Chapter 45: At the Emperor's Feet

Leaving the small town, they headed north along the imperial highway. Along the way, wisps of cooking smoke rose from the chimneys of scattered rural households.

The grey-blue smoke mingled with the pristine white snow, painting a magnificent northern landscape.

After traveling for a few more days, ragged refugees began to appear sporadically along the road. Most of them were able-bodied young men, while quite a few others brought along their wives and children, all bearing the sallow, gaunt complexions of starvation.

Moreover, the closer they got to the commandery city, the more these refugees gathered, until they finally formed a vast, churning sea of people.

"This... how can there be so many refugees right at the feet of the Son of Heaven?" Qinghe asked, her delicate hands twisting her handkerchief in silent, profound shock.

Butcher Hu jumped down from the carriage, stretched lazily, and said dismissively, "Bah, what's so strange about that? They must have suffered some calamity!"

Though he was illiterate, he had lived for several decades after all. He had seen and heard plenty of such things.

Monk Hui simply stopped an old man by the roadside to inquire about the situation.

The old man looked up at the group, not daring to offend them, and began to explain with a deep sigh.

As it turned out, in a normal year, the water volume of the Yellow River would drop drastically every winter. For reasons unknown, however, from the winter of last year up until now, the river's water volume had not decreased much; instead, a massive amount of floating ice had appeared in the upper reaches.

This floating ice directly choked the upstream river channel, creating the spectacle of an ice-dammed lake. The long-neglected dikes could simply not bear the pressure, and breaches quickly formed in all directions, leading to an unstoppable flood.

A winter flood was a rare occurrence even when flipping through the historical records.

The local officials and common people had been entirely unprepared. Once the floods struck, places like Juye and Jiaxiang were directly submerged, leaving nine out of ten homes empty and desolate.

"So these people are all disaster victims who fled here from Juye?" Fan Jin suddenly stepped down from the carriage and asked.

Not daring to conceal anything, the old man wiped the black soot from his face and said, "Ever since the Juye refugees scattered, many county towns along the way have been terrified. The officials even ordered the city gates closed and roadblocks set up to strictly prevent the refugees from entering the cities.

"Now, only the commandery city still has a few places handing out porridge."

With that, he added, "Old as I am, I've heard that these refugees are merely the vanguard of the Juye victims. An even larger wave of people is rushing here upon hearing the news, and I'm afraid the commandery city won't be able to hold out for many more days..."

Fan Jin fell silent. He instructed Monk Hui to stay behind to guard the rear, sharing a portion of their carried dry rations with the leaders of the refugees. The rest of the group pressed ahead, urging their horses on with whips.

It was not that he was judging a gentleman's heart with a villain's measure; rather, he knew better than anyone what kind of unbearable tragedies would inevitably occur once the refugees were incited and manipulated.

He dared not gamble his life on chance, nor did he wish to court danger.

Yet, even after leaving the refugees far behind, the image of the locust-like, overwhelming throbs of displaced people lingered persistently in his mind.

"My good son-in-law, are we going to stay in Tongzhou temporarily and wait until the metropolitan examination begins before entering the capital?" Old man Hu was used to being carefree; even after the visual shock he had suffered just moments ago, it left barely a ripple in his mind.

"Let's go straight into the capital!" Fan Jin replied without a moment's hesitation.

He was naturally well aware of Old man Hu's concerns. It was often said that living in the capital was no easy feat, especially with the metropolitan examination looming. Not only had the prices of inns and residential houses near the tribute examination hall in the capital skyrocketed, but even the rent in Tongzhou had surged by nearly twenty percent.

With their entire entourage eating and drinking along with the horses, bright silver was being spent like flowing water every day, a sight that made Butcher Hu's heart leap in fright.

However, Butcher Hu knew that while his son-in-law held him in high regard, he could not arbitrarily make decisions on his son-in-law's behalf.

Since Fan Jin had decided to take the examinations this session, he had naturally prepared thoroughly. The face value of the silver banknotes alone amounted to a full three thousand taels.

Among these three thousand taels, two thousand were sponsored by Provincial Education Examiner Zhou, and one thousand were a gift from Magistrate Tang.

In addition to the banknotes, Fan Jin had also brought two boxes filled with silver ingots, along with a large bundle of chopped-up silver pieces.

Consequently, no matter how expensive housing prices in the capital might be, while buying a house was unrealistic, renting one was more than enough.

Staying in Tongzhou would certainly save some expenses, but living far away meant having to hustle back and forth for the exams, and they might even have to set off for the examination hall in the dead of night.

The imperial examination was inherently an exhausting and strenuous ordeal. Many candidates emerged from the examination hall completely drained, and this was not merely due to a lack of physical exercise; even an iron constitution would find surviving such an ordeal no easy task.

Fan Jin's party arrived at the capital before the period of *Wei* (the eighth double-hour). At this time, the scorching sun hung high in the sky, casting down streams of golden light.

Prior to this, everyone's thoughts had been entirely consumed by the need to rest. Yet, upon beholding this most magnificent city under heaven, everyone subconsciously held their breath and stared in silent awe.

The heavy city gates, the towering and majestic ramparts, the heavily fortified barbicans, the various protruding corner towers and watchtowers, and the fully armored, murderous-looking soldiers patrolling back and forth...

This city was armed to the teeth. Rather than calling it a city, it was more like a fortress built for war.

Before such an impregnable city, everyone felt their own insignificance.

"Queue up to enter the city," Fan Jin let out a long breath and said calmly.

The prosperity of the capital revealed just a glimpse of itself right at the city gates, where pedestrians and carriages surged forward in an endless, tidal wave.

Recovering their wits, the others all murmured their assent. The coachman skillfully slowed the carriage down, moving forward with the stream of humanity in preparation for the entry inspection.

Fan Jin drew his identity credentials as a provincial graduate from his wide sleeve and handed them over to the guards at the city gate.

The guard took them, glanced at them indifferently, then paused in surprise and carefully compared the document to Fan Jin's appearance.

Good grief, did the person before him have the remotest connection to being "sallow, gaunt, and possessing graying whiskers"?

Guessing what was running through the guard's mind, Fan Jin took the initiative to explain: "Before I attained the rank of provincial graduate, my family fortunes were in decline and I was rather destitute. After passing the examinations, I lived in comfort for a time, which changed my appearance somewhat. My trip to the capital this time is precisely to attend this year's metropolitan examination..."

The guard curled his lip, thinking to himself that this was just another impoverished scholar without a prestigious family background.

Even so, the man was a provincial graduate after all, and the guard had no wish to offend him. Therefore, he waved his hand impatiently, "Go on in, the people behind are still waiting."

The guard's attitude could hardly be called pleasant, but Fan Jin did not mind.

A provincial graduate could wield immense power in the provinces, but within the territory of the capital, one absolutely had to tuck their tail between their legs.

Had he been a provincial graduate in his twenties, the guard might have shown him some courtesy; but the age recorded on his credentials was enough to make many people subconsciously belittle the true weight of his degree.

"My good son-in-law, where to next?" Old man Hu stuck closely to Fan Jin, almost rubbing his hands together in anxiety as he clutched at the hem of Fan Jin's robe.

Old man Hu was a typical bully within the safety of his own home; abruptly thrust into a place like the capital, he was as nervous as a quail, almost forgetting how to walk.

Fan Jin gave him a sidelong glance and said with a helpless sigh, "Let's first enter the city and find a place to stay—whether it's an inn or directly renting a courtyard—and settle down before we discuss anything else."