Treating those who criticize oneself as enemies is a Chinese tradition. Of course, Cheng Chumo’s criticism, which carried strong Guanzhong characteristics, still needed to be restrained. You couldn’t break someone’s leg just because he hummed for a long time. So His Majesty the Emperor was furious and summoned Cheng Chumo back, preparing to break his leg as well.
This was said to comfort that poor provincial governor. After returning to the capital, Cheng Chumo was released home, and no one asked about the matter again. Even the provincial governor who got beaten treated the matter as over. Being able to have the Emperor give you face by playing this double act was already tremendous face.
“Ye Zi, Qinghe is very worried. When you have time, have Xinyue go to the house to persuade her. I did this on purpose. If I didn’t do this, I would still be left to molder in that place Wuzhou. Tell me, there’s no rebellion there, no foreign enemies, and most outrageously, there aren’t even bandits there. The folk customs are utterly simple and honest—they’re all people who’ve suffered hardship and know good days don’t come easily. They all single-mindedly farm and harvest crops. The garrison troops I brought, aside from hunting, are useless. What’s the point of staying there? Better to come home. My father even said I was wrong and hoped I would endure two more years. Once I had more experience, it wouldn’t be too late to return to the capital.”
Not having seen Cheng Chumo for several years, this fellow had turned into a second Uncle Cheng, complete with big beard and broad shoulders. It’s just that he’d fed all the cunning Uncle Cheng had passed down to him to the dogs.
“Zhangsun Chong has also returned. His performance in Yuezhou was excellent. Jianhu will also return soon. The Ministry of Personnel’s evaluation rated him as a capable official. Baolin will also return soon. Although the Yellow River changed course and completely destroyed his canal plan, Yuezhou Prefecture and its subordinates highly approved of how Baolin cleansed nearly one hundred thousand acres of saline-alkaline land in five years. The petition signed by ten thousand people from Zhuozhou will soon reach the capital.”
“You’ve also returned, but the result is different, Chumo, very different. You want with all your heart to risk your life on the battlefield and achieve unprecedented accomplishments, but look around Great Tang—is there still any place for you to use your martial skills?”
“Goguryeo is already like the setting sun in the west. The Grand Elder of Tuyuhun will enter the capital any day now. Xueyantuo, unable to support itself alone, becoming a vassal prefecture is already unstoppable. The Huihe, Turks, and remnants of the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu are gathering grain, hoping to obtain Great Tang’s support so they can migrate to the distant west. The Mohe tribe pacified the snowy plains, and the first thing they did was request that Great Tang garrison the snowy plains. Li Daozong will suffer some small losses in the early stages in Nanzhao, but once Great Tang begins to look at Nanzhao seriously, their great disaster will arrive. If Tubo cooperates with Great Tang in battle this time, that will be fine. If they dare to refuse, the Bon religion will immediately receive Great Tang’s most powerful support, and Songtsen Gampo’s rule in Tubo will be in grave danger.”
“Do you see? Civil governance has already begun. The role of military generals is being weakened. Du Ruhui now sits firmly in the position of Minister of War. Literati are beginning to fill military positions—what does this mean? Do you not know? Great Tang’s military preparedness is being reduced again and again. The literati’s advocacy of storing away swords and spears and releasing warhorses to southern mountains is about to begin. At this time, giving people grounds for criticism is very unwise.”
After listening to Yun Ye’s words, Cheng Chumo asked hoarsely: “Are you disappointed in me?”
Yun Ye shook his head and patted his broad shoulder, saying: “What I just said was all reason, fact, but not words from the heart. Your character is unyielding, your loyalty and righteousness unparalleled. You yearn for golden spears and iron horses, you yearn for the masculine spirit of the battlefield. The fierce loyalty and brave spirit from Great Tang’s founding has not yet faded from you. This is very important. Every empire, after experiencing extreme prosperity, immediately faces decline. The song and dance scene most wears away heroic hearts. When decline comes, those literati who chant about wind and moon can only flee with their heads covered.”
“Let’s wait. News from the Western Region caravans says the Sassanian dynasty is stepping toward extinction. The powerful Arabs are wielding curved swords and running rampant. Their desire for land has no limits. After we facilitate the western expedition of those Turks, let them take the lead. After they thoroughly turn the distant Western Regions upside down, we’ll make our move. The day the Turks fail in their western expedition is the beginning of our western expedition. This battle must make every barbarian horse not dare to look toward Great Tang.”
Cheng Chumo looked at Yun Ye strangely without speaking. After pausing for a while, he opened his mouth to ask: “When did you start talking like this?”
Yun Ye rubbed his nose and said embarrassedly: “This is a bad habit I developed these past two years—always preparing two sets of speeches. That is, speaking human words to humans and ghost words to ghosts. When you’ve been an official for a long time, this ability naturally appears. Now this problem is getting more and more serious. Sometimes I don’t even know what I’m saying myself. In short, one sentence: eat well now, play well, prepare well. We’ll have a tough battle to fight sooner or later.”
Cheng Chumo nodded and went to find food with his plate. He walked halfway and came back, saying irritably to Yun Ye: “Something that could clearly be explained in one sentence, you waste half the day talking. Aren’t you tired? That broken official position of yours, just don’t hold it.”
Yun Ye took a plate and followed closely. The Yun family’s chefs had recently developed several new foods that he needed to explain clearly to him. This fellow couldn’t tolerate seafood—as soon as he ate seafood, his whole body would break out in rashes. Today’s prawns were fried to look like chicken legs. He absolutely couldn’t eat them by mistake. This fellow had an incorrigibly stubborn nature. As long as it was food, he would stuff it in his mouth, not caring at all whether he could handle it.
He got him a large piece of golden fried lamb chop and cut him a few slices of soy sauce beef. Cheng Chumo was very dissatisfied with Yun Ye’s stinginess. He pulled out his own knife and forcibly cut off two pieces half an inch thick and palm-sized. He also grabbed four or five chicken legs with his hand. Seeing Yun Ye staring at him, he very reluctantly tore off two celery stalks and put them on the plate. Seeing the giant lobster, he reached out his hand but embarrassedly withdrew it. Sighing, he took his plate to the warm pavilion.
Li Tai was obviously someone who knew how to eat. Each item was just a very small piece, just enough for one bite. He picked at it with a fork, his whole person immersed in the temptation of fine food.
Chai Lingwu was a clever person. Just now, Ma Jiuhu had made a fool of himself, loudly scolding the chef for not cooking the vegetables and making him eat raw lettuce leaves. The chef demonstrated for him, and only then did he know that lettuce leaves needed to be wrapped around yogurt cheese to eat. Everyone laughed at him for a while.
So he followed Li Tai. Whatever Li Tai did, he did. So his whole person looked elegant. When the chefs saw him, they specially wore smiling faces and introduced various foods to him, so he quickly became good friends with the chefs.
Li Pengcheng had eaten this kind of meal at the academy once, so he roughly understood how to eat it. But he was very worried about his wife. A woman from a small household—what if she embarrassed herself? He couldn’t help but look worriedly toward the brightly lit garden.
“Don’t worry. Women are more familiar with these things than we are. We brothers haven’t seen each other for a long time. Let’s find a place to drink a couple of cups. You’ve reached the central administration while we’re still wandering around in the provinces. So many people have returned this time. I wonder how His Majesty plans to arrange us. Talk about it—my old man’s lips are sealed tight.”
Fang Yi’ai put a piece of food made of who-knows-what into Li Pengcheng’s plate. His own plate was filled with fruit. He dragged Li Pengcheng to the tent. To host the evening banquet well, the Yun family had erected four or five large tents in the courtyard.
Serving the men were all cleanly dressed male servants, carrying plates and sending wine everywhere. The most popular was the Yun family’s strong liquor—jugs were sent up and jugs were drunk dry. As for grape wine, almost no one touched it.
Li Chengqian was always surrounded by people. Hou Junji’s matter had made him very haggard. Yun Ye knew his recent days were hard, so he specially invited him over. Seeing people did no harm.
Du He seemed born to love sowing discord. Between the lines were comparisons of today with the past. Rarely, this fellow actually knew to use data to guarantee the correctness of what he said.
Yun Ye hid his body in the darkness, observing these people’s movements. This was the purpose of his hosting this evening banquet. He needed to see from these people’s performance whether any new incidents would appear.
“Every one of them has become as slippery as loaches, just like that famous metaphor you used before—everyone wears a layer of human skin. What you see now and the actual situation must have discrepancies.”
Xu Jingzong somehow snuck in. Yun Ye was very sure he hadn’t invited him.
“I came uninvited. You, Marquis Yun, stirred up such a big commotion—it’s probably not simply that you want to show off your Yun family’s luxury, right? Watching these people is your main purpose. For three consecutive months, your Yun family has been desperately depositing money into banks. Prince Wei is also doing this. I heard the Empress is also tightening her purse strings. The Qin family, Cheng family, Niu family, Yuchi family are also following suit. I heard the southern wealthy merchant He Shao is also doing this. What’s the reason? Talk about it. My Xu family is a small household and can’t withstand turmoil. I feel you’re brewing something bad. What these people are eating now, they’ll probably have to return a hundredfold, right?”
Yun Ye remained unmoved, took a sip of grape wine, and glanced at Xu Jingzong. Xu Jingzong continued: “After I discovered the movements of your several families, I immediately followed suit. Aside from money for buying vegetables, the rest is all deposited. But my heart isn’t at ease. I want to hear your opinion. Speak clearly—we’re in-laws now through our children. Don’t hide things.”
“It’s not my doing, but rather His Majesty is very likely to make a big move concerning currency. I’m just taking precautions. I only know one thing—His Majesty’s greatest reason for taking Nanzhao isn’t Meng Shezhao, but copper mines. I’ve always believed that even with heaven-defying courage, Meng Shezhao wouldn’t dare attack a vassal prefecture. Now copper is expensive and silver is cheap. The great aristocratic clans have collected all the copper coins and want to break the exchange rate between copper coins and silver. In fact, they’ve already broken it. Previously, the two denominations of copper coins exchanged for silver on the market according to face value. Now it’s different—they exchange by weight. After exchanging this way, they’ll gain an extra two percent profit out of thin air. Think about it, Old Xu—two percent of all the wealth in the world falling into their pockets, what kind of concept is that? Do you think His Majesty’s temper will tolerate it? If others take a small bite out of him and he doesn’t viciously bite a leg back, he’s not the Son of Heaven of Great Tang. I’m just curious—who is advising him?”