Once snow in Chang’an began falling, it wouldn’t stop easily. Standing atop Yushan overlooking the earth, except for eight dark water veins, the remaining land, cities, and houses were all shrouded in vast white snow.
There wasn’t a trace of wind between heaven and earth. Beneath the rosy clouds, large snowflakes continuously fell. Who knows who said “it’s not cold when snow falls, but cold when snow melts”—in this damned snowy weather, a cold fog had actually risen. Other fogs were white, but this cursed cold fog was actually bluish-green. After two days and two nights of continuous heavy snow, the roads had long been buried. Yun Ye, wearing two or three layers of fur, hid in the sled, stamping his feet from the cold and urging Liu Jinbao to hurry.
The Empress had gone to the top of Yushan to admire the snow. Who knows what madness possessed her? Not to mention anything else, just having those guards shovel snow was a huge project. The cost of viewing a snow scene was too great. Was this still the same Empress who would rather wear short skirts to save money?
Everyone knew there were warm pavilions on Yushan, but she hadn’t brought a single Yushan steward along—how would anyone know how to use the warm pavilions? The heating ducts probably weren’t even lit yet.
The sled could only reach halfway up the mountain. The rest required walking up. Looking at the chaotic footprints on the ground, one could tell the Empress’s decision had been made on a whim. Nearly forty years old, yet still couldn’t give people peace of mind. She suffered from respiratory illness but didn’t know to take care of herself at all. Old Sun had exhausted himself over the Empress’s illness. If not for penicillin’s successful testing, in the ninth year of Zhenguan the Empress should have been sent to the imperial tomb. How could she have the opportunity to run out in snowy weather to torment people?
By the time Yun Ye climbed to the mountaintop, his eyebrows were covered in frost. The dogskin hat he wore was also covered in ice crystals. If he spat, it would immediately turn into an ice lump. Why did they have to come up in such weather to suffer?
Seeing a large group of idiots surrounding the Empress in the pavilion shivering, Yun Ye knew his arrival wasn’t too late. The Empress and Hou Shi sat in the pavilion with hot water bottles in their arms. The situation was still okay.
No time for ceremonial greetings—he directly instructed the Yushan steward to start hanging curtains. Thick felt was rapidly erected around the pavilion, finally wrapped with seven or eight ropes. A proper warm pavilion was set up. An already burning iron stove was quickly installed in the warm pavilion, with a black iron kettle placed on top. White snow was added from outside and hot water began to be boiled.
Outside the pavilion, two servants poured a bucket of kerosene on large blocks of wood. A spark from a tinder ignited it, and flames shot up. They were quickly drawn by the flue in the ground pit into the pillars, finally spewing thick smoke from the ceiling.
Empress Zhangsun released the hot water bottle from her arms and set it on the chair. Stomping her numb feet, she said: “Although it was cold just now, the scenery was superb. Heaven and earth boundless, houses indistinct—beautiful like an enchanting dream.”
“Your Majesty, acting within one’s capacity is a virtue. You are the Empress of the Great Tang with countless resources. Everyone in the realm is willing to serve you. With just one command, if you wish to view beautiful scenery, where can it not be obtained? But you cannot force yourself to complete things beyond your physical capabilities. You have respiratory illness and most fear catching cold.”
“Once you catch cold, old ailments may very likely recur. You may not know how much effort Teacher Sun has expended for your illness. It can be said that the medicine penicillin was actually invented for you. Please, Your Majesty, take care of your phoenix body. As for Hou Shi, I will remonstrate with the Crown Prince to punish you. Daring to bewitch Your Majesty into ascending the mountain at this time truly shows no sense of propriety.”
Seeing Yun Ye angry, Hou Shi couldn’t help but shrink back. Usually she could freely throw little tantrums at Yun Ye because the two families had close relations, but in this kind of setting, as the Crown Prince’s secondary consort, she had no right to speak.
“Enough, don’t speak of Hou Shi. It was I who wanted to come up, a spur-of-the-moment decision. I told no one. Originally I thought to come up for a look and go back down, but who knew I’d be captivated by the beautiful scenery and stayed a bit longer. I’ve let down the good intentions of you and Daoist Sun. I won’t do this again next time. Since you’re here, accompany me in admiring the snow scene. How about composing a poem?”
At this time the pavilion was already warm as spring. With the heating ducts plus the stove, Yun Ye’s fur coat was already too hot to wear. At least the dogskin hat was no longer necessary. He took off the hat and placed it on the stone table. Empress Zhangsun took it and tried it on her own head, finding it quite nice. When the two ear flaps were let down, they covered her face completely. The frontier army had such hats.
“Xiao Ye, tell me—is the Liaodong region this cold too? How do the soldiers there get through winter?”
“Your Majesty, the Liaodong region is much colder than Guanzhong. Saying it freezes bricks and tiles there is no exaggeration. Fire pits are useless—truly ‘fire warms the chest while wind chills the back.’ However, the soldiers naturally have good strategies for winter, such as digging earth shelters being one method. Plus heated beds, wool cloaks—although cotton clothing is scarce, that’s due to insufficient cotton. In another two years, our Great Tang will lack nothing. With good equipment, we could fight to the edge of the world.”
“Families near Chang’an have already begun growing cotton. For example, the Hou family’s fields have planted quite a lot. These are seeds brought back from Gaochang. Who knew that planting them in Guanzhong would immediately succeed? For this merit, Hou Junji can add an extra pair of painted halberds outside his tent. Hou Junji values this honor very much.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I heard from my mother that next year we plan to plant even more cotton. Then please have Prince Wei figure out how we can spin all that cotton into thread. Then we can weave lots of fabric. This way, our Great Tang won’t only have silk, hemp, wool, and kudzu cloth, but will also have large quantities of cotton cloth.”
Mentioning cotton energized Hou Shi—it was her maternal family’s glory, so naturally she had to say more. Yun Ye said irritably: “Right now our textile machinery must first satisfy wool. This isn’t just as simple as weaving wool fabric—the court also relies on it to accomplish the grand plan of controlling the grasslands. We cannot slack off. Cotton doesn’t necessarily need to be woven into cloth. We can take the cotton, remove the seeds, dry it, and stuff it directly into padded jackets to make cotton-padded clothing. Very warm. Stuff it into blankets and it becomes cotton quilts. Covering yourself at night is very comfortable. When we go down the mountain in a bit, have Xinyue bring Your Majesty several. After using them, you’ll know their benefits.”
Empress Zhangsun nodded with a smile. Seeing the snow water had boiled, Yun Ye took the tea set and made tea for Empress Zhangsun. All black tea—he must first dispel the cold qi in her body.
Hearing the guards and palace maids outside gathering around the ground pit to warm themselves and cook mutton soup, Yun Ye also felt relieved. In such weather, not dispelling cold would cause illness. Yun Ye hadn’t come up just to care for Empress Zhangsun—the other people were also human. Usually they had all become familiar with Yun Ye. There was no need to treat them worse than pigs and dogs—that wasn’t the way to treat people.
With ginger slices added to the tea leaves, it became ginger tea. Empress Zhangsun held the teacup and drank three cups, immediately feeling her chest and abdomen warm. She removed her cloak and looked outside through the glass window in the felt, still feeling this snow scene was worth seeing. Slowly she recited: “Already surprised by cold quilts and pillows, again I see bright windows. Deep in night I know the snow is heavy, from time to time I hear bamboo breaking.”
After reciting the poem, she said to Yun Ye: “Last night I already knew it was snowing, but didn’t expect the snow would fall this heavily. I was awakened by the sound of bamboo breaking. Who knew that once I woke up, I couldn’t sleep again? Looking at the snow scene outside through the window, I became somewhat entranced. Involuntarily I looked up at Yushan. At that time I thought, standing atop Yushan viewing the earth—how magnificent that would be! So I urged the guards to clear the stone steps, and came up all the way like this. Alas, truly difficult for them. Hou Shi, after returning, reward each person with ten silver coins.”
Hou Shi quickly received the command. A clever palace maid immediately went out to tell the guards and maids outside this news. Immediately the people outside became happy, all saying loudly together: “Thank Your Majesty for the reward!” Shouting once would have been fine, but they insisted on shouting three times. The enormous sound waves echoed in the mountain valley. Yun Ye’s face turned deathly pale as he quickly helped Empress Zhangsun sit down.
Empress Zhangsun, not understanding why, had just sat down when she heard the entire mountain resounding, trembling. Hou Shi was so frightened she shrieked and burrowed into Empress Zhangsun’s arms. Empress Zhangsun’s face changed drastically as she looked strangely outside the warm pavilion. She only saw white snow everywhere, thunderous roars unceasing. Seven or eight high-ranking guards had already rushed in wielding swords, protecting the Empress behind them, their eyes rolling around looking for enemies.
Bastards! Who are the enemies? It’s you bastards shouting randomly in heavy snow! The accumulated snow on the windward slope was a full three feet thick. The slightest disturbance would cause a massive avalanche, yet a hundred-some people shouted at the top of their lungs together! Now you have the face to rush in to protect? Fortunately this was the mountaintop. Fortunately all the snow had just been cleared away. Otherwise, there would definitely have been some deaths and injuries.
Under the astonished gazes of Empress Zhangsun and Hou Shi, Yun Ye kicked each guard out one by one, saying to Empress Zhangsun: “Your Majesty, don’t be alarmed. Just now it was merely an avalanche. It will stop after rumbling a bit more. Let us continue drinking tea.”
Outside, snow spray flew everywhere. Visibility wasn’t even five meters. Palace maids clutched guards’ waists tightly. The guards took advantage of the opportunity to grope freely. Anyway, they were all men who faced death together. They had achieved the level of remaining calm when Mount Tai collapsed before them. As for women—that was another matter.
“Why would there be an avalanche? What is an avalanche?” Hearing the tremendous noise outside gradually subside, Empress Zhangsun asked Yun Ye.
“Your Majesty, as you saw, the heavy snow just falls and piles up randomly. Actually it’s very unstable. As long as there’s a little vibration, it will slide and cause a chain reaction. Finally large masses of accumulated snow will collapse. Imagine what a spectacular sight it would be if millions of pounds of snow rushed down from the mountain together.”
“Yun Ye, with so much snow rushing down, wouldn’t it completely bury the mountain path? Tell me, how do we get down?”
“Hou Shi, finally you’re smart for once. We’re actually now trapped on the mountain. We can’t get down.”
“What should we do?” Hou Lian’er was utterly panicked. Usually when there was trouble, either Father handled it for her or her husband handled it. How could she have imagined there would be today?
“Yun Ye, think of a solution. Don’t tease Lian’er.” Empress Zhangsun held the weeping Hou Shi and said to Yun Ye.