The next day, Yun Ye rose very early. Xinyue attended to him as he finished breakfast, then he donned his armor, preparing to go to Chang’an. Since he was going into battle, he needed to look like a military general. The Yun Family held the title of Marquis through military merit, not civil service—wearing armor was only proper.
Xu Jingzong stood in the front courtyard of the Yun estate, staring blankly at the two remaining persimmons on the persimmon tree. Seeing Yun Ye emerge, he pointed at the persimmons on the tree and said, “Marquis Yun, why not pick all the persimmons from the tree?”
Seeing this fellow asking questions he clearly already knew the answer to, Yun Ye decided to play along: “Old Xu, this is to leave a bit of hope behind. Not picking them all clean is also a way of repaying this persimmon tree, leaving it some seeds so that after working hard all year, it doesn’t end up with nothing at all.”
Xu Jingzong nodded, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked to the base of the tree. Patting the trunk, he said with feeling, “Marquis Yun, you kindheartedly leave seeds for this tree, yet you don’t realize that fierce winds, severe cold, and heavy snow will press hard upon it. In the end, even the best of intentions will come to nothing.”
Yun Ye burst out laughing and patted the back of Xu Jingzong’s hand, saying, “Old Xu, I’ll forge my own path. Originally there were no roads in this world—it’s only when many people walk that a road forms. I have the confidence to blaze a broad highway. You needn’t worry about me. I’m not some persimmon tree; I’m a red maple from the Qinling Mountains—clearer when meeting snow, more vibrant after frost. What’s more, even if I were a persimmon tree, that wouldn’t be bad. Only persimmons that have been touched by frost become the sweetest delicacy.”
“Look after the Academy well, Old Xu. This time I don’t want the Academy to have even the slightest connection to my affairs. You’re a perceptive man. Those teachers have no problem educating students, but for the Academy to endure, Old Xu, that’s your responsibility. I know you’ve lived until now without truly persisting in anything, but Old Xu, please, for the sake of our shared struggles, don’t let the Academy be tainted. The Academy is mine, and it’s also yours.”
Xu Jingzong’s eyes seemed to redden slightly, yet his face remained full of smiles. His cheeks twitched twice, and he stretched out his hand toward Yun Ye, as if asking for something.
Yun Ye laughed until tears came out. He truly hadn’t misjudged this man—Xu Jingzong was indeed a principled person. From inside his robe, he pulled out a seal and a scroll of sheepskin, placing them heavily in Xu Jingzong’s hand.
These were the credentials for allocating the Academy’s funds and supplies. With these two items, Xu Jingzong could obtain a continuous stream of money and grain from the bank. Li Gang hadn’t thought to ask for these, Master Yuanzhang hadn’t thought of it, neither had Yushan or Lishi—they all simply believed Yun Ye would return safely.
Among this group, only Xu Jingzong was a rational person. Yun Ye’s plan to penetrate deep into Goguryeo wasn’t any secret in aristocratic circles. Should anything happen to Yun Ye, the Academy’s funds would decrease, leaving only the meager allocations from the imperial family and state treasury, insufficient to maintain this enormous institution’s operations. So Xu Jingzong had come specifically to persuade Yun Ye to preserve some spark of continuity. He’d deliberately used the persimmon tree to explain his absurd reasoning, hoping to make Yun Ye stay behind and not care about the slander from outside. Seeing that Yun Ye’s mind was made up and his persuasion ineffective, he immediately reached out for the seal and credentials without the slightest hesitation.
Having obtained what he came for, Xu Jingzong turned and left. After walking several steps, he turned his head and said to Yun Ye, “If you don’t return, I’ll keep these two items safe until I die.”
Yun Ye smiled and nodded, no longer paying Xu Jingzong any mind. He mounted his horse and, leading a group of personal guards, headed straight for the naval camp. Xu Jingzong watched Yun Ye’s figure disappear at the foot of the mountain and muttered to himself, “Xu Jingzong, oh Xu Jingzong, you’ve accepted a red-hot coal. Could it be that today your head was kicked by a donkey?”
The naval camp was now bustling with activity, with black smoke rising everywhere. The work of distilling petroleum continued. The sealing conditions of the containers weren’t good, making it quite dangerous—seven men had already been burned by leaked oil vapors. Fortunately, Yun Ye later changed the distillation environment, separating the open flames from the distillation pots, which improved things somewhat.
“Commander, these past days we’ve produced two thousand jars of the finest first-distillation oil, over three thousand four hundred jars of second-distillation oil, and over five thousand jars of third-distillation oil. This fierce fire oil is now sufficient. Please instruct us on the next steps, Commander.”
“Old Lai, mix the first-distillation oil with petroleum at a ratio of ten to one—ten parts first-distillation oil to one part petroleum—seal it well and set it aside for use. Mix the third-distillation oil with petroleum at a ratio of ten to three and seal it for storage. As for the second-distillation oil, let the merchant caravans take it to sell in the markets as lamp oil. We need to recoup some costs. We can’t expect several merchant houses to lose money along with us just to retrieve those remains—that wouldn’t be the proper way to conduct ourselves.”
“Commander, the fleet will return in half a month, and we still don’t have much fire oil. Why sell it? If those merchants make trouble, let them come find me, Old Lai. My surname is Lai anyway—being a scoundrel once more won’t hurt.”
“Lai Chuanfeng, do less of this disgraceful behavior in the future. When we cooperate with others, no matter how close the relationship, we must settle accounts clearly even between brothers. We can’t shortchange them on their due profits, otherwise no one will cooperate with us in the future, and the brothers’ livelihoods will suffer. It’s not worth it.”
Watching Lai Chuanfeng dejectedly go find the merchant steward, Yun Ye shook his head. They still looked down on merchants. If the state could afford to bear all military expenses, Yun Ye naturally wouldn’t engage in such schemes. The money and grain allocated to the navy by the state was only ever enough to fill stomachs, and even then they could only eat two meals a day. The Lingnan Navy’s practice of eating three meals a day had already been severely reprimanded by the Ministry of War, which considered it detrimental to military morale.
Yun Ye didn’t care about any of that. His soldiers had discovered three types of oil during the refining process, which looked very similar to distilling alcohol. Taking the kerosene out to sell would surely receive positive reviews. Small glass bottles were no longer rare items in Chang’an.
He’d heard that some merchant caravans from the Western Regions had brought large quantities of semi-flat, not-quite-round glass beads, planning to sell them in the Great Tang as they always had, expecting to make a fortune. Who knew they’d be scorned by all the people of Chang’an and couldn’t sell any at all. Left without means of livelihood, they ultimately had no choice but to sell themselves into servitude, becoming servants in the estates of Chang’an’s nobility to avoid starving to death.
People always go through a process of understanding. Glass, which had once been worth a fortune, had now fallen to a status inferior to porcelain bowls—this was all thanks to Empress Zhangsun’s vigorous promotion behind the scenes.
Those who had spent great sums buying glass but hadn’t accepted Empress Zhangsun’s buyback offer now realized that the Empress had indeed been well-intentioned at the time, not wanting to profit from her own subjects. Glass was specifically meant to swindle those barbarians. Looking at the glass items they’d bought at such high prices, they felt a strong urge to smash them.
Li Tai now looked rather like a ghost, his complexion pale with a grayish tinge—the result of not seeing the sun for a very long time. That he hadn’t grown green mold all over his body was already something of a miracle. According to him, he’d been staying underground this whole time without coming out, not even knowing what day it was. If Xiao Cangsheng hadn’t mentioned Yun Ye’s plan to go to Goguryeo to steal back remains, he wouldn’t have been prepared to crawl out from underground.
He came to Yun Ye’s distillation pot, sniffed the oil vapors being released, and said to Yun Ye, “Smells good. I like it.”
This statement suited Yun Ye’s taste perfectly. He himself enjoyed the smell of burned gasoline, but unexpectedly Li Tai actually liked the smell of unburned gasoline. What a fine habit—truly a case of the student surpassing the master.
“I never understood why a wastrel like you would lead over ten thousand soldiers into danger. However, you needn’t explain to me—I don’t want to know the reason. It’s nothing more than those nauseating matters of profit. For a clever person like you to throw yourself into mortal peril is truly unwise. I was going to say you’re not as smart as me, but seeing that you’ve actually made something of boiling petroleum, I’ll reluctantly admit you’re somewhat cleverer than me.”
Leaning against the frame and squinting while sunbathing, Li Tai spoke lazily to Yun Ye. These days he paid no attention to court affairs, contentedly preparing to become a vampire with imperial blood in his cellar, and taking pride in it.
“To get you some gunpowder for protection, the Crown Prince and I have had terrible luck. If Father Emperor hadn’t seen that my health has been poor lately, I’d probably be in the Imperial Clan Court being punished just like my elder brother right now. Originally I prepared three cartloads for you, but the two of us couldn’t hide it from my father—we only managed to get one cartload out. Use it sparingly. It’s all the most powerful granular black powder, personally prepared by me.”
“As for Cheng Chumo and Li Huairen, you don’t need to see them. Their backsides are probably split into eight pieces by now. Two idiots—each pulling a cart of gunpowder and still getting caught, utterly useless. My father truly flew into a rage this time. He guards the gunpowder very strictly—he knows if even a little goes missing. This one cart was from my laboratory’s stock, never entered into the accounts. Don’t speak, and absolutely don’t say you can make it yourself. Me giving it to you and you making it yourself are two different concepts. Since you already said you wouldn’t make this stuff anymore, it’s better to keep your promise. At most I’ll just get a beating—no big deal.”
Li Tai hadn’t had a proper conversation with anyone in a long time. Finding a suitable conversation partner, he immediately became voluble. Yun Ye tried to interject several times but had no opportunity.
“How about it? Very moved, aren’t you? Your brothers are all outstanding. No one betrayed you. Even pressured like that by my father, the Crown Prince still insisted it was entirely his own idea and had nothing whatsoever to do with you. It enraged my father so much he was beside himself. If my mother hadn’t spoken up for you, do you think a caning could make this matter go away? All right, now you can speak.”
Yun Ye trembled with anger. Three idiots—or perhaps four idiots. Why hadn’t they informed him before doing this? Otherwise they wouldn’t have caused such a huge mess.
Though angry, his heart felt sour and he wanted to cry. They hadn’t notified him because they didn’t want him to suffer along with them. One was the Crown Prince, two were sons of meritorious officials—they dared to act so recklessly precisely because of these identities. If it had been anyone else, Li Er would have long since ordered them torn limb from limb.
He tilted his head back to look at the sky, speechless. Li Tai continued, “Don’t tilt your head back to look at the sky. Tears, once they flow out, you can’t make them seep back in. I’ve tried—it’s useless.”