Li Er’s requirements were very simple: break down complex warfare into simple modules, simplify complicated matters, and finally emphasize the importance of weaponry. He understood clearly that an empire could not maintain military prowess forever, but it could maintain superior weaponry. Therefore, he would rather sacrifice temporary military might in exchange for long-term peace and stability.
He stubbornly believed that he himself was the Great Tang’s stabilizing force. With him present, the heavens would not collapse. He could freely carry out reforms and replace military generals, completing the military reforms he had long dreamed of. If these reforms could not be completed during his reign, future descendants would have no way to continue them.
This year’s Lantern Festival was exceptionally lively throughout the empire. The entire city of Chang’an was shrouded in lantern mountains. With the curfew lifted, Chang’an truly became a city that never slept. The Hall of Light blazed brilliantly, looking from afar like a celestial palace.
The ice lantern festival at Yushan had long been known to every household. After enjoying the city’s lantern festival, wealthy families would hitch up their carriages and depart overnight. In just half an hour they could reach the banks of the Dongyang River. This year, the Emperor and Empress did not attend. After the Crown Prince came to preside over the lighting ceremony, the traditional panda cart-pulling competition began. Many pandas came this year to mooch food, and all the plump and sturdy ones were harnessed to carts. Refined scholars and fragrant, shadowy noble ladies together always created an absolutely beautiful tableau.
The new student leaders presided over all matters, and the entire lantern festival proceeded in an orderly fashion.
After Yun Ye finished attending the lantern festival, it was already the second watch of the night. This year he didn’t need to accompany the Emperor on his mad climb up Eagle Beak Cliff, so he wanted to sleep early. Placing his hand on Na Rimu’s warm, smooth chest, he fell asleep in no time.
A thunderous explosion jolted Yun Ye from his dreams. Before his mind could react, his body, trained by years of military service, had already begun rapidly dressing. This was a major incident.
Na Rimu emerged terrified from under the covers, her upper body bare. Just as she was about to get up, she heard her husband say: “Get dressed, go find Xinyue, check if the household has been affected. I’m going to the back mountain right now.”
After speaking, he pulled open the door and walked out. Once through the moon gate, he shouted for Liu Jinbao. He didn’t need to call for Wang Cai—whenever danger arose, the horse habitually found its way to Yun Ye’s side for comfort.
Something that could produce such a tremendous sound could only be the gunpowder workshop or the armory. Moreover, in these past few days he was supposed to take over the back mountain of Yushan from Li Xiaogong. To be precise, it was supposed to happen after the official seals were opened following the Lantern Festival. He hadn’t expected such an incident to occur at this moment.
Leading his household guards with torches, he rushed like the wind straight to the back mountain. When he reached the back mountain gate, Yun Ye’s heart kept sinking, because the gate was gone. Scattered stones and agonized moans were everywhere.
Yun Ye dismounted and struggled forward through the pile of rubble. Liu Jinbao tried to hold back the Marquis but was roughly shaken off, so he could only follow closely to help illuminate the path ahead.
The gunpowder storage was right beside the gate. This arrangement was for the academy’s safety—even if it exploded, the flying stones would be blocked by the towering Eagle Beak Cliff and wouldn’t fall into the academy.
Xiao Cangsheng, covered in blood, held his wife and wailed miserably. In his wife’s bosom was a fist-sized stone. It was this stone that had shattered her sternum. Blood no longer flowed from the corner of her mouth, and her blank face bore a strange smile—impossible to tell whether it was joy or pain.
Yun Ye called out to Xiao Cangsheng many times, but he continued holding his wife and weeping bitterly. Xiao Cangsheng couldn’t hear anything—he had gone deaf.
Carrying torches to rescue people from the rubble pile was extremely difficult. In fact, there weren’t many survivors. Even those who weren’t killed by the gunpowder explosion or crushed by flying stones would have been killed by the terrifying shockwave.
After rescuing the survivors at the mountain gate, Yun Ye ordered everyone to take cover. The pitch-black cave absolutely could not be entered at this time, and this kind of explosive accident would definitely trigger other dangerous chain reactions.
Sure enough, several muffled explosions came from inside the massive cave. Yun Ye smiled bitterly—the underground gunpowder storage depot had also exploded.
The earth trembled. Yun Ye led his men in a rapid retreat. Under everyone’s horrified gaze, the entire mountain collapsed. The trees on the mountain tilted, and huge boulders rolled down from the peak with thunderous roars. After the dust settled, that beautiful mountain peak had become a shattered pile of rocky chaos. Under the moon’s cold radiance, the cracked mountain opening looked like a giant maw devouring the sky.
There was nothing more to be done now except wait for daybreak. This was possibly the greatest man-made geological disaster in human history.
Rushing for quick success always came with losses. The back mountain of the academy had exploded—the sky had collapsed. The entire mountain had caved in. Three officials of fifth rank or above had died, and one had gone deaf. Countless craftsmen were dead or injured.
Li Er stood before the collapsed mountain, his face expressionless. Li Xiaogong knelt in the dust, saying nothing. The master craftsmen from the Ministry of Works were clearing the rocks, and countless laborers drove carts back and forth between the rubble heap and open ground.
Yun Ye was worried to death. Three years of effort had vanished into nothing in the sound of one explosion.
At this moment, pursuing anyone’s responsibility was useless. The incident had already occurred. Even if Li Xiaogong were torn limb from limb, it couldn’t restore that mountain to its former state.
At dawn, civil and military officials all came to the back mountain. No matter who saw the tragic scene, they couldn’t help but gasp. Many people were seeing such a scene for the first time. They couldn’t imagine in their hearts what kind of force could completely destroy a mountain.
Yun Ye sat filthy on a flying stone, holding a water flask and drinking. Last night he had been the first high official to reach the accident site. The people he could rescue numbered only a dozen or so. The rest had all disappeared. The villagers from the Yun family estate were working hard to clear a path. In the distant rubble pile, figures of Yun household guards constantly moved back and forth, hoping to discover one or two lucky survivors. Everyone knew such efforts were futile, but no one stopped them. Even Li Er didn’t.
“How likely is it to rebuild the firearms workshop?”
After a long silence, Li Er finally spoke. Li Xiaogong opened his parched lips, but for a long time couldn’t say a single word. He didn’t know how to report to the Emperor that the craftsmen officials had all perished.
“Your Majesty, the possibility of reconstruction is ninety percent!” Yun Ye was unwilling to let an elder he deeply respected suffer such embarrassment, so he took up the conversation and spoke on behalf of this confused elder.
“Oh?” Li Er’s gloomy expression finally eased somewhat, and he asked again: “The workshop is gone, the craftsmen are gone—how can my beloved minister have such high confidence? And what does that remaining ten percent of uncertainty refer to?”
“Your Majesty may not know, though this disaster was destructive, fundamentally speaking, it only damaged the body, not the essence. Qing Que is unharmed, your humble servant is unharmed, the academy is unharmed. To rebuild the workshop requires only time. The only uncertain portion is whether the court still has the courage to rebuild the workshop!”
Yun Ye’s concern was reasonable. The court had long criticized the gunpowder workshop, believing that gunpowder was a weapon that should only belong to God and should not appear in the mortal world. They said that usurping heavenly authority for oneself would surely invite divine punishment, and this major accident seemed to perfectly prove the correctness of those people’s words.
Li Er looked at those restless courtiers and said to Yun Ye: “I will make up that ten percent for you, and I will allocate all the required funds and grain to you in full. If the Ministry of Revenue cannot satisfy this, even if I must eat chaff and swallow vegetables, I will not short you a single copper coin. Now you have one hundred percent certainty. Since success is possible, in three years, I want a new firearms workshop—bigger and better. Can you do it?”
“In three years, your humble servant will certainly return Your Majesty a bigger, better, and safer firearms workshop. In fact, from this moment on, your humble servant will transfer the small workshop on the camel city under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. The manufacture of firearms cannot be interrupted. Although our dynasty’s forces now spread throughout the four barbarian lands and intimidate all directions, the supply of firearms cannot be cut off. Though the quantity is small, it’s better than having none.”
Li Er nodded with satisfaction, then said to Fang Xuanling: “For three years, the matter of the firearms workshop cannot be criticized.”
Chu Suiliang sighed inwardly. Yun Ye always managed to slip away at the most critical moments. He had originally thought he could tamper with the Ministry of War’s allocations, but who could have predicted that an accident at the firearms workshop would allow Yun Ye to evade crisis once again. Within three years, whoever dared to touch the Ministry of War’s funds and grain would certainly face catastrophe. Not only would he himself not dare, even Zhangsun Wuji wouldn’t dare. This had become a forbidden zone.
The rescue work was entrusted by Li Er to the Ministry of Works. From now on, Yun Ye would begin construction of the firearms workshop. The personnel needed could be transferred from the Ministry of Waterworks, Ministry of War, and Court of Judicial Review. Craftsmen from the Ministry of Works could also be freely requisitioned. This was considerable authority.
“Peaceful now, truly peaceful now.” Xiao Cangsheng spoke in a voice that fluctuated high and low. Last night he had been grief-stricken, but today he had become all smiles.
Yun Ye could still grasp a bit of his mindset. Years of self-imprisonment had destroyed his will to live. Perhaps dying in last night’s explosion would have been the best ending. But seeing Xiao Cangsheng laughing happily, Yun Ye shook his head and said to himself: “This bastard has probably been hoping for this day for a long time.”
He tried his best not to think about those people buried underground beneath the stones. He couldn’t think about it—thinking made his heart ache and his mind turn into a tangled mess. The craftsmen and soldiers who died last night definitely numbered no fewer than eight hundred. There was simply no way to investigate the cause of the accident. Fewer than ten people survived, and all were on the outer perimeter. Xiao Cangsheng had brought his wife to the high wall to listen to the activity outside. Every Lantern Festival, he would bring his wife to listen—at least it was somewhat lively.
Everyone who had been at the firearms workshop was taken away by people from the Ministry of Waterworks. Li Xiaogong was also thrown into the imperial prison to await final judgment. The charge of dereliction of duty could not be escaped under any circumstances.