The underground treasury in Liaoyang City had never ceased to exist. Li Sanzhou had already taken control of every reserve there linked to the Shanhe Seal.

He had told Cao Lie that all the people of the Shanhe Seal coveted those gold and silver reserves, and that he had been forced to kill thirty-nine of them before he could keep the remainder in line.

These same words he also relayed to Zhang Tang, verbatim. The difference was — Zhang Tang did not believe them. Not a single word.

Perhaps it was because something still held out hope in Li Sanzhou’s heart. Hope that a miracle might yet come to him.

But he also understood — the Zhang Tang before him was not the same sort of man as Cao Lie.

“I have put in order the account you gave.”

Zhang Tang sat there, his manner as undisturbed as the surface of an ancient well.

“When you learned that the Shanhe Seal was in trouble — that your sect leader Cao Ziluo was imprisoned on Qipan Mountain — you conceived the intention to swallow all of the Shanhe Seal’s assets in Liaoyang City for yourself.”

Zhang Tang looked directly into Li Sanzhou’s eyes as he spoke, his tone level, yet cutting straight to the heart of things.

“But Jingtai was the Cao family’s private property, not a Shanhe Seal asset. You wanted to swallow everything here, and yet you feared the Cao family’s people might inform on you — so you killed many people. Those thirty-nine?”

Li Sanzhou let out a cold sound through his nose. At this point he had no further interest in saying anything.

Zhang Tang continued: “But none of that interests me — I can say without exaggeration, it does not interest me in the slightest. What interests me is only this: where is the money?”

Li Sanzhou asked: “From your manner, I can see your mind is made up to kill me. Why would I tell you?”

Zhang Tang said: “You may try asking me — whether, in exchange for that money, I might spare your life. After all, the money is worth considerably more than you.”

Li Sanzhou thought for a moment. And then he actually asked: “If I offer up all of the Shanhe Seal’s assets here in Liaoyang City to Prince Ning — can that buy my life?”

Zhang Tang actually nodded. “It can.”

Li Sanzhou dared not believe it. He looked at Zhang Tang with suspicion. Zhang Tang had already risen and was walking toward the door. “You must have heard — the Tingwei Army never lies.”

Those words stirred something in Li Sanzhou’s heart.

Not long afterward, Zhang Tang had indeed learned from Li Sanzhou the location where all that great treasure of gold and silver was hidden.

Centurion Gu Qixi asked: “Shall we dig it out?”

Zhang Tang shook his head. “Not yet.”

Gu Qixi said: “But delay brings danger.”

Zhang Tang said: “Not as much danger as wolves… Look at the people of this Liaoyang City. I can tell you with certainty — the moment the Shanhe Seal’s reserves are brought to light, the people of Liaoyang City will become wolves for the sake of that silver. Tens of thousands of wolves. In the face of silver, they will not care whether we are Prince Ning’s people or anyone else’s.”

Gu Qixi understood. He nodded: “We wait until Prince Ning’s main force arrives, then dig it out.”

Zhang Tang gave a sound of assent, then turned to look at Li Sanzhou sitting dazed at the side. He was silent for a moment, then instructed: “Prepare a meal for him — something substantial. Then send him on his way.”

Hearing these words, Li Sanzhou’s expression changed violently. He immediately rose to his feet: “Zhang Tang! You promised me — I could use that gold and silver to buy my life!”

Zhang Tang nodded. “Yes, you could have bought it. But I am not selling.”

Li Sanzhou raged: “Does Prince Ning Li Chi have no faithfulness either?!”

Zhang Tang said: “That I am not selling is my affair. What has it to do with Prince Ning?”

Li Sanzhou cursed: “Zhang Tang, a man like you will not die well. When you die, you will assuredly go to hell. You are nothing but a despicable scoundrel!”

Zhang Tang gave a faint sigh and turned to walk out. “No need to prepare the meal for him. A despicable scoundrel ought to at least look the part.”

—

By now more than a month had passed since the new year. After the first month, the temperature warmed quickly. Here on the Jizhou side, many young women who cared for their appearance had already shed their thick padded coats and changed into prettier dresses.

Prince Ning’s residence.

Master Yan had already departed Jizhou ahead of the others, heading for Yuzhou. With him went forty thousand new recruits from Qingniu Mountain camp, who would march south all the way to Anyang City to rendezvous with the new soldiers being trained there. The combined force would total approximately ninety thousand troops. These new soldiers would be handed over in their entirety to Grand General Tang Pidi.

Li Chi was in no hurry to go to Yuzhou. By the time he arrived, it would need to be a Yuzhou that was clean and settled and stable.

“Deputy Commander Lian Xiwu is in the west.”

Li Chi looked toward Gao Xining. “I have already turned over the matter of the Chang’an side to Deputy Commander Lian.”

Gao Xining asked: “Why do you like that place so much?”

Li Chi smiled. “The name sounds pleasant.”

Gao Xining pursed her lips. “I don’t believe that.”

Li Chi raised a hand and ruffled Gao Xining’s hair: “What if I told you it’s because it goes especially well with your name? Would you believe that?”

Gao Xining thought about it and asked Li Chi: “Ning Chang’an? Chang’an Ning?”

Li Chi nodded. “You see — it sounds lovely.”

Gao Xining broke into a grin.

There was once a young man who, when chatting with Xiahou Zuo back when they were very small, had heard something said.

Xiahou Zuo had told him: look at those great families — they all have their own clan emblems. The clan emblem combined with the clan name makes the clan banner.

That young man had said: what is so remarkable about that? One day I will simply write my woman’s name on my great banner.

Li Chi raised his head and looked at the great Ning banner flying from the walls of Jizhou, and suddenly laughed, thinking — so it turns out I really was a tiny bit full of myself, wasn’t I.

For a man — the most triumphant thing, is it not exactly this: delivering on every boast he ever made?

And even more triumphantly — there had always been a woman and a band of brothers at his side to witness it all.

“Report!”

A personal guard came running from the distance, lowered himself, and said: “General Xiahou has sent a messenger from Youzhou with a letter.”

The guard presented the letter to Li Chi with both hands. Li Chi opened it and read — and then smiled: “That fellow — he is coming back to Jizhou.”

Gao Xining let out a sigh: “When will the day come that you stop your eyes lighting up the moment you mention some man’s name?”

Li Chi asked: “Would you rather my eyes lit up when I mentioned some woman’s name?”

Gao Xining said: “Try it.”

Li Chi: “Gao Xining.”

Gao Xining: “What is it?”

Li Chi: “I said it.”

And so, those extraordinarily beautiful eyes of Gao Xining’s began to shine with light.

—

Half a month later. Jizhou.

Li Chi stood at the city gate to welcome Xiahou Zuo’s procession. When the horses and carriages arrived, Li Chi hurried over and waited at the side of the carriage, reaching up to help Xiahou Zuo’s mother down from it.

When Lady Xiahou caught sight of Li Chi, her eyes were shining with light too — and had they not been before so many people, she might have used both hands to tousle her precious boy’s hair into a complete mess.

Xiahou Zuo sighed at her side: “Mother… I am the blood-born one.”

Lady Xiahou cast him a glance. “Get away from me.”

Xiahou Zuo: “…”

Xiahou Yili was smirking with delight, putting on airs as she said to her brother: “In Mother’s eyes, you stopped being the blood-born one long ago. A man your age, and you still haven’t found Mother a daughter-in-law — what blood-born son are you.”

She turned to Lady Xiahou: “Mother, I am the blood-born one, aren’t I.”

Lady Xiahou: “You also get away from me.”

Xiahou Yili: “…”

—

One hour later. Prince Ning’s residence. Li Chi’s study.

After hearing Li Chi lay out the plan for marching south, Xiahou Zuo thought for a moment and said: “Let me remain in Jizhou then. Within two or three years Yuzhou will stabilize. Once it does, you can send someone to relieve me.”

Li Chi said: “But Mother has come back this time thinking it will be a great reunion — and if we march south while you remain in Jizhou, she will certainly stay behind with you. However small it may be, she will carry some disappointment in her heart.”

Xiahou Zuo asked: “You want me to come south to Yuzhou with you? Then what of Jizhou and Youzhou?”

Li Chi said: “I had originally thought of something else, but now that things have shifted somewhat in Yuzhou, my thinking has changed. There is a person — young and talented but given too much to petty cleverness, who made a mistake. Not a mistake deserving of death. But if he is left in Yuzhou, problems will likely arise again. So as long as he has not died this time, my intention is to transfer him back to Jizhou to hold the rear base.”

Xiahou Zuo guessed: “The one you are speaking of — is that Xu Ji, whose name for talent spread far and wide when he was still a teenager?”

Li Chi nodded: “Yes, him. His feint with decoy troops that saved Jizhou — that was a great achievement. I had always intended to present his reward when we marched south. But looking at things now, his posting needs to be reconsidered. What he is most capable of is civil governance. Jizhou needs a man like him. And most importantly — he made a mistake, and if he remains in Yuzhou, many people will look at him unfavorably.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “You seem quite lenient with him.”

Li Chi smiled. “Because he is truly too young. He was fifteen when he became the prefectural governor of Fengzhou — a fourth-rank position. If I had been placed in the same position at fifteen, the mistakes I might have made could well have been far more than his.”

Li Chi did not explain further, but Xiahou Zuo understood.

Appointed prefectural governor of Fengzhou at fifteen — that was Li Chi’s doing. Li Chi had to consider the problems that might arise from placing a fifteen-year-old in such a role.

Xiahou Zuo said: “Hopefully, when he is older, he will come to understand the good intentions behind your actions.”

Li Chi said: “If he doesn’t understand, it doesn’t matter. So long as he governs well.”

He asked Xiahou Zuo: “I will first take Mother and Yili south with me. After Xu Ji returns to Jizhou, you set out — would that work?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Are you asking my opinion?”

Li Chi said: “I am.”

Xiahou Zuo raised a hand and rapped Li Chi on the top of the head: “You are Prince Ning — and you are asking my opinion?”

Li Chi raised a hand and rubbed his head: “That’s how you treat me?”

Xiahou Zuo said: “You asked first. You were the first one not to treat yourself like a Prince Ning.”

Li Chi said: “This shouldn’t be.”

Xiahou Zuo asked: “What shouldn’t be?”

Li Chi said: “You spent so many years in the northern frontier, and then more years in Youzhou — you have been far away from me for so long. You should not still be this shameless.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “Have you heard the saying — once bitten by a snake, wary of a rope’s shadow for ten years? I was bitten once, and now a hundred years of shamelessness.”

Li Chi let out a burst of laughter.

The major affairs had more or less all been settled. Li Chi’s plan was: if Xu Ji survived this time, he would transfer him back to Jizhou.

Xu Ji was truly too young. At fifteen he had risen to the fourth-rank position of prefectural governor of Fengzhou. If a man of fifty occupied the same position and committed mistakes, he could well have committed far more than Xu Ji.

—

At the same time. Fengzhou.

More than a hundred tables had been laid in Xu Ji’s family home, and many people had already arrived — every figure of standing and influence in the city had come, all wanting to take this opportunity to see what Xu Ji’s stance truly was.

The great majority of them had, in truth, never believed from the beginning that Xu Ji would have colluded with the rebel forces.

Xu Ji swept his gaze over the assembled crowd. He naturally knew he could not lay out his plan in a setting such as this — Yin Ke’s spies were certainly scattered throughout the gathering.

But as long as these people had come, the plan would certainly be able to proceed.

Today he had invited more than a thousand people. A thousand mouths, each telling ten, and ten telling a hundred — this grand scheme of his, enormous as it was, should not take long to set in motion.

The reason he had thought of this scheme was that Xu Ji had suddenly recalled a story — a story not so far in the past.

A story that had taken place in that wicked city of Liaoyang.

—