Since Yun Ye was far away in distant lands, he naturally didn’t need to concern himself with the bells and drums of the capital’s six major streets. When those grandees who had gone to the outskirts for excursions reluctantly left their red leaves or ancient plains following the drumbeats that cleared the streets, Yun Ye and his people were only just beginning to prepare their dinner.
The Meng family compound was packed with people. Meng Lu and the others had harvested bananas specifically to entertain their guests from afar. Yun Ye, Li Tai who had just recovered his ability to speak, and Hipatia stayed in a large tent. Xinyue and Na Rimu held their children while watching Yun Ye stir-fry shredded meat with banana flowers. Yun Xiang lay in the wet nurse’s arms, sleeping soundly. Lingdang busily assisted her husband.
Li Tai still spoke with a somewhat thick tongue, and his saliva flowed uncontrollably. After smelling the fragrance of Yun Ye’s stir-fried meat, his drool flowed even more freely. The obedient Li Rong constantly helped her uncle wipe away the saliva, while Li Tai enjoyed this service with a clear conscience.
Hipatia didn’t dare remove the handkerchief from her mouth—whenever she took it away, saliva would drip down. She and Li Tai truly were a heaven-made match. After she recovered her speech, the first person she complained about was Yun Ye, believing he had deliberately played tricks to make a fool of her.
The aroma of banana flower stir-fried with meat was extremely rich, quickly attracting many diners to Yun Ye. The adults were somewhat restrained, but those bare-bottomed children couldn’t care less. Food in the compound had always been shared by everyone. Although these children had already eaten their fill of bananas, this didn’t prevent them from continuing to wait for the banana flower stir-fried meat, not to mention there was also a fat sheep roasting over the fire.
Liu Jinbao considered the Marquis a gourmet, so as his personal attendant, he felt he should have some skills too. Thus he had learned excellent lamb-roasting techniques from the grasslands. The whole sheep showed no visible spices—unlike the imperial roasted lamb covered with a thick layer of seasoning. Liu Jinbao looked down on this practice of eating more spices than lamb.
That famous dish the Marquis had brought back from the palace called “something whole sheep,” Liu Jinbao had only eaten one bite, just to partake of its prestigious aura. As for tasting good, his own roasted sheep was more authentic. He had marinated it with spices for a whole day, and now he only needed to continuously brush on oil and let the salt flavor penetrate the meat—everything would be perfect.
He used a small knife to cut off the burnt, inferior parts and stuffed them into the mouths of those bare-bottomed children. Just as he was about to kick these children in their bottoms and drive them all out so he could carve the meat properly, Yun Ye glared at him. He hunched his neck and continued brushing oil on the lamb until it was roasted to a golden color, then placed it on a wooden platter, preparing to carve it.
“Give me the hind leg—with the tail still attached!” A white-haired old man burst in like the wind. As soon as he entered the tent, he shouted loudly—utterly unreasonable.
“Give me the other leg—without the tail!” A crisp female voice rang out. The two people casually cupped their hands toward Li Tai, then boldly sat down in the middle chairs waiting to eat lamb.
Without needing to read the Marquis’s expression, Liu Jinbao made a bitter face and removed the two lamb legs as instructed—one with the tail attached, which he presented to the white-haired old man, and one without the tail, which he presented to a woman in red.
He didn’t dare refuse. Li Jing and Hong Funv’s arrival in Lingnan made them two living Bodhisattvas. Not to mention Yun Ye couldn’t afford to offend them—even Li Tai couldn’t. Liu Jinbao was famous in Chang’an for his keen eye, so how could he not recognize these two?
After biting into the lamb, Li Jing contentedly voiced his approval, then turned to Yun Ye and said: “No need for ceremony. Continue frying the meat. This old man has rushed over ten thousand li through the night and is quite hungry. Treating hunger is more important than ceremony.”
Having said this, he brazenly accepted the bows from Li Tai, Xinyue, and the others. Hong Funv pointed at those bare-bottomed children staring at her fiercely and asked Li Tai: “Qing Que, why are they looking at me like this?”
“Auntie Hong, they’re not looking at you—they’re looking at their food.” Li Tai wiped away his drool and respectfully answered Hong Funv’s question, though his mind inexplicably conjured up that half-dead Qiu Ran Ke. These two hadn’t come to make trouble for him and Yun Ye, had they? Everyone said the Three Heroes of the Wind and Dust shared deep bonds of honor—if they learned that he and Yun Ye had exiled Qiu Ran Ke to a deserted island, wouldn’t their rage reach the heavens?
When Li Jing commanded troops abroad, he would naturally be constrained everywhere. But as long as he didn’t command armies and wasn’t involved in political struggles, the old fellow was absolutely the number one man in the military. In this state, even Li’er would yield to Li Jing by three measures, not to mention that recently Hou Junji had incited Li Chengqian to rebel. Zhangsun had boldly entrusted the military authority of the capital to Yuchi Gong, while the remaining four guard troops were handed to Li Jing. Relying solely on these four guard troops, he had suppressed Hou Junji on the grasslands until he could neither live nor die, and could only obediently bind his own hands, wear shackles, and walk back to the capital on foot. Speaking of the art of warfare, no one in the world could surpass Li Jing.
Yun Ye was unhurried. He added a large bowl of rice for everyone in the tent—those children were no exception. He piled meat strips on their bowls, then covered the lamb meat over the children’s bowls before sending them outside to eat. Xinyue, along with Na Rimu, Lingdang, and the children, also left in this manner. Hipatia was very perceptive, though her bowl appeared exceptionally large.
Liu Jinbao and Li Tai’s guard captain carried in two jars of strong liquor, then bowed and withdrew. Only Yun Ye, Li Tai, and the Li Jing couple remained in the tent.
“Counting the time, you two should have arrived by now. The monks at Daming Temple relayed the message, though it was still somewhat slow.” Yun Ye held his bowl eating rice, and added some meat strips to Li Tai’s bowl.
Li Jing set down his rice bowl and laughed heartily. Yun Ye frowned irritably—these old generals all shared the same habit. They had to laugh loudly before speaking, as if without doing so, they couldn’t demonstrate their boldness. Who had they learned this bad habit from?
“Good that you know. While this old man was stationed at Sanyuan suppressing Hou Junji, I heard you led giant warships to sweep across the entire South Sea. This old man knows that no matter how skilled Zhongjian might be, at sea he couldn’t possibly match General Yun, who was equipped with fire oil and gunpowder. In terms of martial skills, a hundred Yun Ye wouldn’t be enough for Zhongjian to kill alone. But when it comes to this kind of large-scale military operations, the more men Zhongjian has, the faster he’ll die. One man can come and go like the wind, but with a large group of subordinates, his fate becomes precarious.”
“Yun Ye, this old man asks a favor of you—spare Zhongjian, will you?”
“Zhang Zhongjian has wolf-like ambitions and actually intended to carve out territory and establish himself as king on Great Tang’s soil. You should know what crime this is. Great Tang fought a hundred battles to unify its territory. His Majesty just conquered Liaodong for the sake of territorial integrity. You yourself fought countless battles for unification. Now Qiu Ran Ke acts this way—whom is he being fair to?”
Yun Ye set down his rice bowl, his eyes unusually bright in the candlelight.
“You, you killed him?” Hong Funv asked Yun Ye in a trembling voice. Li Jing also looked at Yun Ye coldly. The warm Lingnan climate seemed unable to ward off this chill, and the door curtain moved on its own without any wind.
Yun Ye shook his head and sat down, sighing: “Marshal, you’re quite right. Qiu Ran Ke alone could come and go like the wind, with almost no one able to restrain him. But he had to go and try to carve out his own territory. If the Marshal had helped him, there might have been a slim chance. But alone, he naturally had flaws everywhere. The ocean is a cruel place. I’m not the only hero there. Under schemes and plots, suffering utter disaster is just a common occurrence.”
“Are you saying you didn’t kill Zhongjian—someone else killed him?” Li Jing also exhaled, relieved. Fighting with Yun Ye wasn’t something he wanted to see, especially with Prince Wei Tai present.
“Not only did I not kill him, I actually saved him. When I found him, someone had stabbed him through the thigh and tied him to the mast with rope. He personally witnessed my great battle with pirates. Naturally, how could pirates match the Great Tang navy? They were naturally scattered. The ocean has passages in all directions. With few ships and needing to protect merchant vessels, I let the enemy depart.”
“Where is Zhongjian?” Hong Funv interjected.
“With your affection and Uncle’s, what could I do to him? Once on land, he would inevitably take a trip to the Eastern Market execution grounds. Under national law, I’m afraid even you would find it difficult to help.”
Li Jing’s pupils contracted as he said word by word: “You actually exiled him alone on a deserted island?”
“Not alone. I also gave him a Japanese woman, plus an axe. Naturally, I also helped control his injuries. Tell me—treating him this way, haven’t I done all that benevolence and duty require?”
Li Jing and Hong Funv finally felt relieved. As long as he was alive, they could hire a ship to bring him back. They only didn’t know where he was. Just as they were about to ask, they heard Yun Ye continue: “He’s in the South Seas, not on the monsoon route. The ocean currents there are strange—they only roll backward. Without sufficiently strong sails, it’s impossible to reach there. Even if you reach that island, you can’t get out. As far as I know, the only ships that can safely reach that island and safely return are the Chengqian, the Qing Que, and the Princess. Of course, in another year or so, the Great Emperor will naturally have no problem either. If you want to retrieve him, it will be very difficult.”
“Lend us your Princess!” Hong Funv suddenly stood up, directly making her demand of Yun Ye. Li Jing shook his head at Hong Funv saying: “It won’t work. His Majesty has already classified the Princess as a national treasure. How could it be privately lent to individuals? The Qing Que is the same. Yun Ye, do these two ships already have Five Li Inspectors aboard?”
Yun Ye nodded and picked up his rice bowl saying: “You two needn’t worry. That island has a warm climate and abundant resources. Qiu Ran Ke will have no worry of starvation. What’s wrong with living on the island with the Japanese woman, having children? They can truly live freely and at ease on that island. After a few years, once his wild nature has been worn away and he no longer harbors ambitions of founding a nation, I’ll bring him back.”
“If you hurriedly bring him back now, how will you settle him? Marshal, you’re also a Great Tang general—how would you conduct yourself facing a rebel? Kill him—that’s being disloyal to a friend. Release him—that’s being disloyal to the nation. At that time, caught between these difficulties, I made this choice.”
“The Marshal already faces suspicion everywhere in the court. You can only remain safe thanks to His Majesty’s wisdom. If Qiu Ran Ke, this reckless man who planned to found a nation, returns, your whole family’s safety would be at risk. Knowing your difficulty, I simply took the decision upon myself. At least you won’t fall into trouble.”
Li Jing sighed deeply and led the unwilling Hong Funv out of the tent. Li Tai asked curiously: “When you originally exiled Qiu Ran Ke, did you really think through all this?”
“No. It was just for fun.”