Li Chi and Yu Jiuling drove a horse cart out of Yanshan Camp. The journey had been peaceful enough — there was so much happening in the camp that everyone’s heads were spinning with it all. Yu Chaozong and Zhuang Wudi had personally escorted them halfway down the mountain before Li Chi talked them into turning back.

If he hadn’t, Zhuang Wudi would probably have ended up escorting him all the way to Jizhou, then Li Chi would escort him back, and then he’d come escort Li Chi again — back and forth like that until a whole lifetime slipped away.

Yu Jiuling had asked Li Chi many questions about the state of the realm. He still wanted to join the military, but for over a year now, Xiahou Zuo had never once mentioned anything about having him come in his letters.

It wasn’t that Xiahou Zuo had gone back on his word — the northern frontier had been under particularly intense pressure this past year. Every day brought clashes with the Black Wu people. There were no major battles, but minor skirmishes never ceased.

As if sensing that the Dachu dynasty’s grip on the Central Plains had grown unsteady, the Black Wu people had begun baring their fangs.

Under these circumstances, Xiahou Zuo didn’t dare let Yu Jiuling come rushing over. He was only a battalion commander in the north, and he had no ability yet to look after the people he cared about.

The divine eagle had walked alongside the cart for a while before suddenly leaping up onto it. The whole cart lurched, nearly lifting the horses pulling it off the ground.

The dog crouching on the eagle’s back looked like it was frowning — though it had no eyebrows — clearly displeased with the eagle’s dramatic entrance.

Over four hundred jin had just clambered aboard, and the two draft horses were visibly straining.

Yu Jiuling sighed. “My heart goes out to them.”

Li Chi said, “When we get back, we’ll eat it.”

Yu Jiuling said, “Horse meat tastes good?”

Li Chi said, “I meant the pig—”

Yu Jiuling said, “Look at that eagle, all cocky and fearless. The pig’s banking on the bird — it probably thinks you won’t dare offend its master.”

Li Diudiu glanced at the dog. “Eat that one first.”

The dog seemed to understand perfectly. It gave Li Chi a look of pure contempt.

The two of them drove the cart toward Qianlie County. Their master, the Daoist Changmei, had said that if they didn’t reach Qianlie County before dark today, he would head to Yanshan Camp first thing tomorrow morning to look for them.

“Li Chi,” Yu Jiuling asked, “if Elder Brother Yu truly wants to become emperor, how long can he hold out?”

Yu Jiuling was deeply curious about this question.

Li Chi shook his head. “A lot of people who rise up in rebellion have no particular goal at the start — they do it because they can’t survive, or because they see others rebelling and follow along, or because they see rebels seizing things for themselves. But Elder Brother Yu is different. From the very beginning, he must have been perfectly clear about what he wanted. He doesn’t want to be a flash in the pan.”

He looked at Yu Jiuling. “But in this realm — even if Elder Brother Yu has tens of thousands of elite soldiers and capable commanders, as long as he doesn’t declare himself emperor he can remain a lord of a region. But if he does declare himself emperor…”

Yu Jiuling sighed. “Then are we betting on Elder Brother Yu? Is that wise?”

Li Chi said, “Jiuling, we’re not placing bets. People like us — small figures that we are — don’t have the right to place bets right now. Betting is something great families and powerful factions do. If we place our bet, we’re betting our lives.”

Yu Jiuling suddenly understood. He looked at Li Chi and said, “Is that also why you’ve been unwilling to throw in with Elder Brother Yu too early?”

Li Chi nodded. “Let’s wait and see a bit more.”

Yu Jiuling asked, “See until when?”

“Until we see what Prince Yu does.”

Li Chi said, “If Prince Yu loses his patience, then Elder Brother Yu will have to make his move. He may look a bit indecisive, but he won’t sit by and watch Bi Datong hand over Yanshan Camp without a fight.”

The two of them were chatting when they suddenly spotted a cloud of dust rising in the distance — coming from the northeast. This road led northeast toward Daizhou, and Daizhou had a frontier pass.

Li Chi saw that the several riders coming toward them were coated head to toe in dust. Each man had three horses — clearly carrying urgent military intelligence. They changed horses without changing riders, racing straight through without pause.

If the news was from Daizhou, it might be the steppe peoples raiding the frontier. If not them, it might be the Black Wu people coming through a route borrowed from the steppe.

Li Chi looked at the soldiers about to thunder past and called out loudly, “We’re under the command of the Military Governor of Jizhou! Is there urgent news from the northern frontier?”

One of the soldiers called back in a hoarse voice, “The Black Wu people have taken a roundabout route to attack Daizhou’s frontier pass — the situation there is critical!”

Li Chi grabbed several water flasks from the cart and threw them toward the three riders. All three were masterful horsemen — even at full gallop, they each reached out and caught a flask.

The lead rider cupped his fist and called out his thanks, then spurred his horse onward.

Li Chi suddenly pulled the draft horses to a stop. After a moment of silence, he said, “Jiuling, you head back to Jizhou.”

Yu Jiuling started. “What’s gotten into you this time?”

Li Chi said, “I’m going to Daizhou to see what’s happening.”

Yu Jiuling said urgently, “You’re going alone — what good can one person do at Daizhou?”

“One more person is one more hand.”

Li Chi said, “The Black Wu people are the greatest enemy of our Central Plains people. Their choosing this moment, just before the new year, to suddenly take a roundabout route and attack Daizhou — they clearly planned this well in advance. If Daizhou falls, the Black Wu people can drive straight down to the walls of Jizhou City.”

Yu Jiuling said, “You going there alone — you can stop that?”

“I can’t just not go. If everyone doesn’t go, the Central Plains will fall.”

Li Chi said, “If it were rebel factions fighting each other, I naturally wouldn’t go — even if someone attacked Yanshan Camp, I could choose to stay out of it. But this is the Black Wu people attacking the frontier. You go to Qianlie County first, meet up with my master, and then head back to Jizhou. When you get home, tell Gao Xining for me that I’ll be back after the new year.”

Having said that, Li Chi grabbed his weapons, jumped down from the cart, and turned to run back in the direction of the Yanshan mountains.

“Li Chi!”

Yu Jiuling called out urgently, “If you run the whole way, how long will it take to get to Jizhou?”

Li Chi called back, “I’m going to Yanshan Camp to borrow a horse!”

Yu Jiuling wanted to go with Li Chi, but if both of them left, no one would tell Master Changmei and Elder Yan — those two would go out of their minds with worry.

Yu Jiuling decided to go to Qianlie County first, hand over the cart and horses to Elder Yan and the others, then double back toward Daizhou. He was fast on his feet anyway — catching up to Li Chi shouldn’t be a problem.

—

An hour later, at Yanshan Camp.

Yu Chaozong was very surprised to see Li Chi come back. Li Chi ran up out of breath, and his very first words were, “Head leader, lend me two fast horses.”

Yu Chaozong saw how urgent Li Chi looked and said quickly, “As many as you need — but first tell your elder brother what happened. Your elder brother can help.”

Li Chi explained what he’d heard about the Black Wu people attacking Daizhou. Yu Chaozong’s expression grew troubled.

“Brother.”

Yu Chaozong looked at Li Chi and said, “If it were a personal matter, no matter how dangerous, your elder brother would go with you. But if you go there — the Black Wu people are savage and merciless, and you don’t know a single person at the frontier. It’s too dangerous.”

“I know.”

Li Chi said, “Elder Brother, just lend me the two fast horses.”

“I’ll go with you!”

Zhuang Wudi stepped forward from the side and said, “If the frontier falls, the Black Wu people can push south, and the common people across our Xinzhou region will suffer their slaughter. Elder Brother, let me go too.”

Actually, Li Chi had wanted to suggest that Yu Chaozong bring troops to reinforce the frontier — but he didn’t say it, because he understood Yu Chaozong’s concerns.

First, if he took his troops there, Prince Wu’s army might seize the opportunity to wipe out Yanshan Camp while he was gone.

Second, even if the military situation were dire enough that Prince Wu also sent troops in support, leaving him no mind to deal with Yanshan Camp — Yanshan Camp’s forces would still be marginalized, and might even be deliberately placed to bear the brunt of direct combat against the Black Wu people.

As the head leader, Yu Chaozong truly had far too much to weigh.

“Elder Brother!”

Zhuang Wudi said, “I’ll only take a few hundred men from my own battalion. Whatever help we can offer, we’ll offer. We can say we’re a gang from Jizhou City who came to the frontier on their own — we won’t easily give away our identities.”

Yu Chaozong thought for a moment and then said, “Then go to the armory now and take whatever you need — take as much as you can carry. Seventh Brother, remember: first, make sure you and Brother Li come back safely. Second, try to bring all your men back alive.”

“Don’t worry!”

Zhuang Wudi pulled Li Chi by the arm. “Let’s go.”

Both men were quick and decisive, and they moved fast. Before long Zhuang Wudi had assembled his several hundred men. He didn’t try to compel anyone — he told them plainly they were going to Daizhou to fight the Black Wu people, and those willing would come, those unwilling could stay.

Of the three or four hundred men, about half chose not to go. Zhuang Wudi said nothing more about it. He led roughly two hundred men to the armory to collect weapons and equipment, then found horses, and within less than an hour, the two of them had led two hundred cavalry out of Yanshan Camp.

Up on the city wall, Bi Datong stood watching as Li Chi and Zhuang Wudi galloped away at the head of their column. He couldn’t help letting out a cold snort.

“A pack of fools — rushing off to resist the Black Wu invasion. With the regular army there, what do they need you lot running over for?”

He muttered to himself, “Such a pity about my two chests of silver. Looks like that money’s gone down the drain too…”

Li Chi and Zhuang Wudi rode side by side. Zhuang Wudi called out loudly, “Have you thought about the fact that when we get to Daizhou’s frontier, the garrison troops might not let us in?”

Li Chi nodded. “I’ve thought about it.”

He answered, “We’ll figure it out when we get close.”

The distance from Yanshan Camp to Daizhou wasn’t exactly short. Riding hard like this, it would still take at least four or five days. On the battlefield, everything could change in an instant — they had no way of knowing what they would find when they reached Daizhou’s frontier pass.

—

At that same moment, at Daizhou’s frontier pass.

On the city wall, General Tan Qianshou leaned against the ramparts to catch his breath, having just beaten back yet another assault by the Black Wu people. But his soldiers had nearly reached their limit.

The frontier had only twelve hundred soldiers permanently stationed there. This pass had always guarded against the steppe people, not the Black Wu — and no one had imagined that the steppe people would actually open a route for the Black Wu to come through.

“Has everyone who needed to be sent out been sent?”

Tan Qianshou asked.

“Reporting to the General.”

His personal guard captain answered, also breathless, “All dispatched — messengers sent separately to Xinzhou, Daizhou City, Youzhou, Jizhou, and elsewhere. If nothing goes wrong, the fastest reinforcements to arrive will be the garrison troops from Daizhou City — about three thousand men — who should be able to arrive by early tomorrow morning.”

Tan Qianshou shook his head. “The ones from Daizhou — they might not come.”

He and Daizhou’s garrison general, Liu Mu, had bad blood between them — they were like fire and water. At a moment like this, Liu Mu wouldn’t be the first to come. Even if he did come, he’d wait until troops had arrived from elsewhere before bringing his own forces over.

“Was someone sent to Prince Wu?”

“They were sent.”

The guard captain answered, “But Prince Wu’s army should currently be south of Jizhou — getting here would take even longer than the Jizhou forces.”

Tan Qianshou fell silent. The Jizhou forces?

The Jizhou forces answered to Prince Yu, and Prince Yu’s ambitions were by now almost common knowledge. He would most likely not send any troops over — he still needed to preserve his strength for his greater schemes.

“Count the casualties!”

Tan Qianshou forced himself upright and called out the order.

“Yes, sir!”

His men responded — every voice sounding utterly exhausted.

Half an hour later, the personal guard captain returned, his face drawn with grief. In a low voice he said, “General… the count is in. Our casualties are over half. Only about five hundred men left who can still fight.”

Tan Qianshou was silent for a moment. He turned and looked at the Dachu battle flag fluttering on the city wall.

“Even if only one man remains, the Black Wu people will never pass through the frontier we are guarding.”

Outside the walls, the Black Wu people’s horns sounded again.

Tan Qianshou grabbed his bow and called out in a great voice, “Dachu frontier soldiers!”

Hundreds of voices answered as one.

“Not one inch of ground surrendered!”

—