Chang’an.

How many times Li Chi had stood atop the city wall to look out over the city below, he himself could no longer say.

From such a height, looking down, there ought to have been something that felt like rank and power. Yet in truth, when Li Chi stood here and gazed downward, he felt no pride, no self-satisfaction — only apprehension.

That apprehension he would never show to anyone. Not even before Gao Xining.

It was the apprehension unique to an emperor — a dread of failing the future, of leaving it worse than he had found it.

If Great Ning did not grow better and better, then this dynasty would simply retrace the arc of Chu — from founding to ruin, the same road traveled again.

Standing atop the wall looking down at ten thousand peaceful homes below, the resolution in Li Chi’s heart only deepened.

He knew he could not eliminate every hidden danger. But the more he accomplished now, as the founding Emperor, the lighter the burden on his descendants, on every emperor who would come after him. The pressure they would have to bear would be that much less.

And so certain things that others might call cruelty — he could only do himself.

Li Chi cared so deeply for his brothers, for those around him, that the cruelty he was compelled to carry required a more particular path, a more particular method.

Since the founding of dynasties, meritorious officials had always faced certain pressures — shaped by the change in their own circumstances and standing, and by the influence of those around them.

The good intentions of this world, more often than not, required careful thought before they could act, and at the very least hesitated a little. But the malice in this world — that could always leap out in an instant, without a moment’s deliberation.

Consider a founding general fully content with what he’d received. There were those who would find ways to prod and provoke him regardless — a lesser official who could not get what he wanted would whisper incessantly into the ear of a greater one, saying things like: *what you’ve received is nowhere near what you’ve given.* Working to rouse those above them to rebel, to make trouble.

No one in this world, when they urged you to be the one who put his head above the parapet, was ever acting out of goodwill.

Fortunately, the brothers around Li Chi were not like that. But the men Li Chi had to face were not only his brothers.

He needed to protect those brothers — to keep them from becoming, in the mouths of later generations, the kind of men history had always said could never have a good ending.

So the cruelty had to have a cause, a process, a result.

Standing on the city wall looking out at Chang’an, the resolve within Li Chi only grew more certain.

Just then, Yu Jiuling came up from behind, his laughter arriving before he did.

“Your Majesty, what good errand is there for your subject today?”

Yu Jiuling drew close, all smiles. “Your subject has always known — whenever Your Majesty summons me, it’s invariably something good.”

Li Chi laughed. “This time, what I’m giving you is not a good assignment.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Even so, Your Majesty would never harm your subject. Whatever Your Majesty gives me — easy or difficult — I’ll get it done. And in any case, the things only I can do for Your Majesty must be considerable.”

Li Chi said, “And if the errand might get you cursed by others?”

Yu Jiuling replied, “Let them curse away. Your Majesty knows — your subject doesn’t worry about people whose opinions don’t matter to me. They can say whatever they like, curse whatever they want.”

Li Chi raised his hand and patted Yu Jiuling on the shoulder. “Then We’ll genuinely give you this assignment.”

Yu Jiuling: “Your Majesty need only command.”

Li Chi said, “Sing Our praises.”

Yu Jiuling blinked. He suspected he had misheard — because that job, surely, could only go to him?

He looked at Li Chi’s expression, confirmed this was not a mistake, and that it was indeed about the matter of singing praises.

And so Yu Jiuling smiled and said, “Does Your Majesty feel that your subject’s past praise has been insufficiently elegant?”

Li Chi laughed. “We’re giving you a new way to sing it.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Whatever the method, your subject is convinced that if Your Majesty had assigned this duty to anyone else, that would have been a misuse of talent.”

He leaned in a little closer. “What is it, exactly?”

Li Chi smiled for a moment before speaking. “A few years from now, We may have to do some things that carry the smell of blood. But We are the founding Emperor, and so Our name cannot be entirely ruined.”

He looked at Yu Jiuling. “So We’re putting you in charge of the Imperial Historians.”

Yu Jiuling understood at once. He lowered his voice. “You want me to watch over what the historians write — what is passed down to future generations?”

Li Chi gave Yu Jiuling the look that said: *you guessed correctly.*

Yu Jiuling smiled. “That’s genuinely not a difficult task. Your Majesty has found the right man.”

Li Chi fell silent for a moment. “What if, a few years hence, the number of people We’ve killed is rather large?”

Yu Jiuling froze. His expression changed.

In that instant, Li Chi saw the fear and worry in Yu Jiuling’s eyes.

“It won’t be what you’re imagining. Our brothers, Our family — We would never harm any of them. And the people We need to kill — it is precisely in order to protect them.”

Yu Jiuling let out a long breath, then patted his own chest. “Your Majesty, rest easy. If even a single character in the historical record is unfavorable to Your Majesty, your subject will end his own life.”

Li Chi shook his head. “Don’t make reckless vows.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Your subject understands.”

Li Chi turned and looked out from the wall again.

“We have the heart to make Great Ning the mightiest empire in all of Central Plains history. We have the heart to make the people of Central Plains the most proud people under heaven.”

Li Chi exhaled slowly. “And of course — We must make Ourselves the perfect Founding Emperor in the hearts of every Great Ning emperor who comes after.”

As he spoke those last words, Ye Xiaoqian, the Commander of the Palace Guards, came forward holding a memorial.

“Your Majesty, this arrived by urgent dispatch from Shu Circuit. The branch office of the Shu Circuit Censorate…”

Before he finished speaking, Li Chi had already reached out and taken the memorial from his hand.

He read it and gave a slow nod. “As expected.”

He passed the memorial to Yu Jiuling, who immediately stepped back and bowed. “Your subject may not read this.”

Li Chi said, “The task I’m assigning you is connected to this. Read it.”

Only then did Yu Jiuling accept the memorial with both hands. As he read, his expression grew heavier and heavier.

“The number of people Xu Ji has killed in Shu Circuit has already exceeded the total he killed across all the other places he’s been.”

Yu Jiuling looked up at Li Chi. “Your Majesty, is this not… rather severe?”

Li Chi shook his head. “It is not severe. This is precisely why We sent Xu Ji there. If he kills more people in the localities, the generals behind those people will naturally look bad — but the purpose of having Xu Ji kill them is not to show the generals anything.”

Yu Jiuling understood.

He bowed and answered, “It is for the common people to see.”

Li Chi said, “Yes… for the common people to see. We must let the people of the realm witness that Great Ning is different from Chu — different from any era that has come before.”

Just now, Yu Jiuling hadn’t actually pieced it together — especially when Li Chi said he might have to kill people in the years ahead, Yu Jiuling hadn’t guessed it might be Xu Ji.

But now, looking at this memorial, if he still couldn’t figure it out, he was truly dense.

At this moment, the picture in Yu Jiuling’s mind was complete.

The Emperor was using Xu Ji to purge corruption and discipline the law. Xu Ji in turn was using the opportunity to remove his rivals and suppress the military officials.

The Emperor needed this process. Great Ning needed this process. The future needed this process.

Yu Jiuling also understood clearly: some of the men who had rendered great service and gone on to govern localities had become exactly the kind of people they had once opposed. The warrior who slew the demon was gradually becoming the demon.

If those men were left undisturbed — if it was all simply allowed to continue — the people would lose faith in Great Ning.

What His Majesty wanted was not a Great Ning that lasted only one generation. What His Majesty wanted was a Great Ning for ten thousand ages.

Li Chi looked at Yu Jiuling. “Do you understand now?”

Yu Jiuling answered, “I understand.”

He did understand. Xu Ji needed this process to secure his own standing. He was unafraid of friction with the military officials — for if he wanted to maintain his position, he needed the support of the people, the support of the civil officials.

On a tour like this through the realm, the Chancellor’s prestige would reach a height never before seen — surpassing any powerful minister in any previous dynasty.

Yu Jiuling thought of something Li Chi had said before: Great Ning does not need a Chancellor who rules the world.

Now the Emperor was cultivating a Chancellor who ruled the world…

Yu Jiuling exhaled slowly and bowed. “Your subject now truly understands Your Majesty’s intent.”

Li Chi patted Yu Jiuling’s shoulder again. “We must look far ahead together — far enough to see something better.”

—

At the same time, in Chang’an. At the residence of Cheng Wujie.

Cheng Wujie stared at the faces of the assembled generals before him — all indignation and outrage — and his own expression darkened.

Since early morning, no small number of officers from his army had come to find him, all talking over one another about Xu Ji and the killings he’d carried out in the localities.

By the time they had all gathered, Cheng Wujie’s ears were already stuffed full of grievances and fury.

One general stood up and said, “Grand General, this Xu Ji thinks entirely too well of himself. Was it Xu Ji who won this realm? The way he carries on — doing whatever he likes, killing whoever he pleases. You don’t hit a dog without at least looking at whose dog it is…”

*Smack.*

Cheng Wujie’s palm came down on the table. His eyes had gone wide.

“Enough!”

He swept his gaze across them, and when his eyes narrowed, they carried the air of a man capable of killing.

“The realm wasn’t won by Xu Ji? Was it won by any of you? When you boasted outside — *we’re the ones who won His Majesty his kingdom* — I hadn’t stopped you from blowing your own horns, and you should have counted yourselves lucky for my mercy.”

“But now you’ve grown so brazen as to stand here and tell me there would be no kingdom without you? That His Majesty owes his throne to you?”

The chill in Cheng Wujie’s expression reached a certain depth.

“I have been living in fear until this day. The position I hold is one I never deserved — what have I truly done to merit the honor His Majesty has given me? I ask myself this and I tremble.”

“If even I tremble, how dare you believe that His Majesty’s gifts have not been enough? That you are great meritorious subjects who ought to be beyond all accountability?”

“I will say this plainly here and now: if anyone brings these words before me again, I will chop them down one by one myself — and then take my own head, have my family carry it to His Majesty, and beg his forgiveness.”

He looked at them. “How many people Xu Ji has killed I know better than any of you, and I knew before any of you. So why am I not as unsettled as you are?”

“Because I know that everyone who died deserved to die. If Xu Ji had killed a single person who did not deserve it, I would long since have spoken before His Majesty — and if any one of you was killed by Xu Ji without just cause, I swear on my life I would personally cut Xu Ji down for you, and then beg His Majesty to punish me for it.”

He raised his hand and pointed at them. “Now put your hand on your conscience and tell me: after all your success, how many of you have never taken a single unclean coin, never done a single unclean thing?”

Many men bowed their heads and didn’t dare breathe.

Cheng Wujie exhaled heavily. “I will say one thing only — do not use your achievements as a pretext to override the law of the state. What was your achievement? Your achievement was fighting alongside His Majesty to tear down the old dynasty you all despised. And now what are you resenting? Are you resenting His Majesty for stopping you from becoming the very men of the old court you yourselves overthrew and killed?”

Cheng Wujie waved his hand. “Get out.”

They exchanged glances, then left one by one, heads low.

Cheng Wujie watched them go and gave them the dressing-down they deserved — yet not a drop of satisfaction rose in his heart.

After a long moment of thought, he rose and ordered, “Prepare my carriage. I need to go call on the Grand General.”

He himself was already a Grand General, yet in his heart there was only one Grand General in Great Ning.

He felt a deep unease about all of this — something was wrong. Very wrong. He had to go discuss it with the Grand General.

—