A thousand cavalrymen dragged ten newly made sleds, racing frantically toward Chang’an. Anyone who dared to block their path was to be killed without mercy, any who spied on them were to be killed without mercy, and any officials who delayed them unnecessarily were to be killed without mercy.

Hong Cheng returned to Chang’an with a murderous aura about him, carrying several letters from Yun Ye as well as He Shao’s receipts. He Shao truly did not want to be hunted down by General Chai Shao, so he had to handle these trivial matters before the army returned to the capital. For all the property belonging to Guanzhong soldiers, the He family needed to send people to deliver it one by one, then obtain receipts from the village chiefs. Only then would this transaction be considered complete.

After sending all the goods to Li Jing, He Shao became penniless, and Yun Ye was also penniless—though he had just made a windfall. Kang Sumi was taken away by Hong Cheng, no one knew where. Yun Ye figured that if anyone wanted to find Kang Sumi, they’d better try the underworld.

In the distance at the edge of the snowfield, red feathers emerged, followed by an urgent messenger in full armor, riding his horse and stumbling back. Before even reaching the camp entrance, he tore open his hoarse throat and shouted loudly: “Great victory! Great victory! Our army has beheaded thirty thousand, captured one hundred thousand prisoners, and Xie Li is fleeing!”

A soldier immediately placed the red-feathered helmet on his own head, fastened it tightly, took the leather message tube from the exhausted soldier, and after three officials verified that the wax seal was intact, six men with twelve horses galloped toward Chang’an.

The camp became like an anthill doused with boiling water, thrown into chaos. Zhang Gongjin’s large mouth never closed. As one of the earliest ministers to advise Li’er to make the decision to attack the Eastern Turks, now with his goals fulfilled, how could he not be delighted?

“Excellent! The Eastern Turks have now suffered a thunderous strike from the Grand Commander, and will find it difficult to rise again. This battle can ensure our Great Tang thirty years of peace. The soldiers, having fought this battle, can die content. In no time at all, we can return home victorious. It’s only a pity that Xie Li escaped, otherwise this battle would surely be glorified for millennia.”

“The General worries too much. This time our army attacked from five directions—how could we let Xie Li easily escape to the Xueyantuo? General Li Ji surely won’t disappoint us. Now the Grand Commander has fought bloody battles for so long and is in a difficult time when both men and horses are exhausted. Why don’t we move the main camp forward, so we can welcome the triumphant soldiers sooner?”

These words didn’t need to come from Yun Ye—naturally, veteran generals in the army proposed them. Everyone was worried about the casualties among the frontline soldiers, because the urgent messenger, after arriving at the camp, had passed out. Yun Ye carefully examined his body, wiped him with warm water, then wrapped him in thick blankets and placed him in a snow house to sleep. This was already the warmest place in the entire camp.

“Marquis Yun, this time we must rely on your strength. When it comes to ingenious ideas, we cannot hope to match you even if we tried. Now with the bitter cold, this old man has no other extravagant hopes—I only hope that Marquis Yun can provide our campaigning soldiers with warm shelter and a bowl of delicious hot soup to properly comfort these fine sons of the Great Tang.”

Zhang Gongjin’s eyes brimmed with tears. He could hardly imagine what condition the ten thousand campaigning soldiers were in, in this frozen wasteland. Even staying in the main camp, freezing to death was common—let alone those soldiers crawling through ice and sleeping in snow.

“Where do the Duke’s words come from? I too am a subject of the Great Tang. These matters are also my duty—how dare I decline? These past days we’ve manufactured three hundred more sleds that can move rapidly across the snow. What’s especially gratifying is that we actually discovered peat outside the camp. This is truly good news. With this peat, I will definitely ensure that when the soldiers return, they have warm kangs and good food. As for fine wine, that depends on whether the General is willing to part with it.”

Yun Ye was in an excellent mood. Yesterday,府兵 soldiers digging graves for fallen brothers had actually struck a coal mine—this was truly an unexpected delight. Yun Ye quickly borrowed three hundred auxiliary soldiers from Zhang Gongjin to specifically mine coal. In just one day, they had already dug up quite a large pile. Seeing the coal, Yun Ye suddenly remembered that China’s largest open-pit coal mine was in this very area. Thinking back to the past days when he’d been frozen like a dog, it was truly the greatest irony.

The awakened messenger recounted the bitter battle at the front. All the generals in the great tent drew in a sharp breath. The fierce battle had lasted a full two days. If Xie Li hadn’t fled first, who would win or lose was still uncertain. Of the ten thousand troops, those frozen to death exceeded two thousand, and those who died in battle also reached two thousand. One must understand, these were the Great Tang’s most elite fierce soldiers. Some leaders rode sleds with soldiers to meet the battle-weary Li Jing and his men—they desperately needed rest and reorganization.

Yun Ye busied himself building snow houses. Zhang Gongjin, willing to sacrifice tents, also wanted to let the triumphant soldiers rest properly. This was the limit of what the habitually stingy Zhang Gongjin could do.

Coal was a big problem—it produced coal smoke. If handled carelessly, the soldiers in the snow houses, who hadn’t died on the battlefield, would die in warm snow houses instead. Then Yun Ye would be in for it. At that time, from the Emperor to the common soldiers, no one would spare him.

Doing things required taking risks—this had been true from ancient times to the present, with no exceptions. Fortunately, time was relatively sufficient, which gave Yun Ye room to maneuver. He used the old method—manufacturing stoves and chimneys. The master blacksmiths in the army couldn’t be compared to the second-rate blacksmiths of the Yun family. With large quantities of Turkish scimitars, there was no worry about lacking iron. With sand molds, they could cast more than ten stoves in a day. Originally thinking they would need to forge iron sheets, when Yun Ye shared his concerns with the chief craftsman, who would have thought that the omnipotent Yun Ye would be scorned and even driven out of the craftsmen’s camp?

According to the camp chief’s words: “Marquis Yun is someone who concerns himself with great military and national affairs. These small matters don’t require Marquis Yun’s worry.”

When Yun Ye needed the iron stoves, two hundred of them were neatly stacked in the open space of the craftsmen’s camp. Each stove had been fitted with an iron pipe a full zhang high. At this moment, Yun Ye felt like a complete fool.

He pulled out his small notebook from his bosom and used a charcoal pencil to cross off the heating item from his list. As the general manager of the victor’s gathering, making a plan was very necessary. He called auxiliary soldiers and had them install these stoves in everyone’s snow houses according to the pattern in his own tent. He was only worried now whether, under the roasting of these big fellows, the snow houses would melt. May Buddha protect them—they only needed to hold up for three days. Looking at the gray, overcast sky, Yun Ye’s heart became a bit more settled.

Ever since the cooks learned to steam mantou, Yun Ye no longer allowed the soldiers to call them such-and-such cakes. In his mind, only those round things baked over fire were called cakes. This thing was called mantou, and those with filling were called baozi. Just over the naming, Yun Ye had already beaten seven or eight people with the board.

The last remaining cattle and sheep were all slaughtered and hung on racks in the open space—truly a “forest of meat.” As for a “pool of wine,” it was really shabby. Zhang Gongjin only had less than a hundred jars of strong liquor. Yun Ye could only reluctantly take out his own liquor, which he had distilled many times intending to use as alcohol, diluted it with water, and used it as drinking wine. To avoid problems, he first drank half a jin himself. He discovered the wine tasted pretty good, just slightly strong. Apart from a splitting headache the next day, there were no other ill effects, so he added more water and sent it to Zhang Gongjin to drink…

When rinsing his mouth in the morning, Yun Ye discovered his gums were bleeding. This was a sign of vitamin deficiency. Now, there was no good solution. Aside from tea leaves, he had no edible plants.

Outside the camp today, Zhang Gongjin clutched his head, struggling to stand straight. Last night the bottle of fine wine Yun Ye had sent truly tasted excellent, but the next day’s headache made him never forget it for the rest of his life. His brain matter seemed to separate from his skull—shaking his head made it hurt terribly. He wondered what kind of good wine it was.

In the distance, low horn blasts sounded. On the snow plateau, more and more people gradually appeared. They no longer maintained formation. Many people lay prostrate on their horses’ backs, swaying and about to fall. Li Jing’s commander’s flag with the character for “commander” also drooped listlessly—where was any trace of a victor’s bearing?

Fewer than six thousand soldiers returned, which meant over four thousand would never come back. The crowd welcoming them in the main camp was silent as death. Someone unknown forcefully struck their chest armor with a fist, making a “bang bang” sound. This sound was contagious. Gradually, neat “bang bang” sounds rang out across the vast grassland.

The soldiers entered camp. They needed no one’s support. No matter how exhausted their steps, they never stopped. Whenever a soldier’s foot crossed the camp gate, someone would immediately help them into a warm snow house, remove their armor, then strip off their clothing. However, this process was not smooth. Some people’s foot wrappings and the skin on their feet were stuck firmly together. They could only be removed after first soaking them in warm water.

When the soldiers were tucked into warm blankets, almost all of them let out long sighs and immediately fell into slumber.

Li Jing struggled to roll down from his horse’s back. Zhang Gongjin, without waiting for him to speak, hugged him tightly and forcefully pounded on Li Jing’s back. Li Jing only gave a wooden “hehe” laugh twice, then lay in Zhang Gongjin’s embrace without making a sound, as if those two light laughs had exhausted all his strength.

A burly young general walked over from the side and said to Zhang Gongjin: “The Grand Commander hasn’t closed his eyes in six days.” This was Su Dingfang. His face was smeared with tallow, so his complexion couldn’t be seen—only two bright red eyeballs were visible.

A sled drove very arrogantly into the main camp, piled high with furs. A middle-aged man covered in filth struggled to poke his head out from the pile of fur and said to Yun Ye: “Marquis Yun, pull me up—I can’t get up.” Yun Ye focused his gaze and after a long time recognized the person from his facial features—Tang Jian. This fellow truly, as recorded in history, had survived from among thousands of troops and horses.

Supporting Tang Jian from the sled together with Old Zhuang, they heard Tang Jian say: “Marquis Yun, take me to your tent—I need to sleep well.” Then he leaned against Old Zhuang and fell asleep.

A person’s intelligence determines their developmental height. That Tang Jian, even in a state of near exhaustion, could still clearly find the most comfortable room in the entire military camp—this wasn’t something an ordinary person could do.

That day, throughout the entire military camp, thunderous snoring resounded…