Jizhou City was no longer the Jizhou City it had once been. The people had gradually started to forget — yet that forgetting didn’t mean things could go on as though nothing had ever happened.

After the death of Jizhou Prefecture Governor Lian Gongming, the entire administrative apparatus of Jizhou changed hands in a single sweep. And who were these new people? They could only be the people of Military Governor Zeng Ling.

The Military Governor was a high regional official with enormous authority. He had no right to directly appoint or dismiss an official at the level of a prefecture governor — but he could arrange for someone to serve in an acting capacity.

How long would that acting appointment last?

Under normal circumstances, an urgent memorial from Jizhou to the capital at Daxing would take over a month to arrive, and with the round trip, three months should be enough.

But nothing was normal now. Military Governor Zeng Ling had never reported Lian Gongming’s death to the court at all. So the acting appointment for Jizhou’s new prefecture head would last however long Zeng Ling felt like.

The situation in Jizhou now amounted to this: the Military Governor ruled unopposed, and those who knew him understood that the Military Governor was Prince Yu’s man.

After the death of Governor Lian Gongming, power over the whole of Jizhou rested in Zeng Ling’s hands — which was to say, in Prince Yu’s hands.

Perhaps before long, once Prince Yu had gathered enough strength, he would raise a great banner.

That banner could carry many names. It could be the call to “purge those beside the throne,” or it could be a direct claim to the imperial seat.

So naturally, the great families of Jizhou were eager to declare their positions. They didn’t want to be left behind. They weren’t certain whether Prince Yu would succeed, but they weren’t short of money either — and in the gambling of backing a rising force, getting it right could mean generations of prosperity for the family.

And if they guessed wrong?

Ordinary people don’t have so many choices. These families had plenty of choices, and they would never stake everything on a single person.

Take the great families of Jizhou — they weren’t only placing bets on Prince Yu. Some were also placing bets on the rebel forces.

Ordinary people might never imagine it, but even someone like Yu Chaozong of Yanshan Camp had the shadow of great families behind him — and Yu Chaozong might not even know it himself.

Anyone who had shown their head above the crowd was a target for their wagers.

For Li Diudiu, though, this great tide of events had no real impact yet. Even as he had begun taking steps toward his own ambitions, the distance between his current position and the forces reshaping the world was still ten thousand li.

When the great figures stood atop Jizhou’s high walls and looked out over everything beneath them, Li Diudiu was still one of the numberless ordinary lives in their view.

He read and trained in the mornings, then spent his afternoons at the Yun Study teahouse as a teacher whom many admired. In between, he would dash back to the academy every day to check on his two younger followers.

Though of course, the main concern was the senior of the senior.

About three days later, Xiahou Zuo finally tracked down Li Diudiu and launched into a scolding that left Li Diudiu’s head ringing with stars.

Xiahou Zuo’s information had been slow in coming because the matter was an unusual one.

So many people had died at that inn — but the truth of it was quickly suppressed by the authorities. The bodies were dealt with, and not even an official record was filed.

The reason was that the prefecture office understood clearly: if this case came to light, it would drag in a great many people. The city gate guards, for one — if they hadn’t pocketed silver, how had those dead outlaws brought repeating crossbows into the city?

If this reached the Military Governor’s ears, who knew how many people would have their official caps stripped and their uniforms taken.

Xiahou Zuo operated at a genuinely high level — which was precisely why the people at the levels below didn’t want him to know. He might immediately inform his father or the Military Governor.

So the case was buried the moment it reached the prefecture office. The relevant parties communicated with the garrison command, who immediately understood the prefecture’s goodwill and fell in line.

But word still trickled out among the common people in bits and pieces — so the authorities deliberately steered the story toward a soul-collecting Yaksha, one who killed only the wicked.

And the common people genuinely believed it.

The rumors about a Yaksha in Jizhou who claimed wicked souls spread on their own, growing wilder with every retelling.

“Oh, so now you’re capable, are you?!”

Xiahou Zuo rapped Li Diudiu on the head. Li Diudiu grinned sheepishly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Another rap.

Li Diudiu rubbed his head and said with an embarrassed smile: “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you — the situation wasn’t clear at the time. My master and I planned to just go and gather some information… but then somehow things broke out into a fight.”

“Nonsense!”

Xiahou Zuo raised his hand a third time to rap Li Diudiu on the head. Li Diudiu looked at him with the most pitiful expression he could manage. Xiahou Zuo couldn’t bring the hand down.

“Don’t give me that pitiful look,” Xiahou Zuo said. “You think I don’t know what was going through your head? You thought you were capable enough on your own… and you didn’t want to drag me into it.”

The last few words came out without any force at all — his voice had gone soft.

Li Diudiu gave a little laugh. “I had selfish motives too, honestly. I was thinking I could rob those mountain bandits of some money along the way — but then…”

He spread his hands. “I didn’t get so much as a hair.”

Xiahou Zuo: “What do you need their filthy money for?!”

Li Diudiu couldn’t even figure out the logic in that for a moment…

“Just this once.”

Xiahou Zuo gave him one more stern look, then handed him a bundle. Li Diudiu took it and asked: “What is this?”

“New Year’s is almost here. I had two new sets of clothes made for you and the Daoist. Also — in a couple of days I want to take you both to meet my mother. I need to tell you ahead of time: don’t mention anything about me going to the northern frontier in front of her. I told her I’m going to the capital to sit the imperial exams…”

Li Diudiu asked: “Your mother… will she believe that?”

Xiahou Zuo glanced at him sidelong. “Mother doesn’t know I haven’t been studying at the academy… Forget it for now. Deceive her through this once and deal with the rest later. After the New Year — probably after the first month is out — I’ll need to leave. I’ve already been secretly corresponding with a military commander out on the northern frontier.”

Li Diudiu was startled.

“Weren’t you going to follow the Military Governor’s arrangements?”

“Him?”

Xiahou Zuo made a contemptuous sound. “He thinks I don’t know — whatever I tell him goes straight back to my father. The things I’ve said to him were said deliberately so he would pass them along.”

He looked up at the sky and paused before continuing: “I can’t defy everyone all at once, right? I have to at least pretend to follow their arrangements for a few steps. My father makes no move and acts as though he knows nothing — in truth he also wants me to join the frontier army. But he wants me to serve under Luo Geng. Because he…”

“Never mind.”

Xiahou Zuo waved it off. “Let’s not talk about this. He wants me to go to Luo Geng’s command, but I’m not going. I want the real frontier — the true border. Luo Geng’s Youzhou Army is not frontier troops.”

Li Diudiu felt a sudden unease he couldn’t quite name.

“If you’re not going to Youzhou, it’s dangerous.”

“I know.”

Xiahou Zuo raised a hand and ruffled Li Diudiu’s hair. In that moment, Li Diudiu was exactly like his most beloved younger brother.

“After I leave, I’m entrusting Mother to you. Go check on her from time to time in my place.”

“I know. Don’t worry.”

“Looking at things now, Jizhou can probably hold for a few more years. Actually, Jizhou only has two possible endings in the end — have you thought about it?”

Xiahou Zuo asked Li Diudiu.

Li Diudiu had.

He nodded and said: “Either it gets overrun, or it becomes the capital.”

Xiahou Zuo smiled bitterly: “The order might be reversed — becomes the capital, then gets overrun… So you’ve seen it too.”

Li Diudiu gave a sound of agreement. “I only saw it clearly after I visited Yanshan once.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “My father… I don’t blame him. I don’t think he’s deluding himself either. I just don’t want to walk his road. Think about it — if he really did succeed one day, wouldn’t he be far better than the emperor sitting in the capital right now?”

Li Diudiu didn’t know how to answer.

“You don’t need to think about these things yet.”

Xiahou Zuo continued: “You’re still young, after all. Watch over my mother for a few years. If I can establish myself on the northern frontier — a few years from now, won’t I have at least risen to the rank of general? By then, bring your master along with my mother up to the frontier. I’ll be able to look after all of you.”

Li Diudiu smiled.

Xiahou Zuo said: “Do you know why I don’t want my mother to stay in Jizhou?”

Li Diudiu nodded again. He knew.

He looked at Xiahou Zuo and said: “Actually, you already gave the answer just now. The fear is that Jizhou goes from a regional capital to an imperial one — and then gets overrun…”

Li Diudiu stopped himself from finishing. It was too inauspicious to say aloud.

If Prince Yu truly declared himself emperor one day, and Jizhou became the capital, and then the court’s armies or some other rebel force broke through its walls — the day Jizhou fell would be the day Prince Yu died. And as the family of Prince Yu, Xiahou Zuo’s mother would have no chance of survival either.

The truth was, Xiahou Zuo did not believe in his father’s ambitions.

“The frontier, of all places, is actually the safe haven now.”

Xiahou Zuo’s gaze turned northward, and he smiled: “No matter how chaotic the central plains become, the frontier armies cannot be withdrawn. That rule was set down by our Great Dachu’s founding emperor — even if the capital fell, the frontier armies could not abandon the borders. That rule wasn’t made for his own descendants. It was made for the soldiers of the four border armies… They may choose, with an edict, not to return.”

He looked at Li Diudiu: “As long as the frontier armies hold, even if the capital falls, the heartland is still the heartland.”

Li Diudiu nodded vigorously.

Something stirred in his chest.

The heartland. Still the heartland.

—