“To get rich, first build roads.” Yun Ye decided to enshrine this saying as a classic motto for his life’s journey.

Who would have thought that the mighty Yangtze River concealed dangers everywhere? There was no towering Three Gorges Dam here, only something called the Yanzhi Heap. Though the name sounded pleasant, it was actually a demon that devoured people without leaving bones. For countless years, no one knew how many boat families had perished beneath this hidden reef—ships destroyed, lives lost, corpses completely vanished. If one attempted to lower the golden nanmu logs from there, they would be smashed into several pieces by those reefs, leaving only sections of broken wood with no further use.

“Young man, unless you ride on top of it yourself and keep the log maintaining a vertical direction the whole time, then you could lower the logs.” After Li Xiaogong finished speaking, he even teased Yun Ye.

“What’s so difficult about keeping a log vertical? And I wouldn’t even need to ride on it myself,” Yun Ye replied irritably. To his surprise, Li Xiaogong asked seriously, “What’s your plan?”

“Old sir, you’ve shot arrows your whole life—don’t you understand this principle? When have you ever seen an arrow tumbling forward as it flies? All you need to do is install tail fins at the rear of the log. This junior guarantees the log will fly straight forward instead of turning sideways and crashing into that damned reef.”

Li Xiaogong grabbed Yun Ye’s head and studied it carefully for a while, then said to Xiao Yu, “People always say so-and-so is matchlessly ingenious, and this old man always thought it was nonsense. Who would have thought I’d actually witness it here? Brother Shiwen, what do you say?”

Xiao Yu laughed heartily and said, “If he can solve my problem, this old man will acknowledge him. Young man, do you know that golden nanmu wood won’t float on water? It can only suspend in the middle of the water. Young man, if it won’t float up, how will you tie it into a raft?”

Hearing this, Li Xiaogong began laughing heartily again. He called for a servant to bring over a basin of water, picked up a golden nanmu brush rest from the desk, and casually tossed it into the basin. Sure enough, the brush rest stopped in the middle of the water, neither sinking down nor floating up.

Seeing this scene, Cheng Chumo was dumbstruck, his mouth hanging wide open, drool flowing down without him realizing it.

Li Xiaogong and Xiao Yu, these two unscrupulous old men, began clutching their stomachs with laughter again, their schadenfreude extremely obvious.

Yun Ye took several writing brushes from the desk, removed the brush heads, found some thin string, and tied the bamboo tubes to the brush rest. Then he threw it into the water again. This time the brush rest floated steadily on the water’s surface and would no longer sink.

The two old men stopped laughing too abruptly—they nearly choked, rolling their eyes white.

Cheng Chumo clapped his hands and shouted with childlike joy, “It floated up! It floated up! The two old men are out of tricks!”

Before his words finished, his own head received a slap and his rear received a big kick. The two old men, embarrassed and angry, couldn’t win the argument, so they began wielding their elder authority.

“Uncle Li, Uncle Xiao, this junior plans to transport the golden nanmu logs out during the August high water season of the Yangtze River—one thousand logs. At that time, the river water will completely submerge the reefs, giving me half a year, which should be more than enough time for this junior to manage.”

“This old man still has some old comrades who followed me through southern and northern campaigns. I can lend them to you, but their wages must be generous. If this old man hears rumors that you’ve treated them poorly, this old man will march up to Yushan to settle accounts with you.”

Yun Ye naturally agreed wholeheartedly. Those old soldiers would essentially be risking their lives, so the Yun Family would naturally not shortchange them.

“Old Li, you and I brothers are already half-buried in the yellow earth. If we don’t seize this opportunity to get ourselves coffins, what are we waiting for?” Hearing there would be a thousand nanmu logs, Xiao Yu couldn’t restrain himself and urged Li Xiaogong to take advantage of the opportunity for benefits.

Li Xiaogong waved his hand at Xiao Yu saying, “This young man already carries enough debts on his back. We two brothers won’t join in this commotion. After his affairs are finished, if we want golden nanmu wood, we’ll just have the old soldiers make another trip. Why join in this fuss?”

Xiao Yu smiled at Yun Ye and said, “This old man was too greedy. Young man, you’re not allowed to go out and ruin this old man’s reputation.”

One hundred veteran soldiers—this was the naval force Li Xiaogong promised. With them, Yun Ye believed everything else wouldn’t be a problem. There was plenty of nanmu near Baidi City, but the terrain was too treacherous with no way to transport it out. The local people guarded their money bags while begging for food everywhere. Yun Ye believed that with such a large income, the officials and common people there would fare much better.

As for whether this would set a terrible precedent for future generations, leading to the disappearance of golden nanmu from Sichuan, this wasn’t something Yun Ye could consider. Rather than having Ming Dynasty emperors use it to build imperial tombs in the future, better to now build the world’s most magnificent palace in splendor and glory.

Yun Ye entrusted the entire palace construction to Gongshu Mu. The Gongshu clan was the unrivaled choice for this field. When Old Gongshu learned this news, he was so moved that tears streamed down his aged face. He immediately brought out Luban’s memorial tablet for the whole family to worship, requesting Yun Ye and Li Gang to observe the ceremony.

Planes, saws, chalk lines, and other carpentry tools were placed on the offering table. There were no three-animal sacrifices for respect, nor curling incense smoke. The Gongshu descendants prayed sincerely. After Gongshu Mu finished reading the prayer text, he shouted “Begin work!” and stepped forward to grab the saw, sawing a notch in the pre-prepared lumber. Gongshu Jia used the plane to shave off a long strip of wood shavings, presenting the shavings to the offering table. Gongshu Mu officially began distributing the design plans.

The scale model—this was the first step the Gongshu family needed to complete. Only three elders were qualified to work on it personally. Even Gongshu Jia could only assist. The other Gongshu family members weren’t idle either. Young wives were all using small knives to whittle countless rafters, and elderly women in the household began using their embroidery skills to make various doors and windows, with even the carved flowers on the doors and windows clearly distinguishable.

Leaving matters to professionals—this was a maxim of success philosophy. The Gongshu family was undoubtedly the most outstanding professionals in this trade.

Pei Ying was now passionate about dangerous work, and the more dangerous it was, the more delighted he became. Hearing that transporting lumber was considered the most fearsome task, he jumped up and down wanting to go, saying the Pei Family’s influence in Sichuan was formidable, and such convenience would be wasted if not used.

“Don’t seek death. Come back alive. You’re only seventeen years old. The days ahead are long. We still have much sweetness we haven’t enjoyed. Dying now would be too wasteful. Can’t you survive without the family clan? I don’t believe it!”

Facing Yun Ye’s encouragement, Pei Ying laughed heartily and said, “Brother Yun, I currently belong to the Academy, not some young master of a family. This life was given to me by the Academy. Without the Academy taking me in, I would have long been made into a candle and placed together with Luzhu in the Dou Family’s mourning hall.”

“Stop talking nonsense. At least your mother still worries about you. Study well, work well, climb up well, and show them.” Yun Ye could only bring out his trump card. Everyone had a mother, and maternal love was the greatest—at least that wasn’t wrong.

But it was wrong in Pei Ying’s case. Pei Ying’s face contorted with laughter: “Brother Yun, I clung to the family gate refusing to leave. I knew that once I left, I would die. Do you know who pushed me out? That’s right, it was my mother, my own mother! To drive me out, she clawed four bloody marks on my hand. Brother Yun, what do you think of this kind of maternal love?”

This left Yun Ye completely speechless. Damn, wasn’t this too heartless? What kind of mother could do such a thing?

“Listen here, you bastard. Even if everyone in this world is heartless toward you, you still can’t abandon yourself. The more it’s like this, the more you must take care of yourself. They’re bastards, but we’re not. Go find a kind woman to marry, have children yourself, love your wife and children well. Before long, you’ll discover how laughable your desire for death is.”

“Brother Yun, don’t deceive me. I’ve been deceived enough and am afraid of it. As long as there’s such a woman, I’d even marry into her family.”

“If you don’t insist on considerations like matching family status and such, there should be quite a few such women. Anyway, there are too few such women in noble families. Look carefully for yourself. When you find one, tell me, and I’ll host a celebration banquet for you both.”

“Brother Yun, in these times even one’s own mother can’t be relied upon. It seems this younger brother can only find a good woman on his own.”

Pei Ying still went to transport lumber in the end, leading over a hundred people heading toward Sichuan. He also carried letters from Yushan, Xinyue, Zhao Yanling, and the others. Pei Ying wanted to use physical pain to alleviate his mental distress. Hopefully he would succeed.

Yun Ye planned to fire bricks in the city. His plan required connecting the outer river with the inner river to make it a complete water transport system. This would require cutting through three streets and then building bridges over them, which required court approval.

Yun Ye entered the palace carrying several large boxes of blueprints. After all, the general construction commander was Empress Zhangsun. For some reason, Li Er was turning a blind eye to this matter this time. Could it be that shame prevented him from facing Yun Ye?

As soon as this thought arose, Yun Ye spat several times in succession. Expecting Li Er to have such legendary sentiments was harder than a sow climbing a tree.

“Why must the streets be cut through?” Zhangsun clearly couldn’t understand the construction plans Yun Ye had drawn, yet she pretended to point at the city walls on the blueprint and ask.

“Because this subject only has thirty thousand strings of cash and must budget carefully. The excavated earth will be fired into bricks. The excess earth will be used to raise the foundation of the new palace. The dug trenches will connect with the outer river, forming a water network. This way, transporting building materials will save much copper cash and manpower.”

Reciting mechanically, Yun Ye’s voice had no fluctuations, using a single tone to explain to Zhangsun.

“You’re very dissatisfied with this Empress?” Zhangsun’s voice unconsciously took on the majesty unique to an empress.

This was right. Official business should be handled officially. Building personal connections with Zhangsun brought more loss than gain. What Yun Ye feared most was emotional manipulation. As for matters of business, he never cared. In this world, there were basically no people more knowledgeable and experienced than him.

“How would this subject dare? At Your Majesty’s single command, this subject began running himself ragged. Several old dukes took pity on this subject and all contributed their household money for this junior to spend. This subject must use every coin on the cutting edge, only then not disappointing the expectations of these several elders.”

“No need to make yourself sound so pitiful. You’ve been by this Empress’s side these past years. What kind of person you are, does this Empress not know? Although I don’t know what tricks you have, this Empress can assert right now that if the new palace isn’t assigned to you, not a single official in the entire Ministry of Works will have the face to remain in that position. Little Ye, why do you need so much money? What you want to build isn’t an academy—it’s a second Chang’an City. With such enormous expenditure, after you take the money to build the academy, what will the nation do? Money is finite. The more you use, the less the court has. For every extra classroom you build, the court might build one less city. Which is more important—are you so clever you don’t understand?”

Zhangsun had already begun speaking in gentle tones. What could Yun Ye do? This was how they viewed money. Coming to this era, Yun Ye felt both excited and somewhat sorrowful.