Early spring. The plot of open ground set aside in Master Yan’s courtyard had finally arrived at the season when it could be put to use again.

After they had all arrived at the courtyard, the women took the children off to play while Li Chi, in rare leisure, felt like getting some exercise.

When he picked up the hoe, Master Yan nearly had a fright. “How can Your Majesty do labor at my home?”

Li Chi laughed. “Back in our academy days, We ruined plenty of your vegetables. Today We’ll turn the soil for you — and We’ll be able to eat with a clear conscience.”

Master Yan said, “Your Majesty didn’t ruin the vegetables back then — you ate them all…”

He started to be polite, then decided it was better left unsaid.

Watching Li Chi seize the hoe and set straight to work, Master Yan suddenly had a realization. He asked, tentatively: “Your Majesty — is it possible you have your eye on this little garden of mine? You till the field today, and when the vegetables come in later, you’ll come asking for them…”

Li Chi turned and blinked those large eyes of his at Master Yan.

Master Yan immediately said, “This minister spoke nonsense — how could Your Majesty covet this minister’s few vegetables? What Your Majesty has his eye on is the kind of serious money that Cao Lie deals in…”

Li Chi said, “Master — one has to say, you are exactly the same now as you were back at the academy.”

Master Yan said, “Can’t say the right thing, you mean…”

Li Chi said, “I mean: you can read a person perfectly.”

He smiled. “We tilled this little garden for you today. Once the vegetables come in, could you really bring yourself to *not* send some to Us?”

Master Yan said, “This minister… is permitted to bring himself to that?”

“Of course, Master — if you don’t want to send them, you needn’t. Are We really going to threaten you over a few vegetables?”

Master Yan nodded, wearing the expression of a man who could accept a docked salary but would not easily yield his vegetables.

Li Chi said, “If you don’t send them, We’ll come and get them Ourselves. We didn’t hesitate to come to your home for dinner — can We really hesitate to come for vegetables?”

Master Yan: “…”

Back in the days at the Four Pages Academy in Ji Province, Li Chi had stolen Master Yan’s vegetables and been made to turn the soil as punishment.

Remembering that moment now, Master Yan suddenly understood why His Majesty had to have these few vegetables from him.

His Majesty was reaching back for the feeling of those master-and-student days. He was remembering the past.

When that thought came to him, Master Yan felt a wave of emotion.

But a moment later he wondered if he was overthinking it — the way His Majesty looked so cheerful suggested he might simply, genuinely, be after a few free vegetables.

Just then, the steward of Master Yan’s household came hurrying over to announce that Lord Lu Chonglou had called.

Li Chi laughed. “Has that fellow sniffed out the food and come running?”

Master Yan said, “The food isn’t even being cooked yet…”

Li Chi said, “He and We are alike — does Master really think We need the smell of food before We catch the scent?”

Master Yan sighed. “To think that once upon a time, Lu Chonglou was a quiet, earnest person…”

Li Chi said, “He still counts as the quiet, earnest one.” He pointed to Yu Jiuling, crouching nearby, scratching small holes in the earth with his finger.

Master Yan said, “Jiuling — digging holes like that is pointless. The soil hasn’t been turned yet. Nothing can be planted.”

Yu Jiuling said breezily: “Oh, so the seeds haven’t been planted yet? I thought you’d already sowed them — I was trying to pry out a few seeds to take home. That way I won’t have to make another trip once the vegetables are grown. I’ll plant my own at home, same result.”

Li Chi smiled. “You see? Doesn’t Lu Chonglou count as the quiet, earnest one?”

Master Yan nodded. “Your Majesty is right.”

Yu Jiuling said, “No seeds to be had — dug for nothing. Maybe I’ll grab a fistful of soil to take home instead.”

Li Chi said, “Shameless!”

Yu Jiuling immediately bowed his head. “This minister knows his fault.”

Li Chi said, “We’re not kind to you? You only grabbed a handful for yourself — didn’t think to grab one for Us?”

Master Yan: “This minister… had better go see about what to prepare for dinner.”

Li Chi said, “We’ll come with you, Master.”

Then he looked back at Yu Jiuling and said, “You are entirely without shame and We find you disagreeable — so you can go ahead and turn all the soil in this garden yourself. Consider it your punishment.”

Yu Jiuling: “Ah?”

Li Chi tugged Master Yan’s sleeve. “Let’s go, Master — let’s see what there is to eat. The garden has Jiuling.”

Master Yan looked at Yu Jiuling with a sigh. “How many times have you suffered for following His Majesty around? And you still haven’t learned your lesson!”

Yu Jiuling: “There’s no guarding against it.”

He picked up the hoe and surveyed the earth, still half-frozen from early spring, thinking: *what on earth am I doing this for — all because I poked a few little holes with my finger?*

At which point Master Yan suddenly had a thought, looked at Yu Jiuling, and said, “The ground is still hard in early spring — your fingers must be remarkable.”

Yu Jiuling replied without thinking: “Trained them.”

Master Yan: “…”

Li Chi glanced over at Master Yan’s expression and ventured cautiously, “Master — you’ve misunderstood Jiuling’s meaning, haven’t you?”

Master Yan’s face flushed. “This minister will accompany Your Majesty to look at the dinner preparations.”

—

At the same time, the northwestern border — outside Liangzhou City.

Envoys from the nations of the Western Regions had been waiting here for a long time, unable to enter the city without the permission of Da Ning’s Emperor.

Counting from the first time they had submitted their letter of credentials to Chang’an, they had been waiting for the better part of half a year.

When the second letter of credentials was submitted and still met with delay, more than a few had been cursing under their breath — *if only we hadn’t been so clever in the first place.*

If they had truly come with sincere intentions to negotiate trade and pay court to Chang’an, why the scheming? But they could not say so openly, so they swallowed the grievance and muttered only to themselves.

Among this delegation, the highest-ranking figure was Prince Muyan Mudi of the Jialou Kingdom — now the most powerful state in the Western Regions. So even envoys of smaller kingdoms whose rulers had come in person deferred to Muyan Mudi and acknowledged him as head of the delegation.

Jialou was the only state in the Western Regions to have genuinely profited from the chaos of the Central Plains’ civil wars.

While the other smaller kingdoms had banded together to invade the Central Plains, Jialou had watched from the sidelines. When those coalition armies were crushed on Da Ning’s western frontier, Jialou’s emperor appointed Muyan Mudi as Grand Marshal, dispatching two hundred thousand troops to campaign in all directions.

Over three years, Muyan Mudi had destroyed more than a dozen nations, and Jialou’s power swelled rapidly. The faint outline of a Western Regions hegemon was beginning to take shape.

But Jialou had never shown hostile intent toward the Central Plains, and from the beginning of this audience mission, had demonstrated genuine goodwill.

Muyan Mudi had once counseled his elder brother, the Jialou Emperor Leye Kuxin, in no uncertain terms: under no circumstances should Jialou ever send troops east against the Central Plains.

After Jialou rose to prominence on the back of the other kingdoms’ rout at Da Ning’s frontier, Leye Kuxin had been tempted to dispatch forces of his own eastward. But Muyan Mudi was firmly opposed. He argued that the greatest profit to be had in dealings with the Central Plains lay in trade — not war.

If the same strategic ends could be achieved through commerce, why resort to slaughter and conquest? Jialou should consolidate, use trade with Da Ning to cement its position as the undisputed leader of the Western Regions — not squander its newly won primacy by letting the drag of war hand it back to someone else.

It was precisely for this reason that, of all the Western Regions delegations now encamped outside the city, only Muyan Mudi’s party had been invited inside Liangzhou.

The others — the envoys of the smaller kingdoms — had been living in tents on the open plain outside the city walls for the better part of half a year.

Some of them had been on the receiving end of Jialou’s armies, so naturally they wanted nothing to do with Muyan Mudi. They were just as glad to keep their distance.

Among these smaller states were the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom, the Lanhue Kingdom, the Jiaolou Kingdom, the Bolin Kingdom, the Linglan Kingdom, and more — at least a dozen nations in total, all of them content to steer clear of Muyan Mudi.

Of these, the Xiaoyueshi Kingdom held the strongest position — a population of ten million, capable of fielding several hundred thousand troops at full mobilization.

At the smaller end, the Keke Tuobang was a state in name only — in practice, one large city and a radius of roughly a hundred *li* of surrounding territory. Its maximum military strength, stretched to its absolute limit, would not exceed ten thousand men, and their combat effectiveness could fairly be described as negligible.

At this very moment, outside the city, in the encampment of the assembled nations, a group of envoys from the smaller kingdoms had gathered around a fire on a stretch of open ground to confer.

They chose open ground rather than the interior of a tent deliberately — out in the open, ironically, one was less likely to attract suspicion.

Among them sat a man conspicuously out of place — dressed in Western Regions garb, his head wrapped in cloth, yet visibly taller than the others even seated, towering over them from where he sat. He had clearly made an effort to conceal himself, choosing a position somewhat to the rear, and had not spoken a word throughout.

Yet the envoys of the smaller nations, as they spoke, kept glancing at him — as if seeking his approval.

And this man, for his part, responded throughout entirely in nods and shakes of his head.

His name was Ganluo. He was from the Black Martial.

Though the Black Martial people had suffered a catastrophic defeat on the northern steppes and had for the time being abandoned any thought of continuing south, they could not truly stand by and watch a resurgent Da Ning consolidate itself. A Central Plains empire stronger than Chu — that was the greatest threat the Black Martial people faced in their era.

What were these Western Regions small states? Even combined, they might scrape together over a million troops — but in the eyes of the Black Martial people, they were scattered sand.

Their only value was as a tool to wield against Da Ning.

With Da Ning’s national foundation not yet truly stabilized, letting the Western Regions stir up trouble and look for opportunities was the move.

And that opportunity was the assassination of Da Ning’s Emperor, Li Chi.

The Black Martial people did not yet know that the Emperor of Da Ning already had a child, so in their reckoning, killing Li Chi would cause this newly established Central Plains empire to collapse instantly into chaos. The great generals who had been utterly loyal would immediately become independent regional warlords, recreating the anarchy that had consumed the Central Plains when Chu fell.

In the Black Martial view, the people of the Central Plains had never been particularly cohesive. Never an iron plate.

In history, every Central Plains dynasty that had achieved genuine unity had been fearsome beyond measure — and *that* was the kind of entity the Black Martial people truly feared.

Right now, Emperor Li Chi of Da Ning appeared to be in the process of uniting the Central Plains people. For the Black Martial, this was something they absolutely could not allow to stand.

Ganluo’s purpose in coming here was to select the strongest warriors from among the Western Regions nations — combined with the elite fighters he had brought from the Black Martial — and use the opportunity of the court audience to assassinate the Ning Emperor.

Getting Black Martial people into the Central Plains was extremely difficult. But by using these Western Regions people, his men could acquire plausible Western Regions identities, making it easy to enter Da Ning.

But the obstacle before them was not only the Ning people. There was also Jialou, which was intent on forging friendly ties with Da Ning.

That man called Muyan Mudi — he was the thorn in Ganluo’s eye.

—