Prince Wu sat in the East Study, a cup of hot tea warming his hands. Because his heart was at ease, even the fragrance of the tea seemed richer and more full than usual.

All the matters within Daxing had been settled. The hidden dangers had all been removed. With that, a sense of relief came naturally.

The Emperor’s mood was equally good. Prince Wu’s chain of stratagems had not only eliminated Yang Xuanji, but also cleared out the enormous sources of trouble within the Yue Province army. This was an unprecedented victory — and even though it had not been won on a battlefield, it brought more joy than any battlefield triumph could have.

A scheme of such subtlety — perhaps no one else could have conceived it, let alone executed it. Only Prince Wu could have done this.

“I…”

The Emperor looked at Prince Wu, spoke one word, and then found no way to continue. Every word of gratitude felt too pale and powerless to matter.

“Your Majesty, your servant knows what you wish to say. I am Your Majesty’s servant, and what I have done is what Your Majesty needed done — it is the duty of one who serves. So Your Majesty need not dwell on it further.”

The Emperor nodded vigorously. “I understand. I just… I am simply grateful to Royal Uncle.”

Prince Wu smiled. “Then let your servant take advantage of Your Majesty’s good mood and make a request?”

The Emperor immediately said, “Whatever it may be, Royal Uncle need only say so.”

Prince Wu said, “Your servant is truly rather exhausted. I would like to go home and get a proper night’s sleep. Tomorrow at dawn, I still need to go to the Mandate Army’s camp outside the city to deal with the remnants — and after that, I’ll need to begin arranging provisions.”

The Emperor quickly rose to his feet. “Let me walk Royal Uncle out of the palace. We can talk along the way about how to arrange the provisions.”

Prince Wu rose with a smile. “Your servant obeys.”

It might strike anyone as difficult to believe — yet Dachu, in the midst of all this dire circumstance, had found a few glimmers of hope.

Looking back just a few years, there had never been a position as favorable as this. With Yang Xuanji dead, the Liang Province and Yue Province troops brought under imperial command, within all of Jing Province the only remaining threat was Tang Pidi.

Yet Tang Pidi was the one who gave Prince Wu the greatest headache of all.

Prince Wu had once said that ten Yang Xuanjis combined were not worth one Tang Pidi. If Tang Pidi had been given Yang Xuanji’s troops to command, Jing Province would have fallen to the Ning Army long ago, and Dachu would have truly reached its end.

And it was around this time that the Ning Army’s scouts had already relayed back to Tang Pidi the news that the Mandate King Yang Xuanji had entered Daxing.

At the Ning Army’s main camp, Tang Pidi walked back and forth with Luo Jing and the others, discussing military intelligence.

Luo Jing smiled. “Imagine that — Yang Xuanji actually lived to see the day he sat on the throne.”

Tang Pidi also smiled slightly. “Twenty days at most, ten days at the fastest — and Prince Wu will have Yang Xuanji eliminated.”

Luo Jing said, “That won’t be easy, surely. With Yang Xuanji bringing hundreds of thousands of troops into the city, even that old schemer — skilled as he is — would have difficulty controlling the situation.”

Tang Pidi said, “If Yang Xuanji had not entered Daxing, then yes, it would be difficult for Prince Wu to scheme against him. But the moment Yang Xuanji entered the city, his death was inevitable within twenty days.”

The distance from the Ning Army’s camp to Daxing was considerable, and the Ning scouts had no way to get close enough to gather more information — so at this point Tang Pidi and his people only knew that Emperor Yang Jing had personally opened the city gates to receive Yang Xuanji.

So Luo Jing couldn’t quite understand why Tang Pidi was so certain Yang Xuanji would die upon entering the city.

Tang Pidi said, “If I were Prince Wu, I would receive Yang Xuanji as deferentially as possible and escort him into the city — and then, just as deferentially, assist him in taking the throne and becoming Emperor.”

Luo Jing: “And then strike when he’s off his guard? But that doesn’t add up — eliminating Yang Xuanji that way, with his forces numbering no less than eight hundred thousand, would certainly cause a mutiny.”

Tang Pidi said, “Why would Prince Wu need to act himself? He need only stir up conflict between the Liang Province troops and the Yue Province troops, let them kill Yang Xuanji — then stir up conflict between the Yue Province and the Liang Province troops, and eliminate the dangerous elements in both armies at the same time.”

He paused, then continued: “My assessment is that the Liang Province commanders were all from the Dachu garrison forces — so if Prince Wu wants men to rely on, it will be them. The Yue Province men were all Li Xionghu’s people, and are not the same sort as Prince Wu. They and Yang Xuanji alike will certainly die.”

Luo Jing thought this over carefully and felt that what Old Tang said made sense — but he didn’t believe Prince Wu had that level of skill.

You could say that old scoundrel Prince Wu had some ability on the battlefield — but to claim he also possessed this degree of political scheming, Luo Jing didn’t buy it.

Perhaps it was the long-standing animosity Luo Jing held toward Prince Wu that made him unwilling to acknowledge just how formidable the man was.

Tang Pidi said, “This matter is temporarily none of our concern. And regardless of whether Yang Xuanji wins or Yang Jing wins, what they will need to do afterward is the same — and that is what concerns us.”

Luo Jing immediately guessed: “Provisions.”

Tang Pidi gave a sound of acknowledgment. “Barring unexpected developments, within one month, a large army will emerge from Daxing. If the scouts report that it is Prince Wu leading the force out of the city, that will confirm Yang Xuanji is dead — and Prince Wu will certainly move to retake the grain depots we have occupied.”

Luo Jing said, “Then we fight!”

Tang Pidi smiled and said, “Fight we will — but there’s no need to trade casualties with them head-on. Our brothers’ lives are worth far more than theirs.”

Luo Jing grew curious. “So how do we fight?”

Tang Pidi said, “We fall back — whatever Prince Wu does, wherever he strikes, we withdraw every single time.”

Luo Jing was immediately displeased. “That just lets the old schemer think we’re afraid of him.”

Tang Pidi said, “Against any other opponent, you are always calm and clear-headed. The moment it involves Prince Wu, you lose your composure.”

Luo Jing quickly said, “I’m just venting a bit. However you say we fight, we fight that way. Just one thing — don’t leave me out of the fighting.”

Tang Pidi said, “I really cannot let you go.”

Luo Jing’s eyes went wide. “Why not me? I promise I won’t act on impulse and ruin anything.”

Tang Pidi said, “Do you trust me?”

Luo Jing nodded. “Of course I do.”

Tang Pidi said, “If you trust me, then follow my orders. This isn’t the time for a decisive battle with Prince Wu. When the decisive moment comes, I will definitely bring you in for that fight.”

Luo Jing narrowed his eyes. “General — it sounds like you’re about to send me away somewhere?”

Tang Pidi smiled. “A little more confidence — drop the ‘sounds like.'”

Luo Jing: “I’m not happy about this!”

Tang Pidi said, “Then, by military law?”

Luo Jing: “I reserve the right to my unhappiness…”

Tang Pidi laughed loudly. “I plan to dig a great trap for Prince Wu — and sooner or later you’ll be the one to fill it in. But first thing tomorrow morning, you must return to Suzhou and bring Gao Zhen here.”

Luo Jing: “Cheng Wujie is also there — why not have him bring Gao Zhen…?”

Tang Pidi sighed. “I suppose military law is the only option after all.”

Luo Jing: “Talk, talk — look at you, getting angry at the drop of a hat. Anger’s bad for the kidneys.”

Tang Pidi gave him a look. “If I’m not mistaken, the Marquis of Guanting in Yangzhou won’t rashly advance into Jing Province — but he will take advantage of our absence to attack Suzhou. Gao Zhen is young, not yet steady enough, and still lacks experience. His martial ability is also somewhat below yours…”

Before Tang Pidi had even finished the sentence, Luo Jing had already broken into a wide grin.

“General is too generous, ha ha ha ha… far too generous.”

Tang Pidi said, “Wipe that look off your face.”

He continued walking as he spoke. “Now is not the time for a decisive battle with Prince Wu, so you go back and hold Suzhou. No matter how formidable the Marquis of Guanting, he can’t outmatch an experienced, composed, sharp-minded, and more ferociously skilled fighter like you.”

Luo Jing: “All right, all right — any more and I’ll start feeling self-conscious.”

Tang Pidi smiled. “Go back and hold Suzhou. When the decisive moment comes, I’ll call you back — trust me on that.”

Luo Jing clasped his hands in a bow. “I trust the General!”

After their discussion, Luo Jing set off to organize his troops for the return to Suzhou to relieve Gao Zhen.

Just as Tang Pidi had predicted, the Marquis of Guanting didn’t yet dare attack Jing Province, but he was willing to attack Suzhou while its forces were depleted.

But on his way to march out, word reached him that Luo Jing was leading a Ning Army contingent back to Suzhou. The Marquis of Guanting immediately lost his nerve to press forward.

In the world today, who had not heard of Luo Jing’s name?

The cavalry that man had trained outperformed even the steppe riders — fiercer and more lethal.

To clash head-on in the field with a force commanded by Luo Jing was something that no one could easily claim confidence about.

Tang Pidi had also given Cheng Wujie his instructions: whenever they encountered Prince Wu’s forces, there was no need to fight — simply withdraw every single time.

In any case, before pulling back from each location, they had already transferred all the grain from the local depots to the Ning Army’s main camp.

Making Prince Wu march his great army back and forth all across Jing Province, only to find almost no provisions — not even enough to supply the army he had personally led — that was Tang Pidi’s true objective.

It appeared to have little decisive force — yet this kind of grinding attrition would have a devastating effect on the morale of Prince Wu’s army.

Having Cheng Wujie simply fall back without engaging in the early phase was also a way to let Prince Wu’s troops grow overconfident. And the further Prince Wu’s army marched, the greater their own losses would become.

As for where exactly to let Prince Wu go, and how long to let him go on — Tang Pidi had already calculated that as well.

—

*Meanwhile, at the Ning Army’s main camp in Jing Province.*

Li Chi stood at the bank of the Tuo River watching the Yong Province army’s catapults, which had already been assembled and were now fully deployed. His brow was furrowed slightly.

The number of Yong Province catapults was larger than originally estimated, and their varied sizes were laid out in deliberate coordination — clearly designed to completely suppress the Ning Army.

Xiahou Zuo said, “Should we just let the Yong Province army cross and fight them here?”

Li Chi shook his head. “If we let them cross, we’d be splitting our forces to defend city by city and location by location — we’d have even less chance of stopping Han Feibao.”

Hearing Li Chi’s tone, Xiahou Zuo suddenly came to a realization.

He took a deep breath. “I understand. Let me be the one.”

Li Chi shook his head. “A battle this large requires me to be at the vanguard, and only then can I inspire the will to fight in our soldiers. So I have to be the one for this.”

Xiahou Zuo: “You are our chief…”

Before he could finish, Li Chi had already shaken his head. “I am their chief, so I must stand before our people — not hide behind them. As long as our soldiers can always see my back ahead of them, they fight with confidence and courage.”

Xiahou Zuo nodded. “I knew I couldn’t talk you out of it.”

Not long after, Li Chi summoned all the Ning Army’s commanders for a council of war, right there at the bank of the Tuo River.

Li Chi raised his hand and pointed toward the opposite bank. “Their catapults — the large ones have the range to hit our side directly. The smaller ones can reach the middle of the river. As soon as our fleet moves out to stop their rafts from crossing, the moment they leave the bank, those catapults will suppress them.”

“So I’m not planning to defend.”

Li Chi said, “We’re going to strike.”

The moment these words left his mouth, everyone was stunned.

*Strike across?*

Then they would strike across.

—