Early fifth month.

The weather in the northern wastes had finally grown slightly — *slightly* — less brutal. The north wind no longer cut quite so deep into the bone.

In the south, even in Jì Province, some delicate flowers would be blooming by this time of the month.

But on the northern wastes, every step on the gravel felt like ice grinding against ice.

Flowers? Nothing flowered here in early fifth month. A man who went to relieve himself outdoors, they said, might find that the cold fixed certain anatomical problems he hadn’t known he had.

The Hei Wu border troops and the Ning northern garrison soldiers were accustomed to it — but soldiers brought in from elsewhere looked at the cold with a dread and misery that was hard to shake.

More than half the Ning soldiers who’d come north were Jiangnan men, and now they understood for the first time what it truly meant when people said water froze the moment it hit the air.

The locals said this was still the mild end of things. A hundred-odd years ago, the northern boundary had extended all the way to the Báishān.

*Báishān* — that was cold. One old man laughed and said: you could see every fart. A plume of white steam crawling out through your trouser leg.

Another said you had to go out with a stick to relieve yourself, so you could keep tapping at the stream or it would freeze solid before it hit the ground.

Still, for all that, the Ning army truly did not lack supplies. Soldiers’ winter coats were thick and plentiful, and reserves were sufficient.

The old northern border garrison — for much of its history — had huddled in the cold wind gnawing at dry grain, barely surviving.

Now the garrison soldiers stationed in the north got hot food and hot soup with every meal.

People said the Yānshān border pass was actually on the gentler end — snowfall in winter was infrequent here. You know why the Báishān was called White Mountain? Because the snow there never melted. Last year’s snow hadn’t gone yet when this year’s fell on top of it, layer upon layer.

And yet, those border garrison brothers said — strange as it sounds — the one thing they all wished for was a posting out at Báishān.

—

Fifth day of the fifth month.

The first Ning force dispatched to relieve Gao Zhen’s vanguard unit set out from the border pass. This was a force of just over forty-six thousand, commanded by General Liǔ Gē.

Three days after Liǔ Gē’s column departed, the second force left the border city.

This was a force of approximately fifty thousand, mostly infantry with very few cavalry, commanded by General Shěn Shānhú.

Shěn Shānhú had arrived in Chang’an from Shǔ Province only just before Lǐ Chì’s enthronement ceremony, but then the Hei Wu southern push happened, and she never went back west. She followed the northern expedition force straight to the border.

Three more days brought the third force out of the pass — roughly sixty thousand soldiers under General Táng Ānchén.

Two days after that, the fourth force departed: approximately eighty thousand soldiers under General Dàntái Yājìng.

These four forces combined numbered over two hundred thousand.

—

Hei Wu main camp.

Kuòkědí Yèlán stood before the map and watched his staff mark the Ning forces’ positions one by one.

“Tang Pídí has probably guessed our strategy,” he said, studying the map. “So he’s deployed his forces like this.”

He thought aloud as he spoke. “The first column looks like it’s going to relieve Gao Zhen’s unit — but it’s actually bait. Tang Pídí naturally expects us to strike at the relief forces, so he’s sent a decoy first.”

“The moment we attack that column — even without full encirclement — our troop movements will be exposed to Tang Pídí.”

“The three columns behind it are a chain assault. They’ll use those three forces to break our encirclement, and in doing so force our full army to redeploy. Once we’ve moved first, Tang Pídí can find the crack and attack it.”

“At that moment, he’ll have tens of thousands more Ning soldiers in reserve, ready to exploit exactly that.”

He exhaled slowly and continued: “Tang Pídí’s reputation for ruthlessness in battle is clearly well earned. To force us to expose our movements first, he’s willing to send force after force as bait.”

“If we had only five hundred thousand soldiers — even eight hundred thousand — Tang Pídí could find the crack and turn his disadvantage into the initiative. But he has underestimated the Empire’s strength.”

Kuòkědí Yèlán said, “Tang Pídí cannot possibly know how many soldiers I’ve brought to this battle.”

He looked at his assembled generals.

“Remember: we have enough soldiers to let every force Tang Pídí sends walk in before we close the trap. Let them all come in and then cut them apart. Destroy his plan completely.”

“We let Tang Pídí’s four columns come in by distance — draw them in, then divide and encircle each one separately. Once they’re cut off from each other, none of them can help the others.”

He turned back to the map and began laying out the troop movements with a pointer.

His generals stood in absolute stillness, barely breathing.

Half a shí later, every position was assigned. The generals turned and filed out of the tent.

Kuòkědí Yèlán looked at the lines marked on the map — one encirclement after another — and exhaled slowly once more.

“Tang Pídí… you have never lost. Neither have I.”

He brought his fist down hard on the table.

—

Sixteenth day of the fifth month.

Northern border pass. The city wall.

Lǐ Chì stood looking northward. The battlefield was hundreds of li away — he couldn’t see a thing.

Yet every day he came to the wall and looked. As if only by standing here could his heart find even a small measure of rest.

He trusted Tang Pídí. Trusted him without condition. But this battle mattered too much — how could he ever truly still his heart?

The greatest expression of his trust in Tang Pídí was his non-involvement in military matters. He had given full command authority to Old Tang.

“Your Majesty!”

Yú Jiǔlíng came rushing up the wall steps, a dispatch in hand.

“A report from the Grand General.”

He offered the dispatch with both hands.

More than ten days had passed since the first column set out. The first dispatch had arrived — and it was not good news.

The Hei Wu numbers far exceeded any estimate. To a degree that even Lǐ Chì found almost impossible to believe.

The enemy forces already visible exceeded one million — and even that seemed unlikely to be all of them.

Back in the Hei Wu main camp, there had to be several hundred thousand more in reserve, not yet committed.

Old Tang’s four probing columns had all been severed — not all surrounded together, but divided up and separately encircled.

The shortest gap between any two trapped Ning columns was sixty to seventy li.

The Hei Wu had used their overwhelming numerical superiority to draw five circles across the northern wastes.

Five circles, each imprisoning one Ning force — including Gao Zhen’s unit, nearly two hundred and fifty thousand Ning soldiers in total were cut off and surrounded.

Even Yú Jiǔlíng, who knew nothing of military affairs, could see how serious things were.

Old Tang’s intent had presumably been to use those four columns to draw out the full extent of Hei Wu’s forces.

Only by fully exposing the enemy’s deployment could a plan to break it be devised.

But the Hei Wu had completed the encirclement of every Ning force that had left the pass — and still had several hundred thousand men unused.

Those reserves were what Kuòkědí Yèlán was keeping back for Old Tang himself.

In Kuòkědí Yèlán’s mind, the message was clear: *you want to probe me? Then look at what the Hei Wu Empire is truly capable of.*

Once the five encirclements were locked tight and the remaining Hei Wu forces still left untouched, Tang Pídí’s remaining main force of roughly three hundred thousand could not possibly break those two hundred and fifty thousand free.

What Kuòkědí Yèlán wanted Tang Pídí to understand was this: there is a scale of numerical superiority that no individual genius can bridge.

Yú Jiǔlíng watched Lǐ Chì. Lǐ Chì read the dispatch, brow deeply furrowed.

“Now… it all comes down to time.”

He murmured to himself.

Yú Jiǔlíng was baffled — he genuinely couldn’t see any way out — and so he immediately asked: “Your Majesty… what time?”

Lǐ Chì raised his head and looked north again. “Old Tang’s time. Gao Zhen’s time. Shěn Shānhú’s time… Every one of them has their own time to hold.”

Yú Jiǔlíng understood even less than before.

—

The northern wastes. Yúwěi Ridge.

This was the highest point of ground in the northern wastes — though calling it a ridge was generous. It was a gradual rise running roughly thirty-odd li from east to west, known locally as Yúwěi Ridge. At its peak, it stood perhaps twenty *zhàng* high, and even that was a gentle slope — nothing that could be called treacherous.

Right now, at the highest point of Yúwěi Ridge, Kuòkědí Yèlán had ordered a platform constructed. He stood on it to observe the battlefield.

With a million-man battlefield, no platform could give him a view of everything — but in his mind, the whole battlefield lay spread open before him, wide as the northern wastes themselves. Every arrangement, every anticipated development, was stored there.

“Report!”

A soldier ran to the base of the platform and dropped to one knee. “Your Highness — word has come back from the generals on all fronts. Encirclement of the Ning forces is complete across the board.”

Kuòkědí Yèlán nodded. “Noted.”

He shouted down below: “Raise the Grand Standard.”

Then, to himself: “Tang Pídí needs to see that I’m here.”

Yúwěi Ridge wasn’t a strategic strongpoint in any traditional sense — but it was strategically vital.

It was the dividing line. If Tang Pídí wanted to push north and relieve the trapped Ning forces, he would have to come through Yúwěi Ridge.

Kuòkědí Yèlán would hold this position himself and pin Tang Pídí here.

By his calculation, the trapped two hundred-odd thousand Ning soldiers could all be destroyed within seven days. Even accounting for the Ning army’s fighting quality — allow three more days — ten days would mark the absolute limit. By then, whether it was morale or the provisions they’d carried, everything would be spent.

“Report!”

Another rider came hard over the rise, not dismounting, calling out from the saddle: “Your Highness — thirty li to the south, the Ning main force has been spotted. By the banners, it is Tang Pídí’s central column.”

“Noted.” Kuòkědí Yèlán waved the scout away. “Keep eyes on them.”

The scout responded and wheeled his horse back.

“Kuòyě Bǎobǎo!”

Kuòkědí Yèlán called out. A Hei Wu general below spun toward him: “Your Highness!”

Kuòkědí Yèlán ordered: “Tang Pídí has at most three hundred thousand. We have three hundred thousand here as well. Leave ten thousand at this position — I’ll lead the rest personally to block Tang Pídí’s advance. Take two hundred thousand and when Tang Pídí begins his assault on this position, go around him and strike the Ning border passes!”

Kuòyě Bǎobǎo answered at once: “Understood!”

“Take the passes within ten days,” Kuòkědí Yèlán continued. “Cut off their line of retreat. If you succeed, I will petition the Great Khan to grant you a noble title. If you fail to act in time, I will destroy your entire household.”

“Yes!”

Kuòyě Bǎobǎo answered again, turned, and descended the rise. Two hundred thousand Hei Wu soldiers began shifting toward the flank.

Kuòkědí Yèlán exhaled long and slowly once more.

“Tang Pídí… I wonder. Will you choose to rescue your soldiers — or your Emperor?”