Not long after, Cao Lie came back from the riverside gripping his spear, crouched by the fire for a long while in silence, then looked at Li Chi: “That scoundrel Yang Xuanji had the audacity to scare away all the fish. This is an irreconcilable enmity.”

Li Chi glanced at Tang Pidi still sleeping nearby, raised his hand, and gave Cao Lie a quiet round of applause.

He looked back at the Ning Army soldiers some distance away — those fellows had stripped off their clothes and jumped into the river to wash the blood from their bodies, occasionally catching a fish by hand.

Cao Lie saw this too, and with a completely composed expression said: “Using one’s physical appeal to lure fish is something I am utterly incapable of.”

Li Chi said: “Nonsense. They’re not luring fish with their looks — they’re actually catching them.”

Cao Lie didn’t understand at first. Once he did, he glared hard at Li Chi, while Li Chi sent him an encouraging look.

Cao Lie gave a huff: “Fish too small, hook too big. No good.”

Li Chi: “You have a hook?”

Cao Lie: “Shut your mouth.”

Li Chi: “The ancients truly didn’t mislead me — a hundred different people from the same grain of rice.”

On the far bank, the Tianming Army was still lined up along the river, probably worried the Ning Army might take advantage of the great victory to push across.

But the Ning Army had too few numbers — why hand the Tianming Army an opportunity to turn defeat into victory? The Ning Army crossing the river would let the Tianming Army strike when they were halfway across. They had already won a great battle; there was no need to push further.

Though the distance was considerable, Cao Lie seemed to see the complicated expressions on the faces of those Tianming Army soldiers across the water.

There would surely be resentment, hatred, grief — and also the relief of having survived.

In this battle, the Ning Army captured vast quantities of supplies and equipment, including a substantial amount of heavy armor.

This was a true treasure to Li Chi. No matter how much money he could raise, he couldn’t outfit a heavy armored infantry force. That was a type of unit no few hundred thousand taels of silver could finance. So captured equipment was simply the greatest joy there was.

Many Black Cord Army soldiers had been trampled to death where they lay. Once they fell, getting back up was beyond them, and as the Tianming Army madly retreated, who would spare them a thought?

The armor was intact. Once stripped away, blood poured out from inside. Quite a few had been crushed out of shape — a particularly wretched sight.

The corpses were dug in and buried, the armor stripped and washed.

There was a certain irresistible satisfaction in knowing: whatever we don’t have, we can take on the battlefield.

After a good while, Tang Pidi stretched, sat up. Li Chi immediately began rubbing his leg — without movement for so long, it had gone numb.

Actually, when calculated, Tang Pidi had only slept for about half a shichen. Precisely because of so little sleep, his eyes were full of red threads.

Li Chi, rubbing his leg, said: “Once you’re ready — shall we settle the accommodation fee?”

Tang Pidi looked at Li Chi and curled his lip.

Li Chi handed Tang Pidi a skewered mantou, speaking in the tone of an elder managing a simple-minded child: “Worried it would get cold, so I kept toasting it for you. Here — eat it while it’s warm.”

Tang Pidi looked at the mantou — black as charcoal: “Wasting military rations. Should be ten strokes of the military staff.”

Li Chi: “Indeed it should. Can you keep that in mind?”

Tang Pidi nodded: “Noted then.”

This burnt mantou was actually not Li Chi’s doing — it had been toasted by Cheng Wujie, who had been sitting on Li Chi’s other side. He’d fallen asleep while toasting it, and that’s how it had ended up like this.

Tang Pidi broke apart the charred black mantou. There were still edible parts inside, so he gnawed through the whole thing.

Cao Lie watched this and understood all the more why a man like Tang Pidi was so revered by his soldiers, and so respected by Li Chi.

Only the charred-black parts were left; everything else was eaten without a crumb wasted.

Tang Pidi stood up to stretch, then began taking off his clothes. Li Chi covered his eyes with both hands, though his fingers were spread quite wide: “Have you no shame.”

Tang Pidi glanced at him, stripped bare, and jumped into the great river to rinse off.

Cao Lie asked: “A man like the Grand General must have many girls who admire him, surely.”

Li Chi: “Your meaning being?”

Cao Lie: “Paint this scene, then sell it — might fetch quite a price.”

Li Chi’s eyes gradually brightened: “No wonder the Cao family’s business grew so large… Someone — bring paper and brush.”

Cao Lie: “……”

Li Chi: “What kind of expression is that.”

Cao Lie: “Nothing… just — you’re right, truly — a hundred different people from the same grain of rice.”

Li Chi: “……”

He hadn’t thought Li Chi would actually paint it.

He had also not imagined Li Chi would finish so quickly, or that it would be done so well.

On the water’s surface, the Grand General’s upper body was visible above the water, the lines of muscle on his torso remarkably defined.

Cao Lie squinted at the finished painting: “Have you… made money doing this before?”

Li Chi: “Certainly not. A shameless thing like this — if you hadn’t reminded me, would I even have thought of it?”

Cao Lie: “Heh…”

When Li Chi finished and held the painting up to show Tang Pidi, Tang Pidi looked at it and then said lightly: “The chest is painted too small.”

Li Chi: “So do you want it pointed or round?”

Cao Lie: “You have definitely done something disgraceful in your past!”

About a shichen or so later, back at the Ning Army’s main camp.

Cao Lie listened as Tang Pidi’s men went through all the intelligence they currently had in detail. After estimating for himself, he was able to guess at the background of several figures within the Tianming Army.

From among them, he selected a few who had had dealings with the Cao family in the past, called for paper and brush, and began writing letters.

Once finished, he handed the letters to Scholar Ye. Scholar Ye and his people immediately left the camp, selected a suitable location, and quietly slipped across the river.

Tang Pidi said: “Barring the unexpected, the Tianming Army will feign continuing to hold troops on the southern bank, making a show of preparing to cross again. But knowing Yang Xuanji’s character, he will most likely give up his push north to contest Yuzhou.”

Li Chi nodded. Yang Xuanji wouldn’t be too heartbroken about the lightly armed infantry, but he felt deeply the toll on the Black Cord Army.

In this river battle, the Black Cord Army had suffered losses of nearly ten thousand — more than half drowned after falling into the water. To Yang Xuanji, it was like carving out flesh.

Li Chi said: “Yang Xuanji will turn south instead, pushing into Jingzhou. But with his numbers, the garrison force he leaves here to block us will be no less than one hundred thousand.”

Tang Pidi said: “We are in no hurry to push south. Once Yang Xuanji enters Jingzhou territory, Daxing will inevitably call on Prince Wu Yang Jiju for aid. When Prince Wu’s army turns back to Jingzhou, Li Xionghu will also seize the moment to advance north. Jingzhou will descend into chaos — we can watch from the sidelines.”

Li Chi said: “I’ve already arranged for someone to go to Daxing.”

Tang Pidi paused in thought for a moment, then smiled: “How could you be so certain, before this battle, that I would definitely win? Otherwise, how would you have arranged for someone to go to Daxing in advance to dig a pit for Prince Wu Yang Jiju?”

Li Chi said: “That sentence of yours just now had a bit of pride in it? Please conduct yourself with dignity. Isn’t it perfectly normal for you to win?”

He smiled: “Besides, I wasn’t digging a pit for Prince Wu. The Emperor now has only Prince Wu to rely on — digging any kind of pit won’t work against Prince Wu directly. But as long as Prince Wu returns to Daxing, there are plenty of pits he can be used to dig for others.”

He leaned back slightly: “People in the south all think Li Xionghu and Yang Xuanji are the strong ones, and we are the weak ones. The weak side is expected to resort to driving wedges, framing others, using borrowed knives to kill…”

Tang Pidi: “If the lord I serve is truly like this… then I am genuinely at ease.”

Li Chi let out a laugh.

The one sent to Yang Xuanji’s side was Scholar Ye with two senior agents. They had their own targets. And the person Li Chi had arranged to go to Daxing — naturally that was Gui Yuanshu.

No one was more fitting than Gui Yuanshu. That was the place he knew best.

Gui Yuanshu’s family and close ones had already been arranged by Li Chi to be brought to Jizhou. It was precisely this that had led Gui Yuanshu to make up his mind to follow Li Chi at that moment.

By now, on the official road heading toward Jingzhou, a caravan disguised as a security escort company was making its way along, its intelligence operatives pressing onward.

Gui Yuanshu sat in the wagon and kept looking around, eyes wary. The southern reaches of Yuzhou were actually still somewhat unsettled.

Because of a great flood, roving bandits had appeared again.

In this world, people are never just one kind. The great majority, following Li Chi’s arrangements, had gone to new places to build new lives. The Ning Army would provide them with grain and supplies and help them build new homes.

But there were always some who thought that path too arduous. Farm fields? What a confining life.

These people gathered together, robbed passing merchant caravans, killed travelers on the road. Once a person starts doing evil, they remain merely something that still looks like a person.

So Gui Yuanshu and his party couldn’t afford to let their guard down either — scouts were arranged ahead and behind, left and right.

What he had to do in Daxing this time — Li Chi hadn’t given him a specific objective. He had only told him three words: *Stir up trouble.*

And to ensure this mission went smoothly, Li Chi had provided him with genuinely wholehearted and exhaustive help — encouragement.

Cao Lie had also given Gui Yuanshu what modest assistance he could manage — given his situation, he could offer only one thing: money.

So Gui Yuanshu simply adored Cao Lie.

Beyond the silver, Cao Lie had also given Gui Yuanshu a list of names — all people the Cao family had placed in Daxing. Gui Yuanshu could make contact with them, though Cao Lie couldn’t guarantee these people still had no divided loyalties.

The escort company identity was one of the few identities that made sense for traveling the world in these times.

“Sir.”

Zheng Shunshun patted the chest sitting beneath him: “I’ve been wondering the whole time — the things we’re escorting this trip, if someone actually tries to rob us, do we fight back or not?”

This question stumped Gui Yuanshu too.

The contents of this chest — valuable, certainly. There were a few pieces of jade from the Zhou period, each one a fine piece; sold on the open market, they’d fetch quite a sum. But these jade pieces had been made by Daoist Changmei.

Then there were paintings and calligraphy — ranging from the period of the warring states through to the Zhou dynasty, including one even more precious: a painting of an autumn hunt, painted by Li Chi himself — the founding Emperor of Great Chu.

That was one thing. But Gao Xining had also packed two crates of dirt clods, swearing solemnly that this was a decoy strategy — to trap any bandits they might encounter on the road.

She had also instructed Gui Yuanshu: if they happened to encounter bandits, have your men make a show of fighting most desperately to protect these two crates of dirt clods. Then the bandits would throw everything into seizing these two crates.

Ding Man laughed: “Actually, the hardest things to protect really are these two crates of dirt clods… jolting along all the way from Yuzhou to Daxing, they’ll be two crates of loose sand by the time we get there.”

The moment Gui Yuanshu heard the word “sand,” something clicked in his mind. He pulled out the inventory list and looked it over carefully again. Reading the words *two crates of gold sand* written there, he had a vague feeling that the ones being trapped might not be the bandits.

He looked at Zheng Shunshun and the others, and said tentatively: “Do you think… given the status of the Chief Tingwei, when we return, she won’t actually be bold enough to just demand the two crates of gold sand outright from us, will she?”

Zhao Shanying swallowed: “Sir — does the list really say two crates of gold sand?”

Gui Yuanshu gave a heavy nod.

His four subordinates exchanged glances. In each other’s eyes was the unmistakable look of *we might as well just make a run for it.*

*This kind of pit — the Sir can fall into it himself. We cannot be dragged down with him.*

Gui Yuanshu muttered to himself again: “She’s not the kind of person the lord is… surely she wouldn’t do something like that.”

Zheng Shunshun sighed: “Sir — ask yourself why the lord is so fond of her…”

—