When everyone falls silent at the same moment, it is in truth a form of consent.

Like now — not one of these Sky-Mandate Army generals said a word, which meant they were already seriously weighing what the outcome of joining Prince Ning might look like.

And in their reckoning, if that outcome had shown any obvious flaw, they would not have been silent.

So their silence was Zhuang Wudi’s confidence.

He looked at these Sky-Mandate Army generals and recalled something Li Chi had once said.

“A person cannot choose how they are born, but they can choose how they live.”

Having said those words, Zhuang Wudi gestured toward the entrance of the tent.

“I will begin walking out now. I have no armor on my body, and I carry no weapon. From here to the edge of your camp, you will have countless opportunities to kill me. If I walk out, I will understand what you mean. The next time I come, I will bring Ning Army uniforms, food, weapons, and the banners of the Ning Army.”

With those words said, Zhuang Wudi stepped forward.

A camp holding two hundred thousand soldiers would be enormous, so walking from the command tent to the camp gate was a long distance indeed. All along that road, the Sky-Mandate Army men truly did have countless opportunities to kill him.

Zhuang Wudi was no ordinary fighter. He had the power to charge through ten thousand soldiers on the battlefield. But under these circumstances, he had no defense against ten thousand arrows loosed at once.

Let alone in a situation like this, where far less than ten thousand would suffice.

Shi Fenghui had to concede his admiration for Zhuang Wudi. If he was being honest, his admiration had begun last night, the moment Zhuang Wudi proposed coming alone to the Sky-Mandate Army camp.

This was different from Shi Fenghui’s own lone crossing to the Ning camp — because Shi Fenghui had had no road left to walk, while Zhuang Wudi still had one.

Watching Zhuang Wudi’s retreating figure as he walked away, Shi Fenghui gave an almost imperceptible nod to his two most trusted generals.

Those two had already received Shi Fenghui’s instructions beforehand: if anyone actually moved to strike Zhuang Wudi, they were to be the first to act.

The generals had been summoned on short notice, but Shi Fenghui’s trusted men had already quietly taken up positions throughout the surrounding tents. Every tent nearby was filled with his personal guards.

And yet — not a single person made any move.

Zhuang Wudi’s pace was unhurried, each step steady and grounded. He kept walking, and they kept their silence.

As if no one even dared breathe too loudly, for fear of sending the wrong signal — that someone would cry out, release your arrows.

Only in that moment did Shi Fenghui understand that he had been worrying needlessly.

It turned out that everyone was already exhausted by war.

Zhuang Wudi walked out of the Sky-Mandate Army camp. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Shi Fenghui and the others already following.

And so Zhuang Wudi let out a long, silent breath of relief.

He thought to himself — putting on a show is terrifying.

He would do less of that sort of thing in future.

This entire camp held two hundred thousand troops. If even one impulsive soul had loosed an arrow, he might have taken a wound. And if his luck had been poor, he might have died right there.

He stood outside the camp gate and waited. Shi Fenghui and the others came quickly.

When they drew close, Shi Fenghui bowed deeply: “We are willing to follow Prince Ning. We pledge ourselves as his subjects.”

In that moment, Zhuang Wudi felt strongly that this was a rare and shining occasion in a man’s life, and that he absolutely ought to say something truly memorable — yet nothing came to him.

And so he felt awful.

It was a precious, once-in-a-lifetime high point, and he could not summon a single memorable line. That was… something of a regret.

Shi Fenghui and the others thought Zhuang Wudi was being profoundly reserved — how could they have known he was straining with all his might, racking his brains for something impressive to say?

After quite a while, Zhuang Wudi still had nothing, and so he simply gave up.

He realized he genuinely was not someone who could put on a grand performance. If Yu Jiuling had been here, perhaps even he would have managed something with more flair.

“From the moment you clasped your hands in salute, we are colleagues. From the moment you change into new uniforms, we are brothers.”

He had no idea why those words came out of him.

He felt they were plain and unadorned — nothing grand about them at all. Yet they were exactly what was in his heart.

When Shi Fenghui sent an escort to see Zhuang Wudi back to the northern bank of the Red River, the Ning Army was already crossing.

Having been unable to find Grand General Zhuang Wudi all night, Liu Ge’s eyes had gone red with anxiety.

The next day, the Ning Army crossed the river. To demonstrate their sincerity, the two hundred thousand Sky-Mandate Army soldiers shed their Sky-Mandate armor and wore nothing but plain clothes.

All weapons were locked in storage, and every man received orders that from this moment forward, they were no longer Sky-Mandate Army soldiers.

What surprised Shi Fenghui was that quite a number of men actually cheered — a somewhat unbridled cheering.

Shi Fenghui saw it, and felt his heart settle. Only then did he truly see it clearly: of these two hundred thousand, those who still genuinely wanted to fight were probably precious few.

A month later, Ning Army uniforms and equipment arrived on the southern bank of the Red River. The two hundred thousand former Sky-Mandate soldiers changed their dress.

Brilliant red Ning Army battle banners rose and flew over the camp. As he raised his eyes to look at that great flag, Shi Fenghui felt — for reasons he could not quite name — that he was already a different man.

Two months after that, the news reached Jizhou. It was now deep autumn.

Li Chi and the others were packing in preparation to head south when the report dispatched by Zhuang Wudi arrived.

After reading it through, Li Chi found his mouth curving into a grin of its own accord.

Two hundred thousand Sky-Mandate Army defectors — this was not merely the gain of two hundred thousand fresh soldiers. Even if those two hundred thousand were never used to fight Yang Xuanji, deploying them along the Jingzhou line alone meant Jingzhou would see no further instability.

Or place them differently — scatter them across Yuzhou as garrisons, and Yuzhou would gain another layer of protection.

Or shift them somewhere else — send them to Suzhou, and Tang Pidi, without needing to use them in offensive campaigns, would at least no longer need to worry about any trouble arising in Suzhou.

“Brother Zhuang is the sort of man who doesn’t say much, but gets the big things done.”

Yu Jiuling said with feeling: “Ruthless but quiet — that’s our Brother Zhuang.”

Li Chi and the others climbed into the carriage: “Let’s go. Move out.”

Inside the carriage, Li Chi thought for a moment and then said to Yu Jiuling: “Send word to all territories, to all armies.”

A brief pause, then Li Chi said: “I think it’s time Brother Zhuang’s rank was raised as well.”

Not long after, Yu Jiuling dispatched messengers to notify every territory and army under Prince Ning’s rule.

Zhuang Wudi’s military rank was elevated. He had already held the title of Grand General — under the military system, all ranks of third grade and above bore the designation of Grand General. He had previously been one grade below Tang Pidi, but with this promotion was raised to the same level.

And so at this point, there were four Grand Generals in the Ning Army.

Li Chi and the others traveled south. By their reckoning, they would not reach the Red River camp until before the year’s end. And when Li Chi returned this time, his sights were set directly on Jingzhou.

—

Mid-October. Suzhou City.

Grand General Tang Pidi decided to launch his campaign. He left Gao Zhen behind with twenty thousand soldiers to hold Suzhou, while he and Luo Jing led the army into Jingzhou.

Just as they were about to set out, they received intelligence from their spies reporting that Cao Ying in Yangzhou City had ultimately capitulated to his fear of Li Xionghu and opened the city gates to welcome Li Xionghu inside.

Li Xionghu’s very first act upon entering the city was to have Cao Ying killed — and not just Cao Ying alone. Two or three dozen of the generals under Cao Ying’s command were slaughtered by Li Xionghu.

It was a sorry end that prompted a sigh. If Cao Ying had listened to Tang Pidi and simply held his ground in Yangzhou without moving, he would have had twenty thousand troops in hand, and his future standing would certainly have been no small thing.

But this man had wavered and swayed, and in the end met his death by his own choices — there was no one else to blame.

With Yangzhou newly reclaimed, Li Xionghu almost certainly had no plans to move on Jingzhou in the near term.

Tang Pidi surmised that something must have gone wrong between Li Xionghu and his sworn brother Zhai Li.

The Chuang Army was fracturing. Going forward, they would be no cause for concern.

The story of how it had come to this was, in truth, a rather absurd one.

When Li Xionghu had previously led his forces into Jingzhou, he sent word to Zhai Li asking him to come join in surrounding Daxing City and share in the conquest of the realm together.

At the time, Li Xionghu had even told Zhai Li: once this realm is taken, you and I will stand as equals.

Zhai Li was deeply grateful to this sworn elder brother of his, and immediately marched his forces to reinforce him.

Li Xionghu was notoriously lecherous, and even on campaign he kept many women of considerable beauty in his entourage — most of whom had been forcibly taken by his men.

After Zhai Li arrived in Jingzhou with his troops and met with Li Xionghu, the two of them drank together until the middle of the night.

Zhai Li returned to his own camp to sleep, but Li Xionghu lay awake, that nature of his roused and unsatisfied. Tired of the women already around him, he sent men to raid the nearby villages.

As luck would have it, a general under Zhai Li, worried that his family members were unsafe in the camp, had arranged for them to live in a village just outside. Li Xionghu’s men were aggressive and overbearing — they went door to door through the village searching, and before long came to blows with Zhai Li’s soldiers. The woman was dragged back to camp.

When Zhai Li heard of this, he went straight back to Li Xionghu’s camp that very night, intending to plead for the woman’s release — not to let it stand would too deeply hurt his men’s hearts.

At that point Zhai Li’s intentions were genuinely considerate of Li Xionghu as well. For a ruler to seize a subordinate’s wife — once word of that spread, how could Li Xionghu command anyone’s loyalty?

But a very drunk Li Xionghu paid it no mind at all. When told Zhai Li had come, he barely registered it, and simply told someone to tell Zhai Li to wait outside.

By the time Li Xionghu finally came out, he was told that Zhai Li had already left.

Li Xionghu was still drunk at the time — he may not have remembered any of it. When his men informed him the next day that Zhai Li had already marched his entire force away overnight, Li Xionghu broke out in a cold sweat and immediately went after him in person.

But when he caught up with them, Zhai Li refused to see him, only sending word that all brotherhood between them was severed from this day forward.

Li Xionghu, knowing himself to be in the wrong and too ashamed to show his face, had the men who had gone out raiding that night cut down at Zhai Li’s door as a gesture of atonement — yet Zhai Li still refused to open his door to receive him.

Li Xionghu had no choice but to return. He told himself at the time that Zhai Li was simply posturing, that sworn brothers could not hold a grudge past the next morning — surely he would come around. But he never imagined that Zhai Li would truly leave.

With several hundred thousand troops withdrawn back to Yuezhou, Li Xionghu lost his reinforcements and was later defeated in battle by Prince Wu, Yang Jiju. He dared not go to his brother Zhai Li for refuge.

His second entry into Jingzhou to besiege Daxing City had ended without success as well, and Li Xionghu had been forced to withdraw yet again. With Prince Wu leading the pursuit behind him, he had nowhere to turn.

By the time things reached this point, the Chuang Army — which had once struck terror across all of Jiangnan — had completely fractured.

Tang Pidi led his army into Jingzhou. The entire march encountered virtually no resistance. The imperial court’s troops were holding fast inside Daxing City, and Yang Xuanji’s forces were all massed outside its walls.

Throughout the various territories of Jingzhou, there was effectively no one maintaining order.

He sent word to Zhuang Wudi to lead his forces south and rendezvous in Mengzhou in northern Jingzhou.

And with that, the Ning Army had, for the first time, formally entered Jingzhou.

—