To simmer good porridge requires constant stirring. When Yun Ye was embracing a devout attitude preparing to simmer a pot of good porridge worth fifty thousand dan of grain, a clerical officer came to report that the Goguryeo special envoy Rong Hua was requesting an audience.
Yun Ye continued stirring the porridge and asked the clerk: “Has the Goguryeo special envoy come to the Ministry of War before?” The meaning of this question was that if this woman had specifically come to take advantage upon seeing that Yun Ye himself was sitting in command at the Ministry of War, then there was no need to meet her.
“In reply to the General, the Goguryeo special envoy always comes to visit the Ministry of War once a month. It seems to have already become customary. The last time she came to the Ministry of War, she was received by General Lu.” The clerical officer specifically found the summary of the last conversation for Yun Ye, to facilitate his continuing the conversation with the Goguryeo special envoy.
“Watch my porridge, I’ll go and come right back.” Yun Ye put down the ladle, turned around and went to the public hall. Entering the hall, he saw Lady Rong Hua already sitting there. She was dressed very neatly from head to toe, wearing not women’s clothing but Goguryeo men’s clothing. On top of her head she wore a tall hat. The tall hat was fastened by a black strap that tied under her chin in a beautiful knot—perhaps this was the difference between men and women.
“Goguryeo special envoy Lady Rong Hua has met Minister Yun of the Ministry of War!” Lady Rong Hua’s etiquette was extremely thorough, and her voice carried a trace of solemnity. This was very different from the Lady Rong Hua in Yun Ye’s impression.
“Special Envoy Rong Hua gracing the Ministry of War is our good fortune. Please sit.” Since the other party’s etiquette was thorough, Yun Ye had to bow with clasped hands to welcome the guest, and also instructed the clerk to serve Lady Rong Hua tea.
Yun Ye sat in the host’s seat and asked Lady Rong Hua with a smile: “I wonder what important matter brings the special envoy to the Ministry of War this time?”
Lady Rong Hua sat bolt upright, looking at Yun Ye and speaking word by word: “Rong Hua has come this time wanting to continue with the Ministry of War the unfinished conversation from last time. I wonder if Minister Yun can consistently continue the consensus that Rong Hua reached with Minister Lu last time.”
“Oh? Yun has just arrived and is still familiarizing myself with Ministry of War affairs. I wonder what kind of agreement the special envoy reached with General Lu. Yun humbly listens.”
Hearing Yun Ye’s words, Lady Rong Hua’s gaze became grave. She was extremely familiar with Yun Ye and knew this person had not half a bit of good feeling toward Goguryeo, and single-mindedly wanted to incorporate Goguryeo into the Tang nation’s territory. Pleading with someone like Yun Ye held not half a point of hope. From the scorched earth policy he implemented against Goguryeo, it was clear his disgust toward Goguryeo people. It was impossible to obtain sympathy, so she abandoned what she had said to Lu Chengqing and spoke directly.
“The Tang nation is the superior state and also a nation of propriety. Obtaining the respect of small nations is a natural matter. Goguryeo spans no more than two thousand li from north to south. Executing the principles of vassals toward the Tang nation is a natural matter.”
“Our nation’s monarch has been enthroned for twenty-one years now. At the establishment of the Great Tang, he summoned Silla, Baekje, and Mohe together to serve your nation’s monarch. In the second year of Wude, Gao Yanshou as Goguryeo’s envoy was sent to your esteemed nation when the Tang nation’s warfare had not yet ceased. The gifts he brought included silk and hemp, porcelain, jade, as well as our nation’s monarch’s humble and timid national letter. Your esteemed nation’s late emperor praised Goguryeo’s submissiveness more than once, and happily took a Goguryeo concubine. Merchants from both nations were unceasing on the roads. Border garrison soldiers gazed across and saluted each other. It can be said our two nations’ relationship was friendly and harmonious.”
“In the sixth year of Wude, your esteemed nation’s late emperor celebrated his birthday. Goguryeo performed the belt dance in congratulation. At that time, your nation’s His Majesty, serving as Minister of State Affairs, beat the drums weaving through the belt dance, singing loudly the eulogy he wrote for the late emperor. Host and guest gathered joyfully together. His Majesty spoke of the Goguryeo belt dance bestowing the two words ‘graceful and elegant.’ The relationship between our two nations at that time was as intimate as brothers.”
“In the second year of Zhenguan, His Majesty ascended the throne. Gao Yanshou was again sent as envoy to the Tang nation. This time he not only brought auspicious grain symbolizing abundant harvest, but also brought Goguryeo’s newly composed national letter. Our nation’s His Majesty in the form of a blood oath proclaimed his submissiveness to the Great Tang. The Tang nation sent Minister of Justice Shen Shu’an as envoy to confer upon our nation’s monarch the titles of Supreme Pillar of State, Prince of Liaodong Commandery, and King of Goguryeo.”
“Learning this joyful news, all of Goguryeo from top to bottom rejoiced and celebrated. The nation’s court nobles all took pride in speaking Tang language. Goguryeo selected from two thousand li of national territory the fullest grain, the most lustrous jade, and the most beautiful women to present to the Great Tang’s monarch. At that time, our borders had no warfare.”
“Since before Minister Yun thrust a thousand li into Goguryeo and manufactured appalling atrocities in Liaodong, the Great Tang and Goguryeo had no warfare. If you wanted to recover those remains of fallen Sui Dynasty soldiers, you only needed His Majesty to write a single letter and dispatch a minor official—my Goguryeo would reverently and respectfully escort those remains back to the Tang nation. Why use Minister Yun to risk danger and raise troops a thousand li? Beisha City’s one hundred thousand living souls were burned to ash by you in one stroke. The Sanshan naval forces have no trace at all. The common people of Baishi City cry out in misery. The heavens rose by one chi. Even more pitiable, my Royal Capital City was burned alive by the Ministry into a human hell. Something a minor official could accomplish—why employ a famous general like Marquis Yun? Why?”
Speaking to this point, Lady Rong Hua was already sobbing uncontrollably. The clerk beside Yun Ye also looked at his own Ministry official with a strange expression. Previously he had only seen these military achievements in the merit ledger. Now hearing the Goguryeo special envoy narrate them, they seemed even more real.
“Even so, Goguryeo still dares not violate the original blood oath. Paying tribute every year, coming to court every year, contributions growing more abundant year by year. We almost achieved concentrating the entire nation’s strength to serve one suzerain state. The Great Tang’s His Majesty also comforted the Goguryeo envoys and clearly stated that Goguryeo was the Great Tang’s non-conquest nation.”
“The words still ring in our ears, the ink has not yet dried, yet your esteemed nation’s His Majesty personally commanded sixteen tiger and wolf armies to once again invade Goguryeo. Heavens! My Goguryeo immediately had beacon fires everywhere, smoke rising from all directions. Timid people weeping in the wilderness, scholars fleeing in the mountain forests, women penned with pigs, men competing with beasts for food. Anshi City only resisted slightly and was personally conquered by you, Marquis Yun. Immediately afterward the city was massacred for three days. The Great Tang army returned victorious with women loaded behind their horses and human heads hanging from the front of their horses, leaving behind only a ruin-like Goguryeo. Why?”
“The ancient saying goes well: when small nations serve large nations, if the large nation can treat them with virtue, we can live submissively like people. If the large nation does not treat them with benevolent virtue, we can only live like deer—in urgent circumstances, taking desperate risks, panicking and choosing no path.”
“The Tang nation’s demands have no fixed number. We also understand we will certainly die. So we plan to take out our last bit of bloodline to fight you, the Tang nation, to the death in Liaodong. We have made preparations for certain death. Now we just wait for you to issue the order to attack.”
“The strong possess everything, the weak possess nothing. Fortunately we still have a bit of hot-blooded courage. Even dying, we want to tear off a piece of flesh from the Great Tang Empire, to let the world’s submissive vassal states have a good look—this is the fate of using an entire nation’s strength to serve the superior state!”
Having finished saying these words, Rong Hua bowed and withdrew. She wasn’t even willing to hear the rebuttal Yun Ye had already prepared. After retreating three steps with cupped hands, she turned around and strode away from the Ministry of War offices.
Yun Ye held one hand supporting his chin, the other hand lightly tapping the table. This ghost woman had actually grown to this extent. A “Proclamation to the Great Tang” spoken with propriety and moderation, with emotion and righteousness, soft yet firm. What exactly did she want to do? She actually wanted to incite other small nations to resist the Great Tang together?
Hadn’t she seen that the Turks, Tuyuhun, Huihe, and the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu had all already planned to relocate? Preparing to go to the distant west to establish their own new nations? What did she want to do?
The clerks below the great hall had almost held their breath, lest they affect the superior’s contemplation. Yun Ye really couldn’t figure out what exactly Rong Hua wanted to do. Having thought for a bit too long, he suddenly remembered his porridge on the fire and couldn’t help but ask the clerks: “Is my porridge ready?”
The clerks looked at each other, not knowing how to answer. Yun Ye went to the side hall himself and saw that clerk was still carefully stirring his lotus seed porridge. The pearl barley inside had already dissolved, bubbling away. It looked like the heat was just right.
Carrying the porridge back to the great hall, he discovered Fang Xuanling for some reason was reading Yun Ye’s conversation record. Old Fang stroked his beard while praising: “What a fine manifesto! With such a woman in Goguryeo, they deserve not to have their nation destroyed!”
Fang Xuanling’s words stunned Yun Ye for a moment—he almost dropped the porridge pot on the ground. After hastily putting it down, he looked at Fang Xuanling strangely and said: “Could it be that having such an essay can save Goguryeo? What are you thinking? Since Goguryeo wants to deploy those troops of theirs who are half-starved to death in Liaodong, our cavalry should crush right over them, trampling them all into meat paste—then the world will naturally be at peace. If you gentlemen feel this would be losing face, this subordinate doesn’t fear losing face. Just give me one hundred thousand troops and I can naturally recover the last of our Nine Provinces’ tripod vessels. You need not bear the evil reputation.”
Fang Xuanling was also a wonderful person. He picked up a small bowl from the table, ladled himself a bowl of porridge, and said with a smile while smelling the lotus seed porridge’s sweet fragrance: “Killing them all would be easy, but what would my Great Tang do taking back a vast expanse of uninhabited land? Would you go to Liaodong to cultivate it, or would this old man go?”
“The Goguryeo special envoy’s other words were nonsense, but one thing she said was correct—something clearly a minor official could accomplish, why labor a famous general like Marquis Yun? Now my Great Tang has no fewer than one hundred tributary commanderies and tributary states. Once they all have determined-to-die thoughts, it will be like that ghost woman said—smoke rising everywhere. We’ll have to constantly go put out fires in all directions. Once or twice doesn’t matter, but if it’s over ten times, twenty times, does Marquis Yun still think it doesn’t matter?”
“The people’s hearts are not with us. Taking back the land is also useless. Therefore, His Majesty believes we only need to recover the Four Commanderies of the Han Dynasty. Using the Yalu River as boundary, we advance east no more. Goguryeo’s armed forces must be handed over. Goguryeo nation will also be provided protection by Great Tang troops. Once our dynasty’s population has surplus, we will slowly migrate toward Goguryeo, and transfer the Goguryeo people to the west. This way, my Great Tang’s common people will cultivate mature land, not needing to expend such great effort opening up wasteland. Does Marquis Yun understand the difference between virgin land and cultivated land?” Having explained the reasoning clearly, Fang Xuanling began using the ladle to drink porridge, praising it endlessly with his mouth.
Only now did Yun Ye figure out what these big shots wanted to do. First let these Goguryeo people cultivate that peninsula. After several decades, when the domestic population increased, move the Goguryeo people to the west to open up wasteland, so Li Er could continue implementing his equal-field system in Liaodong.