In front of the civil and military officials, whatever Li Chi said, Xiahou Zuo would not oppose — it would be carried out. Because Li Chi was the Prince, master of Jizhou, and Xiahou Zuo had to uphold his authority.
Now that the room had no outsiders, Xiahou Zuo had certain things he felt compelled to say.
“A move this large — I’m worried…”
Xiahou Zuo glanced at Li Chi, concern in his eyes.
“The Youzhou army — a portion of it was already drawn from Luo Jing’s old forces. The civil officials, most of them have deep roots in Youzhou.”
Xiahou Zuo said: “If you move against too many people at once, I’m afraid…”
Li Chi said: “I understand what you mean. The picture isn’t clear yet. We’ll need to watch and see.”
Xiahou Zuo said: “But the action has already begun. The people outside — in their hearts, there will be at least some resentment. And those who were bribed — the great majority of them may not even know yet what they were bribed *for*. Perhaps those who do know are few.”
He said to Li Chi: “Before the Zhou dynasty, the feudal lords fought constantly, wars without end. When the Wei King was at his weakest, seven or eight out of ten of his subordinates were secretly corresponding with his enemies. Yet somehow, against all expectation, the Wei King defeated them in spite of the odds.”
Li Chi knew this story.
After the Wei King defeated his enemies, a search of the enemy camp turned up a great many letters — enough to fill an entire basket.
These letters were all evidence of his subordinates communicating with the enemy.
But because so many were implicated, to punish them all would be to render the great victory meaningless, and to destroy his own foundations from within.
So the Wei King chose to endure. He publicly burned all the letters. His subjects came to respect him all the more for it.
Li Chi shook his head: “The Wei King’s circumstances were not the same as mine.”
He paced across the room as he spoke: “At the time, though the Wei King had won a great victory, he had suffered heavy losses — and those implicated were mostly drawn from powerful clans. The Wei King could not do without the support of those clans.”
He looked at Xiahou Zuo: “If I don’t dig this out now, *I* will truly end up being the Wei King someday.”
He walked to the doorway and looked out at those people whispering among themselves. After a pause, he said: “If I were to follow the Wei King’s example — if I stood before them and said that all your offenses will be forgiven — they would certainly shower me with gratitude.”
“But in their hearts, they would also understand: it is I who cannot do without them, not that I am truly merciful.”
“If the Wei King had had the opportunity at the time…”
Li Chi looked back at Xiahou Zuo: “Xiahou — do you think the Wei King couldn’t bring himself to act?”
He said in a somewhat heavy tone: “There is one thing you said that is right — those who were bribed, the great majority may not yet know why they were bribed.”
“That is precisely why I don’t want to kill so many. Only remove them from their posts and send them away. If I imagine for a moment — if the Wei King had been in my position, he would have put a great many to death by now.”
Xiahou Zuo fell silent.
Xiahou Yili tugged at Xiahou Zuo’s sleeve — saying nothing, but meaning: *brother, just listen to Li Chi.*
Li Chi said: “Youzhou is a vital position, connected to all the border passes of the northern frontier. If the officials within Youzhou city were to scheme in secret and threaten the northern frontier as leverage — what would I do then?”
“Have no choice but to submit?”
Li Chi let out a slow breath and continued: “My struggle against the Mountain River Seal may not end now. It will likely go on for a long time. This is a massive malignant growth — or rather, countless malignant growths.”
“They will keep drawing in new members continuously. Each member may have enough influence to shape local governance across counties and prefectures.”
Li Chi said: “Come the day when I issue a decree — and those below in name say they’ll carry it out, but turn around and run to ask the Mountain River Seal’s sect master what to do instead…”
Li Chi let out a slow exhale.
“Right now we’re like a tree just beginning to grow tall. There are insects boring into the trunk. Cutting them out will hurt — but cut them out, and the tree will grow strong.”
“Leave them in, and in time the tree may look enormous yet be riddled with rot — policy, commerce, even the military, all held in someone else’s grip…”
Li Chi looked at Xiahou Zuo again: “So I would rather act harshly now.”
Xiahou Zuo nodded: “I understand. What I was worried about before was — many of the prominent families in the city have ties to the Luo family. I was worried that when Luo Jing found out…”
Li Chi shook his head: “Luo Jing is far away in Yuzhou. The people in this city of Youzhou — would they really be able to appeal all the way to Yuzhou? And how would I give them that much time?”
“I’ll sweep Jizhou clean once. If once isn’t enough, twice. When I was on the road coming here, I was already thinking — maybe I won’t be able to fully clean it in my lifetime. Then let my descendants keep cleaning.”
At this point, the mood seemed to grow somewhat heavy.
But then Li Chi turned the conversation around.
He looked at Gao Xining: “It seems, for the sake of this great cause, we must marry soon and produce children without delay.”
Gao Xining: “Ugh!”
Li Chi said: “Be serious. This is a proper matter.”
Gao Xining’s face went red.
Xiahou Zuo sighed: “I fail to see how it’s entirely proper…”
Meanwhile, elsewhere. Yuzhou. Bowang Mountain.
Bowang Mountain lay one hundred and sixty *li* southwest of Yuzhou city. Its peaks were steep and its contours strange and unpredictable.
Most mountains follow a single ridgeline — but Bowang Mountain was shaped like a ring, its encircling peaks enclosing several smaller mountains within.
More than two hundred years ago, the founding emperor of Chu, on his first visit to this place, had once remarked that Bowang Mountain did not resemble a mountain so much as a celestial’s dice cup — as if a celestial being had taken all of heaven and earth as a chessboard and the mountains and rivers as pieces.
Within Bowang Mountain stood a manor — or more precisely, a fortress within the mountains.
Over two hundred years ago, when the Chu founding emperor visited this place, a powerful minister in his retinue was a member of the Mountain River Seal. Finding the location extraordinary — ideal for concealment, with a sense of interlocking layers — he secretly ordered the construction of a manor here. Over two hundred years of continuous repair and reinforcement, this place had grown into a mountain fortress capable of sheltering a hundred thousand troops.
The mountain stronghold built by the False Emperor in Jie Shi Province could not hold a candle to this fortress — it was as a firefly to the full moon.
At the heights of the mountain city, a platform had been built — several hundred paces across. Standing here, you could look down over the surrounding mountains.
A man who appeared to be in his mid-forties stood there. He wore a simple, ancient-style long robe — not the style customary to people of Chu, but the wide-sleeved, broad-gowned fashion of the Zhou era. Standing at these heights among the mountains, he had something of the bearing of an immortal.
A young man in black came striding over quickly. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a nimble waist — one glance at his build told you he was someone who had trained in martial arts.
The young man came quickly to stand behind the middle-aged man and dropped to one knee: “Sect Master, Jizhou has slipped out of control.”
The middle-aged man’s face appeared gentle and temperate — not a trace of menace in his features, like an ancient piece of jade that had been long and carefully nurtured.
A person’s bearing is closely tied to identity and status. It was genuinely difficult for common people to carry themselves with this kind of presence.
To speak of his appearance — he was not remarkably handsome. It was an ordinary face. Yet somehow, this man of ordinary countenance carried an imposing quality that rose as tall as the surrounding peaks.
“Out of control? Mei Wujiu?”
The Sect Master did not turn around. He asked in a quiet voice.
The young man bowed: “In reply to Sect Master — not only Mei Wujiu. Lü Wuman as well. Both have vanished simultaneously. Your subordinate has investigated and believes they may have fled into Yanzhou.”
The Sect Master was silent for a moment, then said: “The lands north of the Jiang River — I once said they were to be left in the control of the Four Void. You are young, yet you are first among the Four Void.”
The young man changed his posture to kneel on both knees, pressing his forehead to the ground: “Your subordinate has already resolved to go to Jizhou as quickly as possible and rectify matters.”
“Your subordinate should by rights offer himself for punishment and acknowledge his fault — but fears that entering Jizhou with a bodily deficiency would arouse suspicion, and would make action inconvenient. So your subordinate respectfully requests that Sect Master grant permission: allow your subordinate to return from Jizhou first, and then sever his own arm.”
The Sect Master gave a nod: “Granted.”
The young man kowtowed again.
The Sect Master said in an unhurried tone: “North of the Jiang River — the arrangements amount to nothing. The people placed there — three out of three, gone. Zhuge Wutu, you have truly disappointed me.”
The young man knelt and kowtowed repeatedly: “It was all due to your subordinate’s poor arrangements. Your subordinate dares offer no defense.”
The Sect Master said: “Go handle the Jizhou matter first. If it is settled — and if you re-establish covert agents around Prince Ning Li Chi — I will hold this failure in abeyance for now. As for the other matter…”
He looked back at Zhuge Wutu: “The one who fled south of the Jiang River — I will handle that one for you.”
Zhuge Wutu’s shoulders gave the faintest tremor. He kowtowed once more: “Your subordinate receives the order.”
The Sect Master gave a wave of his hand: “When rivers and mountains are wind-tossed and rain-battered, for the common people of the realm, it is a calamity.”
“But when rivers and mountains are wind-tossed and rain-battered — for those of the Mountain River Seal, it is an opportunity that cannot be begged for. Since the Zhou dynasty, the founding Sect Masters moved across the realm with sleeves full of schemes. In the centuries that followed, every subsequent Sect Master was merely a guardian of what had been built.”
“Then came the fall of Zhou, the rise of Chu — and once more a Mountain River Seal Sect Master laid out a scheme for the realm, with all living people in the palm of his hand. After that — another few hundred years of quietude.”
He turned around, looking once more at Zhuge Wutu: “In a thousand years, I am the third Sect Master to encounter an age of chaos. How blessed am I to have met such a tide of fate — out of thirty-odd generations of Sect Masters, only three have had such fortune…”
He turned back, looking again at the mountains spread before him.
“Should any of you ruin my grand design for the realm, you know — how very displeased I would be.”
Zhuge Wutu shuddered with fear and kowtowed deeply: “Your subordinate will make haste to Jizhou and see to everything that has fallen out of order.”
“Go.”
The Sect Master said: “The Mountain River Seal does not lack for talent. That you rose to be first among the Four Void is proof enough of your ability. I need say nothing more.”
“Yes!”
Zhuge Wutu rose, bowed once more, then turned and strode quickly away.
The Sect Master stood looking at the distant mountains ringed around him. After a moment of silence he murmured to himself: “So in the end, I underestimated the greed of men — and underestimated that small Li Chi…”
“The Mountain River Seal has existed for a thousand years, playing upon human greed, and has itself been wounded by greed countless times over. How can it be broken?”
He murmured a few times more, then shook his head helplessly.
He played upon human desire to manipulate hearts and minds — yet he himself had no means to break that hold. The most potent poison beneath heaven had no antidote.
Darkness descended, shrouding the mountains.
The Sect Master turned and returned to the mountain city. On the walls, soldiers in red armor stood like a forest.
Jing Province. Jinmen City.
In the ancestral estate of the Changsun family, Changsun Wuyou knelt there, kowtowing again and again.
The elders of the Changsun family sat in the main hall, looking at this young member of the family whose expression was resolute. They were all silent.
“Wuyou.”
The head of the Changsun family, Changsun Hao, looked at her and said: “You should understand how important your choice is. If the Changsun family bets everything alongside you, we face not only Prince Ning of Jizhou — but the Mountain River Seal as well.”
Changsun Hao said: “I know your brilliance, know your abilities, know the ambitions that far surpass any man’s… but to stake the entire family — that is too great and too heavy a burden.”
Changsun Wuyou said: “Your granddaughter understands. Your granddaughter wishes to make this wager.”
Changsun Hao exhaled heavily: “What are your odds of success?”
Changsun Wuyou thought for a moment, then answered: “Three parts.”
Changsun Hao was taken aback: “Only three parts?”
Changsun Wuyou said: “The Mountain River Seal wants to control the realm — and doesn’t have five parts’ confidence either.”
Changsun Hao looked to the elders beside him. Those elders all gave nods. One of them said: “The Mountain River Seal has exploited our Changsun family for too many years. Now that chaos has come, it is time to settle accounts.”
That elder rose and said: “The founding Duke of the great Dachu dynasty — our ancestor, Grand General Changsun Zhan, once said: in the veins of every Changsun, the blood that flows is the blood of war.”
Changsun Wuyou kowtowed deeply: “This granddaughter is grateful to the Elder!”
……
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