Dragons can be large or small, can rise or hide: when large, they stir clouds and spew mist; when small, they conceal their form in hiding; when rising, they soar through the universe; when hiding, they lurk within the waves. When enraged, they overturn thousand-foot waves, devastating eight hundred li, harming millions of living beings.
Li Er was a drought dragon who never learned to swim, so he triggered an earthquake…
This was what everyone believed. When a kui dragon with wings ascended and took a few thousand lives with it, this was already considered very merciful. Not only did common people see it this way, but the Academy’s teachers also saw it this way.
Yun Ye didn’t see it this way, because before Li Chengqian fainted from crying, he issued an edict for Yun Ye to take full responsibility for responding to this great disaster. Therefore, when Yun Ye wandered among the broken walls and ruins, the grief and indignation in his heart was truly beyond words.
Grief has its limits. If you know nothing and suddenly receive terrible news, the blow to a person is very great. But if someone is bedridden with illness and you’ve cared for them for two years, you’ll find that when they truly pass away, you don’t seem to feel much grief, even if the entire world becomes a world of white mourning clothes—you still won’t feel sorrow.
Mountains collapsed, houses fell, bridges broke, roads were destroyed. This earthquake with a very shallow epicenter caused the most severe damage at the Imperial Mausoleum at Mount Jiuzong. The tomb that had been built with such difficulty was now reportedly severely damaged. The burial chamber had developed countless cracks and was in danger of collapse at any moment. Xu Jingzong now rushed day and night like a startled donkey to repair the mausoleum, reopening the burial chamber. Building a mausoleum for Li Er meant accepting his bad temper along with everything else.
Mount Jiuzong had “nine peaks all handsome” and “undulating mountain ranges with imposing grandeur,” making it a “famous mountain of Guannei Circuit.” The mountain was quite magical—viewed from the south, it resembled a cone; from the southwest, it looked like an overturned measuring cup. From the east, it appeared like a brush stand, which locals called “Brush Stand Mountain.” Li Shimin’s mausoleum was carved into the mountain as a cave, with underground palaces built at the mountain peak’s base. Including accompanying burial tombs, it stretched for dozens of li—grand in scale and magnificent in appearance. Carving mountains to build mausoleums, using mountains as mausoleums—this was a new tradition Li Er had initiated.
Yushan lifted its martial law. Army units filed out of Yushan City one after another, waiting to rotate duty. Yun Ye had originally thought Li Chengqian would impatiently replace all the soldiers, but unexpectedly he paid no attention. With one order, those soldiers remained in their positions.
The building damage was very severe. Even the Yun family residence had developed cracks. The common people’s homes looked even more miserable. Fortunately, the earthquake occurred during the day. The first month was also when common people prepared for spring plowing and transported fertilizer to farmland. If the earthquake had occurred at night, Yun Ye dared not imagine what kind of tragic scene it would be.
Li Chengqian generously admitted this was the aftereffect left by his father’s dragon ascension to the celestial realm. He ordered the Inner Palace to open the treasury for Yun Ye to withdraw from, compensating the people household by household.
However, the compensation this time was quite substantial. Three hundred thousand households! Watching gold and silver coins flow like water from the storehouses, even Yun Ye felt very pained. But Li Chengqian didn’t seem to care. He seemed very willing to pay for his father’s rash actions.
During the day, he rode horses everywhere to inspect, arranging for officials to organize rescue efforts for survivors buried in the ruins. At the same time, he profusely apologized on behalf of the imperial family—the Late Emperor had a fierce temperament and departed hastily, accidentally injuring the common people. The imperial family acknowledged all losses.
This was the effect Li Chengqian needed. When an angry dragon ascended to heaven, innocent fish and shrimp would inevitably be affected. He needed the common people to acknowledge themselves as fish and shrimp. As for the Yun family, at most they could be considered a large turtle.
At night, he still had to keep vigil for the Emperor. The hardship was beyond description. Zhangsun Chong was the ceremony official, Dugu Mou was the guardian official. One shouted himself hoarse all day, the other stood fully armored all day. When Yun Ye staggered back, those two were also emerging from the mourning hall exhausted.
Dinner—only white rice and a bowl of soup. Yun Ye would rather eat tea-soaked rice than touch that bowl of vegetable soup without any seasoning. Though called vegetable soup, the cook had even put a large piece of pork in it—items withdrawn from the offering table that needed to be shared among all officials. This was the Retired Emperor’s final grace.
Zhangsun Chong also didn’t eat it, learning from Yun Ye to have tea-soaked rice. But Dugu Mou didn’t mind. He alone finished all three bowls of soup, eating the pork inside clean as well, seemingly enjoying it very much.
“Should we kill those people on the grasslands or not?” Dugu Mou asked the other two after finishing his meal.
“Are you planning to bury them alive or shave them clean and place them as pig heads on the offering table? If the latter, tomorrow’s meat chunks will trouble Your Excellency.” Yun Ye sipped tea in small mouthfuls, saying irritably.
“I think it’s feasible. Since Ashina Simo, Qibi, and Ashina Duer have cut their own faces requesting to be buried with the Late Emperor to guard him, why don’t we fulfill their wish?” Zhangsun Chong’s face was full of viciousness.
“Don’t you feel guilty? Qibi has been loyal and brave all his life, always striving to be first in every battle. His tribe has nearly bled dry for the Great Tang—can you really strike with such an untroubled conscience? They were just being polite, expressing loyalty. As for Ashina Duer, he’s also a fierce general. You’ve already forced him to nearly go home and herd sheep—don’t cut off his head too. However, regarding that fellow Ashina Simo, I do agree with placing him on the offering table. A foreign tribe member who dares to request his fief be moved to the North Sea—I think his rebellious heart is already blatantly obvious. Steaming him for Dugu Mou to eat wouldn’t be bad.”
Dugu Mou grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth. “I’m never picky about food. As long as it fills my stomach, I don’t mind. Whether human flesh or pork, once thrown in my mouth, it’s all meat.”
The heavy topic didn’t last long before Li Chengqian emerged from inside. Though called the Emperor, at this time he received no special treatment whatsoever. Dinner was likewise a bowl of white rice and a bowl of soup. While eating, he listened to Yun Ye recount the disaster relief situation. Hearing that the disaster-stricken areas covered a full four counties, he sighed and put down his rice bowl, saying, “Chang’an itself has Chang’an and Wannian counties, plus Lantian, Sanyuan, Liquan, and Huxian—that’s a full six counties affected. Chang’an, Wannian, Lantian, and Sanyuan are also the four most densely populated counties in the Great Tang. Three hundred thousand households affected, over two thousand deaths—this is simply fortunate!”
Yun Ye put down his teapot and said, “Don’t talk about being fortunate yet. Countless houses have collapsed, especially in Sanyuan—there are almost no habitable houses left. Look at the sky above—these are signs of coming snow. It’s still the first month. First, we must settle these homeless people into houses. At the very least, they need a tent to shield them from wind and cold. Otherwise, those not crushed to death by houses will be frozen to death by the cold wind.”
“I’ve nearly emptied the army’s tents, and it’s still not enough. Over a million people! Come up with a plan quickly so I can go save people. A few more days and there’ll be no need to save anyone.”
Li Chengqian looked up at the leaden gray clouds and said to Yun Ye, “Open the imperial palaces. Many palaces haven’t been inhabited for years—don’t waste them. The palace buildings are all constructed very solidly, no problem there. The Zhaoyang Palace on the plateau should also be opened this time. After the people’s houses are rebuilt, those palaces will need repairs anyway.”
This was the first time in three years Yun Ye had spoken with Li Chengqian. After official business was finished, everyone fell silent. After a long while, Li Chengqian asked Yun Ye in a hoarse voice, “Are you really planning to go to Yuezhou?”
Yun Ye nodded. “I have to leave. I can barely stand it anymore. Someone passes away today, someone passes away tomorrow. If this continues, it’ll be my turn to pass away. After all the elders are gone, I can return to Yushan to teach. Better not to meet than to meet—each meeting brings sorrow. It’s futile. You know I fear such final partings most.”
Li Chengqian nodded sadly and said softly, “You can still escape. I have nowhere to escape to. Working day and night for this country, yet earning the evil reputation of a tyrant. Li Chengqian considers himself loving the people like his own children, never doing anything to harm them. Why must I bear such an evil reputation? When Imperial Father passed, the whole world wore white mourning clothes. Whether the South Seas or North Sea, there were cries everywhere. I worry that when I die, people will celebrate. Imperial Father’s posthumous title combined civil and military virtues. What will mine be? Zhou? Or Jie? Or perhaps Shang?”
Seeing Zhangsun Chong and Dugu Mou leave, Yun Ye couldn’t help but say in a low voice, “Are you overfed? Why must you consolidate power? Which dynasty in history does the current Great Tang even slightly resemble? The Great Tang’s annual tax revenue is the total of over a hundred years of tax revenue from the Former Han. The territory is unprecedentedly vast, and the population has also broken through one hundred million.”
“Are you still using that old monarchical centralized system to govern this country? The Late Emperor tried before and later discovered it simply wouldn’t work, which is why he made the Great Tang into what it was before you ascended the throne.”
“Matters of farmland—that’s the Grand Minister of Agriculture’s business. Ceremonies and diplomacy—that should be the Ministry of Rites and Court of State Ceremonial’s business. The realm’s households—the Ministry of Revenue should govern them. Criminal justice—you should let the Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review handle it. Who asked you to manage one or two death row inmates? Even if one or two are wrongly executed, so what? After you personally review cases, won’t wrongful convictions still occur?”
“What should you manage? You should manage the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of War, Directorate of Waterways, and that Imperial City Department you’re hiding and don’t want people to know about, and the Strategic Planning Office. The Academy’s strategies are what you should study carefully. Why are you managing those trivial matters of prefectural and county petty officials? Survival of the fittest is natural law.”
“Guard the military authority in your hands, guard the supervisory authority in your hands. Keep watch for where rebellions might occur, then find a suitable general to suppress them.”
“Don’t you know—do much, err much; do little, err little; do nothing, err not at all. This is an official maxim. If the Ministry of Revenue makes a mistake, you punish the Ministry of Revenue. If the Ministry of Works errs, you trouble the Minister of Works. If the Ministry of Justice errs, you reorganize the Ministry of Justice. Chengqian, you’re now the Emperor. Your duty is to supervise the realm, not to be a petty official.”
“You don’t do actual work, so you make no mistakes. All mistakes belong to ministers. This is the essence of why a monarch cannot err. Once you err, on whom can you shift blame? There’s no one behind you…”
Li Tai had originally come out for some fresh air but saw Yun Ye speaking animatedly with his elder brother. His heart warmed. Rubbing his belly, he continued back into the mourning hall to keep vigil. As long as they started talking, the estrangement would surely dissolve. Years of friendship weren’t something you could just discard at will…