This was Great Tang—Ludongzan had strength but nowhere to apply it. He could only agree with Tang Jian’s words. Ludongzan didn’t care about the loss of money and goods, but the five-colored jade disc on the gift list intended for the Emperor had to be found. This treasure that Songtsen Gampo had obtained only after his distant campaign against the Eastern Women’s Kingdom was crucial to the success or failure of the marriage alliance with Great Tang. Songtsen Gampo ambitiously wanted to unite the plateau, but was limited by manpower and resources. A single distant campaign against the Eastern Women’s Kingdom had left both Songtsen Gampo’s tribe and his own tribe impoverished.
The plateau had no shortage of rare jade, gold, and silver. What it lacked was iron implements that could be made into weapons, as well as silk and hemp. Whenever Ludongzan saw Great Tang’s woodcutters wielding iron cleavers and axes, his mind would conjure up the image of those fierce and warlike warriors on the Tibetan plateau charging with wooden forks.
Only noble warriors deserved hard and sharp steel. Ludongzan wished he could personally snatch those knives and axes from the hands of woodcutters and butchers. In fact, along this journey, those soldiers had already exchanged all their money for steel products. He had deliberately brought five hundred unarmed attendants to Great Tang, hoping that when returning home, he could bring back five hundred fully armed elite soldiers.
Now over three hundred men were gone. The brave Tibetan warriors had seen those skulls in the boxes with their jaws chattering up and down, and had also seen that withered hand trying to drag the jade disc down to hell.
The terrified warriors swore to heaven and earth that what had stolen their goods was not human but ghosts from underground. Only the most powerful lamas could deal with this. They themselves, humble as pasture grass, dared not contend with deities. After saying this, they actually began singing songs regardless of everything—all hymns praising mountain gods, lake gods, and gods of the earth, hoping to obtain their protection.
This caused immense pain to a wise man like Ludongzan. Ever since the great wise man of Zhangzhung, Tonpa Shenrab, created the Bon religion, everything on the plateau had become divine—snow mountain gods, barley gods, cattle and sheep gods, earth gods, lake gods, mountain gods, stone gods. Whenever they encountered an inexplicable phenomenon, another deity would appear. The Tibetan people’s wisdom remained unopened; those who understood writing were one in ten thousand. Countless lamas ruled their minds. If your hand was burned by fire, you needed to make offerings. If you twisted your ankle while walking, you needed to make offerings. The lamas said this was the result of offending the deities. If these offerings involved eating cattle and sheep as food, that would be one thing, but instead they had to gather much firewood and burn up all the precious food and furs. Only the wisps of smoke drifting with the wind could absolve them of their sins.
When the annual grand sacrifice began, piles of firewood several zhang in circumference would be stacked with cattle, sheep, exquisite furs, tsampa, barley, butter, and sometimes even beautiful female slaves. Songtsen Gampo had lit such grand sacrifices twice. The third time he really couldn’t bring himself to do it, so he had Ludongzan substitute. After lighting the fire once, Ludongzan didn’t step outside his home for three days, because he had ordered his guards to bind him. He feared that if he couldn’t restrain himself, he would take a knife and hack to death all those fat-headed, big-eared lamas.
Songtsen Gampo thought he was ill. When he came to see him and found him bound, he sadly patted the carpet and sang: “Oh sacred Mount Kailash, though your mighty name spreads far, you are merely a huge body wrapped in snow; Oh beautiful sacred Lake Manasarovar, though your beautiful name is widely known, it is only one wave pushing another. Oh wise Ludongzan, why do you bind yourself? Do you also angrily wish to fight? Oh divine Mount Kailash, your mighty name spreads near and far; that pure white peak is proof of the sanctity of my heart. Oh sacred Lake Manasarovar, one wave pushing another, washing away the evil thoughts of the world. Oh wise Ludongzan, quickly go to the world’s most fertile land, go find the most majestic emperor, and bring back his daughter. Oh mighty Mount Kailash, I have no more sacrifices to give. Oh my people, they are going hungry.”
Hearing the song of Songtsen Gampo, who was both civil and martial, Ludongzan without hesitation led his guards down from the plateau, wanting to bring back a true princess for his king, and at the same time bring back Great Tang’s most advanced techniques.
But his journey was not smooth. He had set his sights on a very good young girl, wanting her to be his daughter-in-law, but she was unwilling. These days he had worked hard to establish good relations with Great Tang’s meritorious nobles, but because of his own rashness had offended Yun Ye, making everything extremely difficult. Everyone was waiting for the battle between himself and Yun Ye. Only after a victor emerged would they take sides.
Ludongzan had seen Yun Ye twice—once when he was laughing arrogantly at the ship’s bow, and this time when he was dead drunk. Why did so many meritorious nobles have to look at the face of such a morally corrupt wastrel? Could it be that in their eyes, I, the grand Tibetan Minister, the ever-victorious Ludongzan, the peerlessly wise Ludongzan, am not even as good as a frivolous youth? At this moment, Ludongzan also wanted to get blind drunk!
Yun Ye’s sleep lasted until dusk before he painfully crawled up clutching his head. Xinyue, who was attending him on the side, quickly helped support him. A bowl of warm white porridge was swallowed by Yun Ye in two gulps. Unfortunately, right after swallowing it, he immediately vomited it back up—not a single grain of rice entered his stomach.
After vomiting, he wiped away the tears that had been squeezed out and looked around, saying to Xinyue: “This isn’t our home.”
The anxious Xinyue helped him lie down and said: “This is Wude Hall. His Majesty ordered the imperial physicians to send you here. Husband, Uncle Cheng and the others really went too far—how could they force you to drink so much? In the past when you got drunk, at most you mistook Xiao Lingdang for me. Now look—you collapsed drunk in the Golden Phoenix Hall. Fortunately His Majesty wasn’t offended.”
“Who says I’m not offended?” Li Er’s voice came from outside the hall entrance. Li Er and Empress Zhangsun were seen walking in together from outside. Xinyue quickly curtsied. Yun Ye tried to get up, but after struggling twice his arms were weak and powerless. He lay back on the bed and said apologetically to Li Er: “This subject has been discourteous. I’ll get up right away.”
“If you can’t get up, just lie there. After all, this isn’t the first or second time you’ve been discourteous before me. Lady Xin, you may withdraw. I have matters to ask your drunken husband.” Li Er sat in the chair opposite the bed and had Xinyue leave. Empress Zhangsun took Xinyue’s hand and they walked out together.
Once both women had left, Li Er immediately rushed to Yun Ye’s side, lowered his head to look at him, and asked curiously: “Boy, how did you do it? He Tianshang has investigated until now and uncovered countless inexplicable mysteries. If not for these inexplicable mysteries, I definitely wouldn’t have suspected you. But the entire affair was done watertight—only ghosts and spirits could accomplish it. I believe it must have been you. Speak quickly—I’m extremely curious.”
“It was indeed this subject who did it. That fellow bullied my daughter. Not dismembering him into ten thousand pieces was already letting him off easy. Your Majesty, before you I admit it, but outside this door I won’t admit it even if beaten to death.” Yun Ye spoke very frankly.
“Mm, not bad. You still have some responsibility and some loyalty and respect. If I hadn’t asked, were you planning not to speak of it? Your heart is condemnable!” Li Er was very satisfied with Yun Ye’s answer. That Yun Ye could speak the truth before him was very rare. Ordinary people wouldn’t have this courage. Without solid evidence, they would only deny everything, proving that Yun Ye truly regarded him as a trustworthy elder, not a lofty emperor. He had just deliberately changed into ordinary clothes to convey this signal. The clever boy had chosen very correctly.
“If Your Majesty hadn’t asked, this subject naturally wouldn’t have said anything. However, that five-colored jade disc must be found an opportunity to be sent into the palace no matter what. The five-colored jade disc is something only Your Majesty can possess. It would be troublesome for this subject to keep it.”
“Never mind the jade disc for now. Tell me, how did you scare the Tibetans into pissing themselves?” Li Er poured himself a bowl of tea and held it in his hand, prepared to hear a long story. As for what Ludongzan was thinking at this moment, he hadn’t considered it at all.
“Actually, Ludongzan himself made a mistake in choosing the campsite. Do you remember there’s a menial manager at the Academy called Huang Shu?”
“You mean that tomb robber? Are you saying Ludongzan chose a campsite that was originally on top of an abandoned large tomb, and it was hollow underneath? No wonder the entire ground collapsed. Good, the first mystery is solved. Continue.”
“You know that my young daughter Yun Mu was bullied, and my grandmother was very angry. She issued a family order to break the dog legs of the Tibetans. Huang Shu happened to go to Xinfeng Market and when passing Xiliu Camp discovered that Ludongzan had actually chosen his campsite on top of a Han tomb that Cao Cao had hollowed out. Based on his judgment, the Tibetans’ treasures were all there. To give my young daughter satisfaction, he planned to deal with the Tibetans a bit and teach them a lesson…”
“So you thought that since it was a lesson anyway, why not make it more thorough, right? That’s why over three hundred Tibetans died. Tell me, giving your daughter satisfaction doesn’t require such a big production. What were you planning to do?”
Yun Ye relaxed for a while. Finally having some strength in his body, he sat up and bowed to Li Er, saying: “The Tibetans came this time indeed seeking something from our Great Tang. Their Tibet has just recently been pacified in all directions by Songtsen Gampo’s ten thousand or so men. Although they conquered a large part of the Eastern Women’s Kingdom, this time they withdrew from Eastern Qiang not because they couldn’t win, but because their national strength was insufficient. Tibetans have fierce temperaments and fight very bravely in battle, but like the tribes on the grasslands, they all govern themselves separately. There’s no way to twist all their strength into a single rope. Songtsen Gampo wanted to rest and recuperate, planning to defeat the plateau tribes one by one.”
“But Tibetans have a very bad habit—when they have nothing to do, they like to pile grain and similar things on large fires and burn them to ash as offerings to the heavenly gods. Even if they themselves go hungry, they must first attend to the heavenly gods. With such an evil custom, how can they talk about rest and recuperation? As long as they have a little surplus, they immediately burn it. Resting like this for a thousand years would be useless.”
“I know about the Tibetans’ movements. How do you know Tibetans like to burn grain and vessels?”
“Your Majesty, Tibetans also have writing, but their method of recording is through song. This subject has heard some of their ballads. Moreover, the Tibetan grand sacrifice is not a great secret. Through merchant caravans, Your Majesty can learn about it. The reason this subject struck with lethal intent was that I didn’t want the Tibetans’ purpose to be achieved. No matter what their purpose is, this subject only needs to sabotage it. Once such a fierce nation breaks free from ignorance, it will be our Great Tang’s nightmare.”