Anything involving matters of life and death becomes very uninteresting. After Yun Ye threatened Wu Se for a long time, he finally convinced the old nun not to commit suicide. People of Tian Xiangzi’s lineage all seemed to have self-destructive tendencies. These people never treated their own lives as anything important—except, of course, for Tian Xiangzi himself.
That person, who didn’t know whether he was an old farmer or a young farmer, was sent to stay with Wu She so he could be illuminated by divine light without limit. As for whether he could survive, that would depend on whether Sun Simiao could save his life.
Taking away the jade plaques, Zhangsun was extremely unwilling, but with righteousness before her, she had no choice but to submit.
Returning home, Yun Ye personally went to the kitchen and deep-fried a large plate of peanuts to eat with wine. As for those planted in the ground, there were only those few unshelled peanuts.
Drinking alone in melancholy in the flower hall, he observed a moment of silence for those explorers. All because of one lie he had told, those people had risked their lives to find Mexico. These people were too single-minded.
The peanuts had been found, and they had also brought back tomatoes. The rest were all weeds. Yun Ye wanted to pound his chest and wail for a while to express his disappointment. Fortunately, he had discovered tobacco leaves, this miraculous thing, which forcibly stopped his sorrow. Now they were being dried by Yun Ye on the windowsill. When they were about dried enough, he would take them to roast. He hadn’t smoked for twenty years—Yun Ye dreamed of that taste.
Xiao Wu, relying on her master’s affection, secretly slipped in, grabbed a large handful of peanuts, and ran off. After a while, Xinyue came in carrying an empty plate, said a whole bunch of nonsensical chatter, filled a plate with peanuts, and ran off. After another while, Yun Mu twisted around Yun Ye like taffy candy, said lots of sweet words, and even pecked Father’s face. Having received his daughter’s fragrant kiss, he pretended not to see her other hand frantically stuffing peanuts into her pocket. This child—she wasn’t afraid of getting oil on her clothes.
When Li Tai arrived, only the bottom of the peanut plate remained. He casually picked up one and tossed it in his mouth, hummed, then swallowed the words he was about to say. In one breath, he ate all the peanuts in the plate clean, then tapped the plate and said to Yun Ye, “These things suit my taste quite well. Bring two more plates!”
“You just ate two hundred and forty lives!” Yun Ye said coldly.
“Nonsense. They’re clearly beans. How could they be lives? You always like to exaggerate when you speak, just like the military achievements you reported. My elder brother reviewed them for two months and finally held his nose and accepted them—it wasn’t good to investigate deeply. If we went by what you said, the Turks would have died without even a heel remaining. Where would the great victory at Mashhad have come from? In that battle, the Turks forcefully broke through the Arabs’ multiple blockades, beheaded the Eastern Governor Yusuf who escaped from your hands at Mashhad, crossed the great sea, entered Rome, and are now fighting with the Romans, preparing to settle on the shores of this great sea.”
Li Tai looked at Yun Ye with disdain, continued tapping the plate, indicating he really wanted to eat those beans.
For the sake of him bringing news from afar, Yun Ye got up to fry another plate. There was still a sack at home—enough to eat for a while.
While Yun Ye busied himself in the kitchen, Li Tai leaned against the doorframe and continued, “The Arabs’ strength has all been drawn away by the Turks. This shows that the decision you made back then was far-sighted. Now the Western Regions are in complete chaos. Li Yuanxiang and the others have combined forces and are constantly devouring Shache and Tokharistan. Greater Bolu has also been pushed by Han Zhe to the point of having no way to survive.”
“Xue Rengui has stationed troops at Khotan, Sun Renshi has garrisoned at Gaochang, distantly monitoring the Sixteen Princes, not allowing their troops to step beyond the vast desert by even one pace. Sun Renshi took over your broken Camel City—its scale has been reduced tenfold, but its combat power is equally astonishing. That subordinate of yours, Tian Yuanyi, is indeed talented. My elder brother has already issued a document—he’ll return to the capital shortly for another appointment.”
Yun Ye listened to Li Tai speak somewhat absentmindedly and nearly burned the peanuts. After they passed through the oil, he sprinkled a handful of salt and pepper on them, immediately attracting a large crowd of diners.
It was one thing for Yun Lu and Yun Xiang to hold bowls asking Father for tasty treats, but Yun Huan also held a bowl standing behind his sisters asking for peanuts. Yun Ye slapped him on the head, and heard Yun Huan say angrily, “I’m not the one eating them—I was forced!”
Li Tai glanced toward the moon gate and chuckled. The Yun family was still so lively and interesting.
Returning to the flower hall, the two men leisurely ate peanuts and drank wine. Li Tai suddenly said, “I had an idea some time ago. I discovered that when a windmill turns, there’s an upward floating force. So I made a large windmill following the windmill’s design. After driving it with the academy’s chain system, I found that as long as the windmill’s rotation speed reaches a certain rate, this windmill will run forward.”
“Ye Zi, tell me, if this rotation speed is infinitely amplified, do you think it could fly? Hypatia and I are already very certain—it really can fly.”
Yun Ye’s stomach felt like someone had punched it. This guy had ultimately still arrived at the most correct path. Things propelled by gunpowder could only become rockets—fine for killing enemies, but wanting to carry people in flight was simply not feasible in Great Tang.
“I’ve amplified the rotation speed many times by adjusting large and small gears, but it’s still not enough. Finding a force that can continuously supply the windmill’s rotation is very difficult.”
Yun Ye, who had sworn not to get involved in Li Tai’s endeavors, still couldn’t resist saying quietly, “I’ve recently been playing the charlatan to deceive people. Even your mother has decided I’m some Guest of Binmei. In your mother’s eyes, Xiao Wu is a living, breathing Fox Charmer. The title of White Jade Capital has been firmly fixed on my head.”
“So I can’t easily get involved in these matters. However, I’ve also thought a lot during this time and discovered that as long as you attach wings, flying becomes much easier. So if your windmill has two wing blades, perhaps it could carry you up into flight.”
Li Tai’s eyes immediately lit up. Carrying the plate full of peanuts, he ran off without even saying goodbye.
“Empress, did you really discover some divine light in Yun Ye’s hands?” Li Er, who had returned to Chang’an from Luoyang, asked Zhangsun about this matter at the first opportunity. Being told such mythical things by others would earn a scolding from Li Er, but coming from Zhangsun’s mouth, the authenticity would greatly increase.
“Yes, your subject played with it for half a day. There truly was miraculous light emitted—it could turn night into day.” Zhangsun smiled as she helped the Emperor remove his outer robe, saying quietly.
“Quickly command Yun Ye to bring the jade plaques into the palace!” Li Er didn’t delay a moment and gave the order to Duan Hong.
“Your Majesty, there’s no rush. Right now the jade plaques are treating someone’s illness. After some time, it won’t be too late for you to have Yun Ye bring the jade plaques into the palace.” Zhangsun stopped Duan Hong, who was about to leave the palace.
“What person is so important that even I must wait slowly?” Li Er hurriedly asked Zhangsun. He was extremely curious.
After hearing Zhangsun finish telling about Tian Xiangzi and Wu Se, Li Er slowly sat down, his mind constantly churning. On the other side of the sea, there was actually another such vast land. Previously, he had thought the records in the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” were all jokes. Who could have predicted there really was such a land? Ambition just arose, then immediately he laughed at himself. Today’s Great Tang had already expanded to the limits of what could be expanded. The land was unprecedentedly vast—he couldn’t even govern his own land. Who had the mind to think about such distant places?
Those new grain crops were what Li Er valued. As long as it was something that could be eaten, Li Er never minded having more. Even rotting in his own fields was ten thousand times better than not having them.
Wu Se? Nothing but a lonely old woman. Back then, he had even spared a fierce tiger like Han Zhe. A mere old woman with no life force—there really was no need to think much about her.
“Yun Ye still hasn’t taken office? How could you permit him to be so relaxed and comfortable? He’s already been recuperating at home for four months. I, this Emperor, must constantly tour among the three capitals, yet he can hide at home enjoying comfort? Tell him, if I don’t see him at next month’s grand court assembly, I’ll send him to the Western Regions to oversee the state! Hmph, more and more lacking in proper behavior…”
“What happened in the Western Regions?” Zhangsun read between the lines and heard that perhaps something bad had happened in the Western Regions.
“What else could have happened? The allied forces of the Sixteen Princes were badly defeated by the Tokharistan people at Haoshui River. Yuanqing and Yuanying were captured alive. If the Tokharistan people hadn’t worried that Yun Ye’s great army would return, those two would have been beheaded as sacrificial banners. Now they’ve been properly sent back after we paid three thousand taels of gold.”
“So humiliating! My great army has traversed the desert, and everywhere it went, all enemies could only flee at the sight of our banners. In their hands, it’s become like this. Less than seven months after Yun Ye left Tokharistan, the situation has undergone earth-shaking changes. Normally they always say I raise them like pigs, always thinking they’re tigers in the mountain forests, dragons in the rivers and lakes. Now they’ve all revealed their true forms. You see, if I don’t raise them like pigs, what else can I do? Having no ability themselves, they deserve to lose face. I’ve already commanded Xue Rengui not to act rashly and just firmly hold the Khotan line.”
Zhangsun laughed with a snort and said gently, “After all, they’re your brothers and children. When they’re unfortunate, your face doesn’t look good either. You should still help them when you ought to help.”
Li Er smiled bitterly and said, “How else should I help? When they left the capital initially, how much help did I give them? They wanted weapons—I gave weapons. They wanted grain and fodder—I gave grain and fodder. Anyone willing to go with them, no matter who they were, I agreed to let them take along. When they conflicted with Yun Ye, I was also smoothing things over. Otherwise, just based on the crime of vassal princes daring to assault the great army, I could have deposed them all and stripped them of their titles, making them commoners. The main reason Yun Ye has been reluctant to take office lies here.”
“However, we won’t worry about those idiots anymore. Cheng Yaojin’s great army will return to the capital shortly. I need to properly entertain Zhijie. Of all the people, the one I feel most guilty toward is Zhijie. Fortunately, he has now returned safely. This grand ceremony must be magnificent!”