“Do you really think building the city into a circular shape truly has no problems?” Li Chengqian stood in front of the model, stroking his short beard stubble and asking Yun Ye suspiciously.
“There’s no help for it. The terrain created this shaped city. I most love this kind of city—round, it looks festive just looking at it.” Yun Ye explained to Li Chengqian without the slightest concern.
“Speak properly! Look at the Great Tang’s cities—which one is shaped like a turtle like this? If this is reported up, I’ll be scolded to death by the ministers. Be reasonable.” Li Chengqian could no longer contain himself.
“Fine, let’s be reasonable. Look at that mountain to the north, it’s called Xiangsi Mountain. Now look at that mountain to the south, it’s called Dayun Mountain. Just hearing these names is delightful. One stretches for over seventy li, the other connects directly to Mufu Mountain. Look carefully and you’ll discover these are two dragons contending with each other. So this land has never been peaceful. This small city has experienced how many great and terrible battles? Not speaking of distant times, the Prince of Hejian nearly got killed here, twenty thousand troops left not a bone behind. This shows this place is no auspicious land—it easily attracts military disasters.”
“We’re building this city round and circular. Look at it—doesn’t it resemble a dragon pearl? As long as it’s a dragon, who wouldn’t want this pearl? There’s a saying here called ‘two dragons playing with a pearl.’ The dragon energy of Xiangsi Mountain moves, winding and turning, stretching and undulating, meandering from the north. Upon reaching Yueyang territory the dragon energy becomes increasingly vigorous. At Dongting Lake it stops and rises majestically, containing even more vigorous energy. Thus it rises and falls nine times—this is an excellent dragon vein. In such a fine place, not building a round turtle city would truly be unreasonable.”
Li Chengqian looked up at Yun Ye and tapped the table asking, “Since when do you understand feng shui and geomancy?”
“Ever since I discovered Yuan Tiangang could randomly spout a few sentences and obtain large amounts of money. This is a fine skill—I must learn it! In the future when the Yun Family declines, at least I’ll have a skill to rely on, won’t starve to death.”
After Li Chengqian drove everyone out, he grabbed Yun Ye’s neck and roared, “You bastard, are you finished or not? It’s one thing to deceive others, but how can you even deceive me?”
“Can’t choke, choke more and I’ll die. Alright, alright, I’ll tell you the reason.” Only then did Li Chengqian release his grip and glare as he listened to Yun Ye’s real explanation.
Yun Ye poured a cup of water but didn’t drink it, holding it in his palm and rubbing it back and forth. After quite a while he finally said, “There’s only one reason—I want to reduce expenditures as much as possible and create more profit. This plain is only this large. Wanting to control both water and land chokepoints can’t be done. According to the court’s plan, a city must not only serve the function of enriching the people, but also serve to control north-south traffic, keeping the two traffic chokepoints under Yueyang City’s nose. Doing this is beyond reproach, but have you thought about it—this city would be too large, ridiculously large. How many troops do you plan to send to guard the chokepoints?”
“A city of ten li, walls of seven li—these don’t even count. The city wall alone would need to be thirty-six li long. What kind of joke is this? Who could defend a thirty-six li long city wall? How many troops would it require? With too many troops stationed, they would occupy many resources for nothing. All this money for building the city would be wasted, merely exhausting the national treasury.”
“Do you know there’s a principle in mathematics—for shapes with the same perimeter, the circle has the largest area? Never heard of it? Oh, I haven’t taught everyone yet. I must build the shortest city wall to enclose the largest land area. When the time comes, the court can maintain Yueyang’s finances for quite a while just by selling land.”
“The four claws this turtle extends out can precisely strangle the land routes. As for water routes, without a powerful navy, who do you think you can blockade? So this city became a huge circle. As for why there are no city walls? Because there’s no necessity to build them yet. Which family builds city walls first when constructing a city within their own country? Right now we’ll get the interior all set up first, then building the city walls won’t be too late. Because city walls would obstruct the transportation of materials.”
Li Chengqian sat for a while, then slapped the table and said, “You’re always so willfully reckless like this. This won’t do! Your original conception was quite good, wasn’t it? How did it change once you got to Yueyang? Building a city must start by constructing city walls—this is standard practice. You want to so easily change rules that have existed since ancient times? This won’t work. Do you know how much resistance this will create for you? Even if you want to build a turtle city, you still need to erect the city walls first. Worried about transporting materials? Very simple—you just need to leave several gaps, no big deal. So speak—what’s the real reason making you do this?”
Not having seen him for a while, Li Chengqian had indeed become smarter. He was no longer that kid who could be fooled with just a few words. Yun Ye felt gratified but also disappointed. A person who understood self-reflection had finally been cultivated by him. Only in the future, wanting to deceive him would be much more difficult. This was standard self-inflicted suffering. That historically brutal and arrogant Li Chengqian had vanished without a trace at this moment.
“Yueyang is about to have a battle, and it’s a major battle, a terrible battle. The water bandits in Dongting Lake, bewitched by villains, have actually created something called the Twelve Linked Forts. They’re systematically annihilating and swallowing up small groups of water bandits on the lake, scraping together every bit of grain they can collect. This is why even you coming to Yueyang had to bring grain—because Yueyang itself has no grain left. Sooner or later, Yueyang will have a terrible battle, ready to break out at any moment. Haven’t you noticed the Lingnan Navy has never dared stray far from Yueyang lately?”
Li Chengqian immediately jumped up, leaning over the map of the Two Lakes region to examine it, saying in a low voice, “Not only is the new city in danger, nearby Baling isn’t safe either. All the prefectures surrounding Yunmeng Lake are at risk. We must immediately send out warnings. We must report this to my father.”
“His Majesty knows. His Majesty knows perfectly clearly. Why do you think His Majesty sent you and not Fang Xuanling? It’s because he worried Old Fang might discover some clues. You coming was best. His Majesty said if you discovered problems, lay them all bare. If you didn’t discover problems, send you back to Chang’an. Look, this is the edict His Majesty gave me before you came.”
Yun Ye pulled out a secret edict and handed it to Li Chengqian. Li Chengqian shook his head, pounding the table and saying in a low voice, “How can this be? I always thought the water bandits in Dongting Lake were just a minor affliction like scabies. How did they suddenly become a mortal danger?”
“Because I sent people over to organize all the water bandits, then accidentally the power was seized by a very formidable person. Now this very formidable person is wholeheartedly trying to fight me to the death to avenge his eagles.”
“It’s them? You deliberately twisted the water bandits into a united force?”
“That’s right. I even came up with the name Twelve Linked Forts.”
“Then the power was seized by someone else?”
“Yes, that fellow called Water Dragon King didn’t have the ability to hold onto his position, so being replaced by an even more powerful fellow isn’t strange at all.”
“That Water Dragon King isn’t your man?”
“The Academy and Yun Family have never had fools. At most there are two loyal simpletons sweeping floors in the Yun Family ancestral hall. The rest are all shrewd. They won’t easily give up even the right to eat one more bun to others, let alone a position like King of Dongting Lake. To take that away would require being at least ten times smarter than them, or ten times more formidable.”
“So you’re saying everything in Dongting Lake is under your control?”
“No. I don’t know how many spies His Majesty stuffed among the water bandits. Several minor water bandit kings are former Academy students. I don’t know why they appeared in the bandits’ nest.”
Li Chengqian spat out a mouthful of water. Academy students becoming water bandits? He wouldn’t believe it even if you beat him to death. These fellows were now all training in various government offices. How could they become water bandit chiefs?
“Who from your family is inside? Or which Academy person is among the water bandits?”
“Liu Fang, Master Liu. He’s now the new water bandit chief’s military advisor. Under his command are three thousand formidable water bandits, almost all elite figures among the bandits. The water bandit chief almost completely follows his advice. He also has considerable prestige among the bandits His Majesty sent over.”
Only then did Li Chengqian breathe out a long breath. Being able to control the water bandits’ direction of attack was good. Having them consistently attack the new city would keep the situation controlled within the smallest scope.
“Now you know everything, so you understand why the new city isn’t building city walls, right? The reason we’re not building city walls is because we’re building bunkers. Since ancient times we’ve called bandits ‘roaming bandits.’ We’re not afraid of them forming one force—we fear them scattering like stars. Every time we conduct suppression, roaming bandits always scatter to various places, secretly continuing their business of murder and robbery. When one roaming bandit is killed, immediately many more roaming bandits stand up. Very frightening. So this time we want to achieve complete success in one campaign.”
Li Chengqian knew there were some things Yun Ye hadn’t said. Roaming bandits didn’t amount to much against the Great Tang’s mighty army—no need to calculate to such an extent. Only that group of people was the most terrifying. Father probably wanted to use this probing to find the exact location of these people. Father’s attention to these people far exceeded what a single city could compare to.
The two men went out and strolled along the small lake outside. The moonlight stretched their shadows long, falling on the water surface. Blown by the evening breeze, they became distorted. Yun Ye kicked a pebble into the lake, watching the ripples wrinkle and elongate the moon’s reflection. Only then did he feel more comfortable. Having talked too much, both were too lazy to speak. The lakeside at night really wasn’t a good place to stay. Throughout the fifth month, mosquitoes continuously hatched from the lake and flew out. Their wings hadn’t even fully spread before they viciously attacked the two men. Dongyu and Li Chengqian’s guards waved large bunches of burning mugwort, trying to drive away all the insects. Before long, the lake surface was covered with a layer of pale mist.
Scheming against people couldn’t make one feel any better. Li Chengqian, hugging his legs and sitting by the lake, suddenly began singing a song. He sang quite well, his voice very gentle, just the accent was strange, incomprehensible. This was a very tender song. Listening carefully, one could tell this wasn’t a Han Chinese song…
After finishing the song, Li Chengqian showed his white teeth in a smile at Yun Ye and said, “This is what my mother taught me to sing when I was small. Whenever I feel unhappy or stifled, I sing it. After singing, my whole body feels comfortable…”