Gaoshan Yangzi hadn’t gone far—she was right next door in the Prefectural Governor’s mansion. The army quickly surrounded the governor’s residence, but hanging from the top of the main gate was a person, a plump middle-aged man. Upon seeing Yun Ye, he kicked his short legs and shouted loudly, “Marquis Yun! Marquis Yun! Don’t launch a forceful assault! The Prince is inside! That damned Lu Chengqing betrayed us and told the female pirate about the Prince being in Quanzhou. That pirate says that if you attack by force, the first head to be chopped off will be my Prince’s!”
Prince Jiang Li Yuanxiang was Li Yuan’s twenty-first son, a product of Li Yuan after he was imprisoned by Li Er. He was only thirteen years old this year. After entering the academy, he was unceremoniously expelled by Li Gang for being too stupid. Though only thirteen, he was a genuine glutton. The academy’s record for eating braised pork was set by him—eating ten people’s portions in one sitting. He was hailed as the academy’s number one foodie. Besides eating, his other specialty was sleeping. Teacher Li Gang initially took pity on him and decided to teach him well so he could support himself in the future. Yet he could actually snore away during Li Gang’s individual instruction. Teacher Li Gang’s roaring couldn’t make him reform in the slightest. Li Er praised him as an “obstinate stone.”
However, this fellow also had merits—namely, a good temper. He greeted everyone with a smile and could face pranks from other students with a grin. This instead aroused compassion from some of the academy’s poor students. Among them was a fellow called Peng Du who said to Li Yuanxiang, “In this lifetime I never want to leave my hometown of Yuezhou. I don’t have grand ambitions—I only want to serve my parents until their old age. If you can ask His Majesty to enfeoff you as Prince Jiang of Min-Yue, I’m willing to be your subordinate official and never leave you for my entire life.”
Yuezhou was a poor place. Unexpectedly, this Li Yuanxiang actually went to find his emperor brother and requested to be enfeoffed to Yuezhou as this Prince Jiang of Min-Yue. Li Er also agreed, because this request truly wasn’t excessive.
Li Yuanxiang was a good-for-nothing who only knew how to eat and sleep, but Peng Du was a formidable character, and moreover a man whose word carried tremendous weight. He declined recruitment by the central government and followed the penniless Li Yuanxiang to Yuezhou, making Fang Xuanling so angry he threw his cup.
Li Yuanxiang became Prince Jiang at age eleven. In two years’ time, Yuezhou’s livelihood prosperity was second only to Hangzhou of Qiantang Commandery. What they relied on was close commercial ties with Quanzhou. A fellow who could eat and sleep didn’t actually spend much. Peng Du raised him like a pig and held all of Yuezhou’s power in one hand. Rather than saying Li Yuanxiang was Prince Jiang, it was more accurate to say this fellow Peng Du was Prince Jiang. Li Er knew the truth but never investigated, because letting Li Yuanxiang manage Yuezhou would only be a disaster for the local citizens, whereas Peng Du was practically a model of filial piety and never abused his power.
When a pig fattens, it should be slaughtered, but Li Yuanxiang must not die. Yun Ye could be certain that as soon as Li Yuanxiang died, the pressure on Li Er would be enormous, and Yun Ye would also suffer—severely so.
He sent someone to bring down Li Yuanxiang’s steward and finally learned the reason Li Yuanxiang came to Quanzhou—he came to select a birthday gift for Li Er. This reasoning would make sense even if explained to the heavens.
“Marquis Yun, even if you look down on my Prince, surely you care about the lives of over three hundred children in the mansion? Don’t you care about the lives of a hundred or so women? Surely you won’t ignore the lives of Quanzhou’s officials large and small either? That female pirate said that you’re now burning with rage, and the lives of over ten thousand pirates probably aren’t enough to quell Marquis Yun’s anger. She’s giving you one night to consider. Right now there are only over three thousand pirates in the mansion. As long as you agree to give her ten ships and remove the Great Emperor’s rudder, she’ll leave immediately and swear never to set foot in the strait again.”
“Hmph, hmph, hmph!” Yun Ye sneered coldly, grabbing Prince Jiang’s steward by the collar and saying, “In Quanzhou, this old master’s Lingnan Naval Forces have dead covering the ground. In Quanzhou, common citizens have dead covering the ground. Does she think this debt can be casually erased? If she doesn’t enter the strait, this old master will leave the strait to find her. Go tell that whore—I’ll give her the ships, and I’ll also remove the Great Emperor’s rudder. Doesn’t she want three days? This old master gives them! Hurry up and get the hell out of Quanzhou. How I wish right now only your Prince was in that mansion—that way I could immediately attack and slaughter them all to extinction.”
Yun Ye’s killing intent nearly suffocated Prince Jiang’s steward. Nodding, he crawled into the prefectural residence. This fellow was also a loyal and devoted person who didn’t care about his life for his worthless master.
Shortly after, Cheng Jiu walked out with white cloth wrapped around his belly. Seeing Yun Ye, he cupped his hands and said, “Marquis Yun, this lowly one will now follow you to the harbor to watch you dismantle the Great Emperor’s rudder. Once the rudder is removed, the Princess will immediately board the ships. Three hours later, those of us remaining in the mansion will release everyone. Those who stay behind will be at your disposal.”
Yun Ye couldn’t be bothered talking with pirates. He waved his hand and had Liu Renyuan handle it, taking Cheng Jiu to watch the shipwrights dismantle the Great Emperor’s rudder. He himself sat in a chair before the prefectural governor’s gate, waiting for Lai Chuanfeng to deal with those captured pirates and waiting for Li Yifu and the others to report casualty figures to him.
An hour later, Li Yifu and Pang Yuhai, covered entirely in bloodstains, came to report. The casualties among Quanzhou’s citizens actually reached as many as a thousand, and his own subordinate soldiers also suffered casualties exceeding a thousand. This was truly a damned disaster.
The captured pirates were being strung through the shoulder blades with iron wire by Lai Chuanfeng, ten to a team, being sent to the harbor to await loading onto ships for transport to Crab Island to be impaled on poles. This time, Yun Ye didn’t plan to spare a single pirate.
Removing the Great Emperor’s rudder was easy, but installing it would be extremely complicated, requiring towing it into a dry dock. Even if the shipwrights rushed repairs without eating or drinking, it would take at least three days to properly install the rudder. Its tail rudder weighing two thousand pounds simply couldn’t be installed by human strength alone—mechanical assistance was absolutely necessary. Gaoshan Yangzi had chosen the most trouble-free method to eliminate her greatest threat. Three days later, for the Great Emperor to find ten ships on the vast ocean would truly be like fishing a needle from the sea. No matter how fast the Great Emperor was, there was no way to catch up with Gaoshan Yangzi who had already departed three or four days earlier.
The sky darkened. Cheng Jiu returned, and shortly after, Gaoshan Yangzi led a large contingent of pirates out of the prefectural residence. Passing before Yun Ye, she gracefully performed a courtesy and said, “This time Marquis Yun was misled by mediocrities. This younger sister was fortunate to achieve a draw with you. Next time we clash at sea, who lives and who dies will be up to heaven’s decree.”
Yun Ye looked with a dark expression at Lu Chengqing in Gaoshan Yangzi’s group and said, “You hold the noble rank of Duke—can it be you don’t even care about your family and are prepared to defect to the enemy?”
Lu Chengqing, haggard to the extreme, gave a miserable laugh and said, “Lu Chengqing was too clever by half, raising a tiger as a threat. Now I reap what I sowed and can only cry ‘what can be done!’ The Lu family is doomed. Such a tremendous catastrophe—all the Lu family’s lives thrown in wouldn’t be enough! Last time when His Majesty destroyed the Lu clan, I escaped calamity because I was a distant branch. This time there’s absolutely no survival. Even if I don’t die, countless people will cause my Lu family’s extermination. Since it’s thus, why shouldn’t I, Lu Chengqing, flee far away, marry a foreign woman as wife, and beget offspring anew? After death I can at least face the Lu family’s ancestors. Marquis Yun, just take pity on this Lu Chengqing once and let me go—how about it?”
Lu Chengqing’s cold and heartless words made Yun Ye’s spine turn cold. For a person to be selfish to this degree was truly unprecedented through the ages. Completely disregarding his elderly mother, wife and children, allowing them to go to their deaths—as long as he himself escaped with his life, that was fine. How selfish must one be to do such a thing?
Just a dog. Killing him now would inevitably dirty his own hands. He waved his hand indicating he should quickly scram. Gaoshan Yangzi didn’t board the warships Yun Ye had prepared for her, but instead selected ten ships herself, quickly leading her people aboard before setting sail and departing. Yun Ye didn’t make any obstruction, only watching the departing large ships and showing a smile for the first time.
Yun Ye didn’t wait three hours. With water dragons at the ready, he rapidly entered the prefectural residence. Upon entering the gate, he discovered the courtyard was covered with corpses—fortunately, all Japanese. The other women and children were all tied up tightly and thrown in the courtyard. On the wall was written a line of large characters: “This is out of respect that you are a good person—a gift left for you.” The signature was Gaoshan Yangzi.
Yun Ye pulled out a small hourglass from his bosom, watching the continuously flowing sand and muttering to himself, “Am I really a good person? Why don’t I feel that way?”
Putting away the hourglass, he walked into the main hall. The soldiers were all busy untying these women and children. As for those officials, Yun Ye’s intention was to keep them tied up a while longer.
In the main hall was a huge round table piled high with food. An enormously fat youth was gorging himself. Yun Ye sat opposite, picked up a braised pork trotter and also began his assault. That fatty said to Yun Ye while eating and mumbling indistinctly, “This Prince just knew Marquis Yun wouldn’t abandon this Prince. You’re actually the kindest person under heaven. This Prince knew this at the academy. Heh, heh, heh. It was this Prince who said all the good words that made that Japanese woman not kill a single person. It was also this Prince who told Lu Chengqing he should follow that Japanese woman. Everyone’s been killing until their hands went soft these past two days, right? This way, with everyone on good terms all peaceful and harmonious, isn’t this a wonderfully great thing?”
“But Marquis Yun, is there any way you can save my steward’s life? I promised to do business with that Japanese woman in the future and even wrote a letter of allegiance for her. Can you see if you can get it back together? These were all expedient measures taken to save those women and children. But if my emperor brother finds out, I’ll still be in huge trouble. You must help me with this.”
Yun Ye looked up in astonishment at this mountain of flesh. He suddenly felt he might have misjudged people before. This bastard was definitely playing the pig to eat the tiger, and it seemed he intended to keep playing this harmless pig indefinitely.
The fatty prince, in the midst of his busy eating, lifted his head to look at Yun Ye and sighed, “So my loyal steward can’t come back? The stone lions at your house can fly up by themselves and crush people to death. The wheel at Wei Zheng’s house can also crush people to death. The precious blade at the Zhangsun house can cut people by itself. Even Li Pengcheng’s buttocks can sit people into meat paste. All treasures! I’m guessing that no matter which ship that Japanese woman chooses, that ship will definitely sink. Isn’t that right? Why don’t you speak? What are you gaping your mouth for?”
“Those ten ships won’t sink by themselves—they’ll just become piles of rotten wood chips.”
“They’ll explode? How pitiful. My steward really can’t come back.”