The two Flag Officers looked at each other, neither quite able to decide what to do. At this moment, moving and staying both felt wrong.

Their superior wanted to sacrifice himself. Their hearts refused to accept it. But they also knew that anyone who stayed behind had almost no chance of survival — dying alongside him would likely mean dying for nothing. That was why they hesitated.

“Go,” Mo Lili said plainly.

In his view, a man at a certain station must carry a certain burden, hold a certain responsibility, and be prepared for a certain sacrifice.

He was not a man given to protecting his subordinates. He was a man of absolute calm. What was the correct choice — he would always take the correct choice. And if the correct choice required sacrifice, he would simply assess whose sacrifice was correct.

To ensure Yang Jing was delivered back to Shuzhou, sacrificing the men who had broken Yu Jiuling’s legs was correct. Sacrificing himself was also correct.

Sentiment had no value to anyone in the Curtain Camp. They only did the correct thing — not the impulsive one.

“My legs are broken,” Mo Lili said. “I no longer carry as high a value. If my legs were whole and my martial skill the best among you, any casualties would not fall on me. Now I am a liability. You have become more important than I am. Do you understand?”

He waved his hand once more. “Go.”

Dian Cang and Zhou Xiaoxin bowed deeply to Mo Lili, then led their men aboard a boat and crossed the great river.

On the southern bank, Flag Officer Jin Jinjin had been waiting with his group for some time. Seeing a boat approaching, they tensed — they could see the cavalry on the northern bank.

Here in Jingzhou — in any territory outside of Shuzhou — there was no longer any army that could match the Ning forces. These men were skilled fighters, but against cavalry in formation, they had no chance of survival. Against equal numbers of soldiers, they might have crushed them. Against several thousand cavalry, they didn’t even dare entertain the thought of fighting.

“Where is the sir?” Jin Jinjin saw Dian Cang and Zhou Xiaoxin step off the boat and hurried forward.

Dian Cang said, “The sir has a letter for you. He orders you to return to Shuzhou immediately and deliver it personally to the Military Governor.”

Jin Jinjin had no reason to suspect anything. He stepped forward — and Zhou Xiaoxin, from the side, drove a knife-hand strike into his neck.

Jin Jinjin grunted and reflexively tried to turn his head, but Dian Cang was already driving a fist hard into his temple. Jin Jinjin’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.

Dian Cang addressed Jin Jinjin’s now-terrified subordinates. “The sir has determined that Jin Jinjin is an agent of the King of Ning, Li Chi. He was secretly working with the Ning army — which is how the sir was ambushed and injured. You are to take Jin Jinjin to the northern bank, before the sir’s eyes, and execute him there. The sir will not hold any of you responsible if you do. If you refuse, you will be treated as Jin Jinjin’s accomplices.”

These words left Jin Jinjin’s men white-faced and wordless. None of them dared raise a question.

Zhou Xiaoxin added, “Bring General Yu and Jin Jinjin to the northern bank now, and the sir may yet show you leniency. You’ll see for yourselves when you get there — the sir’s legs are both broken.”

The men had nothing to say to that either. Hurriedly, they bound the unconscious Jin Jinjin and carefully helped Yu Jiuling onto the boat.

Yu Jiuling watched all of this unfold and more or less understood exactly what it was.

Ask him to plot some grand scheme and he couldn’t. Ask him to read a battle situation and he wasn’t made for that. But watching these people turn on their own — he could see through that at a glance.

So Yu Jiuling smiled, and looked down at his legs.

The boss had said: if you’re in danger, just think about staying alive. Leave the rest to him.

The boss had also said: Yu Jiuling, remember — no matter who, no matter how powerful the enemy, if they hurt you, they will pay for it.

These people — they were all part of the price.

And yet those people had no idea they’d been sold. When they rowed the small boat to the midpoint of the river and stopped — as Dian Cang had instructed them — they still didn’t know.

On the northern bank, Xiahou Zhuo grabbed Yang Jing by the waistband and strode forward. Walking, he said to Li Chi, “I’m going with you.”

Of course Li Chi was going himself. No one could stop him from bringing Yu Jiuling home.

The others boarded boats as well. Yang Jing’s face held no color at all — he looked like a corpse dug fresh from the ground. In his heart at that moment he was genuinely beginning to feel some regret, but there was nothing left to do but grit his teeth and hold on.

The two boats quickly met in the middle of the river. Both sides looked at each other for a moment. Neither spoke first.

It was Mo Lili who called out to his own men, as he and Li Chi had agreed. “Put General Yu at the water’s edge and come back.”

His men had no reason for suspicion. They rowed the small boat toward the northern bank. Yu Jiuling sat aboard and looked at Li Chi. Everything he wanted to say was in that look. Li Chi gave a single nod — and with that nod, Yu Jiuling felt a peace settle over him so completely that he nearly wept.

Li Chi lifted Yang Jing and made to throw him toward the boat Mo Lili’s men had left behind. Yang Jing shook with fear.

Li Chi put his strength into the throw, and Yang Jing was flung onto the boat, landing with a cry of pain.

Even now, at this last moment, Yang Jing could not believe Li Chi was truly going to let him go. Li Chi could have killed him right now — Yu Jiuling’s boat was already heading north.

“Why?” Yang Jing shouted across the water at Li Chi. “Why would you really release me?”

Li Chi said, “If I don’t truly release you, how can I slaughter every last remnant of my enemies without restraint?”

That one sentence hit Yang Jing like a fist to the chest.

Mo Lili was still on Li Chi’s boat. He heard those words and felt them land in him like a stone.

In that moment, he finally understood: the conclusion he had drawn from his intelligence, all those years ago, had been wrong. Catastrophically wrong.

Could the kind of man who wins a kingdom really be anything other than a hegemon?

Li Chi looked toward Xiahou Zhuo. “Kill every one who injured Jiu-mei.”

Xiahou Zhuo answered with a single sound, then leapt from Li Chi’s boat to another, and led the others back north to intercept the Curtain Camp survivors.

Left on the small boat were only Li Chi and Mo Lili.

Mo Lili gave a bitter smile. “Yang Jing can be released. But I cannot. Is that right, Your Highness?”

Li Chi looked back at him. “Of course you cannot live.”

Mo Lili said, “Before I die, I’d like to test my own reasoning. Will Your Highness permit me to speak to the end? I want to understand how wrong I was.”

Li Chi said nothing. He didn’t move.

Mo Lili continued: “I must die. First, because this was my plan, and it led to General Yu’s injuries. For that, the King of Ning has already claimed my life.”

“Second… because I am an unremarkable man. Even as the one who devised this, I need not appear in any history. I am only a petty man.”

“If I die, there is no impact. But Yang Jing lives — and you personally released him. You become the King of Ning who keeps his word.”

“For the sake of your brothers, you release your most dangerous enemy. Once that story spreads, all under heaven will know the righteousness of the King of Ning.”

He paused to breathe. “And with Yang Jing gone to Shuzhou, the King of Ning now has grounds to launch a campaign against Shuzhou. Before, you had to consider your reputation — to consider the people of Shuzhou — and so you would have led with an offer of surrender, even knowing the Military Governor would never accept it. Out of proper form, you’d have had to make that gesture. Now — you don’t.”

Mo Lili clasped his fists toward Li Chi. “I am in awe.”

Li Chi still said nothing. He simply watched him, his eyes calm.

Mo Lili let out a long, heavy breath. “I really was wrong… How could a man who wins the empire be anything other than a hegemon?”

Only then did Li Chi speak, slowly. “Take your own life.”

Mo Lili accepted the knife Li Chi handed him. He nodded. “Thank you, Your Highness, for the dignity.”

He aimed the blade at his own heart, then threw himself forward, using the full weight of his body to drive the knife in.

Li Chi glanced toward the far boat, now nearly reaching the southern bank. Yang Jing was looking back at him.

What was passing through Yang Jing’s heart at that moment, perhaps only Yang Jing himself would ever know.

In the next breath, Li Chi rowed the small boat back to the northern bank.

By then Yu Jiuling had already come ashore. The surviving Curtain Camp fighters were turning back south — and ran straight into Xiahou Zhuo and the men he led.

The slaughter came without warning. Xiahou Zhuo landed on one enemy boat with his long blade already in his hand.

Yu Jiuling was supported by two magistrate soldiers, with Gao Xining at his side.

“Big brother…” Yu Jiuling said, his face full of apology. “I caused everyone so much trouble.”

Gao Xining looked at him. “Shut up. Watch your brothers avenge you. We’ll deal with your mistakes when we’re home.”

“Right…”

Yu Jiuling answered and watched his brothers avenge him.

Xiahou Zhuo’s fury was no less than Li Chi’s. Yu Jiuling meant just as much to him. The one who had promised to take Yu Jiuling into the army all those years ago — that had been Xiahou Zhuo.

Li Chi alone rowed back — not back to shore, but using one small boat to seal off every gap. Not one enemy boat escaped his blockade. Li Chi had said: whoever harmed Jiu-mei would not be allowed to live.

When Li Chi and the others brought every enemy’s head back to shore, each one was laid before Yu Jiuling.

Xiahou Zhuo clapped him on the shoulder. “Killed some. The rest — wait until we take Shuzhou. We’ll make it up to you.”

Yu Jiuling’s eyes had begun to redden. Li Chi glanced at him. “Don’t try that with me. You made a mistake. That’s not settled yet — and crying won’t fix it.”

Yu Jiuling let out a sudden laugh.

Li Chi crouched down and carefully checked Yu Jiuling’s injury. The bandaging was good, the splints properly fixed.

“Let’s go.”

Li Chi turned his back on Yu Jiuling.

Yu Jiuling grinned from ear to ear — and then let out a sound, a wail, and burst into tears. He couldn’t hold it any longer.

Li Chi hefted Yu Jiuling onto his back and started walking. As he walked, he said, “Your crying is really terrible, you know.”

—