When Yun Ye saw Dongyu again, he was sprawled on the deck like a puddle of mud. There wasn’t a single visible wound on his skin’s surface. Wu She hadn’t subjected him to the inhumane torment Yun Ye had suggested. According to the mummy-like Liu Jinbao: “He would rather be beaten until his own mother couldn’t recognize him than accept Wu She’s untold palace secrets. Even a tough man like Dongyu was treated until he pissed his pants.”

Dongyu struggled to push a copper basin toward Yun Ye. Though he had endured torture, his entire being seemed much more relaxed. Having put the commander in danger, he felt that suffering a bit of physical pain was quite appropriate.

The copper basin was filled with seawater, and a golden-yellow croaker fish was swimming happily inside. When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with special hatred. The left side of Yun Ye’s face was swollen like a pig’s head, his eye reduced to a mere slit—all courtesy of this damned croaker fish. He had injuries all over his hands and feet. Unable to cook himself, he ordered the cook to debone and skin this fish, make it into a soup, and let no one eat it except himself.

Fish falling from the sky—this was a spectacle. The largest ones included even sharks, and there were over a dozen giant whales floating belly-up along the shore. They hadn’t found any Japanese people, but finally found a buttock on a large tree, though they couldn’t tell whose it was. He Zhongwu wore a face full of grief and despair.

Having fish was good enough. Following the principle of not wasting anything, Yun Ye ordered that while repairing the ships, everyone who could go ashore should go to the island and turn all the fish into dried fish. What excellent provisions! Once they reached Chang’an, this would be another windfall. Hearing the Marquis say this, all the navy soldiers were enthusiastically excited. Working for oneself was indeed different. They had eaten fish until they were sick of it at sea and wouldn’t spare a glance at such things, but in Chang’an, these would be rare delicacies. This mountain full of fish, once cleaned and washed, could be sold to merchants, and everyone could get a share. He truly lived up to his reputation as the God of Wealth among commanders. It seemed good days lay ahead.

The whale meat was cut into small chunks, rubbed with salt, and pickled—a delicacy. Yun Ye would never let the whale oil in their brains escape; this was the finest candle-making material. Shark skin and whale skin were absolutely excellent materials for making armor. They just hadn’t expected whale skin to be over a foot thick, requiring soldiers to use saws to separate them. They specially kept the skull of the largest whale, planning to bring it back to the academy to let the students broaden their horizons.

They stayed in the strait for a full six days before finishing processing all that fish meat. The entire fleet reeked of fish. When the wind blew, the pungent smell made people nauseated. For the sake of profit, not a single navy soldier complained. Instead, they carefully guarded the dried fish day and night to prevent thieving seagulls from snatching them away.

The Mulan boat creaked along, seeming ready to fall apart at any moment. The superstructure was completely unrecognizable, and even the sails couldn’t be raised. They had no choice but to have other ships tow it slowly forward. Dengzhou was Yun Ye’s destination for this journey. He didn’t know why the Emperor wanted him to bring five thousand navy soldiers ashore, only that he would understand once he arrived.

Li Er’s edicts to Yun Ye no longer explicitly stated what he should do, only what he must accomplish. Everything else was at his discretion. Completing the mission was paramount; the rest Li Er would pretend not to see and settle all accounts together once they returned to Chang’an. The Yun family was right at the foot of Yushan—they couldn’t run away.

Dengzhou Port had gathered all the officials from Zhuojun, all sitting under awnings staring longingly at the sea. The governors of five provinces—Shenzhou, Hengzhou, Dingzhou, Youzhou, and Yanzhou—were all present, with Dengzhou Governor Yuan Dake in attendance. Though his heart was frying in oil, he had to maintain composure; otherwise, those anxious subordinate officials and the laborers who came to haul grain would become a chaotic mess.

“Brother Yuan, Marquis Yun’s fleet is already two days later than the expected return date. Has something happened at sea? A few days ago, we heard of a terrifying waterspout appearing. Could Marquis Yun’s delayed return be related to the waterspout?” The questioner was Youzhou Governor Feng Tai. Youzhou had been without grain for two days now. Villagers wandered the wilderness in groups, and grass roots and tree bark were being gnawed clean. Fortunately, he had led by example, taking out grain from his own household to provide relief, but even so, it was inadequate.

“Brother Feng, don’t be anxious. The sea has strong winds and large waves, with all kinds of unexpected disasters. Marquis Yun is bringing grain from ten thousand li away, so he must not be an ordinary person. He surely has ways to deal with difficulties.” Though Yuan Dake said this, his heart was lamenting. Those several waterspouts had already caused heavy losses to merchants under his jurisdiction. The last sighting of the imperial navy’s merchant ships was ten days ago, and now there were no more reports of their whereabouts. It wasn’t just the governors of the disaster-stricken areas who were anxious—he, the Dengzhou Governor, was also having a hard time. If something happened to Yun Ye, who knew whether His Majesty would direct his anger at others.

“If Marquis Yun doesn’t arrive, my Xiangzhou will surely be filled with starving corpses, and the tragedy of exchanging children to eat will be reenacted. This old man would rather be boiled into meat porridge himself. If it could feed the people, why would I begrudge this body?”

The grain from Hebei had been completely transported away. They could only urgently transfer supplies from Henan, Guanzhong, and the capital region. Even some military rations from Liaodong had been allocated, but unfortunately, distant water couldn’t quench immediate thirst. No one had anticipated this disaster. Just when the crops needed water most during flowering, heaven perversely didn’t drop a single raindrop for two months. The seedlings in the fields were about to yield a harvest, but they produced only shriveled grain heads. When squeezed by hand, there were only husks, not a single wheat grain.

The gap between harvests was a life-threatening disaster. Hebei had long suffered from war, farming households had thin foundations, and every family lacked stored grain. So the disaster came fierce and swift, catching the Great Tang completely off guard.

The six governors looked at each other with bitter smiles. The sun was already declining westward; the fleet wouldn’t come today. Just as they were preparing to return to the courier station and place their hopes on tomorrow, a resonant horn sounded from the sea surface. A mast appeared above the horizon, followed immediately by countless masts and sail shadows. Soon, a dense mass of sea vessels appeared in people’s view. A red flag with black characters spelling “Tang” hung from the mast tops. Among them, the largest warship displayed a commander’s flag with the character “Yun,” arrogantly being towed along by other vessels.

The port immediately erupted. Feng Tai jumped up and shouted to the subordinate officials and laborers behind him: “The ships have come! The grain has arrived! Who says the court doesn’t care about Hebei’s survival? His Majesty has brought the grain!”

“It’s here, it’s here at last.” The Xiangzhou Governor’s old tears flowed down. The other several governors also beamed with joy, cupped their hands to each other, then dispersed to prepare for when the ships docked to begin loading grain. This was no time for courtesy. Any slight delay that sparked civil unrest would be disastrous.

Yun Ye was jumping with excitement, ready to go ashore as soon as the big ship docked for a good rest. He had had enough of the ship’s rocking and was eating one bowl less than usual.

He was about to turn and tell his subordinates to take three days off to enjoy themselves properly, but discovered the ship was full of injured personnel. Those whose hands were pierced by fish bones had their entire arms wrapped and hung in cloth slings around their necks. Those whose heads had bug-bite swellings had their entire heads wrapped like natives. As for those who had sprained ankles, those were serious injuries requiring two people to carry them.

Wu She was cackling like a duck. In no time, he had Yun Ye completely bandaged and kept instructing the personal guards carrying him that the Marquis had been injured by a shark that fell from the sky while battling the waterspout.

Liu Jinbao was even being praised everywhere as a hero. To protect the Marquis, when whales came aboard, he single-handedly slaughtered two whales. Later, with all his bones broken and meridians twisted, he still rescued over forty soldiers who had fallen into the water and salvaged seventeen or eighteen bags of grain. He simply wasn’t human. Liu Jinbao listened until his saliva drooled out.

“Wu She, what are you trying to do? A shark? A single croaker fish nearly killed me. If it had been a shark, I would have been smashed into meat paste long ago. Liu Jinbao was flying a kite at that time. Who saw him fight with whales, and two at that? You can exaggerate, but don’t go too far and let people laugh at us.”

“Marquis Yun, you’re a marquis. How could you be knocked unconscious by a croaker fish? At the very least, it should be a shark—that matches your status. Liu Jinbao killing two whales is correct. Those two whale heads were sawed off by him. If you don’t believe it, go look.” He Zhongwu swore confidently, vouching for Liu Jinbao. This must have been that fellow’s idea. Nothing good ever came from the Court of State Ceremonial.

“My lord, right now the people’s hearts in Hebei are unsettled—this is the most dangerous time. The kindling has already been doused with oil; one spark will be a great disaster. I’ve encountered this situation before in my early years. Minister Fang did it this way. First, we must let the common people know that the court sent a most noble marquis to find grain for them. This marquis went through countless hardships to bring back the grain. This isn’t false, is it?”

Yun Ye nodded. Thinking of his miserable state in the jungle made him sad. The phrase “countless hardships” applied to him was not excessive.

“To find grain, you fought in the south against the most terrifying savages, leading navy soldiers in bloody battles, destroying countless nations, finally raising enough grain for the people of Hebei to eat. Without washing off the dust of travel, you rushed day and night across the sea toward Hebei. This is also fact, isn’t it?”

Yun Ye nodded again, thought for a moment and said: “It’s just that the natives are described as too powerful.”

“Not excessive at all, my lord. You don’t know—during the Three Kingdoms period, how much did Sun Quan suffer when exterminating the natives? During the Qin Dynasty, three hundred thousand people征岭南—which learned person in Hebei doesn’t know this clearly? So the natives are very powerful, extremely powerful. The navy soldiers paid a bloody price to obtain the grain. This is the key point.”

Yun Ye nodded woodenly. Fine, the natives were extremely powerful. For Hebei’s stability, lying down for a few days didn’t matter.

The righteously indignant He Zhongwu continued: “Six days ago, we encountered waterspouts again. We escaped even such natural disasters. Your wisdom makes all of us grateful. Even if we exaggerate a bit, ask the soldiers if any will say an extra word?”

“You don’t care about these things. Promotion and wealth are a joke to you, but the soldiers need these achievements—those who should be promoted get promoted, those who should be commended get commended. Even this humble official needs to gain some merit from this to prevent anyone from blaming me for the deaths of the envoys to Tang. My lord, for all of us, please endure some hardship!”