After Han Zhe had eaten his fill, he sat in his room, concealing himself in the darkness without a sound. Only his two eyeballs glimmered with cold light in the dark. The urgent matter at hand was to quickly recover his strength. Yun Ye’s methods couldn’t be called cruel—he had merely made him sleep on a bed for over ten days. This sleep had loosened all the joints and sinews throughout his body. To restore his strength and agility would require at least ten days.

Wu She quietly asked Yun Ye, “What are you planning to do? Why does it look like you’re following Little Ying’s old path? This person has no sense of right and wrong and acts as he pleases. Do you also want to win him over?”

“No. Gods are the most unprincipled creatures in this world. They can accept goodwill, they can accept hatred, but they absolutely cannot accept pity. If you pour this kind of emotion into them, believe me, you’ll reap the cruelest revenge in history, because gods cannot be pitied. This makes them even angrier than hatred.”

Yun Ye gave Wu She an obscure explanation. Wu She nodded and said, “That’s right. Then why don’t you just kill him with one stroke? Be careful of future regrets. Last time with that fellow from Goryeo, I found him very uncomfortable. We were careless and he bit back.”

“Since ancient times, planning affairs belongs to man, accomplishing them belongs to heaven. If heaven wants to do something, neither you nor I can prevent it. But Han Zhe is different. First, I have no need to pull all the hatred onto my own head. Second, His Majesty was naturally born to be revered or hated. He and Han Zhe are actually more alike. Do I still care about the safety of my whole family or not? When imperial family members die, that’s called sacrificing for the country. What does it count as when my family members die? I won’t do it. I’ve always believed that a subject’s duty only needs to be fulfilled to seventy percent. The remaining thirty percent must be for thinking of oneself, for thinking of those around you, so you won’t do such foolish things as being smashed to pieces for the imperial family or the country. Leave that sort of thing for Wei Zheng and the others to do. I’ll just hide behind, watch the excitement, and cheer them on.”

Hearing Yun Ye’s words, Wu She laughed like an owl. Having lived long enough to become refined, he understood these principles better than anyone. Those who were utterly loyal didn’t necessarily have good endings. On the contrary, those scoundrels who committed no major errors but made constant small mistakes lived quite comfortably. Love and hate in this world all require reasons. Love without cause would be questioned by others. People who only gave without taking wronged everyone around them and ended up as lonely individuals, perhaps without even someone to weep at their graves.

Since the imperial family thought Yun Ye’s delivery wasn’t safe, then let the imperial family send their own trusted people to receive him. Yun Ye loved the imperial family’s suspicions.

Empress Zhangsun also believed the Emperor had made a mistake. After hesitating for a long time, she said to the Emperor, “Erlang, this concubine always feels that your sending Wei Tianjue to receive that person called Han Zhe is a mistake. This matter should have Yun Ye himself bring the person to Chang’an. You know Yun Ye—once you give an order, he’ll execute it immediately without the slightest hesitation. But once you have him hand this person over to Wei Tianjue, this concubine believes that even if that person escaped right under his nose, he wouldn’t bat an eye. He absolutely won’t interfere with Wei Tianjue’s assignment again. You used to always praise him for understanding principles. In this concubine’s view, this is a very bad habit.”

Li Er stroked his short beard and shook his head, saying, “The Empress is wrong. ‘Not in that position, don’t pursue its governance’—this has been doctrine since ancient times. If anyone randomly interfered with others’ official business, with orders coming from multiple sources, the country would fall into chaos. Yun Ye understands this principle, so as long as it’s not his own assignment, he absolutely won’t inquire about it. This is a virtue, not a flaw. Although those people might not do it as well as him, you absolutely cannot rely on just one person for everything under heaven. Looking at past and present, both people and emperors who do things this way don’t have good endings.”

Empress Zhangsun bowed to thank him for the teaching, placed the teapot within Li Er’s easy reach, then withdrew with a curtsy. After entering behind the curtain, she finally let out a long sigh. Han Zhe was someone Yun Ye had arranged such a grand formation to capture with great difficulty—this indicated he definitely wasn’t easy to deal with. Zhangsun Chong had already been in a terrible state from just two eagle attacks. Could Wei Tianjue possibly be even more formidable than Zhangsun Chong?

She understood Yun Ye’s temperament too well. As long as the Emperor gave an order, he would comply without any discount. He executed commands thoroughly, and when told to withdraw, he would completely retreat without any attachment to power and position. This time, once Han Zhe escaped, for the sake of face, His Majesty wouldn’t have Yun Ye capture him again. If these hidden dangers weren’t eliminated, Empress Zhangsun truly couldn’t feel at ease, because they would target her son, stirring up the ambitions of various princes to covet the Crown Prince’s position. How could this be allowed? Empress Zhangsun returned to Liangyi Hall and hurriedly wrote a letter, hoping Yun Ye wouldn’t completely let go.

The Empress’s letter was still on the road when Yun Ye had already completed the handover. The confident Wei Tianjue treated all of Yun Ye’s warnings as wind past his ears. His background as one of the great Jinyang clans made him naturally look down on upstart nobles like Yun Ye, believing their achievements were merely luck.

Han Zhe was tied up like a rice dumpling, placed in an iron cage, smiling as he bid farewell to Yun Ye, showing not half a trace of sorrow. Bound in a spread-eagle position on the deck, he looked less like a prisoner and more like a tortured emperor.

Wei Tianjue’s whip, which never left his hand, cracked across Han Zhe’s face with a sharp sound. He very much disliked this refined face. Yun Ye’s brow furrowed as he was about to speak, but he heard Han Zhe say with a laugh, “Brother Yun, you and I part today, not knowing when we’ll meet again. Take care of yourself above all. Don’t worry about these small matters. Today’s one lash will surely be repaid a thousand-fold in the future. It’s a small matter.”

Yun Ye said nothing more, merely cupped his hands and turned to leave. For withered bones in tombs like Wei Tianjue, he really couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. He didn’t know if he could return to Chang’an alive.

Wei Tianjue left, and Yun Ye also packed his bags to prepare to return to Chang’an. The land-selling business had been fully entrusted to He Shao. When dealing with merchants, it was better to have a merchant do it himself. Zhangsun Chong’s army had already taken over all the water bandits. Over the next three years, they would labor without rest. How many would still be alive then would depend on whether they were obedient enough.

The final massacre was carried out before all the people of Yuezhou. This was Yun Ye’s work. When the three quarters past noon arrived, all the water bandit leaders were beheaded for public display. Following the old rules, the Lingnan Navy preserved the heads with lime. The fleet circled the great lake, and wherever they went, scattered water bandits all dispersed. For a time, there were no more water bandit raids throughout all of Dongting Lake.

Dongyu piloted the giant vessel, sailing upstream along the great river. All around were large and small warships, with enormous cloud-character commander flags flying from the masts—truly imposing and murderous.

When the ship entered the canal mouth, a shocking incident occurred. A military officer in fourth-rank official robes was hung high on the eastern gate of Luoyang City. Apart from his intact head and two unbroken rib bones, all other bones in his body had been smashed by a giant hammer. His face was terrified and twisted. It appeared that all his bones had been smashed while he was still conscious. Though his bones were broken, he hadn’t died, but could only open his mouth and howl.

This was Wei Tianjue. His three hundred attendants were nowhere to be seen. Luoyang officials immediately dispatched an eight-hundred-li emergency report, bringing the dire news to Chang’an. The Emperor was enraged and ordered the Bai Qi Si to conduct a nationwide manhunt, vowing to catch the culprits and tear them to pieces.

Yun Ye hid in the cabin playing gomoku with Little Lingdang, gambling clothes. Go was really no match for Little Lingdang. Fortunately, Little Lingdang wasn’t familiar with gomoku, so Yun Ye took advantage and won several rounds. But when Little Lingdang was down to just her chest wrap and underwear, she displayed great prowess. In no time, Yun Ye was stripped completely naked. A naked man is no good thing—that’s the saying. Since the bad reputation was already acquired, then he wouldn’t be polite. He must carry the bad deed through to the end.

The Lingnan fleet had no time to stop in Luoyang. Liu Renyuan went ashore himself to the Governor’s Office to exchange travel documents. Yun Ye himself was having a wild time on the ship. Anyone who wanted to see the Marquis would only receive one sentence from Liu Jinbao: “My Marquis has caught a slight chill and is not suitable to receive guests.”

He wouldn’t see people from the Governor’s Office, wouldn’t see the Luoyang Prefect, and wouldn’t see the Vice Minister who rushed over on fast horses from the Ministry of Justice. In short, Yun Ye had made up his mind not to see anyone along this journey. The ship was loaded with tax revenues from the Two Lakes prefectures—no one dared board the ship.

When the small fleet vessels traveled on the Yellow River, fast horses continuously galloped along the riverbank calling out. Seeing the apricot-yellow flags on their backs, one knew they were imperial messengers. He sent Dongyu to count the dragon claws. If there were five claws, then he must meet them. If fewer than five, then they were from princes and feudal lords—no need to stop. Once stopped, great trouble would come.

Dongyu kept twisting his backside, unable to count even this simple number clearly. What a useless fellow.

“He says there’s a big bird on that flag with a very long tail and beautiful colors.” The bear who had spent the longest time with Dongyu helped translate. Only then did Yun Ye understand—the Empress’s messenger had arrived. This one he really couldn’t refuse to see.

A small sampan brought the messenger aboard the ship. Seeing the messenger covered head to toe in yellow mud, he knelt on the ground in exhaustion, gasping for breath and loudly saying, “Marquis Yun, the Empress’s eight-hundred-li emergency report.”

“What happened? I’m about to enter the capital. What matter could make the Empress so anxious?” Yun Ye pretended not to understand as he asked the messenger. The messenger, prostrate on the deck, finally managed to explain the matter incoherently despite his disjointed words.

Wei Tianjue’s contingent had barely left Dongting Lake when they were attacked by a group of blue-clothed people. Actually, calling it an attack wasn’t quite accurate—those blue-clothed people wearing Nuo dance masks surrounded them. Wei Tianjue was captured alive by two burly men. The remaining guards fought desperately but still couldn’t match the wolf-like, tiger-like blue-clothed people and were scattered in flight. The prisoner was taken away. These guards didn’t even have time to kill the prisoner. Now they were all detained by the local authorities in prison, awaiting execution after autumn. This was an order personally issued by the Emperor. Even though they were from the great Jinyang clans, not one would be spared.

After that, Wei Tianjue’s mutilated body appeared on the Luoyang city gate. The world was shocked. Luoyang officials from the Governor to the Chief Administrator—not one was spared. All were suspended pending investigation.

After hearing the whole story, Yun Ye asked strangely, “What does this have to do with me? The tax revenues on my ship are all here, not one wen missing. Once I transport these revenues to Chang’an, my assignment is complete.”

“Marquis, you should first read the Empress’s letter.”