If Lao Keung is any indication, the Red Pythons look to have made a virtue of necessity and exalted austerity over the wealth the Violet and White castes possess, even if Lao Keung seems to desire the hedonism opportunities the Violet caste enjoys. Which makes sense, as the second lowest caste, the Red Pythons would receive the least amount of resources of the Bai since they don't own and control any production sites. That poverty also makes the other castes look down on the Red Pythons; Lao Keung seems to have an inferiority complex specifically over his lack of resources. (Though, I'm not sure what he feels specifically as someone Bai Suzhen is grooming to become an officer and thus giving him additional cultivation resources, like those bronze bands around his arms.)
Additionally, if the aphorism Lao Keung says is something he and his caste learned from observing the actions of the White Serpent generals, it sounds like the Red Pythons are feeling that the White Serpents are concentrating the wealth of the Bai to themselves -- being stingy in particular in spending their monies on the Red Python-staffed armies. (I doubt he would be praising his general for her austerity if he was feeling well-paid, after all; if he was, I'd think he'd be pulling out the "victory needs no explanation" cliche.) From how he says it in reply to Xia Anxi's jab that implied the Red Python's strategies are wasteful, the Red Pythons are also feeling attacked by the other castes, who maybe think that the resources going to the Red Pythons could be better used by the other castes.
However, if the jab at the budget of Zhengjian (and thus of the White Serpents, as their capital, as well as of the Red Pythons comprising the city's army) signifies that Xia Anxi thinks the White Serpents are concentrating the wealth of the Bai to themselves, then the Violet Corals are also feeling neglected by the White Serpents. With the infrastructure deal Bai Suzhen made with Cai Shenhua, which gives the Violet caste monies to expand their port holdings, Bai Suzhen seems to have accurately predicted that would assuaged the Violet caste's concerns and buy their loyalty; Xia Anxi appears to understand that Bai Suzhen is a Sovereign of Prosperity and is dealing to elevate more than just her own caste. If the 1,500 equipment sets Bai Suzhen bought from Cai Shenhua and her apprentices are to be given to the Red Python soldiers, then maybe that deal will also buy the Red Pythons' loyalties.
I don't agree that we can extrapolate a "virtue of necessity and exalting austerity" or the "hedonism of Violet". Red Pythons are military staff and commanders, which is a jobset that relies on employment to those with resources. This would place them in a subordinate relationship to the other castes, as much of their income would rely on employment or patronage from the others. Military work does not generate resources or value, it tends to protect resources and value. Honorable enough a profession that this Sister's Caste invested heavily into it, but ultimately a subordinate one as it does not Rule nor generate Prosperity on its own.
By contrast, the Violet at the coast have been benefiting a lot from the rule of Bai Suzhen "carver of Roads and Rivers", and generate much wealth with both their ongoing research and their command of the coast. Unlike Militancy, Research can be used to generate profits and growth for their own clan
without the need to rely on others. Research allows you to more fully exploit and utilize the world around you, to increase the efficiency and efficacy of your actions. I would counter the assumption that there is hedonism in the Violet with:
-
"Hm, that explains the budgets of Zhenjian I suppose," Xia Anxi jabbed back.
-
Frugality is associated with intelligence in Chinese culture, and is often seen as very wise if not precisely a virtue. Indicative of the virtue of wisdom, is one way to put it. While the Red Python are militant, relying on employment and patronage to prosper, the Violet are scholarly researchers. The Red Python are required, in their line of work, to fully utilize the resources they have in order to make sure they are successful. They also have to accept being spent as resources by a superior, as seen by:
-
"A good general must spend her resources like tokens of rare jade, but spend them she must," Lao Keung replied back with a coolness in his expression.
-
This can refer both to the Red Python that are in command positions, and the White Caste Generals making up the highest ranks of a military effort. The general should not enjoy the spending of that jade, but must spend them lest they risk failure. A researcher does not have to spend that jade, as they are employed to reduce expenditure or increase the efficacy of jade transactions. Their job is explicitly to nit-pick and second-guess the way that the jade is being spent, as they offer alternative ways to spend resources or refine pre-existing ways. They cannot, of course, second guess the Rule of a White Caste. The Red Pythons though are beneath them in status, and thus completely open to criticism along the lines that "they spend too much because they do not know any better, ohohoho"
As far as how these interactions show how the White Caste is viewed by these specific members of the Violet and Red castes, well. The Lao Keung quote I just used was delivered with a coolness in his expression. The Red Caste are too low to criticize the decisions of the White Caste, but the most recent large scale campaign (against Sun Shao) certainly would have had dire effects on the Red Python as it was lost by the White Caste prosecuting it. The Red Python accept that they are tokens to be used, yet would consider a general who does not consider them rare jade or who spends without consideration unwise. Even if they would not disobey a White Caste. That's an understandable way for Red Python that align with Bai Zhilan to justify their support of one White Caste over another. A feeling that their worth is being appreciated, and being spent wisely by General Bai Zhilan rather than Duchess Bai Suzhen. Let me highlight the argument Bai Zhilan makes:
-
"To use foreign goods to arm the first and greatest of our armies, even those crafted by a 'master' such as this Cai, is an insult to our clan, Bai Suzhen. Others have accepted the deals you have made, for they have been trades of trinkets and common goods. This agreement is beyond the pale."
-
This is an appeal that relies on conservative Bai Pride to imply that the resources (the soldiery that will be armed with such at Zhenjian) are being underappreciated. Instead of allowing the tried and true methods of armoring and arming that have guarded the Bai for generations, Bai Suzhen is seeking to further bind the foreign Cai to herself through such a display of trust as granting that foreigner the honor of arming her elite. Will such elites be safe in the works of another? Why is she placing the lives of such honored guards in the hands of a foreigner? How careless of her, how unwise a way to spend those lives.
On a similar, yet different vein, Xia Anxi's jab at the budget expenditures of Zhengjian may imply that while the Red critique is one of "do I perceive that this White caste values the resources they're spending" the Violet critique may be "is Bai Suzhen (our ruler) being wise in their expenditures". I would cite this exchange:
-
"At what cost, sister?" asked her cousin, arching a perfect eyebrow. Like her, Bai Zhilan appeared by every physical metric as a paragon of the White Serpent. Her white hair spilled all the way to the ground, stopping just short of touching the base earth to be carried by invisible wind. A single dark violet flower was its only adornment.
-
Bai Zhilan does not necessarily have to make the argument that any given Violet must support her, she just has to make an argument that it isn't wrong to sit back and allow things to play out. If Bai Suzhen is cast as one that isn't frugal, who creates their prosperity only through prodigious and incautious spending, it could be argued that Bai Zhilan would not necessarily take offense to a Violet being frugal in their support for her. Or perhaps that Bai Zhilan would find it wasteful to prosecute those that sat back and allowed conflict to progress, so long as they make themselves more valuable than the cost of revenge.
This sort of argument is not an argument that would occur to the average White Caste, as their job is always to spend the resources. They are not necessarily required to care for the opinions of their lessers, as Power Needs No Excuse. Yet Bai Zhilan, as a general, has found herself understanding her lessers more than Bai Suzhen seems to. Conservatism in Thousand Lakes seems to say that if the ruling White Caste reaches Eighth Realm that they must fall in line, and the arguments that Bai Zhilan showed us are all arguments that Bai Suzhen may be Prosperity, but at what cost does that Prosperity come?
The Bai as a whole are spirit bloods that focus on water, wood and darkness in general. Their heights as a culture were the times they were able to work with others to refine their strengths into even sharper fangs.
-
"One vial of powdered scale shavings, in exchange for five hundred sets of tailored gear crafted by the most skilled talisman maker of our age, and a further thousand sets of equipment made by her apprentices? It is an easy deal to make," Bai Suzhen replied, steepling her fingers in front of her face. "No, it is your sentimentality that I question Bai Zhilan. As if Grandmother Serpent, or Fabled Yao would disapprove of sharpening our fangs with every resource available when war is coming."
"Our ancestors would be shamed that you deem the Bai clan so weak as to require the aid of half-barbarous savages and their abomination of a queen to do so," Bai Zhilan said coldly. "But I see, as ever, that your brittle mind of steel is beyond reason. Know that your growing madness will not be unopposed."
-
Here it's suggested by Bai Suzhen that any Pride that would obstruct the path to more Power is merely Sentimentality which should be discarded. We know from
The Radiant Serpent sidestory that there was a time that the service of a XiaoBai had to be
earned by their potential Bai counterpart. If we assume that this is what happened between the original Eldest and Youngest Bai sisters, then we can assume that the Eldest
earned the service of the Youngest rather than gaining it simply by the Prideful Right Of Rule. "Power and Victory need no Excuses" sounds very much like a phrase that
wouldn't earn the service of the Youngest. Perhaps it's a phrase like "Blood is thicker than Water" that has had its original meaning reversed over time through omission of key words.
My point being that it makes sense for Bai Suzhen to underestimate the Pride of the other castes of Bai, seeing as the discarding of obstructive elements of Pride isn't part of the formative tale of their castes. Especially when combined with the idea that the other castes have less to have Pride in than the White Caste. In any case, Bai Zhilan seems to understand the Pride of the other Bai much better than Bai Suzhen. As is ever the case in Politics though, being able to be more popular and manage public opinion is no indication of the actual ability to govern and bring Prosperity.
This leads to the idea of a reformer White Caste necessarily needing to earn the service and approval of other Castes of Reformers, as a White Caste cannot possibly know or enforce effective reformation of other castes upon those other castes. Having the opportunity to understand and connect with two lower caste individuals outside of the prying eyes of the Thousand Lakes is an opportunity for Meizhen to reach an understanding more akin to her mother's understanding than Bai Suzhen's. Meizhen would thus have the opportunity to return to Thousand Lakes with not only her own White Caste status, but with the earned loyalty (and experiences working closely with) her XiaoBai, a Lao, and a Xia.
