The northwest. Dingxian County.

The Ning army encampment.

When Li Chi and the others arrived outside the city gates, Liu Ge was already waiting there.

Li Chi had a rough idea of what had happened, but still asked with a smile: “How did you know I’d arrive early?”

Liu Ge said: “My lord, a gentleman in the army by the name of Ye Celeng dispatched men to travel day and night to get here. He said you would arrive ahead of schedule and told me to prepare to receive you.”

Li Chi glanced around at the people nearby, then lowered his voice: “I won’t scold you in front of all these people, but in private I’d still rather you just called me boss.”

Liu Ge hurriedly bowed: “This subordinate dares not — and cannot. Before, you were boss. Now you are my king.”

Li Chi sighed inwardly. He understood that some things could never go back to the way they were.

So: accept it.

To refuse would just be pointless sentimentality.

If you wanted to accomplish great things, you couldn’t also expect people to treat you the same as before — that was nothing but a fool’s dream.

And besides, Liu Ge’s background was simply different from Yu Jiuling and the others.

Liu Ge was originally a general under Zeng Ling, the former Military Commissioner of Jizhou — from the very start, he was a formally registered Dachu garrison soldier by origin. His inner understanding of hierarchy and rank was therefore fundamentally different from that of Yu Jiuling and the rest.

Yu Jiuling was still adjusting to Li Chi’s identity as Prince Ning, and still occasionally got confused. He called Li Chi “boss” in private a bit more often — yet even Yu Jiuling knew this was improper.

Everyone was working to adapt to Li Chi’s status, and to adapt to their own statuses as well.

His subordinates had already begun to take this seriously, to properly regard Li Chi’s standing.

If Li Chi himself continued to be overly precious about it, that would only make him seem excessively immature.

“How goes the fighting?”

Li Chi shifted the topic with one question.

Liu Ge spoke as they walked: “Your Highness, the enemy forces are actually not weak — nothing like what we’ve faced before.”

“After leading our forces here, I did not rush to attack — not because we could not win, but because the common people are not on our side.”

“The enemy’s numbers are great, which is not itself a cause for concern, but the fact that the people’s hearts are with them — that demands careful attention.”

“These remnants have changed their approach greatly from before. They no longer exploit the common people but treat them with consideration instead, and as a result…”

He looked at Li Chi, who nodded: “They’ve learned quickly.”

The last time the forces of the Eastern Mausoleum had lost to Li Chi, and now they had risen from the ashes again, they no longer dared treat the people as livestock the way they had before.

“The remnants have now renamed the Eastern Mausoleum as the Heaven’s Accord Sect, claiming to take up arms in accordance with the will of heaven and the desires of the people.”

Liu Ge said: “The man currently holding the forward position facing us goes by the name Ekema…”

He had barely finished saying this when Cheng Wujie, walking behind Li Chi, heard the name and his eyes went wide immediately.

“Who?!”

Cheng Wujie was never one for formality, and he cut Liu Ge off without a second thought, not feeling there was anything wrong with that.

Li Chi looked at him: “You know this person?”

Cheng Wujie nodded, then asked Liu Ge: “Is this the Ekema from Dongguo County?”

Liu Ge shook his head: “I don’t know where he’s from, but the name is right. He’s ferocious and skilled in battle, and has something of a knack for commanding troops.”

Cheng Wujie looked at Li Chi: “Your Highness, if this is the Ekema from Dongguo County, then… I can’t fight in this battle.”

He wore an expression full of remorse.

“He is… my closest friend.”

Li Chi asked: “Your closest friend — how did he come to join a heretical cult?”

Cheng Wujie shook his head: “A few years ago he left Dongguo County. I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he was going to find his own path in life. When Master Xuanyuan was imparting his martial arts, he was actually teaching both of us together.”

“Ekema is smarter than me, more studious than me, and more ambitious than me. What he learned from Master Xuanyuan was far more than I ever did — things I couldn’t retain, he would understand after seeing them once and practicing them through.”

Cheng Wujie continued: “Perhaps it was because he’d gained those abilities that he wanted to go out and make his mark on the world.”

Li Chi thought to himself: Master Li, Master Li — your habit of scattering your teachings across the land is not always such a good thing, it seems.

He had no way of knowing that Master Li’s wide net was itself entirely deliberate.

Nor had Li Chi expected that here, in this place, his first opponent could practically be counted as a fellow disciple — a martial brother of sorts.

“Is this person highly capable?”

Li Chi asked once more.

Cheng Wujie said: “At minimum, worth two of me. In a fight he’s better than me, his mind is sharper than mine, and his drive to win surpasses mine by far.”

Cheng Wujie’s expression darkened: “Since we were children, he always had to compete with everyone at everything. Whenever someone did anything better than him, he couldn’t stand it — he had to surpass them, no matter what.”

Li Chi thought: Master Li took this man as a disciple probably for precisely this reason.

Master Li’s great contradiction lay in the fact that while hiding away on one hand, on the other hand he would still, from within his hiding place, take on students and transmit teachings. Such as Li Chi himself, and such as Tang Pidi — and perhaps there would be others to come.

In truth, if Tang Pidi hadn’t been implicated by family matters and imprisoned, he would have stayed in the Academy the whole time, and what he learned from Master Li would surely have been far greater. And given Tang Pidi’s natural gifts and abilities, the more he learned, the higher his starting point would be.

So what, in the end, was Master Li’s true purpose?

This was actually a question Li Chi had never been able to work out.

Li Chi looked at Cheng Wujie: “Tell me about this Ekema in detail.”

Cheng Wujie nodded: “All right.”

After about half a shichen, Li Chi had learned enough from Cheng Wujie to form a fairly complete picture of this young man named Ekema.

Many of the people from Dongguo County were descendants of the ethnic minorities of the former Youshan Kingdom. Cheng Wujie was one, and so was Ekema — and if you traced the roots, the two of them were even of the same clan.

This people were called the Eke people.

“Kema” in the Eke language meant leader or chieftain.

Cheng Wujie’s ancestors had once been generals of the Youshan Kingdom, as had Ekema’s.

The difference lay in the choices the two families made at the most critical moment.

Cheng Wujie’s ancestor chose to take the common people of the various clans and lead them in flight — taking as many as could be taken, never willing to leave one person behind if they could help it.

While Ekema’s ancestor entrusted his wife and children to Cheng Wujie’s ancestor’s care, then led his own forces to hold the capital to the last — fighting until his death.

Cheng Wujie said: “From the time we were children we argued endlessly about that — whether it was my ancestor who was wrong back then, or his.”

“He always believed that once you took up arms and served as a minister, you had to obey the emperor’s orders, regardless of the cost.”

“But he said he didn’t want to be like his own ancestor. He wanted to be someone who controlled others, not someone who was controlled.”

Cheng Wujie continued: “One day, Ekema asked Master Xuanyuan: ‘Master, you chose me and passed your skills on to me — is it because you believe I have the ability to achieve great things?'”

“Master Xuanyuan said yes, and said that the people he chose were necessarily those destined to achieve great things — so Ekema came to believe he was bound to rise above others.”

Cheng Wujie sighed: “Not long after Master Xuanyuan left, he too left Dongguo County. I don’t know how he ended up here.”

There was one more difference between Cheng Wujie and Ekema: the matter of acceptance.

Cheng Wujie’s ancestors had intermarried with Central Plains people, grown accustomed to the Central Plains way of life, and adopted a Central Plains surname.

Ekema’s ancestors had also taken a Central Plains surname at the time — but he himself had changed his name back to an Eke name.

Li Chi asked Liu Ge: “How many engagements have you had?”

Liu Ge replied: “Your Highness, we have exchanged blows with the enemy forces seven times in total — but all seven times it was a single contact and withdrawal, neither side committing its strength.”

“I can see that these fighters are different from the unruly bandits we’ve faced before. Their advances and retreats are measured, their formations are strict, and every time I prepare to attack, they have a follow-up ready and waiting.”

Li Chi gave a sound of acknowledgment: “Enter the city. Let’s find somewhere elevated to observe the enemy encampment.”

—

At the same time. The south bank of the Nanping River.

The battle had dragged on so long that both sides had almost exhausted their fighting edge.

After General Luo initiated his encirclement on all four sides, he ceased the fierce assaults and — following Luo Jing’s orders — simply maintained the blockade, intending to starve out Prince Wu’s provisions.

On the walls of the county seat.

Prince Wu raised his spyglass and looked outward. After many days, a trace of a smile finally appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He pointed toward the northwest: “Look over there.”

All of his subordinates raised their spyglasses and looked.

“The enemy camp in that direction is flying a flag with the character ‘Guan’ — that should be Guan Feicheng, one of Luo Jing’s vanguard generals.”

Prince Wu said: “He was the first to cross the river; his unit suffered the heaviest losses. In the battle on the banks of the Nanping River, we killed over twenty thousand of his men. In the second battle, a good number of those we killed were also his men. Five thousand men — at most, he has no more than ten thousand left.”

Prince Wu smiled: “So this unit has the lowest morale of any. They’ve fought themselves out — they’re tired and afraid, and they have no desire and no nerve to keep fighting.”

One of his subordinate generals said: “Your subordinate observes that discipline in their camp is slack — soldiers are sitting around at random, and many are not even carrying their weapons.”

Prince Wu nodded: “Luo Jing is simply no kind of supreme commander.”

He slowly exhaled, and his mood lightened considerably.

Because he understood perfectly — step by step, he had lured Luo Jing to fight all the way to this point, and Luo Jing had now walked completely into his bag.

“To guard against any reinforcements arriving from the direction of Jingzhou, Luo Jing has personally taken his forces to intercept further south of the county seat.”

Prince Wu said: “Look — after dragging this out for more than a month, those subordinates Luo Jing left behind in the north have grown complacent.”

He turned around and said in a loud voice: “Tonight — who dares raid the enemy camp?”

Several dozen subordinate generals responded in unison — every single one of them willing.

They were the undefeated Left Imperial Guard. They had never once been on the back foot like this.

This time, having endured for so long, the fire burning inside them was proportionally immense.

“Xue Li.”

“Your subordinate is here.”

“Tonight at the hour of Zi, take one army and strike south from the northwest, attacking the south face of Guan Feicheng’s camp.”

“Understood!”

“Gao Tiansi.”

“Your subordinate is here.”

“Tonight take one army and strike from due north, attacking the southwest of Guan Feicheng’s camp.”

“Understood!”

“Liu Tiebiao.”

“Your subordinate is here!”

“Take one army and follow behind Gao Tiansi’s force. Unless something goes awry, Gao Tiansi should break into Guan Feicheng’s camp within one shichen — enter after him and cut off the enemy forces to the west.”

“Understood!”

“Zhao Qing.”

“Your subordinate is here.”

“Take one army, pursue the routed troops after those three armies have won, and drive the enemy forces south — do not let them escape to the north.”

“Understood!”

After issuing these orders, Prince Wu brought his hand down hard on the city wall.

“All remaining men — follow me and wait for Luo Jing to come to the rescue of his own people.”

This white-haired elder — that look returned to his eyes: the imperious gaze of a man who can, with one army, break all others; who can, with one army, hold all others steady.

“If a brave general like Luo Jing could serve under me, I would have confidence in pacifying the realm. What a pity that he chose to become a rebel instead…”

Prince Wu said: “All armies follow me. Tonight, we beat him back to nothing.”

“Yes!”

A single unified cry rose from every man.

—