Li Er looked at his usually taciturn son in astonishment, then turned his head toward the Crown Prince and asked: “Chengqian, what else doesn’t I know about? Tell me everything at once.”
Li Er suddenly suspected he might have underestimated these young people. He found a chair to sit down, preparing to listen to what exactly these young people had been doing over these past few years.
Li Chengqian emerged from the crowd and stood before Li Er, saying: “Father Emperor, your son and several companions have disliked Goguryeo for several years now, so we made some arrangements in advance. Currently, Goguryeo’s largest grain merchant is your son’s retainer. As for the largest medicinal herbs merchant, he’s Third Brother’s retainer. The largest fur and jewelry merchant should be Yun Ye. Liaodong’s most famous construction merchant comes from Qingque’s household—the person in charge is a descendant of the Gongshu family who has now been honored as the ‘Sage of Craftsmanship’ in Goguryeo. When wealthy Goguryeo families build residences, including the construction of the royal palace, they all seek this Sage of Craftsmanship’s opinion.”
Li Er drew in a sharp breath. What his son said was too shocking. He only knew that the Crown Prince, Qingque, Li Ke, and Yun Ye were all making money in Goguryeo—he just hadn’t expected them to operate on such a large scale. No wonder Yun Ye would treat Liaodong’s terrain as a toy. No wonder Qingque had rendered the Grand Emperor’s reward useless. But with so many Tang people running businesses in Goguryeo and controlling such important trades, could Gao Jianwu, who had always been relatively astute, not know about this?
“Crown Prince, tell me—that Goguryeo King, Gao Jianwu, he’s not a muddle-headed person. How did you manage to accomplish all this?”
“Father Emperor, your son’s retainer is a Goguryeo person who simply prefers living in Great Tang. His greatest dream is to obtain Great Tang citizenship, so for this goal, he has always worked very hard doing things for your son in Goguryeo.”
Li Chengqian smiled as he explained to his father. Though his words were understated, they carried an entirely different meaning to the ears of those old generals—the Crown Prince had placed all his thoughts on strategy, planning, and military-political matters abroad. No wonder, though Chang’an was currently chaotic, it still exuded an air of stability and harmony from its very bones. As long as there was no internal strife, whom did Great Tang fear?
Li Tai continued: “Father Emperor, Gongshu Liang was originally a Goguryeo envoy who spent a fortune to hire an expert from the wilderness. He only ever participates in design work and never interferes in other matters. Moreover, he married and had children in Goguryeo, teaching and educating people. He’s highly respected and meets Gao Jianwu only as an equal.”
“What about your family? I’ve heard that when it comes to loyalty, your Yun family’s servants rank first. Your family’s chief steward isn’t also from Goguryeo, is he?” Li Er looked with interest at Yun Ye, who was trying to shrink into the crowd.
“In response to Your Majesty, my family’s chief steward is surnamed Cui. I’ve heard his ancestors were nobles from the time of Goguryeo’s founding ancestor Jumong. Later the family declined, and when Gao Jianwu ascended the throne, he slaughtered his entire family. He escaped to Great Tang with a young son, swearing to eliminate Gao Jianwu’s entire family and make all Goguryeo people into slaves—because he himself was enslaved for eight years, and his child became simple-minded from lack of proper care.”
After the Emperor finished asking, Li Jing interjected to question Yun Ye: “Goguryeo currently has ninety-seven cities. How many cities can your influence reach?” Li Er also nodded, continuing to watch Yun Ye, waiting for his answer. Everyone here was a famous minister or veteran general—there was no possibility of leaks.
“I manage Pyongyang, Wandu, Guonei, and Weina Rock City—these are all prosperous areas. The Crown Prince prefers grain-producing Chang’an City and Chengyi City. As for Qingque, he’s only interested in Gao Jianwu himself.”
Li Ji said ominously: “You’re all busy making money—have you made no preparations for our Great Tang’s expedition against these disloyal lands? Liaodong City, Baiyan City, Fuyu City, Xincheng, Gaimou City, Anshi City—these six cities block our army’s necessary route, yet you pay no attention to these strategic locations. What’s the reason for this?”
Zhangsun Wuji rolled his eyes at Li Ji and said: “Anshi City is my Zhangsun family’s trading location. Do you really want the Crown Prince and them to compete with my family for profits?”
Li Ji looked around at several old generals glaring at him angrily and finally understood—the entire commerce of Goguryeo had been completely divided up by these black-hearted colleagues. While he had been campaigning east and west for Great Tang these past years, people in Chang’an had been racking their brains to make ill-gotten gains. He seemed to have suffered a great loss.
Li Er was very satisfied with this scene and didn’t pursue further questions about whose hunting grounds the other cities were. This was excellent—they had all run off to make fortunes abroad. First, this weakened his enemies; second, nobles ultimately needed to be treated preferentially. Continuing this way in the future wouldn’t damage national strength or exploit the common people, and it also greatly benefited controlling land annexation. For the first time he discovered that merchants could also be military-national assets. Even if Gao Jianwu built eight Great Walls, with his foundations completely destroyed, what use could they be? Li Er believed the Empress should actually be the largest Goguryeo merchant—he just didn’t know to what degree. He’d better go back and ask her properly.
With his interest exhausted, Li Er didn’t want to stay at the Yun family. Today in the palace there were song and dance performances rehearsed by Consort Yin and the others that needed viewing. If he hadn’t heard that a group of generals and commanders had gathered at the Yun family, he wouldn’t have lowered himself to come to the Yun family during the New Year. He’d come on horseback, but for the return trip the guards had already prepared a heated carriage.
With gunpowder in hand, Li Er had already figured out how to conquer Goguryeo. What troubled him now was the transportation of provisions. Great Tang’s national strength was only now slowly recovering. In another two years, the timing should be ripe. The Former Sui’s humiliation would ultimately still have to be avenged by me.
The Emperor left, and many of the old commanders also departed. Only Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, Qin Qiong, and Yuchi Gong remained. In the warm pavilion, the four old commanders drank heartily. This year’s household harvests were good, the children each had their own prospects—as elders, they could catch their breath.
The old gentlemen’s gathering didn’t require Yun Ye’s attendance. Steward Qian ran back and forth making arrangements. The potato and beef dish had already been served three times, and it looked like a fourth serving would be needed.
Li Chengqian escorted his father back to Chang’an, leaving only Li Tai holding a large piece of beef and continuously complaining: “Your family slaughtered an ox—why didn’t you think to send me a leg? My mother strictly forbids us from privately slaughtering draft cattle. Everyone knows it’s delicious, but we just can’t touch it. Your family’s dying oxen are famous throughout Chang’an. Tomorrow have your servants lead a few head to your place—they must die very quickly. I’m also planning to send Mother a few pieces.”
Yun Ye asked Li Tai strangely: “Why should your family’s dying oxen be counted under my family’s name? Don’t you know the authorities will impose penalties? The Lantian County Assistant Magistrate is already begging the steward—he doesn’t dare let any more oxen die this year. If a few more die, he won’t be able to keep his position.”
“Your family always has some strange people. Previously there was always someone who liked to squat in trees watching your sister. Now that fellow is gone, and there’s someone else who likes to hang in the tree house drinking wine. On such a cold day exposing his chest—isn’t he afraid of catching cold?” Li Tai pointed at a pair of large feet dangling from the tree house in the garden and asked Yun Ye.
“What do you know? Extraordinary people must have extraordinary behavior. If you can find someone from your family who drinks like this, I’ll acknowledge you, Li Qingque, as formidable. Your entire Prince Wei’s mansion is full of literati—scholarly pretentiousness soaring to the heavens. Is that really impressive? Want me to compose a couple of poems to suppress them a bit, so they won’t be so arrogant?”
“I may not understand farts, but I absolutely must compile the ‘Comprehensive Geographic Records.’ I did indeed borrow rather many books from the Academy library. You don’t need to have Xu Jingzong come to my house once a day demanding them back—I’m still using them.”
“I understand you borrowing the ‘Mountains and Rivers Geographic Records’ and such, but why take the entire set of ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’? Are you planning to compile your ‘Comprehensive Geographic Records’ according to the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’? If I give you the jade pendant, can you help me find out where the White Jade Capital is?”
“I knew you wouldn’t let anyone take away the real jade pendant. In the end my father got it, and after hearing the whole story, he threw away the jade pendant without even thinking. Why don’t you show that thing to my father?”
Yun Ye stood under the tree and waited until Li Tai came closer before saying quietly: “It’s different. If you see it, you’ll at most spend some money searching. If the Empress sees it, it at most satisfies her curiosity. Showing it to your older brother was to let him know that immortality is just a joke. Your father just quit swallowing lead pills—if he developed thoughts of seeking immortality, whether you lead three thousand youths to find Penglai or I lead them to find Fangzhang, wouldn’t it be better to use that energy on military and national affairs?”
Li Tai stuffed all the remaining beef into his mouth. After chewing for a long time and swallowing, he looked at Yun Ye and said: “You’re a formidable person. With one broken jade pendant, you’ve made everyone in the realm spin in circles. It’s fortunate my father got it in the end—if someone else’s family had obtained it, they’d definitely be ruined now, right? Don’t bring up Goguryeo either. We’re all smart people—you just want to draw my father’s attention to Goguryeo, don’t you? Didn’t we previously agree to hollow out Goguryeo completely before stopping? Now you’re exposing it to shield yourself from disaster—that’s really not honorable.”
“Deception must have a limit. Now that your father knows, it doesn’t affect the overall situation. But if you only tell him when he’s truly anxious, hahaha.” Yun Ye laughed dryly twice and said no more.
Li Tai also croaked along in dry laughter, until Yun Ye pushed him: “You’re just a bookworm now. You don’t understand why I’m laughing, yet you’re blindly laughing along. You sound like an owl.”
“Who says I don’t understand? Waiting until my father is anxious to tell him—though the merit would be greater, it would definitely displease him. Whoever tells him the truth will suffer misfortune in the future, no matter who it is. Even my mother wouldn’t want to do this.”
“Excellently said! But these are your words, not mine. I’ve always believed His Majesty is a magnanimous sage ruler for ten thousand generations. I never imagined I’d learn from his son’s mouth that His Majesty also has a petty side. Reality truly doesn’t live up to reputation!”