The Sang naval forces suffered devastating losses. At least half their remaining strength never made it back — roughly twenty thousand killed, another ten thousand or so taken alive.

The survivors scrambled back to their ships and put as much distance from shore as they could.

Those Sang soldiers who had escaped with their lives were forced to count themselves fortunate that they still had their ships.

They had arrived with eighty thousand soldiers. They had hammered this small city for days without breaking through. Total losses now exceeded half their original strength; fewer than forty thousand remained.

The ships, it seemed, were noticeably emptier.

“Your subordinate Guan Chongsheng pays respects to the Military Commissioner.”

Guan Chongsheng hurried forward to salute when he saw Xu Ji — not out of awe for the official’s robes of rank, but because this Commissioner had personally led his forces all the way from Jizhou, and that moved him deeply.

It was not a short journey by any measure — a march of several thousand li.

Guan Chongsheng could reason it out: the Commissioner had not waited for Prince Ning’s orders before coming. If he had, there would have been no way to arrive this quickly.

“Please, General Guan, rise.”

Xu Ji quickened his pace and helped Guan Chongsheng to his feet. “The General has endured tremendous hardship. The officers and soldiers have endured tremendous hardship.”

After exchanging a few words, Guan Chongsheng asked, “How shall the prisoners be handled?”

Xu Ji glanced toward the sea, then gave his orders: “Drive every prisoner to the shore and execute them. Let the Sang forces watch what becomes of their people.”

His subordinates acknowledged the command and herded the ten thousand or so prisoners to the shoreline. One by one they were kicked to the ground. Blade after blade fell. Not a single survivor was left.

On the ships, the Sang forces watched their people die. The wails and cries carried clearly even at that distance.

Bodies covered the small stretch of beach. Once the heads had been counted, they were stacked into a towering mound on the flat ground by the shore.

“If we had warships, we would have pursued them directly. Not one would have been allowed to escape.”

Xu Ji let out a long sigh — his eyes full of regret.

But he knew. For a very long time to come, the Central Plains would likely be unable to develop a powerful naval force.

For this Central Plains was ravaged and exhausted. Once Prince Ning unified the realm, the first task would be restoring prosperity to the people.

That was not something ten or eight years could accomplish. For the Central Plains to flourish again would require a century.

And for a long stretch of time ahead, the Black Wu would continue to press southward, again and again.

Before the Central Plains’ age of chaos ended, they would seek to seize this splendid realm. Even after Prince Ning took the throne, they would see a newly founded dynasty as not yet firmly rooted — ripe for attack.

Even many years later, when the Central Plains had grown stable and prosperous, the Black Wu would never stop marching south — unless the Central Plains were ultimately claimed by the Black Wu, or the Black Wu were destroyed.

Yet Xu Ji also understood clearly: who could destroy a colossus like the Black Wu?

He could not imagine what kind of power — how overwhelming in strength — a nation would have to be to stamp the Black Wu beneath its feet.

“Clear the battlefield. Regroup and resupply.”

Xu Ji gave the command. “The Sang forces will abandon this location, but they will not abandon the attempt to land elsewhere.”

He looked to his subordinates. “Dispatch couriers to the coastal counties. Draw sufficient manpower from each to patrol the shoreline. Every county must construct watchtower beacons at the highest points with all possible speed. The moment enemy forces approach, the signal fires must be lit immediately.”

“Furthermore, send word throughout Yanzhou: since Prince Ning has not yet appointed a chief official for Yanzhou, from this day forward, I will assume temporary command of all military affairs in Yanzhou.”

Xu Ji continued issuing orders as he walked. “At the same time, dispatch messengers to every prefecture and county of Yanzhou with the following order: large counties are to recruit no fewer than three thousand militia immediately; small counties, no fewer than fifteen hundred. From the date of receiving this order, forces must be fully assembled within half a month, then dispatched to the coastal counties as reinforcements. No request for further authorization is needed — support the nearest location in need as the guiding principle, and do not take this lightly.”

“The pay of all militia will be equal to that of Ning Army combat soldiers. Any casualties will receive the same compensation as combat soldiers. County magistrates must personally lead their contingents. Any who defy this order will be beheaded in public as deserters.”

Xu Ji glanced back at the person beside him. “Get these orders out quickly.”

His subordinate acknowledged at once, turned, and ran to distribute the assignments.

“I am a man of Yanzhou.”

Xu Ji said. “I have returned — to defend this land. I have returned — to be the wall that stands between the people of Yanzhou and what threatens them.”

He raised his voice: “Everyone — we must be of one mind and one purpose, and resist our enemies together.”

With Xu Ji directing and coordinating, all of Yanzhou was mobilized in short order.

County magistrates from every prefecture brought their militia and volunteers, following the principle of supporting whichever coastal location was nearest, and rushed to the shoreline.

We had no warships, no naval fleet — but we could seal off the coastline in the shortest possible time.

Xu Ji left Guan Chongsheng a large quantity of weapons and equipment, then led his main force out once more, their destination the northeastern border passes.

There, the border troops were holding out against at least several hundred thousand Bohai soldiers.

Yanzhou had not yet been properly organized. After Shen Shanhu took Yanzhou and then led the army south, the forces left to garrison it had been few.

With the northeastern passes undermanned, there was no way to know whether they would arrive in time.

By comparison — though the northern frontier faced an unknown number of Black Wu soldiers — Xu Ji was not overly anxious about that situation.

Over these years, Prince Ning had devoted great effort to strengthening the northern frontier against Black Wu incursions. The forces there were well-manned and well-supplied.

Even after the majority of personnel had followed Prince Ning southward, Youzhou still maintained a completely intact military structure.

Meanwhile, in Jingzhou.

A great battle.

Prince Wu Yang Jiju had won again. Though the victory was costly, a victory was still a victory.

In this engagement against Heavenly Mandate King Yang Xuanji, Prince Wu’s forces had killed over a hundred thousand enemy troops and taken thirty to forty thousand prisoner. Yang Xuanji’s strength had been gravely depleted, and he continued retreating northward.

Inside his command tent, Prince Wu sat upright in his chair, the upper half of his clothing removed while an imperial physician worked to stitch closed the wound on his shoulder.

During the battle, Prince Wu had personally broken through to Yang Xuanji’s central command. Had he pressed that breakthrough all the way through, even if he could not capture Yang Xuanji alive, he could have stripped the Heavenly Mandate Army of all resistance — and had he succeeded, the Heavenly Mandate Army’s losses would have been far more than a hundred thousand.

Yet just as he had driven deep into Yang Xuanji’s command, a powerful warrior in golden armor had led the Black Tassel Army and blocked Prince Wu’s path.

That man was the first opponent Prince Wu had ever encountered in his lifetime who could genuinely threaten his life.

Prince Wu knew that Yang Xuanji had beside him a battle-general celebrated as a Golden Armored Divine Warrior — the man’s personal guard.

But Prince Wu had fought all his life and encountered every manner of adversary. Those who had been called “this divine warrior” or “that demonic general” were as common as grass.

So Prince Wu had been slightly careless — he truly had not expected the man to be so formidable, and very nearly suffered a severe wound.

Prince Wu’s deep armor could only be called a sacred relic. No ordinary blade could damage it.

Yet that golden-armored warrior had slashed away Prince Wu’s shoulder guard with a single stroke, scouring away a chunk of flesh from the shoulder itself.

Had Prince Wu not possessed incomparable combat experience, he might have suffered much worse.

It was precisely because of the golden-armored warrior’s ferocity that Yang Xuanji had been able to stabilize his central command, preventing Prince Wu from folding it into a total rout.

“Your Highness — a military report!”

Someone came rushing in, dropped to one knee, and held out a dispatch with both hands.

“Where is it from?”

“From Prince Ning Li Chi’s people — they are sending word to all parties.”

Prince Wu heard this and his expression shifted. He reached for the dispatch. “The Black Wu have marched south again?!”

He did not wait for the physician to finish stitching his wound. He opened the report and read it — and his face darkened with fury.

“The Black Wu — wolves with the hearts of jackals!”

A subordinate reported: “A military report has also come from the direction of Fishermen’s Pass — Xiahou Zuo’s army has suddenly withdrawn, using diversionary tactics to keep our forces inside the pass from daring to pursue. They pulled out overnight. They must be heading north back to Jizhou.”

“Report!”

That messenger had not yet finished speaking when another came running in.

“Your Highness — a military report!”

Prince Wu quickly opened this dispatch as well. After a long silence, he exhaled heavily.

“Li Chi… Li Chi… old man — I concede.”

This report stated that Grand General Tang Pidi, commanding thirty thousand troops, had bypassed Li Xionghu’s army of a million and launched a surprise attack on Hangzhou in Yangzhou.

Upon hearing the news, Li Xionghu personally led four hundred thousand troops to surround and trap Tang Pidi, intending to seal him inside Hangzhou.

Instead, Tang Pidi’s subordinate generals Luo Jing, Shen Shanhu, and Zhuang Wudi split into three columns and launched a fierce assault on the troops Li Xionghu had left at Suzhou. Li Xionghu’s forces were crushingly defeated.

Three hundred thousand Ning Army soldiers broke the enemy’s force of several hundred thousand, killing the greater part of those left behind, with the remainder fleeing to Yangzhou.

At that point, Tang Pidi had the battle won. He needed only to hold Hangzhou, and the combined victorious force of Shen Shanhu and the other two would be able to arrive and seal Li Xionghu’s army outside Hangzhou.

Prince Wu was absolutely certain that even with Li Xionghu’s army still numerically superior to Tang Pidi’s, Li Xionghu was doomed to lose. Suzhou and Yangzhou would soon fall entirely under Prince Ning’s rule.

But at exactly that moment, the military report of the Black Wu incursion arrived at the northern frontier.

Grand General Tang Pidi had not hesitated for a single instant. He immediately abandoned the Hangzhou he had just taken and led his forces back around Li Xionghu’s army, returning to Suzhou.

Ning Army General Shen Shanhu led over a hundred thousand troops and rapidly marched north. Grand General Tang Pidi then led the remaining Ning forces to consolidate the defense of Suzhou.

For the sake of the battle in the north, the Hangzhou they had already seized was simply released. What was being given up was not merely Hangzhou — it was all of Yangzhou.

Worse still, by allowing Li Xionghu this breathing room, he might counterattack and retake Suzhou.

Because Tang Pidi could not leave all his forces behind — he would inevitably split off a portion to return and defend Yuzhou, for Tang Pidi understood perfectly well that Yang Xuanji had absolutely no chance against Prince Wu.

At this thought, Prince Wu exhaled heavily once more.

What Tang Pidi was worried about was this: once Yang Xuanji suffered defeat, with Jingzhou sealed off by the Ning Army, Yang Xuanji could only retreat through Yuzhou to get back.

At this moment, Yuzhou was nearly empty of troops — it would be difficult to scrape together even thirty or fifty thousand. Every available man had gone north to resist the foreign invasion.

Yang Xuanji could advance and attack Yuzhou, or retreat and take the long way back to Jingzhou, and from there back to his home base in Shuzhou.

Tang Pidi feared that if Yuzhou were lost, Prince Ning Li Chi would lose half his territory — so he would inevitably send more than half of his Suzhou forces back.

If…

Prince Wu turned the question over in his mind.

If he did not pursue Yang Xuanji’s forces now, but instead set ambushes along the way, he could annihilate the troops Tang Pidi dispatched back in a single stroke.

If he pressed Yang Xuanji, forcing the Heavenly Mandate Army into Yuzhou, Prince Wu could drive Yang Xuanji’s forces ahead like a battering ram — sweeping into Yuzhou in their wake.

He might even release Yang Xuanji entirely, turn his court’s great army, and strike Suzhou without warning. With Tang Pidi having split his forces just to cope with Li Xionghu — already stretched nearly to his limit — how could he guard against an attack from the rear? Such a strategy might, in a single stroke, kill Tang Pidi.

“Issue the order!”

Prince Wu rose and gave a loud command. “Order the army to move out immediately and march due north. The army must reach the south bank of the Chi River within ten days.”

He glanced at the freshly stitched wound, and a slight smile touched the corner of his mouth.

“Li Chi… fight your battles.”

He strode toward the entrance. “We go and drive Yang Xuanji in the direction of the southwest — better to let Yang Xuanji escape than to allow a single soldier of the Heavenly Mandate Army to set foot in Yuzhou.”

“Yes!”

The assembled generals answered as one.

That white-haired old man donned his armor once more and walked out with broad, decisive steps.

—