Watching the lychees dwindle more and more, Yun Ye was quite distressed. In the vast orchard, only the lychees on these two trees ripened the latest, and just moments ago Xinyue had picked a large basket of them, saying that Grandmother loved to eat them.
What nonsense! The old grandmother worried about getting heatiness—if she could eat two lychees from a basket that would be remarkable. How could she eat them mindlessly? Without a doubt, it was Xiao Wu and Xiao Ya who had instigated Xinyue to pick them.
Fortunately, there was still that three-hundred-year-old longan tree, and the longans were already edible. Having come all the way to Lingnan, it would be a great loss not to eat lychees. Lingdang, being pregnant, loved to eat bananas, while Na Rimu had a special fondness for sugar cane.
Watching Na Rimu chomping away at the sugar cane with loud crunching sounds, Yun Ye snatched the cane away, took out a knife to peel off the sugar cane skin, and stuffed it back to her. He’d never seen such a lazy woman! After eating the peeled portions of sugar cane, she was too lazy to peel more skin and would bite the outer skin with her teeth, tearing it off piece by piece. She’d even split her lips doing this. Marrying such a woman really gave one enough to worry about.
Lingdang had stayed in Lingnan the longest, so naturally she knew which bananas tasted best. The small, red monkey bananas were the most delicious. Carrying a small handful in one’s pocket, one could eat them throughout an entire day.
The rain had fallen for a full month, and finally there was a clear day. The entire family, young and old, all moved chairs outside to sun themselves. The Lingnan sun was vicious—before long they scattered and dispersed, leaving only Li Anlan bustling about. She was exactly like a replica of Xinyue in Chang’an. Li Anlan was overjoyed at the arrival of the entire family. Chang’an was Xinyue’s domain, but here she was the mistress.
Knowing that the old grandmother couldn’t endure the heat, she cleaned out the highest bamboo building, hung up gauze curtains for the old grandmother to live in. As for the second-best room, it naturally went to the four children. Li Rong was very fond of her younger brothers and sisters, especially her own little sister Yun Lan. She also liked Yun Mu, but didn’t like the big dog Wang Cai who stayed by Yun Mu’s side, because after Wang Cai arrived in Lingnan, his life had become quite miserable. It was too hot—he could only lie in the water suffering through his days, his tongue never retracted all day long.
Li Anlan kept the largest room for herself. When Xinyue saw that hers was smaller than others’, she absolutely refused to move in. In the end, helpless, Yun Ye had no choice but to let them share a large room, while he himself spent nights keeping company with Lingdang, who always suffered from cramps.
The house had a very large swimming pool that Yun Ye had specifically ordered to be built. Ever since Xiao Ya and Xiao Wu had fallen in love with swimming, not a single man had appeared in the inner residence, including Yun Ye himself.
Since they’d come out here, it was to enjoy themselves. Who wanted to toil about everywhere? Di Renjie had no right to say such words. In the sweltering heat, wearing only short pants and barefoot, he stood on the deck. His feet were no longer afraid of being burned. Three months’ time was enough to transform a jade-faced, fair, handsome young man into a piece of black charcoal.
Everyone else had taken large ships, leisurely playing and touring all the way to Lingnan. Di Renjie was different. He packed a small bundle, first taking a fast boat, then a carriage, and finally riding horseback, rushing desperately for a month through the ancient Meiling Road, arriving in Yongzhou by land. His sole purpose was to help his master supervise the construction of the weapon systems for these three warships.
These were three warships with a displacement of one thousand tons each, using longitudinal sails—rotatable flat trapezoidal inclined sails that could adjust the angle of the sails according to wind direction at any time. The sails were supported by bamboo poles and were heavy, but could be raised and lowered swiftly.
Yun Ye’s three ships could sail against the wind, traveling in a zigzag pattern. They had popularized watertight compartments, with the bulkheads tightly connected to the hull planks, serving to reinforce the ship’s structure. This not only increased the overall transverse strength of the vessel but also replaced the technique of adding ribs, simplifying shipbuilding craftsmanship.
Additionally, the Iron family father and son had innovative ideas about the hull structure. The hull planks weren’t joined flush but overlapped. This joining method was called “fish-scale” structure. Its advantages were that the hull planks were tightly and firmly connected, the overall strength was high, and it wasn’t prone to leaking. According to Yun Ye’s requirements, they had specifically thickened the deck and installed large stone hammers on top. Although there were only two, fore and aft, these weapons for close-range combat were extremely ferocious. Once struck by a swinging stone hammer, enemy ships had no possibility other than being smashed to smithereens.
“Young Master, these three great-wing ships are actually something quite different now. In this old man’s view, on the great ocean there are no longer any ships that can compare with them. His Lordship the Marquis is a famous general who has long experienced battle formations. Commanding these three ships to traverse the great ocean would be as easy as turning one’s hand. It’s just that this old man doesn’t understand—can such sails truly sail against the wind? Without oars, isn’t this being too bold?”
Old Iron had received Yun Ye’s orders to build ships in Lingnan, and six years had already passed since then. In those six years, he had built over ten warships of various sizes for the Lingnan navy. He could be said to be the foremost among master shipbuilders.
“Old Grandpa Iron, in any case the warships are about to go to sea. As soon as the weapons are loaded, we’ll test the ships. Right now there are too many typhoons. After the rainy season ends, this junior wants to go see the great ocean. Will you go or not?”
“How could this old man be left out? These three ships are where this old man’s heart and blood reside. If I don’t watch them traverse the great ocean, how can I close my eyes in peace? The old Iron family has been in the shipbuilding trade for generations. With these three ships, this old man can give an accounting to our ancestors.”
The old man and the young man talked very congenially on the deck. Di Renjie didn’t have those foul habits of official families’ sons. He looked at people only by their age. When he met someone very old, calling them “Grandpa” didn’t diminish his worth—on the contrary, there were many benefits.
When leaving the capital, Di Renjie had a long talk with his master, and finally they jointly formulated this journey. Originally, Yun Ye had planned to give a word to the Empress and then secretly slip away. The storms raging in the imperial court couldn’t be touched—he had to escape at the fastest speed. Once Li Chengqian began implementing his ambitions, leaving would be difficult.
Di Renjie proposed the opposite opinion. He believed that the proper procedures couldn’t be skipped, especially the formalities in the imperial court had to be complete. Otherwise, when returning, no one would have good feelings toward the Yun family. Those who flee from battle would find it hard to have friends.
Since Master had already used Wei Zheng to force himself into a position where he had to leave, then don’t waste it. Why not use this opportunity to continue having Fang Xuanling open up a reason for the Yun family to leave? That way would be most secure. Once Fang Xuanling agreed to grant the Yun family leave, it wouldn’t be too late to leave then.
The effect achieved this way would be very obvious. Even such a good person as Fang Xuanling didn’t look favorably on the Yun family’s prospects in Chang’an and showed mercy outside the law by letting the Yun family go. Under the premise of self-preservation, whether it was the Crown Prince or others, they would all understand Yun Ye’s behavior.
Liu Fang, after hearing Di Renjie’s suggestion, patted Di Renjie’s head and smiled silently. After Di Renjie left, he turned around and scolded Yun Ye for living his years like a dog, not even matching a child’s insight.
He didn’t understand the principle that when things come to a head, one must be bold. The more it was such a time, the more one needed to be cautious. Political maneuvering was no different from two armies clashing—it just depended on who was better prepared and who made fewer mistakes. All of this had to start from small things. Many who lost in big scenes actually began to collapse from small places.
Di Renjie knew that his master couldn’t let go of sentiment and loyalty, and thus could only choose to flee. On one side was the Crown Prince, dear as a brother, who had grown up and was beginning to seek power. On the other side was Li Er, who regarded him as dear as a nephew. Empress Zhangsun was in a difficult position, and Yun Ye was equally so.
The Li family’s genes were too unyielding. Neither father nor son was someone to be trifled with—both wanted to implement their will into the lifeblood of this illustrious empire, the Great Tang. Fortunately, Li Tai had now withdrawn. Otherwise, if they played out what Master called the Three Kingdoms War, that would be a true disaster.
Di Renjie was now filled with respect for Empress Zhangsun. What kind of strong will must a woman possess to survive so many years in such a terrible Li family environment? Not to mention she also had a broad mind, forcibly exiling Master, someone as unfortunate as herself, far away to avoid karmic entanglement.
Without external enemies came internal strife—this was the tradition of the people. Since it hadn’t changed over thousands of years, having it happen once more was no big deal. Standing to one side and waiting for the dust to settle would be fine.
Old Iron checked those copper rivets over and over. His hammer went ding-ding-dang-dang as he tapped along. If he heard a hollow sound, then it absolutely had to be redone. This was his masterwork, also his lifeline.
Having stood too long, the soles of his feet were still very painful. Others all thought Di Renjie had already adapted to life on the ship—how could they know he was forcefully enduring? While he could still bear it, Di Renjie decided to return to his cabin. The lychees that his master’s wife had sent over this morning would be just right to eat now. He’d soaked them in ice water for quite a while.
Taking one last look at the mast and sails, he rushed into the cabin in two steps combined into one. Lying in a bamboo chair and blowing in the breeze—that was what should be done at this time.
Someone was already in the cabin—a somewhat plump person, doing what he loved most to do: lying in a bamboo chair eating iced lychees. By his hand was also a large cup of crimson grape wine. That was something he’d stolen from Master’s wine cellar. There were only two jars of premium grape wine in the house, and this was already the last half jar.
“Di Renjie pays respects to Your Highness.” No matter how aggrieved he felt in his heart, Di Renjie still properly bowed down. That Li Tai would appear here was completely beyond his expectations.
“Cut it out! You’re all heartless, disloyal people. If you wanted to run away, why didn’t you call on this prince? You master and disciple are caught in the middle and can’t be proper people—but am I comfortable being in there? Three ships—it was agreed before, one ship per person. I’ve come to claim my ship. The fame of the ‘Qing Que’ will definitely resound across the great ocean, far better than your master’s ‘Princess’ brown-nosing ship by more than just a little bit.”
“Your Highness speaks correctly. The shipyard is not suitable for Your Highness to reside in. How about you go stay with the Princess in Yongzhou? This junior will arrange carriages and horses right away. It’s not far—just another four hours’ travel and we’ll arrive.”
“Not going. I’ll stay on the ship, stay on my ship. This dignified Prince Wei, running like a dog over ten thousand li to self-exile in Lingnan is already humiliating enough. The last shred of dignity must be preserved. Except for my ship, I’m not going anywhere.”