Li Chi paced back and forth in the room, speaking with great seriousness: “The way you’re treating me — that tells me you still don’t trust me. Old Tang has already bolted and sealed the underground entrance from the inside. I have no key, nothing at all. Could I even get out?”

The others sat and watched him pace, nodding along with each point he made — though the nodding was, in truth, somewhat perfunctory.

Li Chi turned and said: “Can you at least untie me?”

He raised his hands. The rope was still around his wrists.

Tang Pidi said: “Sit down first. Can’t we talk about this calmly and reasonably?”

Li Chi said: “Seeing how you’re treating me — you think I can be calm?”

Tang Pidi said: “Gao Xining — should we tie his feet too?”

Gao Xining stood up: “Good idea.”

Li Chi dropped into a chair and said with great sincerity: “Sit down first. Can’t we talk about this calmly and reasonably?”

Gao Xining said pleasantly: “All right.” And sat back down.

Li Chi drew a breath and said: “If I go now to the Green-Banner Army’s camp and find Elder Brother Yu, it isn’t too late. As long as I can get out of the city and find him, I can explain everything clearly — he will listen.”

Tang Pidi said: “Even if you found Yu Chaozong now — what you want to say to him is no different from what you wrote in those three letters. What could you possibly say that would be any different?”

Li Chi said: “There would certainly be differences. The situation now is different — the Yanshan Camp has already arrived. I can urge Elder Brother Yu to withdraw his forces temporarily, pull out of the engagement. He doesn’t have to go back to the Yanshan Camp — just move his troops somewhere safe—”

Tang Pidi cut him off before he could finish.

“If you’re willing to make a wager with me, I’ll help you get out to see Yu Chaozong.”

Li Chi said: “What wager?”

Tang Pidi said: “We wager… that once you go to see Yu Chaozong and say everything you need to say, whether he will ask you to go somewhere and rest first — and that if he needs you, he’ll send someone to fetch you.”

Li Chi frowned slightly. “I don’t follow.”

“Yu Chaozong has already arrived,” Tang Pidi said. “The Green-Banner Army with its over a hundred thousand men has been force-marching for days to get here, and they’ve already entered the battle — fighting harder than anyone. Do you think you can persuade Yu Chaozong to withdraw on the strength of a few words? Even if Yu Chaozong were wavering over whether to withdraw, do you think the chiefs under him would agree to it?”

“They’ve already come. They’re already in. They want Jizhou as badly as anyone. If you walk over now and tell Yu Chaozong ‘Brother, you should leave’ — will Yu Chaozong actually leave?”

“Forgive me for being blunt,” Tang Pidi said: “If after you’ve said your piece, Yu Chaozong doesn’t ask you to step down and rest first — I’ll admit I was wrong.”

Li Chi sat there and said nothing for a moment.

After a while, he said: “But I still want to go.”

Tang Pidi said: “If you lose, no more trying to manage anyone else. Think carefully about your own path forward.”

Li Chi stood up and said: “I’ll do as you say — but I really do have to go.”

Tang Pidi rose. He went over and untied the rope from Li Chi’s wrists, then clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll go with you.”

Li Chi was just about to say something. Tang Pidi said: “Don’t get sentimental yet — wait until we can actually get out. Zeng Ling previously set ambushes at all six city gates, waiting for Luo Jing to walk into the trap. He didn’t expect Luo Jing to be so formidable — that Luo Jing would simply cut his way out by main force.”

“But the soldiers at all six gates haven’t been pulled back. The patrol units inside the city haven’t been pulled back either, because Luo Jing fled with a few hundred men and hasn’t left the city — so Zeng Ling’s people are still searching. In this situation, if the two of us can get out, it would be nothing short of a miracle.”

Li Chi said: “Still worth trying.”

Tang Pidi loosened the rope around Li Chi’s wrists as he spoke: “Anything you want to try, I’ll try it with you. But going ahead knowing it’s wrong — I’ll accompany you this one time only. If it happens again, I won’t come along and I won’t stay behind either. Tang Pidi does not follow a man who is irresolute and keeps making the same mistakes.”

He glanced at Li Chi, then went on: “Because a man like that — you wouldn’t deserve it.”

Those words landed heavily, heavily.

Li Chi drew a long breath and nodded. “Just this once.”

—

At the same moment, outside the city walls. The Green-Banner Army camp.

The troops still fighting ahead, the troops behind erecting barracks, building wooden walls, setting up barriers.

Yu Chaozong’s expression was tinged with satisfaction as he returned from the forward lines, intending to inspect the camp’s progress.

The assault in the night had killed enemies without number, seized no small amount of weapons and armor, and driven the Yuzhou army back. By now, the Yanshan Camp had seized what was probably the most advantageous position.

The Yanshan Camp had elbowed the Yuzhou forces aside; the Yuzhou forces had been hit from three sides and simply couldn’t hold — they had pulled back entirely out of the engagement.

After the brutal fighting, the Yuzhou army had probably taken losses of no fewer than twenty thousand. They were badly hurt.

The Qingzhou army had pressed forward. They and the Green-Banner Army had traded blows in two engagements; neither had managed to get the better of the other.

“Chief.”

Someone called out and came hurrying over: “The second-in-command is back. He’s looking for you.”

Yu Chaozong was briefly taken aback — and only then remembered: Zhuang Wudi had also not made it back into Jizhou City. He must have been keeping out of sight somewhere outside, looking for an opening all this time.

He had probably learned that the Yanshan Camp’s main force had arrived, and rushed over at once.

Yu Chaozong hurried into the camp and sent men searching in every direction. Before long, they found Zhuang Wudi.

Zhuang Wudi had chosen the most straightforward method: not knowing where to find Yu Chaozong, he had simply asked people where Yu Chaozong’s command tent would be set up, learned the location, and sat there to wait.

The moment he saw Yu Chaozong approaching, Zhuang Wudi rushed over urgently, his tone carrying a hint of reproach.

“Brother, why did you come so quickly?”

Yu Chaozong, who had still been smiling, felt his smile stiffen slightly at those words — yet he maintained it and said: “Second Brother — if not now, wouldn’t we have been too late?”

“Brother,” Zhuang Wudi said, “didn’t Li Chi say it clearly? This battle isn’t over — the Yanshan Camp can’t come yet. Why didn’t you listen?”

The man beside Yu Chaozong — Zheng Gongrui — frowned. “Second Chief, the Yanshan Camp is still the Chief’s decision. Are you questioning the Chief’s judgment?”

Zhuang Wudi frowned, looked at Zheng Gongrui. “Who are you?”

Zheng Gongrui started to reply. Zhuang Wudi said: “I don’t care who you are. When I’m talking with my brother, is it your place to cut in?”

Zheng Gongrui’s expression shifted.

“Second Brother,” Yu Chaozong said, “don’t be vexed with him. He’s one of our people — eighth among the chiefs. You and he haven’t met yet.”

Zheng Gongrui stepped forward with a bow: “Zheng Gongrui — greetings, Second Chief.”

Zhuang Wudi had no patience for who this man was. He looked back at Yu Chaozong and said urgently: “Since Third Brother counseled us so insistently, it must be because Third Brother had good reason for it — you couldn’t—”

“Second Brother.”

Yu Chaozong glanced back. The chiefs who had followed along all had somewhat unpleasant expressions on their faces.

They had come a thousand li, running nine days, worn themselves out completely, finally arrived, the camp was being built — and then the second-in-command had come rushing over to say they should withdraw?

If Yu Chaozong truly agreed to the second-in-command’s demand, these men could not accept it either. It would need to be talked through properly — though even after talking it through, a casual withdrawal was not going to happen.

“Go rest a while first.”

Yu Chaozong said: “Even if there’s a great deal to discuss, at least wait until I’ve seen to the men’s needs. The army has only just arrived — and there are enemy scouts ranging back and forth barely a few hundred paces away. You don’t want something to happen to the brothers while they’re unsettled. Let me finish my arrangements, then we’ll sit down and talk through everything you want to say.”

Zhuang Wudi looked around instinctively. The Yanshan Camp soldiers did look somewhat disorganized. In this condition, if the government army made a sudden strike, they could easily be caught completely off guard.

He nodded reluctantly. “All right, Brother — you handle the arrangements first. As soon as you’re done, I’ll come find you right away.”

Yu Chaozong quickly said: “You go rest. When I’ve finished, I’ll send someone to bring you over.”

Zhuang Wudi said his acknowledgment, then looked at Zheng Gongrui. He held the man’s gaze and said, one word at a time: “You. Wait.”

Three words only.

Zheng Gongrui kept his smile in place and nodded, though his heart gave a small jolt.

Yu Chaozong, walking ahead, said: “Eighth, don’t blame your second brother. He has a straightforward nature — says what he means, doesn’t hide anything, he’s always been like this.”

Zheng Gongrui immediately said: “How could I dare blame the Second Chief. Only just now — I pressed my argument a little — and the Second Chief doesn’t know the military situation, doesn’t know how things stand here. To demand so bluntly that the Chief withdraw is, in truth, somewhat hard to understand.”

Yu Chaozong said: “You know he doesn’t know the situation — so why bother arguing with him? If you truly provoke him, I won’t be able to help you either.”

At those words, Zheng Gongrui’s step faltered involuntarily.

He thought to himself… Yu Chaozong — I have put all my effort into helping you. And now you speak these words?

So in your heart, it doesn’t matter whether men like Zhuang Wudi and Li Chi do anything, whether they can help you or not — they will always carry far more weight than I do.

That single line — if you provoke him I can’t help you — tells me everything. In your eyes, I, Zheng Gongrui, amount to this much and no more.

He breathed slowly, letting his mood settle as much as he could, trying not to show anything in this moment.

But once that resentment was born in his heart, how was it to be contained? It spread like a plague, rapidly, until it had taken over every thought.

Nothing else remained — only this.

Just from thinking these things, Zheng Gongrui suddenly lost all confidence in the plans he had been laying.

He had believed that if he helped Yu Chaozong take Jizhou and defeat the government forces, his standing in the Yanshan Camp would naturally surpass Li Chi’s.

First gain the say within the Yanshan Camp — then eliminate Li Chi — that would be far simpler, far easier.

Yet now it was plain: even if his accomplishments were the greatest under heaven, they still would not outweigh Li Chi and Zhuang Wudi.

Zheng Gongrui looked at Yu Chaozong’s retreating back, drew another slow breath, then quickened his step to catch up.

Walking alongside Yu Chaozong, he said: “Chief — in this battle, I believe we should make a swift, decisive push…”