Mei City.

Guan Zaixing was training with his personal guards in the drill yard when someone came running to report that the Emperor wished to see him.

Guan Zaixing hurriedly put himself in proper order and rushed to the palace.

The palace was in truth nothing more than the former residence of the Shu Province military governor, given a fresh coat of paint to lend it some air of grandeur. At a glance, it did look rather resplendent in gold and red.

A year and a half ago, shortly after Pei Qi had proclaimed himself Emperor, he had announced the construction of the Three Emperors Hall within Mei City.

The frontmost hall was to be called the Tai Emperor Hall — the great throne room. Behind it would be the Xuanhuang Hall, where he would rest and handle daily affairs. And at the back, the Qi Emperor Hall.

Yet from the day the project was first proposed to the present, all that had been accomplished was the heaping up of a few mounds of earth.

It was not a matter of money. Though Pei Qi had spent a great deal over the years cultivating allies and influence, it was never his own money he spent.

The wealth now in Pei Qi’s hands remained a staggering sum by any reckoning.

But what good was money?

He could not leave the city. He could hardly tear down the rest of Mei City to build his palace halls.

After renovation and refurbishment, the old governor’s residence was painted predominantly in vermillion, trimmed with gilt, and looked more brilliantly vivid than the imperial palace back in Daxing.

The greatest difference between the imperial palace in Daxing and the one in Mei City was this: one was a pretender’s palace — well-funded enough for decoration; the other was the genuine article — but with no money left for upkeep.

Guan Zaixing hurried to the palace. The moment he entered the great hall he saw that Pei Qi and Pei Xuecheng were standing before a map in discussion.

Seeing Guan Zaixing arrive, Pei Qi beckoned. Guan Zaixing stepped forward and knelt in salute.

“Rise and speak,” Pei Qi said. He looked Guan Zaixing over, then asked, “We hear you were wounded a few days ago?”

Guan Zaixing hastened to reply, “Your Majesty, your servant suffered no injury. I am well.”

“Well?” Pei Qi turned to face him directly. “If you are well, then why have you not gone to taunt the Ning camp these past two days?”

Guan Zaixing dared not hide the truth and repeated everything Xiahou Zhuo had said to him, word for word.

Pei Qi’s expression darkened when he had heard it all.

“It seems the rumor of your injury was not unfounded after all — except that the wound is not on your body. It is in your heart.”

Pei Qi fixed his gaze on Guan Zaixing, his tone growing colder.

“We had thought that with one Ning general wounded, you deserved a fine reward — and before We had even decided what to give you, you were talked out of your purpose by three words from Xiahou Zhuo…”

Guan Zaixing dropped to his knees with a thud.

“Your Majesty, your servant only felt that the Ning general surnamed Gao had shown real courage. Having defeated him once, he has now challenged me to another duel. Your servant could not break his word…”

Before he could finish, Pei Qi’s expression grew darker still.

“Break your word?!” Pei Qi raged. “Are you treating affairs of state as child’s play? You had every opportunity to continue provoking the Ning camp and inspiring the morale of the army — and yet you allowed Xiahou Zhuo’s few words to move your heart. I ask you: what exactly is it in your heart that was moved?”

Guan Zaixing’s face went pale with fright. He kowtowed and spoke in a rush. “Your Majesty, your servant only thought — if I waited for the Ning general surnamed Gao to recover from his wounds, and defeated him again, the blow to the Ning army’s morale would be all the greater…”

He was still in the middle of explaining when Pei Qi’s expression softened, and his tone followed.

“We know…”

Pei Qi helped Guan Zaixing to his feet, his voice now gentle. “Do you know why We were angry? We were angry not because you stopped going to taunt them, but because you were taken in by Xiahou Zhuo.”

Pei Qi walked to the side and picked up a wooden box from the table, handing it to Guan Zaixing. “We had long decided to promote you to Grand General of the Second Rank. Having you lead only four thousand eight hundred men is a waste of your talent…”

He opened the box. Inside lay a Grand General’s seal.

“With your abilities, We feel you should be given command of ten thousand, twenty thousand — even a hundred thousand troops.”

Pei Qi patted Guan Zaixing on the shoulder. “Our anger just now was precisely because We think so highly of you. We know you have the makings of a great commander — you should not have been outmaneuvered by Xiahou Zhuo.”

At that moment, Guan Zaixing found himself at a loss for words, his heart surging with emotion.

A man of his background had never dared dream of becoming a Grand General, and yet here and now, the Grand General’s seal was right there in his hands.

His father, a man of distinguished battlefield merit and unmatched valor, had spent his entire life and risen no higher than a Fourth-Rank General.

His father had once said that men like them could never become the main actors on the battlefield — no matter how able they were, they would always be pieces driven by others.

The young Guan Zaixing had not believed his father’s words. He had only felt certain that with his own abilities, he would one day bring glory to his family.

And wasn’t this the very moment of that glory?

Pei Qi’s face now held not the slightest trace of anger — it was all warmth and gentle smiles.

“We know you will not disappoint us. While the Ning army’s morale is low, go and provoke them again. Do your best to force another great Ning general out to fight you. If you can kill someone of Xiahou Zhuo’s caliber, the Ning army’s spirit will crumble, and when the time is right, We will personally lead the army out in one decisive push that will crush the Ning forces entirely.”

Guan Zaixing bowed immediately. “Your servant obeys. Your servant will ride out again at first light tomorrow.”

Pei Xuecheng smiled warmly and said, “General Guan, His Majesty truly regards you beyond measure. He has told me more than once that among all the generals in the army, the one with the greatest potential — the one most fit for great use — is you, Guan Zaixing.”

He added with a look of admiring envy, “At your age, I was nowhere near your achievements. When we retake the Central Plains one day, you will surely be the foremost hero.”

Guan Zaixing thanked him profusely, his emotions riding high and low like the crest and trough of a wave.

As he left the palace, Pei Xuecheng walked out alongside him, and the two men chatted as they went.

“General Guan, His Majesty’s meaning is this: keep going out to issue challenges. See whether the Ning army still dares send anyone. With your skill, any ordinary Ning general who comes out will not last three exchanges against you. As long as you can repeatedly break their fighting spirit, the Prince of Ning, Li Chi, will have no choice but to send one of his great generals to face you.”

Guan Zaixing bowed. “Your subordinate understands.”

“General Guan, you are no longer my subordinate. Have you forgotten? You and I are now of equal rank.”

Pei Xuecheng laughed heartily. “Congratulations, General Guan. To become a Grand General at your age — your future is limitless.”

Guan Zaixing left in a state of nervous elation, and by the time he returned to his quarters, his emotions had still not settled.

The next morning, Guan Zaixing led his cavalry out of the city at first light and rode once more toward the Ning army camp.

Inside the Ning camp’s command tent.

Li Chi heard from his men that the general surnamed Guan had come to issue his challenge again, and his brow furrowed slightly.

“He didn’t come for two days, and I had just been saying to Xiahou that this Guan Zaixing was a worthy opponent,” Li Chi said, pacing the tent. “Now he’s come again. Knowing his character, this must not have been his own choice.”

Xiahou Zhuo said, “Though he is the enemy, I believe he is a rare talent. If our lord could one day bring him into his service, he would become a great asset.”

Li Chi nodded. “His return now is most likely because Pei Qi forced his hand…”

He looked toward the assembled generals and asked, “What do you all think Pei Qi’s purpose is in this?”

General Liu Ge spoke up. “Pei Qi is desperately in need of a boost to morale. Before, Guan Zaixing’s fortunate victory over General Gao set the Shu army spirits soaring.”

“But Pei Qi will not be satisfied with that. He needs a greater victory — for instance, if Guan Zaixing could kill one of our major generals, Pei Qi could make much of it.”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement. “General Liu is right.”

He paced the tent for a good while, then let out a long, heavy sigh.

“What a waste it would be if a talent like Guan Zaixing were lost just like this…”

He sighed again, then said as if to himself, “I had not wanted to use strategy to kill him — I wanted to wait until Gao Zhen recovered and let Gao Zhen fight him again. But now it seems I have no choice…”

He turned to Liu Ge. “Go out and engage him in battle — but wait until he has been shouting outside the camp for two full hours before you go.”

Liu Ge said, “Your servant understands. After two hours of shouting, his men and horses will be worn and tired. That would be the moment to defeat him.”

Li Chi shook his head. “You cannot defeat him. You must lose to him.”

Liu Ge was taken completely aback.

Li Chi explained. “This man will have spent two hours outside our camp shouting before you go out to fight him — and even in that exhausted state he still defeats you. He will grow arrogant. When he returns, Pei Qi and his men will heap praise on him, and he will come back again tomorrow.”

Liu Ge thought it through carefully, understood Li Chi’s intent, and pressed his fists together in a deep bow. “Your servant understands.”

After waiting two full hours, Liu Ge rode out of camp. He spurred toward Guan Zaixing and stopped within hailing distance, then cupped his hands in salute.

Guan Zaixing sat on horseback and returned the salute, then asked, “Who are you?”

“A minor officer in the Prince of Ning’s service — surnamed Liu, given name Ge.”

“It was you who took Yue Province?” asked Guan Zaixing.

Liu Ge nodded. “It was.”

Guan Zaixing laughed. “You took a Yue Province that had no enemies to fight at all, and you were made Grand General for it. It seems the Prince of Ning’s ranks are not so full of talent as the rumors say.”

Liu Ge replied, “Have you ever considered — if you were to join our lord’s service, your future would be without limit.”

Guan Zaixing said, “Spare me the speeches. If you want me to surrender, first defeat this spear in my hand.”

With that, he spurred his horse forward.

Liu Ge feigned great anger and charged forward to engage. The two exchanged blows back and forth, and after roughly thirty rounds Liu Ge performed growing fatigue and a gradual loss of strength.

Guan Zaixing spotted it — this was the opening to finish Liu Ge. He pressed his attack with increasing ferocity.

Liu Ge, who genuinely could not beat him regardless, found himself truly rattled. Having no choice but to follow Li Chi’s instructions, he wheeled his horse and fled.

Only in that moment did Liu Ge realize why Li Chi had announced his orders publicly — making it clear Liu Ge was meant to lose and lose only. It was to protect Liu Ge’s reputation in front of the troops.

In the eyes of the Ning soldiers, Liu Ge was not losing because he couldn’t win — he was losing because it was the Prince of Ning’s plan.

Liu Ge, however, knew the truth plainly enough: with his real strength, ten more exchanges at most and he would have lost anyway. And Guan Zaixing had already been outside the camp for two hours — not at his peak. At full strength, Liu Ge might have lost even sooner.

Liu Ge fled in defeat. Guan Zaixing gave furious chase, but to his surprise, Liu Ge’s horse was extraordinarily fast — no matter how hard he spurred, he could not close the gap, and could only watch the man disappear back into the Ning camp.

Something about this felt… off.

Well, of course the Ning horses were better — so what? Li Chi had swept away every man across the land who once rode fine horses, and then there were the prime horses gifted by the Borjigin people from the grasslands — any one of them worth a fortune. On top of that, the Iron Crane people had invaded the Naran grasslands twice and been wiped out almost entirely both times, each time leaving behind a gift of hundreds of thousands of horses for the Naran people.

Li Chi’s Ning army was genuinely not short of horses — only short on time. The ten thousand elite cavalry Tang Pidai dreamed of were waiting only for training time.

Men enough, horses enough — enough for every man to ride two.

When this cavalry force would finally take the stage depended entirely on when Tang Pidai made his trip to that mysterious, secretive destination.

This cavalry had been assembled for some time now and had never once participated in battle — because this force was not meant for the Central Plains.

Where that mysterious place was, almost none of the senior commanders in the Ning army knew.

That day’s fight was another easy victory for Guan Zaixing, but when he returned to Mei City, he was in low spirits.

Even with the Emperor Pei Qi coming out in person to welcome him back, his mood was noticeably more subdued than the day before.

Pei Qi saw that Guan Zaixing had something on his mind and smiled. “In Our view there is nothing to be troubled about. Though you still have not cut down an enemy general, to send three Ning generals fleeing in succession — General Guan has the bearing of one invincible under heaven.”

Guan Zaixing said with some frustration, “It is a pity, Your Majesty. If your servant had a better horse, none of those men would have gotten away.”

Pei Qi then understood, and smiled warmly. “We thought it was something serious — so it is only this. Come with Us, General Guan.”

He took Guan Zaixing by the hand and led him to the imperial stables at the back of the palace. There he pointed to a tall, blood-red horse.

“This is Our own mount — its name is Liuhuo, the Flowing Fire. Today We give it to General Guan.”

Guan Zaixing was startled and dropped immediately to his knees. “How could your servant dare to accept Your Majesty’s imperial horse?”

Pei Qi pulled him to his feet. “This horse would only go to waste here. Better to let General Guan ride it into battle against the Ning generals. With Liuhuo beneath you, no Ning general will ever escape your spear again.”

Guan Zaixing refused several times, but Pei Qi was firm, and pressed the horse named Liuhuo on him regardless.

Just as the standoff continued at Mei City, Grand General Tang Pidai’s army was already drawing close to the borders of the Bohai Kingdom.

When the Bohai border general heard that Tang Pidai himself had led the army here, he nearly wet himself with fright. By now even the Bohai people knew Tang Pidai’s name and his reputation for being unmatched under heaven — and they knew well enough his longstanding attitude toward the Bohai. How could they not be afraid?

When the Grand General’s army marched out and arrayed itself at the border of the Bohai Kingdom, the Bohai general, Pu Henyong, sent over a personal letter.

In it, he said with earnest sincerity: our Bohai army has not dared approach the Central Plains borders in years. We have been keeping to ourselves very dutifully.

He did not know what had prompted the Grand General to bring his forces here. If this was about fighting a war, he respectfully asked that the Grand General at least provide a reason.

If we know where we’ve gone wrong, we will correct it immediately. Please be assured, Grand General — we are very obedient. Whatever you say, we will do.

Tang Pidai read the letter with a smile, picked up his brush, and wrote a reply.

When the messenger returned with Tang Pidai’s letter, Pu Henyong tore it open and read it eagerly. He stared at it for a long moment and then exploded in a torrent of curses.

Tang Pidai had written: I know you’ve been quiet these past few years, and that is precisely why I suspect you are storing up trouble. Let me into your Bohai Kingdom to have a look around. If there’s no trouble, I’ll leave. If there is, I’ll drain it away.

Furthermore, I suspect that Han Feibao, who fled from the Central Plains, is very likely planning to collude with you. So I intend to give you a warning before he and you can join forces.

Pu Henyong stood in his study, screaming himself hoarse: if you suspect Han Feibao of plotting to collude with us, go warn Han Feibao! Why in blazes are you warning us?!

And what’s this about “you’ve been quiet for years and I suspect you’re storing up trouble”…

Isn’t this just straight-up bullying?

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