Li Jingheng awkwardly showed Yun Ye a smile uglier than crying, then buried his head back in the cushion, looking as if he didn’t plan to show his face again.
At different periods in life, one has different friends. Some can accompany you to the end, while others drop out halfway—like Li Jingheng. He now had no way to mix with his former brothers like Yun Ye, Cheng Chumo, and Li Huairen anymore. His status wasn’t poor—eldest legitimate grandson of the Prince Dongping’s estate—but the things he did always invited contempt. It wasn’t that there were no lustful men among the wastrels, but those like Li Jingheng who constantly bullied servant girls and maids were quite rare.
Who knew what he’d done wrong this time? It was probably the same sort of thing. He didn’t have the guts to commit other offenses. Li Daozong, a hero his whole life, never expected to have such a son—truly losing all face.
Sitting beside Li Chengqian, Yun Ye nudged him with his shoulder and pointed at the two being beaten: “How about it? Watching to see how you’ll be beaten in a moment? You’re the Crown Prince—you won’t get this treatment, will you? Last time we both got beaten, nothing happened to you while my backside was beaten into a bloody mess. This time at most Chumo and Huairen will have some bad luck. Those two get beaten regularly—it’s nothing serious.”
“Ye Zi, I’m sorry. Your brother can’t help you anymore. Getting beaten is a small matter, but your situation is life-threatening. Chumo and Huairen wanted to go with you and begged my father for a long time, but couldn’t get permission. You going alone really makes people uneasy.”
“Who says I’m going alone? I still have thirteen thousand soldiers under my command. Don’t worry needlessly. I’ll definitely complete the mission and make a fortune on the side. When I return, I’ll count you all in for a share.” As he was speaking, he saw two old eunuchs with faces full of muscle drag Li Jingheng out and toss him outside like a dead dog, with no one even bothering to attend to him.
Li Chengqian stood up to prostrate himself on the bench. The old eunuch had already prepared to beat him, seemingly without any preferential treatment. Cheng Chumo came over with a grimace, blocking Li Chengqian’s way: “I’ll go first, wear down his strength first. Huairen next, and you last. You’re the weakest of us three.” All three were in poor spirits, dejected that they hadn’t accomplished their task, speaking very little.
“All right, none of you need to be beaten. His Majesty has pardoned you. Let’s go—I’ll help you recover from the shock.” Yun Ye said irritably to the three dejected men.
“Taking a beating would actually be more comfortable. Having botched the job, your days in Liaodong won’t be good. It’s your older brothers who are useless, couldn’t even handle one small task.” Cheng Chumo’s pent-up frustration suddenly erupted. With one kick, he sent the bench flying upside down. He felt very uncomfortable about Yun Ye being forced to go to Liaodong.
If it were him, he’d be overjoyed—the more dangerous, the more to his taste. But Yun Ye was different. He always hid behind the great army, reading the situation. Forget about actually killing enemies with real weapons—he hadn’t even witnessed many killing scenes.
“Who says I can’t manage without that stuff? You fight battles with strength, I fight battles with brains. Tell me, are people who rely on strength more formidable, or people who rely on brains?”
“What’s there to compare? There’s no comparison between defeating a hundred men and defeating ten thousand. I’m one who can defeat a hundred. You’re not one who can defeat ten thousand. In the court, there are only three who count as able to defeat ten thousand. No matter how you calculate, you’re not among them.” Li Huairen said irritably to Yun Ye.
“Then tell me, who’s more formidable—a child with a cocked and loaded crossbow, or an unarmed big man? The premise being that this child is very skilled with the crossbow and has good accuracy.”
“Of course the child is stronger. We went to get you gunpowder to arm you, this little child. Only this way could you barely compete with those big men. Who knew we wouldn’t succeed.”
“Qing Que still got me one cartload. Having some is better than having none. Besides, brothers, I have things even more formidable than gunpowder. Gunpowder is nothing—one piss can extinguish it. I don’t think much of it, that’s why I gave it to His Majesty. We have better stuff.” Yun Ye didn’t plan to reveal how Li Er had schemed against the brothers. First, such words would hurt people; second, it would add to their troubles and deal a nearly destructive blow to their self-confidence. Among family brothers, it was better to let such trivial matters rot in one’s belly.
After speaking, Yun Ye gave a loud whistle. Wang Cai was still at Wanmin Palace doing who knows what. The Emperor also knew Wang Cai’s temperament, so he didn’t have anyone lead it away.
Before long, Wang Cai came clip-clopping over. The weapons and saddlebags on its back were all still there. Li Chengqian stroked Wang Cai’s long face and said with a smile, “Sometimes I really envy you and Wang Cai—weathering difficulties together, going through life and death together. The people and things around you, as long as they spend time with you, all seem to gain spiritual essence.”
Yun Ye didn’t respond to this idiotic inference. From the bag under the horse’s belly, he pulled out three more incendiary bottles, placed them on the steps, pointed at the three bottles and said, “If you’re feeling vexed, just use these three bottles to burn down your Eastern Palace. Just looking at it makes me angry—lifeless day in and day out. Little Xiang’er was finally born, but you don’t go care for him, instead insisting on busying yourself with military and state affairs. You’re asking for trouble. As long as you don’t make mistakes these years, when the time comes, you’ll have your day to display your prowess. For now, just be filial to your parents, care for your wife and children, and unite well with your younger siblings.”
Li Chengqian rubbed his nose and said helplessly, “Am I really as bad as you say? I’m the Crown Prince. I must consider the nation and share my father’s worries. This is my heaven-mandated duty and responsibility—I can’t escape it. The Eastern Palace is very large. Your three little bottles can’t burn it down.”
“Really?” Yun Ye looked at the Crown Prince with squinted eyes full of contempt. “Without investigation, there’s no right to speak. How do you know these three little bottles can’t burn down your Eastern Palace? Let me tell you, this trip to Liaodong, I’m going specifically to set fires.”
Cheng Chumo and Li Huairen, two men whose hands were faster than their brains, had already each picked up a bottle and were examining it from all angles. They discovered labels on the bottles with instruction manuals on how to use them—Yun Ye had specifically attached these when he came.
Having understood the instruction manual, the two fellows immediately opened the bottle stoppers, tore strips of cloth from their undergarments, stuffed them into the bottles, and after the gasoline soaked the cloth strips, quickly lit them and casually tossed them into the garden. Only Li Chengqian still held one bottle in his hand, craning his neck waiting for the effect.
Yun Ye didn’t hear the sound of bottles shattering. Crying out that this was bad, he dragged Li Chengqian and Cheng Chumo to hide behind a low wall. Seeing Yun Ye’s nervous appearance and knowing something bad was about to happen, Li Huairen also quickly hid.
If the bottles didn’t shatter, then there was only one result—explosion. After a muffled bang, a large ball of orange-red flame immediately shot skyward. The viscous syrup was propelled by the explosion to scatter everywhere, and wherever it fell, it immediately began burning.
Before the four could catch their breath, another muffled bang sounded—the other bottle had also exploded. The same scene appeared again, except this time the flames had a compounding effect, suddenly shooting up more than a zhang high, with the range of scattered fire rain greatly expanded. The four poked their heads out from behind the low wall and saw only roaring flames in the garden. Those trees and dried flowers and grass immediately became the best combustible material. The fire was rapidly spreading. The four looked at each other in dismay.
Following a eunuch’s shrill cry of “Fire!”, the palace quickly fell into chaos. Those eunuchs carrying water buckets ran over from all directions. Yun Ye was about to stop them, but after thinking, immediately shut his mouth. Since only the garden was burning, he might as well observe the Great Tang’s firefighting efficiency.
To make it more realistic, he also quietly took the last bottle from the stunned Li Chengqian’s hand. Without even lighting it, he flung it into the great fire.
A eunuch was splashing water on the fire. After one bucket went down, not only did the flames not extinguish, they burned even more vigorously. Just as he was puzzled, a dull sound rang out before him. The flames suddenly rose much higher, with sparks flying everywhere. His legs went soft and he dropped to his knees with a thud, thinking he’d splashed not water but oil.
Bucket after bucket of water was splashed on, but the fire didn’t diminish in the slightest, continuing to burn fiercely. The palace guards had arrived by this time and set up water pumps, desperately pouring water on the fire. Perhaps the gasoline had burned out—with seven or eight water pumps working simultaneously, the fire finally slowly diminished and was finally extinguished. Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief. In winter, when things were dry, fires in the Great Tang palace weren’t a once or twice occurrence, but none had been as dangerous as this time. Fortunately it was daytime—if it had been night, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
The internal guard commander had drawn his sword and was pointing at the eunuchs and palace maids kneeling all over the ground: “Who set the fire? Stand forward yourself. Only one will die. If we investigate and find out, then you’ll all die, including your families.”
“Old Zhou, Old Zhou, I know who set the fire.” Yun Ye raised his hand high and walked out from behind the low wall. The Crown Prince, Cheng Chumo, and Li Huairen also walked out, their eyes spinning constantly, not knowing which of them Yun Ye would accuse.
“Marquis Yun, if you saw it, please inform this official. This official will handle it impartially and won’t wrong anyone.” Seeing Yun Ye and the Crown Prince and others emerge, Internal Guard Commander Old Zhou was overjoyed, thinking these people had seen the arsonist. He quickly inquired as to who exactly had set the fire.
“Old Zhou, you’d better not ask who set the fire. You don’t dare handle it and can’t handle it. Even His Highness the Crown Prince saw it but didn’t dare intervene. Do you think it’s appropriate for you to handle it?”
Old Zhou’s eyebrows immediately stood up. Gritting his teeth, he asked, “Marquis Yun, just tell me. I don’t believe someone could set fire in the palace and no one would dare speak up. This is the Great Tang. Only His Majesty could do such a thing.”
At this point, his voice suddenly dropped. His eyes looked at Yun Ye with uncertainty, as if trying to discern something.
“Remembered? Last time I was in the palace, did I blow up Ganlu Hall? You were right there when it happened—don’t you know what happened? I can only tell you that the fire just now was set by the four of us. Don’t ask about anything else.”
“Marquis Yun, you’ve been wronged. I, Old Zhou, won’t say anything more. You’re taking the blame out of pity for us common folk. At most you’ll receive a scolding. If we underlings took the blame, it would mean losing our heads.” He turned back to the eunuchs and palace maids kneeling on the ground: “This time, His Highness the Crown Prince and Marquis Yun saved all your lives, understand? Anyone whose mouth isn’t tight and speaks of this will not be lightly forgiven. This fire was caused by firewood and grass that had been stored too long catching fire on its own. There’s no other reason. You all understand?”