Xiahou Zuo held the letter. It trembled slightly in his hands, and something inside him trembled with it.

How could he not understand what his mother meant?

She was afraid he might forget what he owed.

*You carry the great duty of the people in your heart. Your brother, so that you can hold that great duty without worry, has shouldered every bitter and thankless task at your back. Li Chi says nothing of it. But a mother cannot say nothing. She, too, carries her own sense of what is right.*

Xiahou Zuo instructed his men to have all the grain moved inside, then asked Chen Dawei and Gang Gang to go and rest. He needed to write his mother a reply.

He went back to his study, sat down, picked up the brush, looked at the paper — and for a long time could not bring himself to write. He had so much to say, and yet the words would not come.

He did not know how long had passed. At last he took a slow deep breath, set the brush to paper, and wrote several lines.

*The drum-beats at dusk cut off the passing foot.*

*From the autumn border, the cry of a solitary goose.*

*Though scattered now, in different lands we dwell,*

*Brothers share one fate in life and death.*

When he finished, he exhaled a long breath. He folded the letter and sealed it, then sat at the desk a while longer, turning to look out the window. Against the sky, a line of geese moved in formation.

He rose, found Chen Dawei and Gang Gang, pressed the letter into their hands, and then asked after the Yanshan Camp’s affairs.

When he learned that Tang Pidi had already led the army south to strike at Jizhou, Xiahou Zuo felt his chest tighten again. The Yanshan Camp had suffered blow after blow and now had fewer than ten thousand men. If anything else were to go wrong, how would Li Chi bear it?

He asked carefully and established that it was a joint operation with Luo Jing. He didn’t know Luo Jing and couldn’t easily judge — but he was anxious.

At the same time. Liangzhou.

Li Chi had recovered well enough that Dantai Qi no longer had reason for concern. Nothing had been broken, nothing deeply torn — this was not the kind of injury requiring months of convalescence.

The swelling on his face had long since gone down. Once again the handsome young man stood before the world, and Li Chi thought: at last he would stop drawing looks of revulsion from Tang Pidi.

In those days, Grand General Dantai Qi met with him every morning to talk. This general who had spent half his life guarding the frontier had developed a deep admiration for Li Chi’s learning and character — admiration that had deepened into something approaching reverence, a feeling he had never before extended to anyone so young.

He found himself believing more and more: whatever ultimately changed the chaos of the Central Plains, it must be these young men. Even if it turned out not to be Li Chi specifically — it must never be those parasites. No matter how dynasties rose and fell, no matter who held the realm, those parasites endured through every change. Under the Zhou they were Zhou ministers; under Chu they became Chu ministers. Always there, endlessly draining the blood of the Central Plains, endlessly draining the blood of the Central Plains people.

So only someone like Li Chi reshaping the realm would be a true excision of rotten flesh down to the bone — not another change of faces and names.

After breakfast each morning, Li Chi would go out into the courtyard to practice. He could not yet train at the intensity he was used to — but how could he lie idle?

In that time, he trained his body while absorbing much from General Dantai — things the general’s experience and years had given him, along with a grasp of the larger picture and how to read it, all of which Li Chi felt he urgently needed to learn.

The previous day, good news had arrived from beyond the border: the coalition had pushed into the Yuezhi Kingdom, and the campaign was going far more smoothly than expected. Dantai Yajing had sent word back that, if all went as planned, the Yuezhi capital could fall within ten days.

The coalition of Western Region kingdoms had the air of a crowd descending on a cornered dog, every man with a stick in hand, all thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Working out the timing, if Dantai Yajing returned quickly, he would be back within twenty days at the earliest — and no more than a month at the outside.

Factoring in the situation at Jizhou, if that too proceeded without difficulty, the city would already be in Luo Jing’s hands by the time Li Chi and the others returned to the Yanshan Camp.

Li Chi was practicing in the courtyard when Dantai Qi walked in with measured steps. The more the general looked at this young man, the fonder he grew.

Such self-discipline in a person so young was remarkable in any era.

“Grand General.”

Li Chi stopped and bowed in greeting.

Dantai Qi smiled and shook his head. “No need to always stand on ceremony. Though the years between us are many, our minds and our view of the world are alike enough — we could call each other friends and equals.”

He smiled. “If Yajing had not met you first, I would worry about him taking it the wrong way — I would even consider proposing we speak as peers, regardless of generation.”

Li Chi quickly said: “That would never do. The Grand General is my elder and senior.”

Not far away, Yu Jiuling and the others were exchanging greetings with Dantai Qi. Dantai Qi returned them before following Li Chi inside to talk, while Yu Jiuling dropped his voice and leaned toward Mister Yan: “This is going to be a problem.”

Mister Yan said: “What nonsense are you about to say now?”

Yu Jiuling said, with complete sincerity: “How is this nonsense? If Grand General Dantai speaks as peers with Li Chi, that makes him Li Chi’s senior brother. When Dantai Yajing comes back, doesn’t he have to call Li Chi *uncle*?”

Mister Yan thought about it, and a pleased smile spread over his face: “And he’d have to call me *grandfather*…”

Yu Jiuling said: “And Grand General Dantai would have to call you *uncle* as well…”

Mister Yan gave a snort of laughter, lowering his voice: “You can joke with me all you like. Don’t go saying this outside.”

Yu Jiuling said: “How about this, Mister Yan — you and I declare ourselves peers as well. That way the two of us would both become men with children and grandchildren aplenty. Hahaha… just imagining it is rather satisfying.”

Mister Yan said: “The very fact that you’re still breathing proves that this is a family that loves one another…”

Yu Jiuling said: “Brother Yan, how can you speak of your humble little brother this way?”

Mister Yan: “Stay away from me. I’m afraid that when Li Chi starts beating you, I’ll get caught in it too.”

Meanwhile, in the study.

Dantai Qi said: “Two days ago you spoke with me about the Jizhou situation, hiding nothing — you told me all the details of what you’d arranged there. I’ve been thinking it over since.”

He looked at Li Chi. “If Luo Jing takes Jizhou and you ask only for grain and provisions — what if he refuses? What if he changes his mind?”

Li Chi said: “I trust Luo Jing.”

“Why?”

“Luo Jing is proud to his core. His character won’t permit him to break faith once given. In that respect, he and his father Luo Geng are entirely different.”

Dantai Qi nodded. “Then you could also claim the southern territories of Jizhou. The farmland down there far exceeds the north, and Luo Jing doesn’t have the manpower to hold all of it. If you took the south of Jizhou, you’d have the means to build your strength.”

Li Chi said: “Grand General — Luo Jing has too few men to hold all of Jizhou, and I have barely eight thousand soldiers. I couldn’t hold the south of Jizhou either.”

Dantai Qi sighed. That was true enough. If Li Chi had a force of tens of thousands, taking the south of Jizhou would let him double his strength within a year.

He nodded. “Because your own forces are not yet strong enough, you ask only for Jizhou’s grain — and with grain, you build the army further, advancing by measured steps.”

“No.”

Li Chi shook his head. “I don’t want the grain for myself. The northern frontier line — those border soldiers are suffering. What I want from Jizhou is its money and grain. The money is to hire laborers to build a granary south of the Mountain Pass in the Northern Frontier. That way the border soldiers there will no longer have to look to Jizhou for handouts. The grain is to fill that granary.”

“In time, no matter who holds Jizhou, the northern border soldiers will never again need to bow their heads and beg anyone for food. They stand guard for the people. They ward off enemies beyond the frontier. And yet for a bowl of rice they must lower their heads as if begging. That should not be the life of border soldiers. They should hold their heads high and stand with their chests straight.”

Li Chi exhaled slowly and shook his head. “Before I leave with my troops, I want to see a granary built on the northern frontier. Then at least my heart will be a little more at ease.”

At this, Dantai Qi was moved.

After a long silence, Dantai Qi stood up, stepped back several paces — and then bowed, deeply and fully, to Li Chi.

Li Chi was startled. He rushed forward to stop him. Dantai Qi would not permit it.

Dantai Qi said: “I am not a northern border soldier, but we are all border soldiers. I know how hard the border is. I know how difficult. I know how much danger it holds. For you to think this way — I bow to you on behalf of every one of those border soldiers.”

Li Chi said: “Grand General, please rise — it’s really not… this is only what I’m able to do.”

Li Chi had set out to contend for Jizhou, and yet what he sought from it — even now — was not for himself. It was a granary for the border army.

Dantai Qi could not help but be shaken.

“Now I finally understand,” he said, “why Yajing said: if someone calls you a rebel, it is heaven itself that is unjust.”

Dantai Qi said: “Judged by the court, your forces are rebels. Yet in all of recorded history, I have never seen rebels who kept the border armies fed.”

Li Chi said: “Grand General — because the border army is different.”

“Different how?”

“Every other army under arms belongs to the court. But the border army belongs to everyone — it belongs to all the people of the Central Plains.”

Dantai Qi breathed in slowly.

Before today, he had only admired and respected Li Chi’s learning and insight. Now he found himself respecting something larger — Li Chi’s breadth of heart and depth of spirit.

This young man already stood in a place higher than all the others.

Dantai Qi was quiet for a long time. Then he looked at Li Chi. “I would… I would return a gesture of honor to you on behalf of the border soldiers. I had intended this as a gift from myself — but now it must count as their gift to you in return.”

He turned and walked out. “Wait for me just a moment.”

Li Chi watched the Grand General stride out and stood there somewhat bewildered. He truly had not expected this reaction. He had only said what was on his mind.

Shortly, Dantai Qi returned with men carrying a large chest between them.

Li Chi stepped out. Dantai Qi had them open the chest, and gestured to its contents: “This is the golden armor worn by the man who came to assassinate me that day. I don’t know what it’s made of, but I know it turns away blades and arrows without fail.”

He looked at Li Chi: “This golden armor — I give it to you on behalf of all the border soldiers. If you won’t accept it, every one of them will refuse to accept that either.”

Li Chi opened his mouth, but could not find words to refuse. The armor was priceless — and truly impenetrable. He felt it ought to stay with someone like Dantai Qi.

“Accept it!”

Dantai Qi said: “Since you consider me your elder, then this is your elder’s command. You may not disobey.”

In the fighting that day, the golden warrior had been killed; the helmet had been crushed and could not be restored. Afterward, through some mishap, spilled wine had caught fire on the ground, and after the armor burned through, it had turned a deep, dark gold.

Dantai Qi insisted. Li Chi could not find a way to refuse, and at last accepted.

Dantai Qi turned and took up a blade, passing it to Li Chi: “This is the curved blade that came with the armor. I wanted to give it to you that day, but I thought a curved blade didn’t suit your standing, so I had it remade.”

He held it out to Li Chi in both hands — a gesture of the deepest respect — and Li Chi received it in both hands in kind.

“It has been reforged and reshaped into a straight saber, the kind our Chu people know best.”

Dantai Qi said: “Armor for you. Blade for you. Take this as the blessing of the Western Frontier — may the blade and armor, imbued with the strength of the Western Frontier, shield you through a hundred battles undefeated, and stand you unrivaled under heaven.”