When Cheng Yaojin’s group came out of Wanmin Palace, none of them were willing to speak much. Fifty thousand men defending a five-thousand-li defense line was very unreasonable. Niu Jinda pointed at Li Ji, not knowing what to say. He shook his sleeves and was about to leave.
They had just walked out of the imperial road when they saw a group of princes and princesses thundering past them. Those with manners still knew to clasp their fists in apology. The more foolish ones only knew to run. Li Jing was frowning when he saw Yun Shou thudding after them from behind, barefoot on one foot, holding a shoe sole in his hand, roaring and swearing to pound these bastards to death.
Seeing Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, and a group of old men, he quickly stopped, put on his shoes properly, and paid respects to the several elders. Cheng Yaojin affectionately stroked Yun Shou’s round head and asked with a smile: “Did these boys mock you again for marrying an ugly concubine?”
Yun Shou said with a dark face: “If they just mocked me, that would be fine. But they actually said she was ugly right in front of Helan’s face. Li Chongzu even smeared ink on Helan’s face. Bastards! Even if she’s ugly, she’s still part of my family. Is it their turn to teach her a lesson? Grandfathers, wait a moment. This grandson will go teach them a lesson right now. Once this grandson has taught them to remember their lesson, I’ll come back to hear Grandfathers’ admonishments.”
Cheng Yaojin laughed happily, hugged Yun Shou, and patted him on the back, saying: “I just like such good children. Hurry up and go. If you wait, they’ll run far away and be hard to catch. That’s right—if anyone dares bully our own people, beat them to death.”
Yun Shou responded and thudded off again to chase that group of people.
Cheng Yaojin watched Yun Shou’s figure disappear into the long corridor. The smile on his face immediately vanished. He said to Niu Jinda: “We need to hurry and get camels for Yun Ye. Even if we have to rob, we must rob enough to get him fifty thousand camels. Even if we have to break the rules, we can’t worry about that. Such a good child—I don’t want him to lose his father’s care.”
Yuchi Gong said: “I’ve already brought over all the camels from Luoyang. There’s not a single camel left there now. It’s just that the numbers are somewhat small—only over two thousand eight hundred heads. If you remove the old camels and young camels, having two thousand would be good. Yesterday I discovered that the Tubo people actually have over a thousand camels. Today I’ll go find Lu Dongzan again. If he gives them to this old man, fine. If not, this old man plans to just rob them by force. Afterward, I’ll give him a few copper coins and consider it a purchase.”
Li Ji was just about to say his own family still had some camels when Niu Jinda waved his hand and said: “Forget it. Keep your family’s camels. If you give all your camels to us, your family will turn upside down. Not one of your several sons is easy to deal with. Zhen’er is the most promising one, but he happens to be a sickly person who can only stay in Master Sun’s medicine hut to extend his life.”
Li Ji’s face turned bright red. He argued: “I still have the final say at home. I’m not dead yet. It’s not their turn to interrupt.”
Li Jing suddenly laughed slyly and said: “There’s a place with many camels. I just don’t know if you gentlemen dare make a move. At minimum ten thousand heads, all first-rate good camels.”
“Where? Speak up. Even if it’s the Heavenly King’s grandfather, this old man will go rob him. This old man came from being a highway bandit. My stinking reputation has long rotted all over the streets—no need to be too scrupulous.” Cheng Yaojin immediately moved in front of Li Jing, waiting for him to speak.
“The Empress! The Empress actually has the most camels in her hands. You all know about the government’s camel reserves. Being able to scrape together twenty thousand camels would be reaching the sky. But the Empress has been transporting wool with camels all these years. Now wool isn’t valuable anymore. Common people have started to prefer wearing cotton cloth, disdaining that woolen fabric is stiff and uncomfortable to wear. The Empress’s workshops have now split half of them to start weaving cloth. The camels have lost their great usefulness. What do you say about us going to ask her for camels? What do you think?” Li Jing looked at the sky as if this idea wasn’t his.
Cheng Yaojin’s eyes immediately lit up. Dragging Li Jing, Li Ji, Niu Jinda, Yuchi Gong, and Qin Qiong, he was about to go seek an audience with Zhangsun. The old faces of these several men would surely be able to talk this matter through.
Zhangsun was sitting facing Li Er in Liangyi Hall drinking tea. Hearing the palace attendant report that several old dukes were requesting to see her, she looked at Li Er with surprise and said: “Your Majesty, didn’t they just finish discussing military strategy with you? How did they end up looking for this consort?”
Li Er said with a bitter smile: “It’s all because of the camels. They know you have camels in your hands and are preparing to requisition them to send to Yun Ye to build camel cities. They’ve banded together to come act as highway bandits. You deal with them properly. I’ll hide first. The decree I just issued to Yun Ye was a bit inhumane.” Having said this, Li Er walked directly into the curtain, found a soft chair, and lay down, not planning to meet with Cheng Yaojin and the others.
Zhangsun laughed lightly and said to the handmaiden to invite the several old dukes into the hall to speak.
“Your Majesty, save us!” Cheng Yaojin’s voice arrived before the person did.
Zhangsun smiled and greeted them, saying: “General Cheng’s martial arts are superb, his military tactics skillful. Traversing Great Tang, he’s never had an opponent. How is it that upon arriving at this palace, you start shouting to be saved?”
Qin Qiong cupped his hands and said: “If I don’t shout to be saved, it won’t do. This old minister also wanted to shout, but felt too embarrassed, so I didn’t shout it out. Instead, Old Cheng beat me to it. Today we disregard our old faces coming to Liangyi Hall just to ask Your Majesty to save Yun Ye. If something happens to this boy, the old Qin family will have no hope. You also know the descendants of the old Qin family are not up to par. Old Qin is finding a pillar of support for his descendants. No matter what, you must agree to this old minister’s request.”
Qin Qiong spoke clearly. Before Li Er, one spoke of public affairs. Before the Empress, one could only speak of private matters. If one spoke of public affairs, Zhangsun wouldn’t take it up. A single phrase about the inner palace not interfering in government could push the matter away cleanly.
“Old Duke speaks too seriously. Yun Ye is also this palace’s disciple. If he has danger, how could this palace sit by and ignore it? As long as it’s within this palace’s capability, I will certainly spare no effort. There’s no urgency in this moment. Please enter the hall for tea. We’ll discuss slowly.”
Seeing the Empress speak so boldly, the several men immediately felt relieved. Under the palace maidens’ service, they sat on chairs. Niu Jinda drained the tea in his hand in one gulp and said to Zhangsun: “Yun Ye has big trouble. His Majesty has ordered that Yun Ye must use fewer than fifty thousand troops to defend a five-thousand-li defense line, not permitting those Western Region barbarians to cross the boundary one step. This is a major military and state matter and shouldn’t trouble Your Majesty, but to use the minimum troops to firmly hold the defense line, there must be a mobile city. That is to say, wherever the great army goes, there must be a city where the army can rest and reorganize. Otherwise, with the soldiers marching in the wilderness year after year, no one can endure it.”
“They say that three hundred li will exhaust even a superior general. This refers to the condition of long-distance military expeditions. This is a great military taboo. That child Yun Ye is quite clever. He stubbornly thought up a camel city—that is, linking camels into a military formation. The soldiers live on the camels’ backs in ordinary times. Only when encountering warfare do they go out from the camel city to fight. This way, the consumption of the soldiers’ physical strength can be minimized to the greatest extent. Even if they march day and night, there’s no fear. After all, only the camels will be exhausted, not the war horses and men.”
“Now there’s big trouble. The idea has been thought up, but the camels have become a big problem. This minister already went to the Carriage Bureau to inquire and also went to the Ministry of War to inspect the camel situation. The circumstances are very pessimistic. The number of camels our Great Tang has in reserve is far from sufficient for Yun Ye to construct camel cities. I’ve heard the Inner Palace still has some camels. We old ministers shamelessly beg that Your Majesty could support Yun Ye with some camels to complete the camel cities as soon as possible.”
Zhangsun’s eyes held some confusion. She had no way to imagine what a city formed by tens of thousands of camels would look like. How magnificent it would be. Such marvelous imagination perhaps only someone like Yun Ye could think of it.
“Your Majesty, actually you only need to think of Cao Cao’s chained warships back then, and you can imagine what Yun Ye’s camel city would be like. It’s just that Cao Cao’s warships floated on the water surface, while Yun Ye’s camel city is erected on camels’ backs. Both are equally powerful weapons of war.”
Seeing Zhangsun somewhat confused, Li Jing quickly helped explain from the side.
Zhangsun waved her hand and said: “Actually, you gentlemen don’t need to explain to this palace, a mere woman, about the function of camel cities. This palace only wants to ask one question: To wage war in the vast sea of sand, is this camel city absolutely necessary?”
Li Ji cupped his hands and said: “Your Majesty doesn’t know—under normal circumstances, fifty thousand men being able to firmly hold eight hundred li of territory with warfare is already rare. Now they need to firmly hold five thousand li of territory. Never mind fighting—just running around will run people to death. Yun Ye wants to use equipment to make up for insufficient troops. This is a method when there’s no method, and also the best method.”
Zhangsun nodded and asked again: “I don’t know how many are still lacking. The Inner Palace still has some. After all are added, will it be enough?”
“There’s still some shortage. This general is even prepared to rob the Tubo people. Not only that, this old minister now sees camels on the road and wants to lead them home. You think about it—such a huge camel city will always have losses and needs constant replenishment of camels. So Yun Ye’s camel city is a bottomless pit that probably can’t be filled. Fortunately, our Great Tang only needs three to five years of buffer time before we can free up our hands. During these three to five years, we’ll just grit our teeth and endure.” Yuchi Gong spoke honestly.
“Very well. Since it’s a crucial military implement, how can this palace be stingy? General Cheng, all the Inner Palace’s camels will be allocated to Yun Ye. This palace will go find the imperial relatives. We can surely scrape together some more. The Guanlong region itself is a place that produces camels.”
With Zhangsun’s words, the several old generals were overjoyed and thanked the Empress in unison. With the Empress taking action, those Guanlong meritorious nobles’ family camels probably couldn’t be kept. Cheng Yaojin asked Zhangsun for a written decree on the spot, preparing to go get the camels back right away, lest there be complications overnight.
Having sent off the several dukes, Zhangsun lifted the curtain and walked in. Seeing Li Er flipping through a travel record, she prepared to light a lamp for him. The light here was too dim—not good for the eyes.
“How was it? I said they came to rob, didn’t I? Yun Ye should be satisfied this time. I’m mobilizing the strength of the entire nation to supply him alone. Such intensity hasn’t occurred since Emperor Wu of Han supplied Wei Qing. However, such a magnificent city—I very much want to see it.”
Zhangsun laughed lightly and said: “Emperor Wu of Han supplying Wei Qing—that used the strength of the entire nation. Money, grain, mules, horses, livestock, manpower—everything was provided. What you’ve paid out is just some camels. Are you bullying this consort for not having read history books?”
Li Er laughed heartily and put down the book in his hands, placing his hands behind his head and saying smugly: “That’s because I’m richer than Emperor Wu of Han.”