Come dawn, Yin Xin’an came out of his room having eaten breakfast with a restless heart. He raised his eyes to the sky, and his expression was not a pleasant one.

Word had come back early: the men sent to scout along the main road had found no trace of Xu Ji’s entourage anywhere.

So that man had deceived him after all?

But that made no sense — unless Xu Ji had seen through the suspicious nature of this invitation. And yet that too seemed impossible.

“Something may have gone wrong,” Yin Xin’an said, turning to Yin Xinping. “I need to return to Dengzhou City. If Xu Ji arrives while I’m gone, keep him here — tell him I was called away by urgent matters. If he stays peacefully, send word to me at once so I can move troops to Fengzhou. If he tries to leave by force, detain him.”

Yin Xinping said, “Third Brother, perhaps wait a little longer. If Xu Ji still hasn’t come by the afternoon, you can leave then.”

Yin Xin’an was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. Another half-day.”

Yin Xinping offered, “Third Brother, is it possible your unease is just nerves? Xu Ji shouldn’t know anything about the situation in Dengzhou — he’d have no reason to be on guard against you without cause. If he didn’t trust you, he would never have recommended you to Master Wu in the first place.”

Master Wu — Wu Naiyu — currently held command in Yuzhou City, while Grand General Tang Pidi gave his full attention to the campaigns.

In truth, neither man had the time or energy to spare for civil administration.

Wu Naiyu sitting in Yuzhou City was not merely about holding the city. He was also Tang Pidi’s supreme logistics commander — the one overseeing the army’s supply and transport, managing allocation and distribution, recruiting new soldiers, overseeing farmland cultivation and training. Every kind of matter fell under Wu Naiyu’s hands.

And civil governance — Wu Naiyu was willing but unable to keep up with it.

Yin Xin’an nodded. “Perhaps I really am too impatient. I just feel the situation is shifting and we can no longer afford to delay.”

Yin Xinping said, “I understand what Third Brother means. For what we’re trying to do, three parts depend on us, seven parts on others — that makes it difficult indeed.”

Yin Xin’an said, “That you can see it tells me something. You’re right: three parts on ourselves, seven on others. Right now, of those seven parts, five rest with Yang Xuanji, the King of Heaven’s Mandate, and two rest with Xu Ji.”

He paced the courtyard as he spoke. “The family’s power must grow in secrecy — and quickly. That kind of problem is just as difficult for anyone else who might try to manage it.”

“When you think about it, we can already call on at least forty or fifty thousand men with a single command — yet those forty or fifty thousand are truly just a rabble. A large number that sounds impressive, nothing more.”

Yin Xin’an glanced back at Yin Xinping. “Your forces here are the best of the lot — arms and armor reasonably well equipped — because the family’s roots are here and many things can be arranged with ease. Elsewhere, it’s not the same.”

“If we want to take Fengzhou and threaten Tang Pidi’s rear, we have no choice but to capture Xu Ji and compel him to trick the gates open. There is no other way. Our forces are all light infantry — in truth, they have no capacity to besiege fortified cities.”

Yin Xin’an sighed. “Which is why I am anxious. If Xu Ji delays further, I’ve half a mind to consolidate the forces now and head east — bypassing Jingzhou and striking for Qingzhou instead.”

He looked at Yin Xinping. “Enter Jingzhou: our strength is weak, and we’d be waiting for whoever holds the greater power to arrive — which, seven or eight times in ten, would be Yang Xuanji.”

Yin Xinping said, “Third Brother’s analysis is precise. Though Li Xiongtai commands a vast force with unrivaled momentum, his opponent is Prince Wu Yang Jiju. Breaking into Jingzhou will be like ascending to heaven. But Yang Xuanji has no one holding the front lines against him — only Tang Pidi threatening his back. If we could draw Tang Pidi away, Yang Xuanji pushing into Jingzhou to take the capital is the most likely outcome.”

Yin Xin’an said, “So Xu Ji is the single most critical factor right now.”

He said, not without frustration, “If we cannot court Yang Xuanji, our fallback is Qingzhou — build up our forces there, grow our leverage. It remains the original plan: whoever wins the realm, if we hold a hundred thousand troops, even the man who takes the throne will have to give us face. Going to Jingzhou is the shortcut; going to Qingzhou means taking it slow.”

Yin Xinping said, “I’ll lead men out for another sweep. If we happen upon Xu Ji’s entourage on the road, we might as well take them then and there.”

Yin Xin’an nodded. “Better than leaving it to others. You go yourself.”

He murmured to himself, “Prince Ning Li Chi has been unable to give his attention to Yuzhou for the past two or three years — and that’s what gave us the chance to build in secret. We are men surviving in the cracks of the world, and everything we scheme still comes down to three parts on us, seven parts on heaven.”

Yin Xinping led his men out, and the entire morning passed without a single report.

By midafternoon, Yin Xin’an was truly unable to sit still. That uneasy premonition, that dark portent, had grown only stronger.

“I cannot wait any longer.” He instructed his attendants, “When your magistrate returns, tell him I have gone back to Dengzhou.”

He went inside to have his trusted men pack his things.

At that moment, Yin Xinping came rushing in from outside. The moment he stepped into the courtyard, he called out breathlessly, “Third Brother — Xu Ji is here!”

Yin Xin’an started. “Where?”

Yin Xinping said, “I didn’t intercept Xu Ji’s entourage on the road, but I did catch a messenger he sent ahead. The man said their boat capsized on the way, which delayed them — otherwise they’d have arrived yesterday. Xu Ji has since switched to traveling by land and is about thirty li from the county seat.”

Yin Xin’an’s expression shifted. A trace of doubt crossed his face. “They were on the water and the boat capsized? How could there be such a coincidence…”

Yin Xinping said, “The Luoshui in winter won’t have a frozen surface, but there can be quite a bit of broken ice coming down from upstream. Perhaps it really was an accident.”

Yin Xin’an said, “Whatever the case — the man is coming, and that’s what matters. Give the order: make ready. When he arrives, we move.”

“Yes!”

Yin Xinping was about to turn and go make the arrangements when another attendant came rushing in.

“Report, sir. A force of some hundred or so has arrived outside the city, claiming to be under the command of Gui Yuanshu, the newly appointed Chief Commander of the Espionage Guard, here on an inspection tour of Yuzhou.”

“What?!”

Yin Xin’an’s face changed dramatically.

“Of all times for the Espionage Guard to show up here…” He said, “I cannot afford to be seen. Xinping — go probe them. Only a hundred or so men — if they’re trouble, silence them.”

Yin Xinping answered at once, gathered his men, and headed for the city gates.

Maoyang County was less than a hundred li from Shang’an County. By a hard ride, a day and a bit was enough to cover the distance.

The sudden arrival of the Espionage Guard’s force had unsettled every official in Maoyang County.

At the city gates, Gui Yuanshu sat on horseback and surveyed the garrison soldiers. Every one of them was visibly tense.

“Something’s not right, sir,” Zheng Shunshun said under his breath. “I have this feeling — like we’re walking straight into a trap.”

“Speed is everything in war,” Gui Yuanshu said. “This is the only move we could make.”

Maoyang and Shang’an were less than a hundred li apart. After everything they had stirred up in Shang’an the night before, it was entirely possible that Shang’an had sent riders through the night to warn Maoyang to prepare.

With all thirty-one counties under Dengzhou in the Yin family’s grip, Maoyang was especially sensitive territory. The other counties were farther away — news traveled slower — but Maoyang was the Yin family’s ancestral seat. Whatever was happening here would be more and larger than anywhere else.

So Gui Yuanshu had made a straightforward decision: come in openly, in his full capacity as Espionage Guard Chief Commander, and see how deep the water in Maoyang truly ran.

A rational man, in his position, would have turned back for Jizhou immediately — or at the very least ridden through the night to Yuzhou City.

Yet this was a man who had accompanied Prince Ning on a visit to the Dachu capital, and had stood beside him during the killings in Wulai City in Qingzhou. Someone who had been present for both of those events could hardly be expected to behave otherwise.

He may not even have noticed it himself — but ever since that night in the capital, he had been gradually shaped by Li Chi.

And the more time he spent in Jizhou, the stronger that shaping had become — because he knew how good Jizhou was.

After Zheng Shunshun spoke, Gui Yuanshu suddenly smiled. “When we were in Daxing, we were the law’s enforcers — and yet within Daxing’s walls, the law existed, but justice could not be served. Those who held the law had no power to enforce it.”

He looked at the men with him and smiled. “So perhaps right now — I’ve gone a little mad. Because the feeling of being able to enforce a law that means something, to actually do it — it’s very satisfying.”

Dong Dongdong said ruefully, “But sir, even Shang’an County had over a thousand enemies. The number here in Maoyang could be several times that — or ten times.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “A boast only counts as a real boast when it’s so outrageous the listener refuses to believe it. And a truly outrageous boast is a supremely magnificent one.”

He spotted someone coming out through the city gates — the county yamen’s people, coming to receive them. He smiled and said, “If someday I tell my grandson: I fought seven men against a thousand, and then went and led a hundred men against ten thousand — what do you think he’d say?”

Ding Man said, “Grandpa, you’re full of it.”

Gui Yuanshu glanced at him, then laughed again. “Imagine a man who has money but has been locked up and not allowed to spend it. After being locked away for a long time, the moment he gets out, he goes on a spectacularly wild spending spree.”

“We were once the enforcers of the Court of Justice — but we were locked up too. We had evil all around us, and no way to act against it. Now we have the chance — and naturally things get a little wild.”

Yin Xinping led the county officials in a quick trot out through the gates. Reaching Gui Yuanshu, he piled on a smile and bowed low. “This humble official pays his respects to the Chief Commander.”

Gui Yuanshu gave a noncommittal sound, then asked, “Is the food ready?”

The question left Yin Xinping momentarily speechless.

Gui Yuanshu gestured for his attendants to pass over his iron authority token and Prince Ning’s command tablet so Yin Xinping could examine them.

Then, with a somewhat earnest expression, he said, “If it’s not ready, go prepare it now. We’re all starving — how are we supposed to do anything without strength?”

—

At this same moment, roughly ten li from the county seat, a mounted force lay concealed in the woods by the roadside. They had trailed Gui Yuanshu’s group all the way here.

The man with the cold bearing and the colder expression stood atop a tree, long-range spyglass trained on the city gates.

“Heh. Walking right into the trap.”

He asked quietly, “This Gui Yuanshu — is he truly the Chief Justice of the Court of Justice?”

A subordinate bowed. “That is what the intelligence says.”

The leader made a low sound of acknowledgment, then dropped from the tree. Two subordinates had already moved into position to catch him.

One asked, “Do we strike now?”

The leader shook his head. “He’s already walked into the trap himself. Why would I bother?”

At that moment, in the distance down the official road, another force came into view — flying Ning Army banners, a modest number, perhaps a hundred or so.

“Interesting,” the leader said. “Another one walking into the trap.”