As the army continued its march, one question occupied Li Chi’s mind.

Not how to take Dongye City—but why Tang Pidi had sent him to attack Dongye City at all.

They sounded like the same question. They were not.

First, eliminate one possibility: Old Tang obviously wasn’t trying to get rid of him.

That left only one conclusion: Old Tang believed taking Dongye City wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

Dongye City’s position was actually quite distinctive geographically.

From here, one could monitor Qingzhou to the southeast and keep watch on Yanzhou to the northeast.

If Dongye City were taken and garrisoned, any movements out of Qingzhou would be visible. If Qingzhou’s forces tried to advance toward Jizhou through here, Dongye City would stand like a blocking stone in the road.

Li Chi also knew: Old Tang’s current goal was not to push south or attack anywhere else in a hurry.

What Old Tang wanted was to make Jizhou completely, utterly stable—footing secured before launching any punch with full force.

To the northwest, Liangzhou City stood firm, with a commander of the era like Dantai Qi inside. Supplement that with a garrisoned force, and the northwest would be ironclad.

To the north, Xiahou Zuo. To the south, Luo Jing.

The only unsettled direction was Jizhou’s eastern border and especially the southeast.

Li Chi’s eyes brightened.

Tang Pidi had previously said that keeping Elder Brother Zhuang in the east for now was very necessary.

So could Old Tang be planning to take Dongye City and station Zhuang Wudi there with troops?

If that were the case, Jizhou would be secure on all four sides.

With that thought, Li Chi felt a thread of direction begin to take shape.

He suddenly ordered the army to halt, and sent word to the vanguard for Dantai Yajing to stop.

About half a day later, both Dantai Yajing from the vanguard and Yu Jiuling from the rear arrived. The three of them gathered under a large tree to confer.

Li Chi said, “I’ve been turning over Old Tang’s exact words. He said travel one month each way, and gave me fifteen days to take Dongye City.”

He asked, “What did Old Tang mean by that?”

Dantai Yajing said, “He meant he doesn’t see it as a problem.”

Yu Jiuling said, “I actually think it’s just Old Tang’s usual attitude—he sees nothing as a problem.”

Li Chi said, “It was Old Tang who said it. Does that seem reasonable to you?”

Dantai Yajing and Yu Jiuling looked at each other, then nodded in unison. “Reasonable.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Someone like Old Tang—I’d find it reasonable no matter how outrageous his boast. I’d even think: with a bit more effort, he could probably make it even bigger.”

Li Chi said, “And if someone else said it—would it be reasonable?”

Yu Jiuling said, “Commander, if you said it, it’d be reasonable too.”

Dantai Yajing said, “That was flattery with quick enough reflexes to impress.”

Yu Jiuling said, “So what was your first instinct?”

Dantai Yajing thought: my first instinct was *aside from Old Tang being that theatrical, anyone else saying it would be absolutely nothing*…

Good thing he was slow with words. Yu Jiuling would have said it aloud already.

Li Chi said, “So—setting aside Old Tang and me, if anyone else said fifteen days to take Dongye City, would that be reasonable?”

Yu Jiuling said, “Reasonable? You’d burst your mouth trying to blow a boast that big. For Old Tang and you—reasonable. For anyone else—it’s arrogance. Pure, towering arrogance.”

Li Chi said, “But that’s exactly what Old Tang told me. So I think he wants us to be arrogant… I just didn’t understand it at first.”

He smiled. “That’s why I called you both here. I want to rearrange the plan.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Whatever you say, Commander.”

Li Chi said, “Merge the rear into the main body—I’ll lead them personally. Ninth younger sibling, you go to the vanguard with Dantai.”

Yu Jiuling said mournfully, “So I’ve been demoted?”

Li Chi said, “No—you have something more important to do. From now on, go and buy drums, gongs—whatever you can find, the more the better.”

Yu Jiuling asked curiously, “Commander, what for?”

Li Chi said, “Beat the drums, sound the gongs. Make an announcement as you march—and make it as outrageous as possible.”

He instructed Yu Jiuling, “Also buy red cloth. Have the vanguard soldiers dress themselves up with red banners. Have them march along banging drums and gongs, declaring that the true Emperor of Men has come to punish the false one, and demanding the imposter crawl out and kowtow—something like that. That’s the general idea. Fill in the rest yourself. I trust your head.”

Yu Jiuling said, “So—whether or not we can actually win, we can’t lose on presence…”

Dantai Yajing had already caught on, his eyes beginning to gleam.

“Brilliant,” he said. “Bring Little Zhang Zhenren to the vanguard too.”

Li Chi smiled. “Good.”

He looked at Yu Jiuling. “Get to it quickly. Bring whatever you can find. If you can’t find red, get green. Can’t find green, get yellow…”

Yu Jiuling thumped his chest. “That I’m best at!”

Over the next few days, Yu Jiuling and Zhang Yuxu distributed men throughout the vanguard to purchase supplies.

Where they found drum-and-gong troupes, they hired them on the spot to march at the front and make as much noise as possible.

Yu Jiuling decided it still wasn’t outrageous enough—and Li Chi had said to go as far as possible.

So when they passed through a county town, he acquired several dozen large carts and hired several dozen women from the pleasure houses.

The carts led the procession. The women rode aboard, singing and dancing. The lyrics had been revised by Yu Jiuling.

The general message: the true Emperor of Men had heard there was a false Emperor of Men in Jieshi Prefecture, and had come with the armies of heaven to bring justice.

They were only a few days from Jieshi Prefecture by now, and news spread quickly.

It didn’t take long before word reached Chang Xing inside Dongye City.

“The audacity,” Chang Xing murmured, frowning slightly as his subordinates reported. Li Chi—this brazen Li Chi.

He knew of Li Chi, of course. How else could he have leveraged the Emperor of Men legend so effectively?

“He’s come prepared,” Chang Xing said, turning to his subordinate, one of his most capable commanders—a rebel general named Yin Rong.

“Yin Rong, send people to find out how many troops Li Chi has brought. He’s making this kind of noise—he may have marched Jizhou’s entire army here. And in winter, the worst time for warfare. That’s strange.”

Yin Rong bowed. “I’ll dispatch people immediately.”

At that moment, someone entered from outside at a quick step.

This was another of Chang Xing’s capable commanders, a man named Xiao Mao.

“Your Highness!”

Xiao Mao entered fast, footsteps urgent—yet his expression, rather than alarmed, carried a hint of delight.

Chang Xing asked, “Why have you returned?”

Xiao Mao had been sent out with a cavalry force to patrol the surrounding areas. He was a man of considerable martial ability, and a former leader among the outlaws—cold and ruthless.

“Scouts brought in word, so I hurried back to report to Your Highness.”

“The scouts have determined,” Xiao Mao said, “that despite appearances, Li Chi has brought only a little over ten thousand troops.”

“Over ten thousand?”

Chang Xing’s expression said: I don’t believe it.

This defied all common sense. No matter how arrogant Li Chi was, he would never come to attack Jieshi Prefecture with only ten thousand troops.

Everyone knew Jieshi Prefecture had at least a hundred and fifty thousand. And ten thousand dared to come?

Were these ten thousand soldiers born brave?

Or had they all been cursed into fearlessness?

“It’s truly only ten thousand or so,” Xiao Mao said. “The vanguard at most three thousand. The main body behind it—at most ten thousand.”

He looked at Chang Xing. “A show of noise. All bluster.”

Chang Xing waved a hand. “Impossible.”

He rose and began pacing the hall in thought.

After a long pause, Chang Xing turned back to his two capable subordinates.

“I’ve never dealt with Li Chi directly, but I know his reputation—cunning and unpredictable, extraordinarily skilled in command. He would never act so rashly unless he meant to.”

“Meant to?” Yin Rong said. “Could he be showing us only ten thousand deliberately—hiding his real army in the rear, hoping to draw us out of Dongye City to fight in the open?”

Chang Xing nodded. “In all likelihood, yes. He knows Dongye City won’t fall easily in a direct assault—he’d take heavy losses. So he’s trying to lure us out.”

He continued pacing. “Order the entire army to stand ready. No one is to leave the city without my command.”

He looked at Xiao Mao. “Since you’ve returned, take your troops and establish a defensive perimeter outside the walls.”

Xiao Mao bowed. “Understood.”

Chang Xing said, “He’s come from far away—his supply lines are strained. If I simply hold and refuse to engage, he won’t last long.”

He gave a cold laugh. “Even if he’s craftier than a fox, if his actual strength is insufficient—what tricks can he play?”

—

Five days later.

Li Chi’s army was within thirty li of Dongye City. Not once along the way had Chang Xing’s forces come out to intercept them.

The entire march had gone without obstruction. Every nearby city and county had closed its gates and stood along the walls, watching Li Chi’s column pass.

The army set up camp, built their quarters. Li Chi stood on a rise, lifting his telescope toward Dongye City.

Dongye Mountain was not particularly imposing. Long ago—many generations back—Dongye City had stood on this very hillside.

The reason was rain. The area received abundant rainfall, the terrain was crisscrossed with waterways, and every summer brought flooding of one degree or another, endlessly and without fail.

So in ancient times, the city had been built at mid-elevation, expanding slowly across the centuries—from a settlement of a few thousand to its present scale.

Inside Dongye City: over ten thousand civilians. And over ten thousand rebel soldiers.

“Truly not easy to attack,” Li Chi muttered to himself.

As a mountain city, it had never had conventional walls or gates—only wooden gates and palisades on the approach paths, more like a mountain stronghold than a city.

The stone walls Chang Xing had built encircling Dongye City’s outer perimeter now looked as solid as a natural extension of the mountain itself. Dongye City backed into the mountain, so the rear half needed no walls at all.

“Commander.”

Yu Jiuling came running from the front, barely containing his excitement. “Commander—just as you guessed! Our whole drum-and-gong procession coming in like this made Chang Xing think we were trying to lure him out for an open engagement. So nothing blocked us the whole way. He’s buttoned up tight—won’t come out.”

Li Chi smiled. “Most sane people would figure that only madmen and fools would come at Dongye City with ten thousand troops.”

And that was simply human nature: anyone’s first instinct would be that Li Chi was baiting them. Somewhere behind him, a powerful force was waiting—the moment Dongye City’s army stepped out, it would be set upon.

“Commander, what do we do now?”

Li Chi said, “Setting up camp isn’t your concern—Dantai will handle that. Starting today, go to the foot of Dongye Mountain every day and hurl insults.”

Yu Jiuling immediately broke into a grin.

This kind of lowdown, swagger-soaked work was his specialty and his delight.

“Leave it to me, Commander. If I don’t berate Chang Xing into illness, I won’t come back.”

He spun around and was gone.

Li Chi looked at Dantai Yajing. “Set up the camp as planned. Deploy the troops for watch.”

Dantai Yajing nodded. “Don’t worry. The pits you told me to dig—I’ll dig them properly.”

Li Chi raised his telescope again. “Now it’s just a matter of how long Chang Xing can hold out.”

Dantai Yajing said, “Ordinary people—three days at most against Ninth younger sibling. Even a man above average couldn’t hold out past five days.”

Just then, they saw soldiers carrying a bed running past at a trot.

Li Chi called out, “Where are you all going with that?”

The soldiers answered, “General Yu said he wants to do his shouting lying down.”