The city gate, which normally required five strong men to open, was shouldered open by the man-bear alone. With his blood-filled mouth wide open, he roared for them to quickly enter the city. His entire body had nearly become a porcupine—Yun Ye could see an arrow embedded in his cheek. Without Yun Ye needing to say anything more, the Yang brothers had already charged into the city gate tunnel.
The battle was not intense, because the Gao family members had already fled on horseback through the opened gate. The entire Cangyan City was low in front and high in back, with the rear gate connecting to a road leading to Mudi City. When Yun Ye stood at the city magistrate’s office looking up the mountain, he could only vaguely see several carriages disappearing behind the mountain ridge.
Gou Zi anxiously searched here and there throughout the city magistrate’s office. Even when the treasury door was opened, he only glanced at it before sitting dejectedly in a corner to rest. This person who normally loved treasure most now showed complete disdain for the shelves full of gold, silver, and jewels. Dan Ying squatted beside him in the corner and said, “Don’t be sad anymore. That woman’s status was clearly not simple—she must be a daughter of the Gao family. You just finished off her father and grandfather completely. Even if you met her, she would only fight you to the death. It’s better not to see her.”
“Xiao Ying, have you ever seen a woman and liked her from just the first glance? That night we were too rushed. To tell the truth, I only remember she had big eyes—everything else is all blurry. Now, I just want to see those eyes. What do you say I should do?”
Dan Ying took out his small liquor bottle, drank a mouthful of wine, stuffed the bottle to Gou Zi, and said with feeling, “Yes, the first day I saw Daya, I knew she was my wife. I had no other thoughts. I took a string of sausages and went to find my brother-in-law to propose marriage. I nearly angered my brother-in-law to death. But later, didn’t he obediently acknowledge me as his brother-in-law? You’ll never see this woman again—truly pitiful.”
“Not necessarily. Don’t we still have to continue advancing? I’ll go to Mudi City to search. If I can’t find her, I’ll go to the royal capital to search. If I still can’t find her, after we destroy Goguryeo, I’ll search the whole world. I refuse to believe I can’t find her. You don’t know—at night I even dream of those big eyes.”
Young men talking about women always find common ground. They greatly approved of Gou Zi’s action of being willing to turn all of Goguryeo upside down, and agreed that the two of them would search together. After finding her, they would use the fastest speed to send her into the bridal chamber. Dan Ying told Gou Zi that once a woman has been bedded, she will obediently listen to you.
Yun Ye was surrounded by a group of merchants until not even water could pass through, all chattering away demanding to get a share of the war spoils. They believed they had also contributed greatly. Each family had made a very long list of goods they wanted, requesting to purchase them—except this time they had no intention of paying.
“I can give you things, but you have no way to enjoy the victor’s glory. For the safety of the other Great Tang merchants throughout the Goguryeo kingdom, you must be executed in front of the entire city’s people. After you’re executed, you’ll be able to take large quantities of goods back with me to our country. However, you will have to pay for the boat fare.”
“Marquis, you said execution? Us? If you execute us, how can we return? Are you saying as corpses?” The old manager cautiously asked, having already prepared to flee.
“We’ll just dig a pit in the ground, throw you in, then cover it with earth—that’s all. We must let all the Goguryeo people see it. Otherwise, if you want to do business in Goguryeo again in the future, it will be difficult.”
“Bury us alive? Marquis, this old fool doesn’t want those goods anymore. I only beg the Marquis to spare this old fool’s life. We just rendered great merit! Even if you don’t pity us lowly servants’ lives, please spare us for the sake of the old Duke!”
“Who would want your lives? We’ll dig a short tunnel in the big pit. After you enter the pit, you’ll crawl through the tunnel to the adjacent pit. We’ll fill your pit with Goguryeo corpses and bury it. Remember to put your clothes on the Goguryeo corpses. The Goguryeo people might dig them up to look in the future.”
“But Marquis, who exactly are we trying to deceive? Many Goguryeo people escaped, and many people saw us helping you. You can’t possibly kill everyone in the entire city, can you?” Old Fang naturally wasn’t worried the Marquis would bury him alive. He just felt this action was very unnecessary. People had already seen it—with such conclusive evidence, where was the need to dig burial pits?
“We are pirates, not Great Tang military men. Even if the entire world knows we are Great Tang military men, we must tell ourselves we are pirates. There are two people in this world who will unconditionally believe we are pirates. The purpose of doing this is to give these two people a way to save face. As long as they acknowledge we are pirates, then we are definitely pirates and absolutely not the Great Tang Lingnan Naval Forces. Understand?”
Old Fang listened until his eyes were seeing stars, but still didn’t understand. He could only ask again, “Marquis, who are these two people you speak of? Could you tell this old servant?”
“You don’t even understand this? One is our Majesty, and one is King Yeongnyu Gao Jianwu. His Majesty hasn’t yet made preparations to attack Goguryeo, so he doesn’t want to speak of this matter and won’t acknowledge it. Gao Jianwu also hasn’t made defensive preparations, so he doesn’t want to expose this matter either. We are pirates—this benefits everyone. As long as everyone says it was pirates who broke through the city, then doesn’t this have nothing to do with your Marquis? The wealth of an entire city—how many years would it take our family to earn back? Don’t worry about it anymore. Quickly inventory the goods—load them for the return journey.” Yun Ye’s explanation also put the minds of all the surrounding managers at ease. They were all impressed by the Marquis’s commanding perspective and hurriedly went to make money for their own families.
An army is a disciplined bandit organization. When they cast aside their last bit of restraint, their efficiency and methods are far more terrifying than mountain bandits.
The city had been forcibly broken through. Under normal circumstances, there should be three to five days of city massacre to demonstrate one’s authority. Especially when breaking through a foreign city, this provision must be carried out. If you cannot govern through authority, then you can only govern through punishment. Yun Ye truly could not bring himself to give this order. He was mocked by Liu Fang as having a woman’s benevolence, and Lai Chuanfeng and the others were also very dissatisfied. But Yun Ye was the commander, and since he had given the order, they could only obediently listen.
What Old Fang and the others did was much more brilliant than what Yun Ye had imagined. They found the largest local merchants and negotiated with them, telling them these pirates’ purpose was just to rob money. They had expended great effort to persuade them not to massacre the city, but to compensate them, goods were essential. As long as they gathered sufficient funds, they wouldn’t target these wealthy households.
“Master Park, don’t you see what kind of people are outside? Those are all pirates who kill without blinking! You’re still clinging tightly to your wealth and won’t let go—what can be done? My family has business on the seas, so I know this great king. I’ve exhausted all my good words and only gained this small favor. Please comply. My family has also handed over fifty percent of our total value. If you still hesitate, alas, look at your children and grandchildren filling your hall—would you have them be buried with that gold and silver?”
Old Fang’s words continuously spread among the wealthy merchants of Goguryeo, Mohe, and Baekje. To preserve their lives, these people had no choice but to hand over half their family fortunes. Very good—they were all the smallest volume, most valuable items. When Liu Fang and Lai Chuanfeng saw the gold, pearls, and treasures piled in the courtyard, they admired Yun Ye to the point of complete prostration.
Lai Chuanfeng and the others had also broken through cities before, but never had such bountiful results. When confiscating property, most of the wealth would always be hidden away. They had neither the time nor the ability to search house by house. Now without effort, those people had delivered so many treasures—this was far better than searching themselves.
The wounded Gou Feng was driving those commoners to dismantle the outer walls and inner city walls, making sure to destroy this city. Yun Ye left him with three thousand troops, while he and Liu Fang led the main army to continue advancing toward Mudi City.
Mudi City was a very small city. It had no outer walls, and the city walls were very low. When the great army reached below Mudi City, no one showed themselves. Scouts quietly entered the city, only to discover this city had become an empty city. The three thousand troops stationed inside had disappeared. Dan Ying, Gou Zi, and the man-bear searched the surroundings for three days before confirming that all these troops had entered the royal capital.
Yun Ye was greatly delighted and was about to order the army to enter the city when Liu Fang heavily slapped him on the head, looking at Yun Ye with contempt as if looking at a pile of shit.
“Having a general like you is truly the soldiers’ tragedy. You dare lead soldiers into unclear territory? Let me tell you—as long as you enter this city, don’t expect to come out again. A general must be able to examine the winds and clouds of the nine heavens above and penetrate the subtle ripples of the seas below. Haven’t you noticed there’s far too much fodder and firewood left in this city? Let me tell you—if you had a way to lift up the ground, you’d find many Goguryeo people hidden in caves, all elite soldiers. We’re carrying so much oil. Once we enter the city and they set a fire, heh heh, this will be a second Bisha City. Do you believe it or not?”
Sweat poured down Yun Ye’s head. Liu Fang couldn’t bear to watch and slowly said to Yun Ye again, “We’re fighting a war. Tempting with profit is common. The battlefield is about seeing who can resist temptation. Many famous generals have been ruined by interests, not knowing that taking small advantages leads to great losses. Remember this in the future—your weakness is having too heavy a mind for gains and losses. You cannot do things steadily and practically. Don’t think your opponents are too stupid.”
Yun Ye dismounted, respectfully bowed to Liu Fang and said, “Today, thanks to Teacher Liu’s awakening, Yun Ye knows his error. Next time I will definitely act carefully and dare not have the slightest self-satisfaction again.”
Liu Fang nodded with satisfaction and quietly spoke some words in Lai Chuanfeng’s ear. Yun Ye watched as five hundred soldiers walked into Mudi City. A moment later, thick smoke rose from the city, and Lai Chuanfeng led the five hundred soldiers fleeing in disarray from Mudi City.