Yun Ye was quite satisfied that Cheng Chumo emerged unscathed. This trip to the grasslands could be considered a complete success—very good, no one was injured, and no one suffered losses.
As for the grievances between Li Jing and Chai Shao, that wasn’t his concern. It was obvious that Chai Shao could be considered a competent general. His injured, suspended arm showed he’d been charging at the frontlines all along, not hiding in the rear letting his subordinates die for him.
Just moments ago when he first saw Yun Ye, Chai Shao was all smiles, but when he saw there were only two hundred-some auxiliary soldiers, his face immediately turned iron-blue. His political talent far exceeded his military prowess—not seeing Xue Wanche, he instantly understood what had happened.
After the Battle of Xiangcheng, his three thousand troops were reduced to less than two thousand men, and even these two thousand were nearly all wounded. The auxiliary soldiers put down their weapons and began methodically providing treatment. Not bad—most of the three thousand soldiers knew some first aid basics and had already done simple bandaging. Now it was just a matter of re-examining them. Chai Shao wasn’t the only clever one—the remaining soldiers also lost their smiles, some even began to weep.
Indeed, what did those bullshit disputes among the upper echelons have to do with common soldiers? Now the battle was fought, men had died, yet they received no merit—it was all for nothing. Over a thousand brothers had fallen, and all they got in return were four cold words: “Unauthorized Military Action!”
The military honors so many dreamed of obtaining were utterly erased by those four words. One man cried, and in an instant the entire camp wept—not wailing aloud, but weeping quietly, tears streaming down faces in silence. This kind of crying was the most oppressive. Even Cheng Chumo, who usually loved eating noodles, couldn’t finish his meal. He hastily ate half a bowl before staying by Cheng Dong’s side, not leaving for even a step.
Cheng Dong was gravely wounded. A long spear had nearly pierced through his lower abdomen. Now lying on a stretcher, his face was pale as gold paper. In this bitter cold his high fever wouldn’t break—clearly there was inflammation in his abdominal cavity. Opening the wound to look, yellow body fluid was seeping out. After thoroughly cleaning the wound again, Yun Ye used a knife to cut away the somewhat pale dead flesh around the edges, then inserted a reed stem into the wound to serve as drainage.
Yun Ye had no injectable medications, and the saline solution he’d made himself wasn’t pure enough—it could only be used to clean wounds, with no way to supplement it into the bloodstream. He could only have Cheng Chumo feed him a little salt water every hour, and gave him anti-inflammatory medicine to take. He’d done everything he could—the rest was up to Cheng Dong himself.
The army’s morale was scattered! The main force was busy grieving, Chai Shao was preoccupied with his anger, and even the scouts sent out were listless. This wouldn’t do! The area was full of barbarians—if they learned from Chai Shao and launched a surprise night raid or something, wouldn’t that be disastrous?
Apart from leaving a few to care for the wounded, Yun Ye sent all the other auxiliary soldiers out on patrol. Such low morale couldn’t remain in the wilderness too long. They had to set out for Shuofang tomorrow. Only under the protection of high city walls would they have a chance to lick their wounds and slowly recover.
Li Jing should be sweeping across the grasslands now. Five armies were about to converge at Qikou—Xie Li’s days were numbered. Such glory had nothing to do with Shuofang. Yun Ye believed that from now on, Li Jing would never give the Shuofang army half a chance to earn merit.
At first light, Yun Ye rose. He’d discussed it with Chai Shao last night—he too felt they shouldn’t linger in the wilderness too long. They’d decided to march with full effort tomorrow. The sooner they reached Shuofang, the sooner they’d have peace of mind.
Stepping out of the cave, the bone-piercing cold wind instantly swept away the last trace of drowsiness. Chai Shao had no earth cave to sleep in and could only make do in a tent for the night. In this freezing weather, having a tent or not didn’t make much difference. He hadn’t removed his armor last night, only dozed by the fire for a while. Now he kept issuing various orders, hoping to keep the soldiers busy so they’d forget those unpleasant matters.
Going home was always appealing. After drinking hot porridge, the entire army moved out. Cheng Chumo led the scouts ahead, Chai Shao drove over ten thousand warhorses following closely, and only Yun Ye, bringing up the rear with the wounded, drove the sleds along leisurely. There was no choice—if they went too fast, half the wounded wouldn’t survive until Shuofang.
He Shao, like a plump old rat, hadn’t stopped since last night. Those soldiers who’d attacked Xiangcheng kept going in and out of his tent—entering with worried,苦闷 faces but emerging with beaming smiles. Who knew what methods this fellow used to make heartbroken soldiers smile again?
Now he was hopping up and down on the wounded soldiers’ sleds, muttering a few words with this one, clapping hands twice with that one, as if completing some transaction. His fat face was creased with smiles, and the wounded soldiers’ spirits instantly improved considerably. He didn’t even spare Cheng Dong—he whispered something in Cheng Dong’s ear. Cheng Dong, who’d just barely regained consciousness, opened his eyes wide and said “A house?” before his eyes rolled back and he passed out again.
Grabbing the fat rat, Yun Ye demanded: “What are you doing? Cheng Dong just woke up—what did you say to make him so excited he passed out again?”
“Brother, your older brother is a businessman now. Of course I’m talking business.” Old He spoke as if it were perfectly natural.
“What business could you possibly have with them? They’re destitute common soldiers—please don’t exploit them.”
These poor soldiers encountering Old He was truly due to misdeeds in a past life. Old He now only had eyes for business. Everything looked like a price tag to him. If the price was right, this fellow absolutely wouldn’t mind selling his own fat as pork.
“You think these soldiers are all paupers? You’d be wrong about that. This surprise attack on Xiangcheng—even though they got no military merit, there’s no fault either, right? They seized so much stuff. The general won’t keep it all for himself, will he? The finest warhorses should go to the court, naturally, but those second-rate horses—Shuofang can’t use all of them. Shouldn’t some be rewarded to these soldiers? Each man doesn’t get much, but two thousand men—that’s quite a lot, right? Have them ask the general to exchange these rewards for second-rate warhorses, then come to me to exchange these second-rate warhorses for houses—isn’t that good? Houses in Chang’an City, no less.” Old He spoke with conviction, and it actually sounded reasonable. But where would he get so many houses to exchange?
“Houses in Chang’an City are certainly appealing, but Old He, you’re not swindling these common soldiers, are you? If you’re cheating them, I believe you won’t live more than a few days. They have a thousand ways to chop you into mincemeat.” Yun Ye only hoped this fellow wasn’t becoming obsessed with business.
“Heh heh heh…” Old He let out a sinister laugh before continuing: “Everyone’s heart is made of flesh. I, Old He, would never do something so disgraceful to my ancestors and my reputation. When I say houses in Chang’an City, I mean houses in Chang’an City. You don’t know—not far from Qujiang Pool there’s a place called Dunhua Ward. This ward has less than ten households, not because the area is small, but because no one dares live there. They say before His Majesty ascended the throne, there was a brutal battle there—extremely fierce, with no fewer than five hundred corpses left behind. The blood stained the ground red. Even now if you go look, some places still have bloodstains. Old residents say sometimes at night you can hear ghosts crying…”
Yun Ye picked up: “So the land price is just one word: ‘cheap,’ right? And there are probably already houses on it—you just need to patch them up a bit before they can move in, isn’t that so?”
“Don’t talk nonsense—’cheap’ is two characters, not one. Brother, those several hundred cartloads of hides I got in autumn had nowhere to store them. Nobody wants a huge pile of stinking hides too close by—none of the neighbors would have it. With nowhere to store them and no choice, I took them to Dunhua Ward. Who knew those damned landlords refused to rent—they’d only sell, trying to butcher me like a fat pig! With my older brother not home and your sister-in-law being careless, and several hundred cartloads of hides that couldn’t be left in the open, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and buy the land. Knowing it was a loss, I still had to jump into this pit. A place of bloodshed, a killing ground—others are afraid, but would these killers fear it? I asked them—not a single one cares. They all say they’ve seen more dead people than living ones. Houses like these are most suitable for them. So what do you think of my business deal?”
There were no words—truly no words. This fellow had found the best buyers for haunted houses, and found two thousand of them at once. He didn’t even spare Cheng Dong, who was half-dead. By now he probably owned at least half of all the land in Dunhua Ward. Using half to settle the soldiers, the rest could continue to be sold piecemeal to military men. With people living there, the land prices would naturally rise. Without spending a single coin, this fellow would profit from over a thousand horses. Driven by jealousy, Yun Ye decided to demand a large plot of land from him.
Before Yun Ye could speak, Old He pulled out a map from his bosom and pointed to a plot closest to Qujiang Pool, saying: “This is your older brother’s heartfelt gift—you absolutely must not refuse, little brother…”
Yun Ye was dumbstruck. He could only curse in his heart: “Damn it.” Still, this was fine. Since the soldiers couldn’t get military merit, getting a house wasn’t bad either—at least it could console them somewhat.
When Yun Ye and the wounded arrived at the camp, dusk was falling. Chai Shao stood on a high slope watching sled after sled enter the camp gate before finally coming down from the slope.
Seeing Chai Shao care so much for the wounded, Old He’s eyes nearly glowed green. Knowing his thoughts—Chai Shao caring for the wounded meant the rewards this time wouldn’t be light, and if the rewards weren’t light, didn’t that mean he, Old He, could profit handsomely?
Chai Shao made a circuit among the wounded and was delighted to discover that their spirits were actually full—a few were even talking and laughing. He didn’t know what method Yun Ye had used to cheer these soldiers up. Curious, he asked Yun Ye.
“Marquis Yun, the wounded look quite well. I wonder what’s the reason?”
“Houses. With houses, who still thinks about military merit? Haven’t you noticed all the soldiers are eagerly watching you?”
Yun Ye was greatly displeased discussing this matter.
“Houses? What do you mean? Where are these houses coming from, and what connection do they have with this commander?”
“There’s an unscrupulous merchant. He’s got designs on the rewards you’ll give the soldiers. He’s made arrangements with the wounded—as soon as the rewards arrive, he’ll exchange them for houses, houses in Chang’an City no less. So with houses promised, they’ve forgotten about military merit.”
Chai Shao trembled with rage: “Who is it? Who has such audacity to dare deceive my soldiers? I’ll have him torn limb from limb!”
Yun Ye blocked the furious Chai Shao and said to him: “General, you won’t fail to reward these subordinates who followed you through life and death, will you?”
“Of course I’ll reward them. This time I’ve wronged them. If I don’t reward them generously, how can I fill the guilt in my heart? But this damned merchant actually dares to cheat them, to profit from their blood and sweat—I’ll have him drawn and quartered by five horses this instant as a warning to others!” Chai Shao was nearly mad with anger.
“General, I too would very much like to have this fellow drawn and quartered by five horses, but this fellow hasn’t actually cheated anyone. His transactions with the soldiers are ridiculously fair—we have no grounds.” Yun Ye disliked anyone smarter than himself. Drawing and quartering by five horses was quite a good idea.
“No deception? There really are houses in Chang’an City? Those aren’t cheap. The reward money wouldn’t be enough to buy houses in Chang’an City.” Chai Shao was extremely puzzled. He didn’t believe there was anyone in the world who specialized in doing business at a loss.
“Don’t disbelieve it—it’s true. When soldiers buy houses, it’s not like us with so many requirements. They only hope to have a foothold in Chang’an City, nothing more. They don’t need it to be large—enough for themselves and their whole family to shelter is sufficient. A three-courtyard compound can house over ten families without problem. Do you still think he’s cheating them?”
Yun Ye explained. Chai Shao, like him, was dumbstruck. Having lived for decades, he’d never known that one compound could be sold to over ten households, and these buyers were all brothers who stirred ladles in the same pot—living together posed no problem whatsoever. What kind of mind could think up such a scheme?
“Tell that merchant to set aside one thousand housing shares for me.”