The convoy had been blocked by ice chunks in the Yellow River for four days. Yun Ye was no longer anxious to return to the capital. Although Tian Xiangzi was a madman, he still had reason. He wouldn’t do anything foolish to harm Yun Ye’s family. As long as his family was safe and sound, Yun Ye could relax and prepare to have a good sleep in a proper house. These past days sleeping in drafty tents on all sides had thoroughly disgusted him. Sleeping was originally his greatest hobby. Now that he had the mood and the conditions, naturally he wanted to thoroughly enjoy it.
He heated a large bucket of scalding bath water and submerged his entire body in the water, letting the warm water envelop him. The water isolated external noise. His whole person seemed to be in a womb. He curled up his body, allowing himself to float and sink in the wooden bucket. Only when his lungs were about to burst from holding his breath did he poke his head above water, breathing in great gulps, as if reborn. He repeatedly tried this feeling of approaching death, never tiring of it.
His own life was completely different from everyone else’s lives, like an incompetent editor who forcibly connected two completely different films together. How was he, this actor, to continue performing this play well?
Fortunately, there was an omnipotent master. The gaps created by his clumsy performance were all mended by the old man. Now this phantom teacher had gradually taken complete form in Yun Ye’s heart.
He didn’t need to be very tall—an ordinary person’s height was sufficient. A broad forehead full of wisdom, a face forever bearing a warm smile, eyes without a trace of darkness, three strands of long beard flowing on his chest, hands holding a scroll but not reading it, always looking at Yun Ye with an indulgent gaze.
A lie told a thousand times indeed became truth. Now, even facing the most precise polygraph from the later era, Yun Ye believed that upon mentioning his master, the judgment given by the polygraph would certainly be wrong. In his current state, deceiving a polygraph posed no problem at all.
Upon returning, he’d find Yan Liben and have him paint a portrait according to his description, then find a room to hang it in. Other people all had faith—he needed faith too. Gods and Buddhas were false, all illusions conjured from imagination. What was wrong with him also imagining one?
Actually, in the depths of Yun Ye’s mind, it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in gods and Buddhas—rather, from the bottom of his heart, he somewhat hated them. Think about it: when he’d just traversed through the wormhole arriving at Great Tang, standing naked on the wasteland calling out to the gods and Buddhas filling the sky for salvation—as a result, the gods and Buddhas had no response whatsoever. If not for that horse herd, he would have long since become wolf dung.
So he hated immortals. Even if an immortal stood before him right now, Yun Ye’s first reaction wouldn’t be to prostrate himself, but to curse angrily.
From his bundle he took out his own towel. This was brought from the later era. In these two years, he rarely used this towel. Only when feeling lost and helpless did he take it out, dip it in water, and wipe his entire body. It seemed this would bring him a trace of comfort.
Putting on soft hemp clothes, Yun Ye lay on the thickly padded bed couch and began his sleep. He had instructed the Yun family guards that during his sleeping period, no one was allowed to disturb him until he woke naturally.
In Chang’an of the fourth year of Zhenguan, good news continued unceasingly.捷报 continuously arrived from the frontiers. First, Cheng Yaojin utterly defeated a Turkic detachment in Longyou. Then Chai Shao captured Xiangcheng. Following that, the great victory at Yinshan was transmitted to the capital. Xie Li was captured alive—this was a great victory unprecedented in several hundred years. The curfew in Chang’an City was lifted for three days. The entire city celebrated wildly, singing and dancing through the night. Celebrations in Taiji Palace never ceased.
The military officers’ achievements stimulated the civil officials in the court until their eyes turned red. They couldn’t possibly go to the frontier to kill enemies and establish merit. To achieve meritorious service, they could only set their sights domestically. How to properly settle disaster victims harmed by locusts became the civil officials’ preferred work.
Facts proved that when civil officials became ruthless, military officers fell far short. In an instant, countless unyielding magistrates emerged. To gather sufficient grain, they brutally opened those grain merchants’ warehouses, tossing them only some insignificant copper coins—five wen per dou, the grain price before the great disaster.
The county magistrate of Chang’an County, Wu Peng—styled Wu Mingyuan—carried a coffin and ordered yamen runners to open Princess Wuyang’s granary. Six thousand shi of grain were forcibly purchased and distributed to disaster victims overnight. Afterward, this county magistrate went barefoot with disheveled hair around the city once, making an example of himself, all along informing Chang’an’s common people that he was enormously guilty, having profaned imperial dignity, letting everyone under heaven take warning from this. Afterward, he knelt before the palace gate, prostrating endlessly, requesting capital punishment.
Fang Xuanling removed his robe and draped it over Wu Peng. Du Ruhui took off his hat and placed it on Wu Peng’s head. All the civil officials each tore a corner of their clothing and wrapped his feet tightly. Together they knelt before the palace gate praying for Wu Peng’s life.
His Majesty the Emperor was furious. In one day, twelve officials were demoted. Fang Xuanling was rebuked in court. Du Ruhui was fined five hundred copper coins. Wu Peng was exiled far away to Bozhou, not to return without imperial edict. Princess Wuyang’s hoarding crime lay with her Prince Consort Liang Kun. His title was stripped, he was demoted to commoner status. Princess Wuyang was to become a nun for three years, her fief was reclaimed, and she could not enter the palace without cause.
When Wu Peng’s entire family left Chang’an, the streets were emptied of people. After drinking a bowl of Chang’an water, they exited the south gate and raced all the way toward Bozhou. Unexpectedly, at Yanzi Ji on the Yangtze River, they encountered bandits. The entire family perished. The killers didn’t do it cleanly—three men were captured and confessed they were directed by the former Prince Consort Liang Kun. All under heaven was in uproar.
Wei Zheng submitted a memorial crying injustice for Wu Peng, requesting the Emperor capture Liang Kun to establish righteousness under heaven and purify court discipline. For a time, all officials boiled with rage. Using death warriors to threaten and assassinate officials only appeared in chaotic times. If Liang Kun didn’t die, heaven’s principle wouldn’t tolerate it.
After the Court of Judicial Review submitted the case files, in only three days, Liang Kun was beheaded at the execution ground, his corpse exposed for three days. Princess Wuyang’s princess title was removed, and she was ordered to become a nun forever, never to return to secular life.
After this incident, the civil official group’s morale soared. Their usually procrastinating style completely changed. Officials close to the people rushed about everywhere, seeking welfare for disaster-stricken common people. Great Tang’s Zhenguan prosperity thus began its opening.
With powerful government assistance, Guanzhong common people who’d suffered locust disasters returned home before spring plowing. The court distributed large numbers of oxen and draft horses to help people rebuild their homes. The Li imperial dynasty created a new record—throughout the entire winter, not a single commoner froze or starved to death due to lack of clothing or food. Society was extremely stable. At the autumn executions, only twenty-seven people were put to death. This had to be called a miracle.
Li Chengqian closed the case file and rubbed his sore eyes. Yesterday, the last batch of disaster victims would return to Qishan. Originally they hadn’t wanted to return, saying that working in the Yun Estate area was much better than farming. The masters were kind, never harming them. At this year’s festival, each family was even given three jin of meat. Farming in Qishan for a year didn’t include eating meat. The disaster victims knew that if they didn’t return home, they’d bring trouble to the Yun family. They specially selected elders to ask the Crown Prince—could they finish all the work at hand before returning?
This question stumped Li Chengqian. Where were there tenant farmers unwilling to farm their own family’s fields who preferred working for others? This completely exceeded his expectations. He didn’t understand how these farming households thought. As it turned out, he didn’t need to ask. Seeing farming household children holding large bowls, stuffing soup cakes into their mouths—he understood why these farming households were unwilling to return home. Which farming household didn’t spend half the year subsisting on thin gruel? The hired workers at the Yun family estate had already started eating their fill of white flour. How prosperous would the residents on that estate be? Was this still a disaster year?
Although after those farming households finished the last bit of work in their hands, they dismantled their own shacks. Knowing Yun family people loved cleanliness, they swept the places they’d lived spotlessly clean. Leading wives, children, and elderly, dragging the money and grain they’d earned at Yun Estate, they left with three backward glances for every step forward.
Li Chengqian recalled the scene of disaster victims receiving dry rations gifted by the Yun family, crying in masses—his heart felt sour. If it were any other great family daring to do this, a hat of “buying popular sentiment” would come down, making them suffer the consequences.
The Yun family was a special case. If anyone in court said the Yun family harbored evil intentions, never mind others—his own Imperial Father would spit in that fellow’s face. The seventeen-year-old only heir and family head was several thousand li away, crawling through ice and lying in snow, suffering bitterly for Great Tang. At home, a group of women and children understood nothing. They’d merely shown a bit of compassion. Would this be connected to preparing rebellion?
Chang’an City was very uninteresting now. This morning Li Chengqian had even heard Grandfather Li Yuan complaining, saying that without that boy Yun Ye, even playing mahjong was especially boring. Lanling had run to him demanding braised pork. As a result, after just one bite, she spat it out, complaining it wasn’t as delicious as what Yun Ye made. She kept asking when he’d return—last time’s ghost story was only told halfway, making people’s hearts itch.
Elder Sister Li Anlan had several times hesitated to speak. Seeing such circumstances, Li Chengqian could only shake his head and sigh. Once marriage destiny was missed, looking back again, a hundred years had passed. He very much hoped Yun Ye would become his brother-in-law. Two proud people together were destined to have no good result. These days, Imperial Father and Imperial Mother had already begun discussing Elder Sister’s marriage. After all, she was already sixteen years old. If she were any other princess, at this age she would have long since become a mother.
Yun Ye was engaged. Upon hearing this news, Imperial Father had been despondent for several days. Imperial Mother also felt regret for Elder Sister. The Grand Emperor had also distanced himself considerably from Elder Sister. It was just a small friction between two people. To win, Elder Sister had used the wrong method at the wrong time and wrong place, ultimately creating the current situation of flying apart like swallows and companions.
It was time for etiquette lessons again. The humble yet stubborn eunuch was finding fault again. Li Chengqian discovered he no longer got angry. He numbly followed the eunuch’s commands, performing various rituals.
You must become a great emperor. You will certainly surpass the illustrious monarchs of all dynasties, becoming a model for ten thousand generations. Then start with etiquette! This was Yun Ye’s admonishment to him. When Ye Zi returned, he deserved to be bound to a stool by Imperial Mother for training. Thinking of the scene of the careless Yun Ye bound to a stool, Li Chengqian couldn’t help but laugh. So there was actually someone in this world who hated etiquette even more than he did.
“Crown Prince, we were just studying the ritual for sacrificing to heaven. Your groundless laughter is great disrespect to heaven above, so…” Before the eunuch finished speaking, Li Chengqian interjected, “I must do it thirty more times. This solitary one knows.”