Li Chi looked at this young man — possessed of all the composed indifference a son of a great house develops toward all people alike, and yet he had not hesitated for a moment before kneeling here before him.
This was exactly the kind of inheritor that kept great families from declining and dying out across the generations — for the sake of family interests, they could set aside even their dignity. And this in an age that placed such tremendous weight on birth and standing.
Changsun Wuyou may have been an outer branch of an outer branch of the Changsun main line, but he was still the descendant of nobles and ministers.
And Li Chi — his origins were humble.
That kneel said everything about where Changsun Wuyou stood.
Li Chi reached out and helped Changsun Wuyou to his feet, looking at him steadily. “I’ll give you three sentences in return.”
“Please speak, Prince Ning.”
“First: I don’t trust you.”
“Second: I don’t trust your family.”
“Third — tomorrow, you may go to Commissioner Yan and ask him what you can do.”
“The first and second I can accept,” Changsun Wuyou said. “As for the third — I wish to remain at Prince Ning’s side. I ask for no official post, no salary.”
“Food and board will suffice?” Li Chi said with a smile.
“Food and board will suffice.”
Li Chi asked: “Are you strong?”
Changsun Wuyou paused, then nodded. “Not born with extraordinary strength, but I’ve trained in martial arts since childhood.”
Li Chi asked: “Is your reaction speed quick?”
“Somewhat above average, I’d say.”
Li Chi smiled. “Convenient.”
He looked at Yu Jiuling: “The Flowing Cloud Formation was only moved over yesterday. Nine Ling, take Changsun Gongsun to try it out. If he passes, I’ll keep him.”
Yu Jiuling grinned and gestured. “Changsun Young Master, this way please.”
Changsun Wuyou sensed something about this arrangement wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t identify what, exactly.
—
One hour later.
Li Chi was in the study discussing plans for advancing the army with Tang Pidi when Yu Jiuling came running in from outside, out of breath.
“Chief.”
Yu Jiuling reached the study doorway, gasping. “He passed.”
“How many tries?” Li Chi asked.
“Three attempts to pass.”
Li Chi glanced at Tang Pidi. Tang Pidi smiled and said nothing.
“Keep him at my side, then. Someone like this…”
Li Chi left the rest of the sentence unspoken. He looked at Tang Pidi: “By any measure, he’s only somewhat behind you.”
Tang Pidi said: “The degree of difference doesn’t matter.”
Li Chi: “Hmm…”
Tang Pidi rose with a smile. “I’ll head back to the main camp. There’s only about three months until we set out — better to make every preparation.”
“One more thing,” Li Chi said.
“What is it?”
“When you lead the army south — after taking Anyang, everything that follows is your call. No need to consult me.”
Tang Pidi asked: “What if I want to push even further south?”
Li Chi smiled and repeated: “Everything.”
Tang Pidi laughed heartily and left.
—
That night. The Inn.
The small page boy Moke looked up at his master, who had just returned, and couldn’t stop himself from asking: “Young master, are you feeling unwell?”
“No,” said Changsun Wuyou.
Moke didn’t believe it. “Then why does young master walk a bit… oddly?”
“No I don’t,” said Changsun Wuyou.
“But the way young master is walking,” Moke said, “looks like it takes considerable effort.”
Changsun Wuyou sighed. “Go outside. I’m rather tired today and want to sleep early.”
“Young master is not right,” said Moke.
“Young master is perfectly fine. Go outside. Tell everyone not to disturb me.”
Moke gave a small sound and turned to leave.
Changsun Wuyou waited a moment, determined no one was coming, and quietly let out a breath.
He removed his trousers, bent forward with his legs locked, and examined a certain area in a posture that he had never in his life adopted before — one of unspeakable indignity.
The awkwardness of the pose made even him go red in the face.
At that very moment, Moke pushed open the door. “In a little while, when it’s time to eat, should I have them bring the food to—”
Changsun Wuyou, in that most undignified of postures, felt for an instant as though his heart might explode.
“Get out!”
Moke quickly pulled the door shut, thinking to herself: young master really is not right.
That posture… could it be he’s gone cross-eyed?
Meanwhile, Changsun Wuyou — mortified and furious — thought: this Li Chi is truly not a normal person. What kind of depraved mind comes up with something like that.
—
The next morning.
Changsun Wuyou arrived early at the Prince Ning Residence, standing outside the gate without a word, not asking to be announced — simply waiting.
When Li Chi came out and saw him, he smiled and asked: “Did you sleep well last night?”
“Very well, Your Highness,” said Changsun Wuyou.
Li Chi said: “Shall we take a walk? I have a few things to ask you.”
“I wonder, Your Highness, if we might sit instead?”
“Let’s walk,” said Li Chi.
Changsun Wuyou: “Hmm…”
The two walked and talked in the rear courtyard of the Prince Ning Residence — which had been Prince Yu’s residence before.
Li Chi didn’t especially enjoy living there, and the reason hardly needed examining — he simply didn’t like it. But at his current station, there were things he didn’t like that he nonetheless had to do.
“How much do you know about the Jiangnan strongman Li Xionghu?”
“His valor can lead an entire army,” Changsun Wuyou said. “His momentum can split a rainbow.”
“Give me a comparison,” said Li Chi.
“Against whom?”
Li Chi narrowed his eyes at him.
Changsun Wuyou inclined his head slightly. “If against Prince Ning — there’s no comparison to be made.”
Li Chi smiled. “No need to flatter me.”
“Prince Ning misunderstands,” said Changsun Wuyou. “What I mean is: there is no comparison between Prince Ning and Li Xionghu.”
Li Chi: “…”
“Does Prince Ning presently have a hundred thousand troops?” Changsun Wuyou asked.
Without waiting for an answer, he continued: “Li Xionghu has eight hundred thousand battle-ready soldiers — not as elite as Dachu’s finest, but eight hundred thousand in fact.”
He asked again: “Can Jizhou’s territory compare to either Yuezhou or Yangzhou alone?”
Still not waiting: “Li Xionghu holds both those territories. Both are rich and fertile — the land of fish and rice. There is no shortage of grain.”
“If Prince Ning truly wants a comparison, then at this moment, Li Xionghu’s power is more than ten times your own.”
Li Chi nodded: “Understood.”
“What of Yang Xuanji?” he asked.
“His power,” said Changsun Wuyou, “is greater than Li Xionghu’s.”
Li Chi asked: “Everyone says Yang Xuanji is no match for Li Xionghu. Why do you say he has the greater power?”
“Yang Xuanji has fewer soldiers than Li Xionghu, and less territory. But more than half of the noble families and great clans of the Central Plain stand with him. Yang Xuanji can lose once, twice, even three times — as long as he doesn’t die, he can rise again. Li Xionghu cannot afford to lose.”
“Then in your assessment,” Li Chi asked, “which of these two will be the first to break into Jingzhou?”
“Yang Xuanji.”
“Why?”
“Because Li Xionghu cannot beat Prince Wu.”
Changsun Wuyou said: “There is no general alive who is a match for Prince Wu in command of an army.”
Li Chi smiled and said nothing.
In his heart, Tang Pidi certainly could — but why bother contesting the point.
He asked: “If you were in command, would you have a strategy to defeat Prince Wu?”
“I would,” said Changsun Wuyou.
Li Chi paused. Changsun Wuyou had just said no one was a match for Prince Wu in the field, and now he claimed to have a strategy to defeat him.
Changsun Wuyou answered quite matter-of-factly: “Outlive him. I’m young.”
He looked at Li Chi: “Prince Wu is old. This is Dachu’s misfortune — but the great fortune of every hero under heaven.”
Li Chi gave a sound of acknowledgment. The answer sounded laughable at first.
But only at first — because in truth, this was the thing every person who had raised their banner was waiting for. They were simply waiting for it.
In this world, everyone with the means to raise an army — who among them was not proud?
Yet who would dare say aloud that Prince Wu was no match for them?
Li Chi looked at Changsun Wuyou for a while, then suddenly asked: “Why haven’t you made your move?”
Changsun Wuyou looked puzzled.
“If you’ve come to assassinate me,” Li Chi said, “there’s just the two of us here. This is the best opportunity.”
“I’m not foolish enough to do that,” Changsun Wuyou said. “Why would I want to assassinate Prince Ning?”
“Your Highness,” he said, “could we sit somewhere? It really is… it really is that I would like to sit.”
Li Chi smiled and gestured toward the pavilion. “Over there, then.”
“The twelfth month — perhaps inside would be warmer,” said Changsun Wuyou.
“Look at that pavilion,” Li Chi said. “No wooden benches — only stone tables and stone seats. In the twelfth month, those stone seats will be ice cold. Precisely the thing for pain relief.”
Changsun Wuyou let out a quiet sigh. “Still better than standing.”
They went to the pavilion. Changsun Wuyou tried sitting, and indeed the cold helped.
“Why did Prince Ning think I might be here to assassinate you?” he asked.
Li Chi asked in turn: “Should I not have thought so?”
Changsun Wuyou considered for a moment, then said: “Prince Ning should understand what the competition is like for someone of my background.”
“The Changsun Family — those of my generation, in Eastern Yu alone, number over a hundred. Those roughly ten years older than me, likewise over a hundred. If counting only those of my generation, across the whole family, there are six or seven hundred.”
He looked at Li Chi: “If I had been born into a position of inheriting the Changsun Family’s standing, I could simply stay home and enjoy it.”
“The realm is in chaos. The Changsun Family has sent over a hundred people to Qingzhou, over seventy to Liangzhou, over fifty to Yuzhou, over two hundred to Jingzhou… to Jizhou — just me.”
“I knew your family didn’t think highly of me,” Li Chi said, “but I hadn’t expected it to be quite this thorough.”
“When they sent me,” Changsun Wuyou said, “they likely won’t even remember me before long. Whether I live or die, they won’t much care.”
“So I have only one path — help Prince Ning take the realm, and my standing within the Changsun Family will be second to none.”
Li Chi said: “The thing you’re fighting for isn’t the fate of the realm — it’s the right to hold your head up in your own family.”
“Is that not enough?”
Changsun Wuyou said: “If I succeed, I’ll have that pride for the rest of my life.”
Li Chi said: “Then if I give you an army, are you confident you can take Qingzhou?”
Changsun Wuyou’s expression shifted slightly. “Prince Ning isn’t targeting Anyang first? Take Qingzhou before Anyang?”
“Do you think Anyang can stop me?” Li Chi asked.
Changsun Wuyou thought it over. “With Prince Ning’s current military strength, taking Anyang would genuinely cost no great effort.”
Li Chi smiled: “Once I take Anyang, every official high and low in Dachu will assume I’m going after Yuzhou. I’ll have my foremost commander Tang Pidi deploy forces along the Nanping River, threatening Yuzhou — while quietly splitting a separate force to attack Qingzhou. And that is exactly the strategy you already described to me, is it not?”
Changsun Wuyou said: “If Prince Ning gives me an army, I can bring Qingzhou into Prince Ning’s domain.”
Li Chi laughed aloud. “I’ve asked this same question of many people over the past few days. Your answer isn’t much different from theirs.”
“You’ve just arrived. If I divided troops for you to command, the other generals would likely not defer to you — so I was really only asking casually.”
Changsun Wuyou’s disappointment was apparent.
“But when we take Jingzhou,” Li Chi said, “I will certainly use you.”
He lifted his hand and clapped Changsun Wuyou on the shoulder. Changsun Wuyou seemed unaccustomed to the gesture — his body instinctively shifted back a fraction before he stopped himself.
Li Chi said: “I will give you the chance to lead a great army back to Eastern Yu yourself.”
Changsun Wuyou’s eyes lit up.
Li Chi said: “Your thinking aligns perfectly with Tang Pidi’s — his own intention has always been to take Anyang first, then strike at Qingzhou. Go back and write up a campaign plan for me. If it’s sound, I’ll carry it out according to your plan. With that achievement behind you, I can give you real responsibility — and no one else will have cause to object.”
Changsun Wuyou bowed deeply. “Many thanks to Prince Ning for this opportunity!”
—
—