The academy had been preparing for this voyage for a full two years. From manpower to ships to the final scientific expedition personnel, everything had been arranged in detail. The fleet heading south would be led by Hypatia, while the fleet heading north would be led by Wuse’s son, Xianyu Tuo. This was the Great Tang’s first attempt to comprehensively and completely understand the world they inhabited. Of course, this also included Li Er’s vague pursuit of information about immortals.

For this purpose, Yun Ye had ruthlessly extorted the Emperor, securing funds and grain from the imperial treasury. He also recruited from heaven knows where about a hundred incredibly skilled individuals. Fourteen warships that had just been commissioned but were then ordered to retire were evenly distributed between the two fleets. Only after obtaining from Li Er the assurance that supreme authority would rest with the ship captains and not with any eunuch did Yun Ye order Li Rong to comprehensively prepare to recruit retired captains and soldiers from the Lingnan Navy for this unprecedented exploration.

Li Er had crowned the expedition with the Empress’s name. The official story was that Empress Zhangsun wanted exotic flowers and plants from overseas, so this was a flower-gathering expedition.

This was typical of the Li family. Obviously, it was his chubby son who was frantically pestering his father for rubber. Obviously, it was the Ministry of Works ambitiously planning to re-survey the world in preparation for the large-scale plundering that would soon take place. But coming from Li Er’s mouth, it became an act of devotion to find a few exotic flowers and plants for his beloved wife.

With heavyweights like Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui automatically throwing themselves into the project, Yun Ye couldn’t have been more pleased. The manpower and financial resources required for the distant voyage were extraordinary, not to mention that these were two fleets. To put it bluntly, this expedition would produce no returns—only endless investment.

“Why isn’t your son going?” Fang Xuanling finally asked the most important question.

Yun Ye glanced at Fang Xuanling and said, “Rong’er is my biological son!”

“That’s certainly the logic—naturally, you can’t send your biological son into the tiger’s mouth. It’s much easier to send someone else’s son. Tell me, who should the Fang family send? First, tell me how dangerous it is.”

This was a cunning man. If it was completely safe, he would send his biological son. If there was only moderate danger, he would send a nephew. If it was extremely dangerous, he would send someone who wasn’t afraid to die or even wanted to die. In any case, the Fang family couldn’t be absent from such a massive operation—absolutely not. At the very least, the future reward list or compensation list must include the Fang family name.

Whenever Yun Ye thought of the tragic fates of those great navigators in later history, his heart trembled. Voyaging at this time was even more dangerous than during the Age of Discovery. There was no comparison between a civilization pioneered by individuals and one consciously developed by humanity as a whole. What the Great Tang was about to undertake was truly an adventure.

“When the academy was determining the prime meridian, they discovered that the earth exists in an arc shape. When measuring solar meridians, they found that at the same time, the distance of the sun from the horizon varies in different places. Based on the arc length of these curves, they roughly calculated a result, so they hypothesize that we live on a gigantic sphere, and this sphere is rolling, even flying through the void while rolling. That’s why we have day and night, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. As for why we don’t fall off when this sphere is rolling, Hypatia speculates that there is a force restraining everything, preventing us from falling into the void.”

“This voyage aims to verify this hypothesis. If the earth is truly arc-shaped, then by sailing continuously south, they will eventually return to their starting point. As for the danger—you can estimate it yourself. This journey will take them to countless unknown places, countless places no one has ever been. Only heaven knows what they’ll encounter or what kind of attacks they’ll face.”

Du Ruhui nodded and said, “Understood. It means tying your head to your waistband and trusting heaven to let you live, right? In that case, the Du family has several young men who enjoy dangerous living. Just send them.”

The old fellow now spoke completely openly with Yun Ye, saying whatever came to mind. He was already treating Yun Ye as an equal. The heads of other families felt similarly. The Cheng family also sent people who were ready to trade their lives for merit and fame. As for Niu Jinda, he had no such intention at all.

The three men were chatting happily when they heard a thunderous boom. A thick lance had been driven into the decorative rock garden, followed by Cheng Yaojin’s booming laughter and Xue Wanche’s cheers of approval.

“Your strength clearly gave out and the spear handle flew from your grip, yet you have the nerve to claim it was intentional! Do you think I’m blind?”

This voice unmistakably belonged to Yuchi Gong. As a legendary warrior, what he despised most was someone like Cheng Yaojin who loved to boast, because to him, martial prowess was everything and could not tolerate the slightest profanity.

The hall erupted into clanging and banging. Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, long accustomed to such scenes, waved at Yun Ye and left the Cheng residence with their hands behind their backs. This too followed custom—whenever a fight broke out, the civil officials would exit.

Yun Ye had no way to escape. Enviously watching the two old men depart, he returned to the hall himself. This time wasn’t too bad—Cheng Yaojin was quite restrained, only throwing dishes and bowls, while Yuchi Gong’s wine pot came flying over. Now the tables in front of both men were completely bare. Only Lu Zhaolin, sitting at Yun Ye’s table, was drenched in vegetable soup, his face pale with fright.

“Are you stupid? When the old masters start fighting, why don’t you run?” Yun Ye said quietly to Lu Zhaolin.

This child was clearly honest and well-behaved. If it had been Yun Shou or Yun Huan, they would have long since vanished without a trace.

“Leaving midway through a gathering would be improper!” Lu Zhaolin wiped the vegetable soup from his face and said to Yun Ye.

“You’ll attend many more such banquets in the future. Remember this—as soon as those elders draw weapons, the first thing you must do is run quickly. With your chicken-like physique, you wouldn’t survive a single grab from those old generals. Our family is a military household, not like those civil officials. I guarantee no elder will blame you for this the next day.”

After hearing Yun Ye’s words, Lu Zhaolin immediately took to his heels. He was a child who understood self-interest after all—his escape technique was quite practiced.

There was no way to stop old men from fighting. You could only wait until they tired themselves out and naturally stopped. If you ran up to break up the fight at this point, the two would team up and beat you instead. Cheng Chumo had suffered many such beatings in the past, which resulted in him never participating when his father hosted banquets.

As Yun Ye was leaving, he noticed that the rhinoceros horn cup on Du Ruhui’s table had a novel design and had been polished to an oily sheen. He immediately grabbed it and tucked it into his bosom, then exited through the side door and went to Cheng Chumo’s courtyard.

When Yun Ye entered the Cheng residence, even the servants called him “young master,” so the women of the household never avoided him. Walking into Cheng Chumo’s courtyard, he found the fellow once again using a pair of massive stone locks to burn off his excess energy.

Seeing a reclining chair nearby, Yun Ye naturally walked over and lay down on it. Cheng Chumo’s concubine, Jiuyi, immediately brought over a teapot. Yun Ye caught it with one hand, took a light sip of tea, and watched the bare-chested Cheng Chumo juggle the two stone locks up and down.

Jiuyi carefully approached Yun Ye and said, “Uncle, did you come today to attend grandfather’s banquet?”

Yun Ye found Jiuyi’s small talk strange—she wasn’t usually like this. So he turned his head and said, “That’s right. The old master summoned me. Would I dare not come?”

“Huahua is about to marry into the Yun family. Please, uncle, take good care of her! This humble one has a silver hairpin—originally it was a pair. When my eldest daughter married, I gave her one. This one is for Huahua.”

Yun Ye frowned and said, “Huahua is your daughter. Even though she was raised by the Princess, that doesn’t change anything. Give it to her directly yourself. That child won’t give you a cold shoulder.”

Jiuyi’s eyes immediately moistened. She said softly, “That won’t do. People will mock Huahua for being born of a concubine, and furthermore, this humble one was a singing girl. If word gets out, it will harm Huahua’s reputation.”

Yun Ye smiled and said, “It’s useless to worry. When Huahua leaves home, she must not only pay farewell respects to Qinghe but also to you. You are both mothers—there will be absolutely no favoritism. The daughters-in-law of the Yun family need not care about other people’s opinions.”

Cheng Chumo tossed down the stone locks and walked over, his muscles rippling. Jiuyi didn’t have time to say more and hurried forward to wipe the sweat from her husband’s body with a towel. After drying him, she draped an outer robe over him and quickly departed, but not before casting a grateful glance at Yun Ye.

Cheng Chumo drained an entire pot of tea in one gulp, flexed his chest muscles, and asked Yun Ye, “Why were you making eyes at my wife?”

Yun Ye spat out the tea leaf stems in his mouth and grimaced, saying, “Think before you speak from now on. If someone else heard that, what would it look like! Don’t you find it embarrassing?”

“What’s the problem? Brothers are like limbs, wives are like clothes. If they wear out, just get new ones.”

“Spare me. My wives are precious. You also know I’m the type who forgets righteousness at the sight of beauty, so don’t expect me to act like you. Your wife gave me a hairpin!” Yun Ye raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, then there’s no problem. As long as there’s mutual affection, it’s fine. When do you want her? Should I send her over tonight? She’s just a bit old—make do with her.” Cheng Chumo immediately became interested, likewise raising his eyebrows at Yun Ye.

“Get lost! The more you talk, the more disgusting it gets. Tell me, what are the arrangements for Huahua marrying into our family? I’m telling you up front—don’t forget about Jiuyi during the farewell ceremony. She’s also an old friend of mine.”

Cheng Chumo scratched his head and said with difficulty, “You know my mother’s temperament, and you’re also aware of Qinghe’s disposition. If I hadn’t protected Jiuyi all these years, she would have died eighty times over.”

“Forming a marriage alliance with your family is something my mother has always wanted to do. She’s been hoping to have a daughter from your family marry into ours. Your family has only produced blockheads these years. Your sisters were out of the question, but your daughters—my mother has long coveted them. Qinghe has no daughters, so from the moment Huahua was born, she was placed at Qinghe’s side. This was also arranged by my mother, just waiting for her to marry your son.”

“Marrying Shou’er was impossible, and my mother knew it too, which is why she’s having Huahua marry Huan’er instead. That child marrying into your family is the best possible outcome, so I’m very happy. Jiuyi is also happy, so don’t ruin our good mood. I already discussed this with Jiuyi long ago—when Huahua gets married, she’ll move into the city.”