Da Xing City.

Li Chi accompanied Gao Xining to the Censor Bureau’s temporary headquarters to discuss how to deploy additional personnel in preparation for the Shu campaign.

The Censor Bureau’s several senior agents in Da Xing City were present, as were Deputy Chief Censor Zhang Tang and Elder Ye.

When Li Chi and Gao Xining entered, everyone stood and bowed in salute.

Li Chi saw that Elder Ye had returned, and immediately broke into a smile. “When did you get back, Elder?”

Elder Ye said, “Arrived in Da Xing City today. Ran into a meeting, knew the master of the household would be coming, so I came straight here to wait.”

He explained: “I had originally set out southeast to find Elder Li. But halfway there I ran into Su Ruye and his group. He told me to come back — he was worried the enemy might be up to something, that there weren’t enough people around the master of the household and it wouldn’t be safe.”

Elder Ye had originally gone behind enemy lines with a mission. But Han Feibao had collapsed so quickly that nearly all the preparations Elder Ye had made there were rendered useless. He had then headed southeast, and Su Ruye — concerned this might be a feint to lure the tiger from the mountain — had recalled him.

With Elder Ye back, the next set of tasks were not merely a case of adding wings to a tiger — no, the Censor Bureau was no longer what it once had been. Adding Elder Ye to it was like adding a second tiger. Each of the newly promoted senior agents who had risen after leaving You Prefecture was capable of operating independently.

“The troops need time to recover,” Li Chi said. “Old Tang has been chasing the Yong Army for over sixteen or seventeen hundred li, and still needs to return and prepare for the attack on Shu. He needs at least three months of rest.”

He counted the time. “Factoring in the two months or so until the army returns to Da Xing City, then three months of rest — that’s roughly half a year.”

“From Da Xing City to Shu, a main army on the march will take at least five months — call it half a year. But traveling light, they could do it in a little over two months.”

Li Chi said, “So by working back from there, we have roughly one year to make advance preparations before the army arrives. The army takes four months to march, but traveling light they can be there in a little over two. So in practice we have about eight months to gather as much intelligence as possible before the main force arrives.”

Li Chi finished and looked at Elder Ye: “You’ve only just returned, and by rights you should rest — but this task needs you at the helm.”

Elder Ye said, “Just tell me what needs doing, Master of the Household. If you sat me at home doing nothing, that would be the real hardship.”

Li Chi smiled, then turned to Yuan Yuanshu: “A large portion of your Military Intelligence directorate’s best people have been deployed to Tai Mountain. So I’m splitting this equally — half from the Censor Bureau to support you. You take the rest of your people and coordinate with Elder Ye.”

Yuan Yuanshu was the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate; Elder Ye held the concurrent title of Deputy Chief Censor of the Censor Bureau.

This was the first time, since the Military Intelligence Directorate was established, that it had ever operated jointly with the Censor Bureau.

Yuan Yuanshu bowed: “I will coordinate with Elder Ye.”

Li Chi said, “Take two experienced senior agents, then choose two younger ones. Among the newly promoted — who would you recommend?”

Gao Xining said, “Senior Agent Zhou Dengchao and Senior Agent Chen Dingjia can go. Then have Yu Hongyi and Fang Xidao go with them.”

Li Chi acknowledged this and turned to Yuan Yuanshu: “From the Military Intelligence side — who do you have that’s capable? I don’t mean rank, I mean ability.”

Yuan Yuanshu said, “There are several young people who are quite outstanding. This would be a good chance to take them out and put them through their paces.”

Li Chi said, “This should be the last major battle of the campaigns — the last tempering before the end. In the future these young people will be assigned as heads of regional offices across the empire. The experience is dangerous, but those who have been through a final campaign like this — it will serve them greatly when they’re out there on their own.”

Yuan Yuanshu said, “I’ll finalize the names and present them to you for review, Master.”

Li Chi shook his head. “These decisions should be yours to make.”

Yuan Yuanshu immediately understood. “Understood, my Lord. I will select the most suitable candidates.”

Li Chi turned to Gao Xining: “Old Tang wrote back — he wants to hold his wedding with Lady Shen before the Shu campaign begins. Some people may try to cause trouble during Old Tang’s wedding, so there’s no shortage of work for the Censor Bureau in Da Xing City either.”

Gao Xining said, “I’ve already given the instructions — there won’t be any problems. And if anyone really dares to stir up trouble during Old Tang’s wedding, they won’t like the consequences.”

Li Chi nodded, rose to leave, and said, “Elder Ye and Yuan Yuanshu — finalize your personnel, then set out.”

Elder Ye and Yuan Yuanshu rose and clasped their fists together: “Understood.”

Li Chi and Gao Xining returned to Xinyuan. Old Tang and Shen Shanhu would be back in Da Xing City in about two months. Old Tang had mentioned in his letter that he and Shen Shanhu would come ahead, leaving the main column to Cheng Wujie.

So in these two months or more, they needed to prepare everything for Old Tang’s wedding.

Old Tang was getting married. Li Chi was more excited about it than he had ever been about his own — though, of course, he didn’t yet know how excited he would be when his own day came.

Elder Ye and Yuan Yuanshu discussed the matter and went their separate ways to select personnel. They would reconvene the next day, prepare for one more day, and set out the day after.

They were going to infiltrate Shu — so every person selected had to be among the elite of the elite.

By the time everything was ready and the column departed Da Xing City, Li Chi and Gao Xining both came to see them off. A few brief words of instruction, and the column set out.

From Da Xing City to Shu, one had to cross the entirety of Jing Prefecture, including six or seven rivers — a long journey. For an army of hundreds of thousands, four or five months was the minimum. But Elder Ye’s column would be far faster, not carrying heavy equipment or large supply trains, and traveling with three horses per rider.

They departed in winter. By the time they reached Shu, the New Year had already passed.

The Shu of February was not particularly cold, but the humidity was far heavier than in Jing Prefecture — let alone comparable to You Prefecture. You’s winter was dry and sharp, the wind like blades against the skin. Shu’s coldest days never dipped very low in temperature, but the humidity made the chill feel like needles probing into one’s pores.

But that weather didn’t last long — not even a full month.

More difficult to adapt to than the cold was Shu’s rain season. Fortunately it was only early February; if it had been into the third month, the rains of Shu would have come together in a seamless curtain. Many stretches would go weeks without seeing the sun. By the sixth, seventh, or eighth months, some areas might not see sunlight for an entire month.

The column did not take the main roads. The mountain passes at the border of Shu and Jing were formidable, guarded by Shu troops at full alert — there was no way through. But a Censor Bureau agent deployed earlier, despite failing to gather much important intelligence inside Shu, had found a small path that could bypass the mountain gates and enter Shu.

From here onward, horses were useless. They found a place to leave them behind. The path through the mountains would take six or seven days — crossing ridge after ridge, threading through dense forest, with dangers that lay not in soldiers but in whatever wild beasts might be encountered.

Waiting to guide them was a Censor Bureau agent named An Xiaozhang — around twenty-six or twenty-seven, extraordinarily capable.

Moving through the mountains, they also had to avoid pockets of miasma — appearing from nowhere, reason unknown, but wandering into one meant almost certainly not coming back out.

After emerging from the mountains, An Xiaozhang took a few agents to scout ahead and returned before dark.

“Sir,” he said, unrolling a hand-drawn map for Elder Ye.

“About seven or eight li ahead, there’s a village. Small population — which is exactly why we can’t stop there.”

Elder Ye nodded.

In a small village, everyone knows everyone — every family’s relatives are familiar faces. A group this large walking in would be spotted as wrong immediately.

“What lies further?”

Elder Ye asked.

An Xiaozhang said, “About thirty-some li further, a county town — that’s where we lost contact with our people. Forty-six of our Censor Bureau brothers died there. The county is called Qingmian.”

Elder Ye asked, “What happened?”

An Xiaozhang said, “The total losses the Censor Bureau has sustained in Shu now exceed two hundred people. All those deaths together bought back one important piece of intelligence: under Pei Qi there is a highly capable force called the Maying.”

He looked at Elder Ye. “Maying’s control over Shu is equivalent to what our Censor Bureau has over You Prefecture. Any stranger who arrives and seems slightly suspicious is immediately noticed.”

“To this day, what we know of Maying is still very limited. We only know that the commander of a hundred men in Maying is called a Flag Officer, and above that is a General Flag Officer. Everything else is unknown.”

Elder Ye sighed inwardly. Over two hundred Censor Bureau agents sacrificed in Shu — all young people.

An Xiaozhang continued: “Though the intelligence gathered is extremely limited, I estimate that every single county seat in Shu has a Maying branch, with at least one Flag Officer stationed there.”

“They must also have a unique communication system. Even the common Shu people we’ve approached have not the faintest knowledge of Maying — they’ve never even heard the name.”

An Xiaozhang said, “Ordinary Maying soldiers are called Maying Troopers. Everything we know about Maying came from a single Maying Trooper we captured — but even troopers have very limited knowledge of the upper levels. The highest rank they’re aware of is the General Flag Officer.”

Elder Ye looked at Yuan Yuanshu: “From what we can see now, the ones who injured Yu Jiuling — they were from this Maying.”

Yuan Yuanshu nodded. “Yes.”

Elder Ye said, “So this time we must be extremely careful. Maying’s capabilities should not be inferior to the Censor Bureau’s.”

Yuan Yuanshu said, “Qingmian County is behind the Kaoshen Pass. If we can’t even enter Qingmian, getting intelligence from inside the pass itself will be even harder.”

He looked at Elder Ye. “We’ll need a different approach.”

Elder Ye nodded. “Fortunately, we haven’t come empty-handed.”

The enemy they faced now — Maying — was the strongest opponent the Censor Bureau had ever encountered, far stronger than the Shanhe Seal of old.

From the current intelligence, a Flag Officer was roughly equivalent to a Censor Bureau Hundred-Agent; a General Flag Officer was roughly equivalent to a Senior Agent.

Above those two ranks — there was no information at all.

—