The stench of blood that suddenly thickened over Maoyang County was so heavy that even the common residents who had not dared step outside these past two days could smell it from within their own courtyards.

Xu Ji, who had evaded the interrogation but had not yet left Maoyang County, smelled it too — and the moment it hit him, it burrowed straight into his skull and would not leave.

It was precisely because the smell of blood was so overwhelming that Xu Ji decided he had to get out. He had no intention of continuing to play this game alongside Zhang Tang.

“I have to leave.”

Xu Ji paced back and forth across the room.

“That man is a lunatic. That man is a goddamn lunatic.”

He stopped mid-step and turned to the men under his command: “Go pack up. We leave first thing tomorrow morning and head back to Fengzhou.”

One of his men said hesitantly: “But sir — that Thousand Magistrate said he hoped you would go to Dengzhou. If we leave without a word and it causes a falling out, won’t that make things… difficult?”

“I’m not going!”

Xu Ji’s voice rose with a flash of anger: “Look at what he’s done. The rebel soldiers and the Yin family members combined — that’s at least seven thousand people, and he just slaughtered them all without blinking an eye. Didn’t even consider reporting it to Prince Ning…”

He looked toward his man, the color around his lips going slightly pale: “A man like that — what is there that he wouldn’t do? I can see perfectly well that Zhang Tang doesn’t like me — he makes no effort to hide it. If I listen to him and go to Dengzhou, he could use the opportunity to have me killed too!”

His man said: “Then sir, let’s just go. Back to Fengzhou, quickly.”

Just at that moment, a guard outside came striding in and bowed: “Sir, Thousand Magistrate Zhang Tang of the Tingwei Army requests an audience.”

Xu Ji’s expression shifted sharply. Without thinking, he said: “I won’t see him. I’m occupied.”

But when he looked up, Zhang Tang was already standing in the courtyard — regarding him with an expression that was five parts amusement and five parts disdain.

The atmosphere, needless to say, became somewhat awkward.

Zhang Tang waved a hand; the man who had announced him, thoroughly unnerved by the cold aura rolling off Zhang Tang, hastily retreated.

After stepping inside, Zhang Tang swept a glance over the others in the room and said in his characteristic flat, cool tone: “I have important matters to discuss with Lord Xu. The rest of you, get out.”

Those men looked to Xu Ji, and Xu Ji had no choice but to nod: “All of you, step outside. Do as Lord Zhang says.”

They bowed and withdrew, leaving the room quiet and empty — which only made the cold that Zhang Tang seemed to radiate feel all the more oppressive.

Zhang Tang didn’t wait for Xu Ji to offer him a seat. He walked to the guest’s side and sat down himself.

“Lord Xu, why haven’t you left for Dengzhou yet?”

Xu Ji quietly composed himself, then turned to face Zhang Tang with a smile: “I had originally wanted to observe how Lord Zhang conducts an interrogation — as a local official, I often have to handle cases myself, and my intention was to learn something. I hadn’t expected Lord Zhang’s methods to be quite what they are.”

He settled into the host’s chair, keeping his manner as unruffled as he could manage.

“So I had actually just been about to come find Lord Zhang to say my farewells — I will be leaving for Dengzhou first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Good.”

Zhang Tang maintained that impenetrable manner, not quite looking directly at Xu Ji, speaking almost as if to himself.

“Lord Xu, there are a few things I need to bring to your attention.”

Zhang Tang said slowly: “First — why this report was delayed, and whether there is anything problematic in that delay, I will not press the matter for now. But Lord Xu would do well to think of a reasonable explanation. A delayed report is a concealed report. I may not ask — but what if Prince Ning does?”

He glanced at Xu Ji, and it was as if Xu Ji had been stabbed in the heart with an ice pick.

Zhang Tang continued: “This is nothing more than my own idle speculation — it carries no weight — so I can only speak of it privately with Lord Xu. Why you delayed the report… could it perhaps be that Lord Xu was hoping the longer he waited, the larger the scale of Yin Xin’an’s plot would grow, and the greater his own merit would become?”

Xu Ji shot to his feet: “What do you mean by that?! You are an officer of the law — you cannot accuse an innocent man without evidence!”

Zhang Tang actually smiled at that — a rare occurrence, though it was not a smile that looked well on him.

“I did not raise this in any official capacity,” Zhang Tang said. “There is no need for Lord Xu to put on such a display of righteous indignation.”

Xu Ji let out a sharp huff, but could not find a suitable response. He sat back down, feeling as though he had lost yet another round.

Zhang Tang went on: “If it had been a small case, there would hardly have been a significant reward. After all, Prince Ning had not yet decided how to commend Lord Xu for the strategic feint that saved Jizhou. If another great case were then added to Lord Xu’s name…”

He looked at Xu Ji, whose expression had turned so sour it looked as if he had just swallowed an entire family of dead flies.

“I will say no more on that matter. I’m simply offering Lord Xu a casual word of caution — even a dull-witted person like myself could see it, which means…”

He left the rest of the sentence unfinished. And precisely because it was unfinished, it weighed all the more heavily on Xu Ji.

Zhang Tang said: “Now for the second matter. Lord Xu says he will leave for Dengzhou first thing tomorrow morning — I hope that is true. What I want to warn you is this: within Yuzhou, the Yin family is not the only one with impure intentions. By comparison, the Yin family is nothing — barely a small worm.”

Xu Ji understood what that meant.

Within Yuzhou, there were many who wished to oppose Prince Ning but did not dare do so openly — and none of them were ordinary people.

When Prince Ning had last come to Yuzhou, he had moved directly against the Cao family. The Cao family’s position had been such that a single thread, pulled, would set countless others in motion.

With the Cao family broken, others among the great clans and wealthy houses inevitably had cause to feel a chill. They would naturally wonder: if Prince Ning could strike against the Cao family, what would stop him from striking against them?

The Cao family had behind them Prince Wu — second only to the Emperor himself, holding real power. What did these others have? What could they claim that was worth more than Prince Wu’s backing?

Families like the Yin family were, relatively speaking, nothing.

The great hidden forces lurking within Yuzhou were not limited to the Cao family alone. The Cao family was merely one component of those forces — far from the whole.

Zhang Tang’s voice remained as flat and cool as ever: “If Lord Xu is only pretending to go to Dengzhou and intends to turn back toward Fengzhou halfway, there is a possibility that men waiting along the road could intercept him.”

Xu Ji felt a sudden jolt of unease.

Could it be that this case was not merely about the Yin family?

Even if many of the great families harbored ambitions of rebellion, they would not dare reveal it openly.

At the very least, Xu Ji had not yet observed anyone operating as clumsily as the Yin family had.

Zhang Tang said: “I am not sending you to Dengzhou to harm you. Your departure from Fengzhou will certainly have been noted by many — which means the road back to Fengzhou will not be safe for you. Whatever happens, you are a capable local official who has earned Prince Ning’s deep trust. Those who want to eliminate you — and those who want to use you — are too numerous to count.”

Xu Ji smiled bitterly, still not knowing quite what to say.

Zhang Tang continued: “But no one will expect you to take the risk of going to Dengzhou. And my people will be watching over you in secret. So the Dengzhou road is actually the safer one.”

Xu Ji nodded: “I understand.”

Zhang Tang said: “I will not be far behind you. Those in Dengzhou don’t yet know what has happened here, so they won’t kill you — you can even pretend to seek cooperation with Yin Xin’an’s people, and they’ll treat you like an honored guest.”

Earlier, at the city gates of Maoyang, there had been no Yin Xin’an’s father in the carriage at all — it had been a Tingwei agent mimicking his voice. In that kind of situation, even a fifty or sixty percent resemblance would have been convincing enough.

Xu Ji nodded again: “I understand.”

Zhang Tang rose: “Then I will take my leave. Lord Xu, think it over carefully.”

He pressed his fists together in a parting salute, then turned and walked out.

After Zhang Tang had gone, Xu Ji felt as though several great rivers had suddenly crashed into one another inside him, churning so violently he could barely stand it.

He didn’t believe a word Zhang Tang said.

A man like Zhang Tang — to see the case through, he would sacrifice anyone without a moment’s hesitation. He had no liking for Xu Ji, and even less reason for any flicker of compassion.

So Xu Ji was certain: to go to Dengzhou was to die.

“Come.”

Xu Ji called out.

The man waiting outside hurried in and stood bowed, waiting for instructions.

Xu Ji thought for a moment, then said: “Find someone whose build and appearance are close enough to mine, dress them in my official robes, and have them take my carriage to Dengzhou first thing tomorrow morning. Get me a set of ordinary clothes…”

He exhaled heavily.

“I’m going back to Fengzhou. Only Fengzhou is safe.”

Across from the Maoyang County offices stood a tavern. These past two days it had seen little business — understandably, since people feared for their lives.

The Tingwei Army’s black riders were making continuous sweeping patrols through the county, and the residents dared not move about freely.

The tavern was a two-story old building that looked to be at least several decades in age, and evidently had not been doing very well — the lacquer was peeling, the pillars were cracked and dry.

On the second floor, in a room with a half-open window, a few people were sitting and talking. They seemed entirely unaffected by the turmoil outside; every one of them wore a relaxed expression.

“This Zhang Tang is indeed a ruthless character.”

A middle-aged man of around forty smiled and stepped toward the window to look out, careful not to open it all the way.

“Brother Jingran.”

A man of about thirty smiled and said: “However ruthless Zhang Tang may be, he is nothing more than a piece on the board that is moving our situation forward. Without Prince Ning Li Chi coming himself, no one can break this game.”

The man called Brother Jingran was surnamed Xie — Xie Jingran.

The man who had spoken was surnamed Wang — Wang Dangzhi.

Besides the two of them, there were three others in the room: two young men who appeared to be around twenty-three or twenty-four, near-identical in build and appearance, with faces that were likewise nearly indistinguishable.

They were twin brothers — both from the Xie family. The elder was called Xie Xing; the younger, Xie Zhi. They were Xie Jingran’s nephews.

The third was a woman. Her age was difficult to place. One could say she was thirty and it would not be wrong — the fine lines at the corners of her eyes were certainly there — yet her bearing had something about it that recalled a girl of sixteen or seventeen.

She was surnamed Wang — Wang Dangzhi’s younger sister — and her name was Wang Xiaoxiao.

Xie Jingran smiled and said: “All the same, you’d do well not to be too relaxed and careless. This Zhang Tang is not so easy to deal with.”

Wang Dangzhi said: “It doesn’t matter how hard he is to deal with — because we never intended to deal with him. He is heading for Dengzhou, and we are not on the same path. Let him go to Dengzhou and continue his slaughter. We’ll play our own game.”

Xie Jingran laughed, more freely now.

“What we need is an opening — one that won’t implicate us in the early stages but still allows us to control the situation. That kind of opening is not easy to find. Who would have thought that a worthless lot like the Yin family would come jumping out on their own.”

Wang Dangzhi smiled: “Since the Yin family has handed us this opening, we may as well put it to good use.”

Xie Jingran looked toward the two young men: “The next move is yours.”

The twin brothers Xie Xing and Xie Zhi bowed in unison: “We follow our uncle’s word.”

Wang Xiaoxiao looked toward her brother Wang Dangzhi: “Brother, I want to go play too.”

Wang Dangzhi looked helplessly toward Xie Jingran. Xie Jingran gave a nod: “You may go. Just don’t create unnecessary complications.”

Wang Xiaoxiao immediately broke into a smile: “Alright, Brother Xie, don’t worry.”

Xie Jingran looked out the window once more, his fingers tapping lightly against the windowsill: “The small-timers who want to make their move — let them go first.”

—