Yun Ye led those eunuchs in a grand procession of carriages back to Yushan City. After arranging their food and lodging, he went to the temporary palace to pay respects to the Emperor.
Li Er had somehow obtained a tiger-skin chair to sit on, with one leg propped up on the chair. He looked more like a mountain bandit king than an emperor. Today he wasn’t drinking health tonic soup, but wine—and strong wine at that.
When Li Er saw Yun Ye enter, he opened his mouth and asked: “Have you come to plead on behalf of that rebellious son?”
Yun Ye shook his head and said: “This minister today stormed the imperial palace, fought with Dugu Mou for three hundred rounds, and finally rescued Your Majesty’s loyal four hundred-plus eunuchs!”
Li Er made a sound of surprise and said: “They weren’t all killed?”
Yun Ye sat down in another animal-skin chair beside him and said with a smile: “It was fundamentally just a misunderstanding. You entrusted the palace to the Crown Prince, so naturally the Crown Prince has authority there. But what to do when over four hundred slaves and servants won’t obey commands? They could only dispatch Hei Chi Changzhi to forcefully expel them. Who knew they still couldn’t beat them!”
Hearing Yun Ye say this, Li Er laughed proudly and heartily, tossing Yun Ye a bottle of wine and laughing: “Those eunuchs were all carefully selected by me from thousands. Put them in a military formation and they’d be first-rate fierce generals. Hei Chi Changzhi using a thousand or so men would naturally be no match for them.”
Yun Ye took the opportunity to say: “Exactly! So that scoundrel used firearms. You look outside—it’s precisely the sunny days when wheat is filling out. Heaven is dry and the earth parched. Every year at this time, the palace is busy splashing water on rooftops to prevent fires. Using firearms at this time—it would be strange if Taiji Palace and Wude Hall could be preserved!”
Li Er acted as if he hadn’t heard Yun Ye’s explanation, instead asking with interest: “You can’t beat Dugu Mou. What did you use to attack the palace and defeat Chengqian and Dugu Mou?”
Yun Ye looked left and right. Seeing no outsiders, only then did he say with a smile: “My mouth!”
“I thought you would summon your household troops, call up the Lingnan Navy, conscript your old subordinates, and finally pull in Yushan City’s garrison forces to attack Chang’an City, capture that rebellious son and Dugu Mou to be dealt with at my discretion. Hmph, now truly people’s hearts are not what they used to be!”
Yun Ye grinned and said: “This minister initially thought that way too. I even thought through the attack method. Attacking Chang’an City in the great heat, after sealing the city gates, naturally fire-oil bombs would be the vanguard, first setting the entire city ablaze, then using explosive bombs to bombard the gates. No need to enter the city—just need to hold the gates and blockade with concentrated crossbow fire. Within three days, Chang’an City would be another Great King City. After killing everyone, this minister could return to have his nine generations of kin executed by Your Majesty.”
Li Er laughed heartily, pointing at the Chang’an city defense map on the table and saying to Yun Ye: “We sovereign and minister thought the same thing! Only after leaving Chang’an City did I discover that Chang’an City’s defenses have vulnerabilities almost everywhere. Breaking through would not be difficult at all!”
“If I were to attack Chang’an, I’d first occupy Longshou Plateau. One route south to blockade Luoyang, one route north to control the Jing River. Then with lightning speed capture Chang’an, seize that rebellious son to command the realm, then dispatch large numbers of envoys, befriend distant states while attacking nearby ones, ally with the like-minded and attack dissidents. This way one could swiftly pacify Guanzhong…”
“This minister disagrees. Now that we have firearms, breaking through passes and gates is as easy as turning one’s hand. Speed is the key. To break Guanzhong, first one must pacify Heluo…”
“Nonsense! Guanzhong is the capital region, the premier land…”
“Wrong! In terms of prosperity, Yuezhou, Guangzhou, Yangzhou, and Yizhou are not inferior to Chang’an and Luoyang. Occupying Guanzhong would only make one a target sticking out…”
“When I first raised my army, it was by advancing on Chang’an that I…”
“That was your era. Now Guanzhong is actually chicken ribs. The grasslands have scarce resources and cannot serve as a foundation. The Western Regions are desolate and remote—one can only be a roving bandit there. Guangzhou is too distant. Yuezhou, Zhuozhou, Zhaozhou—these places are good locations for raising an army. Even Jinyang is inferior to these places. Raising an army from Yueyang, as long as one controls the Yangtze River…”
Zhangsun came out several times. Seeing them, sovereign and minister, plotting rebellion with great enthusiasm, she shook her head with a dark expression and returned to the rear palace. Looking on until noon, seeing the sovereign and minister still discussing with flying spittle, and most importantly, both of them drinking wine—
Unable to bear it any longer, she finally spoke to advise: “Plotting rebellion truly isn’t a matter of one morning or evening. Your Majesty, even if you two are going to rebel, first eat lunch, then plot for the realm—it won’t be too late.”
Li Er felt today’s conversation was extremely satisfying. He casually tossed away the wine bottle in his hand, pushed a bowl of noodles brought by palace maids to Yun Ye, and picked up his own large bowl to eat very contentedly.
This was Li Er. He fundamentally didn’t like a peaceful realm. What he liked was the past of battle steeds and iron weapons. He didn’t even like the imperial throne. He preferred to place himself in the position of a rebel. The difficult and arduous years of rebellion were actually the period of time he most cherished.
Yun Ye held his rice bowl, secretly observing Li Er wolfing down his food. Whenever rebellion was mentioned, his spirits became extremely vigorous. Only now did Yun Ye hazily realize that his generously abdicating the throne this time wasn’t because of his own persuasion, but because Li Er was already tired of the imperial position. Power had long since reached its peak—a life without pursuits or goals was his mortal enemy.
After finishing the meal, the sovereign and minister once again began the great enterprise of rebellion. Only this time, Yun Ye became the loyal minister helping the Li family defend the realm, while Li Er, this traitor, raised a clamor across the land, raising troops from Mount Taihang, continuously leading his bandits in difficult passage through the dense net Yun Ye had arranged. Even when forced by Yun Ye to enter the mountains to become a roving bandit, he refused to admit defeat…
“I’ll take a short nap. When I wake up, we’ll continue. Don’t think that forcing me into the great mountains means all is well. This is when I lie in wait for Heaven’s timing…”
Before finishing his words, the exhausted Li Er leaned back in the tiger-skin chair and fell asleep. Zhangsun looked at Yun Ye with reproachful anger, then had eunuchs carry Li Er to the inner hall to rest. Before long, having settled Li Er, Zhangsun came out again and said to Yun Ye with worry: “His Majesty’s spirits are increasingly inadequate. You shouldn’t discuss these matters that harm the spirit and exhaust the mind.”
Yun Ye shook his head and said: “If we don’t speak of them, His Majesty’s days will be even more boring. You see him—when finding a cart-pulling panda, he must find the strongest, most ferocious one. When Chengqian has even a small slip-up there, His Majesty’s counterattack is swift and decisive.”
“As long as His Majesty is no longer emperor, his second identity will manifest—that of an invincible commander. Actually, His Majesty seems to prefer this identity even more. This minister even believes that if war broke out in the Great Tang now, the old man might be the first to don battle armor to meet the enemy. Probably no one’s persuasion would be of use.”
“Our Great Tang has fierce generals like clouds, strategists like rain…”
“This is precisely the place where His Majesty is most dissatisfied with the Great Tang…”
After finishing speaking with Zhangsun, he no longer waited for Li Er to wake up. Who knew when this nap would last until? Wang Cai was already calling outside. After Yun Ye took his leave, he took Wang Cai for a stroll along the Dongyang River.
The Dongyang River was still covered with small boats, though far fewer than in the past. Mainly because the academy was currently in closed examination period—the grading of papers wasn’t yet complete. Those now idly wandering on the river were all family members of academy teachers.
Xu Jingzong lay beneath a weeping willow, beneath him a square of white felt. The felt was covered with melons, fruits, and water wine. Most eye-catching was a small iron bucket that actually contained ice. The black porcelain jar surely contained the finest grape wine. Two deep-eyed Hu dancing girls clung charmingly to his body—one feeding him wine, another massaging his legs. White hair and rosy complexion—he appeared extremely carefree and romantic.
This thing was now hard to see in Chang’an. Mainly because the Western Regions had no people left. The overland Silk Road had become especially difficult due to lack of supply points, so grape wine couldn’t be transported in. The grape wine currently available was all produced by the Beiting Protectorate. Gaochang now not only produced cotton but also grape wine. As for fire-oil, it was fundamentally being smuggled. The court had already forbidden private ownership of fire-oil extraction rights. This was also one of the prices He Shao had paid to facilitate the birth of the Commercial Law.
Yun Ye wanted to go around, but Wang Cai had eyes for the melons and fruits there. He clip-clopped over and with one thrust of his head toppled a Hu girl onto Xu Jingzong’s body, then as if no one else existed began biting the dish melon on the jade plate.
Xu Jingzong sighed and said: “You’ve already raised this horse into an ancestor.”
Yun Ye said with a smile: “Whatever he does, feel free to consider it as me doing it. We’ve long since called each other brothers.”
“You wouldn’t take advantage of my concubines, but this fellow will. By the way, yesterday there was horn-blowing and troop mustering—what exactly happened? I only heard that Taiji Palace and Wude Hall accidentally caught fire? Tell me the reason.”
Yun Ye rarely concealed things from Xu Jingzong. Since they were allies, sometimes it was best not to hide things—guessing back and forth most easily caused problems. So he recounted yesterday’s events in complete detail to Xu Jingzong.
“This is where His Majesty was wrong. Since he’d already handed the palace over to the Crown Prince, then the Crown Prince clearing out the palace had no error. His leaving those eunuchs behind without taking them away shows harbored ill intentions. When something happened, His Majesty also had Hei Chi Changzhi’s entire family poisoned to death with Rift toxin. Such a mentality is inappropriate—this isn’t something a retired person should do.”
Yun Ye found a golden apricot from beside Wang Cai’s mouth, eating while saying: “You know what? Today I spent the entire day plotting rebellion with His Majesty on the sand table. At first we rebelled together—discovered rebellion was something without difficulty. Later His Majesty had me defend while he rebelled. We killed on the sand table until Heaven and Earth were dark and the sun and moon had no light. I finally forced His Majesty, this rebellion ringleader, into Mount Taihang, yet His Majesty said this was when he would calm his mind and temper his nature, waiting for Heaven’s timing. I’m extremely worried about this statement!”
Xu Jingzong took the wine jar and drank a large gulp, hugging the ice-cold wine jar and saying with worry: “When immortals fight, mortals suffer! I can only hope His Majesty just wants to indulge himself on the sand table. Otherwise the realm will truly be in chaos, and everyone’s good days will come to an end. This old man never wants to ride a horse following the army to war again. When people grow old, they should enjoy blessings!”
Yun Ye shook his head and said: “It’s not that serious. I believe His Majesty is looking for methods to guard against this kind of rebellion happening. So on the sand table, I exerted great effort!”
Xu Jingzong rolled his eyes and said: “If you have the ability, try being perfunctory. His Majesty is an old piece of ginger—the older, the spicier. Watch—in these days, there will be many people participating in rebellion. You’ve been tested. The next one will definitely be Zhangsun Chong and Dugu Mou. As for Li Jing and the others, they long ago furled their banners and hushed their drums, letting the world forget them…”