In the early days of autumn, the civil and military officials who lived closer to Chang’an began to arrive one after another. Those from more distant places still had a long road ahead of them.

The Central Plains was vast. An official from Yuezhou, for instance, setting out the moment Li Chi’s summons arrived — travelling by boat and carriage, all conditions favourable, with horses waiting at every military and government post along the way — would still need three or four months to arrive.

But Li Chi had sent out the summons before leaving Shuzhou, so by his reckoning, even Xu Ji departing from Yuezhou should already be close to Chang’an.

Indeed — as Li Chi and the others stood on Chang’an’s city walls gazing out over the city, Xu Ji’s carriage procession was less than two hundred li from Daxing City.

Inside the carriage, Xu Ji pushed open the window and looked out. Then he drew a long, long breath.

“The northwest…” A middle-aged man sitting across from him seemed to be murmuring to himself — but of course, he was saying it for Xu Ji to hear. “How can it compare to Jiangnan?”

This man was called Chen Xugong. He was the eldest son of the Chen family, a great Jiangnan household, and the current favourite in Xu Ji’s inner circle.

The Chen family wielded unrivalled influence in Yuezhou. By the standards of the whole Central Plains, they couldn’t quite be counted among the top ten great families — but their standing in Yuezhou was truly unassailable.

The great Jiangnan bandit Li Xionghu had killed with ruthless fury, his hatred of the established clans and great houses intense. Yet the Chen family had barely been touched. That alone told you something about the family’s capabilities — or perhaps more accurately, that the Chen family’s people were genuinely skilled, knew how to navigate, understood how to conduct themselves. It was that skill that had allowed them to maintain a foothold even when Li Xionghu was master of Yuezhou.

Chen Xugong’s apparently self-directed murmur was, in truth, a reminder to Xu Ji.

This journey north to Chang’an for the Prince of Ning’s enthronement ceremony, Xu Ji also carried another mission: the great families and powerful households of Jiangnan had entrusted him with the task of persuading the Prince of Ning not to establish his capital in Chang’an.

The Central Plains dynasty had been based in Jiangnan for hundreds of years. In those hundreds of years, the benefit accrued to the Jiangnan great families was beyond measuring.

If the Prince of Ning truly chose Chang’an as his capital, those families would lose a staggering number of advantages.

They were also afraid: the northern great families, long suppressed by their southern counterparts for centuries, would rise on the strength of the capital being placed in the north.

When the capital had been in Daxing City, the northern great families had repeatedly tried to extend their reach southward — and had been driven back, every time, by the Jiangnan families. In hundreds of years of Chu dynasty history, seven or eight out of every ten men who held real power in the court had come from Jiangnan.

If the capital were placed in the north, the southern families knew exactly what they would face. The northern families would do to them what they had once done to the north — and perhaps with added cruelty, as repayment.

Xu Ji understood perfectly well what Chen Xugong was implying. But he disliked this tone, so he didn’t acknowledge it — didn’t even glance at him.

From Chen Xugong’s point of view, the Chen family and the other families had already given Xu Ji more than enough. The great families had even pledged to support Xu Ji’s ascent to the position of Prime Minister of Great Ning with every resource at their disposal.

They had given money, given people, given effort on his behalf. Xu Ji ought, in return, to fall in line.

Seeing Xu Ji remain silent, Chen Xugong smiled and said, “Is Daren tired? Would you like me to knead your muscles? You’ve been travelling for so long, sitting in this carriage all this time — if I massage you a little to improve circulation, it might help a little.”

Xu Ji glanced at him sideways. “You look more tired than I am. Would you like me to work on your muscles instead?”

A small flame of anger flared inside Chen Xugong.

This Xu Ji took himself far too seriously.

Xu Ji saw the change in his expression. He smiled and said, “You currently hold the position of a Fourth Rank Yuezhou Supply Office Deputy Commissioner — I haven’t got that wrong, have I?”

Chen Xugong replied, “Daren has it correct.”

Xu Ji said, “Right now, your official rank makes you the highest-ranking member of the entire Chen family, does it not?”

Chen Xugong was taken aback. He understood what Xu Ji meant, and the anger that had flared now became something heavier — though he had no choice but to bow his head.

Xu Ji’s fingers drummed lightly against the side of the carriage. His tone gradually took on a colder edge.

“Chen Xugong — do you think that because your Chen family has given me a sum of silver, you now have the right to direct my actions?”

To ask the question this bluntly, with such directness — it was enough to make Chen Xugong’s anger collapse entirely, replaced by sudden alarm.

He had thought that a man like Xu Ji, having taken so much silver from his family, ought to be more compliant. The way Li Xionghu had been — Li Xionghu wanted silver, the Chen family gave it; Li Xionghu wanted women, the Chen family gave those too; whatever Li Xionghu wanted, the Chen family provided. And Li Xionghu did as he was told.

Chen Xugong pushed aside his robe and knelt down right there in the carriage. He was just about to speak when Xu Ji’s hand pressed down on his shoulder, signalling him not to.

Xu Ji’s voice was even and level, but carried a chill. “Your Chen family has only produced one Fourth Rank official in nearly ten years. That was not easy. You yourself ought to value it — and if nothing else, value it for the sake of your Chen family.”

Xu Ji looked down at Chen Xugong. “With your rank and official standing — if it were not because I was willing — would you have any right to come to Chang’an for the Prince of Ning’s enthronement ceremony?”

Chen Xugong raised his eyes to look at Xu Ji for just an instant, then quickly dropped his gaze again.

Xu Ji said, “I am a direct person. I don’t like to speak in hints and leave others to figure out my meaning. I find that exhausting. If I encounter someone clever, a few carefully placed words are enough, which is fine. But if I encounter a fool…”

His hand came to rest on Chen Xugong’s shoulder again.

“A fool might even believe I’m asking him to do me a favour. I tell a fool to do something, and he thinks I’m being presumptuous.”

“Daren, I would never dare — I truly never thought that, I am utterly loyal to Daren, heart and soul…”

“Spare me.”

Xu Ji cut him off. “Put away that worthless loyalty of yours. The reason I brought you to Chang’an is simply that your Chen family made the greatest contribution. I need to show the other families clearly: those who make larger contributions receive benefits. Those who contribute little get nothing.”

Chen Xugong bowed his head, heart growing more and more unsettled.

Xu Ji smiled and retracted his hand.

“Does your Chen family still think these are the days when a petty bandit like Li Xionghu could call the tune?”

Xu Ji picked up his teacup, took a sip, and cleared his throat.

“Chen Xugong — are you a fool?”

Chen Xugong lowered his head further, forehead practically touching the carriage floor. “I — I am a fool.”

Xu Ji laughed. “You are indeed a fool. Do you know why all the other families said nothing and let you be the one to speak? Simply because you are a fool. You make a fool of yourself once; if there are consequences, they fall on your Chen family alone. The others are unaffected — and they get a fine piece of entertainment.”

Xu Ji set down the teacup, stretched out his legs.

Chen Xugong noticed and immediately shifted forward on his knees, hands raised to knead Xu Ji’s legs.

Xu Ji smiled. “Do you understand the Prince of Ning?”

Chen Xugong shook his head. “I — I — I don’t know His Highness well, so I still need Daren’s guidance.”

Xu Ji said, “If it were not for the fact that the Prince of Ning believes serious trouble may arise from doing so, the Prince of Ning would prefer to see every great family in the Central Plains destroyed. Your Yuezhou Chen family naturally included.”

He sipped his tea and continued, “And whether a family should rightly be destroyed or rightly be allowed to exist — is that not something decided in a single thought of the Prince of Ning? When he was still merely the Prince of Ning, he could destroy a family with a single thought. Now he is no longer merely the Prince of Ning. He is the Emperor.”

Chen Xugong’s forehead had begun to perspire.

Xu Ji said, “And how does the Emperor judge whether a family should rightly exist, or be erased for existing wrongfully?”

He raised a finger and pointed to himself. “Me. I have the standing and the authority to determine these things — at minimum, here in Yuezhou, I can determine them. If, after we arrive in Chang’an, I were to tell the Emperor that the Yuezhou Chen family was among Li Xionghu’s most devoted followers, and that they are still scheming to avenge Li Xionghu to this day…”

He paused. He looked down at Chen Xugong and asked, “Do you think the Emperor would believe me? Or would he believe you when you cried your innocence?”

Xu Ji straightened in his seat and let out a cold scoff.

“Chen Xugong — you are being used as someone else’s weapon, and you don’t even know it.”

Xu Ji said, “Then let me put it plainly. Take every word I say to you and repeat it, word for word, to those people. Don’t leave anything out.”

Xu Ji leaned forward and looked Chen Xugong in the eyes. “You have no choice. If you want your family’s interests protected to the greatest possible degree, I am your only option. Which is also why you can only support me.”

“But I have a choice. I can choose your Chen family, or I can choose the Wang family, the Xie family, the Sun family, the Zhao family… there is no shortage of people I could choose. Why must it be your Chen family?”

His hand settled on Chen Xugong’s shoulder once more. “Have you understood?”

Chen Xugong knocked his head against the carriage floor several times. “I understand, Daren. I understand completely. I was a fool, I was wrong. Please, Daren, give me one more chance.”

Xu Ji laughed brightly and at length.

When the laughter had passed and he had settled himself, he said, “Everything has been made clear to you. Now relay it to your family — and to everyone else. Once we reach Chang’an, I will need to meet many people and attend to many arrangements. The funds required…”

Before the sentence was finished, Chen Xugong immediately said, “Daren, have no worries. There is no need to trouble the other families. I will have my household give everything they can to support Daren.”

Xu Ji burst into bright laughter again. After he had laughed a good while, he leaned forward until he was nearly at Chen Xugong’s ear. “Let me teach you something else: don’t try to eat everything alone. If you do, you will be torn to pieces by everyone else who wants a share.”

He sat straight again and said calmly, “Having enough to eat is what counts. Don’t think about taking it all. Your Chen family stands firm in Yuezhou — but once you’ve stepped out of Yuezhou?”

He raised his teacup, breathed in the fragrance of the tea, his mood elevated to the very peak of pleasure. It had been a very long time since he had spoken his mind with such unrestrained ease. It truly felt wonderful.