Yun Ye sat on the boat with a jar of fish porridge beside him. This was Dongyu’s handiwork—whenever he was on Yun Ye’s boat, there would always be a jar of porridge for the Marquis. This time, lotus seeds had actually been added to the porridge. He fished one out to taste it, and it was indeed excellent. The lotus seeds from Dongting Lake were truly outstanding. What was most famous, however, were the Cai Fish, with seven stars on their heads. At night, the Cai Fish in Dongting Lake would definitely point their heads toward the direction of the Big Dipper. For a long time, the people of Yuezhou had refrained from eating Cai Fish, but for someone like Yun Ye, if he had the opportunity to eat dragon meat he wouldn’t pass it up, let alone these small Cai Fish.

The military adjutant stood beside him, rattling off various statistics endlessly. Finally, he informed the Commander that provisions were running low, mainly because a batch had been robbed by a group of water bandits some time ago. Reportedly, the leader was an old fellow surnamed Liu who struck viciously and calculated precisely. By the time Yun Ye’s fleet rushed over in haste, only some bound boatmen remained on the water surface, while the soldiers guarding the provisions were all floundering in the water.

Military scouts reported that the water bandits in the lake showed signs of gradually consolidating into larger forces. In the great lake now, small groups were constantly being swallowed up by larger ones. This consolidation trend would take at least a year or more to complete.

Yun Ye’s fleet had blockaded the Yangtze River. The water bandits in Dongting Lake could only lord over the lake. Once Yun Ye’s objective was achieved, the Lingnan Fleet would immediately pounce and catch all the remaining water bandits in the lake in one sweep.

Right now, eating fish was far more useful than listening to news about water bandits. This current policy of non-interference was precisely to make future cleanup easier. The Great Tang had now begun to turn its gaze inward to its own domain. Some stubborn malignancies were all within the scope of elimination—whether Greenwood or Chimei, these people who made the wilderness their home could no longer hope for greater development.

For some reason, the household had insisted on sending Lingdang to care for the family head, so he had no choice but to arrange for her on the boat. Listening to her chatter cheerfully every day about interesting things she had seen made Yun Ye feel all his troubles melt away.

There were many pleasures aboard the boat as well. For instance, cooking. Today Dongyu had brought a huge eel and a small bucket of loaches. The eel could be forgotten—Lingdang had secretly released it back into the great lake while Yun Ye was out. Left with no choice, Yun Ye planned to make a dish of loaches drilling into tofu to satisfy his craving.

Today Dan Ying had returned, covered in the dust of travel. After searching the great lake continuously for more than ten days, even a man of iron would feel exhausted. He gave Yun Ye a topographical map he had drawn himself, then returned to his cabin to sleep.

Tossing this thing to Old Lai and the others, Yun Ye focused wholeheartedly on his cooking. The loaches expelled their mud and sand in salted water, then were placed in clear water and slowly heated. When the water temperature became slightly warm, the ice-cold tofu was added. As the water temperature rose, the loaches would burrow into the tofu themselves. Then rich broth and other seasonings were added for cooking, and a delicious dish emerged from the pot. Yun Ye didn’t eat a single bite. He had Gou Zi take it to Dan Ying. These past days of constant rushing about in the wilderness had taken quite a toll on his body.

Yun Ye originally hadn’t wanted to employ these subordinate management tactics, but after being scolded by Liu Fang, he finally understood that no matter how good the relationship between two people, one must let the other know their important position in one’s heart. A word of greeting, a bit of care could have tremendous effect.

Today he would try it out on Dan Ying. At worst, if he botched it, it would only invite some complaints—no big deal. The entire pot of loach tofu was eaten clean, but no one was moved. Gou Zi and Dan Ying ate it together. When he asked them if they had sensed any special flavor, the two looked at Yun Ye suspiciously and asked together whether he had added the wrong seasoning while cooking or if the ingredients weren’t clean.

Casting pearls before swine! From this experiment, Yun Ye realized he just wasn’t suited for this sort of thing. If Liu Jinbao made a mistake, he would go up and beat him with his big feet, and after the beating it would be done. Dan Ying was his relative—if displeased, he could adopt his brother-in-law’s airs and scold him. The household retainers also seemed quite unaccustomed to deliberately bestowing favors this way. Everyone felt uncomfortable.

Most uncomfortable of all was Yun Ye. He always felt that treating his relatives this way was wrong, very fake. This business of showing excessive courtesy because one has a favor to ask must be prohibited in the Yun Family—it was too disgraceful.

He had no plans to bestow favors on people in the military. Having two colleagues he could talk to was a good thing, but if he turned the Lingnan Navy into his own family affair, that would be inappropriate. So Yun Ye only held tight to the marine corps he had personally formed. Regarding naval officer appointments and dismissals, he never spoke out of turn. This was also one of the reasons the Emperor appreciated him—knowing what was his own, knowing what belonged to others, very self-aware. Everyone liked such people. Sometimes in the middle of the night, Yun Ye would secretly take pride in himself for being able to apply his timid-as-a-mouse skills to this degree. Even he admired himself.

Living on a boat for a month was fine, but living there for a year was no longer anything pleasant. Yet overhead there was always the sound of terrifying eagle cries, making Yun Ye now walk without watching the ground, needing to keep his head tilted up watching the sky. According to Wu She, those two eagles were truly terrifying, impossible to guard against. Two flat-feathered beasts had him confined to the boat—this vexed Yun Ye terribly.

He wanted to set things up anew, learn from Zhangsun Chong, install some traps to kill these two eagles. But no matter how Yun Ye tried to lure them, those two eagles absolutely would not approach the military review tower. Wu She had tried several times with a disguised eight-ox crossbow to shoot down the eagles, but had reluctantly given up, because those two eagles flew too high—even the eight-ox crossbow couldn’t reach that altitude.

Dan Ying was quite familiar with eagle habits. These past few days he had constantly ridden horses tracking where the eagles landed. He tracked them to the mountain foothills, but the warhorses couldn’t enter the mountain ranges, so he could only stake out position on the highest mountain to observe where exactly the eagles would go.

After watching for three straight days, he finally determined the approximate location. He took poisoned crossbows and Gou Zi with him to find the eagles. Yun Ye had to lie on the deck sunbathing to attract one eagle’s attention.

One day passed with no activity, two days with no activity. Lying on the deck, Yun Ye felt he was about to be scorched by the early summer sun. Suddenly, a loud cry caught Yun Ye’s attention. The eagle overhead hurriedly flew toward the mountains, and no other eagle came to relieve it. Dan Ying had succeeded.

Fifty-two men went out, only thirty-one returned, and two more lay on stretchers, their chests and abdomens a bloody mess. Yun Ye’s heart ached at the sight. One eagle in exchange for twenty-one men, with Gou Zi thrown in besides—this was a terrible loss.

“Gou Zi and twenty brothers are still guarding there, wanting to see if anyone goes to the eagle. If so, they plan to track them and find their lair first before doing anything else.”

Hearing this, Yun Ye, whose heart had ached nearly to the point of fainting, immediately perked up. He carefully examined the two wounded men’s injuries and found that although the wounds looked horrific, no internal organs had been damaged. This was fortunate amidst the misfortune.

“This eagle had an iron claw fitted, and it could move freely. Just speaking of this iron claw alone, it’s a marvel of craftsmanship.” Wu She looked at the eagle in the iron cage from the side. One sentence pulled Yun Ye back from his joy. Crouching down to look at that iron claw, indeed, this claw was dark and black, as if it had grown on the eagle’s leg. Yun Ye grabbed that iron foot and moved it back and forth a couple of times, finding it completely immobile.

“These people must have used secret methods to fix the iron claw to the eagle’s bone. Otherwise it wouldn’t be so solid. Look, this claw not only has the functions of hook, sickle, and blade, but can also balance the eagle’s body weight. Although the eagle can’t use this claw to its full potential, in battle, driven by instinct, it’s more effective than the other claw.”

Dan Ying suddenly said to Yun Ye, “Big Brother, after this matter is finished, could you give me this pair of eagles?”

Yun Ye looked up at Dan Ying and, seeing his very urgent expression, smiled and said, “When the matter is finished, the eagles will have no more use. If you like them, just take them. But Little Ying, I’ve heard that adult eagles won’t submit to a second person. Even if you take them, they’ll be useless. What’s more, they’re so dangerous.”

“Big Brother, I never expected them to submit in the first place. My name has the character for eagle because I’ve loved eagles since I was small, which is why Mother gave me this name. If it’s a mighty eagle, it should fly freely and unrestrained. What kind of eagle is it if it’s ordered about by people?”

“You’re not planning to release it, are you? You saw yourself how fierce this thing is. What if it hurts other people?”

“If it hurts people, it hurts people—what’s the big deal about that? Aren’t there fewer people killed by tigers and leopards every year? Recognizing heroes and respecting heroes should be like this. This pair of eagles are kings among eagles. Returning them to freedom is the right principle.” Wu She also joined in stirring things up. There was no way to understand these people. The more terrifying the enemy, the earlier it should be eliminated. Just now, if Dan Ying hadn’t spoken up, Yun Ye had already been thinking of killing this eagle on the spot. His mindset contained no such strange attitude.

Seeing them both insist, Yun Ye could only agree, pointing overhead and saying, “We’ve only caught one. There’s still another flying overhead. Listen to its cries and you’ll know how furious this creature is. Quickly set things up, or else in a moment this thing will go mad and fly down, and we’ll all suffer for it.”

All the eight-ox crossbows were drawn to full tension. What they would fire this time, however, was not crossbow bolts but large nets tied to wooden poles. Dan Ying had considered this before returning. From the very beginning, this fellow had never intended to kill the eagles.

Suddenly a gust of wind arose over the lake surface, and a low, simple, ancient sound drifted over. This was the sound of a pottery xun. Yun Ye waved his hand, and immediately several hundred soldiers followed Yang Yueming onto the dock, moving stealthily toward where the sound came from.

The eagle’s cries became increasingly urgent, and the xun music on the ground also grew more stirring. If there was no connection between these two things, Yun Ye wouldn’t believe it even if you beat him to death.