Li Chi genuinely felt unworthy of accepting these gifts. Both items were extraordinarily precious, and as a younger generation guest, receiving such gifts left him deeply uneasy.

However, General Dantai’s insistence was absolute, so Li Chi had no choice but to agree for the time being. Given how resolute the old general was, continued refusal would only wound the elder’s goodwill.

“Hmm?”

Yu Jiuling, standing nearby, let out a puzzled sound, as though he had noticed something amiss.

He pointed at the golden armor: “The script on here — it looks like part of it has fallen off.”

Li Chi and Dantai Qi came over to look. Upon careful examination, they found that something was indeed off. The armor appeared to have been altered at some point.

Dantai Qi turned and gave an order: “Bring the craftsman who restored this armor here.”

Before long, the craftsman arrived. Dantai Qi asked him about the missing characters.

The craftsman replied, “This golden armor must have been repaired a long time ago. It appears to have sustained battle damage at some point — and quite severe damage at that. The material used for the repair is different from the armor itself; it is gold.”

Dantai Qi frowned. “Explain in more detail.”

“When I was repairing the golden armor,” the craftsman said, “I noticed that it actually has two layers, which struck me as curious. I did not dare to tamper with it freely, fearing I might damage this priceless treasure.”

He pointed to where the script was located: “This area was covered in gold plate, and the script was then engraved upon it. The gold plate was fitted into place here. During combat it was partially damaged, so part of the plate fell away.”

Li Chi looked at Dantai Qi. “It looks like there may be characters underneath as well.”

“This armor belongs to you now,” Dantai Qi said. “The decision is yours.”

Li Chi nodded. “Then allow me to be so bold.”

He turned to the craftsman: “Master, please remove all the gold from this armor so we can see what it originally looked like.”

The craftsman showed some hesitation. “Although it was added later, the gold plating is exceedingly fine work. If it is removed, it would be very difficult to restore.”

“Remove it all the same.”

Li Chi thought to himself: gold removed is still gold — what is there to fear?

So the craftsman set to work immediately. Starting with the vambrace plates on the left and right arms, he removed a layer of gold plate from each — roughly half a finger’s thickness and considerable in weight.

The gold plates were covered in script. The craftsman said he could not read it very well, but the general meaning seemed to be something about sealing or binding.

Upon hearing this, Dantai Qi sent for someone who could read the script — a records officer in the general’s residence by the name of Liu.

Master Liu was a true man of learning, well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge alike, highly erudite and broadly accomplished, with considerable expertise in the written scripts of the western regions.

He studied the script on the gold plates carefully. The longer he examined them, the more alarmed his expression became. After some time, he turned to Dantai Qi with a strange look on his face and said, “General, this does appear to be a form of seal — or one might also call it a curse.”

“If this golden armor once belonged to the emperor of the Yuezhi kingdom,” Dantai Qi said, “why would it bear inauspicious words of cursing?”

“Because…”

Master Liu was clearly hesitant. He looked at Dantai Qi. “General, might we wait until the armor has been fully cleared before I explain?”

Dantai Qi nodded. “Then let us wait.”

The craftsman removed all the gold plates and then cleaned away what lay beneath them. What had appeared on the outside to be gleaming gold — once the plating was removed, revealed filth and dust beneath, as one might expect after so many years.

Once everything had been cleaned, characters in seal script were found on the left and right vambrace sections of the armor — four characters on each side.

Li Chi could not read the script of the western regions, but he could read seal script. So when those eight characters became clear to him, the color in his face shifted almost imperceptibly.

*Commanded by Heaven, may the dynasty endure.*

When Li Chi read those eight characters aloud, nearly everyone present was struck dumb. Only Yu Jiuling had no idea what they meant.

“The Great Zhou Emperor’s Armor!”

Dantai Qi’s eyes flew open.

“Many, many years ago, the Zhou dynasty was in decline. Nations on all sides brought chaos to the Central Plains — from the western regions, from the northwest — at least dozens of tribes launched a massive invasion. At that time, the Great Zhou army was fully committed to resisting the Mongol Empire, leaving it unable to pacify the unrest in the western regions.”

“This allowed tens of dozens of tribes, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, to pour into the Central Plains,” Dantai Qi continued. “From the western regions all the way into the heartland of the Central Plains — on the western frontier alone, tens of millions of people were slaughtered.”

Yu Jiuling asked, “And this Great Zhou Emperor’s Armor — was it taken during that time?”

“Those dozens of tribal forces went on a killing spree across the northwest, butchering tens of millions of common people,” Li Chi said. “They thought they had an opportunity to seize the Central Plains. But in doing so, they enraged the Mongol Empire. Before the Great Zhou dynasty fell, the Mongol cavalry first defeated the coalition forces of the western regional kingdoms, killing hundreds of thousands — and so the western coalition had no choice but to surrender and beg for mercy.”

He continued, turning to Yu Jiuling: “The Mongol Empire then compelled the western coalition forces to serve as the vanguard in an assault on the Great Zhou capital. Meanwhile, resistance forces from across the Central Plains rushed to defend the capital in answer to the imperial summons. Outside the capital walls, the casualties numbered in the millions.”

“After the Great Zhou capital was taken, it was rumored that the Zhou emperor was protected and managed to break through and escape. The Mongol army then entered the capital.”

At this point, Master Liu spoke, his voice trembling slightly: “Then it all makes sense… it all makes sense. These words of cursing in the western script — they were meant to seal away the Great Zhou Emperor’s Armor and with it the fortunes of the Central Plains.”

“Based on my research,” he went on, “it was the Yuezhi who came to possess this armor. At the time, in order to save the emperor, the great Zhou general Yang Ziyi donned the Great Zhou Emperor’s Armor and posed as the Zhou emperor, breaking out toward the north, while the true Zhou emperor fled south under the protection of his ministers.”

“Yang Ziyi led an army of four or five thousand men and broke through more than ten li before being surrounded. They fought to the last man — not a single one survived.”

“This Great Zhou Emperor’s Armor,” Master Liu continued, “was most likely lost at that time — taken by the Yuezhi and hidden away. The Mongol Empire’s great khan later sent people to search for it, but they found nothing.”

He pointed to the gold plates: “The meaning of the western script — the earlier sections contain the names of their western deities. This one, for example, is the sun god; this one is the god of the desert…”

“The text calls upon these divine powers to seal the Central Plains’ emperor’s armor — and thereby seal the fortunes of the Central Plains. The later portions say that the Central Plains should be condemned to unceasing warfare, unending calamity, flooding waters, and devouring flames…”

At this point, Master Liu shook his head. “The hearts of the Yuezhi — truly vicious beyond measure.”

Li Chi, however, gave a slight smile. “Nonsense like what children play at — not even as useful as a straw effigy from our side.”

He turned to the craftsman: “Can all this gold be melted down and recast?”

“Certainly,” the craftsman answered.

Li Chi nodded. “Then melt it down and recast it.”

“What should it be made into?” the craftsman asked.

“Hairpins, hair ornaments, hair accessories,” Li Chi said, “a pair of gold bracelets — just make it all into jewelry, the full set.”

The craftsman was taken aback — and not only him. Even Dantai Qi was caught off guard.

“Make them large,” Li Chi added. “There’s plenty of gold, after all. The bigger, the better.”

“This is…” Dantai Qi asked. “What do you mean by this?”

Li Chi glanced over toward Gao Xining, and let out a sly chuckle. “Betrothal gifts.”

Gao Xining flushed crimson and quickly turned her head away — though her heart was quietly singing.

“With this much gold,” the craftsman said, “even if it is all made into a complete set of jewelry, there should still be some left over. Is there anything else you would like made?”

Li Chi thought for a moment. “Make two gold plaques — as large as the remaining gold allows. Engrave characters on the plaques…”

He leaned close to the craftsman’s ear and murmured something. The craftsman blinked, then gave Li Chi a look of considerable complexity.

The general impression was that the craftsman found Li Chi rather childish.

By now, all the gold plating had been stripped from the Great Zhou Emperor’s Armor, and the armor’s true form was revealed — ancient and austere, exuding a far more imposing aura than the gilded exterior ever had.

The craftsman carefully cleaned and polished the armor until it gleamed. Countless battle scars marked its surface, yet the hardness of the material was plain to see — though the marks were densely packed, every one of them was shallow.

Those scars told the story of how brutal the last battle of the Great Zhou dynasty had been, and how resolute Yang Ziyi’s final stand must have been.

Li Chi gazed at the dark armor. On the left side of the breastplate, two vertical lines of text ran downward — ten characters in all.

Li Chi studied them carefully, and felt something stir within him.

Those ten characters read: *I wear the Emperor’s Armor; by imperial decree, let all under Heaven be at peace.*

He stood still for a moment, feeling something resonate deeply inside him — inexplicable and overwhelming.

“This must be Heaven’s will.”

Dantai Qi stared at the characters on the armor and let out a long, slow breath before turning to Li Chi: “This armor has come to you by Heaven’s will. It is a gift given by Heaven itself.”

Li Chi had initially intended to decline, given the eight characters on the left and right vambraces — *Commanded by Heaven, may the dynasty endure* — words too weighty to accept lightly.

But because of those ten characters — *I wear the Emperor’s Armor; by imperial decree, let all under Heaven be at peace* — Li Chi decided to keep the armor. Whether it was Heaven’s will or not, he would keep it.

And so Li Chi and his companions remained in Liangzhou City for some further days. During the time spent waiting for Dantai Crushing Aura to return, Li Chi spent every day seeking Dantai Qi’s guidance on matters of military strategy.

The old man and the young man, once they started talking, would lose all track of time — even meals required several calls before either of them came.

As for the craftsman, he took advantage of this period to first restore the Great Zhou Emperor’s Armor — relacing the leather cord, fitting the clasps and buckles.

Once the armor was restored, he brought in fellow craftsmen he knew, and together they set about making the gold ornaments and jewelry Li Chi had requested.

Some fifteen or sixteen days later, Dantai Crushing Aura returned in triumph at the head of a victorious army. His campaign had yielded enormous quantities of gold and silver, and vast stores of grain and supply.

When Dantai Crushing Aura and the western coalition had destroyed the Yuezhi kingdom, arrangements had already been made: the Yuezhi’s territories would be divided among the western regional kingdoms, and the Dachu army had no interest in Yuezhi lands.

With the kingdoms of Qiuci and Maoli lying in between, claiming those distant territories would have been pointless — let alone impossible to garrison with a divided force.

So what Dantai Crushing Aura took was gold, silver, and grain. The western kingdoms were happy to oblige — they wanted the land; both sides got what they desired.

Beyond the gold and silver, Dantai Crushing Aura also brought back numerous fine warhorses, making for a rich haul all around.

Two days after Dantai Crushing Aura’s return, Li Chi and his companions prepared to take their leave. Dantai Qi instructed Dantai Crushing Aura to accompany Li Chi back to the Central Plains — to observe and learn from all he saw.

At the moment of parting, Dantai Qi selected two horses from among the fine warhorses Dantai Crushing Aura had brought back: one a deep, blazing red like living flame, the other a pure, snow-white like drifting cloud.

The red horse was named Illuminating Night; the white horse, Morning Dew.

Dantai Qi said to Li Chi, “I must hold Liangzhou, and I fear I will not be able to attend your wedding to Miss Gao. These two horses are my advance gift to you both in celebration of the happy occasion.”

Illuminating Night was given to Li Chi; Morning Dew to Gao Xining.

Li Chi and Gao Xining bowed deeply as juniors to express their gratitude, then led their party back toward Yanshan.

Partway through the journey, Gao Xining’s curiosity got the better of her, and she asked Li Chi what he had whispered into the craftsman’s ear that day.

Li Chi smiled and produced a wooden box. He opened it to reveal two gold plaques, each roughly the size of a palm.

He passed both plaques to Gao Xining. She took them, looked them over, and broke into a wide grin — her eyes sparkling like tiny stars.

One plaque was engraved with: *A Pair Destined for Play and Laughter.*

The other read: *A Long Life of Eating and Drinking Well.*

“Come now,” Li Chi said with a grin, “let’s divide the spoils — one for you and one for me.”

—