From beginning to end, no wild geese had been seen in the sky. The southern migration of northern geese was just a legend after all—Longyou was ultimately a desolate and remote place. Three li of inner city, seven li of outer wall—this was the truest portrayal of Lanzhou City. The entire city was built against the mountain. The walls were no more than twelve chi high and less than six chi thick, rammed from yellow earth. The merlons on the parapet walls were jagged and gap-toothed like an old person’s sunken mouth. The Tang character flag planted on the city gate also drooped listlessly. Aside from the occasional soldiers patrolling on the walls, the entire city was as quiet as a dead city. With winter approaching, this should have been a bustling trading season, yet it was about to become a ghost realm.
Yun Ye reined in his horse. The big blue horse reluctantly stopped in its tracks. Behind him, Cheng Chumo, Zhangsun Chong, and Li Huairen had become chatterboxes. They spoke just for the sake of speaking—as for what they were saying, probably even they themselves didn’t know. This was an aftereffect of being released from solitary confinement.
Thinking about the scene when the three were released, Yun Ye found it amusing. Zhangsun Chong had burst into loud crying, holding onto Li Chengqian and refusing to let go, smearing snot and tears all over His Highness the Crown Prince of the Great Tang. It was hard to blame him for this, so they could only let Zhangsun Chong hold on.
Iron man Li Huairen was like a puddle of mud, softly carried out by the jailers. His eyes were vacant, his lips parched and dry, and his throat emitted strange wailing sounds.
Cheng Chumo performed best of the three, putting on an air of regarding no one as worthy. After fully despising the previous two, he said to the military law officer: “What’s the big deal? This young master slept for four days inside. My muscles and bones got so relaxed from sleep, I was just about to get up and practice a couple boxing sets to refresh myself when I was chased out. Little bug, you’re really not being manly enough.”
Although his words were bold, his weak legs exposed the fear in his heart. The military law officer was also an amusing person and replied: “Captain Cheng is truly a model for us all. Four days of confinement and still not losing your heroic spirit—iron man! The General has ordered that if anyone is dissatisfied, they can be confined for another four days.”
Hearing the words “another four days,” Cheng Chumo plopped down on the ground and shouted for help at the top of his lungs. The passing soldiers all looked sideways. These three iron men who wouldn’t even furrow their brows when receiving military rod beatings had turned into mush after just four days of confinement. No one knew what was in that bitter prison that could terrify people to such an extent. From then on, the soldiers of the Left Military Guard would rather take military rod beatings than choose solitary confinement.
Three days—these three took three full days to recover. According to Zhangsun Chong, that prison was simply not meant for humans. The low walls felt like they would press down in the next moment and bury you. You could only hear the sound of your own breathing, your own heartbeat. That group of jailers wouldn’t say a word—no matter how much you asked, they wouldn’t speak. Each day they only brought food and water, delivered a new chamber pot and collected the used one. There were no other sounds. Even a fart would have been good—at least it would be a sound!
Li Huairen grabbed Yun Ye’s hand and wouldn’t let go, thanking him repeatedly for stopping him those days ago, not letting the Bull Demon King confine him. Now thinking about it, his hair stood on end. If he had been confined that time, he probably wouldn’t have come out alive. This time at least there were brothers for company, which made him feel more secure just thinking about it, so he endured the four days—otherwise, he couldn’t have lasted even two days.
Cheng Chumo also had lingering fears. The four brothers swore never to enter the confinement room again, while Li Chengqian planned to also implement the confinement system in the Crown Prince’s Six Guards. All those who had been confined last time now had psychological trauma.
General Cheng was such a good person! Knowing the brothers had suffered, he specially dispatched Yun Ye, Cheng Chumo, Zhangsun Chong, and Li Huairen to Lanzhou City to hand over salt field matters with the county magistrate. After all, this salt field was established by the army. Now that it was being transferred to local hands, you couldn’t just take it for nothing—you should at least provide some compensation.
A lucrative position, an extremely lucrative position! The army didn’t lack those broken-down items anyway—just some cattle, horses, stone mills, wooden buckets, and such. Dispatching them wasn’t to expect to recover much money or silk. It was just to give some compensation considering the four had suffered. Ultimately, the face of Zhangsun Wuji and Li Xiaogong also had to be considered.
The personal guards entered the city to report while they waited outside the city. Without orders, they could not enter the city. Even Cheng Yaojin didn’t dare violate this, let alone four juniors.
After a short while, the personal guard came back with an ox cart creaking along. Before the four could dismount, a chubby figure struggled down from the ox cart with difficulty. Green official robes wrapped tightly around him, constricting him like a silkworm. A middle-aged man with a goatee wearing a scholar’s robe supported the fat man, looking quite exhausted.
Fat he was, but he didn’t lack in etiquette. Straightening his cap and robes, he bowed respectfully: “This subordinate official Liu Fulu pays respects to the four generals. The generals have come from afar, and this subordinate official failed to welcome you properly. Please forgive me, please forgive me.”
Normally, these three wouldn’t give this minor seventh-rank county magistrate a proper look, but times were different now. The brothers had been dispatched with official business, so naturally they wouldn’t be arrogant.
Yun Ye jumped down from his horse to help up the fat county magistrate, saying cheerfully: “Magistrate Liu is too polite. This official, Viscount of Ping’an County Yun Ye, has been ordered by General Cheng of the Left Military Guard to specially come discuss matters of the Yellow River salt field with you, sir. Please take good care of us.”
Yun Ye deeply understood that the King of Hell was easy to meet but minor devils were hard to deal with. These grassroots minor officials were most difficult to handle. In his previous life, processing one document required running to over a dozen departments—you stamp it, I stamp it, everyone stamps it. In other words, benefits had to be shared by all. The Tang Dynasty was probably no exception, so he didn’t dare be careless with him.
He took out an official document from his bosom and handed it to County Magistrate Liu. However, this fellow didn’t even look at it before stuffing it in his bosom. His fat face smiled until his features bunched up like a bun: “Of course, of course! This subordinate official naturally obeys the General’s orders. Now that the day has grown late, this humble official has prepared a modest meal and wine to wash away the dust for the young generals.”
Yun Ye looked up at the sun that had risen not long ago and felt somewhat strange—the day had grown late already? Zhangsun Chong picked up the conversation: “Hmph, although we are military men bound by military orders and cannot enter the city without cause, since the day has grown late, we’ll reluctantly enter the city to rest for a moment.”
Damn it, County Magistrate Liu was finding an excuse for the brothers to enter the city! Fortunately, Zhangsun Chong was well-versed in such matters and seized the opportunity. Under the repeated invitations of the county magistrate and his servant, the group reluctantly entered Lanzhou City.
The dilapidated exterior couldn’t hide the inner prosperity. Passing through the outer wall, they soon reached the inner city. No wonder they hadn’t seen anyone—all the people were gathered in the inner city. Bundles of salt were marked with official salt stamps, loaded onto ox carts, and rolled out the west gate toward the frontier in an endless stream. The Left Military Guard camp was to the east. No one had the courage to visit the military camp for no reason—if you accidentally got labeled a spy, that would be tragic. The local government had probably also ordered the common people not to disturb the army.
Yun Ye hadn’t expected that the salt-making method he had casually taught would actually form an industry in Lanzhou. He saw an endless stream of ox carts fully loaded with table salt boiled at the salt field entering from the north gate. Laborers carrying bundles, accountants weighing goods, merchants in coarse cloth and hemp clothing yet extremely bold in manner, mixed with women’s light laughter, children’s wailing, peddlers’ loud hawking—all formed a vivid marketplace scene.
A barbarian man with a face full of red whiskers, brown eyes, and a white cloth wrapped around his head, possibly seeing that Yun Ye and the others had extraordinary bearing, came forward to peddle the colorful precious stones from the Western Regions in his hands. Seeing that the crowd was unmoved, he pulled over a veiled barbarian woman and patted her plump buttocks, showing off to the men how voluptuous her figure was.