“Pang Shier! I’m going to kill you!”
After examination, they found that Di Renjie was not in life-threatening danger—he had merely been drugged with anesthetic. On his back were two hollow bamboo thorns filled with anesthetic. Once they pierced the flesh, the drug would slowly enter the body, and the numbed skin couldn’t feel any pain.
The clever Xiao Wu immediately thought of Pang Shier, which was why her sharp voice echoed over the Di residence.
Han Zhe, traveling by night, didn’t understand at all why his younger sister wanted to leave in such a hurry. By the time the convoy reached the plateau, Pang Shier seemed to hear Xiao Wu’s roar and said to her brother with a smile: “Actually, it’s nothing. If we hadn’t left tonight, there would have been trouble tomorrow.”
“Trouble? What trouble?” Han Zhe pressed for an answer.
But Pang Shier didn’t reply further. She smoothed her hair, which had been blown into disarray by the evening wind, sighed, and lowered the carriage curtain, completely concealing herself in the darkness. This was perhaps her last visit to Chang’an. That one last glance—this magnificent city had been deeply imprinted in her heart. Perhaps there was also a blue-robed youth who had asked through a dog hole whether she needed some candy.
Han Zhe remained stunned for a while, then let out a great shout, urged the carriage to gallop faster, and began singing love songs from beneath the snow mountains at the top of his lungs for his sister.
Xiao Wu had been managing all household affairs for five days now, yet Di Renjie still refused to go to the Court of Judicial Review for work. He wouldn’t even leave his study, and no matter how Xiao Wu and his mother tried to persuade him, he simply refused to go out.
He lay alone at his desk, scratching the lacquer on the table surface into a complete mess with his fingernails. How could he face people? A dignified man suffering a sudden stroke on his wedding night—how could he face anyone? At this moment, he thought just like Yun Shou had—he desperately wanted to go to Beiting to eat sand.
This had become the popular joke circulating throughout Chongren Ward. The Di family had summoned a physician to their home on their son’s wedding night to diagnose an illness. What kind of illness could occur on a wedding night? Especially when the bride was a famous beauty of Chang’an City.
The Di family tried their utmost to explain to the outside world that the groom had been the victim of a plot on his wedding day, and the physician had said the same, helping Di Renjie clear his name. But who would believe it? Why would a plot be as pleasant-sounding and stimulating to the ear as a sudden stroke?
At this moment, Di Renjie felt that everyone around him was looking at him strangely. Even his mother had quietly asked him whether their conjugal relations were harmonious. If the person asking hadn’t been his mother, Di Renjie would have wanted to kill someone. Hadn’t they seen Xiao Wu walking bow-legged for two days?
“Brother Huaiying, little brother knows you’ve been unwell recently and came especially to visit. Tell me, have you captured the person who plotted against you? The villain’s methods were too covert—it’s only natural that it’s difficult to catch them immediately. My father serves as an official in Chuzhou, where there are many tigers. Last year, he specially sent back two tiger penises, originally prepared as a gift for the old master to enjoy. But now that Brother Huaiying’s condition is so severe, better to let my brother use them first. As for the old master, we can find more for him later.”
Shen Gonghai’s words were spoken with genuine feeling and bold magnanimity, full of sympathy. Although the bruises on his face still hadn’t faded—these were from being beaten by the women on the wedding day, which could be considered proof of their friendship—Di Renjie still had an urge to strangle this bastard to death with his bare hands.
“I was the victim of a plot, not suffering from yang deficiency. I don’t need tiger penis.” Di Renjie spoke these words almost through gritted teeth.
“Naturally not. Who needs tonics at such a young age? I brought it for you to eat as meat. Last night at Yanlai Tower, little brother displayed great prowess, with the vigor of a tiger, all thanks to this thing. Brother Huaiying should try it and see.”
They couldn’t discuss this matter any further. If they continued, Di Renjie believed he would break the law knowingly. He changed the subject: “Brother Yurong, now that you’re at the Ministry of Finance, have you heard when the grain and fodder for Beiting next year will be dispatched?”
“It’s already gone. The Ministry of Finance’s directive was sent down a month ago. Right now, the Great Tang has only this one critical location, so no one dares delay. It’s just that the quantity is too large—it will probably need to be transported together with camels. That way, we can also save some fodder.”
“I went to see the pasture where the camels are raised. Good heavens, fifty thousand camels stretching endlessly as far as the eye can see! Think about it—Master needs so many camels to build a city. How enormous must the completed Camel City be? I really want to go to Beiting to see it.”
Di Renjie nodded: “It’s beyond our imagination. The academy’s workshops are forging connecting equipment day and night. Little brother saw the blueprints and was extremely amazed. Our teacher’s ideas are truly shocking. Just think—on the vast desert sea, a great city slowly moving, with heavily armored camels on the outside, military formations running in the inner circle, and the Camel City covered with eight-ox crossbows and catapults everywhere. It’s simply like moving the Great Emperor onto land. With such a giant city that can advance to attack and retreat to defend drifting year-round across the desert and gobi, who could be our match?”
Shen Gonghai shook his head heroically and said: “There’s more than that. Empress and the various old dukes are still rushing about everywhere, searching for camels. I heard that Her Majesty has already sent her token order to her Jinyang hometown. Within a month, the camels here will increase by over ten thousand more, all dedicated by the imperial relatives. I estimate all the camels in the Great Tang are gathered here.”
After exchanging pleasantries with Shen Gonghai for a while, he finally sent this fellow safely out the door. Di Renjie looked at the bright sunshine outside the gate, sighed, and returned to his study, picking up a miscellaneous book to browse through.
Xiao Wu, newly married, walked in. Seeing her husband’s unhappy appearance and knowing why he was displeased, she sat on Di Renjie’s lap, put her arms around his neck, and said softly: “Whether it was a sudden stroke or not, your concubine knows very clearly. Why bother getting angry with those rumors? When Master was entangled in gossip back then, he wasn’t like you are now.”
Di Renjie put down his book, held Xiao Wu helplessly, and said: “I just don’t understand why Pang Shier would do this. Is ruining someone’s reputation so amusing? If it was a joke, it’s gone a bit too far.”
Xiao Wu’s powdered face immediately fell. She gently pinched Di Renjie’s ear and asked him: “You really don’t know?”
Di Renjie shook his head in confusion. He truly didn’t know.
Seeing that Di Renjie’s expression didn’t seem false, Xiao Wu released his ear and said: “Fool, Pang Shier likes you. On the day of our wedding, she was mad with jealousy. Watching as you were about to enter the gate to marry me, yet she was standing there holding a flower stick to beat the groom—however you think about it, it’s pitiful. It’s not surprising she would do something excessive.”
“If it were me, guess what would happen?” Xiao Wu revealed her white teeth and looked at Di Renjie sideways. Hearing this sentence and thinking about Xiao Wu’s temperament, Di Renjie couldn’t help but shiver.
Before New Year’s Day even arrived, Cheng Chumo set out with a large contingent of camels. The camels’ backs were loaded with various supplies, and they swayed their bronze bells as they departed for Beiting under the escort of Cheng Chumo’s five thousand troops. This escort mission could not fail. Once they reached Yumen Pass, Su Dingfang’s army would mobilize and escort the camels all the way to Gaochang, where Yun Ye would begin construction, installation, and training of the Camel City. Whether they could guarantee Anxi and Beiting would not fall in critical situations—everyone pinned their hopes on the Camel City.
Yun Ye was idle in Beiting. The army couldn’t move, and aside from Na Rimu’s belly swelling up, he had no achievements whatsoever.
The commander-in-chief might be idle, but his subordinate officials were nearly worked to death in this cold winter. From the army, they selected soldiers who understood the temperaments of livestock and trained them, teaching them how to control the gentle-natured camels. Knowing the camels’ temperaments was only the first step—treating the camels’ illnesses was what gave these illiterate soldiers headaches. They couldn’t even recognize characters—how could they read those reports?
Thus, literacy classes began to appear. Yun Ye tyrannically assigned this impossible task to the Wuli Administrative Officer, believing it was his sacred duty. Old Fan had never imagined that one day he would need to teach his subordinates to read and write.
The Camel City designed by Yun Ye was an efficient killing weapon. To make tens of thousands of camels comply with orders and prohibitions without strict operational regulations was pure fantasy. To understand these regulations, literacy was the primary requirement.
Anyone who was literate had to serve as a teacher, and Yun Ye himself was no exception. Thus, a strange scene appeared in Beiting.
“Squad Leader, you might as well just kill me with one slash. I really can’t learn this. Only Heaven knows that being a common soldier requires education. Old Liu here has been in the army for fifteen years. Hands accustomed to gripping knife handles tremble when holding a brush. Can you spare me? Can’t I go supervise work at the Stone Paint River instead?”
The squad leader, his face iron blue, grabbed his subordinate by the collar and said: “Learning five characters a day—that’s a military order. Do you understand what a military order is? If you can’t complete it, heads will roll. You only need to learn five characters a day. What am I reading right now? It’s military tactics, damn it! Since when did squad leaders need to understand military tactics? I pity you—who pities me?”
When Yun Ye walked over, he happened to see this scene. He sat down and beckoned the squad leader and soldier to come over. After people had gathered around him, he said to that soldier: “I heard everything you just said. Literacy truly isn’t easy—it even makes you feel like it’s a nightmare. Now let me tell you why common soldiers need to learn to read and why squad leaders need to study military tactics.”
“First of all, let me correct one point: not learning five characters a day won’t get you beheaded. If we really did that, in just a few days I’d become a bare-bones general, and what the hell kind of war could we fight then?”
One sentence made the surrounding soldiers roar with laughter, and more and more people crowded over.
Yun Ye continued: “Why must we learn to read? It’s because we don’t have enough manpower, and the court can’t send more troops here. You all know that the court’s main focus right now is civil affairs—to put it plainly, building roads everywhere, digging canals everywhere. That’s right, they want the common people to become prosperous as quickly as possible. His Majesty has no money, the state treasury has no money, so we must overcome many difficulties in the Western Regions by ourselves.”
“Just now the squad leader was cursing. I want to curse too. With thirty to fifty thousand men, we have neither city walls nor geographical advantage, yet we’re expected to defend a five-thousand-li frontier. This is unreasonable too. When we get back to the capital, I’m going to curse at the Secretariat Department.”
“Cursing is a matter for later. We still have to defend the frontier. So I came up with a solution—the Camel City. With the Camel City, we’ll have a mobile city. When it comes to Tang soldiers defending cities, have you ever heard of any city falling?”
“No, right? A mobile city sounds nice, but it requires you to comply with orders and prohibitions. One person achieving this versus ten thousand people achieving it are two different things. That’s why we need to establish regulations. The regulations are out, but you can’t understand them—this is why I require you to learn at least five characters every day.”
“As for squad leaders studying military tactics, it’s because these bastards are about to be promoted. Soldiers and officers who board the Camel City will generally have their ranks raised by one level. In other words, among squad leaders, a squad leader on the Camel City will be a Deputy Lieutenant of the Peirong rank, considered a ranked official within the bureaucracy. Can they damn well not understand military tactics?”