Xiao Mao and Wan Zai, leading their rebel troops, chased hard after the Ning Army’s rear — like two hungry wolves unwilling to let go of the big fat rabbit ahead.

However you looked at it, that big fat rabbit seemed awfully tempting.

Although they were both in Jizhou, the two sides were actually separated by considerable distance and didn’t know each other very well. Yet precisely because they shared the same region, both had made every effort to learn what they could about the other.

It was a contradictory situation, born of a contradictory time.

Even half a year later, things would not be this way — both sides would have learned considerably more about each other by then.

Before setting out on this campaign, Tang Pidi had spoken these words to Li Chi, including this very contradiction.

Right now, neither side truly understood the other — which meant moving quickly was essential.

In circumstances where neither side knew the other well, the Ning Army would naturally be the stronger.

That was what Tang Pidi had said.

He had also said: in conditions of mutual ignorance, naturally the Ning Army would be the stronger regardless of the opponent.

But given even one more year, a man like Chang Xing would bring his grip on Jie Shi Prefecture to a whole new level.

This man had genuine ability — unlike any rebel army leader that had appeared in Jizhou before.

Tang Pidi’s assessment of this man was, in a certain sense, even higher than his assessment of Yu Chaozong.

Tang Pidi had also said that someone like Chang Xing was a variable — you could see that clearly from how he had learned to exploit the legend of the Son of Heaven.

If this variable wasn’t suppressed from the outset, it might end up pressing down on everyone else in the future.

Of course, this wasn’t to say this man surpassed Yu Chaozong — in every other dimension, Yu Chaozong far exceeded him: personal charisma, martial skill, bearing, fraternal loyalty — all far superior.

But the one thing in which Chang Xing exceeded Yu Chaozong happened to be something very important for building up a force.

Patience.

Just those two words.

When a man has vast tracts of land and a great army at his command in a time of chaos like this — to say that patience is the most basic of requirements would be to understate it. Most people in that position simply cannot hold themselves still.

Human greed has no bottom.

When a man commands a force of over a hundred thousand troops — who could genuinely feel no desire to expand?

Chang Xing had not rushed to expand his territory at all. Instead, he had been working to build Dongye City into a stronghold capable of withstanding the assault of at least a hundred thousand garrison troops.

Even a force of two or three hundred thousand troops with average combat strength might not be able to threaten Dongye City.

Securing his footing first — that was what made Chang Xing stand apart.

While the Dongye Army was pursuing the Ning Army.

Tang Pidi was staring at the sky in a daze.

Master Yan watched him. He looked at the sky.

“You only let Li Chi go with one army — you must be worried too, aren’t you?”

Master Yan asked.

Tang Pidi nodded. “Worry — how could there not be?”

Master Yan sat down beside Tang Pidi and also raised his head to look at the sky. He wasn’t sure what Tang Pidi was looking at — he simply wanted to see whatever Tang Pidi was seeing.

If it were Li Chi here, his response to Master Yan would probably have been: when your own kid goes out alone, of course you worry.

Master Yan said, “And yet you still let him go with only one army.”

Tang Pidi replied, “Because that is the limit. If Li Chi had brought two armies — over twenty thousand men — the man inside Dongye City would never come out so easily.”

“Just over ten thousand — that is the limit at which Li Chi can keep himself safe, and also the limit at which he can lure Chang Xing out. The boundary for both of them.”

Tang Pidi slowly exhaled. “But in an open-field battle, the twelve hundred Ning Army troops I’ve trained, formed up in defensive formation — if they couldn’t hold off the charge of fifty or sixty thousand rebel soldiers, that would be the truly strange thing.”

Master Yan gave a sound of assent. He trusted Tang Pidi’s judgment, but he was worried too.

“What if Chang Xing simply never comes out to fight?”

Master Yan asked again.

Tang Pidi shook his head. “Impossible. If he didn’t want to come out, someone would have made him come out.”

Master Yan grew curious. He asked, “Who?”

“Two people.”

Tang Pidi answered evenly. “The first — Yu Jiuling. A man like Yu Jiuling, properly deployed, makes it impossible for anyone to resist wanting to kill him. Li Chi knows what Yu Jiuling is capable of, so he would certainly send him to bait the enemy. As long as Yu Jiuling performs normally, Chang Xing will not be able to hold out.”

“And the second?”

“The second — is someone I greatly admire. We have never met, but I’ve heard his story.”

Tang Pidi looked at Master Yan, paused, then asked, “Does Master Yan still remember Wu Naiyu?”

Master Yan’s expression shifted. “Wu Naiyu?”

A moment later, Master Yan’s eyes flew wide open. “You mean Wu Naiyu is right there in Dongye City?”

He shot to his feet. “If Wu Naiyu is in Dongye City, and you sent Li Chi with only one army — isn’t that sending him to his death?!”

His voice had grown urgent, turning almost hoarse.

Master Yan certainly knew who Wu Naiyu was — and certainly understood what Wu Naiyu was capable of.

If Wu Naiyu was in Dongye City serving under Chang Xing, Li Chi might genuinely run into serious trouble.

Chang Xing was no match for Li Chi. But Wu Naiyu might be.

Tang Pidi said calmly, “He’s on our side.”

Master Yan froze again.

He stared at Tang Pidi, his eyes full of disbelief.

“You — you two have never actually met. He had left Jizhou before you arrived in Jizhou.”

“That’s right. We’ve never met in person.”

Tang Pidi looked at Master Yan and said, “But if you count from the first letter I wrote to him, it has now been two years.”

Master Yan’s eyes widened again.

Tang Pidi asked, “In Master Yan’s view, what makes a capable minister?”

Master Yan opened his mouth — and found himself unable to answer immediately.

Tang Pidi slowly exhaled, then said, “Someone like me.”

His gaze moved to the distance. After a brief silence, he said, “What is a capable minister? Not only looking at the present but also the future. Not only looking at oneself but also at others. Not only looking at what is near but also at what is far.”

His gaze fell on Master Yan, and the faintest smile curved his lips.

Tang Pidi raised his hand and extended one finger. “Dongye City — Wu Naiyu. Capable of governing a nation in civil matters, capable of commanding an army in military ones.”

A second finger. “Ji City — Ye Celeng. Equally accomplished in both civil and martial arts; a talent of at least a grand frontier administrator.”

A third finger. “Gaogeng County — the brothers He Dengke and He Shanxue. The elder has the talent of a prime minister; the younger the valor of a warrior worth ten thousand men.”

A fourth finger. “Chanzhou — Lian Xiwu. Nine years ago he submitted a memorial to the court containing seventy-two policy essays. Had the court followed what he wrote, Dachu might have seen a revival.”

Tang Pidi extended a fifth finger. “Yuyang — Hu Buyu. Six years ago he served under Luo Geng in Youzhou. A great talent, and unbending in nature. Luo Geng could not accommodate him, so he went home in a rage to raise fish.”

Tang Pidi said to Master Yan, “I want to help Li Chi — and I cannot only look at myself. That same question: what is a capable minister?”

He raised his head toward the sky again. “Someone like me.”

Master Yan’s heart was racing. He had always believed he understood Tang Pidi — that Tang Pidi was unrivaled in drilling troops and waging war. But he had never known that Tang Pidi’s vision had long extended into places no one else could see.

Tang Pidi said, “Does Master Yan now understand why I am personally leading troops to Yanzhou?”

He smiled and said, “Yuyang is in Yanzhou. Yuyang has Hu Buyu.”

“Does Master Yan now understand why I sent Zhuang Wudi to lead troops to Ji City?”

“Ji City has Ye Celeng.”

“Chanzhou is in the northwest. Liu Ge has gone there.”

“And on this journey, Li Chi will pass through Gaogeng County.”

Tang Pidi said all this in one breath, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing more and more evident.

He said slowly, “Li Chi is powerful — powerful in the way an emperor is powerful, which means being powerful at reading the hearts of men. And I am powerful too — powerful in the way a capable minister is powerful, which means being powerful at reading Li Chi’s heart.”

Master Yan exhaled heavily.

He looked at Tang Pidi and said, “You call yourself a capable minister — then you are the foremost capable minister under heaven.”

Tang Pidi said, “Hmm. Not that difficult.”

His gaze moved back to the distance and pointed at the battlefield ahead.

“We should be moving.”

They were halfway up a mountain — part of the Dongye Mountain range — about thirty or forty li from Dongye City.

He raised his hand and gave a light wave. His aide-de-camp immediately picked up the Ning Army’s blazing red battle flag and began to swing it.

Below on the mountain, six thousand Nalan precision cavalry thundered out.

Hooves shaking the mountains and rivers.

Tang Pidi took the iron helmet from his aide’s hands and put it on.

“If I hadn’t sent Li Chi with only one army, Chang Xing would never have come out. And if he never came out — how could I possibly strike him from behind?”

He strode down the slope, his battle robes billowing behind him in the wind.

At that moment, the shock in Master Yan’s heart had yet to settle.

He had always thought he understood Li Chi well, understood Tang Pidi well, understood everyone around him well. He also thought he grasped how outstanding Li Chi was, how outstanding Tang Pidi was.

But now he realized: young men — how terrifying they could truly be.

The old saying goes: never look down on the young.

“You didn’t tell Li Chi — is it because you were afraid that if he knew you would surely come to support him, he wouldn’t fight with everything he had?”

He called after Tang Pidi at the top of his voice.

Tang Pidi, walking ahead, said as he went, “I didn’t tell Li Chi I would come to support him — because I didn’t need to.”

Tang Pidi swung himself into the saddle, glanced back at Master Yan with a smile, and said, “He already knows.”

He smiled and said, “Besides — the likes of Chang Xing are not worthy of Li Chi fighting at full strength.”

In the Ning Army.

Li Chi glanced back at the Dongye Army pursuing them, gauging the scale — clearly not the entirety of Dongye’s forces.

“Hmm.”

Li Chi gave a light sigh. “I’d hoped to draw everyone out. Turns out, the ones that can actually keep up with us number about forty or fifty thousand.”

Yu Jiuling thought to himself: my lord, forty or fifty thousand is still a lot, isn’t it?

Li Chi reined in his horse, raised his hand, and waved it lightly. “Pass the order — halt, and wait for them.”

Yu Jiuling couldn’t understand it. “We’re still not far from Dongye City. Behind those men chasing us, there must be more of their rear troops. Out here in the open, if we get surrounded…”

Before he could finish, Li Chi shook his head.

“Ninth Sister, if we keep running, the enemy will eventually give up the chase and go back.”

Yu Jiuling said, “If they give up the chase and go back, wouldn’t that be fine?”

Li Chi said, “Which is exactly why you’re only suited for drawing the enemy out — not for fighting battles.”

He looked at the rebel troops coming behind them. “If I don’t keep these men pinned here, how will the stragglers from their rear catch up?”

“I’m staying here and waiting — waiting for Chang Xing to bring his entire main force up. Only like that—”

Li Chi looked toward the distance — toward the place called Dongye Mountain.

“Only like that can that man comfortably plant a knife in Chang Xing’s back.”

Yu Jiuling was puzzled for a moment. “That man?”

A moment later it hit him, and he let out a joyful shout. “Old Tang?!”

Li Chi smiled. “Only if I draw all of Chang Xing’s attention toward me will Old Tang be able to lead his cavalry around from the north to get behind Dongye City. The more loudly I make a spectacle of myself, the more Chang Xing will think our forces are behind me — not coming from another direction.”

Li Chi looked in that direction, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Old Tang had just fought his way through Yanzhou. He knew the northern routes like the back of his hand.

In all the world — I know Old Tang.

In all the world — Old Tang knows me.

Li Chi drew his saber and pointed it forward. “Ning Army — fight!”

“Hoo!”

—