Liangzhou for the most part was not actually cool. Nor was all of Western Liang — it was considerably hotter here than in the Central Plains: a dry, searing heat.

The summers in particular were the hardest to bear. One had the illusion that the daylight would never end.

The temperature swings between day and night were extreme. The midday sun was fierce enough to bake a person’s skin to an oily sheen, yet by night the wind off the desert could leave you shivering uncontrollably.

Standing on the Liangzhou city wall and looking out, the eye met nothing but an endless expanse of gobi desert — virtually nothing grew there, a sweep of desolation in every direction.

To guard against the punishing midday sun, everyone here wrapped themselves thoroughly from head to toe. Walking down the street, it was nearly impossible to tell one person from another.

It was in a place like this that the Dantai family had garrisoned for generations — fulfilling the promise made by the first Western Liang General to Grand General Xu Qülu long ago.

The Dantai family endures, and Liangzhou endures.

Three generations on, the people of this ancient city had grown accustomed to the Dantai family’s mark upon it, and accustomed to the peace and stability that mark brought.

On the Liangzhou city wall, the moment General Dantai Qi appeared, every soldier stood at attention in salute. Here, Dantai Qi was a god in the heart of every soldier.

When Dantai Qi walked to the wall’s edge and looked down over the battlements, even the passersby below who caught sight of him bowed in respect. It did not matter whether they were Central Plains people or Western Regions people — all would stop immediately and express their reverence with utmost sincerity.

And this was not compelled. It came from the depths of their hearts. Even the Western Regions people were the same.

The reason lay in the rules Dantai Qi had established.

The strong make the rules; the weak obey them.

As the frontier general of the Central Plains, Dantai Qi naturally would not permit anyone from beyond the border to violate the laws of Great Chu within his territory. Whoever transgressed would be punished without leniency.

But the rules Dantai Qi established were not only for Western Regions people — they applied to Central Plains people as well. Under his rules, in commercial dealings, no one was permitted to deceive or cheat, no one to bully the market.

Dantai Qi had once said: I am a soldier. On the battlefield, I concern myself with nothing but right and wrong in battle — should anyone invade Great Chu, my soldiers and I will lay down our lives.

But in commerce there is right and wrong. Whoever is in the wrong shall be held accountable.

Under such rules, Western Regions merchants doing business in Liangzhou City received the fullest protection.

Over time, these Western Regions merchants had even begun to feel that Dantai Qi was not only the guardian of the frontier people of Chu, but of them as well.

It was no longer clear when it had begun, but Dantai Qi’s birthday had become the grandest celebration of the year in Liangzhou City.

The scale of the festivities defied description.

Some recalled, however, that it was the Western Regions people who had started it.

It was impossible to say how many years ago exactly — but on this day, Western Regions people were seen dancing and singing in the streets, setting off fireworks, taking to the roads.

When someone asked, they learned: they were celebrating General Dantai’s birthday.

And so the following year, still more people gathered. From then on, each year on this day, the whole of Liangzhou City erupted in extraordinary revelry.

Western Regions peoples would form processional groups, walking the streets singing and dancing, scattering flowers and pouring water.

Central Plains peoples would form lion dance troupes, stilt-walking troupes, and all manner of performances taking place simultaneously.

Later still, the rulers of the Western Regions kingdoms began putting on their own performances — competing to present tribute, each year more lavish and more grand than the last.

Dantai Qi had not stopped it, and not because he was vain — rather, in the midst of all this, he had discovered the clever means by which to keep the Western Regions kingdoms in check.

These kingdoms were not large, but there were many of them. What Dantai Qi feared most was that these scattered Western Regions petty kingdoms might one day learn to unite.

Should that ever happen, however elite and battle-hardened Liangzhou’s army might be, it could not withstand the combined assault of hundreds of thousands of Western Regions forces.

For many years now, Liangzhou’s army had been entirely self-sufficient — all support from the court had long since dried up.

This constrained Liangzhou’s growth. The army’s scale could only remain what it was — expanding further was something neither the finances, the resources, nor the manpower could sustain.

And so to maintain stability in Western Liang, raw fighting ability was not enough — one also had to exploit the fractures between those small kingdoms.

On the city wall, General Helian Lian looked out at the people below bowing in respect and said with a smile: “Great General, the number of people coming to celebrate your birthday grows larger every year.”

He pointed downward: “There are still more than twenty days to go, and the numbers entering the city have already begun to swell. Envoys from the various kingdoms are also eager to arrive — they come earlier with each passing year.”

Standing with his hand on the wall and looking down at the people below, Great General Dantai Qi was silent for a long while. Then he raised his hand and returned the gesture to those below.

“Helian.”

Dantai Qi asked: “Do you know why they respect me?”

Helian Lian answered: “Because the Great General is stern and impartial, because the Great General makes them feel safe, and because they are also afraid of him.”

“You’re wrong.”

Dantai Qi said: “It is not me, Dantai Qi, they respect — it is the military might of Liangzhou’s army.”

Helian Lian was taken aback.

Dantai Qi continued in a mild tone, yet each word seemed to carry an immense weight.

“Do you know what the strength of an army truly means? Look at the people below — especially the Western Regions people. They are bowing to me with every courtesy, abiding by the rules I have laid down.”

“But if Liangzhou’s army were incapable of fighting — or if there were simply no army here at all — would they still behave this way? They would have slaughtered every Central Plains person here long ago.”

“Helian…”

Dantai Qi sighed: “We need a powerful, invincible army — not merely so we can strike whoever we choose, but more importantly so that no one dares strike us on a whim.”

“The ancient sages said that people may be guided by propriety — treat them with courtesy and they will return courtesy in kind. This is both right and wrong.”

“If your state possesses a great weapon, it matters not whether you treat others with courtesy or not — they will treat you with courtesy regardless. But if your state is poor and weak, will they be courteous toward you? Especially when your land is fertile and your goods abundant — do you think they will come to buy from you politely?”

Dantai Qi brought his hand down hard on the wall.

“Right now, everywhere in the western frontier beyond Liangzhou, Western Regions peoples bully and humiliate the locals. Things are only better here because we can fight… and being able to fight is not primarily so that we can go out and hit people. The greatest use of being able to fight is letting people know they must follow the rules. Those who do not follow the rules will be struck.”

Helian Lian bowed his head: “I will keep the Great General’s words in my heart.”

Dantai Qi slowly exhaled and asked: “Still no word of Qiujing?”

Helian Lian nodded: “You asked yesterday as well, Great General. No one has returned yet today. But with the Great General’s birthday drawing closer, it is likely the Young General will find his way back in time.”

Dantai Qi made a sound of acknowledgement and said nothing more. Yet the anticipation and the anxiety in his eyes grew ever clearer.

He longed for his son to return soon; he feared that on this birthday, his son would not be at his side.

When a father’s eyes carry something this complex, it is because he knows he is growing old.

“Previously, scouts had discovered that the Young General seemed to have been engaged in a fierce battle in the northern steppes alongside a group of companions against a powerful band of mounted bandits. He won. After that, the Young General departed with those companions.”

Helian Lian said: “But we have not yet traced what happened after.”

Dantai Qi said: “Given that headstrong and proud temperament of his — to have found friends who actually command his respect, those companions must be worth admiring. That is a good thing. He is far too self-assured.”

While they were speaking, somewhere in the queue waiting to enter the city below was a birthday tribute delegation from a Western Regions kingdom.

This delegation was from the Western Regions kingdom of Maoli. In terms of strength and scale, it was among the more prominent of the many small kingdoms in the area.

However, Maoli was a kingdom that had been established less than a year ago.

The kingdom had previously been known as Feidingtan, whose ruler had been a kind old man deeply friendly toward the people of Chu — a man named Takeli who had even visited Liangzhou City in person to call upon Dantai Qi.

Takeli had no sons, but three daughters. His eldest was already forty, his youngest barely twenty.

Whether in the Central Plains or elsewhere, a ruler without a son created great instability in the matter of succession.

Takeli’s nephew, Lidun, was a very suitable candidate for heir. The old king had been cultivating him for several years.

But less than a year ago, the consort queen’s younger brother — who was also Feidingtan’s great general, Qihuali — had suddenly launched a rebellion. He killed the old king and his sister the queen, killed two of the royal princesses, and only Lidun and the king’s youngest daughter, Tikhe Huaqing, managed to escape.

After seizing the throne, the first thing Qihuali did was send envoys to Dantai Qi with a formal letter of state, announcing that Feidingtan no longer existed. As the first emperor of Maoli Kingdom, he expressed willingness to maintain friendly relations with Great Chu and continue their previous close ties.

Dantai Qi sent no reply — he had no liking for a man like this, and besides, he had been on good terms with the old king.

Among the birthday tribute delegation, Maoli Kingdom’s head official was a man named Sanding — a middle-aged-looking man of about forty, with a distinctive full beard, powerfully built and robust. His glance was piercing; he was a man of military background, the very first person to lead troops into the palace during Qihuali’s rebellion, and the one who had personally cut off the old king’s head.

“All of you remember — once we enter the city, we may well face harassment and pressure from Liangzhou’s soldiers. Endure it all.”

Sanding spoke in a low voice: “His Majesty estimates that Lidun and Tikhe Huaqing have fled here to Liangzhou City and are under Dantai Qi’s protection. Our primary purpose on this visit is to seize those two traitors and bring them back for execution. Everything else is secondary.”

“Yes!”

His subordinates gave a low response.

Sanding raised his head and looked at the old man on the city wall, bowing in respect just as everyone around him was doing.

As he bowed, he spoke in a low voice: “Dantai Qi and that old man whose head I cut off were on close terms. If Lidun and the others truly did come here, Dantai Qi will certainly not hand them over lightly… If the opportunity presents itself, eliminating Lidun and then eliminating Dantai Qi would be ideal.”

He breathed out slowly, speaking as if to himself: “His Majesty once visited the Central Plains — that was twenty years ago, accompanying an envoy’s mission to pay respects at the Chu capital. These twenty years, His Majesty has never forgotten how glorious and splendid the Central Plains were.”

From years past, when he had first heard of Great Chu’s unending internal strife, Great General Qihuali had repeatedly urged the old king to send troops, united with the other kingdoms, to invade the Central Plains.

The old king had cursed him roundly and moved to strip him of his military command. It was Qihuali’s sister who pleaded on his behalf and saved him from punishment.

Qihuali’s sister could not have imagined any of what was to come — that when her brother raised his blade, not even she was spared.

The entire royal family had been slaughtered to near extinction. Every official loyal to the crown had been executed. During the rebellion, at least three or four thousand people had been killed.

Qihuali had never forgotten what he had witnessed in the Central Plains — even though by the time he saw it, Chu was already well down the road of decline.

“Fertile lands, beautiful women, inexhaustible gold and silver treasures, the grandest mountains and rivers.”

Sanding said with longing: “His Majesty has seen it. I have not. His Majesty says that one day he will take us all to see it.”