Over three hundred sleds finally merged into the vast wilderness. Compared to the boundless wasteland, the convoy appeared tiny and lonely. The cold wind swept past, and Yun Ye’s general’s banner rolled in the wind. Snow pellets whipped up by the wind struck his face painfully. Yun Ye had to pull up the face covering on his face, squinting to look at the road ahead. When traveling long distances in the snow, eyes must be covered, otherwise it wouldn’t take long before the reflected glare from the snow would stimulate the eyes to become red, swollen, and inflamed—what later generations commonly called snow blindness. Fortunately, before departure, he had thought of this problem and found some black gauze to cover their faces and block the snow’s reflection. Although it somewhat obstructed vision, it provided excellent prevention and treatment for snow blindness. The only drawback was the appearance—the entire force marching silently and swiftly across the snow, everyone with black gauze covering their faces, looked like a bandit troop.
Sitting in the very first sled was that young soldier who had asked Yun Ye for shoes. He kept lifting his veil to curiously look at the distant snowfields, only settling down after a veteran slapped him on the head.
“Fifth Uncle, why do we have to cover our faces with black gauze? We’re not barbarians or bandits—why cover our faces?” The young soldier was somewhat restless.
“Gou Zi, properly cover your face with the gauze. In these snowfields, you can’t keep your eyes open for long periods, or else your eyes will go blind. His Lordship is being kindhearted, getting gauze for each of us. In the past when we went to battle and encountered heavy snow, we could only cover our eyes with scraps of leather. Those who didn’t believe in evil ended up with eyes swollen like peaches, unable to see anything, and it took seven or eight days before they could see things again. If you don’t want something to happen to your eyes, just sit obediently and prick up your ears to listen carefully.” Fifth Uncle tucked Gou Zi further into the sled and pulled out an old sheepskin from his saddlebag to wrap around Gou Zi.
With sleds breaking trail in front, the sleds behind followed closely. The snow under the runners was compressed into ice, making travel even easier for the following sleds. Two winding tracks slowly extended from Shuofang City toward the distance.
The area within a hundred li of the city was entirely under Tang army control, so it was still safe for now. Gou Zi even picked up two wild pheasants frozen stiff as boards. He plucked out the longest tail feather, stuck it in his head, and cheered loudly.
Yun Ye also dismounted from his horse and sat in a sled. The Gongshu family’s sleds were very exquisitely made and much more spacious. Sitting in them, one could barely feel any bumps. Yun Ye stretched out his limbs and lay in the sled looking at the white clouds in the sky. As the sled moved, the clouds also moved. That snow-white cloud seemed to have fixed on Yun Ye, lazily hanging above his head. No matter how Yun Ye moved, it always stayed overhead, unwilling to leave.
“Marquis Yun, are there really many sons from prominent families in the academy willing to learn our crafts?” He continued somewhat embarrassedly: “I don’t disbelieve you, I just can’t imagine it. Don’t they all study Confucian classics? Why would they be interested in these things?”
“Old Jia, you don’t mind if I call you that, do you?” Yun Ye casually asked Gongshu Jia.
“A name is just a designation. It doesn’t matter what you call me, but those students in the future can’t be so casual.”
“Good, Old Jia. I’ve always been very curious—your Gongshu family’s various secret techniques almost have the ability to overturn heaven and earth. Why would you easily agree to let me teach these to others? I originally thought persuading you would be very difficult. Who knew you seemed to already be impatient—why?” Yun Ye asked the doubt in his heart.
“The Gongshu family has never had the ridiculous notion of treasuring a worn-out broom. When there are intelligent students, we’re too happy to welcome them—how could we push people away? It’s just that this place Shuofang really isn’t a good place to develop our school. There are few Han people, and we don’t want to teach the barbarians. Watching our talent wither away, tell me, aren’t we anxious?”
Perhaps being in the grasslands, people’s hearts also became more open. Gongshu Jia plucked a section of white grass emerging from the snow, held it in his mouth, and smiled at Yun Ye.
Yun Ye rolled over and said lazily: “Who cares who’s scheming against whom? I only know that the knowledge the Gongshu family possesses is extremely remarkable. Our lives in the future will change because of you. As long as Great Tang benefits, as long as the common people benefit, who still cares how you came to the academy? Old Jia, prepare yourself—the academy you’ll face will be far more important than you imagine.”
“These words are very moving, but why don’t you speak them with resounding force? That would move me far more than your half-dead tone.”
“Forget it. Your whole family is a nest of foxes. I disdain such low-level bewitchment—isn’t saving a mouthful of saliva better? This expedition from the city, life or death uncertain—I’m foolish, but how did you all become not clever too?”
“You know, when my old master heard that you were leading auxiliary troops out of the city to meet the army raiding Xiangcheng, he was so happy he downed three pots of Old Mo’s Zuiyang Spring in succession and nearly got drunk. In all my years, I’ve never seen my father so happy. The old man said, ‘Good! Finally found someone a bit more stupid,’ and also said someone as stupid as you is hard to find once in several centuries—stupid enough to not even care about your own life. My family has never seen such a person before. Father said this choice was correct, worth the Gongshu family betting our entire fortune. He also said you never abandon friends, you can’t bear to give up even on those young soldiers—how could you use the Gongshu family as a bargaining chip in the future? So this time, I came to bring you back alive. If you can’t return, judging by Father’s meaning, I don’t need to return either.” Gongshu Jia gave Yun Ye a sidelong glance, then looked up at the sky, assuming the posture of a superior person.
Yun Ye’s mouth hung wide open. He’d heard of people who liked clever people, but never heard of those who liked following fools. If this was the case, his risk this time was too worthwhile. As a person from Shaanxi in later generations, there was no reason not to know about Great Tang’s most crucial battle. Xie Li was merely a wonderful supporting actor in this campaign. The current Xie Li was still struggling in desperate straits himself—how could he have the mind to pay attention to Tang troops several hundred li away? He was probably now troubled by his treacherous younger brother. Su Dingfang with just two hundred men could chase him fleeing all over the world—there was no reason Chai Shao’s three thousand iron cavalry couldn’t defeat Xie Li.
The Cheng family owed him kindness, and this lifetime he would be endlessly entangled with Old Cheng’s entire family. Don’t look at how Old Cheng and his son always coveted his things—sunglasses, entrenching tools, sleeping bags and such. That was their father-and-son way of showing goodwill. I take your things without ceremony, and correspondingly, you can also take my things without ceremony. In this era, only families with close ties would have such occurrences.
For example, Yun Ye could now charge straight into the inner quarters of Old Cheng’s home without announcement, and Madam Cheng would absolutely take no offense, just like at Old Niu’s house—Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo could charge about freely, their status no different from Niu Jianhu’s in the Niu family. So when Madam Cheng learned that Yun Ye was coming to Shuofang, she held Yun Ye’s hand and entrusted him to look after Cheng Chumo. Nothing else—she believed Yun Ye would look after her son and bring him back safely. Entrusting one’s life—what level of trust was this? Tang people didn’t easily trust a person, but once they trusted someone, they would entrust them with life and death. Yun Ye decided not to betray this trust. This was the reason why he had to leave the city no matter what. To tell the truth, in Yun Ye’s eyes, Chai Shao’s life wasn’t worth even a single hair on Cheng Chumo’s head.
The winter daylight was extremely short. A blizzard began blowing in the sky again. Finding a sheltered place on the grasslands was truly not easy. With great difficulty they found a small hill. Old Zhuang and the others took out entrenching tools and quickly shoveled out a clearing. Connecting the sleds together formed a small wagon fortress. The auxiliary troops inserted shields on the edges of the sleds where there were specially designed sockets. Tents were pitched one after another. The horses were also driven to the sheltered slope bottom. Old Zhuang dug a trench up the hillside toward the summit, then dug a hole on the side that could hold two people. He repeatedly instructed Yun Ye that if an emergency occurred, he should immediately burrow into the hole and not come out until the fighting ended.
Fine—on the battlefield, one should still listen to the veterans. They had experience. He couldn’t help them much on the battlefield and would probably just be a burden. If he wanted them to have no worries, he had to take care of himself—this was the greatest help to them.
Campfires were lit. Orange-red flames licked the bottom of the pots. The snow in the pots was melting. Before long, the water boiled. Old Zhuang ladled out a scoop of water, brewed a cup of tea for Yun Ye and Gongshu Jia and handed it over, then placed flatbread over the fire to toast.
Yun Ye and Gongshu Jia held their tea cups, sipping the hot tea mouthful by mouthful, watching the auxiliary troops—some adding rice, flour, and dried meat to the boiling water pot, busy making dinner; some holding feed to give the animals their portions; and bucket after bucket of warm salted water for the animals to drink.
“What are you looking at? On the grasslands, animals’ lives are more important than people’s. Everything must first be given to them, then to us. Being a Marquis doesn’t help.” Gongshu Jia seemed extremely fond of this tea’s flavor. Not only did he drink all the tea water, he even held the tea leaves in his mouth to slowly chew.
Old Zhuang took down a bag from the sled and added a large handful of locust powder to each pot. Immediately a chicken meat aroma wafted out. Everyone forcibly held back their drool, waiting for that moment when the food was ready.
The food wasn’t good—it could be said to be extremely unpalatable. Everything cooked in one pot—that taste nearly drove Yun Ye crazy. But this time he wasn’t a youth accompanying the army; he was the commander. Sharing hardships with his subordinates was the most basic requirement. Old Zhuang knew how picky His Lordship’s palate was. He definitely couldn’t get used to the army’s coarse food, so he took a biscuit from his backpack and handed it to Yun Ye. Unexpectedly, Yun Ye shook his head, lowered his head, and with difficulty swallowed that large bowl of mush.
Gou Zi ate with great relish. He hadn’t eaten such delicious food in many years—or rather, he had never eaten his fill since birth. In his memory was forever terrible hunger, that feeling like a maggot in the bone, impossible to throw off or shake free. Not until that young Marquis took charge of the auxiliary troop camp did he first experience the feeling of fullness. He didn’t understand why something so delicious made him look like he was taking medicine and eating with such difficulty.
What did wealthy families eat? White flour and rice every day? That was too extravagant. What we’re eating today is white flour and rice, with meat added besides. He still doesn’t like such food? That guard leader added something to the food—why does it smell so fragrant? The veteran said it was chicken meat aroma. Could it be that His Lordship eats chicken every meal? This was the most delicious food Gou Zi could imagine.