“Fang Yuzhou wasn’t found.”

Liu Ge told Li Chi: “We questioned a good many people. They say the divine envoy fled when we broke the center. He’s thought to have escaped back to Eastern Mausoleum Mountain.”

Li Chi nodded. “He’d have been strange not to flee.”

He looked out at the grey-robed divine soldiers straggling away in their sorry droves, his expression complicated. These people were deplorable — and pitiable. In a certain sense, killing all of them wouldn’t be wrong.

And yet — what good would it do?

“Not much grain was found in the city,” Liu Ge said. “Which means they were about to make a move on neighboring areas. Otherwise they couldn’t have made it through this lean season before the new harvest.”

He looked ahead. “We arrived in time. A few more days and the surrounding county’s people would have suffered.”

“Post notices,” Li Chi said. “Write it as Old Tang said — tell the people that come autumn we’ll be here to collect grain. Leave a thousand men here in garrison and distribute all the confiscated provisions to the people as seed grain.”

“Understood.” Liu Ge clasped his fists and went to see it done.

Li Chi turned. Tang Pidi was studying the terrain map Li Chi had drawn.

“They can’t hold Eastern Mausoleum Mountain.”

Tang Pidi looked up when Li Chi approached, pointed at the mountain on the map. “The terrain isn’t high — not particularly steep either. Even if they still have a few thousand troops there, it won’t matter.”

“So I reckon that Fang Yuzhou who got away may not have gone back to Eastern Mausoleum Mountain at all. He may take whatever remnants he has and run somewhere else entirely.”

He stood. “Speed is the soul of war. You take the main body and follow up behind. I’ll take the cavalry and move out now — otherwise the Black Wu men at Eastern Mausoleum Mountain may escape as well.”

Li Chi nodded. “Take Dantai with you.”

Tang Pidi made a sound of assent, then said to Li Chi: “The situation is murky right now. Yanzhou’s Zhou Shiren will come for Jizhou sooner or later. If Luo Geng lets him through, Pan Nuo won’t be able to hold Jizhou.”

“Once we’re done here, we need to get back to Yanshan quickly…”

Tang Pidi paused as he said this, something like worry in his eyes.

He looked at Li Chi and went on: “It’s not just the Yanzhou army entering Jizhou I’m worried about. Luo Geng won’t stay quiet either. After what happened last time, I think Luo Geng has already lost patience with the Emperor.”

The Emperor had promised Luo Geng the title of king, then played him for a fool. With Luo Geng’s absolute intolerance for grievance, how could he simply swallow that?

The news of how the Emperor had humiliated Luo Geng had spread far and wide over the past half year — likely all of Jizhou knew by now.

There were also rumors that Luo Geng had been ill for some time, driven to it by the Emperor and Prince Wu, so they said. The Grand General’s residence in Youzhou had reportedly sent out many men searching for renowned physicians.

Li Chi and his group knew this more clearly than most, because Youzhou City also had a branch of Doctor Shen’s clinic. Shen Ru Jian had sent word to Yanshan Camp: Luo Geng was indeed gravely ill, with a deep knot of bitterness inside him. If he couldn’t exhale that anger, the illness would only worsen.

So Tang Pidi surmised that Luo Geng would make his move — and that his ambitions did not stop at Jizhou alone.

Luo Geng’s aim was not some Youzhou kingdom. He wanted the whole of the northern territory — only by controlling it entirely could he have the leverage to defy the court. Only that, and the humiliation he’d suffered could be repaid upon the Dachu Emperor who had humiliated him.

“We have to be wary of Luo Geng,” Tang Pidi said. “That man has probably already gone mad. Spring is upon us and fighting season with it — Luo Geng would love nothing more than to see the whole north erupt in chaos.”

Li Chi thought for a moment and said: “He has two purposes in this. First — if the north descends into chaos, the Yanzhou army attacks Jizhou, and the White Mountain bandits wreak havoc in Yanzhou or push into Jizhou and cut Zhou Shiren’s rear, the north becomes utterly ungovernable. The timing is now precisely because Prince Wu’s army has marched south.”

“With Prince Wu’s army gone, the only one left who can pacify the north is Luo Geng. If the Emperor swallows his pride and grants Luo Geng the royal title, Luo Geng rides to Pan Nuo’s rescue.”

“Second.” Li Chi went on: “If the Emperor won’t bend, if he’d rather see the north wholly collapse than give Luo Geng a title — then Luo Geng simply takes the entire north for himself. His thinking is: *you won’t name me Prince of Youzhou, then I’ll make myself King of the North.*”

Tang Pidi nodded. “Last battle, Luo Geng was infuriated to the point of vomiting blood — but he came out of it with the most to gain. His troops are well-armed and well-provisioned now. If he goads Zhou Shiren into attacking Jizhou and then reaps the harvest, it’s still he who profits most in the end.”

He said to Li Chi: “I suspect that months ago, Luo Geng may already have sent a memorial to the capital — he needs the Emperor to take a position. And the Emperor will have received it by now.”

Li Chi shook his head. “Judging by this Emperor’s manner of doing things, he will categorically refuse to bend to Luo Geng. If he set that precedent, every frontier governor in the realm would start following Luo Geng’s example.”

Tang Pidi thought silently for a moment, then said: “So we must resolve this side quickly. Our forces number only a little over ten thousand now. Luo Geng isn’t going to wait for us to grow before he strikes. If he intends to be King of the North, he won’t permit anyone who could challenge him to remain standing.”

The two finished their talk. Tang Pidi had Liu Ge muster the forces, and rode out with all the cavalry for Eastern Mausoleum Mountain.

Originally the plan had been for Tang Pidi to go ahead with the cavalry while Li Chi followed with five thousand infantry. They assessed the Jizhou situation and felt uneasy leaving the home base with only a few thousand men, so Li Chi took five thousand and turned back toward Yanshan ahead of schedule.

—

Two days later. Below Yanshan Mountain.

White Mountain bandit chieftain Lao Shui Ze raised his head and looked at the continuous string of fortifications running along the mountainside, and let out several cold laughs.

“Once upon a time, Yanshan Camp was the strongest force in Jizhou. The name of Green-Eyebrow Heavenly King Yu Chaozong was known throughout the land.” He laughed. “But Yu Chaozong was nothing but a showy lance with no sharpness — impressive to look at, no use in hand. With all that advantage, he played himself into ruin. Now this mountain holds nothing but a band of monkeys. Even so — when we take this place, our name will spread. The world will know: it was the White Mountain Army that destroyed the Green-Eyebrow Army.”

He raised a hand toward the mountain. “Attack!”

At that moment, Li Chi’s column was still two or three hundred li away.

Half a day later, a cavalry column of several dozen riders came in from the south, intending to head into Yanshan — but found the way impassable.

Luo Zhi Jie raised a hand. His men slipped into the forest nearby. He raised the spyglass and looked for a while. A flash of regret moved through his eyes.

“It’s not that I won’t help… it’s too late already.”

He lowered his hand. “Let’s head back. Linger any longer and we may lose our own lives here.”

He sighed inwardly: *Li Chi, Li Chi, this isn’t our young general’s fault. He truly meant to help you. It’s just that…*

Luo Zhi Jie swung into the saddle. “We ride!”

His men followed, wheeling south and away.

—

On the walls of Yanshan Camp, Zhuang Wudi had been fighting until his eyes ran red. Around him, the bodies of White Mountain soldiers lay in heaps.

By the time the scouts had spotted the massive enemy force, it was already too late. The White Mountain bandits had come within only a few dozen li of Yanshan — only enough time to arrange defensive positions.

The camp had been built and reinforced over years, and the defenses were relatively solid — but with the enemy coming in such numbers, and so few defenders left, it had been desperate from the start.

The White Mountain Army had come prepared. Luo Geng had deliberately agitated Lao Shui Ze and lent him a large stock of siege equipment from the Youzhou army.

Luo Geng wanted to clear all rivals from within Jizhou, and he spared nothing — he also sent experienced officers to advise the White Mountain Army on how to press the attack. Under their guidance, the assault was not a mindless mass charge — it proceeded with method.

“Second Brother.”

Yu Chaozong came hurrying over, took one look at Zhuang Wudi drenched from head to toe in blood, and started. “Are you wounded?!”

Zhuang Wudi quickly steadied him. “Brother, I’m fine. None of this blood is mine — enemy troops just surged up here. I led a counterattack and pushed them back down.”

Yu Chaozong breathed easier at that.

“How did so many bandit soldiers appear out of nowhere like this?”

“Looking at their banners — it’s the White Mountain bandits from Yanzhou.”

Zhuang Wudi shook his head. “The White Mountain Army is at least three thousand li from here. Never in a thousand years would I have expected them to attack our stronghold. Something is very wrong.”

“Can we hold?”

Yu Chaozong asked.

Zhuang Wudi fell silent.

He said nothing — and Yu Chaozong already knew what that silence meant. Even without asking, he had a fair idea of the answer.

After the stronghold’s great upheaval, fire had gutted much of it. Li Chi and the others had repaired what they could after taking over — but the real problem was never the strength of the fortifications. Undermanned — that was the true crisis. The camp was vast; a few thousand men could not defend it all.

“Second Brother…”

Yu Chaozong looked at Zhuang Wudi and seized his hand. “Listen to me carefully…”

“Brother!”

Zhuang Wudi’s eyes were already reddening — he knew what his brother was about to say, but the words hadn’t come out before Yu Chaozong cut him off.

“I am still your elder brother!”

Yu Chaozong said urgently: “Listen — take your men, protect Third Brother’s family and loved ones, and break out through the rear mountain. The path back there is narrow. You have to go now.”

“I won’t leave!”

Zhuang Wudi said, red-eyed. “You take Miss Gao and Elder Gao and the others out. I’ll cover the rear.”

“Second Brother!”

Yu Chaozong’s voice sharpened. “How can you be so muddleheaded! If we break out of the mountain and face enemy troops in the open plain, can I protect them and cut through? I cannot. You can.”

He pointed toward the rear mountain. “Right now the enemy is closing the encirclement. In less than an hour, the rear path will be blocked off. That path is so narrow, it takes time just for people to file through one by one. If you delay any longer, you’ll have everyone dying here. Is that what you want to see?!”

Yu Chaozong gripped Zhuang Wudi’s hand. “I am the eldest brother here. This time I am the one to hold. When I am gone, you will be the eldest. Then it will be your turn to hold the line… if a brother cannot do this much for you, what face does he have to be called a brother?”

His grip tightened. His voice was hoarse. “Third Brother is the youngest of us, and yet it has always been him taking care of us. Now that the crisis is here, we must protect Third Brother’s family and loved ones… remember this: this time it is I. If danger comes again, you must do as I do now.”

“Brother…”

Zhuang Wudi let out a cry, tears pouring freely.

“Go,” Yu Chaozong said. “I won’t speak of the world or the people. I do this only for my two brothers. Both of you live well — I will not betray my brothers again…”

Yu Chaozong let out a long, slow breath. Then, his bearing proud and upright: “Your elder brother still has one fight left in him. While my sword is in my hand, I am still the Green-Eyebrow Heavenly King.”

—

That day, the Green-Eyebrow Heavenly King Yu Chaozong held the walls of Yanshan Camp, fighting and withdrawing by degrees. After the main gate was breached by the White Mountain bandits, he led his men to block the narrow rear mountain path, and fought to the last man.

More than thirty arrows pierced his body.

He stood leaning on his sword.

Though he died, he did not fall.

The Heavenly King had fallen.