Perhaps because the meeting with Tang Pidi had shaken Li Xionghu so deeply, the man of fearsome reputation who dared call himself Hegemon began to make a new move.

Not wishing to rashly lay siege to Suzhou — personally held by Tang Pidi — Li Xionghu, once the weather warmed in March, set about recruiting substantial new forces in preparation for a second march on Jingzhou.

By now Li Xionghu likely understood well enough that fighting the Ning army head-on was not a prospect he could face with much confidence. Suzhou’s walls were tall and formidable, and the Ning forces were not small in number — a direct assault would cost him dearly.

The Tianming King Yang Xuanji had fled back to Shuzhou in disgrace. That opened the door for Li Xionghu.

After all, in Jingzhou at present, Prince Wu’s forces were short on provisions and short on men. With neither the Ning army nor the Tianming Army competing with Li Xionghu for it, the timing truly could not have been better.

But what Li Xionghu feared most was Tang Pidi striking at his rear again the moment he moved on Jingzhou — so he would have to leave behind a sizable enough force to guard against it.

He had thought it all through, but how many men to leave, and who to put in command — that was giving him trouble.

Leave too few, and they couldn’t hold against Tang Pidi. Leave too many, and his march on Jingzhou would lack the force it needed.

He knew full well that the Ning forces inside Suzhou were not that numerous — but that awareness did not make the worry disappear.

While he was still deliberating over who among his commanders could serve as a capable guardian here, Tang Pidi sent him a letter.

Li Xionghu unfolded the letter. He recognized few characters himself and passed it to the advisor at his side.

“Tang Pidi… could this be some sort of scheme?”

The advisor replied: “He says he has already anticipated that Your Majesty intends to march on Jingzhou — and that is precisely why he writes. He wishes to inform Your Majesty that, in consideration of the four months Your Majesty refrained from attacking Suzhou, for the four months following your departure, he likewise will not move against you.”

Li Xionghu listened, and was still for a moment — then burst into loud laughter.

He asked the advisor: “Do you think Tang Pidi has some hidden scheme at play?”

The advisor replied: “This man is known for cunning — he should not be trusted entirely.”

Li Xionghu replied: “What harm in trusting him? You all think him treacherous, but I believe he keeps his word. So there is nothing to fear from the Ning side when we march — if Tang Pidi says four months, then four months it is.”

His subordinates, in truth, did not feel entirely safe believing Tang Pidi’s word. They could not help feeling that a commander of such stature must surely be playing some trick.

But Li Xionghu truly set his mind at rest. He calmly made his arrangements, selected a capable general, assigned him two hundred thousand soldiers, told him to hold position and not engage under any circumstances — and warned that if he dared initiate combat he would be executed on the spot. Then Li Xionghu personally led his main force out once more on the march.

Tang Pidi had refused Li Xionghu’s proposal, and it was that refusal that made Li Xionghu so eager to act.

He had to move quickly while Li Chi was too occupied to free his hands. Once Jingzhou fell to him, and with Yangzhou and Yuezhou already in his possession, he could consolidate his hold on the Jiangnan region.

Shuzhou had its disadvantages — the road from there into the Central Plains was long and the mountain routes treacherous. Even if Yang Xuanji emerged from Shuzhou, with Jingzhou’s great city of Daxing already in Li Xionghu’s hands, how could he hope to break through?

So the plan was clear: take Jingzhou swiftly, seize Dachu’s capital — and regardless of whether Li Chi agreed or not, the reality of a north-south divided realm would be in place.

After that, Li Xionghu need only defend along the Chi River to block any southward advance by the Ning army, while directing the bulk of his forces at Yang Xuanji.

Even if he could not annihilate Yang Xuanji’s Tianming forces, he could drive them back into Shuzhou and keep them from daring to venture out.

Then take Jingzhou and Liangzhou — and the divided realm would become a settled fact, regardless of what Li Chi agreed to.

Li Xionghu may have been unlettered and unschooled, but to have come as far as he had — his grasp of the broader strategic picture was exceptional.

Scholarship is not the same as character. Nor is scholarship the same as capability.

But if Li Xionghu had ever had the benefit of learning, the heights he might have reached would surely have surpassed even what he had now accomplished.

—

Suzhou city.

Luo Jing smiled: “Li Xionghu knows you keep your word. So he’ll use these four months to throw everything he has at Jingzhou. His ability to command soldiers is nowhere near Yang Jiju’s, that old scoundrel — but he doesn’t lack for provisions, and his forces are vast. There’s a real chance that old scoundrel ends up on the losing end of Li Xionghu’s attack.”

Tang Pidi replied: “If that’s how you estimate Prince Wu, your vendetta will be harder to settle than you think.”

Luo Jing said: “I only hope the old scoundrel gets a taste of misfortune — I don’t actually want him dying at Li Xionghu’s hands. That old scoundrel’s head is still mine to take.”

Tang Pidi sighed: “When we eventually march on Jingzhou ourselves, you must not act rashly. Against someone like Prince Wu, a single misstep means defeat. You must be absolutely certain — ten parts out of ten ready — before you make your move.”

Luo Jing nodded: “I know, I know… you lecture me like this again and again. Just like my mother.”

Tang Pidi replied: “This child gives me no peace. Your mother has worn her heart out over you.”

Luo Jing: “Pah—!”

Tang Pidi smiled and said: “Li Xionghu cannot take Jingzhou. Even with Yang Jiju short on soldiers and grain, Li Xionghu will at most grind away some of Yang Jiju’s strength — perhaps even a good portion of it.”

Luo Jing naturally understood what Tang Pidi had in mind.

By laying things out this way, Tang Pidi had repaid Li Xionghu a favor — while also setting Li Xionghu and Yang Jiju up to batter each other into exhaustion. When the Black Wu forces withdrew and the Ning army’s main strength swept south, Jingzhou would fall into their hands without a fight.

“Li Xionghu wants to make use of these next few months — now I’m giving you something to do with your months as well.”

Tang Pidi said: “Go recruit new soldiers. A few months is plenty of time to fill out our ranks.”

Luo Jing gave a firm nod: “Understood.”

It was not only Suzhou. In Yuzhou, Zhuang Wudi was also recruiting and building up his forces. He had been ordered to return and hold Yuzhou with over a hundred thousand troops — but he did not intend to let all those men sit idle in Yuzhou while wasting time.

He planned to keep half in Yuzhou and send the other half north to reinforce the frontier, then recruit and train new soldiers. Mixing new troops with veterans made the training easier.

In Jingzhou, Xie Huainan was likewise recruiting. Every commander knew: once the Prince of Ning drove off the Black Wu forces and returned, the decisive battles for the realm would begin.

So they had to seize this window of time to build up their forces — so that when the Prince of Ning returned, enormous armies would be ready and waiting.

—

The northern frontier.

By mid-April, Li Chi had hurried to Beishan Pass with the Tingwei Army — and to his surprise, when he arrived, the Black Wu forces had not yet begun their assault.

Something seemed off. Holding a million soldiers in the field but making no haste to attack — the daily consumption of provisions alone at that scale was immense. Yefu Lie had commanded armies for half his life; he could not possibly have overlooked this.

If he was not moving, he had to be waiting for something.

“Yefu Lie commands with care and caution — he never fights a battle he isn’t certain of winning.”

Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Chi: “I suspect he is waiting for a powerful siege weapon to arrive. Perhaps there are too many of them, or perhaps they are too large — which would explain why transport has taken so long.”

Li Chi nodded: “That would make sense.”

Xiahou Zuo asked: “Could it be trebuchets?”

Li Chi said: “Black Wu has countless spies throughout the Central Plains — they will have learned about the trebuchets. So whether or not they have them, we must proceed as if they do.”

Li Chi said to Xiahou Zuo: “Pass the order — cut down as many trees as possible and bring them up here. At least the thickness of a man’s thigh — nothing smaller.”

Xiahou Zuo thought for a moment and immediately understood Li Chi’s intention. Hanging timber from the outside of the city walls would help absorb the impact if trebuchet stones were launched against the walls. Even if it couldn’t stop everything, blocking seven or eight parts of the force would be worthwhile.

So Xiahou Zuo immediately dispatched soldiers to fell trees, drill holes through the trunks, thread iron chains through them, and hang them vertically along the outside of the city wall.

Over on the Black Wu side, Yefu Lie raised his spyglass and watched the Ning army’s movements. When he saw what they were doing, the old general’s expression turned somewhat unsightly.

What he had been waiting for was indeed trebuchets.

The Ning army’s use of trebuchets against their enemies — the Black Wu side had learned of this in full detail. They had not managed to obtain the actual blueprints, but they had gathered a number of skilled craftsmen together and described the function and shape of the trebuchet clearly. These craftsmen put their heads together, and before long had produced one of their own.

Moreover, the trebuchets the Black Wu people had built were enormously large.

Precisely because of that, transport had been extraordinarily difficult — which was why Yefu Lie had waited this long.

Beishan Pass was formidable. In years past, without trebuchets, the Black Wu forces had launched fierce assault after fierce assault and never breached it. Naturally, Yefu Lie had to proceed with care.

This time, the Black Wu Khan-Emperor had placed every hope in him. He dared not be anything less than cautious.

In previous Black Wu campaigns southward, the focus had always been on speed. Even before battle began, they had already calculated exactly how many days it would take to break through the frontier pass, how many days to seize Jizhou, how many days to take the Central Plains.

That was nothing but wishful thinking — pipe dreams on paper, in the Central Plains parlance.

In the several previous campaigns southward, Yefu Lie had already retired and had not taken part. Defeat after catastrophic defeat had also made the Black Wu Khan-Emperor understand: without a steady and methodical commander, the southward campaign would forever remain a mirage, a reflection of the moon in water.

“General Commander.”

One of his subordinates had also seen the Ning army hanging timber on the city walls and could not resist asking: “Will what they’re doing actually protect them from our Moon God Cannons?”

The Black Wu people revered the Moon God above all — in particular the people of the Black Wu Eight Tribes, who considered themselves children of the Moon God. So when they built those massive engines of devastating power, they named them after the Moon God.

“They intend to use timber to absorb the impact and protect the walls. It will certainly have some effect — but everything has its advantages and disadvantages. With the timber hanging there on the outside, we can turn it to our use as well.”

Yefu Lie turned and walked back into his command tent: “Bring paper and brush — I want to draw something. Have the drawing sent to the supply train and tell them to fabricate it as quickly as possible.”

—

Beishan Pass.

Li Chi leaned against the city wall, glanced at the smoking pipe hanging from Xiahou Zuo’s belt, reached out, unhooked it, and tossed it over the wall.

Xiahou Zuo: “Are you out of your mind…?”

Li Chi said: “A young man walking around with a pipe hanging off him — you look like an old man shuffling along. Not a good look.”

Xiahou Zuo: “That pipe is *worth something* — the mouthpiece is solid gold! Gold!”

Li Chi immediately called out: “Somebody — lower me down on a rope.”

He gave Xiahou Zuo a withering look: “Such extravagance!”

Xiahou Zuo: “I won it looting on the battlefield — what’s wrong with that?”

Li Chi actually had someone tie a rope to the battlements. His subordinates wanted to climb down themselves, but Li Chi refused — he went down himself to retrieve the pipe.

As he was hauling himself back up the rope, Li Chi suddenly stopped.

He looked up at the rope he was gripping, then looked at the timber hanging from the outside of the wall. His gaze went distant.

Xiahou Zuo peered down from above: “Why aren’t you coming up?”

Li Chi didn’t answer. He stared at the timber and drifted away in thought.