After issuing his orders, Jiang Wan finally set aside the documents in his hands for a moment.
Jiangling City and Gong'an County were separated by nothing more than a single wall—yet they were utterly different worlds.
Gong'an was a newly founded county under Lord Xuande. Its walls were low, its scale small, and in the early days it could hardly be called a city at all—more like a vast military camp.
Over time, as policies shifted and refugees were drawn in to reclaim wasteland, that rough camp slowly took on the shape of a proper county town.
Back then, Sun Qian had even drafted an urban plan for Gong'an.
But how events unfolded afterward went far beyond anyone's expectations.
A small luminous screen unfolded in midair—
through it, one could glimpse a thousand years of rise and fall, advance craftsmanship, and refine oneself.
Now Jingzhou to the north linked with Hanzhong, while to the west lay Bashu. Goods flowed through Jiangling endlessly, circulating and surging without pause.
Jiang Wan had once sighed that Jiangling might well be the strongest city under Heaven.
Now, instead, he found himself thinking: this city feels a bit too small.
This year alone, the docks outside Jiangling had been expanded twice. Especially after October began, the number of cargo ships coming and going suddenly surged.
As the man in charge of southern Jingzhou affairs, Jiang Wan naturally knew why.
Documents from Yizhou had mentioned that after obtaining the sugar-making method, Kongming promised enormous profits and personally led gathered manpower to open sugarcane fields in Nanguang.
This first batch of sugarcane was harvested in September.
Chengdu's sugar output increased more than tenfold.
The official markets in Chengdu began selling sugarcane sugar in bulk. It rapidly flowed into Jiangling, then was carried onward to Jiangdong by Jiangling merchants.
And so, like sharks scenting blood, merchants swarmed.
Countless merchant ships from Jiangdong pushed upstream together, all desperate to obtain this supremely sweet substance to resell back home.
Mixed among them were innumerable covert agents, all seeking the secret of sugar production.
So much so that even Jiang Wan couldn't help but sigh:
We won a great victory in the Jing–Xiang campaign, and Sun Hou never even sent a handwritten congratulatory letter.
But the moment he heard about sugar, the Sun clan's spies came pouring out.
Sun Hou, why don't you just donate Jiangdong and go into business?
That said, these merchants all stopped once they reached Jiangling—not because of treacherous currents ahead, but because of the notices Jiang Wan had posted throughout the city.
In truth, Mi Zhu and Liu Ba had anticipated this long ago.
That was why an official market selling sugar was deliberately established in Jiangling.
It was precisely this official market that elevated Jiangling's prosperity to a new level—and forced the docks outside the city to expand to more than twice their former size.
When Jiang Wan went out, he happened to run into Zhou Qun, so he simply pulled Zhou Zhongzhi along for a walk.
Zhou Qun hailed from Langzhong. Not only was he well-versed in astronomy, he was also nominally Liu Zhang's teacher, which gave him an unmistakable air of refined gentility.
These days, when idle, Zhou Qun handled affairs at the General Who Pacifies Might's residence. When busy, he assisted Jiang Wan with Jiangling's administration.
As for the other man at that residence—Zhang Yu—he was perpetually occupied.
Running in and out, contacting the great clans who had been cruelly oppressed by Liu Bei's "tyranny," uniting them in secret—
All they needed was for Chancellor Cao's army to arrive, and order would be "restored," with lands returned to their rightful owners.
Zhang Yu delighted in this work. He even styled himself Liu Zhang's trusted confidant.
As for Zhou Qun—who barely registered in his eyes—Zhang Yu neither cared what he did nor paid him any attention.
"Gongyan, such refined leisure today?"
Zhou Qun asked with mild curiosity as he was dragged along.
"Just feeling a bit reflective,"
Jiang Wan laughed.
"So I invited Zhongzhi to stroll with me."
Once outside the government office, Jiang Wan slowed his pace and asked casually:
"Does the General Who Pacifies Might still have enough gold notes?"
These gold notes were Liu Ba's latest invention.
Now that Yizhou was stable, there was no need for emergency measures like Direct Hundred Coins.
But drawing on monetary theory, Liu Ba conceived a new idea.
Any merchant wishing to buy sugar in Jiangling had to first exchange goods for gold notes, and only then use those notes to purchase items at the official market.
The gold notes themselves were produced by a secret paper workshop Liu Ba had commissioned Kongming to establish in Chengdu.
The paper was made using a blend of later-era xuan paper techniques and bark paper methods, with hibiscus petals as the primary material, supplemented by several unknown ingredients.
The result was a uniquely colored, ornate paper—smooth to the touch, yet exceptionally tough.
After producing this paper for several months, the workshop was quietly dismantled.
The papermaking method was sealed personally by Lord Xuande to ensure no one could counterfeit it for years.
Once cut to size, written with gold-powder ink, and stamped with Lord Xuande's seal, it became a gold note.
With it, one could purchase sugarcane sugar, refined sugar, Shu brocade, Cong cloth, and other regional specialties.
All goods gathered by the Jiangling official market in exchange for gold notes were shipped north to Jingbei.
Liu Zhang, as General Who Pacifies Might, was specially granted a portion of gold notes by Liu Bei—as compensation for the earlier name lists—so he could exchange them for sugar.
Zhou Qun smiled.
"No matter how extravagantly the General indulges in sugar, he is still only one man.
What Lord Xuande granted is more than enough."
Jiang Wan nodded. He thought so as well.
After all, their lord hadn't touched Liu Zhang's private treasury. Given Liu Zhang's wealth, he could live comfortably for the rest of his life without any issue.
The two strolled along the street, enjoying the scenery and chatting about interests unrelated to official duties—such as mathematics.
Promoting mathematics was no easy task.
After much discussion, Kongming and Liu Bei decided to begin by promoting it among officials, without forcing it upon the populace for now.
Jiang Wan, having seen the luminous screen, understood its importance.
Zhou Qun, with his background in astronomy, had a solid foundation.
The two ended up talking enthusiastically.
Before long, they encountered people with even better mathematical skills—
A group of merchants squatting outside the official market, frantically calculating which goods to exchange for gold notes would yield the best profit.
They had to estimate the value of a gold note, factor in ship size rentals, daily costs, labor wages, and resale prices in different regions.
Jiang Wan and Zhou Qun watched with interest for a while—until the merchants chased them away.
"Mathematics truly is a discipline of practical use,"
Jiang Wan sighed, patting the city wall.
They had no intention of eavesdropping on trade secrets. Since the official market was near the city gate, they climbed the wall for a walk instead.
Zhou Qun stood beside him, not commenting on mathematics, but raising another topic:
"Does Gongyan harbor some hidden concern?"
With no outsiders nearby, Jiang Wan spoke plainly:
"War will break out again next year.
Zhongzhi may return and inform the General Who Pacifies Might."
Zhou Qun leaned over the wall, looking at the bustling Jiangling below—there was not the slightest hint of war.
"Where?" he asked.
Jiang Wan gazed toward Gong'an County.
Just as Jiangling had become a great fortress of the realm, Gong'an had become a city of craftsmanship.
Along its riverbanks stood rows of water-powered Eight-Ox Ballistae.
Inside the city, raw materials were piled high in the east, while workshops lined the west—blacksmith forges clustered together, their small chimneys rising in tight rows.
It was a cityscape Jiang Wan had never seen before.
And he knew that Gong'an's master craftsmen were now all staying within Jiangling, rarely leaving unless absolutely necessary.
That order had come from Jiang Wan himself—to guard against a sudden Jiangdong attack.
And if this city of craftsmanship were ever to blaze back to life…
"Where?" Zhou Qun pressed again.
Jiang Wan looked east, toward Jiangxia, his mind drifting:
"Guanzhong. Jingbei. Here. Jingnan.
War will erupt everywhere at once."
Zhou Qun returned to the General Who Pacifies Might's residence and relayed the message in full to Liu Zhang.
He expected panic.
Instead, Liu Zhang snapped irritably:
"Why did the music stop?
Keep playing—dancers too!"
Music and dance resumed at once, and the faint killing intent Zhou Qun carried with him dissolved into nothingness.
"This news is of no importance to me,"
Liu Zhang said, reclining sideways on his couch, utterly serene—genuinely enjoying himself.
"Make sure to tell Nanhe everything, word for word."
"Just say you overheard it by accident."
Nanhe was Zhang Yu's courtesy name.
Zhou Qun sighed.
He had the feeling Zhang Yu wouldn't be idle come the New Year.