Guan Shisanzhou was one of the very few people who knew everything — but had taken part in nothing — and yet by his very nature held the power to determine how things would go.

Within the Tiger Gang, only one other person occupied that position. No need to say who.

He looked at Qin Ke’s grief-stricken face, then was quiet for a moment before saying, “Adoptive Father didn’t think they’d go this far either.”

Qin Ke gave a small nod.

He knew those words were true.

The old chief had always been more inclined toward submitting to Prince Ning — he simply hadn’t anticipated that when he raised it with the other chiefs, four of them would be so firmly opposed.

What had seemed like it would be a simple, easy conversation had turned into a bitter shouting match.

And it was that day that Luo Jiuhong first truly understood: the unity he had spent a lifetime cultivating — in the face of real stakes — was worth nothing.

Before this, the chiefs had been brotherly because the old chief had always been scrupulously fair, making sure every member of the gang received a fair cut of the earnings. With that foundation, the chiefs had nothing to resent, and so they had lived in apparent harmony.

But then, Pei Qi’s brother-in-law Yan Yusheng sent emissaries to meet privately with certain chiefs. After those meetings, everything changed.

Yan Yusheng’s promise: a fortune in gold and silver — and the opportunity to be ennobled and given military command under Pei Qi.

A Horse Gang chief, however powerful, was still a man of the rivers and lakes.

Noble rank and a military title — for a man, those were nearly irresistible.

The four of them had put their heads together and decided: work together, steer the Horse Gang into helping Yan Yusheng defeat the forces under Tantai Yajing’s command.

Their reasoning was straightforward. Even if Pei Qi had no more real chance of competing for the Central Plains, he could certainly hold Shu Province as its master for years to come. And if they were in Shu Province, they could hold noble rank as Shu Province nobles, become generals, become men of rank and power.

Whereas if Prince Ning Li Chi took Shu Province, the best outcome for the Horse Gang was… staying exactly as they were. And they genuinely feared Prince Ning would move to break up the Horse Gang’s monopoly on Shu Province’s transport trade.

In the inner room, Qin Ke looked at Guan Shisanzhou.

“Actually, Old Fourth came to see me before he went out that day. He told me… Adoptive Father is in fact more willing to side with Prince Ning.”

“So he hoped Old Fourth would go and meet with Prince Ning’s envoy — to convey the old chief’s intent, and mainly to get a sense of what guarantees Prince Ning would offer to the Horse Gang after his army occupied Shu Province.”

Guan Shisanzhou nodded. “I know. I was in the room when Father spoke with Fourth Brother.”

Qin Ke said, “That may be precisely what provoked the others into acting.”

Guan Shisanzhou said, “Third Brother Liao Feijiang is the most likely suspect.”

Qin Ke nodded. “The situation here at home is settled now. I’ve dealt with Old Six and Old Seven. Guard the stronghold. Tonight I’m leaving for the county town — I need to have a proper talk with Old Chief.”

“Be careful. The situation in the county town is extremely tangled right now. Even Adoptive Father may not have full control.”

Qin Ke gave a nod.

He understood. The man who looked so commanding as the Horse Gang’s paramount chief couldn’t even fully command his own Tiger Gang — so how could he bring the entire Horse Gang to heel unconditionally?

Over the years, Luo Jiuhong’s authority had rested on his reputation for righteousness and absolute fairness in dividing the spoils. When serious interests were at stake, righteousness and fairness revealed how fragile they truly were.

Qin Ke moved to the window and cracked it open, peering at the sky. “Help me get something to eat. I’ll set out at nightfall.”

Guan Shisanzhou acknowledged him with a word, his mood heavier than lead.

—

County town. The same hour.

Cao Lie paced back and forth across his study, unease mounting by the minute. This was no longer a matter of jianghu affairs. In the next two or three days, the question of what direction Shu Province’s southwest would take could hinge on something shifting in this small county town.

The Horse Gang’s influence was vast. Not enough to topple Prince Ning’s entire Shu Province campaign — but Shu Province’s southwest would suffer a severe setback.

In the best case: Tantai Yajing’s hundred thousand soldiers would suffer a crushing defeat and be forced to withdraw with heavy losses.

In the worst case: Shu Province’s southwest — the jianghu men, the wandering outlaws, plus the common people who looked to the Horse Gang — would trap Tantai’s forces and never let them leave.

The Horse Gang’s tens of thousands of fighters could cut off Tantai’s retreat and sever the Ning Army’s supply lines. Without resupply, in half a month’s time, Tantai Yajing would have no choice but to pull back — and the road of withdrawal would be a ten-sided ambush.

That was why Cao Lie felt so urgent.

He had thought this would be a straightforward case — find the killer of the Ning Army general and be done with it. Instead, this tiny place had turned into the eye of the storm.

“My lord — something has happened.”

Ye Xiaoqian stepped in from outside, face tense.

“What is it?”

“Just now, Sun Zuoyi — the big chief of the Wolf Gang — arrived outside the county town with at least three or four thousand men. He’s left his forces outside the walls and come in with a few hundred as escort.”

Cao Lie’s chest tightened.

The second most powerful figure in the Shu Province Horse Gang, arriving at this particular moment with this particular force — it could only be a harbinger of what was coming.

The Wolf Gang had five or six thousand fighters — enough to shift the balance of Luo Jiuhong’s decision.

True, Sun Zuoyi was Luo Jiuhong’s sworn brother. But so were all the other chiefs of the Tiger Gang except for the Eighth. And hadn’t that meant nothing?

“Sun Zuoyi didn’t come to help Luo Jiuhong,” Cao Lie said. “He’s Sun Jinjia’s first cousin.”

No secret — everyone knew that the Wolf Gang’s Sun Zuoyi and the Tiger Gang’s Second Chief Sun Jinjia were of the same lineage, fathers who were true brothers. And the bond between first cousins runs deeper than any sworn brotherhood.

Before Cao Lie and Ye Xiaoqian finished talking, a Censorate officer came running in. “My lord, Chief Inspector — there’s another contingent outside the walls. Several thousand strong. Flying the Horse Gang Bear Gang banner.”

Ye Xiaoqian sighed. “It’s getting lively.”

The Horse Gang’s third-ranked figure, Bear Gang chief Mo Xiyan, had arrived. The situation was immediately ten times more complicated.

Ye Xiaoqian looked at Cao Lie. “Luo Jiuhong is going to have a headache now.”

“A headache?” Cao Lie said. “This is past a headache — this is whoever was working behind the scenes giving up on subtle methods and moving into the open.”

He paced slowly as he spoke. “Earlier I assumed this was only about killing Yu Yurèn. Now I see — to actually carry that out, just having a few dissident chiefs on the inside probably wasn’t enough. Someone had to back them.”

“What do we do?” Ye Xiaoqian asked. “Keep watching?”

Cao Lie looked at him. “If I were you, I’d be packing to run right now.”

Ye Xiaoqian said, “There are six or seven thousand Horse Gang fighters outside the city walls, every one of them skilled riders and archers. Whether we pack or not — I don’t think it matters much.”

A county town, ringed by six or seven thousand hardened Horse Gang fighters, with more of their people already inside. Leaving now was simply not possible.

Cao Lie moved to the window and stood there, silent for a long while — then, for no apparent reason, he smiled.

“My lord — what are you smiling at?”

“Smiling at my fate… I thought this was going to be an easy posting. Now I might end up buried here. If I’d known… I should have…”

He didn’t finish.

Ye Xiaoqian didn’t know him well enough yet to guess the second half. But some faint instinct told him that whatever Cao Lie had left unsaid had something to do with a woman.

His instinct was right. What Cao Lie had not said aloud was: *If I’d known it would be like this — I should have gone to see her before I left.*

He was a man who liked to gamble and play and frequent brothels — and yet there was only ever one woman in his heart.

“Let’s go.”

Cao Lie drew a slow breath and straightened his clothes.

Ye Xiaoqian smiled. “Going to face them head-on?”

“Of course. Am I — a Marquis of the First Rank — going to let myself be frightened by a bunch of jianghu men?”

He strode out the door. Ye Xiaoqian followed without hesitation.

—

At the government office.

Luo Jiuhong’s face had gone dark as still water.

He stood at the entrance waiting. His two sworn brothers would arrive any moment. And yet he wasn’t sure what these two men had truly come to do.

The Wolf Gang had always been closer to Shu Province’s officials. And the Wolf Gang’s territory at Dongxi County sat precisely at the chokepoint that could cut off the Ning Army’s line of retreat.

Sun Zuoyi coming with armed men at this hour — no matter how he read it, there was little goodwill in it.

Mo Xiyan was even more unusual. Unlike Luo Jiuhong and the others, Mo Xiyan had not grown up poor. His father was Mo Tong, a senior third-rank official under Shu Province’s Governor Pei Qi — the Administrator of Mei City, a man of great importance in Pei Qi’s court.

Mo Xiyan’s origins were uncannily similar to Xia Houzhu’s.

To preserve the family’s reputation, Mo Tong had long ago forced Mo Xiyan out of the household — because Mo Xiyan was born of a servant girl. But Mo Tong, unlike the Feathered Prince, was more practical: though he had to cast Mo Xiyan out publicly, he quietly deployed significant resources to watch over him.

And on Mo Tong’s instructions, to help Pei Qi gain control of Shu Province’s jianghu, Mo Xiyan had worked his way into the Horse Gang. With Mo Tong’s substantial backing, he assembled his own force quickly, defeated his rivals in a series of confrontations, and leaped to become the third-ranked figure in the Horse Gang. Luo Jiuhong and Sun Zuoyi — both of whom had to maintain relationships with the official world — had accepted Mo Xiyan’s position without objection.

So from this angle, Mo Xiyan couldn’t possibly side with Prince Ning.

Sun Zuoyi and Mo Xiyan arriving on the same day — no one with a functioning mind would believe it was a coincidence.

And so the full shape of things became real.

This wasn’t just the Tiger Gang fracturing from within. This was the Horse Gang itself splitting apart — with most of it gravitating toward Pei Qi, unwilling to submit to an outsider.

Perhaps it was habit of mind. Perhaps it was regional loyalty. Perhaps it was the sheer pull of enormous material gain. Likely all three at once.

Just then, a cavalry column appeared down the street — Sun Zuoyi and Mo Xiyan riding side by side.

Luo Jiuhong drew a long, steadying breath, and let the appropriate smile come to his face. He stepped forward quickly to meet his brothers.

Behind him, Sun Jinjia and Liao Feijiang exchanged a glance.

It was a glance that held far too much to say.