The docks.

Cao Lie sat in his chair watching the people come and go, passing the time by guessing their ages. Where he sat, there was a side table to his left with hot tea, pastries, and dried fruits on it, and another side table in front of him that served as a footrest for his legs. Beside his legs sat two young women of stunning beauty, crouching down to knead his calves.

Honestly, the fact that he had managed to keep this up for so long was something even Li Chi found hard to believe.

But when Li Chi actually saw how thoroughly Cao Lie was enjoying himself, he thought: three months was nothing. If he had asked Cao Lie to hold this post for a year, there would already be a new building standing here by now, with Cao Lie soaking in a pool somewhere, sipping wine.

As long as the young woman who could craft artifacts never appeared before Cao Lie’s eyes, he could play the role of a pampered and idle young lord to absolute perfection.

Yet who could ever believe it — he simply and genuinely liked beautiful things. The young women around him, for instance. Cao Lie always said he just enjoyed looking at pretty people; it made him feel at ease inside.

And yet who could ever believe that…  If Cao Lie were to swear those words before a bodhisattva in some temple, even the statue would come to life just to spit on him — and then snort, and spit again.

The key thing was, the young women were different ones every single day.

By the time Li Chi arrived at the docks, Cao Lie had nearly dozed off. Seeing Prince Ning approaching, one of Cao Lie’s attendants quickly called out to him. Cao Lie opened his eyes, looked over, and felt a flicker of disappointment.

Because Li Chi had come empty-handed again. The last time Li Chi had visited, Cao Lie had said: next time you come, could you at least bring something — even a worthless piece of hawthorn cake would make me feel better.

As Li Chi walked up, the young women quickly bowed low in greeting, then retreated with their bodies still bent.

Cao Lie said: “I did agree not to ask you for wages, but can you really come empty-handed every single time with a clear conscience? Three days, three visits, and all three times the same.”

Li Chi said: “I always come empty-handed, but when have I ever left empty-handed?”

Cao Lie clapped his hands: “Beautiful.”

Li Chi and his party had returned to Yuzhou City three days ago. Today happened to be exactly the fourteenth day since Li Chi had said he was waiting for a certain piece of news.

Before the Heavenly Mandate King Yang Xuanji had sent people to seize Xie Huainan, Li Chi had already said that whether the Jingzhou front should take the offensive depended on a piece of news he needed to wait for — at most half a month.

The news had arrived.

Li Chi pushed Cao Lie’s legs off the side table and sat down on it himself. “I’m leaving Yuzhou City tomorrow to head for Jingzhou. You’ll need to keep a closer eye on things at home.”

Cao Lie immediately sat up straight. “The way you said that — you’re taking a lot of people with you?”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement. “Master Yan will stay behind. I’m bringing Xie Huainan with me, along with a large number of people drafted from the Yuzhou prefectural office — so I need you to assist Master Yan.”

Cao Lie narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then asked: “There weren’t enough people killed in Yuzhou City, so now you’re going to Jingzhou to kill some more?”

Li Chi smiled but said nothing.

Cao Lie asked again: “The news you were waiting for has arrived?”

Li Chi nodded.

Cao Lie knew what Li Chi had been waiting for.

Not long before, a battle report sent by Great General Tang Pidi had arrived. Tang Pidi had led an army of two hundred thousand into Suzhou, with the aim of forcing the great rebel Li Xionghu to withdraw from Jingzhou.

Only in this way would the situation in Jingzhou change dramatically — and only in this way would Yang Xuanji be unable to spare troops to reinforce Jingzhou.

Tang Pidi had sent an urgent message back: he had already taken two-thirds of Suzhou and was pressing directly on Suzhou City.

Li Xionghu had grown completely restless. He had spent an entire winter grinding away inside Jingzhou without gaining anything meaningful, and the daily provisions required to sustain his army — nominally two million strong — were staggering beyond imagination.

Now his home base was being battered so painfully by Tang Pidi that he had no choice but to temporarily withdraw his troops and attempt to retake Suzhou.

The moment Li Xionghu’s great army retreated, the imperial court’s so-called alliance strategy would collapse.

Li Chi had left behind numerous intelligence agents inside Daxing City, and he had received word that the imperial court was taking the lead in bringing together representatives of Li Xionghu and Yang Xuanji to sit down and negotiate with the court’s own delegates.

Without needing to think too hard, Li Chi could already guess what the court-brokered talks were about.

Those people had suddenly realized that the Prince of Ning, Li Chi — originally the most unremarkable of them all — had already taken almost half the realm. How could they remain seated?

And with Tang Pidi having seized so much of Suzhou and Li Xionghu being forced to retreat, that withdrawal had shattered the alliance.

From here on, Prince Wu would face Yang Xuanji directly. The Left Martial Guard — undefeated since Prince Wu took command — and the Heavenly Mandate Army — which had met nothing but smooth sailing since leaving Suzhou, except in its clashes with Li Chi — would now be compelled to make their move inside Jingzhou.

With Li Xionghu gone, Prince Wu would absolutely strike first. Yang Xuanji now found himself in an awkward position.

If he withdrew his troops, Prince Wu — with his ferocious command of his forces — would surely cling to the back of the Heavenly Mandate Army and hunt them down. Not only would the Heavenly Mandate Army be driven in disarray out of Jingzhou and lose their chance to seize Dachu’s capital, they might also be annihilated entirely by Prince Wu.

No matter how much faith Yang Xuanji had in his own Heavenly Mandate Army, he could not say with certainty that he would win against Prince Wu.

No one in this realm dared to say such a thing — not even Tang Pidi.

Tang Pidi was far too clear-eyed to ever say something so reckless. If the moment truly came when he and Prince Wu faced each other head-on in battle, there would be not a shred of arrogance in him — he would take it with utmost seriousness.

With Yang Xuanji’s forces pinned down in Jingzhou, Li Chi could order Xiahou Zuo and Xie Xiu to launch a full-force offensive.

Cao Lie was no extraordinary military mind, yet his grasp of the broader strategic picture was matched by very few.

Before this, Li Chi had not given Xiahou Zuo the order to attack on all fronts, because he had feared Yang Xuanji would detach forces to come to the rescue — after all, Yang Xuanji still had hundreds of thousands of troops in Jingzhou.

Now, with Yang Xuanji unable to spare a thought for anything beyond his own immediate situation, those hundred and fifty thousand troops deep inside Jingzhou had truly become an isolated force. Even with the full support of the Xie Family, the odds in the Ning Army’s favor of taking them down remained overwhelming.

When Cao Lie said Li Chi was going to Jingzhou to kill people, it was no jest.

That incident in Yuzhou City — hundreds of regular soldiers entering the city armed — was proof enough of how far Li Chi’s killing intent had grown.

That incident, too, would only make Li Chi — already deeply distrustful of former Dachu officials — strike even harder.

Yuzhou City was the cautionary example that came before. Jingzhou was now the most critical priority. Stabilize Jingzhou, and Yang Xuanji might be squeezed to death outside Daxing City — unable to advance, unable to retreat.

Cut off Shuzhou’s reinforcing troops at Jingzhou, and what real difference was there between Yang Xuanji’s hundreds of thousands in Jingzhou and Yang Dingfang’s current hundred and fifty thousand?

Thinking through all of this, Cao Lie gave a firm nod. “Don’t worry about things here at home. After all, when I speak in Yuzhou City, my words still carry some weight.”

Li Chi nodded. “All right, then. That’s settled.”

He reached over and took the plate of pastries from the side table beside Cao Lie, and in no time at all he had stuffed himself with the entire platter.

One plate of pastries wasn’t enough. Li Chi looked over at Cao Lie’s attendant: “Go get me some meat.”

Cao Lie let out a sigh: “Is this really necessary?”

Li Chi said: “I’m setting off from the docks in a little while, and going back home isn’t worth the trip, so I might as well eat my fill here.”

Cao Lie: “You’ve changed.”

Li Chi: “What do you mean by that?”

Cao Lie: “You’re eating my food and taking advantage of me, and now you’re actually giving reasons for it…”

Li Chi glanced at him sideways: “Are you feeling ill?”

Just then, Li Chi’s personal guard company had also arrived at the docks. The warship was waiting there at the dock — besides the new vessel personally overseen by Di Chi, there were dozens of large ships lined up at the dock as well, all belonging to the Cao Family.

Three days earlier, Li Chi had told Cao Lie to keep his fleet at the docks and hold back the largest ships.

Setting out from Yuzhou City, the entire route had waterways available, and the fleet could travel directly to the area near Tingyang.

Before long, Cao Lie’s attendants brought out a generous spread of food and dishes — all of it originally prepared for Cao Lie. Since Prince Ning wanted to eat, Cao Lie had no choice but to go without.

Li Chi said: “Same as always — borrowing your few dozen large ships and paying nothing for them.”

Cao Lie: “See — now that’s the face you’re supposed to be wearing.”

Li Chi smiled, looked back over his shoulder, and didn’t reach for his chopsticks yet.

So Cao Lie let out a sigh. He had guessed why.

Sure enough, before long the Tingwei Army’s forces arrived. Gao Xining dismounted and walked over with her hands clasped behind her back, bouncing slightly with each step. Looking at her now, who could possibly believe she was the Grand Tingwei of the Tingwei Army?

When Li Chi saw Gao Xining approaching, he pulled over a stool: “Was waiting for you. I haven’t eaten a single bite.”

Cao Lie: “Could you at least show some restraint — eating my food is one thing, but are you going to take all the goodwill too?”

Li Chi looked at Gao Xining: “Does this count as taking goodwill?”

Gao Xining shook her head: “Of course not. This is just plain taking advantage.”

Li Chi: “Exactly.”

Cao Lie: “…”

The two of them finished eating and then actually just wiped their mouths and walked away, without a trace of courtesy.

Cao Lie thought to himself: nowhere in this world could you find another woman who matched Li Chi so perfectly, and nowhere in this world could you find another man who matched Gao Xining. If those two weren’t together, even outsiders would feel it was an affront to the natural order.

The Ning Army boarded the ships in orderly fashion. From a distance, Cao Lie watched as Gao Xining brought Shendiao and Gou Zi on board as well, which made it plain — this time, they were truly going to be staying in Jingzhou for quite a while.

Cao Lie watched and thought, and it did seem rather remarkable — without anyone quite noticing, even Jingzhou was about to become entirely Li Chi’s.

This time Li Chi was heading to Jingzhou with Xie Huainan in tow, which meant the matter of the Xie Family would not be settled quietly.

Once the Xie Family was dealt with, then every former Dachu official in Jingzhou from top to bottom would be ploughed through… If Jingzhou didn’t run red with blood, that would be a wonder.

Thinking about this, Cao Lie silently recited a prayer to the Infinite Heavenly Lord — it was always a pleasure when it was someone else’s doom and not one’s own.

The embarking force numbered roughly twenty thousand, including several thousand Tingwei Army black cavalry. They would travel by water all the way toward the southwest, a journey of roughly twenty-some days, landing at a point less than two hundred li from Tingyang.

By then, Xiahou Zuo and Xie Xiu’s Ning Army forces would have already completed their encirclement of Yang Dingfang’s Heavenly Mandate Army contingent.

Cao Lie waved toward Li Chi, who had already boarded. The moment Li Chi waved back, Cao Lie’s heart lurched with a sudden, unsettled feeling.

In the moment Li Chi boarded the ship and headed south, Cao Lie wondered — was this the end of the second phase of Li Chi’s vast and far-reaching plan?

The first phase had been Jizhou, the second phase Yuzhou. What came next should be the most critical phase of all — not the affairs of any single great province, but the whole of the Jiangnan.

Just then, Yu Jiuling ran up to Cao Lie, grinning as he held out a slip of paper: “The boss left you a written IOU. Those few dozen large ships — the boss says he’ll need them for at least a year.”

“What the —!”

Cao Lie’s eyes went wide. That was absolutely not what had been said at the start — the original agreement was only to transport troops to Jingzhou.

Dozens of large ships. A full year. A devastating loss.

And besides — when a man like Li Chi said a year, how could it possibly be just a year? Cao Lie had a sinking feeling those dozens of ships might never come back at all.

Yu Jiuling pressed the IOU into Cao Lie’s hand: “At least keep it. It’s something to hold onto.”

He smiled and said: “The boss said he won’t borrow from you for nothing.”

Cao Lie asked: “Do you believe that?”

Yu Jiuling said: “I do. The boss is the kind of person whose word carries absolute weight — if he says it’s not for nothing, then it’s definitely not for nothing. Though what he might mean is, it’s not borrowing at all. It’s just taking.”

Cao Lie: “…”

Yu Jiuling sighed: “I truly admire our boss and that unshakeable authority of his.”

—