Liu Ge came back from the Hutuo River with his heart brimming over with joy, and the whole ride home he felt as though his body had gone light as a swallow — his mind unburdened, his step naturally quick.

When they returned to Jizhou city, Liu Ge went directly up to the southern section of the city walls, for by now he had a fairly good sense of Tang Pidi’s character in matters of military affairs. Tang Pidi was a man who said what he meant.

Tang Pidi had said he would be living on the city wall, and he would unquestionably be living on the city wall.

When Liu Ge spotted Tang Pidi, the young man — his complexion already somewhat darkened from days in the sun — was crouched down roasting mantou over a fire.

For some reason, there was not a single person near him. He was entirely alone.

From a distance, Liu Ge watched Tang Pidi take his roasted mantou and settle into a patch of shade — a jug of water, two roasted mantou, this was his midday meal. Then, seemingly struck by a thought, he rose, took his charcoal stick, and began writing and sketching on the ground with intense concentration.

A little farther along the wall, the soldiers were eating better than Tang Pidi was — at the very least, they had both rice and dishes.

The anger rose in Liu Ge all at once. He did not go to speak with Tang Pidi. He turned, descended from the wall, and went straight to the Office of the Military Commander to find Xiahou Zuo.

He arrived only to remember that Xiahou Zuo was also living on the city wall — though he had handed over the defense of the southern face to Tang Pidi and taken up his own position on the eastern walls.

Liu Ge went to the eastern face. As he came up, he saw the wooden frame Xiahou Zuo had had constructed, a hammock strung from it, and the man himself lying in it and swaying.

Not far from Xiahou Zuo, an iron pot had been set over a fire with meat simmering inside.

Liu Ge did not understand why, but his anger ignited completely — entirely beyond his control. He strode forward and kicked the iron pot over.

The pot went clanging across the floor and gave Xiahou Zuo such a fright that he leapt straight off the hammock. Seeing that it was Liu Ge, he stood there visibly stunned.

“What is the meaning of this?” Xiahou Zuo asked.

“What is the meaning of this?” Liu Ge stepped forward until they were nearly nose to nose.

“Xiahou Zuo, you have disappointed me!”

Xiahou Zuo recoiled two steps, caught off guard.

“What in the world—”

Liu Ge said fiercely, “When I came back, I went to the southern walls first. I meant to tell Tang Pidi we had won, and to thank him on behalf of all the men. But what did I see? I saw him sitting alone gnawing on mantou. The food and provisions distributed to the soldiers on this wall — why was his share missing? If he were not your friend, if he were not Li Chi’s sworn brother, if he did not actually want to help defend this city of Jizhou, what grounds would he have to endure such indignity here?!”

The shouts came out in a spray, leaving Xiahou Zuo’s face drenched.

Xiahou Zuo stood there — first in astonishment, then in fury.

“Personal guard, where is my personal guard!”

His guard commander came running immediately. “General!”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Pass the order — arrest everyone on the southern wall responsible for provisions and rations, and everyone who distributed the food along with them!”

Liu Ge asked furiously, “You didn’t even know?”

Xiahou Zuo said, “I—I genuinely did not know. I handed everything on the southern wall over to Tang Pidi, and gave specific orders that Tang Pidi was to be treated as my equal — all orders from him were to be followed.”

Liu Ge said, “That makes it even more disappointing!”

Xiahou Zuo had nothing left to say in his own defense. He took his personal guard and left the eastern walls, the whole column of horses thundering through the streets of Jizhou, hoofbeats crashing like a storm.

At the base of the southern gate, Xiahou Zuo did not go up first. He turned his hand and gave the order to make arrests. His guard soldiers went in with ropes, dragging men out one after another, until over a hundred had been hauled back within short order.

Xiahou Zuo looked down at those being held on the ground and said, “Who is responsible for the provisions?”

They all turned their eyes to a middle-aged man of about forty. The man quickly answered, “In reply to the general — that would be this subordinate.”

Someone leaned close to Xiahou Zuo and said in a low voice, “His name is Tao Qingqian. He is a relative of Military Governor Zeng Ling — Zeng Ling’s wife is his maternal cousin. This man has traded on that connection and made himself rather difficult to deal with.”

Xiahou Zuo gave a single nod. He asked Tao Qingqian, “The rations for the soldiers on the wall — are they distributed by head count?”

Tao Qingqian quickly replied, “In reply to the general, yes, they are distributed by head count, without exception.”

“Without exception?”

Liu Ge gave a cold sound and asked, “Then explain to me why Tang Pidi received no share.”

Tao Qingqian said, “In reply to the general — he received nothing because he is not one of our Jizhou soldiers. According to regulations, there was no allotment for him. I also felt somewhat awkward about it, so I personally went and told Tang Pidi. He said it was no matter.”

Xiahou Zuo was quiet for a moment, then said, “I will give you one opportunity to explain this clearly. If you continue to speak nonsense, do not blame me for what follows.”

Tao Qingqian said, “In reply to the general, this subordinate was simply following regulations. Each unit submitted its head counts, and none of them included Tang Pidi, so there was no provision for him in the rations. This is—”

Before he could finish, Xiahou Zuo swung down from his horse, seized Tao Qingqian by the collar, and hauled him bodily off the ground. Before Tao Qingqian could even beg for mercy, Xiahou Zuo swung him half-way around in the air and drove him headfirst into the earth.

A resounding crack. Tao Qingqian’s head met the ground as though it had been driven straight into his chest.

“Who wants to speak next?!”

Xiahou Zuo tossed the body aside and swept a furious gaze across the others kneeling there.

Before they could answer, a soldier said, “General — Tao Qingqian gave orders to short each man’s ration slightly. With that many soldiers on the wall, the savings added up to several cartsful of grain per meal. He sold the grain to merchants in the city at a premium. Not just now — Tao Qingqian had been doing this for a long time.”

“A few days ago, Master Tang noticed that the portions being distributed to the soldiers were short, and went to ask Tao Qingqian about it. Tao Qingqian told him it was none of his business, and then ordered that no rations be issued to Master Tang at all. He said he wanted to see whether the man had any pride — that if he had any spine, he would just leave.”

The soldier glanced at Xiahou Zuo, then continued, “He was probably afraid that Master Tang would tell you about the short rations, so he wanted to humiliate Master Tang into walking away. The soldiers on the wall had already offered to share their own portions with Master Tang, but he refused. He went down from the wall himself and bought a full sack of mantou. That’s what he’s been eating at every meal—”

Hearing this, Xiahou Zuo’s eyes went red with rage, and his lips were trembling.

He bellowed, “You— all of you—”

He stopped, and started again: “You worthless bastards!”

The men threw themselves down and begged for mercy. Some insisted it had all been Tao Qingqian’s idea, that they had not dared oppose him — Tao Qingqian controlled the grain and provisions, and whoever fell out of his favor would suffer for it.

A man like that had no real fear of Tang Pidi, and in truth no great fear of Xiahou Zuo either. He had calculated that Xiahou Zuo might not last much longer in his current position, and moreover, he put more stock in the currency of human connections. He was the Military Governor’s kinsman — surely Xiahou Zuo would not get himself on bad terms with Zeng Ling over Tang Pidi, of all things?

“What an easy excuse.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Everyone here who wasn’t one of Tao Qingqian’s people — how do you think he kept them? Those who wouldn’t go along with him were driven out long ago. Now that Tao Qingqian has been killed by my hand, you try to put everything on him, thinking I’ll simply let you go?”

“Kill them!”

Xiahou Zuo gave the command: “Hang every one of them at the city gate, where all can see!”

Before long, Liu Ge personally directed men to bring in a row of wooden posts, driving them one by one into the ground on either side of the gate, and then the men who had been arrested were hanged from them, one after another.

Over a hundred people hung there, swaying.

Xiahou Zuo’s anger was not satisfied. He pointed at Tao Qingqian’s body and said, “String that one up too!”

With that order given, he took long strides up to the top of the wall, Liu Ge following close behind. As he walked, Xiahou Zuo said, “I overestimated these men. I thought that at minimum they were still human.”

Liu Ge said, “I had been meaning to come back and persuade you, one way or another, to keep Tang Pidi in the army. When the Prince returns, I intended to personally recommend him. But now I see that a man like that will never agree to stay.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “The court fills its ranks with men like Tao Qingqian, not with people who are actually worth anything. I thought Jizhou was still tolerable, but it turns out it’s exactly the same.”

“Everywhere is the same.”

Liu Ge said this and then let out a long, heavy breath.

Xiahou Zuo strode along the wall toward Tang Pidi’s position. Because Tang Pidi had set himself up some distance from the gate, he still had no idea what had just occurred. He was still crouched there, sketching and marking the ground with his charcoal.

Xiahou Zuo walked up beside him, and Tang Pidi did not even notice. In his right hand was the charcoal stick, and in his left hand was half a mantou he had not finished eating and had already forgotten about.

The rough sketch drawn on the ground marked out where the Qingzhou forces would set up their camp — the supply train, the cavalry camp, the placement of each division — all laid out with remarkable clarity.

Beyond that, he had drawn arrows across the map indicating lines of attack against the enemy positions. He crouched there with his eyes fixed on what he had drawn, apparently deep in thought.

“Pidi.”

Xiahou Zuo called his name quietly.

Tang Pidi reflexively looked up. Then his eyes lit up. He smiled and said, “I was just about to send someone to bring you here. I’ve been thinking this over all morning and I’ve worked out where the enemy will make their camp. I want to discuss with you whether we might hit them while they’re still unsettled and getting established.”

Tang Pidi’s voice took on an edge of excitement. “I’ve thought it through carefully. Even though the enemy will take a beating at the Hutuo River, they’ll never believe that while their great army presses against the walls, we would dare open the gates to attack. If we move fast enough, we can kill at least several thousand more men. Two consecutive blows to their fighting spirit, one on top of the other — the effect on our defense should be remarkable.”

He was partway through this when he caught sight of Liu Ge, and smiled, asking, “Did we win?”

Liu Ge felt his face burning fiercely at that moment, hot and stinging, as though someone had struck him across the cheek countless times. He could not bring himself to meet Tang Pidi’s eyes.

“Tang— Master Tang, we won. Over three thousand of the enemy killed.”

Liu Ge stammered it out. He knew exactly how wretched his face must look right now, and how deep his shame was.

“As expected.”

Tang Pidi smiled. “I knew the battle was won before you returned, General. Every detail of it unfolded as I had foreseen. The only thing I failed to foresee was that you’d call me ‘Master Tang’ — ha! Just call me Pidi from now on.”

At any other time, Xiahou Zuo would certainly have said that Old Tang was putting on airs again.

But now, Xiahou Zuo had no heart for jokes. He reached out and took the half-eaten mantou from Tang Pidi’s left hand, looked at it for a moment, then took a bite.

Tang Pidi immediately understood what that gesture meant, and laughed. “I’m only here doing a short stint of work for you. A small thing like this means nothing to me. Whether to bother arguing with someone depends on who it is — a person like that isn’t worth the trouble.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “You may not care to argue. I do.”

He stepped back one pace and bowed deeply.

“Xiahou Zuo has failed you.”

Liu Ge bowed as well. “Liu Ge has failed you.”

—