The heads brought back by the messengers were circulated among the Nine Borders. The Western Frontier had achieved its first great victory, giving all the border troops of the Great Tang renewed confidence in their own battle situations. As long as the two most powerful enemies were driven away, the remaining minor troubles would eventually be completely eradicated.
Li Zhi was envious to death. Sitting below Wei Zheng, he continuously urged Wei Zheng to relocate the administrative seat to Yunzhong. Zhang Jian also confidently advised Wei Zheng, believing that since the Great Wall had already been built, it should be put to use to hold back the Shiwei barbarians, which shouldn’t be too difficult.
Wei Zheng looked at Li Zhi with indulgent affection. After a long while, he finally said: “Little Zhi, you are a good prince. I didn’t know this before, but coming to the northern lands, I now understand how hard you’ve worked all these years. I always thought you were a slippery fellow, but I didn’t expect that everything you did in the capital was for the common people of Jinyang. There are disasters here almost every year, cold and hunger every season. The fact that you can keep the common people’s bellies full is already quite remarkable.”
“Although you are a fine prince, you shouldn’t compare what you do with what Yun Ye does. Nothing he does has any reference value—that is to say, what he can accomplish, only he himself can accomplish. Anyone else would fail miserably.”
“Comparing the Great Wall you’ve built with the Camel City is actually quite mistaken. Not to mention anything else, just in terms of cost alone, a hundred Yunzhong Great Walls like this couldn’t compare to the Camel City.”
“That Camel City concentrates all of the Great Tang’s most advanced technologies, from steel to weapons to supplies and transport, even to personnel deployment and the scope of authority—none of these can be matched by our small Yunzhong.”
Li Zhi asked in confusion: “It’s nothing more than a city. Even if it can move, it can’t catch up to the enemy and can only defend passively. How could it kill a hundred thousand in battle? We also have fire oil and gunpowder. We should also kill a hundred thousand Shiwei people.”
Wei Zheng stroked his beard and smiled: “That’s exactly why Yun Ye burrowed into their trap himself, forcing them to come attack. At this point, even if the Turks and Tibetans clearly know that this Camel City is hard to deal with, they still have to risk their lives to attack it. This way, Yun Ye’s strategy is simply achieved—the Camel City is meant to consume the Turkic forces.”
“Our opponent is different. The Shiwei people are barbarians who only know plunder and slaughter, not much different from wild beasts. They won’t risk their lives to attack a city they can’t take. When they encounter such a city, they automatically avoid it, finding passages through mountain forests, cliffs, underground rivers, and caves to attack our weak points. Their desire for wealth even exceeds their desire for victory.”
Li Zhi suddenly smiled and said: “I have plenty of fine wine, obtained from the Yun family’s distillery. Why don’t we use it as bait to lure the Shiwei people to come plunder? I’ve heard that one small jar of Yun family liquor can be exchanged for two Shiwei women. Even if they don’t take the bait, we can trade with them—one jar of wine for two women. When I grow up, I don’t believe the Shiwei people will have many left. Their oldest people are only forty years old. Ten years from now, if the Shiwei people can retain even half their numbers, I’ll consider them clever. And I will definitely implement this policy in Yunzhong. I might even provide subsidies to merchants doing this trade.”
Wei Zheng shook his head and smiled: “Truly worthy of being a student from the Academy—every one of you cunning as ghosts. Do as you wish. Anyway, once this old man finishes the business here, I’ll return to be a gate official. That’s a decent position.”
Li Zhi smiled and thanked Wei Zheng for his support. He had wanted to implement this strategy since leaving the Academy, but had always been hindered by concerns about the imperial family’s dignity and couldn’t expand it on a large scale. Now with Wei Zheng as a front, everything would flow naturally.
Trading on the battlefield was simply shocking, but in Yunzhong it seemed perfectly harmonious. You go plunder the merchants and common people of the Great Tang, and Li Zhi here buys what you’ve plundered, with currency being liquor. The Shiwei people fell completely in love with the taste from the first sip. After drinking, their whole body felt warm as if bathed in spring breeze, and in a drunken haze, a cold night would pass.
It was just that lately, plundering hadn’t been going so well. The Great Tang’s cavalry were extremely fierce, and they couldn’t venture too far from the trading point. Some who went out plundering never came back. Not having anything to trade for wine was a major problem. Fortunately, women would also work? This greatly stimulated the tribes’ desire to purchase liquor. Women in the tribe weren’t very useful anyway—trading them for wine was also a good way out. Not only did it reduce food consumption, it could also effectively eliminate women and children, making the tribe even stronger.
Li Zhi hadn’t believed there could be such foolish people before. When the merchant caravans that had done business with the Shiwei people year after year told him this reality, he couldn’t believe his ears no matter what. Only after the caravans helped him conduct several such transactions did he finally completely believe it.
“Solitary yin cannot generate, solitary yang cannot grow”—this was almost common knowledge in Han lands, but in the eyes of these barbarians who worshipped strength, women were indeed a burden. They had to fight against ice, snow, and bitter cold, fight against wild beasts, and most importantly, face ever-present hunger. Hunger truly could make people do many unthinkable things, including devouring their own mothers and sisters. Now for liquor, it was the same. Low productivity could not produce rich and refined emotions.
Yun Ye’s Camel City was undergoing a thorough cleaning. After waiting a full five days, the sky finally stopped raining sand. This was all thanks to a modest rain. When yellow mud drops fell from the sky, the camels that had kept their mouths hidden under their bellies all cried out toward the heavens together, as if welcoming new life. The rainwater gradually changed from muddy to clear, ultimately forming a dense, slanting rain curtain. The earthy smell that had filled the entire world completely dissipated in a short time. The whole earth was receiving this gift from heaven.
“Tu Shi has escaped disaster!” Du Ruhui reached out his hand to catch the outside rain and said to Yun Ye.
“Not just Tu Shi—I estimate Ludongzan is the same. However, in this sandstorm they lost many warhorses. If they want to march quickly, they’re dreaming. As long as we maintain a speed of forty li per day, we’ll eventually crush them with nowhere to hide, finally leaving them with no choice but to go on the western campaign. Only those with nothing can unleash their strongest fighting power.”
Du Ruhui laughed, pointing west and saying to Yun Ye: “Li Jing must be incredibly furious right now. The undefeated War God has always had others help him clean up remnant enemies. Who would have thought he’d have a day of helping you clean up the aftermath? I just don’t know whether he or Ludongzan will be faster.”
Li Jing was truly just as Du Ruhui said—burning with fury. Upon seeing the Tibetans, he launched an attack in the first instant. The Modao Regiment held the Blackstone Mountain pass, striking down from their elevated position with one blade stroke every three steps—those who blocked were swept away. The ten-foot-long horse-slaying blades falling from above had almost the force of thunder.
The cavalry then poured out from the valley, easily cutting off all escape routes for this group of Tibetans. Li Jing glanced at the banners and ordered these Tibetans to be annihilated on the spot. Ludongzan had already led his main force from Baiyang Plain into the vast mountain ranges. Crossing one snow mountain would bring them back to Tibet. These people were the old and weak who couldn’t cross the mountains. Watching the last Tibetan fall to the ground, Li Jing’s disappointment grew even deeper. Ludongzan would rather cross snow mountains than face him directly.
The most satisfied with the current situation was Na Rimu. In just over ten days, she would give birth. A child born on the Camel City would be a person of the grasslands, especially now on a military formation—only the kings of the grasslands would have such treatment.
“Don’t keep eating so much now. Milk tofu isn’t anything special. Be careful the baby gets too big and won’t be easy to deliver.” Huan Niang was always nagging in her ear. It wasn’t like she hadn’t given birth before—why did she need to nag like this? She hadn’t seen her husband for half a month and missed him a bit. Should she go see him?
Having thought of it, she would go. They were both on the Camel City anyway. A few days ago when her husband was busy with military affairs, she didn’t dare disturb him, but now there shouldn’t be any problem, right? Na Rimu proudly supported her belly and, with a maid’s assistance, carried a basket toward the central command tent.
Hearing the soldiers all call her “Madam,” Na Rimu smiled very happily. On this Camel City, she was the only madam. She didn’t much like others calling her Second Madam or Concubine or such.
She picked some fresh vegetables from the vegetable garden, all things her husband liked to eat. He especially liked eating lettuce—Na Rimu felt this was due to her influence.
Seeing Na Rimu enter, the staff advisors around Yun Ye hurriedly withdrew, leaving the hall for the couple to be alone.
Yun Ye smiled as he looked Na Rimu over, helped her sit down, and said softly: “There are only a few days left until you give birth. Don’t go running around everywhere. I had originally hoped you could have the child here, but military affairs are urgent and we must depart after all. It’s been hard on you.”
Na Rimu smiled without speaking. She loved hearing her husband talk about military matters. Whenever he spoke of warfare, her husband had a kind of breathtaking charisma about him. She knew her husband didn’t need her to give opinions—he only needed an audience.
Yun Ye picked up a cucumber and took a big bite, saying: “You know what? Xiao Miao and the others have already conquered a country and are now advancing toward Tianzhu. After they break through Tianzhu, they’ll reach Dashi. Only upon reaching Dashi will their mission be considered complete. Then there’s Han Zhe and Xi Tong, those two fellows—they’ve stirred up the Shache Kingdom into complete chaos. One’s a charlatan, one’s a bandit, plus the unreasonably overbearing Turks—the destruction of Shache Kingdom is right before our eyes.”
“The national campaigns are almost finished. Now it’s time to do private work. The great households in the capital are all waiting. He Shao has almost reached Khotan. After all, many people need dividends. You know, sometimes I discover that public and private affairs are almost impossible to separate.”
“Look! This is a letter written to me by the Li family patriarch, asking me to prepare large, large tracts of land. He plans to enfeoff these lands to people.”