The moment the urgent dispatch sent to northern Jingzhou landed in Shi Fenghui’s hands, he felt a wave of irritation.

He didn’t even need to read it. He already knew it was summoning him to lead his forces back to Daxing City.

They had been out here for so long with nothing to show for it — encamped on the southern bank of the Red River the entire time. Not only had they not advanced into Yuzhou, they hadn’t even crossed the river.

So his fear was this: the moment he returned, there was a very real possibility that Yang Xuanji would strip him of his military command, or worse — have him detained first and deal with him later.

He ordered the messenger to go and rest, telling him that once preparations were complete, the army would move out.

But the moment the messenger stepped away, Shi Fenghui was half-tempted to have the man killed — and then simply pretend he had never received Yang Xuanji’s orders.

And yet he also knew that this sort of self-deception would accomplish nothing.

He could pretend not to have received orders this time, but the next time Yang Xuanji summoned him back, it would no longer be a matter of merely stripping him of his command.

Restless and on edge, he stepped out of his tent without bringing anyone along and walked by himself toward the distant banks of the Red River.

At this point, Shi Fenghui had to find a way out for himself.

He knew what Yang Xuanji would do to him — but he did not know what Prince Ning Li Chi would do to him, and that was what troubled him most.

Moreover, given the degree of control he held over these two hundred thousand men, he wasn’t even confident he could bring the entire force over to Prince Ning’s side intact.

He walked and thought, weighing the costs and benefits on all sides.

He needed to work out clearly, in the end, who was most likely to take all under heaven.

If Yang Xuanji still ended up winning the realm, what good would defecting to Prince Ning do him now?

Without realizing it, he had wandered all the way to the southern bank of the Red River. He sat down on the embankment and watched his men loitering about — two here, three there — sitting and chatting aimlessly on the riverbank, like a flock of sheep turned loose to graze.

With the army’s morale like this, most of them were probably feeling lost as well.

It then occurred to Shi Fenghui that having been encamped here on the southern bank for so many days with no fighting, perhaps the soldiers no longer had much appetite for battle.

He was about to head back to the camp, gather his generals, and discuss together what course they should take — but he had already half risen, and hesitated.

This sort of thing was better left undiscussed.

And so he sat on the embankment until darkness fell. Only when his men came to look for him did he realize he had been sitting there in a daze the entire time, and had reached absolutely no decision in his mind whatsoever.

On the way back to camp, the more Shi Fenghui thought about it, the more something felt wrong — the more he felt he should not be wavering like this.

So he turned back toward the embankment, ordered a soldier to row a small boat and ferry him across to the northern bank.

That order gave the soldier quite a fright.

The Grand General personally crossing the river to the other side — was that not a terrifying thing to contemplate?

“Don’t ask so many questions. Get me to the far bank. The rest of you wait in the boat.”

With that, Shi Fenghui stepped into the small boat and simply sat down with no intention of getting back out. The soldiers had no choice but to steel themselves and row him across.

Less than an hour later, Shi Fenghui was already inside Zhuang Wudi’s command tent.

Looking at the man before him, Zhuang Wudi was genuinely taken aback. He had never imagined that Shi Fenghui would actually come over by himself, alone.

“Let us speak plainly.”

Shi Fenghui thanked Zhuang Wudi for the tea, then got straight to the point and laid out his thoughts.

He had truly run out of options. In his position, he was trapped, with no way forward and no way back.

“If I were to defect and come over to your side, would Prince Ning treat me well?”

He asked, looking directly into Zhuang Wudi’s eyes.

Zhuang Wudi did not give an immediate answer, but held Shi Fenghui’s gaze steadily for a long moment.

“You find this unbelievable?”

Shi Fenghui smiled bitterly: “The fact that I came here myself should make it clear enough to you just how difficult my situation has become.”

Zhuang Wudi considered for a moment and then said: “Tell me your conditions.”

Shi Fenghui shook his head: “Honestly, I don’t know what conditions I’m in a position to put forward.”

He sighed: “I’ve actually been hearing things all along. On your side — Prince Ning is not especially welcoming toward men like me, because Prince Ning has little fondness for officials who served the former Dachu court.”

Zhuang Wudi said: “Just now, when you saw me hesitate — did you think the difficulty was whether or not to accept your defection?”

Shi Fenghui asked: “Isn’t it?”

Zhuang Wudi shook his head: “No.”

Shi Fenghui asked again: “Then what is it that troubles you, General?”

Zhuang Wudi said: “What troubles me is not whether to accept your defection, but that your rank is too high. I have no way to properly place you.”

Shi Fenghui blinked: “Oh?”

Zhuang Wudi said: “So if you’ve already made your decision, then come over. I will send word to Prince Ning, and he will arrange things for you.”

Shi Fenghui: “What if Prince Ning decides to deal with me?”

Zhuang Wudi smiled: “Let me count for you — the former Grand Court of Justice Chief Gui Yuanshu is with us. Xie Xiu and his people are with us. Yuchi Guangming, who was more trusted by the Dachu Emperor than almost anyone, is with us. I’m not sure what it is you’re so worried about.”

Shi Fenghui sighed: “Since I’ve already come this far, I might as well be completely honest. My worry is that Prince Ning won’t be able to conquer the entire realm.”

Zhuang Wudi smiled again: “And do you think Yang Xuanji could ever push all the way through to us?”

Those words struck Shi Fenghui like a thunderclap, jolting him fully awake.

His mind cleared in an instant… He thought — exactly. Even if Prince Ning couldn’t take the whole realm, half of it was still well within reach, wasn’t it? At the very worst, he would hold half the land under heaven.

With that thought, he rose to his feet and clasped his hands in salute: “Then I will return and see how best to prepare.”

Zhuang Wudi said: “I’ve actually thought of an approach that might help you.”

Shi Fenghui asked: “Let’s hear it.”

Zhuang Wudi lowered his voice and murmured a few words close to Shi Fenghui’s ear. Shi Fenghui’s expression shifted, and he looked at Zhuang Wudi: “That seems far too reckless.”

Zhuang Wudi smiled: “You’re welcome to try it.”

—

At daybreak.

Shi Fenghui ordered the war drums struck and the command tent assembled. The moment the drums sounded, dispatch runners went racing to every camp with the order.

With two hundred thousand troops encamped across such vast grounds, the drums alone could not carry the message to all corners.

About half a shichen later, the generals of every camp had arrived one by one, straggling in two and three at a time. As they entered the tent, they saw that in addition to the Grand General, there was someone seated inside whom none of them recognized.

Once all the generals of fourth rank and above had assembled, Shi Fenghui coughed twice and stepped out to stand before the assembled men.

“Yesterday, our lord sent someone with an order summoning us back to assault Daxing City.”

Shi Fenghui swept a glance across the assembly.

“So I have called you all here to ask: how long will you need to be ready to march?”

The moment that was said, every person instinctively looked at everyone else.

The question itself was off. If the Grand General had truly already decided to march back, he would simply issue the order to each army directly — there was no need to ask the generals of every camp how long they needed to be ready.

Those with sharper instincts had already guessed what the Grand General was getting at.

Seeing that no one spoke, Shi Fenghui began pacing slowly through the tent as he continued: “I had already made up my mind to march back. But last night, a visitor came to see me and laid out a different plan for us.”

He turned and pointed to the seated figure: “Him. Ning Army Grand General Zhuang Wudi.”

Those words sent a shock through every person present — a genuine shock.

The Ning Army’s Grand General had actually come alone to this Sky-Mandate Army camp. That sort of thing, if spoken aloud, would be something no one would believe.

At that moment, if they killed this Zhuang Wudi, it would be a remarkable military accomplishment.

Zhuang Wudi simply sat where he was, saying nothing, his bearing thoroughly composed.

Shi Fenghui continued: “So I find myself in something of a dilemma. Should we kill him and bring his head back to seek credit from our lord, which might offset the crime of our long inaction at the Red River? Or should we take him alive, which would be an even greater accomplishment?”

He paced as he spoke: “If we kill him, the credit is no small thing. If we take him back alive, the credit is even greater — perhaps enough to offset the guilt of our encampment here at the Red River without advancing.”

As he spoke, the assembled men were already exchanging glances.

Yet not one of them stepped forward to say: let’s kill him, then — or: let’s take him back alive.

At this point, Zhuang Wudi spoke: “Last night I came here by night to urge your Grand General to surrender to my lord, Prince Ning. He said he did not dare let his brothers bear such a risk.”

Zhuang Wudi rose to his feet, folded his long robe neatly and laid it on the stool, and then walked toward the exit: “It seems all of you are loyal to the Sky-Mandate King through and through. My attempt to persuade you has been misguided. I know full well I cannot expect to walk out of here unharmed. So tell me — where is the prison cell? I will go there myself.”

“Wait.”

Shi Fenghui raised a hand to stop him.

Then he swept his gaze across the assembly: “If we return just like this, and any one of you tells the Sky-Mandate King that the Ning Army Grand General Zhuang Wudi came in person to urge our defection — the Sky-Mandate King would never let me off…”

He seemed to be summoning up a great resolve: “If I go back, I am as good as dead… Rather than that, we kill this Zhuang Wudi, leave Daxing City to its own fate, and find ourselves a mountain somewhere to rule as our own.”

With those words, Shi Fenghui turned to call toward the entrance: “Men! Drag Zhuang Wudi out and cut him down!”

The guards outside immediately came rushing in, blades drawn.

“Grand General!”

Someone immediately stepped forward: “Grand General, please think this through!”

With one person speaking up, several others quickly echoed him.

At this sight, Shi Fenghui felt a surge of quiet satisfaction inside.

Sure enough — it wasn’t only he himself who didn’t want to go back. Most of the generals in this camp were his men. Those who weren’t had been largely rooted out by the last purge.

And most of them, at that, were among the soldiers from the defeat of that earlier three-hundred-thousand-strong force — the men Yang Xuanji, the Sky-Mandate King, had abandoned to save himself by boat, while it was Shi Fenghui who had led them through every hardship on the long march back to Shu Prefecture.

“Grand General!”

One man clasped his hands and said: “We are of one heart with you, life and death together. Whatever the Grand General decides, we should by rights follow — but if we kill Zhuang Wudi, when Prince Ning hears of it, how would he ever let it rest?”

Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing. Go back, and Yang Xuanji would deal with them. Kill Zhuang Wudi, and they would provoke Prince Ning. Either way, what future was left?

Even if they followed Shi Fenghui’s plan to set up their own stronghold somewhere — with Yang Xuanji as an enemy and Prince Ning also offended, what mountain in this world would be safe enough to hold them?

Kill Zhuang Wudi, and Prince Ning, with that temperament of his, would abandon everything else just to hunt them down to the last man.

“Grand General.”

Another man clasped his hands: “What if… what if we just hear what General Zhuang has to say?”

Shi Fenghui said: “Hear him say what? Are we truly going to go over to Prince Ning? Once we’re in Prince Ning’s camp…”

He stopped himself.

Zhuang Wudi smiled and said: “What is it — once you’re in our camp, then what?”

Seeing Shi Fenghui stay silent, Zhuang Wudi said: “Once you come to our side — the worst outcome — you gentlemen are still generals. I can make you a promise on Prince Ning’s behalf: if you defect to Prince Ning, Prince Ning will not deploy you against the Sky-Mandate Army.”

Those words moved every person there.

—