Yuwen Shangyun pushed his Chu forces at full march all the way to the bank of the South Peace River — but arrived just moments too late.

The eight thousand Ning troops had apparently long since prepared enough river-crossing vessels at the bank. The moment the formation reached the water’s edge, they boarded immediately.

By now the last boat had already cleared the bank by more than twenty yards — a small vessel that could carry no more than twenty-odd people.

Standing at the bow with his hands clasped behind his back was none other than Ning Army Supreme General Tang Pidi.

He had missed by only moments. To have let this chance of capturing Tang Pidi alive slip through his fingers made Yuwen Shangyun’s expression go dark.

“Loose!”

Yuwen Shangyun leveled his cavalry saber at the small boat out in the river.

Chu soldiers fired in volleys. At this distance, the range of arrows could still reach.

But the Ning soldiers fell back on the same method — infantry shields blocking the storm of arrows, like an unbreakable wall.

The soldiers on the boat formed a small shell of shields, shielding both the oarsmen and Tang Pidi completely.

Under that dense rain of arrows falling over the vessel — striking shields, striking the deck, plunging into the water — countless in number, the boat began to ride noticeably lower in just a short while, its hull weighted down by a sudden new load.

By the time the small boat had crossed the midpoint of the river, the arrows could no longer find their mark.

Someone in the Chu formation moved to bring up a bolt-thrower, but bolt-throwers moved slowly, and they hadn’t yet reached the bank.

By the time the bolt-throwers arrived, Tang Pidi’s boat had long since reached the far shore.

Yuwen Shangyun raised his spyglass and watched as Tang Pidi disembarked from the small vessel and then turned to look back across the river — and waved in their direction.

Like a man taking his leave of an old friend.

“He doesn’t yet know that I’ve learned Anyang’s garrison numbers fewer than ten thousand in total.”

Yuwen Shangyun said, “That’s why he can afford to look so unruffled. He thinks we won’t dare attack Anyang directly — so we’ll show him that we will.”

“I’ve studied every Ning Army battle record carefully. Going to Jizhou and making deliberate contact with them was itself part of my study of their methods.”

“Prince Wu said the Ning Army was the only force he had ever seen that could match Great Chu’s garrison troops across every measure — which is exactly why I wanted to see them in person.”

“They excel at surprise attacks, ambushes, striking armies mid-crossing. They’ve done it more than once.”

Yuwen Shangyun said to his subordinates, “So Tang Pidi thought we’d be afraid — afraid they would lie in wait to strike while we were crossing. But he has no troops left — what was there for me to fear? Besides, he assumed he had firm control of Anyang, and vastly underestimated us.”

Yuwen Shangyun gave the order. “Gather boats. Prepare to cross.”

Chu forces fanned out along the river, searching for any vessel that could make the crossing — whatever size, whatever kind. All of it was requisitioned.

Three days later, the Chu forces were ready and began forcing the crossing of the South Peace River.

They had half-expected the Ning forces to at least put on a show — to threaten a strike mid-crossing — but the Ning forces did nothing at all. They didn’t even sally out from Anyang.

Yuwen Shangyun’s subordinates grew increasingly smug, all the more certain the Ning Army didn’t dare fight.

After the Chu forces crossed the South Peace River in force, they began setting up camp outside Anyang, establishing a partial encirclement of the city.

In the Chu Army main camp, Yuwen Shangyun assembled his officers for a council of war.

He swept his gaze across the dozens of generals present, his expression relaxed.

“As I told you before — even if the Ning forces retreated into Anyang, they still couldn’t stop us.”

He smiled. “Tang Pidi led the Ning Army south and broke Anyang in four days. Was that because their assault was truly so fierce that the garrison couldn’t hold?”

Yuwen Shangyun said, “You’ve all been curious about what I was doing in the months I was missing, haven’t you?”

“In those months, I accomplished two things that are the greatest satisfactions of my life. Both, to me, were nearly equal in importance.”

“The first: I returned to Jingzhou and brought out the woman I love — the one who goes by the name Changsun Wuyou — from her family, regardless of who objected.”

“The second: using ‘Changsun Wuyou’ as my alias, I infiltrated Jizhou and served as a staff advisor under the King of Ning, Li Chi. Li Chi took my counsel readily.”

He smiled. “The southward strategy we’re now executing — I wrote it.”

At this, the assembled officers all exclaimed in shock.

“Those are the two greatest satisfactions — but not everything I accomplished in those months.”

Yuwen Shangyun said, “After arriving in Jizhou, I confirmed that the Ning Army intended to attack Anyang this spring.”

“So I sent men back to Anyang to make arrangements, instructing the garrison to hold out three or four days before surrendering.”

The Chu generals in the tent looked at each other in fresh astonishment, every face full of disbelief.

“After Luo Jing entered Anyang, he would certainly carry out mass executions — but the people who actually mattered, I had already tipped off in advance, and they had extracted themselves.”

Yuwen Shangyun said, “Once the garrison surrendered, they would be placed under strict surveillance, with no freedom. But that was fine — as long as they were alive.”

“I arranged with them in advance: when they saw my forces crossing the river, on the third night after my arrival outside the city, they would open the gates of Anyang.”

He let his gaze travel across the room, a faint satisfaction in his eyes.

“There are no soldiers I personally planted inside the city — but there are at least several thousand men who can be called upon. Do you know who they are?”

Yuwen Shangyun said, “The household guards, stewards, and servants of the great families. And the shadow networks attached to those families — all at my disposal.”

“Tang Pidi will certainly divide his forces to keep close watch on the surrendered garrison troops inside Anyang. Let him watch. I don’t need those soldiers at all.”

“Tonight when you return, each of you will prepare your troops. Two nights from now, we will break Anyang together — and take Tang Pidi alive.”

“Yes!”

Dozens of generals answered in unison.

Every eye held unmasked admiration for Yuwen Shangyun.

And especially among those young men of Yuwen family blood, that admiration had reached an almost fevered intensity.

To them, it was Yuwen Shangyun who had taken a shattered, sunken family and pulled it back to the surface.

No — not restored. Remade.

They had suffered for the Yuwen name — but that old Yuwen family was one they had hardly been part of.

The Yuwen family now being rebuilt, step by step — they were every one of them present for it.

The old Yuwen family, glorious once and then cast to the depths — they might feel little real bond to that.

But to this new Yuwen family they were forging together with their own hands, they felt a bond that nothing could surpass.

And Yuwen Shangyun was the pillar that held them all.

In Yangzhou, the all-conquering Li Xionghu had swept from Yuezhou to Yangzhou, stopping for nothing. He had taken all of Yangzhou and was on the verge of driving into Jingzhou when Yuwen Shangyun arrived with his forces.

With fewer than a tenth of Li Xionghu’s strength, he stopped that enormous army cold outside Jingzhou.

And in every engagement, Li Xionghu had lost.

Because of this one young man, Li Xionghu’s advance had been forced to a halt.

It was no exaggeration to say: had Emperor Yang Jing not suddenly changed his mind and recalled Yuwen Shangyun from mid-march back south of Jingzhou, Jingzhou itself might now be in Li Xionghu’s hands.

How could a young man like this be without confidence? How could he be without pride?

“Go now, all of you. When Anyang falls, we will celebrate together!”

Yuwen Shangyun waved a hand. The assembled officers bowed, turned, and filed out of the tent.

At the same time, on the walls of Anyang.

Tang Pidi looked out at the Chu encampment to the south, his brow furrowed deeply.

“Dantai has been gone twelve days. Twelve days — at our march pace, they’re at least seven hundred miles away.”

His hand rested on the wall, fingers tapping lightly.

Wu Naiyu stood beside him, also looking out at the Chu camp beyond the walls, also with his brow drawn tight.

“The threats you can see,” Wu Naiyu said, his tone somewhat low, “are never the truly fearsome ones. What you can’t see — that is the real threat.”

Tang Pidi gave an acknowledging sound.

They had fewer than ten thousand troops — and with rotating watches needed, they could not cover everything.

Those in the city who wished to resist the Ning forces were many. If someone struck at a gate under cover of night, it was impossible to be on guard everywhere.

The Ning Army’s main strength was concentrated along the southern wall, able to rapidly shift to the east and west flanks as well.

But there were two city gates each on the eastern and western walls. If an enemy launched a fierce, no-holds-barred assault on one of them from inside and out simultaneously, the Chu forces could breach the city in no time at all.

“Do you have any stratagem, Advisor?”

Tang Pidi asked.

Wu Naiyu thought for a moment, then shook his head. “As I’ve told you many times — once the Chu forces see through our scheme, we cannot hold Anyang. If we refuse to let it go, we won’t be able to hold our people either.”

Tang Pidi nodded.

That much was plain to see. You didn’t need Wu Naiyu to say it — most men could see it clearly enough.

“So… do we abandon Anyang?”

Tang Pidi murmured to himself.

Abandoning Anyang meant Dantai Yajing’s eastward force would have no line of retreat.

Wu Naiyu let out a quiet sigh. “In a situation like this, with the strength we have — even if Prince Wu were switched in here instead of us, he’d probably have no solution either.”

Tang Pidi’s fingers continued their light tapping against the wall, the rhythm quickening, until the sound of those tapping fingers became something very like the rapid beat of galloping hooves.

He muttered again, “How did this Yuwen Shangyun see through our decoy stratagem?”

The Ning Army had positioned their forces on the south bank of the South Peace River, and at first the Chu forces had not dared provoke them — only maintained a cautious watch.

Then suddenly the Chu forces had reversed course, committing the full weight of their army in a direct assault on the Ning Army camp.

That was not a normal move.

Tang Pidi’s tapping fingers went still.

He looked at Wu Naiyu. “Advisor — how big is your nerve?”

Wu Naiyu heard that question and began to smile. The look he turned on Tang Pidi held a particular kind of understanding.

He smiled. “Fairly big.”

Tang Pidi said, “Mine is also fairly big.”

And so, that night, after the second watch, Tang Pidi personally led six thousand steppe light cavalry out of Anyang and launched a surprise assault on the Chu Army camp, which had not yet been fully completed.

No one had imagined the Ning forces would dare counter-strike.

Yuwen Shangyun was certain Tang Pidi had only ten thousand troops. With that few, launching a sortie?

If they dared sortie, why hadn’t they struck during the Chu crossing?

The Ning forces hadn’t struck during the Chu crossing — not because they hadn’t dared, but because Tang Pidi had deliberately held back.

He wanted the Chu forces to grow overconfident.

Six thousand steppe light cavalry moved like the wind. They cut into the Chu camp, setting fires as they went, not pausing for a moment — in and out, and from the moment they appeared to the moment they vanished, less than an hour elapsed.

Before the Chu cavalry could even assemble, the steppe riders were already gone. And even had the Chu cavalry assembled in time, they could not have caught them.

This strike was like a hard, open-handed slap across Yuwen Shangyun’s handsome, proud, confident face.

The Chu Army tallied their losses. By battle scale, this was not a major blow — two or three thousand casualties.

The damage was not severe. But the humiliation was extreme.

And its blow to Chu Army morale was naturally severe as well.

In that moment, the furious Yuwen Shangyun found himself finally recalling why Prince Wu had, on multiple occasions, warned him to watch out for the Ning Army general called Tang Pidi.

Prince Wu had spoken of this man with great admiration, even saying that not one of the Chu Army’s young generals could compare.

At the time, Yuwen Shangyun had refused to accept that at all.

Prince Wu had only seen Tang Pidi’s Ning Army once — once — and yet it had left that impression.

But clearly, Yuwen Shangyun had indeed grown too full of himself.

He let out a long breath, and moved quickly from anger to self-reproach, then to reflection.

Yuwen Shangyun looked toward Anyang, and thought: Tang Pidi — you really are a formidable man.

—