Outside Suzhou city, at the Ten-Li Pavilion.

March in Suzhou already held eight parts of beauty — every blade of grass, every tree branch formed its own scene naturally, effortlessly surpassing anything human craftsmanship might contrive.

When Tang Pidi arrived, Li Xionghu had gotten there before him. Seeing Tang Pidi approach, Li Xionghu rose to his feet to receive him.

“General Tang Pidi!”

Li Xionghu cupped his hands in salute: “A long-admired name.”

Tang Pidi returned the salute: “Greetings, Hegemon.”

Li Xionghu gestured toward the stone table in the pavilion: “I’ve prepared some food and drink — though whether the General Commander dares to eat is another matter.”

Tang Pidi laughed and asked: “Because it’s not good?”

Li Xionghu broke into a loud laugh: “Boldness! I like it!”

The two sat down inside the pavilion. Li Xionghu picked up his chopsticks and took one bite from each dish: “I won’t pretend to be a good man — I’ve killed and burned more than most. But one thing I’ve never done: I don’t play the villain. When meeting someone face to face, poisoning the food is something I consider low enough to earn a son with no backside.”

Tang Pidi smiled. He knew Li Xionghu’s reputation well enough.

Li Xionghu continued: “The General Commander should also know — I’ve sent countless men to try and kill that dog Emperor. My standing order to my people is: any means necessary, just get it done. But if today it were that dog Emperor sitting here drinking with me, I still couldn’t bring myself to put poison in the food.”

Tang Pidi said: “I believe you.”

Those two words made Li Xionghu feel a stirring of genuine warmth inside him.

To be understood by your adversary — that too was its own kind of satisfaction.

“I used to think the world contained only two kinds of people,” Li Xionghu said. “Those who submit to me, and those who fear me. But ever since I encountered you, I’ve learned there are people in this world who neither submit to me nor fear me — people who’ve even made me, in two or three parts, respect them.”

Tang Pidi replied: “On the battlefield, seven or eight parts of it is luck.”

Li Xionghu shook his head: “I may be a rough man, but I’m no fool. What you call seven or eight parts of luck — that means either you prepared thoroughly and planned well from the start, or your strength far outstripped your opponent’s.”

He looked at Tang Pidi: “So the fact that you’ve beaten me time and again — I admire you for it.”

Tang Pidi smiled but said nothing in reply.

Li Xionghu poured Tang Pidi a cup of wine, then poured one for himself — and just as before, he drank his own cup first, then poured himself another.

“Yesterday I received a letter from that dog Emperor.”

Li Xionghu looked at Tang Pidi: “Can the General Commander guess what the letter more or less said?”

Tang Pidi lifted his wine cup and poured a long stream of wine across the stone table.

Li Xionghu burst into laughter: “The General Commander truly is remarkable — you saw through the dog Emperor’s intentions that easily.”

Tang Pidi said: “Not so hard to guess. Think about it — what else can he do at this point… He told you he’d hand over the Prince of Ning’s territories to you, proposing you divide the realm with him along the river — north and south, two separate kingdoms.”

Li Xionghu asked: “Then guess how I replied.”

Tang Pidi said: “Probably cursed him out thoroughly.”

Li Xionghu laughed again, gave Tang Pidi a thumbs-up, and raised his wine cup: “Please.”

Tang Pidi raised his cup. Both men drank it down in one go.

After emptying his cup, Li Xionghu smiled and asked: “For me to divide the realm with that kind of man — it would be an insult to me. The General Commander saw through exactly what that letter said — now tell me, can you guess why I invited you here to meet today?”

Tang Pidi set down his wine cup and pointed to the line of wine he had poured out on the table.

This time Li Xionghu was genuinely taken aback. He had not expected Tang Pidi to see through his purpose this easily as well.

After a moment of silence, Li Xionghu said: “For the Prince of Ning to have someone like the General Commander by his side — I envy him deeply.”

Tang Pidi smiled: “Even I envy myself — to be a subject of the Prince of Ning.”

That line earned Li Xionghu’s respect for Tang Pidi several degrees more.

He poured Tang Pidi another full cup, talking as he poured: “The rivers and mountains of this realm cannot remain in the hands of those people.”

Tang Pidi nodded: “No.”

Li Xionghu said: “The General Commander has seen for yourself what those people have done to the common folk of this realm. If they remain on the throne, the realm will keep suffering under them. In my view, Dachu must fall, and Yang Xuanji must die. As for these rivers and mountains — I am willing to share them equally with the Prince of Ning.”

He pointed to the line of wine Tang Pidi had poured out on the table: “Everything north of the Chi River — the Prince of Ning’s domain. I can swear an oath before the General Commander: I will not encroach upon it by a single inch. South of the Chi River — I will take care of it.”

Tang Pidi replied: “No.”

Li Xionghu was once again unprepared for how direct Tang Pidi’s refusal was — not even a hint of gentleness or softening.

Li Xionghu said: “The General Commander should know that at this moment, in all the realm, only the Prince of Ning and I have the strength to contend for supremacy. If the Prince of Ning and I fight each other to the death, the conflict throughout the realm will drag on far longer. With the Prince of Ning in the north and me in the south, the Central Plains could be restored to peace.”

Tang Pidi replied: “A realm divided in two has never known lasting peace.”

Li Xionghu said: “I can swear an oath.”

Tang Pidi asked: “And your son? And your grandson?”

Li Xionghu was stunned.

Tang Pidi said: “Better that I rid this realm of its Hegemon — and with him gone, there will be no Hegemon’s son or grandson to worry about.”

The general standing behind Li Xionghu immediately gripped his sword hilt: “How dare you—!”

Tang Pidi lifted his eyes and looked at him. The look was so unhurried, so utterly flat — and yet that man’s gaze immediately flickered.

Tang Pidi moved his eyes away from the man’s face and looked back at Li Xionghu: “Hegemon, you surely know: the realm has seen periods of north-south division, eras of three-way fragmentation, even times of scattered multi-state conflict — and in the end, what was the outcome?”

Li Xionghu said: “But the General Commander must also understand — it won’t be easy for me to defeat the Prince of Ning, and it won’t be easy for the Prince of Ning to defeat me either.”

Tang Pidi replied: “Hegemon is overestimating himself.”

Li Xionghu’s expression turned ugly.

The general behind him erupted in fury: “Tang Pidi — don’t mistake tolerance for weakness! Dare to show my Hegemon any further disrespect and I’ll spill your blood right here!”

Tang Pidi glanced at Li Xionghu: “The Hegemon’s subordinates — fierce enough.”

Li Xionghu wheeled on the man behind him: “You — I’m speaking with the General Commander. What gives you the right to barge in with your nonsense? Get out!”

The man opened his mouth. In the end, he simply gripped his sword hilt and walked out of the pavilion.

Li Xionghu smiled: “General Commander, pay him no mind. My people are all rough stock — no sense of proportion in their speech. Probably takes after me; we speak straight.”

Tang Pidi replied: “No offense taken. But that is precisely why — because of that — it cannot be you.”

Li Xionghu’s smile froze.

Tang Pidi cupped his hands in salute: “Hegemon, for these several months of not attacking Suzhou, you’ve shown both national and moral resolve, and taken the welfare of all the people of the realm upon yourself — on behalf of the Prince of Ning, I offer my thanks.”

Li Xionghu replied: “Whatever national resolve or welfare of the realm you’re talking about — I never thought about any of that. I just knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. So don’t thank me for it.”

He looked at Tang Pidi with sincerity: “But the things I’ve said to the General Commander today — I’d ask the General Commander to consider them with the Prince of Ning and let him think it over carefully.”

“No need.”

Tang Pidi replied: “This is not the kind of matter that requires consulting the Prince of Ning.”

He rose to his feet: “I am the Prince of Ning’s subject and the supreme commander of the three armies. I have yet to win the realm for the Prince of Ning — and yet I would counsel the Prince of Ning to share the realm with someone else. I would feel ashamed of myself. With my standing, there are only two things regarding the enemy that warrant consulting the Prince of Ning: whether to destroy him — or whether to spare him.”

Li Xionghu’s expression turned dark. He rose as well: “Then the General Commander should know — once the threat from the northern frontier is driven off, I will place the Prince of Ning at the top of my list of enemies. From then on, I will do everything in my power to defeat the Prince of Ning.”

Tang Pidi smiled: “Hegemon — you should have put the Prince of Ning at the top of that list long ago.”

Li Xionghu said: “The General Commander’s confidence is admirable. But when the time truly comes to fight, neither the Prince of Ning nor you may get what you wish for.”

Tang Pidi smiled: “Today, the Hegemon invited me here to meet. Not the Prince of Ning — and not I — who invited you.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

The general who had been sent outside, still stinging from the humiliation of Tang Pidi’s stare and furious at his apparent arrogance, saw him leave like this. He drew his long sword: “You think you can come and go as you please?!”

The blade had barely cleared the scabbard when a scorching pain blazed through his hand.

He looked down. The sword in his right hand had, in an instant, been taken by Tang Pidi — yet he had seen no sign of Tang Pidi’s hand moving at all.

“Disrespecting me warrants death. Out of respect for the Hegemon’s decision not to attack Suzhou, I will only cripple the hand that dared draw a blade against me.”

The words had barely fallen when that general’s right forearm flew upward into the air — from the elbow down, severed in one clean cut.

Tang Pidi casually snapped the tempered blade in two and tossed the pieces aside, swung onto his horse, and looked back at Li Xionghu: “Hegemon should think carefully — you’ve already agreed to share the realm with someone else. Is there any dignity left in that for a man who still calls himself a Hegemon?”

With that, he spurred his horse and rode away.

Li Xionghu watched Tang Pidi gallop off, then looked at the subordinate with the severed arm. His expression had reached the darkest it could go.

“Disgraceful.”

Li Xionghu snapped the words out, paid no further attention to the wounded man, and turned and left.

On the ride back, Li Xionghu’s mind kept turning over Tang Pidi’s words… *You’ve already agreed to share the realm with someone else — is there any dignity left in that for a man who calls himself Hegemon?*

He also thought about how this meeting he had arranged with Tang Pidi had, in truth, come from a fear of the Ning army that had already taken root in his heart. Plainly put — he knew he likely could not win.

From the time he raised his banner in Yuezhou, he had never known defeat. A million soldiers; wherever they swept, mountains fell and seas overturned. Others feared him — never had he feared anyone else.

Yet in the battle of Suzhou, Tang Pidi with one-fifth of his forces had cut down one-half of his army and taken all of Suzhou besides.

“If I had someone like Tang Pidi under my command — how much easier I could rest.”

Li Xionghu murmured to himself, and his heart grew all the more troubled.

—

Not long afterward, Tang Pidi returned inside the walls of Suzhou. Luo Jing came out to meet him and asked: “That man — was he really hoping to divide the realm equally with the Prince of Ning?”

Tang Pidi gave a small nod: “Yes, that was his proposal.”

Luo Jing smiled: “So this so-called Hegemon — what is there left to worry about? Nothing but an empty title.”

Tang Pidi replied: “The way you put it — does that mean you once took him seriously?”

Luo Jing paused, then raised a thumbs-up: “You’re something else. You really are. When it comes to putting on a show, there’s no one in this world who can match you.”

Tang Pidi replied: “That flattery rhymes — that’s no small feat.”

Luo Jing said: “Oh, you like that sort of thing? Then it’s easy enough… Tang Pidi, truly grand and free, call yourself second, no one dares claim first.”

Tang Pidi sighed: “Ninth Sister’s influence — it really has been quite something.”

Luo Jing laughed heartily.

The two walked and talked, going over the details of Li Xionghu’s meeting with Tang Pidi. Luo Jing could see it clearly — Li Xionghu’s nerve had already given out.

In this realm today, any man who steps forward and says *I am willing to share the realm equally with the Prince of Ning* has already admitted to himself that he cannot prevail.

If they genuinely believed they could win — would they willingly hand you half their candy?

“They’re not up to it — and that means we are.”

Luo Jing smiled: “Once the northern frontier situation is resolved, it’s time to make it clear to all of them: even dreaming that they could share the realm equally with the Prince of Ning — that dream was never theirs to dream.”

—