“Jianghu affairs have never been small matters. Those who think otherwise always pay for it dearly.”

Li Chi said, still serving food: “At the root of it, the origins of most court affairs lie in the jianghu. They only become court matters through transformation.”

After all, how different were the intrigues of the court from the quarrels of jianghu?

Cao Lie nodded. With the Cao family’s position, his understanding of Great Chu was thorough. Without looking further back in history, just Chu’s founding emperor — hadn’t he risen from the jianghu? If you examined any dynasty’s founding, when had jianghu affairs ever been separable from it?

So when Li Chi said jianghu affairs were never small, Cao Lie agreed deeply.

They set up a table and chairs by the riverside. Li Chi had someone open a cask of fine aged wine — recently bought by Yu Jiuling and others when they’d gone out exploring, from a tavern in a nearby town whose cellar held quite a store. In Yu Jiuling’s words: *We’re bound to win eventually, so consider this reserved for the victory celebration.*

Shuzhou produces fine wines — this was known throughout the realm.

“I won’t keep you long this time.”

Li Chi poured a cup for Cao Lie. “Rest a few days, then head southwest.”

Cao Lie nodded: “No need for rest. I can set out tomorrow.”

Li Chi: “No need to be in such a rush.”

Cao Lie: “Rest is something every day on the road will provide — setting aside days specifically for rest is a waste…”

He picked up some fish, and his eyes lit up.

“Rice! Rice!”

Cao Lie looked toward Li Chi’s nearby guard: “Quickly — bring me a large bowl of white rice.”

Li Chi: “We just opened the wine — aren’t you going to drink…”

Before he could finish, Cao Lie was already shaking his head. “No, no. Fish this fragrant paired with wine is a waste. Only with rice can you do justice to food this good.”

Li Chi burst out laughing.

He understood perfectly what Cao Lie meant. If Li Chi hadn’t given him a task, Cao Lie would certainly have drunk today. But now that there was work to do — and Cao Lie intended to set off at dawn — there was still so much to prepare that afternoon: selecting personnel, gathering supplies, studying the maps, learning Shuzhou’s local customs and geography. With only half a day and a night to prepare, how could he drink?

“I didn’t bring many people with me.”

Cao Lie said: “The capable ones I left in Yuzhou to avoid disruption — especially the weapons workshop, where I left all my fighters to guard it…”

He looked at Li Chi: “So the people you assign me should be good ones.”

Li Chi: “Didn’t you just tell me you didn’t need anyone?”

Cao Lie: “That was before you mentioned confiscating my assets.”

Li Chi laughed, glancing to the side: “I just told you — I’m having Gui Yuanshu send people from the Military Intelligence Division, plus a unit of Black Cavalry.”

Li Chi beckoned, and a young man strode over quickly, bowing low.

“My lord.”

Li Chi rose and walked to the young man’s side: “His name is Ye Xiaoqian.”

Cao Lie took in the young man’s age and his attire — the distinctive uniform of a senior Court of Justice officer — and knew immediately this was no ordinary person.

Far too young, and yet already…

Before he could finish the thought, Li Chi continued: “His name is Ye Xiaoqian. Court of Justice, rank of *Qianban*.”

Even Ye Xiaoqian himself froze at that, looking at Li Chi with a trace of alarm.

Li Chi: “He is as of now.”

Li Chi returned to his seat: “The Black Cavalry will be under Ye Xiaoqian’s command. As for the Military Intelligence Division…”

He looked to one side. Two men stepped forward simultaneously — one who appeared to be around thirty, and another perhaps twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

Li Chi: “They are brothers. The elder is Li Poju, the younger is Li Chenzhou. They are Hawk-Eye Generals in the Military Intelligence Division.”

Military ranks within the Division differed somewhat from those of the regular Ning Army. In the Division, all ranks carried the prefix *Hawk-Eye* — a Colonel was a Hawk-Eye Colonel, a General a Hawk-Eye General.

The rank of Hawk-Eye General was fifth rank, theoretically equivalent to a *Qianban* of the Court of Justice. That both Li Poju and Li Chenzhou had been promoted to Hawk-Eye General spoke to their caliber.

Gui Yuanshu said from nearby: “The Military Intelligence Division will select a team of three hundred and sixty personnel to serve under Lord Cao’s command.”

Cao Lie rose and cupped his fists: “My gratitude.”

Gao Xining said: “The Black Cavalry unit is also three hundred and sixty.”

Cao Lie cupped his fists toward her: “My gratitude.”

Li Chi took a token from his guard’s hand and passed it to Cao Lie: “This is a third-rank field commander’s token. I’ve already informed Dantai — with this in hand, you may mobilize up to thirty-six hundred of his troops.”

Cao Lie smiled.

Rich. Truly rich.

After lunch, Cao Lie set his people to work preparing. The preparations for the journey consumed the entire afternoon. That evening he brought in some local elders to ask about the southwestern regions — customs, terrain, geography.

The next morning, Cao Lie bid farewell to Li Chi and set out with his company.

Dantai had been pushing rapidly through southwestern Shuzhou — moving almost too fast. This meant the territories he’d taken were not entirely stable. The army had passed through, but the civilian affairs in the rear needed officials to manage them, and qualified administrators were struggling to keep pace with Dantai’s advance.

So many of the local officials were officers temporarily pulled from the military to serve as acting administrators. They lacked experience governing, but they could at least project authority and keep order.

Yet those jianghu operatives had already assassinated sixteen local officials. Some were capable young officers and field captains under Dantai’s command; others were civilian officials accompanying the army.

On the road, Cao Lie reviewed every detail of the situation — going through all the case files in the carriage.

Based on what was already known, six of the murders had been carried out with near-identical methods.

From this he inferred: six officials had died at the hands of the same group.

Cao Lie raised a hand and rubbed his temple.

Shuzhou had always produced heroic figures. And jianghu matters in Shuzhou were complicated further by the enormous number of horse caravans — the *mabang* — operating there.

In Shuzhou, jianghu people didn’t consider bandit outlaws to be their kind. In their view, men who prowled the forest roads were *bandits* — not true jianghu. But bandits, for their part, considered themselves the most authentic jianghu people, and looked down equally on those they called *jianghu* people.

“Six murdered officials, all within the same prefecture.”

Ye Xiaoqian sat across from Cao Lie and gave his own briefing.

“The first territory Dantai’s forces captured was Tongzhou. After Tongzhou came Luzhou — which is where the largest mabang in Shuzhou operates.”

Ye Xiaoqian continued: “There are over a thousand mabang outfits in Shuzhou, each operating independently, mostly not interfering with one another. But mabang men are deeply unified — when trouble strikes and a call for aid goes out, every mabang in Shuzhou that can respond will come.”

He looked at Cao Lie: “These six officials died across four counties — all under Luzhou’s jurisdiction. These four counties surround Bowang Mountain, and the largest mabang has its stronghold on Bowang Mountain. Their fortress is said to be extremely well-fortified.”

Ye Xiaoqian: “When Pei Qi tried to recruit the mabang, the head of the horse caravan — Luo Jiuhong — wouldn’t even give Pei Qi the dignity of a meeting. Pei Qi tried to intimidate him by sending twenty thousand Shuzhou troops to encircle Bowang Mountain. But the mabang men paid them no mind at all — going about their business as usual, apparently certain the Shuzhou army wouldn’t dare attack.”

Cao Lie, studying the map, nodded. “I wouldn’t attack either. In a place like this, twenty thousand men could die to the last and the mountain still wouldn’t fall.”

Ye Xiaoqian: “Later Pei Qi tried to bribe Luo Jiuhong — offered him a third-rank generalship, with rewards for mabang officers of all sizes. Luo Jiuhong had the messenger bring Pei Qi a reply: *Tell Pei Qi I can give him the title of Thirteenth Chief of the mabang — he’s welcome to come join us anytime.*”

Cao Lie couldn’t help but smile: “A bit arrogant.”

He set down the map and exhaled slowly: “Luo Jiuhong’s arrogance comes from knowing Pei Qi wouldn’t truly act against him — it wasn’t worth the cost.”

Ye Xiaoqian: “With Pei Qi’s power at his peak, wiping out the mabang wouldn’t have been especially difficult — he could easily field five hundred thousand troops. But killing a few tens of thousands of mabang men and losing a hundred thousand soldiers in the process made no sense. The mabang weren’t bandits causing harm to people or seizing territory. What Pei Qi wanted was the mabang’s fighting capability. So fighting them was the last thing he wanted.”

Cao Lie nodded: “Luo Jiuhong saw through that — hence his arrogance.”

Ye Xiaoqian: “And because he stood firm against Pei Qi that time, his standing in jianghu rose even higher.”

Cao Lie: “From what we know now — how likely do you think it is that the mabang is responsible?”

Ye Xiaoqian: “Seven or eight in ten.”

Cao Lie: “Why so high? Pei Qi and Luo Jiuhong don’t get along. There’s no reason for Luo Jiuhong to act on Pei Qi’s behalf.”

Ye Xiaoqian sighed: “But we’ve disturbed Luo Jiuhong’s livelihood.”

Cao Lie’s expression shifted slightly. He understood.

At its core, mabang was business.

After the Ning Army took Luzhou, they naturally had to reshape the commercial order. In the years of war, the mabang had inflated their fees enormously — and the Ning Army would never tolerate that. The appointed local officials were mostly former Ning Army officers — accustomed to being forceful. They weren’t about to back down to the mabang. Conflict was inevitable.

Luo Jiuhong’s men, looking to reassert the mabang’s dominance, would have strong motive to kill those local officials.

Cao Lie glanced out of the carriage window.

A moment of silence, then: “If it really is the mabang… the battle Pei Qi didn’t dare fight, we may well have to.”

—