Yu Wan’s death dealt Yang Xuanji a blow ten thousand times more painful than any victory Prince Wu had managed to win against him. A defeat at Prince Wu’s hands was, at worst, a matter of casualties and lost ground — but Yu Wan’s death had transformed Daxing into an impregnable fortress of ten thousand fathoms, walls of bronze and ramparts of iron, impossible to breach.

The people of Daxing would be made indescribably united by Yu Wan’s death. One man’s life, sacrificed in this way, was worth more than killing ten thousand Tianming Army soldiers in defense of the city — no, more than killing fifty thousand.

And so Yang Xuanji was consumed with regret.

He had been baited simply by a few cutting words from Yu Wan — but at its root, it was a consequence of his own nature. Arrogant in triumph, vicious when cornered. He had believed victory was already his, and so he had looked down on Yu Wan, been provoked by a handful of words, and ordered Yu Wan’s hand severed.

Looking back on it now, he was overcome with remorse. His advisors all found themselves at a loss as well. To attack Daxing now would only bring devastating losses, so it was better to maintain the siege and wait.

If the city’s grain truly could not hold out much longer, then perhaps it would not be long before someone opened the gates.

Yet they also knew this hope had dwindled to almost nothing. Those within the city who might have opened the gates to welcome the King of Heavenly Mandate — if they were going to do so, why would they have waited until now? The great noble families… there was no one left. Inside the city were only those impoverished common people whose hearts the Emperor had won. If the army attacked, those people would fight like madmen on the city walls, resisting the invasion with their lives.

Because in those people’s eyes, what they were defending was not merely a city — it was their home.

And so the advisors deliberated at length and devised a plan for Yang Xuanji.

“Commander,” one of them said, “we now have several hundred thousand troops encamped outside Daxing. The daily consumption of grain and supplies is enormous. The situation within the city is unclear, and we have no informants inside. It would be better to divide our forces — one part to requisition grain and supplies, the other to scout the movements of Prince Ning Li Chi in Youzhou.”

Another added, “Prince Ning Li Chi may have driven back the Black War forces on the northern frontier, but his army must have suffered heavy losses. He will not advance south rashly. Whatever strength remains to him can only be used in a defensive posture.”

Yang Xuanji said, “Your meaning, then, is to take advantage of this moment and divide our forces northward… From what I know, the commander of forces in Youzhou is Zhuang Wudi. I have not heard of any notable accomplishments to his name.”

An advisor said, “Zhuang Wudi is nothing more than a former bandit. He first took to the hills as a brigand in the Yanshan camp, and it is only because he is Li Chi’s sworn elder brother that he has been entrusted with command.”

Another said, “He is also the sworn brother of Yanshan’s great chieftain Yu Chaozong. He was second-in-command among the Yanshan bandits; Li Chi was third. “

Yang Xuanji nodded. “Tang Pidi is in Suzhou. Much of Youzhou’s forces have already been deployed to the northern frontier. Youzhou does present an opportunity.”

He looked around at the assembled men. “Who should lead?”

An advisor said, “Grand General Shi Fenghui is steady and capable, with broad strategic learning. He has led troops for many years and commands great prestige within the army. He is suited to this responsibility.”

The others nodded in agreement. “General Shi is indeed well suited to this task.”

On this campaign from Shuzhou, Yang Xuanji had brought everything he had. All of Shuzhou’s troops numbered in the hundreds of thousands, together with two hundred and fifty thousand from Liangzhou’s army, plus the tens of thousands he had brought back after the last defeat — a total force of no fewer than eight hundred thousand. Dividing off a portion to strike at Youzhou was therefore feasible. If several positions in Youzhou could be seized, it would yield grain and supplies, while also probing the current strength of the Ning Army.

And so after a moment of reflection, Yang Xuanji nodded. “Very well. Do as you advise.”

He turned his gaze toward Grand General Shi Fenghui. At this moment, Shi Fenghui stood with his head lowered, presenting no outward sign of anything amiss — yet inwardly, he had already cursed those advisors through eight generations of ancestors. If he could, Shi Fenghui would have woken up all eight generations of his own ancestors to join him in cursing eight generations of theirs.

Those rotten scoundrels spent all day scheming against this person and plotting against that one, and now their scheming had landed on him. The Ning Army was not something to be trifled with. Shi Fenghui kept his head down, thinking only of how to wriggle out of this assignment.

He had never heard of any remarkable feats attributed to Zhuang Wudi, yet he knew full well that among the Ning Army’s commanders, not a single one was mediocre. If one simply thought it through, even roughly, the picture was clear enough — Zhuang Wudi had been a bandit in the Yanshan camp from the very start. The entire Yanshan camp was wiped out, and he didn’t die. In other words, he survived even when the great chieftain Yu Chaozong perished. The Ning Army had fought battle after battle, from Jizhou onward, countless engagements large and small, and he didn’t die through any of them. What did that say about him?

But before Shi Fenghui could think of any way to excuse himself, he heard Yang Xuanji call his name.

“General Shi?”

Shi Fenghui immediately stepped forward. “Commander, your subordinate is present.”

Yang Xuanji said, “Are you willing to go?”

Shi Fenghui had the words “I am not willing” right at the tip of his tongue, and he very nearly let them out — but he forced them back down.

At this point he was cursing not just the advisors, but also that man named Yu Wan. If Yu Wan had not gone and gotten himself killed inside the camp, these good-for-nothing advisors would never have goaded the King of Heavenly Mandate into dividing the forces to strike at Youzhou. And if the forces weren’t being divided to strike at Youzhou, why would they have thought of him?

The way things in this world work — seeming like coincidence yet also feeling somehow fated.

Had Yu Wan’s situation not occurred, Yang Xuanji had indeed had no intention of dividing his forces. But now that Daxing had become even harder to take, eight hundred thousand troops sitting idle outside the walls was a waste by any measure.

Seeing that Shi Fenghui had not answered immediately, Yang Xuanji’s expression darkened.

“General Shi?”

Yang Xuanji called again.

Shi Fenghui immediately bowed. “Your subordinate is willing to go.”

Yang Xuanji nodded. “Very well then. I will give you two hundred thousand troops. There is no need to pledge any binding oath. On this northern campaign, your primary aim is to seize grain and supplies; probing the Ning Army’s strength is secondary. You need not attempt to take Youzhou City itself.”

Upon hearing this, Shi Fenghui felt a measure of relief wash over him. Youzhou City was tall and fortified, garrisoned by the battle-hardened Ning Army. Trying to take it — easier said than done. If all he needed to do was grab some grain, then there was nothing too worrying about that.

And so Shi Fenghui bowed. “Commander, rest easy. Your subordinate will not fail this mission.”

With plans thus settled, Shi Fenghui led the two hundred thousand troops assigned to him and set off northward in a great, sweeping advance.

At the same time, out on the Nalan Grasslands.

General Shu Ge of the Iron Crane forces led fifty thousand troops to a halt roughly fifty li from the Nalan royal court, raising his hand to signal the stop. Behind him, the vast cavalry formation came to a standstill.

He did not attack rashly — he was waiting for his scouts to report back. All along the way here, they had encountered no Nalan formations, but he had captured some herdsmen and questioned them, and they all said they had seen Nalan cavalry riding northwest.

At this moment, the royal court was surely lightly defended.

After waiting perhaps half a shichen or so, scouts came galloping back from the front and bowed before him. “General, we have investigated. The Nalan royal court appears to have very little military presence. The patrol formations are thin. Most of those moving in and out are elderly, women, and children.”

Shu Ge nodded, then raised his hand and pointed ahead.

As his hand rose, the soldiers at his side lifted their ox-horn horns and blew.

The long, resonant sound of the horns filled the air, and the fifty thousand Iron Crane cavalry began to slowly accelerate. Across this open expanse, they surged forward like a great wave sweeping across the plain.

The cavalry formation crashed toward the Nalan royal court, where a vast encampment spread before them. The court was so called because the Khan’s golden tent stood there — the golden tent symbolizing the absolute, supreme authority of the Nalan Khan. Surrounding the great golden tent in all directions were countless tents and felt yurts. Behind the golden tent rose Mount Erg’u — which was in truth a branch of the Yanshan range. The people of the Central Plains called it the West Ridge Mountains, its peaks steep and forbidding.

Seeing such a vast cavalry force bearing down on them, the Nalan royal court’s own warning horns began to sound. Still at a distance, Shu Ge could already see the massive encampment erupt into chaos — the elderly, the women, and the children all began to run, clearly terrified.

Shu Ge drew his curved saber and leveled it toward the front. The Iron Crane cavalry surged to their greatest speed, crashing toward the encampment like a breaking wave.

Shu Ge charged at the vanguard, leading the force into the encampment. In the distance, he could see herdsmen fleeing toward the rear of the camp, and he shouted for the pursuit.

The fifty thousand cavalry fanned out and poured into the royal court.

With a thunderous crash, a section of cavalry at the front went down — the Nalan people had dug a large number of pitfalls. Many Iron Crane riders had no time to react and were thrown from their horses.

Across seemingly flat ground with no sign of danger, trip lines suddenly appeared. A great many men were sent sprawling hard to the earth.

As the Nalan horn calls shifted their tone, from inside those felt tents and yurts, countless Nalan warriors came charging out. They had abandoned their horses.

Every Nalan warrior carried a long wooden pole, the shortest of which was over one zhang in length.

Because the vanguard had already tumbled into the pitfalls and many more had been brought down by the trip lines, the Iron Crane cavalry’s momentum was abruptly broken. Cavalry that had lost the power of their charge, surrounded by a mass of spear-carrying infantry — the outcome was not hard to imagine.

The Nalan warriors screamed battle cries and drove their long poles forward without cease. They lacked sufficient iron to make proper spearheads, so almost none of the poles bore iron tips — but the wooden shafts had been sharpened to fine points.

They jabbed and stabbed without stopping at the riders on horseback. Against this tactic, the Iron Crane forces had no answer.

Shu Ge had, before launching the attack, believed he had considered every possible scenario for fighting the Nalan people, and had prepared accordingly for how to defeat this hereditary enemy from horseback. What he had simply never imagined was that people who lived and breathed on horseback — the people of the grasslands — would abandon their horses.

And that was the skill that the Nalan Khan, Borteqina, had learned during his years following Tang Pidi.

Standing at a high vantage point, Borteqina observed through his far-seeing glass, giving orders through horn signals wherever reinforcements were needed.

After the fifty thousand cavalry poured into the royal court, it was as though they had sunk into a swamp.

The Iron Crane’s pride — their cavalry — had become nothing more than targets here.

At this moment, the long poles proved extraordinarily effective. Once a rider was knocked from his horse, even if the blow hadn’t killed him outright, the fallen man had no time to rise before he was surrounded and battered senseless by a forest of wooden poles.

Beneath the relentless rain of blows, the ground was covered in Iron Crane men writhing in agony.

The fighting had reached a point where the Nalan people were waging a fight of their entire people — men, women, young and old all joined in, taking up wooden poles and striking in wave after wave. Everywhere was the sound of wailing; everywhere, people were dying.

Many Iron Crane cavalry were beaten beyond recognition. Those killed by the wooden poles were beyond saving — the wounds were too large. Think about it: how thick is a man’s neck? A wooden pole driven through a neck — how could it be saved?

What had begun as a surprise raid had become a battle of encirclement and annihilation.

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