Psychological pressure is something difficult to describe or explain clearly, yet there is no question that its effect on a person can be immense.

By announcing his arrival in such a manner, Li Chi wanted to convey something more to Yang Dingfang — that since he had come, he would have to win this battle.

Just as expected, Yang Dingfang did not come out of the camp to meet Li Chi. Not everyone has the courage to face an unknown danger. Who could say whether there might be an ambush outside, or whether Li Chi had some devious scheme in store? Not coming out was better than any alternative.

But from Li Chi’s perspective, if Yang Dingfang came out, he had a plan for that. If Yang Dingfang did not come out, he had a plan for that too. Had those two days in Yuzhou City, when Li Chi had appeared to be lost in a daze, been wasted if he had not thought through how to fight this battle?

So Li Chi glanced at Yu Jiuling, and Yu Jiuling immediately understood — it was now his turn to put his unique talents to use.

Yu Jiuling spurred his horse and charged out, riding back and forth at roughly one arrow’s distance from the Tianming Army’s main encampment, shouting taunts as he paced.

Pacing while shouting had two advantages: first, it projected a more imposing air; second, it considerably reduced the likelihood of being shot dead while standing still.

“Is your general Yang Dingfang a coward?!”

Yu Jiuling threw back his head and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

“My Prince Ning dared to come here and face him personally, yet he doesn’t dare come out to face my Prince Ning — what’s the matter, are you afraid you’d be frightened to death?!”

Once this fellow started shouting, it was like opening the floodgates on a great river — an endless, torrential stream with no sign of stopping.

Yang Dingfang was watching from behind the wooden palisade and could hear every single word with perfect clarity.

At first it was fine. He thought this was all Prince Ning could manage — childishly laughable.

What he could never have imagined was that the man shouting curses outside possessed such a staggeringly rich vocabulary — ten thousand times richer than even the most foul-mouthed fishwife.

He began to sense something was wrong. Yu Jiuling had been cursing for a full half-hour, and not a single phrase had been repeated.

The man was cursing with such vigor that Yang Dingfang, though fully aware this was an enemy provocation, found himself increasingly unable to suppress the urge to tear that man’s mouth apart.

He was on the verge of losing control — and his men had long since lost theirs.

Without waiting for Yang Dingfang’s order, one archer, feeling as though his ears were about to explode, could no longer restrain himself and loosed an arrow.

Yu Jiuling was as cunning as a fox. He had calculated the bowshot range carefully, and watching the arrow fall far short, he grew even more animated.

“Yang Dingfang, since you yourself are too limp and feeble to step outside, are your soldiers equally limp and feeble?! As I see it, you’re no commander — you’re their wet nurse! That little brat who just shot that arrow — go suckle a couple of mouthfuls from your wet nurse’s chest to get your strength back, and then come shoot at your grandfather here!”

They all assumed he was finally finished, but Yu Jiuling seemed to have found a fresh outlet, and his words came faster and more grating than ever.

“You won’t come out because your courage has all curdled into milk — milk to nurse your hundred and fifty thousand big babies? These precious babies of yours drank your milk and turned into milksops, not a drop of strength in their arms!”

Yang Dingfang’s expression grew darker and darker with rage. He spun around and shouted, “Bring up the crossbow carriage!”

His men, already seething, strained to haul a heavy crossbow carriage to the main gate, adjusting the angle to aim at Yu Jiuling.

Yu Jiuling knew this contraption was a devastating weapon against densely packed formations of soldiers, but using a crossbow carriage to aim at a single man — especially one on horseback — was no easy feat. Unless you were foolish enough to run straight in the direction the bolt was aimed, that is.

He had been in this sort of situation more times than he could count, so he was perfectly at ease.

So he shouted toward the camp: “Going to blast your grandfather with a heavy crossbow bolt, are you? Come on then — watch your grandfather fart it right back at you!”

With that, he wheeled his warhorse around, presenting his backside to the Tianming Army’s main gate, rose off the saddle, and began swinging his rear end back and forth in their direction.

“Come on, come on — let’s see whether your arrow aims truer, or your grandfather’s rear end aims truer!”

One of Yang Dingfang’s generals could endure it no longer. He clasped his fists and declared: “General, please let this subordinate go out and kill that cur!”

Yang Dingfang shook his head. “Don’t fall for the Ning Army’s trap. They must have an ambush waiting.”

With a furious roar, he ordered the crossbow loosed. A heavy bolt thundered out.

Yu Jiuling wrenched his horse sideways in a leap, and the bolt slammed into the earth with a thud — not particularly close to him either.

“Oh my — you startled me so much my fart got sucked right back in! Come now, let me return the favor!”

Yu Jiuling leapt down from his horse, undid his trousers, pointed himself toward the Tianming Army’s camp, and with everything exposed, swung it back and forth as he relieved himself on the ground.

Back on the Ning Army’s side.

Xie Xiu watched this spectacle and raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, thinking to himself: thank goodness I’m not the Tianming Army’s general right now — otherwise I’d probably be feeling my heart seizing from sheer rage.

Well, just seizing might still be manageable. The real danger was that Yu Jiuling might provoke it into stopping altogether.

When Yu Jiuling finished his business, the second heavy bolt — angle adjusted — came screaming out. Yu Jiuling yanked his horse forward and galloped clear, and the bolt fell short again.

By coincidence or not, this one actually landed fairly close — it stuck right in the spot where Yu Jiuling had relieved himself.

Yu Jiuling was delighted. “Well, well! Quite the accurate shot for aiming at your grandfather’s puddle! Were you trying to dip the bolt in it for a taste on the way back?!”

Xiahou Zuo leaned close to Li Chi and murmured, “We should assign Ninth Brother more personal guards in the future.”

Li Chi sighed. “You think my personal guard corps exists to protect me? No — I specifically set it up to protect Ninth Brother.”

Xiahou Zuo let out a snort of laughter.

“Time to call him back,” he said. “I’m not worried about what the Tianming Army might do to him — I’m just afraid lightning might strike him.”

Behind Li Chi, Xie Xiu leaned over to whisper to Xie Huainan: “Is General Yu… always like this?”

Xie Huainan shook his head. “I’m not particularly well acquainted with General Yu, but judging by how… ahem… practiced he appears, I would say this is entirely typical.”

When it seemed like enough, Li Chi had someone call Yu Jiuling back. Hearing the signal, Yu Jiuling waved to indicate he understood.

But rather than heading back immediately, he trotted over to the spot where he had done his business, yanked the heavy crossbow bolt out of the ground, then drew a circle around the wet patch.

“I’m taking the crossbow bolt — you’re welcome! If you want to dip it in your grandfather’s puddle for a taste, I’ve drawn you a circle right here so you know where to find it! Don’t thank me! Thinking you can sample your grandfather like that — dream on!”

Having shouted all this, he picked up the bolt, mounted his horse, and rode back looking enormously pleased with himself.

Upon his return, the Ning Army generals all clasped their fists one by one, each declaring that Yu Jiuling was supremely brave, that General Yu was truly impressive.

General Yu very modestly replied that everyone has their own area of expertise — it was nothing, nothing at all.

Back in the main camp, all the generals stood in two rows on either side of the great tent, waiting for Li Chi’s instructions.

Li Chi sat down and smiled. “Why is everyone standing? Go find some camp stools — let’s all sit and talk.”

Yu Jiuling immediately sent his personal guards off to fetch them, and before long they had brought back a considerable number of folding stools. The generals sat down one by one, forming a semicircle.

Li Chi smiled. “Take a guess — after what General Yu just stirred up, what do you think Yang Dingfang will be thinking?”

Xie Huainan sat beside Xie Xiu and nudged his foot with his own, signaling him to take the initiative.

Xie Xiu quickly spoke up: “In reply to my lord — with the great display of General Yu’s powers, Yang Dingfang will surely assume that my lord intends to provoke him into coming out for an open battle.”

Li Chi nodded.

Yang Dingfang would naturally think exactly that. He knew he commanded one hundred and fifty thousand elite troops with the advantage of terrain to rely upon. As long as he held firm, it would not be easy for even the battle-hardened Ning Army to storm his position. This being so, he would only grow more resolute in his conviction that he must absolutely not venture out of camp to give battle.

Li Chi looked at Xie Xiu. “Then have you thought about why — when I should have been drawing the enemy out for an open battle in the field — I have now, by this deliberate provocation, ensured that Yang Dingfang will certainly not come out easily?”

Xie Xiu bowed. “In reply to my lord — it is this subordinate’s belief that since he dares not come out, this presents the opportunity to divide our forces and sever communication between the Xie family estate and the Tianming Army’s camp.”

Li Chi gave a slight nod of approval. Xie Xiu’s thinking was reasonably sharp — but still a step short.

Xie Huainan had thought a step further. He bowed and said: “My lord means that since Yang Dingfang will not dare come out readily, we should… divide our forces and attack Tingyang?”

If they could take the Xie family’s ancestral estate at Tingyang, Yang Dingfang would lose his rear support and supply lines, making victory considerably more assured.

The difficulty was that the Xie family’s estate at Tingyang had been built to be formidably strong — it would be no easy thing to crack. Tingyang was built along the mountain’s contours, with a lake to the rear and a circuit of walls at the front — tall, solid walls — meaning attacking soldiers would have to charge uphill, which was already arduous, while the defenders rained blows down from their elevated position, resulting in massive casualties.

So Xie Huainan had asked, but he was not certain this was truly what Li Chi had in mind.

Li Chi smiled. “Now do you understand why I brought the ships?”

Everyone froze for a moment — and then it all clicked.

They had traveled from Yuzhou by water, and all had assumed Prince Ning had done so for speed. After all, the waterway was at least ten days faster than overland, and a land march over such a distance would have exhausted the soldiers.

A march of more than a month would have delivered a spent and weary army.

“Liu Ge.”

Li Chi looked toward the general Liu Ge who had come with the army.

Liu Ge immediately bowed. “This subordinate is here.”

Li Chi said, “I’m giving you command of the forces on the ships. From here, the waterway around to Tingyang Lake is perhaps three or four days. Take your troops through.”

Liu Ge bowed: “By your command!”

Li Chi turned to Xie Huainan. “Unless I am mistaken, Tingyang was built partway up the mountain and has no wells within its walls — is that correct?”

Xie Huainan answered promptly: “In reply to my lord — Tingyang indeed has no wells, as it is built on a hillside. However, at the lakeside there are dozens of large water wheels that channel lake water up into the city through a network of aqueducts within the walls…”

His words stopped abruptly.

Li Chi smiled and looked at Liu Ge. “You know what to hit now?”

Liu Ge also smiled. “This subordinate has his orders.”

He turned and left.

Li Chi continued: “Between the Xie family’s Tingyang estate and the Tianming Army camp there is a gap of roughly forty-odd li. Cutting the supply road is no great feat, and both the Xie family and Yang Dingfang will be on guard against it — besides, the Tianming Army’s current stockpiles of provisions and materiel are already sufficient for some time. Cutting the supply road will have little real impact on Yang Dingfang. We will still divide our forces to go there, but not many — a single cavalry regiment will do.”

He looked at Xiahou Zuo: “Take all the cavalry and encamp between the Tianming Army’s camp and Tingyang. No need to assault the city, no need to issue challenges — simply encamp there and hold your ground.”

Xiahou Zuo smiled. “If the Xie family’s people are watching from the heights of Tingyang and see that only one regiment is encamped between them and the Tianming Army — and yet the Tianming Army dares not come out to attack — their hearts will turn cold.”

Xie Huainan and Xie Xiu exchanged a glance, both inwardly shaken.

That force planted there was a humiliation — a humiliation aimed at the Xie family, and at Yang Dingfang alike.

*I’m setting just over ten thousand men here. Do you dare come and fight?*

*If you do, I will immediately attack your main camp.*

So — who dares, you or I?

—