Yun Ye had released the Eagle Slave. He could actually decipher the Drum Ear Ring Sound, and was very clear about the agreement between divine people—that was not to encroach on each other’s treasures. Eagle Slave was definitely a treasure. As long as it fell into someone else’s hands, since they could break the Drum Ear Ring Sound, they would certainly be able to re-control Eagle Slave. Yun Ye hadn’t done that—he just released Eagle Slave so no one could obtain it. This was the most commonly used tactic by victors after divine people fought each other.
Yun Ye was from White Jade Capital. The old immortal had already lived to an age of neither joy nor sorrow. After hearing about White Jade Capital, he could no longer sit still. Originally thought he would sweep floors at Shaolin Temple until death—it seemed White Jade Capital must be extraordinary.
Whenever Han Zhe thought of Yun Ye, he would subconsciously look at his left hand. On his jade-white left hand, two fingers were conspicuously missing. Every time he looked at his left hand, he felt as if these two fingers had just fallen off—the moment before, they were still properly attached to his hand, but looking again they had vanished without a trace.
What did fingers taste like? How could he not remember? The feeling at that time was extremely wonderful. His whole body seemed to be soaking in a hot spring, floating as if becoming immortal, bewitching the mind, stealing the soul. Was this White Jade Capital’s method? Next time seeing Yun Ye, ask him to exchange a bit—he really liked that feeling.
Yun Ye naturally didn’t know that because of his incompetence in letting the eagle escape, it would bring Han Zhe so many associations. He was currently very leisurely, sitting in a carriage checking everywhere on the villagers’ farming situation. Fortunately, the Ministry of Agriculture people weren’t too stupid. They had finally learned how to cultivate seedlings, knew to first nurture seeds in a seedbed before planting them in the main field.
The seedlings grew very delicately—this wasn’t a good thing. The leaves also showed a yellow jade color, clearly a manifestation of malnutrition. Previously he’d told them the seedbeds for transplanting must have sufficient manure fertilizer applied, but it seemed they’d still treated it as wind past the ears.
They stubbornly believed plant ash was the best fertilizer, so growing such seedlings wasn’t strange. As for Yun Ye having nothing better to do than covering rice seedlings with white silk—this had long been Chang’an’s big joke.
White silk thinly brushed with tung oil could be used as plastic sheeting—this secret Yun Ye decided to tell no one. Although a bit expensive and looked like squandering, well, this master has money—none of your business. Because of this matter, he was even summoned to the palace by Zhangsun for a harsh scolding. Xinyue cried thinking her husband had gone mad.
Living a wealthy life too long, one wanted to find some manual labor to do. Everyone else was transplanting rice seedlings—Yun Ye also wanted to transplant. He chose a small plot of land. Little Lingdang smiled and rolled up her skirt, exposing her pale little legs, holding a wooden basin about to go into the field. Yun Ye looked at the murky mud water and pulled Little Lingdang back, not letting her go down. Casually grabbing rice seedlings, he threw them into the field. Tossing seedlings? This master had seen it before. A small plot of land didn’t require going in. Little Lingdang didn’t care whether her husband’s behavior was reasonable or not. Seeing her husband throw happily, she also joined in. Before long they’d thrown crooked, slanted seedlings everywhere in this field. Finished throwing, they called it a day. The two laughingly climbed into the carriage and continued forward.
Qian Sheng beside them watched the prefect couple do farm work with a smile. Originally somewhat gratified—pampered children of wealthy families also knew farmers’ hardships, finally knew how to work. Who knew the two people randomly threw some rice seedlings into the field, then got on the carriage. Heard they were going to the riverside to roast fish—this counted as finishing work? Looking at the topsy-turvy rice seedlings, all Qian Sheng’s fat flesh began trembling.
“This is Yuezhou’s shame!” Qian Sheng arbitrarily prevented the minor officials from helping the prefect properly transplant the seedlings to avoid embarrassment. “Let this field grow like this, let everyone see how the prefect plants crops, as a warning.”
Liu Jinbao laughed hehehe saying: “My marquis has long been Chang’an’s shame. What does Yuezhou’s shame count for? Even Her Majesty the Empress said since Chang’an city got the marquis, it became three parts more vulgar, three parts more materialistic. Coming to Yuezhou, if the sky hasn’t risen three chi higher, that counts as Yuezhou people having good fortune.” Finished speaking, he laughed haha, spurring his horse to chase the marquis.
Qian Sheng was nearly choked to death by Liu Jinbao’s words. After gasping for a long while he recovered, instructing attendants to find a wooden board. Wielding his brush, he wrote on it in large characters “Marquis of Lantian County, Yun Ye, Prefect of Yuezhou, planted crops here,” and had people erect a shelter where the board was inserted, lest wind and rain damage the writing.
Han Cheng continuously begged his old friend to be prudent. Doing this was mortally offending the meritorious nobility. He couldn’t destroy himself over such a small matter. But Qian Sheng with rage reaching his crown couldn’t listen at all. Red-eyed, he warned Han Cheng that if he dared privately pull out the board, he would sever their friendship.
The prefect’s carriage returned in the afternoon. Qian Sheng deliberately guarded beside this board prepared to defend his right to speak even unto death. Han Cheng inwardly lamented endlessly.
They all miscalculated. Yun Ye saw the wooden sign, laughed loudly and got off the carriage, praising Qian Sheng for knowing how to handle affairs. Only the wooden sign was somewhat hasty, wasting a hand of good calligraphy. If changed to stone carving, it would be much better. Moreover, with the already confused Qian Sheng, he drained three consecutive cups, instructing them to quickly carve the stone tablet—he was getting impatient waiting.
Watching Yun Ye’s carriage depart into the distance, Qian Sheng pointed at the retreating figure and shouted loudly: “The epitome of shamelessness!” After shouting, he covered his face and wept bitterly, stumbling back to his own simple thatched cottage.
Qian Sheng wanted to resign and live in seclusion. Qian Sheng wanted to flee three thousand li to Yuezhou. He believed that staying under the same blue sky as Yun Ye, breathing air from the same place would suffocate him.
Bidding farewell to old friends, bidding farewell to relatives and friends, packing his luggage prepared to leave by boat, Han Cheng who hadn’t been seen for many days dragged him to the field’s edge, pointing at the seedlings in that plot and saying to Qian Sheng: “Not one died. These past days I had nothing to do so I guarded by the field. Didn’t discover anyone coming to replant, but strangely, not one seedling died.”
Qian Sheng carefully examined the seedlings in the field once. Still topsy-turvy and chaotic, but the seedlings were all alive—none dead or withered. In thirteen days’ time, some of those goose-yellow seedlings had already begun turning green. Taking off his shoes and going down into the field, he lifted one to test and discovered the seedlings had already begun taking root. These were definitely the original seedlings—no one had replaced them.
In the neighboring rice paddy, although the seedlings also hadn’t died, they were still all goose-yellow, absolutely lacking the vitality of the seedlings in this field. “What’s the reason?” Qian Sheng asked Han Cheng while pulling his own hair.
Han Cheng woodenly shook his head, supporting Qian Sheng who had aged ten years in an instant to his own residence. At this time Qian Sheng needed to get thoroughly drunk. Long-time old friends—they knew each other very deeply.
Regarding Qian Sheng’s bewilderment, Yun Ye heard gossip passed by Liu Jinbao. After hearing it, naturally he just laughed it off. Summer had already arrived—Yuezhou was about to welcome the lengthy rainy season.
“As for continuous rain falling drearily for months without clearing, dark winds howling angrily, turbid waves emptying the sky; sun and stars hiding their brilliance, mountains concealing their forms; merchants and travelers not traveling, masts toppling and oars breaking; dusk dim and gloomy, tigers roaring and apes crying…”
Yun Ye stood in the Military Review Tower reciting Fan Zhongyan’s “Yueyang Tower Record,” but unfortunately there was no kindred spirit. Little Lingdang’s face was full of worship—this had nothing to do with the essay’s quality. As long as it was recited by her husband, even if it was utter nonsense, she would highly praise it. The other was Liu Jinbao who had just run downstairs to urinate facing Dongting Lake. As for Dongyu who was concentrating wholeheartedly on roasting fish, he could be completely ignored. So it was destined that Fan Zhongyan’s eternal masterpiece couldn’t create ripples in the Great Tang, much less cause Luoyang paper to become expensive.
When rain came to Yueyang, wind generally came too. On the great lake waves reached the sky. Great waves struck the rocks below the tower, splashing water flowers filling the sky. Blown by wind they transformed into water mist, dampening the white gauze curtains. Yun Ye retreated two steps—the shoes on his feet had already been half-soaked by the water mist. Lying back on his low couch, following the sound of great waves striking, he tapped on the low table.
Whenever Yun Ye was idle, Little Lingdang would come over. She just liked the feeling of being together with Yun Ye. Using her hands to tear the fish strips Dongyu had roasted, bit by bit feeding them into Yun Ye’s mouth. Sometimes Yun Ye would deliberately bite her fingers, teasing her into giggling laughter. Little Lingdang’s laughter could bring good fortune—Yun Ye had always thought so.
Liu Fang had finally dragged the war to after autumn—this had been discussed long ago. During Dongting Lake’s rainy season there was no way to fight. With unclear visibility, one could deviate from the channel at any time and crash into the lake’s numerous reefs. Launching a surprise attack in such weather, probably before reaching the battlefield half the personnel and warships would be lost.
But this wasn’t any problem for the Lingnan Navy. The wind and waves on the sea were far beyond what Dongting Lake could compare to. Even the ocean’s tidal surges were more dangerous than the wind and waves here. So the Lingnan Navy, taking advantage of the heavy rain’s cover, decided to go to Junshan to test the enemy’s strength and prepare for the next step.
Guan Tinglong, who had rested for a month, was released to check on the embankments’ situation. Officials large and small in the prefect’s office all wore rain capes going down to counties to take charge. Once there was disaster, it had to be handled on the spot. In the Great Tang, the busiest weren’t those high officials and nobles, but the minor officials below. Not much salary, endless miscellaneous affairs. When a villager lost a cow, it was a major matter. If the cow couldn’t be found, perhaps one whole family would go bankrupt. The biggest case Yun Ye had handled in Yuezhou was a serial cow-stealing case. The thief was caught but there was nothing to be done—a hanging-eyed white-browed tiger. Besides stripping the tiger skin for sale, what could you do about it?
At that time seeing the peasant woman wailing to the heavens, Han Cheng fixed his gaze on the prefect. No other reason—just because the tiger skin couldn’t sell for a good price here, especially summer tiger skin which shed hair badly and wasn’t valuable. Winter tiger skin prices were good—exchanging for one or two cows was no problem. The prefect’s first case concluded with the loss of three cows exchanged for one shedding tiger skin.
Yun Ye wasn’t worried about the navy’s safety. His subordinates, these past years tempered in the great ocean, had all become tyrants on the water. One captain dared shout about directly raiding the water bandits’ lair, capturing the bandit chief alive, presenting him at the steps. Suddenly coming from the great ocean to Dongting Lake like a bathtub, they were very unaccustomed. Often said the sails hadn’t even opened and they’d already reached the opposite shore. Ocean sharks couldn’t be kept in bathtubs. This sortie was also those navy commanders bored out of their minds doing a simple hunt while training.