Food shipments from the granary to the city’s defensive positions ran on a three-day cycle — that had always been the custom, and nothing about it warranted suspicion.

The supply convoy itself, however, was a variable. If everyone inside the granary had already been bought off by the Cui Family — or if years of steady infiltration had filled the place with their people — then that convoy would arouse no suspicion whatsoever. Familiar faces doing familiar work: nothing lulls a man’s guard faster. Who would suspect people who had been hauling grain for years?

The convoy was not a small one. Grain escorts plus the laborers who did the heavy lifting came to several hundred men — an entirely ordinary number.

The plan, as Ye Xiansheng had reconstructed it: weapons concealed among the grain, a sudden strike once they reached the gatehouse, those several hundred men seizing the city gate and forming a defensive line with their own supply wagons to hold off any counterattack from the Jizhou troops inside. If they succeeded in taking the gate, they could shelter behind the wagons, deflect arrows and infantry alike, and hold for two or three quarter-hours — long enough for the Qingzhou army massed outside to storm the gate at any cost, pouring into the city in a flood that nothing could dam.

Once Ye Xiansheng had heard Li Chi describe the situation in broad strokes, this reconstruction was not difficult to arrive at.

“Ye Xiansheng.”

Li Chi said, “Tomorrow is the granary’s scheduled delivery to all four sections of the city walls. We still don’t know where they intend to make their move. Yesterday I went to see Xiahou — he told me the Qingzhou army has completed its encirclement of Jizhou City, which means the enemy may strike from any one of the six gates.”

Li Chi cupped his hands in salute. “Tomorrow, the people of this household are entirely in Ye Xiansheng’s care. Ruan Chen and Ruan Mu’s brothers are all veterans from Xiahou’s old unit — they’ll remain here to assist you. Every one of our hired hands I’m leaving with you as well.”

Ye Zhangzhu nodded. “You go and attend to the great matter. The safety of those in this house — leave it to me. While Ye Zhangzhu still draws breath, no one may harm a single person under my protection.”

“Many thanks, Ye Xiansheng.”

Li Chi bowed low.

He turned to Yu Jiuling, Zhuang Wudi, and the others. “We go out tonight. Tomorrow will be a busy day. I’ve already worked things out with Xiahou — whatever the Cui Family has arranged, tomorrow will make it clear.”

—

At that same moment, on the city wall.

Xiahou Zuo turned to Tang Pidi. “I’m genuinely a little worried about Li Diudiu’s side of things. He borrowed two thousand men from me, but two thousand men simply aren’t enough to cover every position that needs covering.”

Tang Pidi smiled. “Li Chi never thinks the way other people do. Whatever he comes up with will be surprising.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “If he guesses right, the Cui Family will be completely blindsided in one stroke.”

Tang Pidi said, “I don’t think Li Chi is capable of guessing wrong.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Why are you so certain?”

Tang Pidi said, “Because whatever I think, I’m never wrong.”

Xiahou Zuo turned this over in his mind. What kind of reasoning was that?

Tang Pidi grinned. “I never do anything I’m not sure of. He’s probably the same. The only difference is — I’m sure whether I act or not.”

Xiahou Zuo sighed. “That supreme confidence of yours — does it have something to do with the time you spent away from the Central Plains? Did you go abroad and polish it up?”

Tang Pidi burst out laughing. “You don’t know the half of it. I was even more insufferable out there, because out there I had even fewer rivals.”

Xiahou Zuo: “……”

—

At that same moment, at the granary.

The granary’s chief administrator, Gao Shengda, looked over the men assembled before him. He coughed a few times, then said, “Whether we succeed or fail turns on tomorrow. Our convoy departs on schedule, divided as usual into four columns. Yes, that man called Li Chi came snooping around once — but he has no evidence and no certainty, and he cannot guard every possibility at once. If our plan were truly so easy to guess, then all these years of preparation would have been rather wasted.”

He paused, then continued. “Tomorrow they may try to intercept and search us. We are prepared for that — there is no need to worry. Simply remember: do not panic. Carry on as you always have. As long as we give nothing away ourselves, Li Chi will find nothing to seize on.”

“Yes!”

Every one of his men replied in unison.

For this day — for tomorrow’s seizure of the city — the Cui Family had been planning for years. And it was not only the granary that was prepared; preparations had been laid broadly across many points. Every plan had been carefully considered and every action cautiously carried out, and the Cui Family had never been ostentatious about any of it. They had every confidence in a clean, decisive success.

In pursuit of that stirring dream — the transformation of a household into a dynasty — the Cui Family’s preparations had long since surpassed even those of Prince Yu.

Ten years ago, they had sent generous gifts to Liu Chongxin, engineering the appointment of Cui Yanlai as Military Governor of Qingzhou — though their original aim had been the Military Governorship of Jizhou, which had proved beyond their reach at the time.

And so they had settled for the next best option, securing Qingzhou, which bordered Jizhou directly. Cui Yanlai had spent a decade consolidating his grip on Qingzhou’s military and civil administration.

Ten years later, the disintegration of Great Chu had become unstoppable, and the Cui Family had finally taken this step.

—

At the Sanyue River Pavilion.

Cui Qing looked at Cui Tai, whose expression was grave. After a long silence, Cui Qing said, “If we can’t break through the carriage depot, set it aside for now. Tomorrow’s operation is what matters most. As long as we take Jizhou, the situation will press Li Chi to the table whether he wants to come or not.”

Cui Tai nodded. “That’s all we can do.”

Cui Qing asked, “No unexpected complications tomorrow, surely.”

“None.”

Cui Tai said, “We have spent years on this. Every contingency has been considered a hundred times over. No one in this city could possibly know what our true plan is.”

He exhaled slowly, then looked at Cui Qing. “The family’s future rests on tomorrow.”

Cui Qing went to the window and looked out. The streets below were still full of people going about their business. The Qingzhou army had encircled Jizhou, but the city’s residents still believed the walls would hold. And even if they didn’t — even if Jizhou changed hands — surely a conquering Qingzhou army wouldn’t turn on common people.

“Look at them,” he said. “They have no say in what comes next. That is what ordinary people are — they can only passively accept whoever becomes their master. They will never hold their own fate in their hands.”

He turned back to Cui Tai. “If tomorrow’s great matter succeeds, these people will become the Cui Family’s subjects. They may be frightened at first, but it will pass quickly. A few years from now, they’ll be proud — because they were the Cui Family’s earliest subjects, and they’ll think themselves superior for it.”

Cui Tai exhaled heavily as well. Even a man of his nature could not easily ease this kind of tension. He drew one slow breath after another, and it did little good.

“I’ll go to the granary tonight.”

Cui Qing said to Cui Tai, “Everything else — I leave in your hands.”

Cui Tai nodded. “The granary is critical. Take care.”

Cui Qing suddenly burst into laughter — perhaps because the tension had reached its limit and laughter was the only release.

“You just said it yourself: no one can know our true plan. My going to the granary is only to settle the nerves of our people. Tomorrow we stand together at the city gate and welcome the army in!”

He crossed to Cui Tai’s side and looked him in the eyes. “All for the family.”

Cui Tai nodded firmly. “All for the family.”

There are things in this world that no human force can stop — the turning of sun and moon, the alternation of light and dark. Night must always come. It cannot be held back.

Cui Qing arrived at the granary and looked out over the men gathered before him, his expression severe.

“We may all die tomorrow. But even if every last one of us falls, the great matter cannot be stopped — so in the end, the victory is ours. I do not fear death. Neither should any of you.”

“Perhaps we will not live to see the success with our own eyes. But our descendants will. Our children will receive the greatest reward imaginable for our deaths. Ten thousand li of Chu’s rivers and mountains — they will ultimately bear the name Cui.”

He lifted a wine bowl from the table with both hands. “Drink with me, every one of you. Tomorrow we hold life and death as nothing — for the Cui Family’s future, for the day when a household becomes a dynasty. Drink!”

“Drink!”

Every man drained his bowl.

Their faces, every last one, were solemn — some almost ceremonial. The resolve in their eyes was the resolve of men who intended to make the name Cui into the name of an imperial house, a family into the family of emperors.

“Thirteen provinces of the realm, the great central plain — these belong to whoever has both virtue and the strength to hold them.”

Cui Qing raised one hand high. “To the success of our great cause!”

“To the success of our great cause!”

The assembled men echoed him in a low roar, like a pack of beasts releasing the savage resolve of men who know they will soon be fighting for their lives.

—

And at that same moment, on a rooftop roughly two li from the granary, Yu Jiuling was crouching in place, watching Li Chi’s activities with an expression of pure bewilderment.

When they had set out, he had noticed Li Chi carrying a sizable bundle on his back. He had assumed it was weapons prepared for the operation, or some other useful equipment.

He had not expected Li Chi to produce from that bundle a copper basin, a jug of water, and meat that had apparently been pre-sliced at some earlier point. The copper basin was now sitting atop someone’s chimney, borrowing the heat from their cooking fire — and it seemed Li Chi was actually preparing to have a hotpot meal on this rooftop.

“This… isn’t quite right, is it?” Yu Jiuling asked.

Li Chi nodded. “It really isn’t ideal. The conditions are limited — it won’t be as comfortable as a proper copper pot setup. Having to eat hotpot while depending on strangers’ goodwill is indeed a bit pitiful.”

Yu Jiuling looked at Zhuang Wudi, his expression conveying a clear message: *Brother Zhuang, why aren’t you saying something? Li Chi is being completely cavalier about this — on the eve of a major battle, cooking hotpot on someone else’s chimney?*

Zhuang Wudi looked back at Yu Jiuling, understood what his younger companion was getting at, and turned to Li Chi. “Pass me a bowl.”

Yu Jiuling: “……”

And it had to be said — the chimney drew well, the heat was substantial, and the water was boiling before long. The three of them crouched on someone’s rooftop around the chimney, bowls in hand, waiting for the meat in the pot to cook through.

Yu Jiuling asked Li Chi, “Tomorrow — will something major happen?”

“Yes.”

“Our opponents must be in a state of tension right now, making their final preparations. And we — we’re up here stealing someone’s fire to cook hotpot. I am ashamed of your behavior today.”

Li Chi held up a slice of meat and examined it by moonlight. “This is ready.”

Yu Jiuling, who had been about to launch into a lengthy moral argument, immediately extended his chopsticks into the copper basin. “Wonderful. That meat looks good — where did you buy it?”

Li Chi said, “That butcher’s stall at the street corner.”

Zhuang Wudi looked from Li Chi to Yu Jiuling, wondering to himself when exactly he had changed.

“Found anything useful?” Li Chi said with a smile.

Yu Jiuling nodded. “Tonight, around the granary — not even the city patrol officers are anywhere to be seen. Which means…”

Li Chi smiled. “Which means the places the Cui Family controls aren’t limited to just one granary.”

Yu Jiuling: “This dipping sauce is excellent. Which stall?”

Li Chi smiled. “The Cui Family’s shop.”

Yu Jiuling: “That…”

Li Chi said, “They know how to run a business. They even threw in a few pickled garlic heads for free.”

Yu Jiuling: “Not bad at all.”

Zhuang Wudi: “Give me one.”

—