“Just how big is this biggest obstacle, exactly?”

Changmei Daoren’s heart was genuinely unsettled, and he anxiously blurted out the question.

Long ago, Old Zhang Zhenren had said that for Li Diudiu’er to win this kingdom, there would be several rises and falls, several obstacles along the way.

Now, given how favorable the current situation was, they were still abandoning Jingzhou — so Changmei Daoren wondered if this was one of those rises and falls he’d spoken of.

Changmei Daoren looked at Old Zhang Zhenren, hoping for a reassuring answer.

Old Zhang Zhenren said, “These things have no fixed measure.”

That answer left Changmei Daoren feeling even worse. That kind of feeling — only a father could understand it, and especially a single father like him, who had raised Li Chi through so many hardships on his own.

“Prince Ning has fortune on his side. What are you so worried about?”

Old Zhang Zhenren shot Changmei Daoren a sideways glance.

Changmei Daoren truly could not set his mind at ease. Still tense, he pressed again, “Can’t you calculate it more carefully? You’re a Daoren, after all.”

Old Zhang Zhenren replied, “Aren’t you a Daoren yourself? Can’t you calculate it?”

Changmei Daoren said, “Mine’s all fake.”

Old Zhang Zhenren replied, “You think mine is real?”

Gao Yuanzhang looked at the two of them, his face utterly blank.

Old Zhang Zhenren sighed, “Why are you so anxious?”

Changmei Daoren said, “He and Yongning haven’t even gotten married yet!”

Old Zhang Zhenren turned that sentence over in his mind and considered its deeper meaning. This was no jest — this was a matter of consequence for all the ages to come.

It was Prince Ning who was destined to save the realm, and Prince Ning had no heir yet. If something were to happen to Prince Ning, who would be left to save the world?

So if Prince Ning had an heir, wouldn’t that mean peace for ten thousand generations?

Thinking of it that way, Old Zhang Zhenren suddenly felt that Changmei Daoren had grown considerably in stature.

Just as he was musing on this, Changmei Daoren sighed and said, “He’s still just a young man, he doesn’t know anything. Poor thing.”

With that one sentence, he was warning Old Zhang Zhenren — you may think I’m on the ninth level of understanding, but I’m actually on the first.

In Changmei Daoren’s view, whether the realm was saved or not wasn’t truly the most important thing. Even if Prince Ning lost his title right now, even if he lost several territories, those were all things that could be endured.

The single most pressing matter was that his foolish little Diudiu had to marry Yongning. The two children couldn’t afford to delay, and their having children of their own couldn’t afford to be delayed either.

Old Zhang Zhenren thought of this and let out a soft laugh. Seeing that he could still laugh, Changmei Daoren felt a little more at ease.

“It’s just a matter of fighting a few Black Martial warriors. It’s nothing remarkable — it’s not as if we haven’t done it before.”

Gao Yuanzhang offered a concluding remark: “What life doesn’t have its stumbling blocks? Whose fate has no ups and downs? It’s only a temporary setback — he can’t become emperor right now, but that doesn’t mean he never will. We need to open our hearts a little wider, and not always look at the dark side of things.”

Old Zhang Zhenren said, “Those are grand words, but in my view, the stumbling block in *your* own heart is the hardest to get past. Your heart is too narrow.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “Rubbish! Who are you calling narrow-hearted!”

Old Zhang Zhenren said, “You.”

Gao Yuanzhang turned to Changmei Daoren: “Say something fair!”

Changmei Daoren said, “You want me to say something fair… Isn’t that like going to a quack when you’re sick? Your heart really isn’t that broad to begin with.”

Gao Yuanzhang said, “I think we ought to reconsider the marriage between Yongning and Diudiu.”

Changmei Daoren grabbed Gao Yuanzhang’s arm at once: “It’s broad, yours is especially broad — as broad as can be, a hundred times broader than mine. You’re Gao Yi-Qian-Qi.”

Gao Yuanzhang gave a satisfied grunt: “Now that’s fair.”

Inside the carriage, the three old men chattered away. Outside the carriage, the great army continued pressing forward at full speed.

Their destination was Dragon Head Pass. Li Chi had said before that their first target this time was not the Black Martial forces in the northern frontier — it was the Sang people and the Bohai people.

What they didn’t yet know, halfway along the road, was that the Bohai forces had already been nearly annihilated, and barely a tenth of them had fled back in disgrace.

Even the prince whom the Black Martial Empire had sent to oversee the battle had been struck by an arrow in the chaos — fortunately, he was tough enough that it hadn’t hit anything vital.

The Sang forces had escaped with fewer than ten thousand men, and without the nerve to cause further trouble anywhere, they had already boarded their sea vessels and retreated back toward Bohai.

So the war had come full circle back to where it began.

At last, they reached Dragon Head Pass — but the main force of the Ning Army had already set out for Yanzhou, and the armies of Xu Ji and Shen Shanhu had both rushed northeast to garrison the frontier and the coastal districts.

At Dragon Head Pass, Li Chi heard word of the events at Liaocheng. This made even him curious — a new recruit with such ability and performance deserved to be met in person.

He heard that Shen Shanhu had directly promoted that scout to a fourth-rank general, something that had no precedent — yet Li Chi felt there was nothing the least bit improper about it.

War merits like that were more than worthy of a senior fourth-rank generalship. One could even argue they deserved more.

It wasn’t simply a matter of holding Liaocheng on the surface. That defense had stopped the enemy from driving into Jizhou and striking Dragon Head Pass from the rear — what had been saved wasn’t just one city, but the entire northern frontier.

Had the Sang people’s plan succeeded and Dragon Head Pass been broken from behind, Yanzhou would have fallen, and Jizhou with it.

The Sang forces would have welcomed the Black Martial million-strong army through the pass. Could the Bohai and Sang forces even compare to the combat strength of the Black Martial warriors?

“Liaocheng’s position remains critical. The Sang forces have suffered heavy losses and no longer have the strength to fight — but they have sea vessels.”

Li Chi looked at those under his command and said, “They don’t have the capacity to return to Sang and recruit a larger army, but they can ferry Bohai troops across ship by ship. Based on current intelligence, the Sang fleet can transport roughly one hundred thousand troops per voyage. They’ve most likely already returned to Bohai by now. When they come back, what they’ll be bringing is Bohai soldiers.”

Gao Xining gave an acknowledging sound. Though she understood little of military affairs, she knew that an enemy with sea vessels held a decisive advantage.

A fleet carrying one hundred thousand troops could land anywhere there was a shoreline — meaning the enemy could appear suddenly behind the Ning Army.

Even if coastal defenses were tight right now, the coastline was far too long to seal completely.

“They will certainly come back.”

Gao Xining said, “By normal reasoning, the Sang forces lost nearly everything at Liaocheng and shouldn’t dare return — but my guess is that’s exactly what the Sang forces are counting on the Ning Army to think.”

Li Chi nodded: “It’s not impossible. So we need to reinforce Liaocheng.”

He turned to Weichi Guangming: “I’ll give you twenty thousand troops to go to Liaocheng and secure that stretch of coastline. Twenty thousand isn’t many — do your best.”

Weichi Guangming bowed and said, “My lord, rest easy. Once I arrive, I’ll defer to General Tang as the primary commander — he knows the terrain and the battlefield far better.”

Li Chi smiled at him: “The two of you work it out between yourselves. Once you’ve gotten familiar with the situation, I still want to bring Tang Qingyuan over for a look — I’m curious what kind of person this standout young man actually is.”

Having settled the matter of dividing forces, Li Chi sent a messenger ahead to Xiahou Zuo while still on the road, telling him to take his forces directly to the northern frontier. If everyone went to the eastern frontier, the troops would all be concentrated in the northeast — and if the Black Martial forces broke through the northern frontier, Li Chi and his army would all be cut off with no way back.

After resting for a day at Dragon Head Pass, the army set out again.

In the carriage, Li Chi unrolled the map and used a charcoal brush to mark all the locations where battles had been fought, cross-referencing the intelligence he had.

Gao Xining sat watching him, eyes bright and shining, thinking to herself: a man who is completely absorbed in what he’s doing is really quite dashing.

“We’re going here.”

Li Chi tapped a spot on the map with the charcoal brush.

Gao Xining leaned over to look. The place on the map was called Mengyuan Fort. It felt familiar — she suddenly recalled that a battle had been fought there.

“Three hundred li south of Mengyuan Fort is the coastline, and several hundred li to the northeast is the frontier pass. If we’re stationed at Mengyuan Fort, we can provide support in either direction at any time.”

Li Chi set down the charcoal brush and looked at Gao Xining: “It’ll be freezing cold when we get there. You need to dress warmly.”

Gao Xining stretched out her legs: “Legs this long, this straight, this beautiful — and yet they’re imprisoned in thick padded trousers, thermal leggings, fleece-lined pants, and long underwear. And now you want me to add *more*.”

Li Chi burst out laughing and stretched out his own legs: “How are mine any worse? The only difference is one layer of thermal leggings, one layer of fleece, and one layer of long underwear.”

Gao Xining said, “Don’t tell me you’re wearing your great padded trousers with nothing underneath?”

Li Chi said, “Of course.”

Gao Xining said, “I don’t believe you. Let me check.”

Li Chi scrambled back in alarm: “Check? You just want to take liberties with me.”

Gao Xining sighed, “This is the kind of taking-liberties that *you* were supposed to initiate and haven’t, so it falls to me — and you have the nerve to refuse?”

Li Chi said, “Please conduct yourself with some decorum. Do you think these are just ordinary padded trousers? This is a mighty fortress. Don’t even think about breaching it.”

Gao Xining said, “You’re going to die a bachelor, that’s what you’ll do!”

Li Chi laughed until the corners of his mouth nearly cramped.

“A while back, those three old men seemed to be conspiring about something.”

Gao Xining scooted closer to Li Chi: “Have you noticed anything odd about them lately?”

Li Chi shook his head. He had been so caught up in military affairs during this stretch that he truly hadn’t noticed anything odd about the three old men.

Gao Xining said, “They’ve been acting shady. I keep feeling like they’re plotting something.”

Li Chi said, “What could they be plotting — slipping something into your drink and then handing me the antidote…?”

Gao Xining said, “How did you know I had something?!”

Li Chi said, “So you really do!”

Gao Xining hastily said, “It’s not mine, I didn’t actively go looking for it — Xiahou Yili forced it on me. She said to keep it on hand, just in case.”

“Hmm…”

Li Chi said, “Carrying a sedative, just in case… No wonder her big brother Xiahou Little Zuo-Zuo was dead set on forging me an iron chastity belt back in Yuzhou.”

Gao Xining burst out laughing.

She said, in a tone of someone deeply frustrated with a hopeless case: “The iron belt isn’t on your body — the iron belt is in your heart. The moment you unlock that iron belt in your heart, you’ll be able to unlock the gateway to your own soul.”

Li Chi said, “Is that what that gateway is?”

Gao Xining said, “Pfft — *that’s* the kind of indecent nonsense you do know how to spout.”

She asked, “Aren’t you curious what those three old men were plotting?”

Li Chi said, “The fact that you’re asking me means you don’t know either. Stop trying to trick me.”

Gao Xining grinned slyly: “Well, as it happens, I do know.”

Li Chi asked, “What is it?”

Gao Xining leaned in with a mischievous air: “Those three old men said they’re worried this war is going to drag on for a long time and that your coronation will be delayed — so they thought, why not have the two of us get married first, and it would be best if we had an heir right away, and they’d like me to have your child.”

Li Chi said, “How did you find out?”

Gao Xining laughed heartily: “Because those three old men came and discussed it with me.”

Li Chi’s eyes snapped wide open, blazing with a blinding light of pure virtue, like two meteor-sized eggs radiating brilliance.

He asked urgently: “And what did you tell those three old men?”

Gao Xining slapped her chest: “Am I someone who just bends to whatever they want? If they don’t want us sleeping together, we won’t sleep together — and if they *do* want us sleeping together, we have to sleep together? What kind of logic is that? I gave them a firm rejection.”

Li Chi raised a thumb: “You know what, it’s not without reason that you can’t play matchmaker, and it’s not without reason that you’ll end up dying a spinster — and you were lecturing *me*… You can die a bachelor too!”

Gao Xining: “……”

—