Han Zhe was building a city in the sky, while Xiao Wu was developing toward the Nine Nether Yellow Springs. The bunker designed for her by the Gongshu family could be called perfect. Mount Shu was a good place, but Xiao Wu was unwilling to leave Chang’an. She believed Chang’an was the place where outstanding people and spirits converged.
The vast Qinling Mountains became her first choice. So Huang Shu led a group of unfamiliar people into the Qinling Mountains, planning to find a place with clear mountains and beautiful waters, and moreover completely uninhabited, to establish her White Jade Capital.
Who knew what good place she had actually discovered? She was constantly asking Yun Ye and Xinyue for the family’s treasures. What she needed most were various gemstones, and she continuously urged her master to request the jade plaques back from the palace.
Gemstones were no problem, but the jade plaques might not be easy to retrieve. Li Chengqian had again inlaid the jade plaques into the ceiling of Wanmin Palace Hall. For this, he even opened a skylight in Wanmin Palace. During the day, the jade plaques desperately absorbed the sun’s essence, and at night they would illuminate the great hall as bright as day.
Since they couldn’t be retrieved, Xiao Wu was unhappy for many days.
“You’re a teacher at the academy. You can’t be so willful. Others are still at the academy grading papers—how is it you can run out? If you like White Jade Capital, you can play with it, but don’t become obsessed. Just treat it as decorating a fresh boudoir for yourself. Your master dotes on you, and the family doesn’t lack those things. Use them as you please. As long as you don’t harm Heaven or reason, having a large toy isn’t bad.”
“The Wa slaves you bought—don’t drive them to death either. After constructing your grotto, send them back. Since your hands haven’t yet been stained with fresh blood, don’t let them be stained. When a young lady stands there fragrant and fresh, everyone likes it.”
Xiao Wu was busy searching through Yun Ye’s study. She probably didn’t hear half of her master’s words. With great difficulty, she found a mechanical diagram of the academy’s maze formation from a large cabinet. She gave Yun Ye a sweet smile and hurriedly ran off again.
Yun Ye sighed, lowered his head, and continued studying how to completely eliminate those traitorous dogs from Great Tang territory. Liu Fang yawned greatly and said to him: “This is beacon fires everywhere indeed. It’s almost a replay of the rebellions at the end of the Sui Dynasty. The Emperor truly thinks highly of you, using you as Zhang Xutuo.”
“Zhang Xutuo was a rare fierce general indeed. In his early years, he defeated Wang Bo, Sun Xuanya, Shi Zhishe, and Hao Xiaode. He also defeated Pei Changcai and Shi Zihe at Licheng. He routed Guo Fangyu and Qin Junhong at Beihai, and defeated Lu Mingyue at Zhuojun. His military achievements were truly illustrious.”
“At the great battle of Xingyang, Zhang Xutuo’s army advanced in square formation. Zhai Rang led his troops to engage and then retreat. Zhang Xutuo took the opportunity to pursue for over ten li to the vicinity of Dahai Temple. The Wagang rebel ambush suddenly arose. Zhai Rang, Li Mi, and rebel generals Xu Shiji and Wang Bodang surrounded the Sui army. Zhang Xutuo fought fiercely and broke through, but seeing his subordinates still surrounded, he charged back into the encirclement to save them. Like this four times, his troops were all scattered in defeat. Zhang Xutuo looked up to Heaven and said: ‘With defeat like this, what face do I have to see the Son of Heaven?’ Then he dismounted and fought to the death, aged fifty-two. His officers and soldiers all wailed through the night. For several days it did not cease. After Zhang Xutuo’s death, the Sui Dynasty had no more good generals.”
“Look at your current situation. Isn’t it exactly Zhang Xutuo’s circumstances? Pacify Shandong and Hebei rebels. Pacify Hebei and Shu rebels. Beacon fires everywhere. Fierce bandits everywhere. The Emperor is in Jinyang, Zhangsun Chong in Zhaozhou, Dugu Mou in Heluo, Li Ji in Shuofang. Cheng Yaojin in Longyou, Yuchi Gong in Hebei, the Prince of Shu in Shu, the Prince of Qi in Qizhou, the Prince of Wu in Jiangnan. You carefully count—how much territory do you have left? Even Lingnan, which you rely on as your great rear area, isn’t safe. The Feng family is still in Guangzhou. What you can truly rely on is only the Two Lakes region, Yuezhou, and these places are battlegrounds on all sides. Chang’an is even besieged by rebel forces. Your troops can at most deploy along the canal line.”
“Look carefully—how similar to Zhang Xutuo’s circumstances back then? Exhausted from rushing about! Even the bravest general cannot withstand such torment, and moreover, you face all capable and fierce generals, plus an invincible commander. If the realm truly fell into such a situation, youngster, I’ll give you a suggestion: immediately contract your forces, abandon Shandong and Hebei, firmly hold Guanzhong, Hanzhong, and the Two Lakes. Use a powerful navy to blockade the Yangtze River. Dispatch fierce generals to close the Meiling Ancient Road. First, with lightning speed, eliminate Feng Ang. Since Hanzhong is in hand, you cannot fail to plot for Shu. After Shu is pacified, the next to resolve is Dugu Mou’s Heluo. Finally, break them one by one. Only thus is there possibility of pacifying the realm in your lifetime.”
Yun Ye looked down at the sand table, sighed, and said: “Even if I had the heart of the Duke of Zhou spitting out food to receive guests, I’m afraid the greatest disaster would still appear in Chang’an City. If I were the emperor, doing this would naturally have no problem. But I’m not. Even the best of friends couldn’t tolerate me grasping such great power.”
Liu Fang chuckled and said: “Not too stupid—you see it? However, it’s not without methods. You use Rift poison to kill the Emperor, then install his young son on the throne. If you don’t want to usurp the realm, after sweeping the realm, you could naturally retire with achievements accomplished. However, in that case, I’m afraid your four sons wouldn’t agree? Individual virtue ultimately has no way to compare with the flowery world.”
Yun Ye smiled bitterly and said: “The Emperor is using military formations to deduce future developments. Why do I now feel a chill on the back of my neck? Xu Jingzong told me to exercise one hundred twenty percent caution in responding. It seems there’s reason for it.”
Liu Fang drank a mouthful of tea and said to Yun Ye with a smile: “Xu Jingzong’s thoughts most accord with the Emperor’s current mentality. Since the Emperor plans to have you help guard the Li family’s realm, you should live up to the Emperor’s trust. Dying exhausted from rushing about like Zhang Xutuo clearly doesn’t suit your character. If you did that, you couldn’t escape the hat of ‘great loyalty resembling treachery.’ See if there’s a better method?”
“Kill! Only by killing until blood flows like seas can I be rescued from this predicament. Whether it’s the plague the academy controls or the deadly poisons—release them all together, making a stance of not hesitating even if all under Heaven perish, forcing those who follow the rebel generals’ footsteps to leave their sides. After all, the Li Tang has not yet lost popular support. The examination question the Emperor posed inherently has loopholes. As long as the common people—whether from fear or sincere support of the Li family—dare not participate in rebellion, I’ll have won this battle. Only needing very few elite troops, I can pacify the realm in the shortest time. At this time, my achievements wouldn’t be considered outstanding, so naturally I could advance or retreat freely.”
Yun Ye took out a small bottle from his bosom and placed it on the sand table. When Liu Fang saw this small bottle, he couldn’t help but shudder, asking repeatedly: “Why are you carrying this thing on your person?”
Yun Ye pulled out the stopper, poured out some black pills, put them in his mouth, swallowed, and only then said: “This is Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill that Master Sun formulated. My body has been somewhat inadequate recently—supplementing it.”
Liu Fang took it to look and sniff, then said disdainfully to Yun Ye: “Three years of mourning observance, three years of abstinence—I thought you had already become pure-hearted and passionless. Didn’t expect you’ve now intensified even more. A man in his forties can’t withstand daily depletion.”
Yun Ye shook his head, took out two more bottles of Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pills from the drawer, and placed them before Liu Fang. The old man immediately forgot about Yun Ye’s licentiousness. Holding the medicine bottles in his hand, tapping the sand table, he said: “In this case, wouldn’t the Li family’s realm be solid as rock? The worst result would be mutual destruction?”
Yun Ye nodded and said: “Indeed so. The Emperor is worrying unnecessarily about radishes whether salty or bland. If he doesn’t stir up some trouble, he’s uncomfortable. These days I’ve just been playing along with him. After all, the Emperor has also doted on me for a lifetime. I’ve constantly made mistakes, but the heaviest punishment I’ve received was a spanking. Not even father and mother are like this. Don’t look at him as emperor—just treat him as an elder nearing the end of his days.”
“If he wants to play, just play along with him. Conveniently observe the expressions of people like Zhangsun Chong and Dugu Mou—that’s not bad. Qing Que isn’t here. If Qing Que were here, he’d see at a glance that his old man’s brilliant idea was thought up in vain.”
“When force reaches its extreme, it can actually make the realm quiet down. So what the Li Tang needs to worry about now isn’t common people rebelling, but rather the Emperor’s personal cultivation. Arrogance, extravagance, and debauchery—as long as they’re within a certain degree, there’s no problem. But if the Emperor thinks he holds the most powerful force and acts wantonly, no one can save him.”
“So I’m preparing to not place supreme force authority in the Emperor’s hands alone. A vast organization must be formed. Only when this organization collectively believes it’s reached the point where it must be used can the supreme force be released. Although the Emperor alone has advisory rights, the actual operational authority cannot be in his hands, nor should it be placed in his hands. This is the problem I’ve been continuously contemplating this year.”
Liu Fang also put a handful of Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pills in his mouth and said with a smile: “Actually, you could have said these words long ago, but now you’re unwilling to speak them. These years you’ve continuously downplayed the威power of these things, continuously telling the Emperor that using these things would result in mutual injury. Are you waiting until after this most formidable emperor passes away before launching your action to restrict royal power?”
Yun Ye nodded and said: “Yes, I’m truly a bit afraid of him! He’s like a curious child—he must grab everything and put it in his mouth. Other things at most taste bad, but if this thing goes in the mouth, would there be any life left?”
“He happens to be the most powerful person in the world. Ever since he had me conduct gunpowder experiments in the palace back then, I vowed absolutely not to tell him the actual威power of this thing. I truly cannot forget his smiling expression while watching those palace people with cracked heads and flowing blood.”
“This old man can’t live that long, so this is your affair…” Liu Fang supported himself with his cane and stood up, hunched over as he walked out. The old man now only worried that Yun Ye would become confused. Since the family head wasn’t confused, whatever decisions he made were appropriate.
Yun Ye had just returned to the rear residence when Na Rimu clung to him, quietly pointing at her bedroom, indicating for Yun Ye to go over. Yun Ye with difficulty moved his gaze away from Na Rimu’s flesh-glistening body. This woman was crazy—the moon had only just risen, yet she was wandering around the courtyard wearing a gauze garment that concealed nothing…