The day before New Year’s Day, government offices began sealing their seals, the Emperor stopped writing, and the entire nation’s entertainment and leisure activities officially commenced. Previously, Chang’an City only lifted the curfew on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, but this year it would begin from New Year’s Day itself—a whole month! The merchants were nearly mad with joy. The Hall of Ten Thousand Citizens would also officially open on the fifteenth day of the first month. Li Er had invited one hundred elders from Chang’an to come watch song and dance performances at the Hall of Ten Thousand Citizens—though of course, you had to be at least seventy years old to qualify.

After keeping vigil on New Year’s Eve, he distributed red envelopes to all the young maids in the household, large and small. Di Renjie wore new winter clothes and furs that his mother had specially sent from Sichuan, carelessly playing with a dog using a bone in the courtyard. Shishi also sat quietly with her Buddhist father until dawn. The other monks had all returned to their respective temples—only Jue Yuan accompanied Daoxin, preparing to pay respects to the Emperor after the New Year in a final effort. If this effort failed, temple taxation would be unavoidable. Xiao Wu was in very poor spirits. The Wu family seemed to have forgotten her existence—even her mother hadn’t sent a single letter, let alone anything else.

When giving the young maid her New Year’s money, Yun Ye said: “If the mountain won’t come to me, I’ll go to the mountain. Why let others control your emotions?” Xiao Wu thought for a while, then returned to her room and wrapped up some pocket money she had saved into a small bundle, planning to have the Yun family’s steward traveling to Sichuan take it with him when he departed after the New Year.

Yun Ye didn’t go anywhere, staying home with Niu Jinda to repeatedly simulate Great Tang’s war to attack Goguryeo. When Niu Jinda once again returned without success, he sighed deeply and tossed the small flags onto the table, saying nothing.

Initially only the two of them were doing the simulation, but later Li Chengqian came and it became three people. After Cheng Yaojin finished his New Year visit to Master Yuanzhang, there were four people in the room.

After Li Ji finished visiting Li Gang, he also came to the Yun family to look around. As a result, he didn’t return home for two days and even sent someone on fast horse to invite Li Jing. When the room finally couldn’t hold any more people, Li Er, unable to resist his curiosity, also rode a fast horse and rushed over.

Before Yun Ye stood a massive sand table of Liaodong, densely covered with cities and fortresses, with even a Great Wall extending from Fuyu all the way to the sea.

As Li Er’s eyes swept across the familiar cities of Liaodong—Liaodong City, Baiyan City, Fuyu City, Xincheng, Gaimou City, Anshi City, as well as Wugu City and Beisha City—he couldn’t help but fly into a rage. Pointing at Yun Ye, he demanded: “Who permitted you to alter the map like this? Where did this Great Wall come from? Since when is Anshi City eight zhang high? Where did Fuyu City get a moat? Where did the mountain forests north of Gaimou City go? What’s going on with this Xincheng? Does Wugu City belong to Goguryeo? Why would Baekje people help Goguryeo defend the city during battle? And cut off our army’s supply lines? Ridiculous!”

“In response to Your Majesty, this humble subject is currently King Gao Jianwu of Goguryeo. Great Tang is not at all friendly toward my Goguryeo, so this king has made some small defensive preparations. Generally speaking, I’ve made the city walls high, the moats deep, and cleared the fields. No matter how Your Majesty provokes me, I only need to defend the cities well.”

“If I lose the Great Wall, I’ll retreat to the Yalu River and Qianshan. You can gnaw away bit by bit. As long as you haven’t captured even one city, just wait to have your supply lines cut. I’ll let Baekje deal with Silla. I also need to contact the Xueyantuo—they should understand the principle that if the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold. Those remnants of the Bohai Kingdom probably won’t be too friendly toward Great Tang either. And those savages in the forests—they’re all targets I can utilize. Even if I can’t engage Your Majesty in direct combat, I can still manage to harass and obstruct you. Your Majesty, does this humble subject perform adequately as the Goguryeo King?”

Both shocked and furious, Li Er heavily smacked Yun Ye on the back of the head, angrily saying: “You have such intelligence—why didn’t you report it to me? Don’t you know this is a major military and national affair, not some trivial matter for you to play games with?”

“Your Majesty, this was originally just a problem I posed to give my Uncle Niu something to occupy himself with, to prevent him from being too melancholy. Why would I need to report it to you?” Yun Ye asked Li Er with great grievance.

Li Er’s expression improved slightly—as long as it wasn’t real, that was good. He had thought this was intelligence the Yun family’s trading caravans had gathered in Goguryeo and had just been wondering why the Bai Qi Si hadn’t reported it, which was why he’d lost his composure.

Li Jing sighed and said to the Emperor: “Your Majesty, this speculation may be becoming reality. The September border military reports stated that Fuyu City has stockpiled large quantities of construction materials, and the Goguryeo people, under the pretext of gathering winter firewood, have stockpiled countless lumber. It’s also been heard that all convicts throughout Goguryeo have been conscripted to Liaodong. Considering these several pieces of evidence together, I’m afraid Goguryeo truly is preparing to build fortifications, and it’s very likely to be exactly the kind of Great Wall Yun Ye hypothesized.”

Li Er’s pupils contracted. He asked Yun Ye seriously: “This topographical map was truly something you imagined on your own?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Not only me, but also Qingque, Gongshu Mu, Hypatia, and Hong Cheng participated. This was originally just a war game I created, a type of extracurricular activity the Academy will conduct in the future.”

Li Er immediately instructed Duan Hong: “Quickly find all the people Yun Ye mentioned and bring them to me. I have questions to ask.”

Duan Hong immediately received the order and left. Before long, he brought back Hong Cheng, who had been drinking at the Yun family. Upon seeing Li Er, the tipsy Hong Cheng’s drunkenness entirely transformed into cold sweat seeping from his spine.

Li Er asked with a dark expression: “Hong Cheng, tell me—which part of this sand table did you make?”

Hearing the Emperor ask about this matter, Hong Cheng immediately relaxed. Pointing at Gaimou City and Xincheng, he said to the Emperor: “Your Majesty, these two cities were made by this humble subject.”

“Why did you cut down that forest outside Gaimou City? And why build a new city here?”

“This humble subject has also led troops and defended cities, so naturally I know there shouldn’t be forests beside city walls. If enemies attack, that forest could both conceal troops and be felled to manufacture siege equipment. Why would this humble subject leave that forest?”

“The location of this new city is right at the strategic point where two mountains flank a valley. As long as a city is built, it will immediately cut off the main road. Many of Great Tang’s cities are like this—Hangu Pass, for example. This humble subject needs to defend this place, so naturally I would build a city.”

“Did no one remind you about doing this?”

Hong Cheng said strangely: “Yun Ye and Prince Wei don’t understand military affairs. Gongshu Mu only needs to design the appearance of the cities. Hypatia is only responsible for the scale. The remaining troop deployments and formations are naturally this humble subject’s responsibility. It didn’t start out this way, but after we played many rounds, it became like this. All the loopholes we could think of have been filled.”

Li Er closed his eyes and walked up to the sand table again, asking Li Jing: “If we have one hundred thousand elite troops, can we capture Liaodong?”

“Your Majesty is himself a master of military formations—how could you not know? One hundred thousand troops are sufficient to seize territory, but not for attacking cities. To annex Liaodong, nothing less than five hundred thousand troops will accomplish the objective.”

After Li Jing finished expressing his opinion, he said no more. Each of his sentences, each of his words seemed to be carefully considered before emerging one word at a time.

“We have no way to supply provisions for five hundred thousand troops. One hundred thousand troops is already our limit.” Zhangsun Wuji, wearing casual court dress, approached Li Er and said earnestly.

“Oh? Then I must ask this Goguryeo King—tell me how one hundred thousand troops can break through these fortified cities?” Li Er turned his head toward Yun Ye again, looking at him with a half-smile that made Yun Ye’s heart flutter nervously. Whenever this fellow showed this kind of expression, he himself would suffer. If he couldn’t think of a solution, he would definitely be in trouble.

However, Yun Ye had been preparing for the Goguryeo matter for three years. Old Cui had now worked his way up to become a Goguryeo noble. Because his surname was Cui, he had always identified as a Goguryeo person in that country, which brought many conveniences to the Yun family’s business.

“Your Majesty, this humble subject believes one hundred thousand troops are sufficient, as long as Your Majesty’s army is brave enough. Everything else is not a problem.”

As soon as Yun Ye finished speaking, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, and Niu Jinda almost simultaneously shouted: “Yun Ye, watch your words!”

Li Er smiled with great satisfaction and waved his hand at the three anxious old generals: “No harm done. Let him speak. Today we’re just discussing a game—don’t take it too seriously. You can say anything you want, and I won’t blame you. Yun Ye, General Li says we need at least five hundred thousand troops at minimum. Why do you think one hundred thousand is enough? If your reasoning makes sense, I’ll apologize to you for slapping you just now. How about that?”

“You hit me really hard just now!” Yun Ye rubbed the back of his head, continuing to haggle. He couldn’t just take a beating for nothing.

“Haven’t you always liked that bronze mirror in my study? It’s not cast from ordinary bronze—it’s said to be polished from overseas stone essence. There’s only one like it in the world. How about I use it as my apology?”

Yun Ye nodded with satisfaction. Li Er was already showing rare humility today—he should quit while he was ahead. Smiling at the three men Niu Jinda, Cheng Yaojin, and Qin Qiong, he said: “Your Majesty, what troubles you is actually the word ‘fortified’ in fortified cities. If these Goguryeo cities were supervised and built by the Yun family, wouldn’t whatever kind of cities Your Majesty wants be entirely up to you?”

“Goguryeo has already purchased quite a bit of cement from Liaodong. Do you have a countermeasure?” Li Er said to Yun Ye in a depressed tone.

“How could they have cement? That material is entirely under the Ministry of Works’ control. Even Great Tang’s own people have extreme difficulty obtaining any—how could they have it?” Yun Ye jumped up immediately…

“Shut up! This was bestowed by the Grand Emperor to Gao Jianwu for building his royal palace. How dare you criticize it?” Li Er himself was full of resentment but absolutely wouldn’t allow Yun Ye to complain. Thinking about it, one couldn’t help but be depressed—Li Yuan had accepted large quantities of treasures from Goguryeo, and when the Goguryeo King asked for just some materials to build his palace, he immediately gave it with a stroke of his brush and commanded Li Er to send people to deliver the cement. Though Li Er was so angry his teeth itched, he had no choice but to agree in front of envoys from various nations.

“Father Emperor, the cement used by Gao Jianwu was allocated by your son. You needn’t worry about how sturdy it will be.” Li Tai hurried in from outside and, having just heard Yun Ye discussing cement with his father, interjected a remark.