The whole of autumn passed in an atmosphere of relative ease. No foreign enemies, no pressing worries, no disturbances of any kind.

After the autumn grain was brought in, even the people of Jizhou City who had lived in grinding poverty for years felt the ease of it.

For the first time, they did not need to fret over how to endure the hard winter ahead — at the very least, hunger was no longer a worry.

Li Chi’s Ning Army not only distributed grain, but also distributed winter padded coats and quilted bedding to the people.

Beyond that, every able-bodied young man selected for the militia received a monthly stipend.

Thanks to Jizhou’s brief period of stability, even the world of commerce began to recover.

Li Chi was good to the common people, and the common people naturally held him dear — so everyone who went outside the city became a scout for the Ning Army.

To guard against the possibility of troops being dispatched from Yuzhou, Li Chi stationed permanent scouts across several county seats and major market towns two hundred li south of Jizhou, spread across a broad front.

Yet Li Chi was not worried. By his reckoning, this winter would pass in peace.

Even if Yuzhou already knew that Jizhou City’s military strength was thin, they would not move troops against Jizhou in winter.

Yuzhou’s own circumstances were no better. Expending vast quantities of money and provisions in winter to attack Jizhou would be entirely unprofitable.

“Next summer.”

Li Chi murmured to himself in front of the map.

This was the Military Governor’s residence, and the map on the wall was comprehensive — a witness, in its way, that had already outlasted two military governors.

This enormous map had originally belonged to Zeng Ling, the former Jizhou Military Governor. After Zeng Ling died in battle, it became Pan Nuo’s. Now it hung before Li Chi.

Li Chi withdrew his gaze from the map and turned to pick up his hot tea for a sip.

Tang Pidi, reclining in a rocking chair nearby, said: “Jizhou winters are harsh. The cold is actually a good thing.”

It was precisely because Jizhou winters were so brutal that Yuzhou troops would not come — there was nothing along the entire route to resupply them. In the frozen wilds of winter there was nothing but dead grass, and if a heavy snow came even the grass would be buried.

To have Yuzhou troops haul vast supplies of their own to attack Jizhou City, the person commanding Yuzhou’s side would have to be mad.

It was already nearly early winter. The fire brazier inside the room had been lit, and on top of it dates were roasting, filling the room with a rich, mellow fragrance.

After sitting down, Li Chi said: “There’s also been no news from the northern frontier. This year is strange — every year at harvest time the Black Wu people come raiding south, yet this year they’ve been unusually quiet.”

Tang Pidi asked: “Xiahou hasn’t written to you about it?”

Li Chi said: “His letter doesn’t explain it either. Even he hasn’t worked out what’s going on — only that it feels wrong.”

Tang Pidi said: “Still, it’s a good thing.”

He was sitting here in relative leisure because training troops was not a particularly taxing challenge for him — it simply did not occupy his every waking hour.

Sometimes talent was an existence others could only envy. What a talented man accomplished with three parts of effort surpassed what another person achieved with ten. And what made it more enviable still: the talented man giving three parts of effort was already doing that task to the absolute limit of what it could yield. You might think he was holding back, but even if he gave four parts, the extra part would simply be wasted.

Whereas an ordinary person spending ten full parts on the same task still could not achieve perfection.

“Today is a fine day.”

Tang Pidi said: “Let’s have hotpot.”

Li Chi smiled: “All right — I’ll have Aunt Wu prepare it.”

Aunt Wu and the others had already returned from Yanshan to Jizhou, and everyone was very happy — this was, after all, the home they knew.

Though they all understood that the Ning Army’s tenure in Jizhou was one and a half years, that had nothing to do with happiness.

You could not refuse to be happy simply because happiness had a time limit. Every happiness in this life had a time limit — only grief did not.

One had never heard of anyone who was happy for a lifetime, but one had seen with one’s own eyes those who grieved for one.

“I intend to dispatch teams outward.”

Tang Pidi looked at Li Chi, pointed at the candied garlic on the table in front of Li Chi. Li Chi didn’t hand it across — instead he peeled them one by one into a small bowl, and only when he was done pushed the bowl over.

Li Chi said: “Go on.”

Tang Pidi said: “The recruitment pool from Jizhou City itself has a ceiling — five thousand at most, and after weeding out the unfit, the final tally of new soldiers will be four thousand.”

He was plainly dissatisfied with four thousand troops.

“With the past year of no fighting in Jizhou, a good number of displaced refugees have found their way home as well, and recovery is beginning in each prefecture and county.”

Tang Pidi said: “We’ll send teams out to recruit new soldiers. Accept only those between sixteen and thirty years old. Pay at double the standard government garrison soldier rate, but anyone who fails training will be sent home.”

Li Chi nodded: “As you see fit.”

Tang Pidi said: “It will require substantial money.”

Li Chi said: “As if the money is mine to manage…”

Tang Pidi said flatly: “You still need to know.”

Li Chi laughed: “Spending money — you all handle that. Finding money — I’ll figure it out.”

Just then, Yu Jiuling came in from outside, rubbing his hands together as he walked: “It’s really come on early this year, cold-wise — it’s snowing outside.”

Li Chi and the others immediately rose and went to the doorway. Before they had noticed, fine scattered snowflakes had begun to fall.

“Winter doesn’t start until tomorrow, and the snow is early this year.”

Li Chi watched the snow, and in short order the fine flakes became large drifting ones. In the moonlit night, the snow scene had a kind of beauty.

Just then, the proprietress of the Shen Medical Hall, Shen Ruzhao, arrived — walking through the heavy snow, wrapped in a great cloak already turned white by the snowflakes.

Li Chi reached for an umbrella from inside the doorway and went out to meet her. Shen Ruzhao gave him a slight smile and nod in greeting.

“What brings Madam Shen by so late?”

Li Chi asked.

Shen Ruzhao came inside and removed her cloak. The elegant lines of her figure were revealed by the movement. As for looks, she was not exactly a renowned beauty — there was something slightly too spirited about her features — but that shoulder-length hair gave her an added touch of allure.

She was a woman whose bearing alone could hold anyone spellbound, and that bearing came in no small part from her self-possession.

“I had intended to come several days earlier, but there were still some unclear items in the accounts, so I calculated everything through one more time.”

Gao Xining made space for Shen Ruzhao and poured her a cup of hot tea. Shen Ruzhao was very fond of this young woman, and drew her in with an arm around her shoulder: “Let me sit beside you.”

That seat happened to be next to Li Chi. Li Chi moved of his own accord and sat down on Tang Pidi’s side instead.

“Here are the accounts.”

Shen Ruzhao passed a ledger to Li Chi: “During the period when you were away from Jizhou, the Shen Medical Hall’s earnings — there is roughly one hundred and ten thousand taels owed to you.”

Li Chi was taken aback: “Owed?”

Shen Ruzhao said: “When I first came to Jizhou we agreed that the monthly earnings would be shared with you.”

Li Chi said: “But we were not in Jizhou all that time — we cannot accept this money.”

Shen Ruzhao said: “How it is spent is for you to decide. Whether it is accepted is for me to decide. Every commitment I make, I carry out according to the terms. As long as the Shen Medical Hall in Jizhou is open, this money will come. If it can only operate for one more day, the silver will be shared for one day. If it operates for fifty years, it will be shared for fifty years.”

Li Chi sighed: “I truly am not worthy of this.”

Shen Ruzhao smiled: “If you truly feel unworthy, may I put forward a condition?”

Li Chi said: “Please speak freely.”

Shen Ruzhao said: “All military medical supplies for the Ning Army in future are to be purchased from my Shen Medical Hall.”

Li Chi immediately nodded: “That goes without saying.”

He handed the ledger back to Shen Ruzhao: “No need to look at the accounts. The one hundred and ten thousand taels Madam Shen mentioned need not be sent over — I will purchase one hundred and ten thousand taels’ worth of military medical supplies.”

Shen Ruzhao made a sound of assent, took back the ledger, and said: “After I return, I will have people begin stockpiling medicines. Winter has come — medicinal materials will be somewhat scarce. It should take roughly a month.”

Li Chi said: “No hurry.”

“That concludes the Jizhou business.”

Shen Ruzhao said: “Now let me speak of some other business I have in mind.”

Li Chi asked: “What does Madam Shen have in mind?”

Shen Ruzhao said: “You know that I am a merchant. A merchant’s aim is profit. In present-day Jizhou there is not much business to be done — the common people have little spare money — so if I want to earn more, I cannot keep my sights on the common people. I must set them on someone like you.”

She said, quite seriously: “I have spare money in hand, and I wish to place it with you — to let money make money.”

Li Chi replied: “But I have no business to speak of here, and besides, the army won’t be in Jizhou very long.”

Shen Ruzhao said: “Merchants keep their eyes on where money can be made at every moment, and their minds on how to make it at every moment.”

She looked at Li Chi: “You want to expand your army — are you short of money?”

Li Chi answered: “Yes.”

Shen Ruzhao asked again: “A hundred thousand taels of silver — how many soldiers can it outfit?”

Li Chi looked at Tang Pidi. Tang Pidi answered: “For infantry, fully equipped with weapons, armor, and protective gear — a hundred thousand taels can outfit thirty to forty thousand men. If you are economical, perhaps fifty thousand.”

Tang Pidi paused, then continued: “If the equipment is like that of rebel rabble — a hundred thousand taels, give each man five taels as a bounty, and you can buy yourself two hundred thousand disorganized rabble.”

Shen Ruzhao nodded: “Then let us calculate based on thirty-some thousand. Before I came, I looked into your Ning Army’s structure.”

She looked at Li Chi and asked: “One army is approximately twelve thousand men — is that right?”

Li Chi answered: “Correct.”

Shen Ruzhao said: “My hundred thousand taels can outfit three armies — is that right?”

Li Chi nodded again: “Correct.”

Shen Ruzhao said: “I will give you my whole fortune of a hundred thousand taels. You arm three armies, and wherever those three armies march, that is where my Shen Medical Hall’s business will follow.”

Li Chi said: “This…”

Shen Ruzhao asked: “Are you hesitating? Do you feel this puts you at a disadvantage?”

Li Chi said: “I feel it puts you at a disadvantage.”

Shen Ruzhao gave a quiet laugh: “I am a merchant. I never come out at a disadvantage.”

She glanced at the steaming hotpot and smiled: “I’ve been talking for so long — I’ve delayed your meal. The host still hasn’t picked up his chopsticks, so this uninvited guest can hardly take the first bite.”

Li Chi smiled and reached for his chopsticks: “Let’s eat.”

The next day. The training ground.

Tang Pidi sat up on the high platform watching the new soldiers training on the field. After a long, brooding silence, he turned to look at Li Chi, who was sitting beside him: “Shen Ruzhao’s hundred thousand taels — that must be more or less her entire fortune.”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement: “Roughly, I’d say.”

Tang Pidi said: “If you were her, could you bet your entire fortune on a young man with no name to his name?”

Li Chi thought it over carefully and at length, then shook his head: “Probably not.”

Tang Pidi said: “This woman is the most formidable of all.”

Li Chi said: “That is because we are formidable enough — she can see a promising future in us.”

Tang Pidi said: “Please take that back and let me be the one to say it.”

Li Chi let out a long breath: “We’re rich now…”

Tang Pidi said: “What does that have to do with you?”

Li Chi: “What…”

Tang Pidi said: “Last night the moment she finished speaking, I had already worked out exactly how to spend every last one of those hundred thousand taels.”

Li Chi asked: “All spent?”

Tang Pidi said: “Slightly short, actually.”

Li Chi stood up: “I’ll take my leave.”

And he turned and fled.

—