War is a violent act that forces the enemy to submit to our will. Yun Ye had known this saying for a long time and deeply agreed with it.

The closer they got to Li Jing, the more Turkish corpses there were in the grass. Most of them wore tattered sheepskin coats, lying there either alone or in groups. Ice and snow had not covered them but merely dressed them in a layer of crystalline garments.

The auxiliary soldiers in the convoy grew increasingly cheerful. Whenever they saw a new corpse, they would stop and discuss how it had been killed—how much force this blade strike had used, from what angle this spear had pierced. Oh my, this one was killed with some difficulty! The entire head had burst open. Was it smashed by a hammer? It must have been done by a fierce general. Such power, such accuracy—we small soldiers can only look up in admiration.

Na Rimu’s expression was strange. Upon seeing a corpse, she would approach and mutter something in her language, then use charcoal to draw a black mark on her small face. In less than half a day, her little face had become completely black. There were simply too many corpses. Yun Ye estimated that even if they painted her entire body to look like an African woman, it still wouldn’t be enough to express her grief.

The Turks had a custom of using knives to slash their faces to express mourning for the dead. Na Rimu only used charcoal, which was already much more civilized. Perhaps the deaths of these Turks hadn’t struck her that forcefully—she was just making a casual gesture.

Even after dinner was prepared, Na Rimu still hadn’t recovered her usual joy. Normally when dinner was ready, Na Rimu would circle the big pot like a little dog, carrying a huge food bowl and waiting expectantly for the cook to fill it with a heaping portion of delicious food.

Not today. She hid in the darkest corner, hugging her legs and crying. The fat cook brought her a very large bowl of rice, topped with Na Rimu’s favorite meat broth, with a piece of fat, oily sheep tail meat piled on top. If it were any other day, she would have delightedly called the fat cook “older brother.”

Looking at Na Rimu’s tear-stained face, the fat cook actually let out a weary sigh, cursed this damn world, placed the food bowl beside Na Rimu, and left. Na Rimu hugged the food bowl and ate the rice in large spoonfuls, crying while eating…

Yun Ye understood very clearly that if Great Tang wanted stable development, it couldn’t do without a secure external environment. Those currently killing outside were all fine men of the Han people. Na Rimu only saw the dead Turks; she hadn’t seen those Han graves flying white banners. Those lying in cold graves also had people who missed them.

Coming to the grassland this time, rather than saying Yun Ye came to fight, it was more accurate to say he came to witness history. In this glorious age, those galloping steeds and fierce warriors might awaken his long-dormant passion.

One couldn’t live without emotion, without purpose. Only by focusing all one’s attention on what one needed to do could one forget the pain in one’s mind. Right now, Na Rimu only wanted to finish that bowl of rice, while Yun Ye hoped the Great Tang army could advance boldly and sweep away all opposition.

Laughably enough, when personalities were equal, a bowl of rice and the courage of Great Tang soldiers were equivalent in value.

He Shao led the auxiliary soldiers like scavenging jackals on the grassland. They collected all the fallen warhorses, only taking the four legs of each horse and throwing the rest on the desolate grassland for wild beasts to devour.

The sleds were piled high with horse legs, all sawn off with saws. When Yun Ye saw this scene, he really couldn’t describe that strange feeling—somewhat desolate, somewhat sorrowful, even somewhat nauseating.

He couldn’t blame He Shao. This was what Yun Ye himself had told He Shao when they set out—to utilize everything to the extreme was a common method from later generations. A pig could be used from its hair to its excrement; every part had utilization value and could generate benefits. It was just that the pig’s wishes hadn’t been considered. If Great Tang soldiers ate people, Yun Ye believed He Shao would unhesitatingly saw off the legs of those corpses and make them into delicious sausages.

From then on, Yun Ye would never again eat sausages made by He Shao, no matter how delicious they were.

Xu Jingzong awoke from his coma and remained silent for two days. On the third day, he had his old servant invite Yun Ye over—he had something to say.

“Marquis Yun, I always thought what you said in the court were all lies, and I didn’t take them to heart. I just found it somewhat amusing that all the civil and military officials in court were foolish people. The theory of the Heavenly Way is illusory and vague, yet someone actually went to verify it. The result of that verification shocked me. Just stealing a glance at the immortals’ land brought calamities of water and fire, ten thousand kinds of dangers. A heroic figure like Na Rimu was nearly killed by the ordeal, and now living is worse than death for him. Marquis Yun, please, for the sake of being colleagues, tell me the truth—are there really immortals in this world?”

Two serious illnesses in one winter had aged Xu Jingzong considerably. These past few days of excessive worry had brought streaks of gray to his temples.

“There are no immortals in this world. My experiences are perhaps unique in the world, but I’ve never seen immortals either. The Jade Pool is just a lake. Na Rimu was an unlucky fool—why go to Heaven Lake in the dead of winter? If he’d gone in summer, there absolutely wouldn’t have been these misfortunes. King Mu of Zhou driving eight steeds to meet the Queen Mother of the West was just a moment of wishful fantasy. The goddess meeting with King Xiang was just a spring dream. Haven’t you had such dreams, or have I not? It’s only because it happened to special people in special places that it became mythology. If you have a spring dream in the Three Gorges and tell others about it, you’ll only invite ridicule. But King Xiang of Chu and King Mu of Zhou were different—they were kings, so people blindly followed and believed that everything the kings experienced in their dreams was real.”

“So that’s how gods came to be? A small, casual action by an important person gets exaggerated to such an extent?” Xu Jingzong felt somewhat disappointed but also somewhat relieved.

“Among the millions of people in Great Tang, can you find one example of someone seeing immortals while fully conscious? Old Xu, when you return this time, if you don’t want to go back to the court, I’ll petition His Majesty to let you stay at the academy as Vice Principal.” Yun Ye voiced his decision after weighing matters.

Xu Jingzong suddenly sat up from his small bed and looked at Yun Ye, saying, “Marquis Yun, if I’m not mistaken, you were extremely opposed to my staying at the academy. Why are you now strongly recommending me to go there? And as Vice Principal—that should be your position. Marquis Yun, tell me, why?”

This kind of conversation that cut straight to the bone was probably something Xu Jingzong had never used since entering official service.

“Old Xu, I don’t know what others think. I’ll only speak my own thoughts. The academy is where my ideals lie. I absolutely won’t let it suffer the slightest harm. The reason I value you is your ability. Right now the academy has a thousand threads to untangle, and this is the time of founding. I believe it will shine gloriously through the ages. You, Xu Jingzong, have ability, ambition, and methods—these are exactly what the academy needs most right now. If the academy were filled entirely with upright gentlemen like Teacher Li Gang, this wouldn’t be the academy’s fortune but a disaster.” Yun Ye spoke truthfully. At this moment, he had nothing to hide from Xu Jingzong and laid all his cards on the table.

He felt somewhat embarrassed. Well yes, no matter who was explicitly called a despicable scoundrel to their face, their expression would be quite spectacular. Those with smaller temperaments might even curse your family behind your back. Xu Jingzong was only a bit embarrassed—he could be considered the finest specimen among scoundrels. This was exactly the talent the academy urgently needed. They needed someone like this to balance out the academy’s overly righteous atmosphere.

“Don’t think I’m insulting you. I’m this kind of person too, so we’re the same type. Have you heard of the Land of Gentlemen?”

Xu Jingzong searched his mind thoroughly but couldn’t find such an allusion. He could only shake his head. He had quite an opinion about Yun Ye’s jumping thought patterns.

“Legend has it that in ancient times, there was a country called the Land of Gentlemen. The Land of Gentlemen was a ‘nation of propriety’ that ‘valued yielding over competing.’ Four large characters reading ‘Only Virtue is Treasure’ were written on the city gate. The ruler had strict decrees that if subjects presented jewels and treasures, not only would the items be burned, but the law would be applied. Here, the prime minister was ‘humble and gentle,’ approachable, having ‘shed all official airs,’ making people feel he was both amiable and respectable. Here, the people yielded to each other—’scholars and commoners alike, regardless of wealth or poverty, in their conduct and speech, were all respectful and courteous.’ ‘Those who plowed yielded field boundaries, those who traveled yielded the road.’ Sellers competed to charge less money and sell superior goods; buyers competed to pay higher prices and take inferior goods, each yielding without end to the other.”

Xu Jingzong’s eyes were spinning in circles, but he was after all a master schemer throughout history and immediately retorted sarcastically, “Marquis Yun’s skill at casually fabricating allusions truly earns my utmost admiration. Moreover, you traced it back to ancient times in one sentence, making it impossible to verify. But there’s one small flaw—the four characters ‘Only Virtue is Treasure’ come from a sentence in ‘The Book of Rites: Great Learning’ that says ‘The state of Chu has no treasures; it only values virtue as treasure.’ Your ancient Land of Gentlemen must have come after this sentence. Spring and Autumn and Warring States texts are as numerous as cow hairs. I, Old Xu, am also a learned scholar—why have I never heard of it? Next time you want to deceive Old Xu, please bring out some real scholarship so I can be sweetly deceived.”

As soon as he finished speaking, both men burst into laughter.

“I’m not telling you this allusion for you to pick it apart, but to tell you that such an ideal country would have no path but destruction. Do you agree?” After Xu Jingzong finished laughing, Yun Ye continued questioning him.

Xu Jingzong’s expression was truly spectacular. He really didn’t want to classify himself among the scoundrels, but he knew his nature really couldn’t make him an upright gentleman, so he could only tacitly agree. At least there was a marquis beside him keeping him company. This business of admitting to being a scoundrel—he couldn’t let a third person know even if it killed him.

“That’s right. This saying is an absolute truth. If the Land of Gentlemen had foreign enemies, its destruction would be inevitable. The opening of military texts says: ‘Warfare is the way of deception.’ If you want to win battles, you can’t be a gentleman. Duke Xiang of Song’s righteous warfare also proved this point.” Xu Jingzong wasn’t speaking nonsense—the examples he gave were all verifiable, unlike Yun Ye’s examples that couldn’t be confirmed.

“On this issue, we’ve reached agreement. Do you still think the academy doesn’t need a worldly-wise figure to preside over it?” Yun Ye looked at Xu Jingzong with a grin.

Xu Jingzong felt his soul leaving his body. In front of Yun Ye, he had a terrifying feeling of being completely naked.