Having entered the Cheng residence knowing he couldn’t leave, Yun Ye returned to his own room, planning to wash up and go to sleep. While washing his face, his aunt arrived. After helping Yun Ye wash his face, she happily pulled him toward the rear hall.
Cheng Yaojin lay on a soft couch moaning, his head wrapped in a towel. His head must have been aching terribly. Knowing full well that this batch of new wine was particularly strong, he still drank without restraint—it was truly worrying.
Seeing Yun Ye enter, Cheng Yaojin grunted twice and said weakly, “What are your plans for when Huahua marries into your family? It won’t do to be too shabby. Your eldest and second sons’ weddings were terribly modest. Surely you’ll make it livelier when Huan’er gets married?”
Yun Ye smiled and said, “It seems you’ve already made plans. Why don’t you share them? This young one is listening.”
Cheng Yaojin’s face split into a grin as he slapped the armrest and said, “This old man has spent his whole life promoting the younger generation, yet only you have truly risen. The rest are all blockheads. Take this Lu Zhaolin today, for example—this old man’s face was almost completely lost. Many people can’t rise even with my push—it depends on ability. Like you, with just a gentle push, you soared straight to the clouds. Lu Zhaolin has the heart and courage of a scholar in vain, but he simply doesn’t understand worldly matters. Don’t waste your energy on him anymore.”
“As for Huahua’s wedding, handle it as you see fit. Even if you don’t hold a banquet and just bring a sedan chair to carry her away, this old man has nothing to say. The Yun family isn’t being ostentatious now, and this old man understands. His Majesty, in order to live more comfortably, deliberately pushed you out to compete with Zhangsun Wuji, yet after pushing you out, he doesn’t help you. That’s going too far.”
Madam Cheng was startled with alarm. They were discussing the children’s wedding—how did it suddenly involve the Emperor? She quickly walked to the door, looking outside worriedly. If there were people from the Directorate of Waterways in the household, who knew how these words would be twisted and spread!
Cheng Yaojin chuckled at Madam Cheng and said, “No need to be afraid. The court has already formed a north-south confrontation. Zhangsun Wuji is in the north, the Yun family in the south, and His Majesty is in the center. Since ancient times, only campaigns from north to south have unified this country—the south has never conquered the north. His Majesty sees this clearly, and we see it clearly too. So as long as His Majesty’s power tilts slightly toward one side, the opponent will immediately face total annihilation.”
“So, Yun Ye, you must remember this: once Zhangsun Wuji falls, your final day will immediately arrive. You absolutely must not covet power and position. Withdrawing and walking away would be the most perfect ending.”
Yun Ye nodded. When flowers bloom in splendor and oil boils in the fire, that’s actually the most dangerous time. Many people knew this, but truly being able to act on it was rare.
Cheng Yaojin closed his eyes and thought for a moment before saying again, “You’re a clever person. Two fleets departing to search for new worlds—this immediately shifted everyone’s attention to this matter. Everyone wants to gain benefits from this grand endeavor. At the very least, you’ve bought yourself three years. This old man doesn’t know how you plan to deal with Zhangsun Wuji, nor have I detected any clues, but this old man can always smell a whiff of conspiracy about you. You definitely have a backup plan.”
When Cheng Yaojin saw Yun Ye preparing to explain, he waved his hand and said, “No need to tell this old man. Since you’re confident you can eliminate Zhangsun Wuji within three years, this old man will just wait and see. No need to know the details.”
Yun Ye smiled and said, “Actually, there’s no great method, and nothing that can’t be shown. It’s merely Sima Yi’s old strategy. Zhuge Liang was diligent his entire life, almost unprecedented in history, but when Sima Yi learned that he only slept very briefly each day and ate only one bowl of food, he knew his life wouldn’t last long.”
“Since Duke Zhao enjoys handling state affairs, this young one will simply satisfy this hobby of his as much as possible. Even if Duke Zhao himself knows this is a stratagem, he can only accept it and endure it to the bitter end.”
Cheng Yaojin heaved a long sigh and said, “The hardest things in human life to see through are fame and profit. Zhangsun Wuji is also a clever man, yet he can’t see through this simple scheme. He’ll arrogantly allow himself to be slowly ground into a pile of minced meat by your millstone. For Zhangsun Wuji, this manner of death may be the best death.”
Yun Ye said with a smile, “You watch—Zhangsun Wuji absolutely won’t let this grand maritime voyage pass him by. This young one estimates he’ll very likely take over the northern route. Only this way will he become even busier. Building a fleet from nothing is an extremely complex task, and this matter must be organized by him personally because naval affairs are not the Zhangsun family’s strong suit.”
Cheng Yaojin and Yun Ye exchanged smiles and stopped discussing the grand voyage, instead beginning to discuss Yun Huan and Huahua’s wedding in earnest. Drafting invitations and determining banquet guests was an extremely troublesome matter.
Not inviting the Empress was impossible. She now most enjoyed attending other families’ weddings and funerals, especially watching younger generations marry. Today she’d send a palace flower, tomorrow a hairpin, the day after she’d bestow a brocade robe on someone’s young daughter-in-law—these were all great joyous occasions for the nobility. The only downside was that wherever Zhangsun went, she’d drag the big fool Li Zhi along, and she would vigorously promote her sponsored flower-hunting voyage, earnestly inviting the various nobles to invest in this wonderful social activity together. For this purpose, she spared no expense in reducing the imperial family’s share in these two fleets to the minimum extent.
Everyone knew this was Zhangsun’s way of apologizing on Li Zhi’s behalf through roundabout means. Therefore, many families who had suffered losses during the military coup could only grit their teeth and swallow their grievances, accepting Zhangsun’s domineering apology and sending their sons and funds to those two mysterious fleets.
Now one of these fleets was anchored in Dengzhou, the other in Quanzhou. Academy teachers and students had already boarded the ships early, beginning final tests and assessments of these two fleets. As soon as everything was ready, they could set sail immediately.
However, matters still developed as Yun Ye had predicted. The selection of commanders for the two fleets caused enormous controversy in the court. Chu Suiliang exerted every effort to snatch from Yun Ye the selection of the commander for the fleet sailing north.
They say southern ships and northern horses—who knew where the Guanlong nobility would find qualified naval commander candidates? The best naval commanders almost all came from Yun Ye’s circle. Even though Feng Ang had a few under his command, he wouldn’t hand them over to Zhangsun Wuji, because these talents were elite disciples that the Feng family had trained with lives after suffering countless setbacks.
However, Zhangsun Wuji still had methods. He discovered that Zhang Liang had been quite unscrupulous in Liaodong—allowing soldiers to plunder, or having the navy pose as pirates to attack Japanese merchant ships, trafficking in people, committing almost every evil deed imaginable. Such a person existing in the court was a disgrace to the scholar-officials, so a letter of rebuke was sent far away to Dengzhou.
Zhangsun Wuji received Zhang Liang’s reply. He could provide the Zhangsun family with fourteen hundred naval troops, but there was one prerequisite: he must have His Majesty’s approval and written authorization from the Ministry of War. Otherwise, he would rather be escorted back to the capital than give him a single soldier. This was within expectations, but at least it showed Zhang Liang held no hostility toward the Zhangsun family and just wanted to follow proper procedures. As for the suffering endured by the Goguryeo and Silla people, Zhangsun Wuji had never taken it to heart.
Every family needed a safe environment to develop and grow stronger. If one became a target, what development could there be? Zhangsun Wuji understood very clearly that endless daily squabbling was simply making life difficult for himself.
It seemed Yun Ye had no intention of competing with him. With state affairs so complex now, some peace and quiet was good for everyone. When thinking about the issue of time, waves of sadness washed over Zhangsun Wuji. Every day when he saw Yun Ye’s young face, Zhangsun Wuji’s heart ached as if pricked by needles. Sometimes a powerful sense of helplessness would permeate his entire body.
In terms of age, Yun Ye’s advantage was far too great…
Exploration—it was all so capricious! Going far into the wilderness to find a tree—what was all this for?
Yun Shou was also asking the Emperor the same question, because today the Emperor was in a good mood and had specially invited Yun Shou, who was standing guard at the main gate, to take a walk with him.
Hearing Yun Shou ask this, Li Er sighed and said, “In the end, you’re still not as good as your father. You’re asking the wrong person. You should ask your father and Prince Wei, or even ask your Empress grandmother—any of them would be better than asking me. Let me put it this way: these two fleets are actually two eyes that the Great Tang has sent out. Through them, we can see clearly what kind of world we inhabit. Only after we see this world clearly can we properly begin carving it up.”
“That self-propelled ship your Uncle Prince Wei is researching has made great progress, but because the seals aren’t good enough, air leaks everywhere, and other materials can’t plug the leaks. Your father says the Land of Gold has a type of rubber tree that can solve this problem, so the fleet heading north needs to find this thing. As for the fleet heading south, it’s just a grand spectacle for Hypatia to return home in style.”
“That’s not quite right, is it? I heard that Aunt Hypatia actually wants to prove we live on a great sphere, which is why she’s specifically taking the southern route.” Yun Shou carefully stood on Li Er’s inner side to prevent Li Er from falling into Taiye Pool when he got carried away speaking.
“You don’t understand anything! You’re already a father—how can you still think so simplistically? Your father never lifts a finger without great benefits now. Go back and tell your father not to bully Wuji too harshly. I always feel something’s wrong here. Your father definitely has no good intentions.”
“One fleet south and one north? Making Wuji, someone who only knows how to ride horses, operate boats? It’s simply ridiculous. If I hadn’t ordered Zhang Liang to allocate men to him, he could only stamp his feet helplessly by the sea!”
Yun Shou quickly said, “Emperor Grandfather, my father is also pitiful! Every day he can’t think about tea or meals while managing state affairs. You only see Uncle’s pitifulness but can’t see my father’s pitiful circumstances.”
Li Er chuckled and slapped the back of Yun Shou’s head, saying, “Don’t think I don’t know what tricks your father is playing. Isn’t he just trying to work Wuji to death?”
“Do you know how Grandfather discovered something was wrong?”
Yun Shou shook his head blankly.
“Because I discovered that eighty percent of the Great Tang officials’ memorials had Wuji’s reviews and summaries on them. I had people organize the memorials from the past half year and found that Wuji has been laboring almost without sleep or rest. Meanwhile, your father’s greatest labor has been making your Little Mother Xiao Miao’s belly grow big.”