The Panxing River was in truth a tributary of the Chi River, flowing from west to east across roughly a thousand li of land, nourishing all the people along its banks.

Someone once said that with Mangdang Mountain as a screen to the north — curving around like an embrace — and the Panxing River gathering energy to the south, this stretch of land a thousand li in every direction was blessed with exceptional fengshui, and was sure to produce great luminaries.

The mountain in the north was a shield and a cradling arm; the water in the south gathered fortune and preserved abundant grace.

But then, fengshui has never been a matter for one voice to settle, and all things carry their own destiny.

It was said, though, that the small county seat of Ting’an at the foot of Mangdang Mountain had indeed produced no small number of distinguished figures over the years: a chancellor who governed the realm, a giant of the literary world, a general of a hundred victories — and rumor had it, even a courtesan who became the toast of ten thousand admirers in Da Xing City.

So the common people firmly believed in the auspicious fengshui of the place.

But fengshui is no match for war. The Heavenly Mandate Army had advanced on Jing Province multiple times, fighting across every corner of it, and the people of Ting’an County had either fled or perished. Now it was an empty city.

Places like Ting’an County — once flourishing, now reduced to little more than rubble — were everywhere across Chu. And if even Jing Province had come to this, one could only imagine the desolation that must lie across Yue Province, where the fighting had begun earliest.

The Prince of Wu, Yang Jiju, stood atop the walls of Ting’an County, watching his great army march southward in force.

In this moment, the Prince of Wu harbored little anxiety — on the contrary, the great design that Tang Pidi had laid stirred in him a fighting spirit he had not known for a long while.

This venerable general once again felt the competitive fire of his youth.

Tang Pidi, oh Tang Pidi — your very name ordained you as my rival. You alone are my match.

“Report!”

A scout scaled the city wall and knelt with urgency: “Your Highness — General Xie at the vanguard has reached the north bank of the Panxing River. However, a Ning Army defense has already been established on the south bank, apparently in considerable strength, and they have set up their catapults along the southern shore.”

The Prince of Wu gave a nod. He had anticipated as much.

The Ning Army’s various forces were still converging and had not yet fully formed their encirclement — they should still be arriving in haste from all directions.

As long as he could break through within two days and force a crossing of the Panxing River, Tang Pidi’s grand design would amount to bamboo basket fishing for water — all effort for nothing.

After hearing this, the Prince of Wu asked: “What banner does the Ning Army fly?”

The scout answered: “On the south bank, the Ning forces fly the banner of the character Cheng.”

The Prince of Wu nodded.

He knew that must be Cheng Wujie, one of Tang Pidi’s most capable generals. The man appeared rough and unruly with no apparent guile — but was in truth meticulous as silk thread.

It had been this man who commanded the Ning forces to fight while retreating, luring the Prince of Wu’s army all the way to Mangdang Mountain.

To fight while retreating sounds simple enough. But actually doing it against an opponent like the Prince of Wu was anything but easy.

One misstep and the Prince of Wu’s army would have swallowed them whole.

That Cheng Wujie managed it while appearing entirely at ease spoke plainly to his ability.

Yet only the banner of Cheng Wujie was visible — not the command flag of Tang Pidi himself. The Prince of Wu speculated this was probably because Tang Pidi had not anticipated that he would discover the fake grain in Mangdang Mountain so quickly.

According to the amount of provisions Tang Pidi had stockpiled in Mangdang Mountain, even if the Prince of Wu intended to ship them back to Da Xing City, it should have taken several months before he could notice anything amiss.

How could Tang Pidi have predicted that a rebellion would break out inside Da Xing City, forcing the Prince of Wu to march home urgently and thereby accelerating the pace of moving out the provisions?

The Prince of Wu further speculated that positioning Cheng Wujie on the south bank of the Panxing River was something Tang Pidi had planned from the outset — a necessary link in the step-by-step arrangement — and not a response to sensing that the Prince of Wu’s army was urgently seeking to push southward.

So there should be an opportunity to fight and win here.

“Pass the order: have Xie Yao force a crossing directly. No matter the cost.”

“Yes!”

The messenger turned and ran down the city wall, mounted, and galloped south.

The Prince of Wu would hold the center command. There was no need for him to rush personally to the Panxing River to direct a river-crossing battle against Cheng Wujie — that was beneath the match.

Xie Yao was one of his beloved generals, a man of great talent and remarkable martial skill.

Of the generals who had followed the Prince of Wu for so long, which among them could be an ordinary man?

Xie Yao excelled at offensive warfare. Breaking through the enemy should not be a problem — especially with Tang Pidi absent and Cheng Wujie’s forces limited.

What the Ning Army relied upon was nothing more than their catapults. But the Panxing River was no natural moat. To cross it required no bridges — not even that many boats. In the shallower stretches, soldiers could wade across.

As the Prince of Wu descended from the city wall, he continued inwardly marveling at Tang Pidi’s brilliant scheme.

He had accounted not only for terrain, timing, and manpower, but also for human greed — human nature itself — and even the weather.

The Prince of Wu estimated that Tang Pidi’s planned encirclement was to converge at the start of the seventh month.

By the climate of Jing Province, once the sixth and seventh months arrived, rains would come frequently.

The Panxing River was no great river compared to the Chi, and in this stretch the water ran neither deep nor swift. At its widest and shallowest point, soldiers could walk across. But come the seventh month and the rainy season, water levels would rise.

By then the defensive positions the Ning forces had established on the south bank would become far more formidable, and the catapults would deliver their greatest effect.

But the luck lay not with Tang Pidi.

By previous years’ standards, several rains should already have fallen by the sixth month. Yet this year was unusually dry — not a single drop had come. Day after day the sun blazed down, and the Panxing’s water level had not risen but actually fallen somewhat.

For the Prince of Wu’s army, was this not heaven’s favor?

The Prince of Wu had once said that luck was a key factor in victory or defeat — and in some cases, the most critical of all.

If he could force a crossing of the Panxing River before the Ning encirclement fully formed, Tang Pidi could do nothing but lament.

From Mangdang Mountain to the Panxing River was roughly a hundred li. From Ting’an County to the Panxing River was only fifty or sixty.

Even without pushing hard, it would not take long to reach the riverbank. Over those fifty or sixty li, the Prince of Wu marched while receiving battle reports from the front — nearly one messenger returning every moment.

“Report: Your Highness, General Xie has begun the crossing. The water is shallow. Soldiers can wade across.”

“Report: General Xie sends word — the Ning Army’s defense is tight and resistance fierce. Their forces appear to number no fewer than twenty thousand.”

“Report: General Xie has personally led troops into the crossing. They are more than halfway across. The Ning catapults have limited effect, with few casualties among our crossing forces.”

“Report: The Ning arrow formation is extremely fierce, and they have a large number of crossbow carts and row-crossbows. General Xie’s forces were driven back once, with considerable losses.”

“Report: General Xie has sent his troops forward again for a second assault.”

“Report: Your Highness — General Xie personally led his bodyguard unit to charge to the opposite bank, but was blocked by the Ning general Cheng Wujie. The General’s bodyguard unit was nearly wiped out, and he was forced to withdraw.”

“Report: General Xie has organized five thousand hardened soldiers as a death squad. To inspire their courage, the General has removed his armor to fight bare-skinned, leading the charge at the front.”

“Report: Your Highness, General Xie has broken onto the opposite bank.”

With each successive report, the Prince of Wu’s expression grew more and more grave.

Though Tang Pidi was absent, Cheng Wujie was one of the rarest fierce commanders in the realm.

If this man fought to the death in defense, breaking through the Ning line would be no easy task.

Xie Yao’s bravery was roughly a match for Cheng Wujie’s; the Ning Army’s advantage lay in defense and their superior weapons, while the Chu Army’s advantage lay in greater numbers and the desperate urgency of men trying to return home — they had the will to fight to the death.

Both were generals of ferocious courage and solitary daring. Which one would win out over the other was truly difficult to say.

“Report: Your Highness, General Xie has broken into the Ning Army encampment! The five thousand death-squad soldiers have taken heavy losses, but our follow-up forces have entered the fray as well, and a close melee has formed.”

Hearing this report, the Prince of Wu allowed himself to breathe slightly easier.

Xie Yao had in the end gained a marginal upper hand — he knew his beloved general well, knew what Xie Yao was capable of.

The death squad had suffered greatly, which was a pity. But once the follow-up forces poured into the Ning encampment and a melee ensued, the Chu troops crossing behind them would find it much easier.

One hour was all it would take for the Chu forces on the south bank to establish an overwhelming numerical advantage.

At that point, no matter how brave Cheng Wujie was, it would be beyond his power to reverse the tide.

Before, the Prince of Wu had planned for the crossing to take two days. It now seemed they would be ahead of schedule.

The Prince of Wu quickened his pace, and with his center command marching, they could already see the north bank of the Panxing River.

Just then, another messenger came running.

“Report… Your Highness, General Xie… General Xie has walked into an ambush.”

“What?!”

The Prince of Wu’s expression changed at once.

The messenger said: “No one expected that within the Ning encampment lay hidden troops in reserve. It was Ning’s supreme commander Tang Pidi himself who led the force. General Xie was — was killed by Tang Pidi with a single spear thrust.”

A thunderclap went off inside the Prince of Wu’s head, and his expression darkened to its very worst.

A total rout? Killed with a single thrust?

Of course…

The Prince of Wu suddenly understood.

He had learned of the rebellion inside Da Xing City, which meant he was compelled to return as soon as possible. If Tang Pidi had also learned of the rebellion, he would have anticipated that the Prince of Wu’s army would begin its southward march ahead of schedule.

So Tang Pidi had come personally to the Panxing River — yet shown himself not at all, flying no flag, deliberately laying this ambush.

Xie Yao was a brave general. Having already broken into the enemy camp with victory in sight, he would naturally have let his guard drop. Tang Pidi calculated the human heart, and had carried it to an uncanny extreme.

“What of the troops who crossed?!”

The Prince of Wu asked with urgency.

The messenger’s voice was raspy: “The more than ten thousand who crossed over… are surrounded and fighting on, but, but…”

The rest he could not bring himself to say. But how could the Prince of Wu not know? Tang Pidi had personally led a force to spring the ambush — those more than ten thousand who had crossed were probably not going to make it back.

The Prince of Wu spurred his horse forward and arrived at the north bank of the Panxing River, where he saw the south bank already covered with the blood-red battle flags of the Ning Army. Not a Chu banner was left standing.

This… it was plain to see. The forces that had crossed over had already been annihilated.

Counting the soldiers who had died crossing the river earlier, in this first battle alone the Chu Army may have lost as many as seventeen or eighteen thousand.

The five thousand death-squad soldiers had charged in, and the six or seven thousand follow-up troops right behind them — that ten-thousand-odd force had entered the fray like wading into a swamp, with no way to pull back.

“Tang Pidi…”

The Prince of Wu murmured to himself, brow deeply furrowed.

On the south bank of the Panxing River, Tang Pidi walked to the water’s edge carrying his iron spear. Behind him lay a ground covered with the bodies of Chu soldiers.

Battle flag after battle flag of Chu had fallen to the earth. Some were already shredded. Some lay draped across the corpses of Chu soldiers, a sight of particular desolation.

He walked to the bank and looked northward, saw the Prince of Wu’s central command flag, and let out a slow breath.

It had come a bit earlier than planned. But since battle had already been joined, there was no reason to lose to that old War God of Chu.

The Prince of Wu commanded two hundred thousand troops. Deducting the forces sent back to Da Xing City with the grain, and deducting the forces he had just slain, the Prince of Wu’s remaining strength should be no fewer than a hundred and sixty or seventy thousand.

And Tang Pidi’s Ning Army, in total, numbered only sixty thousand.

On the north bank, the Prince of Wu stared grimly at the south. He now saw it — the Tang banner had been raised.

The Prince of Wu sighed inwardly.

He had thought earlier that Tang Pidi didn’t dare meet him in fair battle with equal forces, that Tang Pidi only dared to encircle him with several times his numbers.

And now?

His forces outnumbered Tang Pidi’s several times over.