Jingzhou. The Ning Army camp.

Yu Jiuling sat across from Li Chi, deeply aggrieved — extraordinarily aggrieved. He felt he was capable of being useful, but the Teacher simply would not take him along.

“Ninth Sister — maybe you should just cry.”

Li Chi looked at Yu Jiuling’s face — he could feel how miserable Ninth Sister was.

Yu Jiuling said, “If the Teacher had said he had no use for me, that would be one thing — or even if he’d said plainly that I genuinely couldn’t help, that my abilities weren’t up to the task, I could have accepted that.”

He looked at Li Chi. “But the Teacher said he wasn’t bringing me because our presences don’t complement each other aesthetically. What does that even mean? Boss — what is that supposed to mean?”

Li Chi said, “Don’t dwell on it. And don’t ask.”

Yu Jiuling said, “I thought about it the whole way back, Boss. Is the Teacher’s point that he finds me ugly?”

Li Chi said, “Nonsense. I don’t think so. I believe his feeling was more that you’re ugly and also lacking in presence.”

Yu Jiuling: “…”

Li Chi: “I said don’t ask…”

Yu Jiuling: “So I have that many flaws?”

Li Chi said, “Not at all! You smack your lips when you eat, you snore and grind your teeth in your sleep, you don’t like bathing but you like picking at your feet, and sometimes after picking your feet you pick your nose. You’re always sneezing — last time, Advisor Shen had a look and said you might have a nasal obstruction condition. I suspect you’ve got athlete’s foot in your nose.”

Yu Jiuling’s eyes went wide.

Li Chi said, “You walk with your toes turned out, and you have a swaying lower back — you sway your hips when you walk, too. I don’t know why you, a grown man, have to sway your hips like that. Like it’s some kind of spell.”

Yu Jiuling raised a hand to stop Li Chi. “Alright, Boss. I don’t feel the least bit miserable anymore. You don’t need to comfort me.”

Li Chi: “See? In the art of military strategy, this is called making a feint in the east while striking in the west. I told you all those things about yourself, and now you’re not upset anymore about the Teacher not bringing you.”

Yu Jiuling: “Right, right. Now I want to die.”

Li Chi: “Ah, you see — remarkably effective treatment.”

Yu Jiuling gave Li Chi a sideways look. “Boss, when are we heading to Jingzhou?”

By now the Yongzhou Army had withdrawn. The Yongzhou Army encampments on the south bank of the Tuotuo River had all been emptied — Ning Army scouts had gone in to investigate and found only what was too cumbersome to carry away. The scouts had probed southward another several tens of li and found no sign of the Yongzhou Army at all — they had evidently turned and headed in the direction of Liangzhou.

With the Yongzhou Army’s withdrawal, the pressure on the Jingzhou front immediately evaporated.

If the Ning Army did not advance toward Jingzhou now, Commander Tang Pidi’s position would come under mounting pressure.

Li Chi said, “I’ve already arranged for Xie Xiu to deploy troops along the south bank of the Tuotuo River, one garrison of five hundred every fifty li as a surveillance perimeter. Once he finishes those deployments, we’ll be ready to move toward Jingzhou.”

Yu Jiuling grinned. “I can’t even remember how long it’s been since I last saw Old Tang.”

Li Chi said, “Mm,” — it had been a long time for all of them since they’d last seen Old Tang.

They sat on the grassy bank of the Tuotuo River’s north shore. With no fighting going on, the heart was calm — and so even the scenery looked beautiful.

Yu Jiuling and Li Chi talked for a while, and his spirits did lift considerably. The Teacher not bringing him had genuinely stung — but he was not truly the sort of person who liked to brood on things. He was not going to let himself be tangled up in it for long.

“Oh, right.”

Li Chi looked at Yu Jiuling. “Go tell everyone — we’re distributing pay in a bit.”

Yu Jiuling’s mouth split open in a grin. “Now isn’t that a coincidence — I just got back and it’s already time for pay. My luck is something else.”

Li Chi said, “Why are you happy?”

Yu Jiuling said, “Why wouldn’t I be happy when we’re distributing pay?”

Li Chi said, “You are the general of my personal guard battalion. You’ve been absent from the personal guard battalion for months now. Choosing not to charge you with desertion in the face of the enemy is already doing you a favor. And you still want pay?”

Yu Jiuling’s eyes went wide as saucers.

He looked at Li Chi and said in a tone of great sorrow, “Boss, you can’t do this to me.”

Li Chi said, “Think it over yourself. The general of the personal guard battalion has been absent from the personal guard battalion for an entire span of months. What face would you have to demand pay — and if you had the face to demand it, would I have the face to give it?”

Yu Jiuling said, “Try it. If you don’t try it, how will you know whether you have the face for it or not?”

Li Chi kicked at him.

Yu Jiuling laughed and ran off to notify everyone about the pay distribution.

Watching Ninth Sister run into the distance, Li Chi sighed and said, “Sure enough — toes turned out, hips swaying, neck jutting forward as he runs… The Teacher said their presences don’t complement each other aesthetically. That was already putting it very gently.”

Gao Xining walked over and asked with a smile, “Ninth Sister looks like her spirits have picked up — back to frolicking?”

Li Chi recounted the story of the Teacher and Yu Jiuling. Gao Xining thought for a moment and then said, “This may be the first incident of an ‘ugly rejection’ in the entire Ning Army.”

Li Chi said, “We ought to have it recorded.”

Gao Xining: “The ugly-rejection incident.”

Li Chi: “That’s a beautiful way to put it.”

Gao Xining: “Haven’t you heard that before?”

Li Chi: “Never. Have you heard it before?”

Gao Xining: “Mm, whenever they ask me why I haven’t married you yet, that’s how I explain it. I say it’s because I find you ugly, and I’m still making up my mind.”

Li Chi: “What the—”

Gao Xining: “Ugly rejection.”

Li Chi: “What do you mean ugly rejection again?”

Gao Xining turned away, her ponytail swinging behind her. “What the—”

Li Chi: “…”

The army rested briefly on the north bank of the Tuotuo River, and then Li Chi made his arrangements for dividing the forces.

Xie Xiu and Xie Huainan would continue to hold Jingzhou. Li Chi left them sixty thousand troops.

From the march south out of Jizhou, combined with the newly trained soldiers Xie Xiu had raised here, Li Chi’s total force came to roughly one hundred fifty or sixty thousand — and they were to march on Jingzhou.

Xiahou Zuo would first return to Yuzhou. Advisor Yan had already made all the preparations there for the troops that would be heading south. After Xiahou Zuo returned, he would lead the Ning Army’s Yuzhou forces down from due north into Jingzhou.

With that, Tang Pidi would be to the east with eighty thousand Ning Army troops under his command. And barring the unexpected, Shen Shanzhu would be bringing forces over from Qingzhou — approximately one hundred thousand troops.

Xiahou Zuo, commanding the Yuzhou forces, would have mostly new recruits, but their numbers would be no less than one hundred thousand — perhaps as many as one hundred twenty or thirty thousand.

Li Chi would attack Jingzhou from the west, facing nothing more than various Yang family scions holding city passes, men swollen with arrogance and self-satisfaction, each one convinced he was peerless under Heaven, believing himself no less than Prince Wu’s equal.

Against them, for Li Chi to break through would be no great difficulty.

Old Tang combined with Shen Shanzhu in the east — that was some two hundred thousand troops. Xiahou Zuo in the north — say a hundred thousand. Li Chi from the west — a hundred fifty thousand.

Three prongs driving into Jingzhou like a trident — this would likely be the largest-scale battle the Ning Army had fought since taking shape as a force.

He thought back — to the days when Li Chi had built everything starting from the Yongning Tongyuan Courier Company, back when having a few dozen brothers around him had felt like all the fullness in the world.

Now, reckoning it up, the Ning Army’s total strength, concentrated together, numbered four hundred thousand. And Li Chi still felt that was a little short.

Yuzhou.

Advisor Yan had long since prepared sufficient grain and provisions for the army that would be marching south — only waiting for Xiahou Zuo to return.

Yesterday he had received a letter from Advisor Wu. Advisor Wu said that Qingzhou had seen two consecutive years of good harvests — after setting aside what the local population needed, there would still be a substantial surplus of grain and supplies to send to the army.

Advisor Wu also mentioned that Tang Anchen, who had been holding Yanzhou, had passed through Qingzhou on his way. He had only just learned — it seemed the Ning King had planned it long in advance.

Adding in Tang Anchen’s Yanzhou forces, the Ning Army’s strength in Jingzhou could conceivably reach five hundred thousand.

Advisor Yan thought of all this and found it difficult to believe.

Five hundred thousand troops — something he would not have dared to dream of before.

And just as he was inspecting the camp, another letter arrived.

From the northwest, Advisor Lian Xi of the Lian family had sent word: the Naranbu tribe of Borjigid, after two years of recovery, had regained its full strength. Borjigid himself was personally leading fifty thousand cavalry south.

Advisor Yan felt his heart singing.

He thought back to when Li Chi had first arrived at the academy — that small figure of a boy, with a pair of eyes so determined they bordered on the obstinate.

As he left the main camp, he saw several people coming toward him — talking and laughing as they walked, and also elbowing each other.

Advisor Yan looked more carefully. Leading the group were two short, round figures — and he recognized them immediately.

It was Peng Shiqi, back from a visit home to Zhongnan Mountain, and walking alongside him was naturally the Little Zhenren Zhang.

These two little round figures walking together were a vision of the world’s goodness.

Advisor Yan smiled and called out in greeting, “Shiqi — when did you get back?”

Peng Shiqi adopted a face of great gravity. “Advisor Yan, from now on please call me Peng Shiba.”

Advisor Yan: “…”

Peng Shiqi pointed at the Little Zhenren Zhang. “Let me introduce — for the Advisor’s benefit — this is Zhang San.”

The Little Zhenren Zhang gave a smack to the back of Peng Shiqi’s head — a fairly resounding one.

Peng Shiqi laughed. “I made quite a long journey getting here. From Zhongnan Mountain, I first went to Jizhou to find you all — and only when I got to Jizhou did I find out you’d all headed south.”

“Advisor Xu Ji said, since I was there already, I might as well help him with something — he had me escort a grain shipment being sent down from Jizhou. So I walked all the way here too.”

The Jizhou grain support had arrived as well — what was there to fear in this battle?

Peng Shiqi jabbed an elbow into the Little Zhenren Zhang. “See that? I’m more useful than you.”

Little Zhenren Zhang: “Hmph.”

Peng Shiqi said, “The Boss has always said that with great ability comes great responsibility. Advisor Yan, do you have anything to assign to me on your end?”

Advisor Yan smiled. “How is it that after going back to Zhongnan Mountain, you feel somehow… different?”

Peng Shiqi said, “Is it that you feel the whole person radiates a certain vitality — and moreover carries a few hints of a great man’s bearing?”

Advisor Yan: “Care to explain?”

Peng Shiqi: “I got married.”

Little Zhenren Zhang: “What the—?!”

Advisor Yan: “You two…”

Peng Shiqi said, “No need to be confused. Our branch of the Dao school permits marriage — it doesn’t interfere.”

He looked at the Little Zhenren Zhang. “You’re still a kid. You don’t understand.”

The Little Zhenren Zhang raised his hand and gave Peng Shiqi’s skull another slap.

Advisor Yan laughed. “Provisions before troops — I had already arranged for General Liu Ge to serve as the vanguard, escorting the grain and supply train out ahead. Since you’ve both arrived now, we can combine everything into one column.”

Peng Shiqi said, “Isn’t the Advisor coming with us to Jingzhou? That’s attacking the capital of Dachu itself — such a momentous occasion, you shouldn’t miss it.”

Advisor Yan said, “I truly wish I could go, but as Yuzhou’s Military Commissioner I cannot leave lightly… The rules were set by the Ning King himself. I am the Ning King’s teacher — a teacher cannot be the one to break the rules. I must set an example.”

As he spoke, a faint trace of wistfulness moved through Advisor Yan’s eyes.

He was the Ning King’s teacher. A teacher — how could he not hope to see with his own eyes his student become the new master of the realm? How could he not wish to see his student walk with his head held high into Daxing, announce the fall of Chu, and proclaim the founding of a new nation?

Peng Shiqi thought for a moment and then spoke very earnestly. “General Ruoling… hmm, no — wait, General Ruoling is already at the fourth rank?”

Advisor Yan nodded. “That’s right.”

Peng Shiqi said, “According to the rules the Boss laid down, officers of the fifth rank and above may bring one family member with them on campaign.”

Advisor Yan said, “This…”

Peng Shiqi said, “The Advisor isn’t going along in the capacity of Yuzhou Military Commissioner — but rather in the capacity of a fourth-rank general’s family member. That doesn’t violate any rules — no one could say a word against it.”

Advisor Yan said, “That’s a reasonable point.”

He looked at Peng Shiqi. “Then I’ll escort the grain supply personally. You’re relieved of the assignment.”

Peng Shiqi: “What?!”