The height of summer had passed; autumn nights carried a faint chill, but the fire in front of them made everything feel a little steadier.

Li Chi and Xiahou Zuo ate their fill quickly, without ceremony. There was nothing elaborate on offer — no rare delicacies to speak of, not even any fish or meat to consider.

Only toasted steamed buns. Even so, Xiahou Zuo ate four, and Li Chi ate eight.

Xiahou Zuo said that Li Chi was a prince now and should maintain some decorum, and eating like that was somewhat lacking in dignity.

Li Chi told him to mind his own business, pointing out that those four Xiahou Zuo ate were the biggest ones he could find.

Xiahou Zuo laughed out loud.

After eating, the two of them lay back on the sandy bank. Sand is a curious thing — a perfect example of cold in winter and hot in summer. When the sun beats down on it, lying on it burns; once night falls, lying on it chills.

But neither of them gave that any thought. They lay there, arms behind their heads, looking up at the brilliant night sky.

“From the day you left the academy until now — how long has it been?”

Li Chi asked.

Xiahou Zuo shook his head. “I can’t remember. But it feels like it’s already been a whole lifetime.”

Li Chi said, “Then we’re really getting our money’s worth — counting it that way, we’ve got many lifetimes behind us.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “If you said things like that more often to women, you wouldn’t still be… you know.”

Li Chi: “What do you know — the longer it keeps, the finer it ages, like an old vintage.”

Xiahou Zuo: “So you don’t know anything at all…”

Li Chi laughed. “Haven’t you seen in all those stories — the secret martial arts manuals always require a practitioner of pure body to cultivate them. What does that tell you?”

Xiahou Zuo said, “It tells you the people who wrote those manuals were just like you — *you know what*.”

Li Chi: “Hmph…”

Xiahou Zuo said, “I’m not urging you to go sneaking around on the side. You’re a king — it’s perfectly normal for subordinates to have three wives and four concubines. And yet you…”

Li Chi twisted his mouth. “Change the subject.”

Xiahou Zuo smiled. “Changing… but changing to what?”

Li Chi asked, “You just said I’m already a king. By that reckoning — Jizhou, Yuzhou, then Shen Shanhu took Yanzhou, and now with her forces combined with Luo Jing’s, Qingzhou is probably nearly done too. Of Dachu’s thirteen provinces, before long four will be ours. So as a king, I’m getting fairly large, aren’t I?”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Large. Very large.”

Li Chi laughed. “I love hearing that I’m large.”

Xiahou Zuo: “You’re *you know what*, and you can’t open your mouth without it being indecent somehow.”

Li Chi said, “Surely you know — the more you know what, the more you enjoy talking about it.”

Xiahou Zuo: “…”

Li Chi said, “There’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. When you just asked me, I was about to tell you — but I held back. Because the thing isn’t quite ready yet. And it’s the greatest thing to talk about that I’ve had in all these past ten-some years.”

Xiahou Zuo grew curious. “What is it? Could it really be that there’s an actual verbal reward?”

Li Chi: “Of course there is. These past years, I haven’t really given anyone a proper reward — not even much in words. But I’m also too stingy, and I only want to give something that costs nothing to speak of.”

Xiahou Zuo: “Prince Ning is wonderful.”

Li Chi laughed. “You’re welcome… because what I say with my mouth might be on the larger side.”

Xiahou Zuo didn’t believe him.

Li Chi said, “After I arrived in Yuzhou, I had people start working on this matter. Then a bunch of chaotic things happened and it kept getting delayed. But before you arrived in Yuzhou, it was nearly done.”

Xiahou Zuo said, “A verbal reward, yet it required such preparation?”

Li Chi turned his head to look at Xiahou Zuo. “Take a guess — what do you think I’ve been arranging?”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Finding a wife for everyone who doesn’t have one yet?”

Li Chi said, “Please have some self-respect. Don’t force difficulties on others, and don’t put my wife in a difficult position.”

Xiahou Zuo laughed until tears came to his eyes.

He was still laughing when Li Chi suddenly said, “Earldom.”

Xiahou Zuo froze.

Li Chi said, “Honestly, I really did want to tell you later — I wanted you to have a pleasant surprise in the moment. But I couldn’t hold it back. Ha ha ha ha…”

He looked at Xiahou Zuo, with what seemed like great sincerity, and said: “Yongning and I thought for a long time about how to accomplish great things while spending as little money as possible. We thought about it, decided that wasn’t quite possible, and settled for spending as little as possible — which meant making the court robes of an earl for all of you, and making the seals of an earl for all of you.”

Xiahou Zuo looked at Li Chi in silence, and for a moment found nothing to say.

“The rank of Earl.”

Li Chi exhaled slowly. “With you at the highest.”

Xiahou Zuo suddenly felt the urge to cry — he could not tell whether it was from being moved or from something else, only that all at once he could not hold it back.

Li Chi continued slowly: “In terms of military rank, Old Tang will be above you — can’t help that, he is genuinely just that little bit better than the rest of us. But in terms of noble title, no one can be above you.”

After a long silence, Li Chi noticed no response from Xiahou Zuo, and turned to look — only to find that Xiahou Zuo, lying there, had two lines of tears on his face.

“Good heavens.”

Li Chi said, “If I’d known making you cry was this easy, I would have done it long ago.”

Xiahou Zuo: “Get lost…”

Li Chi reached over and wiped the tears from Xiahou Zuo’s face. “Using the hand that’s supposed to get lost — to wipe your tears.”

At first Xiahou Zuo didn’t react, but after a moment he pulled away. “Damn you…”

Li Chi burst out laughing.

He said, “I was originally planning to wait until everyone came back, then handle this together. But just now, watching you command the battle from the riverbank, I realized — some things can’t wait.”

Xiahou Zuo gave a small nod. “Right. They can’t wait.”

Li Chi rolled over to face Xiahou Zuo and, in a tone of careful negotiation, said: “Since you’ll be the most senior, could you perhaps take a little less in salary? Ideally as little as possible.”

Xiahou Zuo: “My life I can give you. Not a single coin less in salary.”

Li Chi: “Who taught you to be like this? Stay away from that person from now on.”

Xiahou Zuo immediately shuffled sideways. “Kept my distance.”

Li Chi laughed and lay back flat, gazing up at the night sky.

Xiahou Zuo asked him, “What are you brooding over now?”

Li Chi said, “I’m wondering — if I asked everyone else whether they’d be willing to accept the title without the salary increase, would they agree?”

Xiahou Zuo said, “Are there not enough rebels already within Ning Army? You’d be forcing everyone to raise a flag of mutiny.”

Li Chi let out a long sigh. “Might be my fault… I taught you all to learn too quickly.”

—

That same night, in Qingzhou, in the administrative city.

The people who had been “invited” to that open space were now lined up for registration. Luo Jing’s meaning had been made perfectly clear: either hand over your grain and wealth, or hand over your lives.

When you refused to sell at the time, we could only take it by force now.

Luo Jing had shown these people, by his actions, that Ning Army was far more adept at seizing things than at buying them.

The whole night would not be peaceful — not out there, not in anyone’s heart, for every one of them had to calculate how much they needed to give up in order to keep their lives.

From afternoon to nightfall, from night until dawn.

At last every last person had gone through the registration. Subordinates brought the completed ledger to Luo Jing’s military tent.

Luo Jing was already awake, eating his morning meal. He glanced at it and asked, “Has anyone tallied it? How much do we stand to get?”

A subordinate replied, “We have tallied it. If they deliver in full, our civilian militia who came with the army — even with all of them deployed, there might not be enough hands.”

Luo Jing broke into a hearty laugh.

He had brought hundreds of thousands of militia. If every last one of them were put to work, the wealth and grain being transported back would pile up into a mountain in Yuzhou.

He picked up the ledger and studied it, then after a moment of thought set it down and rose. “I’ll bring the ledger to General Shen. You prepare — have our troops withdraw to outside the city and link up with the militia camp to get ready to transport everything back.”

A subordinate was puzzled. “But Grand General, we haven’t taken all of Qingzhou yet.”

Luo Jing shook his head. “You don’t understand.”

He rose, took the ledger, and went to find Shen Shanhu.

At this point Shen Shanhu had only just risen and was washing up outside her tent. Two beautiful female soldiers stood beside her — one holding a towel, the other tilting a basin of water for her. Shen Shanhu cupped the water in her palms to wash her face.

Seeing Luo Jing arrive, Shen Shanhu dried her face and went to meet him.

Luo Jing offered the ledger to Shen Shanhu. “The grain and wealth registered through the night — have a look.”

Shen Shanhu did not take it. “General Luo may keep it.”

Luo Jing passed the ledger to Shen Shanhu’s personal guard, then smiled and said: “I am a lazy man. Asking me to go through the numbers and details — I genuinely can’t stand such tedious work. So I’m planning to be lazy and slip away. I’ll take the troops out of the city in a moment to maintain order in the militia camp, and wait to receive the goods. You do the hard work, I enjoy the ease — ha ha ha ha.”

As he said this, the female soldiers around Shen Shanhu began glaring at him, feeling he was being utterly ungentlemanly — handing off the difficult task to their commander while he, a grown man, slipped off to laze about outside the city.

But Shen Shanhu stood there momentarily stunned, and after a long pause gave a deep bow with clasped hands. “I thank General Luo.”

Luo Jing said, “You see — I’m being lazy and you still thank me. That’s really… oh, right — once the goods are all assembled, I’ll need to head back to Yuzhou as quickly as possible. The fighting there is far more dangerous than here.”

Shen Shanhu thought for a moment and said, “If you’re heading back, the troops to transport the grain won’t be enough. Let me assign you half of my men.”

Luo Jing shook his head. “They should not be going back at this time. They should return in triumph, adorned with honors.”

Shen Shanhu drew a deep breath, and clasped her hands again in salute. “I thank General Luo on behalf of my brothers.”

Luo Jing laughed and took his leave, looking rather dashing.

The female soldiers under Shen Shanhu could not understand it. One of them asked: “Commander, he’s so lazy and just wants to take the easy road — why did you thank him?”

Shen Shanhu tapped the woman on the head. “You really are too dim…”

She breathed in deeply, then slowly let it out.

“He is truly magnanimous, and you simply haven’t worked out why. I brought eleven hundred thousand Yanzhou brothers all this way. When General Luo met us halfway, those brothers all felt a little resentful. What General Luo is doing — he says he wants to be lazy; in truth, he wants to give all the credit for taking all of Qingzhou entirely to us. What he called ‘returning in triumph, adorned with honors’ — do you understand now?”

The female soldiers only then came to their senses.

Their troops had marched all the way from Yanzhou — every one of those brothers wanting to bring a credit this great before Prince Ning. They had not said it aloud, but they felt a resistance toward Luo Jing in their hearts.

Luo Jing, thinking of those brothers, had given away the enormous merit.

Shen Shanhu turned and called out loudly: “Go and gather everyone. Tell them to hurry — I’m taking all of them to General Luo’s camp to shamelessly drink his wine.”

“Yes!”

The female soldiers replied in one voice and scattered in all directions to gather the troops.

—