The Xie family matter Li Chi left for Xie Huainan to settle — an arrangement that was best for Xie Huainan, best for the Xie family, and when looked at from a wider vantage, best as a lesson for all the great clans of Jingzhou who were watching with trembling anxiety.

With the Xie family’s example before them, what option remained? The best road seemed to be laid plainly in front of them already.

As for the Ning Army, what remained was to deal with Yang Dingfang’s one hundred and fifty thousand Tianming Army troops — seasoned, numerous, and in all honesty a truly formidable enemy. Yang Dingfang was a gifted commander, no empty vessel — this last hard stone had yet to be broken.

Every step had been within Li Chi’s calculations. Naturally he had not waited until now to think about how to break this stone.

Once the Xie family matter was settled to his satisfaction, Li Chi began laying out his offensive against Yang Dingfang.

The first wave of that offensive would not take place on the battlefield.

Li Chi looked at Yu Jiuling. “In all these days you’ve been gathering people — roughly how many do you have now?”

Yu Jiuling grinned. “Quite a few. If I put out the call, I’d say a few thousand is no problem. Chief, you don’t know — I’ve built up quite a reputation these past days.”

Li Chi did not believe him.

He smiled. “You managed to mobilize several thousand people here in Jingzhou? Tell me then — how much silver did you spend?”

Yu Jiuling said: “Honestly, not much at all. I’ve found, Chief, that you’re not actually skilled at every kind of business.”

Li Chi asked: “How so?”

Yu Jiuling said: “Let me get the people moving first. If I can’t get that many, you can say I was boasting — but when the time comes and you see how many actually show up and it exceeds all expectation, Chief, you’ll owe me a reward.”

Li Chi laughed. “If it truly exceeds expectation, then I’ll truly reward you.”

Yu Jiuling spun around and dashed off. “Right then! Just you wait and see a grand spectacle!”

The next day, a massive crowd came flooding up to the outside of the Tianming Army’s camp. Yang Dingfang received the alert and rushed to the front to assess — then froze for a moment, and the color drained from his face.

Because the moment he laid eyes on those people, he understood Prince Ning Li Chi’s scheme entirely — and it was ruthless.

Yu Jiuling walked in front, leading a group of old men and old women — genuinely several thousand of them. They stopped about two or three li from the Tianming Army’s camp, and Yu Jiuling climbed to the top of a high slope and waved his arm for attention.

“Esteemed elders, grandmothers, grandfathers — let me ask you something. Has this Yu, your servant, been a man of his word? You’ve all seen it for yourselves, haven’t you?”

“Yes!” The crowd of old folk responded with considerable enthusiasm.

Yu Jiuling called out: “The first day I said: line up to collect eggs, five each, first come first served, free of charge — did I keep my word?!”

“You did!”

The old folk gave another response.

Yu Jiuling continued: “The second day I said: same arrangement, line up for eggs, five each, first come first served, still free — did I charge anyone?”

“You didn’t.”

These old folk were perfectly cooperative — and understandably so, given that they had accepted eggs from him.

Yu Jiuling said: “The third day I said: each person to receive one hundred copper coins, first come first served — elders and grandmothers, you all received them, didn’t you?”

“We did.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Today I am as good as my word, as ever — and today we’re going big. I have one request: if you elders help me with something, each of you will receive two taels of silver!”

At this, every pair of eyes in the crowd of old folk lit up — blazing with light.

Yu Jiuling said: “Now we walk with me one hundred more steps forward. Count carefully — one hundred steps, then stop. Then follow my lead and shout. Whatever I shout, you shout. Half a day’s work — two taels each.”

“Gladly!”

The old folk called out their agreement, full of excitement.

Yu Jiuling beckoned with one arm and led this remarkable troop one hundred steps further forward. Then he stepped behind the crowd, raised his hand, and shouted: “Sons and daughters! Stop fighting! Come home!”

He shouted, and the crowd of old grandmothers and grandfathers joined in.

Several thousand voices together — the sound was actually rather impressive.

Up on the high slope, Li Chi watched this unfolding scene and laughed so hard his face nearly twisted sideways. He thought to himself: Ninth Brother, oh Ninth Brother — you are a true and singular genius.

Yu Jiuling shouted: “Sons and daughters — your fathers and mothers miss you. Stop fighting. Come home! There’s a meal waiting for you at home!”

And the sound rose in response, growing louder and louder.

No one quite knew how it happened, but at some point some of the old folk may truly have had children or grandchildren serving in the Tianming Army, and they began to shout with real feeling.

And once those who were genuinely moved started shouting, the others followed, and the emotion spread.

Up on the high slope, Li Chi sat cross-legged on the ground and worked out the math on his fingers.

Roughly five thousand people — ten thousand taels per day. Running this for ten days would only be one hundred thousand taels. If the Tianming Army’s side showed no sign of wavering after ten days of this, it would be extraordinary.

When Yang Xuanji had departed Shu Province, the forces he brought were the core of his personal army. Those troops were still gathered around him now. After taking Liangzhou and Jingzhou, he had recruited fresh soldiers and dispatched capable commanders to administer them — and so of Yang Dingfang’s current hundred and fifty thousand, the majority were from Jingzhou, with a smaller portion from Liangzhou.

To spend one hundred thousand taels shattering the enemy’s morale from within — that was unquestionably a sound investment.

Li Chi laughed with uncontainable delight. Some of the generals who had served in the official Great Chu armies — Xie Xiu and the others — were bewildered beyond words.

When had they ever imagined war could be waged this way?

This was quite possibly the largest single deployment of civilian performers in any military operation in the entire history of the central plains.

On the other side, the sound rose in wave after wave, each crest higher than the last. Those moved to genuine emotion were already weeping, which made the scene all the more affecting.

Over in the Tianming Army camp, great numbers of soldiers had gathered, pressing against the wooden palisade to look out. One after another their hearts grew heavy and their moods dark.

Listening to those cries, watching the crowd outside, many could not quite tell — were their own parents truly among those people out there?

But those voices — speaking in the home tongue — truly plucked at something deep in the heart.

Without realizing it, some had eyes brimming with tears.

It was not only the soldiers from Jingzhou who felt the ache — those from Liangzhou felt it even more acutely. Their homes were not here, yet the call was the same. Some recalled how their parents had seen them off when they left, and the tears came freely.

After they had been at it for about half an hour, Yu Jiuling turned to his personal guards: “Go on — bring water for the grandmothers and grandfathers. Don’t let anyone get thirsty.”

The guards went through the crowd one by one distributing water, in fine leather waterskins — the good kind, the sort ordinary folk never laid hands on in daily life.

Yu Jiuling announced: one each for everyone. At this, the grandmothers and grandfathers grew even more delighted.

Yu Jiuling called out: “Elders and grandmothers! Do keep your emotions in check — that was excellent just now, very affecting and heartfelt. But now everyone’s smiling a bit too broadly. Getting a waterskin is certainly cause for happiness, but for now everyone needs to put those smiles away and bring back the feeling we had just now. Come on — let’s go one more round and then we’ll head back. I’ll be providing a meal.”

And they were providing a meal on top of everything else.

To be perfectly honest — for these elderly folk, this was the most favorable arrangement imaginable.

All those eggs they’d each taken home these past days. From today onward, two taels of silver per day, half a day’s work, a waterskin included, and a meal laid on besides.

As one old grandfather who preferred not to give his name put it: even a young man in his prime doesn’t earn two taels of silver in a day.

As one old grandmother who also preferred not to give her name put it: General Yu is a good man. Never mind the silver — if he just asked us to help him with this without paying anything, we’d come all the same. One good turn deserves another.

After the first half-day’s work was done, Yu Jiuling led his grandmothers and grandfathers back to a town several li away, where the Ning Army’s field kitchens had everything prepared.

Steamed buns with generous fillings, all you could eat, and rice congee to drink.

The result on the second day came as quite a shock. Word of this arrangement had spread with remarkable speed, and the next morning the number of people gathering at the town had grown by more than four or five times. A sweep of the eyes showed nothing but people in every direction.

The grandmothers and grandfathers from the first day — oh, how they regretted going home and boasting about it.

Glancing around, there were even people fighting in the crowd — people pressing in from all sides.

Yu Jiuling hastily announced: no one under fifty, no one under ten.

The selection process alone took all morning, and from the crowd they chose another two or three thousand people — among them over a thousand children.

These young performers — were superb.

Their voices carried further and penetrated deeper, with greater power to move.

When those young, unformed voices rang out, many in the Tianming Army simply broke down entirely.

Children calling out: *Father! Stop fighting! Come home!* — how many could bear to hear that?

Liu Ge’s forces at the lakeside had entered Tingyang to take over the garrison duties, and once Tingyang was under Ning Army control, Xiahou Zuo’s cavalry regiment had returned to the main Ning Army camp as well.

Now, standing beside Li Chi, Xiahou Zuo watched this rather extraordinary scene unfold and could not help releasing a long, slow breath.

Li Chi asked him: “What are you feeling?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “What Ninth Brother is doing here — it’s not exactly upright. But it is spectacular.”

Li Chi gave him a little round of applause for that assessment.

When the second half-day’s session concluded, Yu Jiuling led his old and young performers back to the town for their meal.

Not one standard was compromised for the children — same two taels of silver each, same as the adults. And there was an additional rule: children had to be collected by a parent before they could leave. An unsupervised child walking home alone with two taels of silver was an invitation for wolves in human skin.

On the third day, Li Chi and Xiahou Zuo arrived early to claim their watching post. They had found an excellent vantage point — the angle from the high slope was perfect for reclining and observing.

And recline they did, having brought along sunflower seeds and peanuts, fruit and pastries, with someone beside them setting a kettle to brew tea.

Watching Yu Jiuling bustle about, Xiahou Zuo smiled and said to Li Chi: “With a helper like Ninth Brother, so much can be accomplished for so little effort. This talent for getting things done — he truly lives up to his name: Yu Jiuling, the man who always meant to start a rebellion.”

Li Chi burst out laughing.

*Yu Jiuling, who always meant to start a rebellion — loyal to the marrow, he always delivers.*

Three days of calling out — Li Chi and his men could not see what effect it was having inside the Tianming Army’s camp, but Li Chi knew: a man’s heart can soften, but an army’s heart cannot. Once an army’s heart softens, the battle is lost.

Inside the Tianming Army’s encampment.

Yang Dingfang stood alone at the entrance to his command tent, watching. He watched the patrolling soldiers pass, watched the soldiers on guard duty in the distance, watched how their heads turned intermittently toward the direction from which the shouting outside came.

Yang Dingfang knew: the army’s heart was no longer firm.

Besieged and surrounded, with voices calling from the homeland outside — the soldiers now gripping their weapons had little killing spirit left to speak of.

“General.”

An aide approached and murmured: “Reports from each camp — many soldiers have been crying in the night.”

Yang Dingfang nodded and said nothing. There was nothing to say. He did not know what could be said.

After a long silence he gave the order: “Summon all camp commanders for a council.”

Yang Dingfang let out a long, heavy breath. There were only two roads left now: either keep waiting for reinforcements that might never come, or break out.

—