Ever since two medical officers arrived in Shuofang City, subtle changes had begun to appear throughout the city. An official named Xu Jingzong managed the cleanliness of the entire city. His sole duty was to ensure that Shuofang City had no excess garbage. He established dozens of latrines, and if anyone was caught relieving themselves in public, their only punishment was to clean all the latrines until the next offender was caught.
Dozens of water wells had also been added throughout Shuofang City, making bathing a hot topic of conversation throughout the entire city. If you ran around the city disheveled and filthy, burly soldiers would immediately give you a bath. Their only tools were several bamboo brushes. After the person being bathed let out pig-like shrieks of misery, they would certainly swear never to let those brutes give them a bath again for the rest of their lives.
Daoist Sun had prepared some medicinal powder that was dissolved in water and splashed throughout the entire city. The city’s residents then discovered that the previously dense swarms of flies had greatly diminished. As for how many other creatures had died, that naturally wasn’t within Daoist Sun’s consideration.
Ever since Yun Ye told him that the origins of plague were inseparably connected to flies, mosquitoes, and rats, the old Daoist had made exterminating all the world’s flies, mosquitoes, and rats his life’s work. At first, people didn’t understand why the old Daoist was so obsessed, but after hearing him recount his tragic family history, they learned that Old Sun’s relatives had died one by one in a terrible plague. The reason he wanted to come to Shuofang was to face the deepest fear in his heart.
Buddhist scriptures say that one grain of sand contains one world, and one drop of water contains a hundred thousand lives. Whether the Buddha had witnessed this personally or deduced it through some strange theory was unknown, but in any case, these two statements were entirely correct. Yun Ye told Old Sun that if he could find sufficiently pure crystal, he could try to create a tool capable of seeing extremely tiny objects. With the help of this tool, he would quickly understand what actually caused plagues.
Thus Old Sun acquired another hobby: collecting crystals, especially colorless transparent crystals.
Habits are cultivated. Though present-day Shuofang City remained dilapidated as before, great changes had occurred among the city’s residents. Even if someone wore tattered clothing, no one would mock them. As long as they were clean, they could walk the streets with their head held high, and incidentally ridicule the dirty people who were refused entry to the city.
The herdsmen near Shuofang City were quite wealthy. Thanks to the great army’s blessing, they no longer had problems selling their cattle and sheep, nor did they need to slaughter weak cattle and sheep before winter arrived and abandon them in the wilderness. The animals lacked the ability to survive the long winter, and rather than consume fodder, it was better to kill them. Each culling left scars on their hearts.
Now they weren’t allowed to enter the city. Some Han herdsmen asked the reason and were told: “You’re too dirty and will spread disease.”
To prevent the great army from launching a surprise attack on Xiangcheng from Shuofang, the Turks had thrown the corpses of cattle and sheep that had died of disease into water sources along the route, hoping to use this old Xiongnu tactic to block the army’s conquest. Xie Li’s thinking was rather simplistic. He didn’t know that under the assault of the harsh cold of the northern winter, viruses had no effect whatsoever. Moreover, no one wanted to use water sources in winter because water sources were everywhere. The cold winds of August brought not only cold but also another source of water: snow.
He Shao now smiled so broadly his mouth wouldn’t close. He hadn’t expected cattle and sheep on the grasslands to be so cheap, especially with winter approaching. If you traded one bolt of hemp cloth for a cow in Chang’an, the authorities would immediately intervene. Not only would they confiscate your cow, but you wouldn’t get that bolt of cloth back either. You’d be reviled by all of Chang’an and unable to hold your head up for the rest of your life, bringing bad luck to three generations of descendants.
Here it didn’t matter. The fellow who had earlier traded for one cow with a bolt of cloth had already been beaten three times. The current going rate was one bolt of cloth for three cows. The herdsmen looked at He Shao as if he were a fool, while He Shao looked at the herdsmen as if they were suckers. Each got what they needed.
Never mind the beef—the cowhides alone were enough to make He Shao laugh in his sleep. Five hundred strings worth of hemp cloth had been exchanged for so many cattle and sheep! What a pity they couldn’t be transported back, otherwise this would cause a sensation in Chang’an City. He hired fifty people from among the Han herdsmen specifically to slaughter cattle and sheep. They slaughtered from sunrise to sunset every day without stopping. Large chunks of beef were smoked over woodpiles, then coated with thick layers of salt and left for the grassland winds to dry. This was the best military rations. The beef didn’t need to be cooked—eating it raw was an excellent delicacy. Only Yun Ye knew that Genghis Khan’s cavalry had relied on this, along with mare’s milk from warhorses, to campaign far and wide for thousands of miles without needing much baggage, fighting ceaselessly.
Han people weren’t accustomed to eating beef and mutton every day, so Yun Ye ground tea leaves into powder and mixed them into homemade cakes as a leisure food.
Cheng Chumo squatted on a chair eating hotpot mutton with Yun Ye. The fat sheep of autumn were the most delicious. The two had already finished off a sheep’s leg. After taking a drink of wine, Cheng Chumo wiped his mouth and asked Yun Ye: “Ye’zi, why hand such a good business over to outsiders? Couldn’t we brothers do it ourselves?”
“Just eat. You just focus on fighting your battles well. The rest isn’t for you to worry about. Getting home in one piece is what matters. Are you really concerned about a few coins? When we left, Auntie instructed me that I must take good care of you and not let anything happen to you. If you have bad luck, my fate won’t be any better than yours.”
“I just can’t stand seeing Fat He show off in front of me, constantly going on about ‘one bolt of cloth for three cows.’ It’s annoying.”
“Look clearly—this is military rations. Once those old gentlemen think it’s good, they’ll extend it to the entire army. The compressed biscuit business has been monopolized by our three families. Do you think His Majesty will still allow us to handle the meat as well? In Chang’an, I owed Old He a huge favor. Using this business to repay it is perfect—making waste useful.”
Taking only a third of the benefits was a principle Yun Ye had long understood. One person couldn’t monopolize all the benefits under heaven. Eating alone would bring retribution—Yun Ye had firsthand experience with this. At his workplace, there was a type of benefit called markup. When you bought things for the company, because of bulk purchases, the price was often lower than market value. This price difference naturally became the purchasing agent’s benefit fee. The company didn’t investigate, and merchants were happy. The company’s previous senior purchasing agent always brought back small gifts for colleagues after each purchase—sometimes water cups, sometimes a few pounds of hairtail fish—never ceasing. Everyone was happy and harmonious.
Later they changed purchasing agents. This fellow always kept to himself. As a result, one time someone exposed this secret that everyone had tacitly understood. So this purchasing agent became notorious in the company, had to repay quite a bit of money, and had no choice but to transfer to another unit. He couldn’t establish himself at the new unit either. By the time Yun Ye came to the Tang Dynasty, he was still the lowest-level clerk in the office—his entire life ruined by eating alone.
Yun Ye’s current status naturally couldn’t be compared with his later life’s self, but the principle was universal, applicable to all social strata.
Cheng Chumo’s strength lay in warfare. The Cheng, Niu, and Yun families would still need to rely on him to establish themselves in the military in the future, so Old Cheng had high expectations for him. Generally, he wasn’t allowed to get involved in miscellaneous household affairs—firstly to let him concentrate on combat, and secondly so that in unlucky times, a spark could be preserved to plan for the future.
Ever since Xue Wanche drank the Yun family’s secret reserve, he looked down on other wines, saying they were all water. According to him, if he didn’t drink a couple of sips every day, his whole body felt uncomfortable. This ailment showed signs of spreading throughout Shuofang City, especially among high-ranking military officers. Each one was seriously afflicted. All the wine subsequently transported from home had been given to these gentlemen to treat their alcohol addiction, causing Cheng Chumo to frequently complain.
In the Tartar sky, snow flies even in August! In Guanzhong, people were still wearing unlined garments, but in Shuofang they had already started wearing fur robes. The nights were bitterly cold. He Shao, while shivering, inspected the sausages piled throughout the room. The previous batch had already been seized by Old Niu, who had also stored a full warehouse of the Yun family’s biscuits, saying it was good to be prepared for any contingency.
This batch was prepared for Chai Shao. The Duke had prepared the money early—it was a payment document. He Shao only needed to return to Chang’an and collect it from the Ministry of Revenue—convenient and quick. After all, money had little use in Shuofang. An ingot of silver wasn’t as useful as a bolt of hemp cloth, and couldn’t even match an iron pot. If you had young women from Goguryeo on hand, the herdsmen would accept them too. They just didn’t recognize money.