For three days running, the force Li Chi had brought swept through Youzhou city in a relentless wave.

From the first day Li Chi arrived in Youzhou, it had not let up. By the third day, several hundred people had been brought to the General’s Manor.

Of those several hundred people, roughly half were officials. Of the other half, the great majority — while not officials — held academic credentials and came from distinguished families.

“Prince Ning!”

An elderly man stepped forward, looked at Li Chi, and said loudly: “If Prince Ning intends to drive us out of Youzhou on charges as baseless as these — is that not going too far?”

He had no sooner finished speaking than many voices joined in, seconding his words. The elderly man clearly carried considerable authority.

Li Chi looked at this person and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

When this kind of man narrowed his eyes, nothing good was ever about to happen.

He was Li Chi the Contrarian, after all.

Based on information already gathered, this elder — though holding no official post in Youzhou Prefecture — occupied a position of weighty influence in Youzhou.

The elder’s name was Xu Jinqing. The Xu family had been in Youzhou for generations, their influence extensive and deep.

In his youth, Xu Jinqing had gone to the capital seeking advancement. The first thing he did upon arriving was call upon the powerful eunuch Liu Chongxin.

Through that connection he won the favor of the late Dachu emperor and was kept at court, rising to the post of Vice Minister of Finance by his mid-thirties.

Yet after only four or five years as Vice Minister, he left the capital — not because he could no longer stomach Liu Chongxin’s arrogance and domineering ways, but because he feared being implicated by severe discrepancies in the accounts.

Now he had the nerve to stand here and question Li Chi — yet back then he hadn’t the courage to face Liu Chongxin.

Li Chi looked at him and said: “What did Elder Xu just ask? I do apologize — my mind wandered for a moment and I didn’t quite catch it.”

Xu Jinqing said: “Your Highness Prince Ning, I am asking you — to drive us out of Youzhou on charges as baseless as these — isn’t that going too far?”

Li Chi smiled slightly: “Two errors there. First — the charges are not baseless; they are thoroughly substantiated. Second — not driven out of Youzhou, but driven out of Jizhou.”

Xu Jinqing’s expression shifted drastically.

“Prince Ning — to treat your own subjects this way — aren’t you afraid hearts will not submit to you?”

Xu Jinqing pointed toward the assembled officials: “These people — if they are truly driven out of Jizhou, they may not fail to survive elsewhere. They may very well take office under someone else. And that someone else could be Prince Ning’s enemy.”

Li Chi said: “Is Elder Xu reminding me of something?”

Xu Jinqing’s words caught in his throat. For a moment he dared not say more.

Li Chi said: “Gentlemen — does everyone think Elder Xu’s reminder is very well-reasoned?”

Some of those present bowed their heads. Others looked toward Xu Jinqing. Expressions varied.

Li Chi said: “Many thanks for Elder Xu’s reminder. But I have no intention of killing you…”

He walked up to stand before Xu Jinqing and looked into the eyes of this man of great prestige in Youzhou. Xu Jinqing held his gaze for a moment — then turned away.

Li Chi said: “When you were Vice Minister of Finance in the capital, you fled because you feared Liu Chongxin. Back then you dared not say a word against Liu Chongxin — only declared that your abilities were insufficient and you were unworthy of the post.”

“After Liu Chongxin died, you returned to Youzhou and made a great show of proclaiming that your departure from the Ministry of Finance had been your refusal to sink into debasement alongside a power-stealing eunuch — that you would rather die than comply. For a time, the scholars of Youzhou showered you with praise.”

Li Chi smiled slightly: “Could it be that, having heard so much flattery, you came to genuinely believe you were a loyal minister and a righteous soul?”

Xu Jinqing’s face changed dramatically. Such humiliation made him boil with fury in an instant.

“Prince Ning!”

Xu Jinqing said loudly: “To treat your own subordinates this way—”

Before he could finish, Li Chi said: “You are not.”

Xu Jinqing’s words stopped dead.

Li Chi said: “I have no use for people of your kind. But you’ve reminded me of another matter—”

Li Chi turned back to Yu Jiuling: “I’ve heard that over the years, no small number of educated men in the city have praised Elder Xu’s refusal to capitulate to the eunuch faction — and some have composed poems in his honor. Look into it — whoever wrote those flattering lines, especially those who composed poems — drive them all out of Jizhou as well.”

“When they’re driven out, make it clear to them: it is to honor their loyalty and righteousness, to uphold their integrity and their principles.”

Li Chi waved a hand: “Take them all out to be dealt with.”

Xu Jinqing said furiously: “Li Chi! This will not end well for you.”

Yu Jiuling moved to act. Li Chi said: “Don’t lay hands on him — or someone will write poems praising him again.”

Li Chi said: “See them to the border with due courtesy. Be as polite as can be.”

He went back to his seat beside Yu Jiuling: “Keep that temper of yours in check. After all, we have confiscated the man’s family assets.”

Yu Jiuling gave a nod, then suddenly broke into a grin and cupped his fists toward Xu Jinqing: “Many thanks to Elder Xu for this righteous act — donating his entire fortune in support of Prince Ning’s great cause.”

Li Chi said: “Oh? The word *donated* can be used here?”

He said to Yu Jiuling: “You’re right — it does sound much better.”

Yu Jiuling smiled and made a gracious gesture toward Xu Jinqing and the others: “Elder Xu — please.”

Xu Jinqing’s face went ashen. He glared at Li Chi with fury. But Li Chi had already stopped looking at him and was sitting there sipping his tea.

After a long while, Xu Jinqing turned and walked away. As he went, he called out: “So what if we leave Youzhou — so what if we leave Jizhou. This realm is not short of wise rulers willing to welcome the able and the talented. The day will come.”

At this, Xu Jinqing stopped and looked back at Li Chi: “When next we meet, Prince Ning, I hope Prince Ning’s dominance is still intact.”

Li Chi took a sip of tea and said in an even tone: “When next we meet, it will be on the territory of your new lord, I presume — since I will not permit your return to Jizhou. Since we would be meeting on your new lord’s ground, I suppose I would be somewhat more domineering than now.”

At those words, Xu Jinqing felt a sudden blow to the chest and nearly coughed up blood.

Yu Jiuling said: “Elder Xu, what a loyal and righteous man you are — donating your entire fortune here today, then going elsewhere to await the arrival of our Prince, only to donate your entire fortune once again. Such towering conduct and lofty integrity.”

Xu Jinqing had already been seething with fury from Li Chi’s words — barely holding on. But the moment Yu Jiuling finished speaking, the pain in Xu Jinqing’s chest became so sharp that he spat out a mouthful of blood.

After Yu Jiuling had escorted everyone away, Xiahou Zuo stood beside Li Chi and sighed: “These people are ones who wield the brush and trade in words. Once they leave Youzhou, there’s no telling how they’ll vilify you. It could do significant damage to your reputation.”

Li Chi said: “If I were even more severe — if I had actually killed them — the world’s condemnation of me would be far heavier.”

Xiahou Zuo was puzzled: “Why do you want that condemnation?”

Li Chi said: “By confiscating their assets and driving them out now, they’ll curse me all the way along the road. People of the same background who hear them — who among them would still want to come help me and serve in Jizhou?”

Xiahou Zuo was startled again.

Li Chi said: “I genuinely hope that, because of what I’ve done, the great clans and aristocratic families of the realm will all refuse to come to Jizhou.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Then the ones cursing you wouldn’t just be them — it would be the literary men of the entire realm, and the great noble families connected to people like Xu Jinqing. Of course they’d curse you. And the ones cursing you most viciously won’t be them — it’ll be the scholars who lack good birth.”

Li Chi smiled slightly: “If that makes me known throughout the realm, that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Xiahou Zuo sighed: “I don’t know what to say. Throughout all history, the first man to seek out curses.”

Li Chi was reminded of a line from the book the elder Li had given him:

*To earn the support of the great clans comes with conditions. To earn the support of the common people of the realm comes with none.*

At the time, Li Chi had not fully understood that line. Having reflected on it many times over, he came to feel it held increasingly profound depths.

One was exchanging interest for interest. The other was exchanging sincerity for sincerity.

Li Chi said: “Let’s see how things look in time. Right now I don’t have the leisure to think about all this — more pressing matters are waiting.”

Xiahou Zuo asked at once: “What other matters?”

Li Chi stood up and said with a grin: “For a small-minded person like me, what could be pressing matters? Naturally — counting the money.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Mind your dignity — you are Prince Ning now. Counting money — let me handle that.”

Li Chi burst out laughing: “What a hypocrite you are.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Why do you say that?”

Li Chi said: “When you were telling me I shouldn’t have treated Xu Jinqing and the rest the way I did — were you already in your head calculating how to split the earnings with me?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Nonsense!”

Li Chi: “Really not?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “How could I be thinking about splitting with you? At most I was thinking about how to squeeze a bit more out of you. Split and squeeze more — those are very different things.”

Li Chi said: “Shameless and shameless are very much the same thing.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “They’re not — you’re Prince Ning, so Prince Ning’s share is naturally bigger…”

Li Chi said: “And if I don’t give it to you?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “That’s more like it — the silver you seized from Youzhou, what right do you have not to give some.”

Li Chi burst out laughing.

In the days that followed, just as Xiahou Zuo had predicted, the voices cursing Li Chi began to multiply.

Xu Jinqing and the others did not dare resist by force — they had no troops to speak of.

But they stirred up a considerable number of people to gather at the gates of Xiahou Zuo’s General’s Manor. Some even began shouting slogans demanding justice for all the scholars of the realm.

Yu Jiuling sat on the front steps of the General’s Manor, facing a crowd of scholars beyond counting — and even further out, a ring of common onlookers.

He sat there listening, thinking to himself that even when these educated men cursed you, they did it in such a roundabout and unsatisfying way.

All their classical-sounding phrasing and this-er and that-ness — who could actually understand a word of it?

“How can Prince Ning drive out worthy men and still win the hearts of the people?”

Someone cried out in fury.

Yu Jiuling exhaled with relief, thinking at last — one sentence he could understand.

So he smiled and said: “Prince Ning says — if those who were driven out are all worthy men, and all of you here consider yourselves to be the same kind of people — you might as well all be looked into as well.”

That one remark set people ablaze.

Wave after wave of furious questions. Wave after wave of angry denunciations. Wave after wave of classical phrasing.

Yu Jiuling suddenly sprang to his feet. His hand closed around the hilt of the sword at his waist. He took a step forward — and the armored soldiers at his back took a step forward with him.

And so the crowd blocking the General’s Manor gate instinctively took a step back.

Yu Jiuling said: “However — Prince Ning has no wish to wrong even a single good person. Nor does he wish to miss a single genuinely talented person.”

He cleared his throat and raised his voice: “Prince Ning says — there are quite a few official posts now vacant in Youzhou, and he intends to open wide the gates of opportunity and draw in talent from all quarters. Anyone of true ability — regardless of background, age, or origins — will be retained.”

The moment those words landed, the shouting fell silent.

People looked at one another. Then, suddenly, it seemed like a rather good opportunity for advancement.

Yu Jiuling said: “Coming and surrounding the General’s Manor — in a way, you’ve come to the right place. Prince Ning just told me today to post notices throughout Youzhou city, calling for talented people. There’s no shortage of talented people gathered here outside this gate right now.”

He called out: “At this very moment, Prince Ning is in the General’s Manor waiting for everyone to present their ideas and advice. Those who believe they can shoulder great responsibilities — please form a line and don’t cause disorder. Prince Ning will wait inside the General’s Manor to receive each of you.”

He swept his gaze over the crowd: “The vacancies in the Youzhou Prefecture alone number several dozen posts.”

Then he asked: “Will you continue arguing with me — or will you form an orderly line and wait to be received by Prince Ning?”

Shortly after, the crowd began to stir — jostling for position.

And shortly after that, a long queue had formed at the gates of the General’s Manor — stretching so far the end of it was nowhere in sight.

—