Shen Rujian stepped into the carriage that had come to receive her, without exchanging another word with Li Chi and his companions. She did things her own way and paid no mind to anyone else.

She already knew they were headed to Jizhou, and she certainly knew the road, so she had no intention of following behind Li Chi’s convoy. She simply set off ahead of them.

This left not only Li Chi and his companions dumbfounded, but Shen Rujun and the others as well. Shen Rujun had known that her younger sister left Yun Yin Mountain every year, but had never known what she went off to do. She had asked once, and Shen Rujian had only said she was tending to some business — little did anyone expect that there would be people waiting for her just outside Yun Yin Mountain, ready to be dispatched at a moment’s notice.

Li Chi and his group bid farewell to Shen Rujun and the others. Because Shen Rujian had declared that no one else needed to come — she alone was sufficient — this also extinguished the wish of quite a few young women who had been hoping to step outside and see the world.

Life here was comfortable, peaceful, and utterly free of danger. And yet some among them longed to know what lay beyond. Had they truly ventured out, it likely would not have been long before they found themselves pining for the days on Yun Yin Mountain.

After leaving the bounds of Yun Yin Mountain, they traveled more than two days before reaching the main road. At a crossroads ahead, Shen Rujian’s carriage came to a stop. When she stopped, Li Chi’s convoy halted behind her.

Li Chi stepped down from his carriage and looked ahead. At the intersection, a group of fifty or sixty men were waiting. Their equipment was remarkably fine — if anything, superior to what Li Chi’s own company carried.

Shen Rujian did not descend. When the men saw the carriage approaching, every one of them dismounted and stood waiting at the roadside. As the carriage curtain was lifted, they all bowed in perfect unison.

Shen Rujian glanced over the men, a faint frown forming between her brows.

“Only this many of you?”

One of the men replied with a guilty expression: “In reply to the proprietress — the situation arose suddenly. We could only urgently gather the best hands from the two nearest counties. But I have already dispatched riders to Liangzhou to bring more. They will ride hard and should reach Jizhou no later than us.”

Shen Rujian gave a small nod and issued her orders: “Send a few more men to Liangzhou. Have the resident physicians from the Liangzhou branches come to Jizhou as quickly as possible. Along the way, every branch office you pass through is to send men to Jizhou as well.”

The lead man immediately bowed his head: “I will arrange it at once.”

He straightened up and gave the order: “Liu Ying — take two men and ride for Liangzhou. Carry out the proprietress’s instructions and escort the resident physicians to Jizhou.”

“Yes!”

The man acknowledged the order, gathered his two companions, and departed on horseback without the slightest hesitation, as though executing a military command.

Shen Rujian spoke in her usual level tone: “Lu Qingluan, take ten men and stay to provide escort. The rest go ahead to scout the road and arrange accommodation.”

“Yes!”

The lead man called out ten names to remain behind. The others immediately vaulted into their saddles and surged forward, disappearing into the distance in moments.

The middle-aged man called Lu Qingluan positioned his ten men around the carriage. Shen Rujian’s party set off again.

Li Chi stood watching. He thought to himself that this woman was no ordinary person — someone who could train her subordinates to operate with such efficiency was truly remarkable.

Tang Pidi smiled and said, “The people from Yun Yin Mountain always seem to find ways to surprise you.”

Li Chi made a sound of agreement, waved his hand, and signaled the convoy to follow.

The rest of the journey passed without any strange incidents — the return trip was entirely smooth, without the slightest ripple of trouble.

When Li Chi and his group passed through the Free and Easy Kingdom, Tang Pidi led a contingent inside to retrieve the gold and silver, loading three entire carts to the brim.

This wealth seemed more than sufficient to cover the cost of horses from Li Chi and the Nalan steppe people — but the time had not yet come. Bringing so many warhorses back to Jizhou would immediately stir up a storm, and who knew how many eyes would be watching.

So Li Chi and Tang Pidi had discussed the matter beforehand: they would wait until Jizhou was firmly in Yanshan Camp’s hands before Tang Pidi went to see Borjigin Chihan.

When they passed through the Nalan steppe, herdsmen spotted Li Chi’s convoy and immediately went to inform Borjigin Chihan — for Borjigin Chihan had long since given instructions that Tang Pidi’s group was to be reported to him the moment they returned.

Two days into their journey, Borjigin Chihan rode out with his cavalry to receive them, personally escorting Li Chi’s party out of the steppe.

Meanwhile, at the northern bank of the Nanping River.

Prince Yu, Yang Jixing, sat inside his campaign tent, his face dark as iron. He had been staring blankly at the map before him for a very long time.

The generals assembled in the tent were silent as cicadas in winter — not one dared to speak, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Jizhou Military Governor Zeng Ling stole a cautious glance at Prince Yu, wanted to say something, but in the end swallowed the words back down.

Defeat after defeat — they had already lost fifty or sixty thousand men. Their provisions were running critically low. If they could not break through the Nanping River, there was nothing for it but to return empty-handed.

He had advised Prince Yu earlier to split off a force and seize Qingzhou, but Prince Yu had said Qingzhou was too far away and difficult to attack — better to commit everything to taking Yuzhou.

When they had first arrived, Prince Yu had still been full of vigor, because Zeng Ling had told him that someone had already been sent to win over Anyang Prefecture’s General Meng Kedi — and the moment the Prince’s army arrived, Meng Kedi would surrender Anyang.

But it was precisely because of this matter that Prince Yu had nearly lost his life.

Anyang Prefecture General Meng Kedi had feigned a welcome at the city gates, bringing with him all the civil officials of Anyang Prefecture. To demonstrate sincerity, only civil officials came out of the city to receive Prince Yu — all military officers remained inside, waiting.

Meng Kedi had sent word to Prince Yu that he was waiting respectfully at the city gate with Anyang Prefecture’s official seals, ready to greet his arrival.

Prince Yu, not fully at ease, had on the appointed day sent men ahead to take a look at Anyang’s city gates.

The officials he sent discovered that Meng Kedi had indeed kept his word — he was waiting with all his civil officials at a spot three li outside the gate, none of them carrying weapons.

There was not a single soldier at Meng Kedi’s side, only these hundred or so officials of varying ranks, along with local gentry and prominent families from the city — perhaps three to five hundred people in total.

The officials immediately reported back, and only then did Prince Yu bring his party over. The moment they came face to face, Meng Kedi led everyone to their knees in a grand salute.

Prince Yu, wanting to appear magnanimous, dismounted to help Meng Kedi to his feet — whereupon Meng Kedi, from within the box of seals he was holding out with both hands, drew a dagger.

Meng Kedi drove the blade into Prince Yu’s chest. Fortunately, Prince Yu had, as a precaution, worn a soft armor beneath his clothes. Though the dagger sliced through even the soft armor, it was enough to preserve his life.

In his fury, Prince Yu ordered a slaughter. But those civil officials and local gentry were all Meng Kedi’s trusted men in disguise, concealing weapons within their wide sleeves and robes.

In the ensuing melee, though Prince Yu’s men cut down over three hundred people and nearly wiped out Meng Kedi’s force to the last man, Meng Kedi himself escaped.

He fled back to Anyang Prefecture and ordered it held to the death. In his rage, Prince Yu commanded an all-out assault — and yet by now more than a month had passed with no progress whatsoever.

Anyang Prefecture stood like a wall across the path of Prince Yu’s great ambitions — a wall of copper and iron that could be neither breached nor bypassed.

And then, of all times, Prince Yu received word that the old Emperor had long since passed away, and that Crown Prince Yang Jing had already ascended the throne.

This news sent Prince Yu’s fury to its absolute peak — and his humiliation along with it.

“Zeng Ling.”

Prince Yu suddenly called out.

Jizhou Military Governor Zeng Ling hastily stepped forward and bowed: “Your Highness — your subordinate is here.”

Prince Yu frowned and said icily, “Are you not going to offer an explanation?”

He looked at Zeng Ling, his voice cold as frost: “In the matter of Anyang Prefecture, I have never once blamed you. Meng Kedi is a petty schemer full of treachery — I only dealt with the man you sent to negotiate with him. Not a single word of reproach have I directed at you. Have I?”

Zeng Ling was silent for a moment, then swept aside his robe and knelt.

He lowered his head: “Your subordinate is at fault.”

Prince Yu let out a cold snort, his expression darkening further by the moment.

“Just ‘at fault’? I can overlook the Anyang affair — that was your subordinates failing in their duties. But what of the capital?”

His voice suddenly turned sharp.

“I entrusted the capital’s affairs to you as well. Yang Jing — that little brat — has been on the throne for more than half a year. Why has not a single one of your people come back to report?”

Zeng Ling knelt there with his head bowed, his expression shifting constantly.

The affairs of the capital had plainly been controlled entirely by Prince Yu himself. The informants dispatched to the capital had all been Prince Yu’s own people. He had never allowed anyone else to interfere — had not even been willing to discuss the capital’s business with Zeng Ling, out of fear that someone might use the information to harm him.

And now he was pushing it all onto Zeng Ling’s head. How could Zeng Ling not feel aggrieved?

He thought carefully for a moment and understood what Prince Yu meant: Prince Yu could no longer bear the loss of face.

He had come in great force, spent more than a month failing to take a single Anyang Prefecture, lost tens of thousands of men, seen his morale collapse, and was running out of provisions.

That alone might have been endured — but he had raised his army under the banner of purging treacherous ministers from the Emperor’s side. And now he had only just learned that the old Emperor had long since died, that Liu Chongxin was dead too, and that a new Emperor had already taken the throne. With what justification could he continue the campaign?

To press on would be to fight without any defensible cause.

The humiliation of it all — Prince Yu felt his face grow unbearably hot. By now, who knows how many men in the camp were privately calling him a fool.

If he did not find someone to absorb this disgrace, how could he continue to lead men? How could he face the officers and officials under his command?

“Your subordinate — is at fault!”

Zeng Ling kowtowed again.

Prince Yu saw that he made no argument, and felt a quiet relief within. He issued the order: “I placed great hopes in you and trusted you completely, yet you handled affairs with such carelessness and negligence. This cannot go unpunished.”

He considered for a moment, then said: “Someone — drag him out and give him twenty blows with the military rod.”

No one moved readily. The men Prince Yu would use to administer the punishment were Jizhou soldiers — Zeng Ling’s own soldiers. How would this end if they actually went through with it?

Zeng Ling said: “Your subordinate’s offense is unpardonable. I am willing to accept the punishment.”

Seeing that no one was moving, he said in a low, firm voice: “Why are you not moving?”

The soldiers outside exchanged glances. A few came forward to help Zeng Ling up. Zeng Ling turned and walked outside the tent.

Those soldiers had no intention of truly striking him. They went through the motions, and the twenty blows fell feather-light — not even enough to leave a surface bruise.

Having thus found himself a pretext and shifted the blame onto Zeng Ling, Prince Yu continued to perform his lingering fury, then rose, flicked his sleeves, and walked out.

Outside the command tent, after the twenty blows had been administered, Zeng Ling stood up and watched Prince Yu walk away into the distance. Something complex flashed briefly in his eyes, then was gone.

Prince Yu departed, and the crowd of officials and generals all came out, clustering around Zeng Ling — one expressing concern, another offering sympathy. It was quite lively.

Prince Yu, from a distance, glanced back — and his face went pale. The blood rushed to his head; his scalp prickled.

He let out a cold snort and quickened his pace away.

At that very moment, a cavalry courier came galloping in with a report: Qingzhou Military Governor Cui Yanlai had led an army of one hundred and fifty thousand from the eastern flank, and had already arrived east of Anyang Prefecture.

Upon hearing this report, even Zeng Ling felt a flash of alarm. Prince Yu had virtually exterminated the Cui clan — Cui Yanlai could not possibly let this feud rest.

Anyang Prefecture now had one hundred and fifty thousand reinforcements. Yuzhou Military Governor Liu Li had been steadily holding the southern bank of the Nanping River without counterattacking — clearly he had been waiting for Cui Yanlai’s army to arrive.

The Qingzhou army had just suffered a fresh defeat earlier and had no provisions, which was why they had not immediately come to envelop the Jizhou forces from both sides with the Yuzhou army. Now they had arrived, which meant their supply problem had been resolved.

With Cui Yanlai here, Liu Li’s Yuzhou army would now begin its northward counterattack.

There was not the slightest hope of victory in this battle.

Zeng Ling was silent for a moment, then immediately gave the order: “Pass the command — the entire army is to withdraw to Jizhou. Begin preparations now. I am going to seek an audience with His Highness.”

He strode off after Prince Yu at a pace that bore no resemblance to a man who had just been flogged.

Everyone ran off to pack their belongings in preparation for retreat. They all knew this battle was lost — little did they suspect, however, just how grim the days ahead would be.

—