The screens in the Liangyi Hall were constantly being replaced because His Majesty the Emperor’s comprehensive map of the realm required continuous updates. Today a city was discovered in the north, tomorrow a small island was found at sea, and two days later, a group of dark-skinned people in some southern location actually claimed to be Tang subjects and had established an official government there, yet the Ministry of War and Ministry of Revenue of Great Tang had no knowledge of having such subordinates.
This caused the maps to be constantly changed. Students studying geography at the academy couldn’t even wait until graduation before being recruited entirely by the Ministry of War and Ministry of Revenue—some went to survey and draw military maps, while others drew civilian maps. Great Tang’s maps had long since evolved past the era when drawing a line meant a river and drawing a circle meant a city. Various standardized symbols had made Great Tang’s maps extremely accurate.
The prime meridian happened to pass right beneath the imperial throne in the Hall of Ten Thousand People. That location would be the origin point, the origin point of the entire world. All maps indicated that it sat right under the Emperor’s bottom. For this reason, the Ministry of Works specifically memorialized His Majesty the Emperor to permanently fix that dragon throne to the earth as the world’s origin point—it couldn’t keep moving around.
What troubled the Ministry of Works most was that island at the mouth of the Yangtze River. It was still sliding toward the sea day and night without stopping. That sand dune which initially had only a tiny bit of area had now become a sizable island, fully one li in circumference. The island covered entirely in fine sand had grown thick with reeds. All ships passing by would circle around this island, dreaming of finding the legendary self-growing soil on the island. However, over all these years, whether shamanic wizards who could command flying sand and walking stones, Daoist masters with powerful magic, or high monks of perfect virtue, none had the fortune to lay eyes on this peerless treasure. Li Er had suspiciously asked Yun Ye about it no fewer than three times—he very much wanted to know whether something like self-growing soil truly existed.
No explanation was of any use. The clear, bright waters of the Yangtze River carrying sediment? That was simply a joke. Only the flooding Yellow River would roar downstream while wrapped in muddy yellow soup.
Ancient winds transported dust from the distant interior to the Guanzhong Plain, creating the most abundant civilization on the loess plateau. But this most easily eroded loess was continuously transported by the Yellow River to the Shandong Plain, so much so that the sea surface there was gradually disappearing—first turning into tidal flats, then soon becoming solid soil.
Li Er was pleased to see the national territory continuously increasing, but the Yellow River’s constantly swaying tail made that land unsuitable for human habitation. In the span of twenty years, the Yellow River’s outlet to the sea had already changed four times. For this reason, the Emperor specifically issued an edict forbidding common people from reclaiming land there. Great Tang had far too much other land available for cultivation.
The prime meridian continued extending, and the line segments on both sides also kept expanding outward. Once the horizontal lines were determined, they would turn every inch of Great Tang’s territory into a coordinate point. Whether atop Mount Tai or in deep canyons, there would always be two perpendicular line segments intersecting there.
Zhangsun was the overlord in the imperial palace. Much of the time, this enormous imperial city actually belonged to her. Aside from managing the Hall of Ten Thousand People, Li Er never inquired about any other places. So when Yun Ye strolled through the palace following Zhangsun, it really had the flavor of using borrowed authority to intimidate others.
Yun Ye didn’t go to the inner palace, nor was there any need to. Besides, Zhangsun guarded that place very strictly. Not only could Yun Ye not enter, even Li Tai couldn’t enter. Yang Fei had moved to the newly built Chunhua Palace across from Taiye Pool, leading over a hundred palace maids and eunuchs in growing greenhouse vegetables. Yin Fei had moved to Xiahua Palace on the left side of Taiye Pool, also taking a hundred or so eunuchs and palace maids there to exclusively weave brocade.
So now in the imperial palace, the vegetables Li Er ate and the clothes he wore were all personally grown and woven by his own wives. As a result, the Shu brocade tributes from early years that never ceased had already stopped for a full six years.
When Yun Ye entered the palace, if not going to see the Emperor, he would be paying respects to his three elders: Zhangsun, Yang Fei, and Yin Fei. He didn’t feel there was any necessity to visit Li Er’s other concubines. Only that little bastard Li Zhi had such preferences.
Yang Fei and Yin Fei both had their own work to do, and so did Zhangsun. There was one place that only the Emperor and Empress could enter, so the cleanliness there was always personally attended to by Zhangsun.
This place was the Imperial Realm Hall. As soon as the windows were opened, one could see all of Great Tang’s geographical mountains and rivers. Though they were all miniaturized sand tables, Li Er loved this place to his very bones. If he didn’t spend the time it takes to burn a stick of incense in the Imperial Realm Hall each day, his entire body would feel uncomfortable. Only here could he most intuitively see exactly what kind of realm he ruled.
The sand table transformed the abstract concept into reality presented before the Emperor’s eyes. So much so that Li Er only needed to see the sand table to feel comfortable from his very bones. This was the witness to his lifelong achievements.
Yun Ye and Li Tai stood outside the door, watching through the window as Zhangsun wiped bit by bit the glass covering the sand table. The surface was already spotlessly clean, yet Zhangsun still wiped very carefully. This was just for show. Yun Ye reckoned those four old eunuchs standing behind the pillars—would they dare not dust every day? With Li Er’s King of Hell temperament, if he saw his most beloved thing dirty and filthy, it would be strange if he didn’t chop off a few heads. If Zhangsun wanted to thoroughly clean this entire palace hall, that couldn’t be accomplished in just a day or two.
She simply relied on this behavior to show her husband the greatest respect. Sure enough, in the time it took to burn a stick of incense, Zhangsun had already finished. Looking back at the Imperial Realm Hall, her face was full of satisfaction.
Zhangsun had no intention of letting Yun Ye and Li Tai leave today. Coming out from the Imperial Realm Hall, she went directly to Yang Fei’s Chunhua Palace. This too was one of Zhangsun’s daily routines.
Yang Fei had now become entirely radiant with vigor. Wearing white gloves made of silk, she was mulching soil around an eggplant plant. Inside the enormous greenhouse, spring vitality abounded, and various vegetables were growing splendidly. Yun Ye picked a cucumber, rinsed it in the water vat, and began munching. Li Tai ran off to pick a bright red wolf peach. This thing was a tomato, which Zhangsun had obtained from the old nuns at Ganye Temple. The Yun family’s greenhouse also had a few plants; large-scale cultivation would have to wait until next year.
“This child! These wolf peaches are all being saved as seeds for next year—how could you just pick one?” Yang Fei feigned anger for a moment, while Li Tai walked away chuckling.
Yang Fei found a small stool and handed it to Zhangsun, then sat down beside her. Picking up the teapot, she poured a cup of tea for Zhangsun and said, “Try this—it’s flower tea, made with flowers grown in the greenhouse. It calms the spirit and settles the qi. It’s perfect for us to drink.”
Yun Ye looked at Yang Fei with her hair wrapped in a blue cloth kerchief, and for a moment couldn’t associate this woman of second-highest status in the world with a peasant woman. She was different from Zhangsun. Ever since having her own greenhouse, she seemed to have become extremely content. Apart from asking the Emperor for some rare flower and exotic grass seeds, she had no other requests. Her two sons—one in Wu territory, one in Shu—were both doing quite well. Though not by her side, Yang Fei was very pleased. Only by staying far from the court could these two princes with Yang Guang’s bloodline be safe and sound. Especially now, with neither of her two children embroiled in the struggle for imperial power, this particularly made her feel content.
“Elder Sister works tirelessly all day—you should also pay attention to your health. Little Sister has labored these years, and though I no longer have the leisure of living in pampered luxury, I’ve gained freedom from illness and disaster. Those minor ailments I had before have all cured themselves without medicine. After His Majesty returns, you should come over too. We sisters can properly enjoy the pleasures of pastoral life together.”
Zhangsun held Yang Fei’s hand and said, “I don’t have such good fortune as you. Zhi’er’s matters nearly drove me to madness. If not for these two children being magnanimous, I would have long since been angered to death. I’ll endure a few more years. When I truly no longer have the strength to manage things, I’ll naturally let go. The waves of the Yangtze always cover one another.”
Yang Fei smiled and said, “In this imperial palace, aside from Elder Sister being able to manage it with calm and stability, no one else has the capability to govern it well. This requires ability. Elder Sister could actually command troops on horseback without any problem. A small imperial palace couldn’t cause Elder Sister much trouble. Just be at ease.”
Zhangsun seemed to hear such words often. She smiled slightly and picked up her teacup to drink tea.
Yun Ye privately speculated whether this kind of dialogue took place daily. Perhaps Zhangsun came here so diligently in part to observe Yang Fei’s reactions.
Thinking this, Yun Ye wanted to slap himself twice—he shouldn’t think of Zhangsun in such a sordid way. But he could never convince himself otherwise. Before his eyes, Li Ke’s portly figure kept swaying.
The Emperor had sent most of the princes to eat sand in the desert. Not many remained in the Central Plains. The most powerful princes were Prince of Wu, Ke, Prince of Shu, An, and if one must add another, then Prince of Qi, You.
These four princes were all key surveillance targets of the Department of Waterways. Li An had written more than once saying he lived like a prisoner. Sometimes when he wanted to go hunting, the Governor of Yizhou would immediately dispatch a large group of soldiers to follow him. Most annoying were the Five Li Commanders by his side, who always followed him inseparably. His every trip to the privy was probably crystal clear to the Emperor.
The letter was written by Shishi using pinyin—this skill was taught to Shishi by Yun Ye only after seeing that Li An truly had no freedom whatsoever. He only hoped Li An could complain to him about his inner dissatisfaction. When a person’s inner gloom couldn’t be vented for a long time, all sorts of strange and peculiar ideas would eventually arise.
They could only gain complete freedom on the day Li Chengqian ascended the throne. Transforming from imperial sons to imperial brothers—only then could they become like other imperial clan members, able to return to Chang’an from time to time to visit their mothers.
He disliked the way things were done in the imperial palace. This was not a world belonging to normal people. That Yang Fei and Yin Fei hadn’t gone mad by now was probably thanks to these greenhouses and the busy work of weaving brocade.