Chapter 57: Planning Before Departure

Inside the First Prince's mansion, many servants bustled about, helping to pack up belongings.

Although the Emperor of Zhou had not issued an imperial edict specifying the exact number of days within which Zhou Hao must depart, Zhou Hao knew very well in his heart that at this critical juncture, the earlier he left the right-and-wrong vortex of the imperial city, the more advantageous it would be for him.

Once the fiefdom was designated, it took Zhou Hao only three days to pack up everything within the First Prince's mansion that could possibly be moved.

As for Bi Ruoxue, she had even fewer items to pack.

There were only a few chests of clothing and embroidery, along with her personal armor and long sword.

There was nothing else of note.

However, while packing, the one in the most frantic rush was not Zhou Hao, but Luo Xu.

Not only did he have to busy himself arranging for the disabled soldiers and their families to leave together, but he also had to oversee the weddings of those daughters of criminals and the soldiers without families.

Although the weddings were hastily arranged, the matter still had to be carried out.

It was simply bitter for Luo Xu, running back and forth busy with everything during this period.

Zhou Hao, on the other hand, ran to the Grand General's mansion every other day.

"Your Highness, you really ought to take charge of these household affairs!"

Luo Xu staggered in carrying a stack of account books, his expression filled with utter exhaustion.

He felt that in another two days, he would literally work himself to death in the First Prince's mansion.

Zhou Hao waved a hand, refusing to look at the ledgers at all.

What a joke; in his past life, he had not majored in accounting or finance.

If he were to examine these account books line by line, when would he ever finish?

He trusted Luo Xu's bookkeeping; wouldn't having him personally review these accounts be a classic case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

"Luo Xu, I trust your work. Besides, while you need to attend to these trivial matters in this affair, what I need to focus on is our route map."

At this, Zhou Hao's expression turned much more serious.

Only the Grand General's mansion possessed a relatively comprehensive map, and he needed to select a path from it to reach Crimson Mountain swiftly.

Even with an escort of troops, Zhou Hao still felt uneasy.

He needed to ensure that the time spent on the road was as short as possible.

Ideally, they would set out on the first day and arrive at Crimson Mountain by the second.

Yet the Emperor of Zhou was truly ruthless in his methods.

Apart from growing nothing at all, Crimson Mountain's greatest characteristic was its sheer remoteness.

It was not situated along the borders like the frontier regions.

Instead, it lay precisely at the midpoint between the imperial city and the frontier.

To the frontier? The journey was naturally long and distant.

Yet if one wished to return to the imperial city? The road was absolute not short either.

Because of this arrangement, even if Zhou Hao was utterly determined to lure the frontier barbarians inward, it would be harder than ascending to the heavens.

"Heh, the Emperor of Zhou really knows how to play this game. He chose Crimson Mountain where everything is lacking, and even the distance turned out this way."

Zhou Hao sneered. How could he fail to see the Emperor of Zhou's intentions?

Such a distance and direction made any development or military advance from Crimson Mountain toward any direction feel somewhat hollow and detached.

Or rather, it created a constant dilemma of being unable to attend to everything at once.

This was precisely the kind of place the Emperor of Zhou intended to give him.

A dilapidated wasteland with almost no developmental value whatsoever.

The larger the territory, the more troublesome it would be for him.

Yet to Zhou Hao, the location of Crimson Mountain was actually exceptionally good.

It was at a certain distance from the imperial city, but unlike the frontier—where leading an army back to the imperial city would take at least a month—this distance was manageable.

When the time came, it would be convenient to purge the imperial court, and equally convenient to dispatch troops to suppress a frontier collapse.

It could truly be called a land of supreme geomantic fortune.

"Your Highness, if you dislike this fiefdom, we can still discuss it further and see if we can manage to stay in the imperial city instead of going to the fiefdom. Quite a few princes have done just that."

"There is nothing good in those fiefdoms. Those princes would rather die than draw their last breath in their fiefdoms."

"When the time comes, they wouldn't even be able to have their bones buried in the ancestral tombs."

Zhou Hao chuckled, his expression carrying a cold sternness.

"I have no choice but to go. If I continue to linger in the imperial city, how am I to develop? Who will become my backing? I surely cannot rely on the Grand General at every single moment."

Hearing this, even Luo Xu closed his mouth and spoke no further.

Aside from this fiefdom, Zhou Hao truly seemed to have nowhere else to go.

"Rest assured, Crimson Mountain is not entirely without merit. We can alter and build it piece by piece. In the vicinity of Crimson Mountain, at least, I possess absolute sovereignty."

"To put it bluntly, I am now the King of Crimson Mountain. Crimson Mountain is my own tiny realm."

Luo Xu naturally understood the magnitude of the power Zhou Hao would wield within Crimson Mountain, but he also understood just how great a sacrifice Zhou Hao had made to secure that power.

"You... you promised double taxation. That is going to cause immense trouble when the time comes."

Zhou Hao did not reveal the true condition of Crimson Mountain to Luo Xu.

Now was not the appropriate time to tell him.

Once they arrived at Crimson Mountain, even if Zhou Hao said nothing, Luo Xu would discover the clues on his own.

"Don't worry, instead of worrying about these things, you'd better worry about the bandits along our upcoming road."

Bandits? Which band of outlaws would dare to block the road in broad daylight?

Not to mention there was a detachment of troops providing an escort nearby. Had these bandits lost their minds, or were they emboldened by eating the heart of a bear and the gallbladder of a leopard, to dare make a move like this?

"Your Highness can rest easy. There are currently no major outlaws within the borders of Great Zhou. Even ordinary mountain bandits are no match for a regular army."

Zhou Hao sneered, his gaze turning much more solemn.

"True, there are no bandits, but there will certainly be people masquerading as bandits."

"Those capable of confronting an army are naturally another army itself. You must understand that the Third Prince and the Empress do not want my wealth; they want my life."

Luo Xu pondered for a moment, his complexion turning nearly green.

He realized that what Zhou Hao said was the harsh reality. Could the Empress and the Third Prince swallow this grievance?

Impossible. They would undoubtedly seek revenge.

If not for worrying about this matter, why would Zhou Hao have spent the past two days carefully studying the maps around the Grand General's mansion?

He was preparing to find multiple routes leading to Crimson Mountain.

As long as he prepared enough paths, they would be unable to cast a single, all-encompassing net of assassination.

Nor would they be able to disperse their military forces just to track him down.

Yet the road conditions of Great Zhou filled Zhou Hao with a degree of despair.

While these official highways extended in all directions, any single region usually possessed only one main highway, to say nothing of a ghost place like Crimson Mountain.

The official roads of Crimson Mountain had been plagued by bandits year after year, requiring troops to be dispatched for suppression on an annual basis.

Yet every single time, the bandits' lair could never be found.

This was the core problem.

It was true that impoverished mountains and惡 streams breed unruly people, but where in the world were there bandits who could never be completely wiped out despite annual suppression campaigns?

Most likely, it was merely a lie fabricated by local officials to secure funding allocations from the Great Zhou imperial court.

At this thought, Zhou Hao's expression grew even colder.

It seemed his fiefdom was not only a wretched place, but even the officials stationed there were bloated and greasy with greed.

They sheared the sheep of the Great Zhou imperial court from above while devouring the blood and sweat of the common people from below.

They had fattened themselves up quite nicely, though he wondered what state those common folk had been reduced to in the end.