside of Zhang's courtyard. He knocked very hard on the door twice. Before the gatekeeper on the inside could ask him questions, he called out loudly. Once he was done yelling out this sentence, he panted heavily as he stood there waiting with a look of joy and excitement.

The four people behind him were also happy. They straightened out their clothes, and tried their best to stand upright while they waited for the people inside to come out and then congratulate them again.

The gatekeeper was dumbfounded when he heard the voice outside. The voice sounded familiar---it was someone from the administrative office, but who was this Cloud Rider Officer'? Why did they come looking for this person at the Zhang Manor?

It was good to know that the person was not a stranger. The gatekeeper opened the door, and allowed the five bailiffs to come in. Then, he turned around and ran towards the housekeeper's yard.

Fortunately, before he ran too far, Chen Dong told him about receiving the imperial decree so that he would know what to tell Housekeeper Zhang.

After a short while, everyone in the Zhang Manor came out. Each of them had put on new clothes. The old Grandfather stood at the front and led them over. Chen Dong didn't wait for him to say anything, and he went ahead and announced,

"Old Grandfather, congratulations. An imperial decree has arrived from the imperial court. It was supposed to be brought to the Prefecture. Lord Zhou sent someone in the middle of night to travel at six hundred li to bring the imperial decree to the administrative office. Without even stopping, we delivered it here. The Emperor has granted Older Brother Yong'cheng with the title of Cloud Rider Officer, proper seventh rank. There's also the Wang Family. Wang Gong, Older Brother Wang Gu'tu has been granted the title of Martial Rider Officer, sub seventh rank."

While speaking, Chen Dong was about to give the imperial decree in his arms to Old Grandfather Zhang. Zhang Xiao'bao's father, Zhang Yong'cheng could only wait on the side. Even though he was the one granted with the title and was the Master of the household, he didn't have a say when it came to critical moments.

Old Grandfather Zhang did not take it. First, he arranged the five people to rest in the living room, then he ordered the servants to prepare his bath and help him change his clothes. After that, he brought everyone with him to receive the imperial decree. He called his son over to his side, and asked him to kneel down and read the decree aloud. Once they were done, they went to the ancestral hall to give incense to the ancestors.

The Wang family was also worked up for a while. They gave a lot of money to the five bailiffs, and took out 30 catties of dry fungus from Zhang Xiao'bao's warehouse for the bailiffs to bring back to the administrative office to share with everyone.

This time, the two manors have gained a lot. Not only were they granted with official titles, they were given three hundred households and 2,400 mu of land and the 100 households fiefdom were not taken away. The Wang family were directly given 200 households and 1,600 mu of land. Although the titles were minor, the reward was large.

At this time, the residents of the two manors also received the news. When they heard that their masters were granted titles and given a lot of land, every household went to the grocery store to buy a lot of firecrackers and set them off.

The Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant announced on the spot that all wine and drinks will be free for three days. This made the scholars who came here to guess the questions extremely happy.

When the people of the Ge Manor heard the commotion, they came out to watch. There was someone who worked in the restaurant, and he told everyone about what was going on. The Ge Manor's residents were also very excited when they heard about this, but they were also a little disappointed. Why wasn't their master ever granted a title?

Those two manors gained an extra 400 households fiefdom all at once, while the Ge Manor only had a total of more than 200 households. Naturally, the current residents will be officially transferred over to be part of the 500 households. Judging by how the two manor's masters treated their residents, the rent in autumn would be reduced by a lot.

The people who had a more thoughtful mind would first think of whether their own family can join the Zhang or Wang family, even if the masters did not reduce the rent, or only reduced it by a small fraction. This way, their children don't have to bring their own food to school since they can eat the meal provided there.

The food they brought from home were incomparable to the food provided by the school. A few days ago, their children came home and told their family that they felt embarrassed to take their food out after seeing what the other students ate.

*

Snoring sounds occasionally travelled out from the tents. Normally, not many children snore, but right now, the snoring has become more numerous. Each and everyone of them were exhausted after two consecutive days of travelling. They finally understood what it means to be uncomfortable.

At the beginning, there were 133 people, and now there were only 103, which meant that thirty people had quitted. On the first day, fourteen quitted, and on the second day, eighteen quitted; the children who quitted were from both age groups.

Shi'liu and another maid took turns guarding beside Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan. An oil lamp swayed gently, and Shi'liu held a fan in her hand, gently fanning her two little masters.

Seeing the cute appearance of the two children as they slept, Shi'liu wanted to go and kiss each of them. Last night, the Young Master and Young Miss arrived more than an hour earlier than the third person who arrived. Near the end they jogged, and even Li Cheng from the Li family couldn't keep up.

At that time, she was accompanied by three other people. She couldn't resist feeling happy when she thought about those gazes of envy that came from the surrounding people. Wasn't the survival training just a way to compare the children to each other? A twelve-year-old child was not even as good at her two little masters, who were under three years old. Comparing one person to another was really destructive.

"Sister Shi'liu, it's going to be dawn soon, should I take over?" Just as Shi'liu was thinking about things, the girl sleeping next to her opened her eyes and looked at the light coming through the slight opening in the tent, and asked Shi'liu.

"No, I'm not sleepy, I'm in joy right now. No one can compare to our Young Master and Young Miss. After winning one more time today, we can all rest. The older children have to run for a few more days. They might not even last until the end. Yesterday, I saw a few children cry from exhaustion."

Shi'liu declined changing shifts. She gently moved the fan with her other hand, with a proud look on her face.

The maid thought for a while, and decided to not go back to sleep. She got up and prepared to help her two little masters freshen up later.

At this moment, the clopping of horse hooves and yelling could be heard from outside of the camp. There was no need to wake up the children anymore. The children in the tent did not rest well since they were uncomfortable from sleeping in a different environment. At home, they slept on beds, but they had to sleep on mats here and they were easily awakened by the slightest noise and movement.

One by one came out of the tent with their sleepy eyes forced open. Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan also heard the noise. They didn't know what was happening, and got up and looked out through the slit in the tent's opening.

After a while, the commotion settled, and a person came from there, and the person was followed by two riders leading their horses by the rein.

"Congratulations, Young Childe Zhang. People from the San'shui County's administrative office have arrived, and they say they want to see you. Your father has been granted the title of Cloud Rider Officer, and the Wang Family was granted the title of Martial Rider Officer. Two bailiffs have come here to deliver this news."

"Oh, thank you, Mister Li. Please bring the people over here." Zhang Xiao'bao looked at Li Cheng and listened to what he said. His calm demeanor finally showed some emotions. He didn't care about these things, and he only cared about his family. However, his family cared about these things.

"You are Song Yang, Bailiff Song. You have travelled so far to deliver this news, you have worked hard. How is your wife? I don't know if that thing is true or not...?" Zhang Xiao'bao had a good memory. Usually, he was able to remember anyone that he met. He asked a question but he didn't finish his sentence.

"It's true. Young Master, it's true. Are you going to go back soon? Good, good, we're all doing well. My wife is alright. Thanks to the Zhang family, we can eat and dress well. My child has grown to be strong too."

Song Yang suddenly felt that the exhaustion from rushing this entire way had disappeared in the blink of an eye. The Young Childe was still so young, yet he knew about the situation at his home; the Young Childe's family must have told him.

His wife recently gave birth to a child and the Zhang manor sent a lot of gifts to them. Among the gifts was a large bag of apricot plums, which cost at least five hundred coins. All of the gits were probably worth more than seven or eight taels of silver.

His child was also closely watched and taken care of by a doctor sent there by the Zhang manor. How could he even repay their kindness? All he could do was try to help the Zhang manor do more things. Thus, he decided to rush over here to deliver the news.

"Really? Young Master, let's go back. This is great, we don't have to worry about the 100 household fiefdom being taken back. The master is now an official, which means I'll be a maid in the house of a government official."

Shi'liu also listened, and she heard that her master had been granted a title. Even though she didn't know how significant the title was, she cheered and couldn't help but say what was on her mind.

"Okay, let's go back right now. Wang Juan, get on the horse." Zhang Xiao'bao got an affirmative answer, and he didn't care about the survival training here anymore. He informed Wang Juan, and went to stand beside the horse first.

Translator's Notes

1. Eight hundred li urgent report

This refers to travelling 800 li or ~400 km in a day on horseback. This is the fastest speed that messages or reports can be delivered at.

Note that this li' is different from the Li' in Li Xun.

2. Cloud Rider Officer

This is a seventh ranked government position given to a person with a notable achievement.

I couldn't find an pre-existing translation of this position, since it is a rather insignificant one, so I made up my own by literally translating the words.