Di Renjie was suddenly startled. Carefully examining Gaesomun’s smiling face, he roared: “Retreat! Fall back!” He desperately dragged Zhang Yonglu, who was beside him preparing to capture Gaesomun, backward.
Seeing their commanding officer retreating, the surrounding soldiers and officers also fell back. There was only a thunderous boom, and the entire earth became brilliantly white. At some unknown moment, six bright white water columns had transformed into six winding fire dragons that plunged headlong into Gao Jianwu’s residence. The great fire, which had almost been extinguished, suddenly surged up into an enormous fireball. Flames burst out from the doors, windows, and roof, reddening half the sky.
Zhang Yonglu’s hands and feet went weak. Just now, if Di Renjie hadn’t dragged him along, he would have already been swallowed by the flames that sprayed out. Watching Gaesomun half-leaning against a pillar, covered by flames, he found himself utterly powerless.
Opposite Daixian Ward was Jiahui Ward. A woman with a seven-year-old child stood on a second-floor platform, dressed entirely in mourning white. When the great fire in Daixian Ward across the way began to burn, two streams of tears flowed down the woman’s cheeks. Blood traces were faintly visible at the corners of her mouth. The woman covered her mouth, continuously sobbing as she knelt down. The child wanted to help his mother wipe away her tears, but the more he wiped, the more there were.
“You finally don’t have to suffer anymore. You fulfilled your promise. Your word was always so reliable. I only hope you won’t wait for me in the underworld. You are a hero and should live like a hero. You once said to Yun Ye that awake, wielding the killing sword, drunk, resting on a beauty’s knee—that is how heroes should live. In the underworld, you should live like that. When I arrive in the underworld, I’ll let you pillow on my knee while I comb the disheveled hair from your forehead…”
Di Renjie’s head ached terribly. Such a great fire absolutely couldn’t be extinguished in a short time. He summoned water dragon teams from more locations. Only after inspecting the water tanks did they begin firefighting. If the other water dragons also sprayed fire oil, Daixian Ward would be finished.
By daybreak, Gao Jianwu’s home had been burned to bare ground. What was still burning now was Gaesomun’s home. Six exploded water dragon carts had also completely destroyed Gaesomun’s residence.
A single great fire ultimately burned away half of Daixian Ward before slowly being extinguished. By this time, two days had passed. The Emperor was furious and issued an edict punishing officials. Di Renjie, as the presiding official, automatically assumed all responsibility and was demoted one rank to observe his future performance. Unexpectedly, the one who incurred the deepest guilt was not him, but Li Dayin of the Water Conservancy Bureau, who was exiled by the Emperor to garrison the frontier at Yumen Pass.
Covered in soot and with a face full of black ash, Di Renjie returned home and lay in a soft chair, staring blankly at the sky.
Xiao Wu took a hot towel to wipe his face while quietly speaking words of comfort.
“Gaesomun was originally a person like a fierce tiger. Until the moment he stopped breathing, no one could underestimate him. If he wanted to kill Gao Jianwu, he would naturally make complete preparations. Moreover, he himself didn’t want to live anyway. Such a person is the most terrifying. Back then, Master confined him well on the Liao River, yet didn’t he still escape? There’s no need to grieve.”
“This time was extremely fortunate. You don’t know how dangerous it was. I thought the great fire was about to be extinguished, so I was very close to the fire scene. I never expected Gaesomun had already tampered with the water carts. What sprayed out at first was water, but what sprayed out later was fire oil. The entire heaven and earth were illuminated by six fire dragons. If Gaesomun hadn’t warned me, I would have been in danger too.”
“Gaesomun warned you?” Xiao Wu stopped, looking at Di Renjie with puzzlement. This kind of thing shouldn’t have happened—Gaesomun’s preparations were precisely to drag more people along to be buried with him.
“It was an exchange. He had me pluck a peony flower for him. I did as he asked, and then he told me to run quickly! I’m not saddened by Gaesomun’s life or death, or by being demoted one rank. I’m just puzzled that in Gaesomun’s eyes, my worth was only equal to one peony flower.”
Xiao Wu instinctively slapped Di Renjie’s forehead and said: “Fortunately, he didn’t hate you. If it were Master, he most likely wouldn’t have had such good fortune. However, that peony flower must have been extremely important to him. When a person reaches his state, all matters of life, death, and grievances should be viewed very lightly. He only wanted to leave without regrets, so that peony must have a story. He probably hoped you would tell this story to another person. Others are fools and wouldn’t understand, but my husband is clever and can definitely guess his intention. This is also why he chose you.”
Di Renjie sighed and said to Xiao Wu: “Change my clothes for me. I need to make a trip to Jiahui Ward. Since I agreed to the transaction, I must complete it thoroughly.”
Xiao Wu nodded and said: “What heroes and brave men, what generals and ministers, emperors and kings—as long as a man values affection deeply, he’s a good man. Even if he was an enemy who did this, he should be respected by all…”
Yun Ye was now receiving everyone’s respect. The entire garrison fort trembled under his roaring. The city walls were hung with human heads. Not far away, the Camel City was slowly moving. It had now formed a circle and was contracting inward. Inside the circle were over two thousand Turkic cavalrymen charging left and right. When the Camel City enclosed to the extreme range of powerful crossbows, it stopped. Amid Yun Ye’s roaring, ten thousand arrows were fired simultaneously. This band of Turks suffered attacks from all four directions. In less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, they were nearly all dead and wounded—not even a single horse remained standing.
For a month now, inexhaustible Turks had continuously appeared near the garrison fort, beginning to repeat last year’s tactics. Without killing off these roving cavalry, Yun Ye had no way to go rescue Guo Xiaoke, who was far away in Kucha.
Over two thousand heads were piled into a skull pyramid that stood on the wasteland outside the garrison fort. The stench of rotting flesh attracted wolf packs that howled one after another in the distance.
“Hehe, this old man has witnessed Marquis Yun’s divine might today. I just never imagined that the Camel City could also be used for ambushes. Such a clean and efficient battle formation—this old man is seeing it for the first time. Marquis Yun has so urgently cleared the threats here—do you plan to go rescue Guo Xiaoke?”
“This old man is merely asking. Here, Marquis Yun is the commander-in-chief. This old man has no intention of questioning you. I just want to know—aren’t we worried about being ambushed by rushing to Kucha City like this? Guo Xiaoke’s twenty thousand troops are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of enemy forces. He’s already held on for nearly two months. Why haven’t those Western Region people taken Kucha City yet?”
Du Ruhui sat beside Yun Ye’s seat, questioning the irritable Yun Ye.
“They want to besiege the city to strike at reinforcements. The only organized large armies in the entire Western Region are us and Guo Xiaoke, plus Luanshi City. Luanshi City only defends and doesn’t attack—they have absolutely no way to deal with it. So they can only set their sights on me. Aren’t they worried about being overstuffed?”
“My Camel City and my great army are not the Great Tang forces they’re familiar with. If they wandered about the Gobi, they really would give me a headache. Since they’ve banded together wanting to fight me head-on in a positional battle, this commander couldn’t ask for more. What’s the harm in letting them succeed once?” Yun Ye had great confidence in his army. All these years, he had done nothing else but forge a firearms force. In terms of frontal killing power, his army was absolutely the best in the world.
Now with the Camel City as the best defensive fortification, even facing many more enemies, Yun Ye wanted to try—to see whether the enemy’s bodies were more formidable, or whether his gunpowder and fire oil were more powerful.
Du Ruhui had witnessed how those two thousand Turks were easily eliminated. He already had a new assessment of Yun Ye’s army’s combat power. Since the commander-in-chief had already made up his mind, he could only agree. He had been forcibly kept in the Western Region by the treacherous situation. Since he couldn’t return, he might as well help Yun Ye handle various government affairs. In this area, even if Yun Ye tried his hardest, he couldn’t catch up to Du Ruhui. Moreover, recently Wu She, who extremely wanted recognition, had dragged him into the cellar to experience the divine light. The old fellow had begun agreeing with Wu She’s views without any basis. Now, if he didn’t bathe in the divine light for a while each day, his entire body felt uncomfortable.
Yun Ye didn’t leave a single soldier in Gaochang. If he dared to leave them, these people would become sacrificial victims. The Western Region people who returned would definitely inflict the cruelest punishments upon them.
The Great Tang personnel stationed in Beiting, whether civil officials or clerks, were all fellows who could ride horses and wield swords. Such talent was rare. Yun Ye stuffed all these two thousand-plus people onto the Camel City. From now on, Beiting’s administrative seat would be on the Camel City.
Du Ruhui signed over three hundred appointment letters in one night, all for minor officials of ranks no higher than seventh grade. In the vassal prefectures, he and Yun Ye had sufficient authority to appoint officials. The two men unanimously set the highest rank at seventh grade. Only fools like Hou Junji would dare to grant fifth-rank official positions.
Hot air balloons had been sent into the sky since last night. Unlike the hot air balloons in Chang’an, the hot air balloons on the Camel City had a rope attached that hung down, connecting to one of the largest platforms. There was also an iron wire connecting from the very top to Yun Ye’s wooden cabin. If there was a warning, a bamboo tube would slide down the iron wire to the ground. For enemies to launch a surprise attack on the Camel City, it would have to be during a sandstorm. However, according to the Camel City’s regulations, marching was not permitted in such weather.
Who knew how things were with Guo Xiaoke. The stubborn old fellow, at the instant he discovered enemies rushing toward him, had dispatched scouts to warn all directions. Yet in his dispatch, he hadn’t mentioned reinforcements with a single word.
Yun Ye detected from his dispatch a heavy scent of death. Twenty thousand men couldn’t hold back the Tubo people, allowing them to drive straight in—this in itself was a major crime. If his administrative seat had been in Khotan rather than Kucha, he could have coordinated with Luanshi City, defending against the Tubo people to the north and the Turks to the west. Even if he couldn’t win, if people broke through, it would be because the enemy’s strength was too great and he was outnumbered. In the future, returning to Chang’an, no one would say a word of criticism about this matter.
Now, since it was a strategic error, he as commander-in-chief bore inescapable responsibility.
Yun Ye could disregard Guo Xiaoke’s life or death. How innocent were the twenty thousand officers and soldiers following him into the gates of hell?
The Camel City stepped onto the Gobi, vast and mighty. Even the eagles in the sky avoided it from afar. Cheng Chumo’s cavalry continuously galloped before, behind, left, and right of the Camel City, clearing and inspecting suspicious areas indicated by the hot air balloons.