The melting snow converged into streams, flowing along the greening grass stalks into the Liao River. The clear river water became somewhat murky. Yun Ye lay sprawled at the edge of the ship, staring blankly at the churning waters in a daze, doing nothing. Even this position could only be maintained for a short while before he had to flip over—his chest was being compressed painfully.
One doesn’t realize until counting, and once counted, the shock is great. Along this journey, his subordinates had suffered one thousand five hundred and sixty-three killed in battle, and two thousand four hundred and six wounded or disabled. Yun Ye had examined each one individually. After the battle, fewer than two thousand could manage self-care in daily life. Of the remaining five hundred or so, some were missing arms, others had lost legs, and there were more than ten who had gone blind. Those missing legs could be fitted with prosthetics once he gathered the materials, but how would the rest live their lives from now on?
Yun Ye’s flagship had been converted into a hospital ship. Two auxiliary soldiers quietly tried to slip past from behind carrying a stretcher. The person on the stretcher was covered with a white cloth—clearly another soldier who had died from severe wounds.
“Wait a moment, let me see.” He stood up and came before his deceased subordinate, lifting the hemp cloth to take a look. This was a very young youth, his chest bearing a large patch of festering wounds—burned by hot oil thrown by Goguryeo’s catapults. After looking for a while, he gently covered the body with the cloth again and waved his hand for the auxiliary soldiers to carry it away.
Once again he came to the bow of the ship and continued staring blankly at the river water. Wang Cai kicked up his hooves and came to his side. Every time Yun Ye felt lonely or helpless, Wang Cai would come over—not speaking, incapable of speaking—just looking at him with those moist, large eyes. In the past, Yun Ye would ramble on to Wang Cai, and Wang Cai would occasionally snort in response. But today, Yun Ye couldn’t utter a single word. There were still more than ten people on the ship who would die—there was no helping it, their wounds were too severe. On the rafts were piles upon piles of skeletal remains. At night, phosphorescent fire would flicker through the cloth sacks with uncertain light. Everything before him had long exceeded his capacity to endure. This selling of military merits was less about finding benefits for the soldiers and more about him venting—venting the fury in his heart.
The people of Guanzhong loved battle; they formed the main force in land warfare. By comparison, the navy had suffered far fewer losses. For the people of Guanzhong, dying in battle truly counted for nothing.
“The father dies in battle at the front, the son is wounded fighting behind. Women man the watchtowers and ramparts, orphaned children wail on the roads. Old mothers and widows weep and cry in the alleys, setting up empty memorial offerings, imagining souls ten thousand li away.” This was a passage recorded in the Lantian County annals. Yun Ye remembered it clearly. When he had first read it, he thought it foolish. Now, looking at it again, it seemed even more foolish.
The smell of skeletal remains was unpleasant. Even after all these years, there was still a stench wafting over—time had not yet worn these people clean from memory.
He pulled out his pouch from inside his clothing and searched through it for that finger bone. After days of constant rubbing, the bone had actually taken on a slight oily sheen. Holding it up to the sun, he tried to see what was inside the small hole. Of course there was nothing inside. For the bone to be so lustrous, it must have belonged to a young person. He wondered if there was a woman who loved him, waiting for his return.
“Pitiful bones by the Liao River’s edge, still the beloved in deep boudoir dreams.” Yun Ye had altered that poem by Chen Tao, feeling that in this current environment, only it was most fitting.
“Good poem, good poem. However, for a general to recite this poem carries the suspicion of hanging a sheep’s head while selling dog meat. You’ve killed many people—these two lines of poetry spoken from the heart are most fitting for slapping your own face.”
“Master Liu, I’m in a very bad mood right now and really want to curse at someone. But I can’t find a single person on this ship who deserves cursing, and I’m already suffocating from holding it in. Please don’t provoke me.”
“This old man has no addiction to being cursed at. I’ve only come to tell you that we’ve entered the sea, but the fleet hasn’t come over—only two warships were sent to meet you. I heard the other warships are in a standoff with someone. This is your business; this old man has no authority to inquire.”
“Who on the open sea would dare intercept us?” Yun Ye jumped up with a start and strode quickly to the ship’s rail. Sure enough, two giant ships were already waiting not far away. People on the ships were continuously waving flags. He couldn’t understand them. He grabbed Liu Renyuan and asked what was going on.
“Commander, the message sent by the ships ahead says that Dongyu and the others are leading the fleet to blockade a force of Japanese warships. As for the rest, it’s not something flag signals can explain clearly.”
“What does the Bai Qi Si do for a living? They’re all fools! I handed them the simplified signal system so many years ago, yet they haven’t even produced a set of flag signals that can communicate clearly—a bunch of good-for-nothings! After returning to Chang’an, I’ll block their doors and curse them out. Japan? What, do Japanese ships frequently pass through these waters?”
“In response to the Commander, merchant ships are common, but warships are rarely seen. Warships that dare to stand off against us are even rarer.” Liu Renyuan was also puzzled. Because of the Commander’s sake, everyone in the Lingnan Navy had no good feelings toward the Japanese. Usually teasing Japanese people on the sea was commonplace. The Japanese they encountered were also very sensible, always wearing smiling faces and responding carefully. If they were merchant ships, there were always some tributes offered. How did Dongyu and the others handle things today? If there were such overbearing Japanese, they should just send them into the sea—why trap them without taking action?
Taking a small boat to board the Mulan vessel, he ordered another giant ship to guard the rafts and first get all the wounded onto the large ships. He himself took Liu Renyuan, along with Wu She, Gou Zi, and Dan Ying, hoisting the sails and heading straight for the deep sea.
The ship sailed for three hours. As the sun was about to set, they saw the rest of the large ships. Among the densely packed warships, over fifty Japanese ships with tall masts were darting left and right. Unfortunately, their ships were not as large as those of the Lingnan Navy, and being trapped in the middle, they couldn’t escape for the time being.
“Raise my general’s flag—no, wait, raise the pirate flag instead, that black skull flag. I want to see what kind of Japanese could make our grand army not dare to strike.”
The deep sound of horns immediately rang out across the sea. When the naval warships saw the black skull flag flying high on the Mulan vessel, how could they not know their commander had arrived? Since the commander had arrived, needless to say, the Goguryeo campaign had ended, and their fleet’s mission must have been completed.
The other ships immediately sounded their horns in welcome. The horn sounds rose and fell across the sea, creating quite a lively scene. The Japanese ships trapped in the middle also stopped moving—they too knew a great personage had arrived on the opposite side.
Great personages always have their airs. Yun Ye put on his eyepatch. Old Fang brought over a chair and invited the Marquis to sit. The large ship sailed past the other vessels and came to within fifty zhang of the Japanese warships before dropping anchor. The largest Japanese ship opposite also dropped anchor, and a yellow canopy was raised to the top of the ship.
“What is that thing?” Yun Ye asked Wu She curiously. Wu She looked for a long time before saying, “This is an imperial object. But our Majesty doesn’t use this thing much nowadays. If this old man isn’t mistaken, the person opposite should be a member of the imperial family.”
“Japanese imperial family? What are they doing here?” Yun Ye turned his gaze to Dongyu, who had just climbed aboard the ship. Dongyu was gesticulating wildly and couldn’t explain clearly. A young officer behind him saluted and said, “In response to the Commander, when you left, you arranged for us subordinates to attack Chifeng Town and obtain some funds for the navy. Who knew that when we subordinates arrived, we discovered these Japanese were burning, killing, and plundering. We subordinates then discussed waiting for them to finish looting the gold, then we would rob them.”
“Who would have thought that when we subordinates finally intercepted them at sea and were preparing to attack, they actually claimed to be envoys dispatched by Japan to the Great Tang. You know that we Great Tang never harm envoys. We subordinates were unwilling to let them take away our gold, so we trapped them and waited for the Commander to return to make the decision.”
“These people robbed our gold and won’t return it to us—is that what this is about?”
“Exactly so, Commander. They also said they were acting under orders from some Emperor Jomei, going to Chang’an to pay respects to His Majesty. Accompanying them is also an imperial princess, also going to offer congratulations to His Majesty. That’s why we subordinates didn’t dare act rashly.”
Yun Ye nodded. Not knowing who the Japanese opposite were, he only knew of a Takayama Yoko—and even that was from what he’d learned from Gai Suwen. He turned and instructed that officer to go fetch the Goguryeo woman from the rafts behind—perhaps she had seen these Japanese.
“Commander, a small boat is coming over. On the boat are several Japanese with weapons, and there seems to be a woman as well.” Seeing Yun Ye lost in thought, Liu Jinbao quickly reminded him.
“Bring them up. I’ll meet these Japanese right here on the deck. Taking my gold without returning it won’t do. We’ve traveled thousands of li to blow sea winds here, the brothers have risked life and limb fighting battles. Now we have the merit, but the gold is gone. The Japanese are truly going too far—do they think we’re all made of clay?”
The officers on both sides loudly responded in unison. Yun Ye sat down with his back to the sun, watching as the Mulan vessel lowered its gangway. Eight people wrapped in cloth strips boarded the ship. From their movements, all were quite agile, including the woman at the front wearing the conical hat commonly worn by Great Tang women. They walked strangely—the woman moved, and only then did the others move. It seemed everything they did was inspired by that woman: identical movements, identical pace, even identical smiles on their faces.
“Marquis Yun, be careful. The seven people behind are all eunuchs. They have weapons in the tall hats they wear, and their wooden clogs also seem problematic, though there are no signs they intend to strike.” Hearing Wu She say this, without Yun Ye needing to give orders, Liu Jinbao immediately had the household guards block those Japanese, their crossbows already strung. If those Japanese showed the slightest irregularity, they would immediately strike first.
“The imperial princess of the Land of the Rising Sun, Takayama Yoko, greets the Marquis of the upper kingdom. I have come this time without malicious intent, only wishing to resolve the misunderstanding between our two parties. Would Lord Marquis withdraw weapons, and we can discuss matters in detail?”
Yun Ye sucked in a sharp breath. This woman spoke Chang’an official dialect even more fluently than he did. He wondered from whom she had learned it. Thinking of the Honglu Temple officials who had returned to Chang’an with him last time—could she have learned from them?
Could this coquettish courtesan accent have been taught to this woman to satisfy someone’s perverse taste?