Stood by the window in the luxurious inn and staring out over the capital on a clear cloudless day with a sky as blue as an ocean.
Hartely could see his faint reflection in the clear glass superimposed over the vast stretches of land and multitudes of buildings that looked golden under the bombardment of the relentless summer sunshine, from where he stood, everything seem to be within his reach.
It felt like all he had to do was reach out and grab it.
After his unorthodox proposal to Zhi Ruo, he was now thinking of where to start building his power, a power that would disregard petty politics and leave a legacy that would not be forgotten for centuries.
"What are you looking at?"
Zhi Ruo's distant voice awoke him from his reverie, soon the beauty wearing a long red dress glided over and her faint reflection appeared in the glass next to Hartley's, without saying a word Hartley watched as their reflections standing shoulder to shoulder in the spotless glass were superimposed over the capital like deities looking down at their dominion.
Zhi Ruo lingered by his side as she too stared at the breathtaking view, she quietly stood stock-still next to her fiancee with a feeling that no words were necessary.
"Just thinking."
Hartley replied after a while, then turned and planted a kiss on the forehead of the first lady of "House Hartley."
It had been two weeks since the night of the banquet and most of the furore had died down, Hartley was now looking forward to setting down roots in the capital and begin his new journey.
Commander Genk had come to see Hartley a week after the banquet, with a bright smile, the scruffy haired and broad chested man had brought a dozen bottles of wine and a letter from the prince, the letter had stated the prince's intention to grant Hartely a hereditary fief in the western part of the capital.
Commander Genk had almost force-fed the cheap wine to Hartley in celebration, the man was so happy, it was like he was the one being granted a fief.
Hartley could also tell that the commander had more to do with this decision than the man was willing to confess...
After spending a limited amount of time with the commander, Hartley had figured out that the man truly cherished fighting strength and detested politics, even though he wasn't stupid, Hartley had an inkling that the commander was a brawn over brain type.
The land was granted to Hartley on the condition of him swearing fealty to Prince Jian and his fief was to be considered a reward for services already rendered, the letter also included the promise of a recall for Viscount Sanzu back to the capital.
Hartley gave no objections to this news but he wasn't jumping for joy either.... he was supposed to be one of Viscounts Sanzu distant relatives after all. All he could think, was that the sly bastard had actually achieved what he set out to do.
All Hartley had to do was put his mark on the letter and it would be official.
The decision of swearing fealty to the prince as a vassal or buying a medium manor and building his forces from scratch was weighing heavy on his mind, the truth was, Hartley didn't know the first thing about administrative work or training troops, he had only concentrated on fighting his own battles and enhancing his own strength. Both situations had their pros and cons but what Hartley needed was time, so he had decided....
Hartley stood looking over the humble manor, by his side was Zhi Ruo and Qin Li, they too stood with amazed faces as they looked at the rundown manor as if it was some kind of treasure.
"What do yo think?" asked Commander Genk who stood to the side with a small troop of men twenty meters at his back.
Hartley was quiet as he stared at a sight that warmed his heart, standing on a hilly bank where scattered tuffs of green grass dotted the brown earth, Hartley gazed at the distant hills erupting on the landscape like warriors protecting their domain.
This was going to be his first home, he would have complete control of it and from here, he would start on the road to achieving his ambitions.
"it's perfect"
Hartley replied to the big man, he breathed in the fresh crisp air as his eyes wandered over the peaks in the distance... .
Hartley was now an official vassal under Prince Jian, he could now be shielded under the umbrella of the young prince, giving him time to gather his own strength, even at this stage he could be considered a powerhouse if he used his full strength but he had already made an enemy of the eldest prince and even though he would never settle for being a lackey, being a lone ranger in the circumstances would prove to be too troublesome and time consuming.
His fief was in the western mountainous region which contained the coal mines of the captial , the revenue from these mines were to be split between the prince and House Hartley, even though it wasn't a highly lucrative industry, Hartley still looked at it as the prince virtually giving away forty percent of his share because the prince would be taking sixty percent of the revenues as taxes.
The previous person in charge of this region was a captain in the first legion imperial army who had been called back to the prince's castle, Hartley was then handed the sprawling 50 acres of mines and flat lands to do with as he wished. This would come to be Hartleys first major base of operations, this land would pass to his sons and their sons cementing him as a permanent fixture in the capital.....
The run-down manor sitting in the middle on the flat land was serving as the main building of the manor, several kilometers further back was the hilly and mine riddled back mountains, further to west were the crudely built wooden structures for the miners and their families and off to east was a underdeveloped forested area, commander Genk had mentioned that the forest on the east was infested with bandits, who used it as a concealed headquarters and the soldiers patrolling the area and securing the premises would remain as long as Hartley wanted them to.
News of this spread quickly in the circles of aristocracy , people were stunned, the youth who had made a splash at the banquet for the younger generation, had received an official fief from the prince a week later, not only that, it wasn't a fief in some back-water province.
It was a fief in the western coal mining region of the capital. This made people sit up and take notice of the youth who everyone expected to be a major player in the affairs of the capital in the years to come.
This was significant because anyone who knew the young prince knew that he had no time for dead weight, so everyone had to assume that the youth had enormous potential to have secured the prince's favor.
Yang Yi finally found a way to make himself useful, after the incident at the northern gate of the Cassia province, Hartley had hardly spoken a word to the man. Hartley had come to judge the man as a typical hanger-on, one who always wanted to partake in the benefits but would cowardly do anything to hide and secure their own life in the battle to obtain those benefits.
Yang Yi knew a thing or two about administrative work and had quickly run around to get a crew of builders to rebuild the manor from the ground up, no one could have imagined that Hartley had so much gold coins and now he had found a reason to spend them. Hartley let Yang Yi handle a few errands as he was sure the man would return to Viscount Sanzu when he returned to the capital which would take a couple months at least.
They spent the following days in the run-down manor and Hartley quickly found the gloom and doom of the miners, the serving staff and their families to be really uncomfortable. Hartley remembered seeing the same look of hopelessness in the eyes of the people in the small district at the foot of the hill leading to Windsor Peak castle.
Having ordered the crude wooden structures to be rebuilt and replaced with proper stone buildings, Hartley was waiting for the work to start properly
. He wasn't the righteous type but the unhappiness that permeated through the whole manor was contagious, the whole place felt like everybody was trudging to the gallows to accept death.....
Sure he could lock himself away, the solitude was nothing to him but this was a new beginning and with him about to get married, he wanted it to be a somewhat happy environment.
Hartley had had a talk with the foreman of the miners who was an elderly white haired man, and told him of the plans to change the living conditions of people living and working in the region, the man had reacted rather unemotionally and underwhelmed, for him who had spent a lifetime digging in these mines, he had seen and heard too many lords come with these promises over the years in the hopes that the uneducated commoners would work even harder...
Only as the weeks passed and the days grew shorter did the atmosphere begin to change as the people could see the crude wooden huts being knocked down and the foundations of stone structures were being dug..
The summer passed quickly and the chilly winds of Autumn took its place....