Yang Xuanji did not know how many of the messengers had slipped through, but he knew that if even one got out, the news would spread in all directions before long.

Though furious, he understood how far-reaching the consequences would be once this spread, so he ordered the entire army mobilized — spare no effort, and bring them all back.

But without knowing exactly how many had broken through, the order to bring everyone back was itself flawed from the start.

The news spread regardless, as if it had legs — faster than anyone had anticipated. In less than a month, all of Jingzhou had heard, and everyone was talking about it.

A month after that, while word had not quite reached every corner of the realm, it was as though the entire world were watching — as though all eyes were fixed on this single matter.

The various factions that had been waiting on the sidelines could wait no longer, for Emperor Yang Jing’s move had unsettled everyone.

In truth, there were more people who coveted the realm than the few factions currently visible in Jingzhou.

Some had been sitting back watching from a distance, believing the later they entered, the better.

But Yang Jing’s bold gambit changed everything. Those who had been biding their time feared they could no longer afford to wait.

So every faction now turned its gaze toward Prince Ning, Li Chi. Forces that had been out of sight began streaming toward Yuzhou.

The moment Prince Ning, Li Chi, truly dared to enter Jingzhou, they would stop him at any cost.

In a sense, this had nothing to do with Li Chi himself.

Whether he accepted or refused, whether he agreed or disagreed, the news was already out and the whole world was watching. No one wanted him going to Jingzhou.

Even whether the Emperor’s offer was sincere or a ruse no longer mattered — what mattered was that all of the realm’s eyes were upon this.

“This realm is quite entertaining.”

In Yuzhou, Li Chi looked at the military report in his hands, a slight smile playing at his lips.

“News travels fast.”

Xiahou Zuo smiled as well. “We had said before — after Yang Xuanji besieges the city for a year, certain people would start to feel restless. On the road back to Yuzhou we even said we had underestimated their patience. And yet Emperor Yang Jing used a move like this — even the most patient of them couldn’t keep still.”

Li Chi nodded. “What I hadn’t anticipated was that the news would spread so quickly. Even Yongzhou is showing movement.”

Of the thirteen prefectures of Dachu, Yongzhou alone had been spared the chaos of war.

Yongzhou lay in the far northwest, but unlike Liangzhou, it did not border the Western Regions. The land was somewhat barren, yet it had seen no war for years and had quietly developed — it was likely wealthier now than many parts of the Central Plains.

The high plateau of the northwest produced little grain and depended on the mercy of the heavens, so major regional officials like Yongzhou’s military governor had never been in much demand.

Whoever was sent there was effectively being packed off to some forgotten corner — they would find it very hard to return to the centers of power.

But once the realm fell into chaos, with Dachu reduced to nothing but its capital, what centers of power even remained to speak of?

Even those fighting for the realm had paid Yongzhou no attention.

In everyone’s fixed assumptions, Yongzhou was even more impoverished than Yanzhou. Yanzhou, though cold, produced decent grain and had rich other resources. Yongzhou was different — the high plateau received almost no rainfall, and whether the seeds planted would yield anything depended on how generous the heavens chose to be.

Recently there had even been word that the former Yongzhou military governor had died of illness, which made even fewer people think of Yongzhou.

And yet Li Chi had never relaxed his surveillance of Yongzhou. The most barren and impoverished places were often where the most ferocious armies were forged.

Had it not been for the fierce fighting in the northern frontier against the Black Martial forces, Li Chi would already have dispatched a contingent of surrendered troops westward purely to keep watch on Yongzhou.

The troops hadn’t gone, but Li Chi had asked Yu Jiuling to plant a large number of intelligence agents throughout Yongzhou.

Reading the broader situation had always been Li Chi’s forte.

“Intelligence agents report back: the former Yongzhou military governor died of illness, and his family is in Daxing, so control of the Yongzhou army has passed to his adopted son, Han Feibao.”

Li Chi said, “The Yongzhou army is already mobilizing on a large scale. They’re likely too impatient to stay out any longer and want to enter the game.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Have Lian Xiwu keep a close watch on movements in the northwest. The Yongzhou army can only come through Jizhou to get through the passes.”

Li Chi gave a sound of agreement.

Yongzhou only bordered two regions: Jizhou and Shuzhou.

Shuzhou was Yang Xuanji’s home base. Even though Yang Xuanji had brought out all his capital for this campaign, Shuzhou’s ten thousand mountains were easily defended. Shuzhou’s military governor Pei Qi had not followed Yang Xuanji to Jingzhou, so even with only tens of thousands of troops remaining, the Yongzhou army could not cross those mountains and invade Shuzhou.

So if Han Feibao wished to enter the game, he first had to fight through Jizhou, then push south from Jizhou into Jingzhou.

Xiahou Zuo said, “Why don’t I go — if I set out now there’s still time. Give me twenty thousand troops and I can hold the passes. It won’t be easy for Han Feibao to break through.”

Li Chi said, “Don’t be in a hurry to move yet.”

He looked toward Yu Jiuling. “Nine — send word to Wei Chimingming. Have him take the Jizhou forces and go to Lian’s location. Once united with Commissioner Lian’s troops, hold the passes firm.”

Yu Jiuling replied, “I’ll send someone now.”

Li Chi said, “Wait — I’ll write two letters.”

He picked up a writing brush and wrote swiftly. Two letters: one to Jizhou Military Governor Xu Ji, urging him to watch northwest movements at all times and bring his full strength to reinforce at the first sign of hostilities in the northwest; another to General Dantai Qi of Liangzhou, hoping the old general, if he heard of war in the northwest, would send a portion of his troops to reinforce when conditions allowed.

Once both letters were written, Yu Jiuling immediately arranged for them to be dispatched.

“Something feels off to me.”

Xiahou Zuo paced back and forth in the room. “If we say the great families have committed everything to supporting Yang Xuanji, then why are there so many people who haven’t shown their faces now stirring at the first breath of wind?”

Li Chi said, “Yang Xuanji is merely one of their pieces. Though at present he is still their best piece — unless… they always only intended Yang Xuanji as a front.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Then things would get very interesting — even Yang Xuanji is just a decoy. Who else could they put forward?”

Li Chi said, “What can they exploit in Yang Xuanji?”

Xiahou Zuo said, “His identity.”

Li Chi nodded. “Yang Xuanji is of imperial blood. Having Yang Xuanji out front makes it easier for all factions to accept — but Yang Xuanji isn’t the only one. The Dachu imperial Yang family has a history of several hundred years; their descendants are scattered in every corner of the land, as numerous as the hairs on an ox.”

Xiahou Zuo understood.

He sighed. “The Yang family sat on the throne for hundreds of years, yet their descendants are manipulated like this.”

He paused, then sighed again. “Even when they were firmly on the throne, the Yang imperial house was probably being manipulated all along.”

“Not manipulation.”

Li Chi said, “Mutual benefit — everyone gets what they want.”

He walked to the map and studied it intently.

His gaze lingered on Yangzhou for a moment.

“If we now suppose that even Yang Xuanji is not strictly necessary, then what about Li Xionghu?”

Li Chi asked.

Xiahou Zuo said, “Li Xionghu is probably just another Yang Xuanji — no, the other side of Yang Xuanji.”

Li Chi said, “Yangzhou is such a prosperous place — and Suzhou too. When Li Xionghu took them, it was far too easy. Even with a million troops under his command, it shouldn’t have been that simple. I had never thought about this before, but now that I consider it — Li Xionghu is also just a piece on the board.”

He turned to face Xiahou Zuo. “The common people felt oppressed by the great families, didn’t they? So the great families covertly propped up a Li Xionghu. That operation was far easier than propping up Yang Xuanji.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Of course it was easier — they just had to stay out of his way. Send some money in the shadows, arrange people to agitate and encourage the masses to join the rebel army, and before long Li Xionghu would be a colossus.”

Li Chi said, “Let Li Xionghu rampage through the land, and the people would despair of men like him utterly.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Then out comes a hero who defeats Li Xionghu in Yangzhou and Suzhou — he’d win the hearts of the people.”

Li Chi said, “So you see — we are also pieces on the board.”

Xiahou Zuo let out a quiet sigh.

The men who had brought Li Xionghu to such ruin were Prince Wu Yang Jiju and General Tang Pidi.

In a sense, even Prince Wu and Tang Pidi had been exploited by those figures lurking in the shadows.

Xiahou Zuo said, “If hostilities broke out in Yangzhou now, with someone leading an army against Li Xionghu, the people would stand with that person — Li Xionghu’s defeat would be certain.”

Li Chi said, “No need for anything so complicated. Among Li Xionghu’s own men, there are surely people planted by them. Eliminate Li Xionghu from the inside, then take advantage of the rebel army’s internal chaos to send in troops — far simpler.”

Xiahou Zuo’s gaze drifted back to the map. “So… Zhai Li, the sworn brother of Li Xionghu?”

Li Chi nodded. “Li Xionghu doesn’t know the truth. Zhai Li probably knows something — or Zhai Li himself may have been placed there by them.”

Xiahou Zuo was silent for a long time. Then a thought struck him.

“I heard that the falling out between Li Xionghu and Zhai Li happened because Li Xionghu drank too much and abducted the wife of one of Zhai Li’s commanders.”

He looked at Li Chi. “That matter…”

Li Chi said, “That’s far too easy to arrange. Think it through and you’ll see — why would it be Li Xionghu’s personal guards, of all people, who went to abduct one of Zhai Li’s commanders’ wives?”

Yu Jiuling had finally started to make some sense of it all — he had been bewildered throughout.

Yu Jiuling said, “So — there are people in the shadows who have been controlling everything all along. Including Li Xionghu and Yang Xuanji. The only ones they haven’t controlled… are us?”

Li Chi and Xiahou Zuo both nodded at the same moment.

Xiahou Zuo said, “We are the anomaly.”

When Li Xionghu’s power had grown so vast it was nearly spinning out of control, Zhai Li was brought out to cut him down to size. And planted within Li Xionghu’s personal guards, his people deliberately went and took Zhai Li’s commander’s wife — giving Zhai Li cause to break with Li Xionghu.

Losing Zhai Li, Li Xionghu had no choice but to retreat to Yangzhou…

Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Chi. “Wasn’t there word before that Zhai Li had already pledged allegiance to Yang Xuanji?”

Li Chi nodded. “Maintaining the balance — Li Xionghu’s power grew too great, so they pressed him down. Yang Xuanji is after all their first choice, so Zhai Li was dispatched there.”

He looked at Xiahou Zuo. “Emperor Yang Jing is also an anomaly.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “That’s right… they probably never imagined Yang Jing could hold out so long — and at the most critical moment, he threw down a move this decisive.”

He asked Li Chi, “What do we do? Do we enter Jingzhou?”

Li Chi smiled. “Enter? Of course we enter. Have people go out and spread word — say that upon learning of Emperor Yang Jing’s intention to abdicate in my favor, I have already set out overnight for Jingzhou.”

Xiahou Zuo understood perfectly what Li Chi meant. He said enter, which meant he was not entering — only letting the news enter.

“Then where are we actually going?”

“To Jingzhou’s neighbor, Jingzhou. We’ll settle in there and watch the show for a bit.”

Li Chi smiled. “One exits the stage, another steps on. Watch first.”

—