The heavy snow had just cleared. The camel fortress slowly retreated eastward amid horn trumpet sounds. Cheng Chumo’s cavalry formed battle lines to cover the rear. When the camel fortress had traveled five li, Guo Ping and Chen Shu would lead the other half of the cavalry to continue forming battle lines. After the signal cannon sounded, Cheng Chumo would retreat. Just like this, the two cavalry forces alternately covered the camel fortress as it departed this disputed land.

The Turkic Great Elder sighed heavily and said to He Lu, who stood beside him full of heroic spirit: “Let us head west. From today onward, we can no longer borrow strength. The battle has begun.”

Boma patted He Lu on the shoulder and said: “You lead the vanguard to open the road ahead. I’ll cover the rear.”

He Lu, who seemed to have grown up overnight, nodded. After bidding farewell to the Elder, he led his personal guards and took over command of the vanguard. Yun Ye’s departure thoroughly caused the tripartite confrontation to collapse. Each force began its own campaign.

He Lu reined in his horse by the roadside, watching his tribespeople arduously trudge through the snow. The desolation in his heart could not be concealed no matter what. Looking at the morning sun rising from the mist-steaming horizon, he patted the warhorse beneath him. The warhorse neighed loudly and rapidly interspersed to the very front of the formation. He Lu stubbornly walked at the forefront. No matter what lay ahead, he was prepared to tear it to shreds with his own flesh and blood. For the first time, he felt that thick, suffocating anger in Tushi’s heart. However, unlike Tushi, he was prepared to personally seize for his tribespeople a piece of land sufficient for everyone to multiply and thrive.

Yusuf soon learned of the two armies’ directions. He could only choose one of these two forces to attack. He persistently chose the Tang army. In his view, the Turkic people were merely a wandering wild dog, while the Tang army was a genuine fierce tiger that had crossed the boundary. Only by frightening and crippling this tiger could he truly guarantee that the nation’s territory would not be violated.

When Boma ascertained the military intelligence and learned that the Arabs had gone to pursue the Tang army, he quickly led the rear guard forces to rejoin the main body and suggested to the Elder that the great army begin traveling with full effort, unable to delay even for a moment.

Tokharistan had numerous rivers. Especially around Huolu City, the river networks crisscrossed, which was not suitable for the great army’s camel fortress to advance. Fortunately, it was now deep winter. The rivers had exceedingly little water and had frozen over. This gave the camel fortress room to maneuver. The reason Yun Ye chose to enter Tokharistan in winter was precisely to take advantage of this favorable condition.

Yusuf had caught up. He was just thirty li behind them. Having just crossed a river, Yun Ye chose the riverbank as the camel fortress’s defensive position. Cheng Chumo, Guo Ping, and Chen Shu all withdrew back to the camel fortress. At this time, there was no need to use cavalry to fight the Arabs’ cavalry to the death. The death of even one more person would be a miscalculation. Having the river as a barrier wasn’t too advantageous for the camel fortress, but the slippery ice surface was the best forward battle line. Generally speaking, if the Arabs’ corpses didn’t cover the ice surface, they couldn’t cross the river. When the soldiers on the camel fortress began methodically establishing barbed wire alert lines, Liu Fang burrowed into his room. Although it was broad daylight, his room appeared even brighter. Wu She brought out his very best things to entertain his old friend. Liu Fang also believed he had been very weak recently and needed to be illuminated by the divine light to restore some vitality. Du Ruhui had the same idea.

Thus, three old men with bronze-colored complexions were always spinning around near Yun Ye. Yun Ye urged them that wearing shorts while being illuminated by the white light would have better effects. He didn’t know whether they did so or not—they wore thick garments on their bodies, so it couldn’t be seen.

After these years of campaigning, Yun Ye, this recruit on the battlefield, had already been hammered by the monster of war into a qualified commander. War was actually a game of maximizing the function of the chess pieces in one’s hand. As long as one carefully analyzed and found the breakthrough point, the remaining matters weren’t difficult to accomplish.

This was a point Yun Ye was extremely proud of. Because of the appearance of gunpowder and the mature application of fire oil, he occupied all the advantages when the two armies clashed. On the battlefield, there had never been reliance on a single weapon that could dominate the battlefield. Of course, this was the theory before gunpowder weapons appeared. Cavalry, infantry, Mo Dao soldiers, archers, catapults—when various troop types were mixed together, naturally extremely high coordination ability was needed. Relying on terrain, morale, wind direction, temperature differences, and other such factors to mobilize all the forces one could mobilize to form the most powerful strike against the enemy—only then was there possibility of achieving victory.

Yun Ye didn’t need to do this. His warfare was becoming extremely simplified. He maintained an almost mythical theory, which was to annihilate the enemy on the road of attacking him. Therefore, as long as he possessed large quantities of long-range weapons, that was sufficient.

He didn’t believe that on the one-li-wide river channel with no cover or obstruction, Yusuf could play any new tricks. Military affairs always served politics. The Great Tang’s army campaigning ten thousand li and drilling into the Arabs’ traditional sphere of influence—for the Arabs, this was an enormous provocation. He believed that at this time, the Caliph’s fury could already roast dry the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Under such circumstances, Yusuf must do battle with the Tang army. Even defeat was better than not fighting. Great personages considered matters from a different direction than ordinary people. A single probing attack was sufficient to test each other’s depths. As long as one had certainty in one’s heart, the next round of strategic maneuvering might become even more targeted.

Ultimately, this was a war between Li Er and the Caliph. Between Yun Ye and Yusuf, there weren’t too many choices to be made.

Li Er was making choices. In his left hand he held a flail, in his right hand he lifted a drum-shaped golden hammer. He was considering whether when the time came he should use the flail to discipline Yun Shou or use the drum-shaped golden hammer to discipline Yun Shou.

Just moments ago, these two weapons had still been in Yun Shou’s hands. After he shouted once, Yun Shou handed the hammer to Li Er. Now he stood huffing angrily before the Emperor. Behind him on the ground lay a circle of imperial grandsons. Li Xiang stood beside the artificial mountain like a walking corpse, with an indifferent appearance. Even though his own face was bruised and swollen, he didn’t care at all. Upon seeing the Emperor, he didn’t know to step forward and pay respects.

Li Er lifted the hammer and looked at the inscription on it. Annoyed, he said to Yun Shou: “What kind of place is Wude Hall? Is it somewhere you can recklessly barge into? The weapons inside were all personally collected by me and have very important significance. You took Liu Heita’s hammer to chase and beat the imperial grandsons—what is your reason? Ordinarily being arrogant is one thing, but today you actually used heavy force. Explain the reasoning for me to hear.”

Yun Shou turned his head to look at Li Xiang and helplessly lowered his head. This was his good friend. When he occupied the heir apparent position, he appeared incomparably confident. Once he was no longer the crown prince, it was as if someone had pulled out his spine. His vital energy and spirit were all gone, as if his entire life existed only for power. Hearing Li Er’s question, he himself could only lower his head and remain silent.

Li Er had never been someone who could educate children. The principle he believed in was very simple: not speaking meant you were admitting your error; not speaking meant you had nothing to say. Therefore, not speaking also meant you couldn’t be forgiven. Thus Yun Shou was once again tied to a pillar in Taiji Palace to receive punishment. Li Yanrong sat at Yun Shou’s feet keeping him company and talking with him, lest he be lonely.

“A Shou, please don’t help Brother Xiang anymore, okay? He’s become a useless person now. The more you help him now, the more tribulations you’ll suffer in the future. In the future, we don’t know if it will be Brother Qi or Brother Moli who becomes emperor. Today you beat them all—they’ll remember it in their hearts.”

“Where do you get all this nonsense? Help me rub my legs. They’ve gone numb from standing.” Yun Shou was noncommittal about Li Yanrong’s suggestion.

Li Yanrong worked hard to massage Yun Shou’s legs. As she massaged, tears flowed down. Crying, she said: “I’m so worried about you. If something happens to you, I won’t be able to live. Now the Eastern Palace is even more chaotic. Brother Xiang’s mother has shut herself in a room to carefully nurture her pregnancy, never going out. It looks like she plans to give birth to another little emperor. My mother’s rank was reduced, and now her days are very difficult. I helped several times, but she just yelled at me loudly.”

“Brother Shou, quickly marry me! I can’t stay in the Eastern Palace even one more day. If time goes on long, I’ll die.”

Yun Shou pulled out one hand from the loosely tied binding ropes and clumsily helped Li Yanrong wipe her tears. Seeing the tears increase the more he wiped, he lifted the hem of his robe and wiped it across Li Yanrong’s face, wiping away all the tears and snot. Only then did he say resolutely: “Today you’ll come home with me. I don’t plan to come to the imperial palace anymore either. What kind of people are they all? When someone is prosperous, one by one they wish they could stick their faces on the other person’s buttocks. Now that the person is down on their luck, they wish they could trample them into the mud.”

“The more years you stay in this place, the more years of suffering you’ll endure. Never mind—today I’ll take you out!”

Just when the two people were full of worried thoughts, Empress Zhangsun turned out from behind the red pillar. Who knew how long she had been eavesdropping? Suddenly appearing at this time, she nearly scared Li Yanrong into fainting. Yun Shou also couldn’t help but feel guilty inside.

“Good! Leaving the palace! And after going out, not coming back anymore! One by one, your wings have grown hard. Has grandmother loved you all these years for nothing? What cruel hearts! You two will be happy and carefree, leaving grandmother all alone in the imperial palace to suffer bitterly?”

“I will naturally come back to see you!” Yun Shou loudly guaranteed to Empress Zhangsun.

Empress Zhangsun squinted her eyes and smiled. Stroking Yun Shou’s round head, she said: “I know you’re a good child, much more conscientious than your father. Going to the Western Regions for so long—not even one letter came for grandmother. What came were all cold official documents. Does grandmother not know how to read official documents that he needs to bring them for me to see? It seems he also doesn’t like the imperial palace. This place, resplendent with gold and jade as it is, truly has nothing good about it.”

“People who don’t like the imperial palace are good people. Conversely, good people don’t like the imperial palace! Your father doesn’t like it. Qing Que doesn’t like it either. Now your uncle-in-law Li You also doesn’t like the imperial palace. Just after getting married, as if pursued by ghosts, he went to Qizhou, leaving us to guard this enormous imperial palace alone, watching sunrise and sunset, muddling through waiting for death.”

“So be it. Grandmother permits Yanrong to go to your home. But you two cannot be dissolute. If any scandalous matter spreads out, boy, even if your father leads the camel fortress to kill his way back to Chang’an, he won’t be able to save you.”