Of all the reprobates under heaven, half make their home in my Great Ning Army.

Yu Jiuling felt that he’d had the talent to coin such a verse all along—the talent to pass a line of poetry down through the ages. He even wanted to write a book to preserve his genius for posterity.

Were it not for the fact that publishing a book cost money, he truly would have liked to try.

His injury had largely healed. He settled the affairs of his intelligence unit, then went to the riverbank camp to find Li Chi.

Midway there, he encountered a powerful and vigorous army moving at a rapid march along the main road. When he saw the Dantai banner raised at the head of the column, Yu Jiuling immediately broke into a smile.

He fell in alongside the column. He hadn’t seen Dantai Yazhen in quite a while—but when he laid eyes on him again now, he couldn’t help but be astonished.

For most people, living rough in the wind and rain and baking under the sun day after day would inevitably darken their complexion considerably. Yet Dantai Yazhen looked exactly as he always had—clean and fair-skinned, a pretty and dashing young man.

And so Yu Jiuling was jealous.

Dantai Yazhen laughed: “There’s no one who doesn’t tan in the sun—I simply have a secret formula passed down through my family. If you’d like to know it, I’ll tell you.”

Yu Jiuling thought it over. As the saying goes: *a fair complexion covers a hundred flaws*—but if he himself became fairer, that would leave ninety-nine flaws still uncovered.

*Pfft.* Even when mocking, he didn’t spare himself.

So he spoke in a manner that was somewhat obsequious: “Then I thank General Dantai—it’s really rather embarrassing asking, when in fact I’m not that desperately eager to be fair. I’m mainly just curious about what this secret formula actually is.”

Dantai Yazhen said: “What are you saying? Why should you feel embarrassed? I’m not giving it to you for free, you know—paying for it is perfectly natural. No need to feel embarrassed at all.”

Yu Jiuling: “……”

He asked: “You weren’t like this back in Liangzhou, were you?”

Dantai Yazhen laughed heartily: “Of course I wasn’t like this back in Liangzhou—but if I weren’t like this now, how out of place would that seem?”

Yu Jiuling said: “There’s logic in that, I suppose—but seeing even you turn out like this, it still feels unsettling somehow. The way you used to be was truly striking—that cold and proud manner, that sense of loyalty, that generous and magnanimous bearing.”

Dantai Yazhen said: “Want me to be cold and proud again?”

Yu Jiuling said: “Yes—that’s the real you.”

Dantai Yazhen nodded: “All right. Cold and proud: even if you pay, I won’t tell you.”

Yu Jiuling: “Oh, for—”

Yu Jiuling brooded for a moment, studying Dantai Yazhen’s face—which was, admittedly, rather good-looking, and the fair skin lent it a certain distinguished air.

He steeled himself: “More than five taels of silver, and don’t even bother.”

Dantai Yazhen said: “I never imagined you were this kind of person, Yu Jiuling—so eager to be fair that you’d actually spend five whole taels of silver.”

Yu Jiuling felt he had probably made a mistake. How could he have immediately offered five taels of silver like that? By the standards of how people operated under the Prince of Ning, one negotiated copper coin by copper coin—nobody just threw out five taels right away.

He told himself: *bad move*—he’d just handed Dantai Yazhen his upper limit.

Dantai Yazhen said: “We are good brothers. How could I take that much from you? I’ll just take a token amount, as a mark of respect for the ancestral formula—just give me two taels of silver.”

Yu Jiuling gritted his teeth, took out two taels of silver, and handed them over. Dantai Yazhen tucked the silver into his deerskin pouch.

He beckoned Yu Jiuling to lean in, and in a conspiratorial whisper said into his ear: “The formula has three steps. The first step is to mix dry chicken droppings with water until it forms a paste, then apply it to your face. Do this once a day for thirty consecutive days.”

“WHAT?!”

Yu Jiuling’s eyes went wide—he wore the unmistakable expression of *I knew you were going to scam me.*

Dantai Yazhen saw his reaction and let out a sigh: “You don’t believe me.”

He leaned his face forward: “Take a whiff—isn’t there a faint delicate fragrance of chicken droppings?”

Yu Jiuling recoiled: “Get away from me—”

Dantai Yazhen said: “You think maintaining this magnificent complexion is easy? The sacrifices I make every day—none of you have any idea. There is no beauty in this world that comes without effort.”

Yu Jiuling still didn’t believe him—but not entirely.

Dantai Yazhen said: “This is only the first course of treatment. After persisting for thirty days, I’ll tell you the second—and you’ll know that the second course certainly won’t be something like dry chicken droppings.”

At that, Yu Jiuling grew even more curious: “I’ve already paid—why won’t you just tell me everything at once?”

Dantai Yazhen shook his head: “I can’t tell you everything at once. There’s so much pleasure in experiencing it step by step—if I told you all at once, you’d lose the sense of mystery, and it would feel boring.”

Yu Jiuling said: “If you won’t tell me, I’ll take it as confirmation you just want to swindle me out of two taels.”

Dantai Yazhen: “What are you saying? Would I swindle you out of two taels? These two taels are only for the first course. The second course is another two taels. The third course is the most critical of all—at least five taels, not a single copper less.”

Yu Jiuling: “……”

He narrowed his eyes: “Are you sure you’re not tricking me?”

Dantai Yazhen said: “Do you really think I could learn our lord’s tricks? I’m not that kind of person.”

Yu Jiuling hardened his resolve, dug out roughly seven or eight taels of silver, and handed it over with a look of grim determination: “Just tell me everything—all three courses at once.”

Dantai Yazhen took the money, but still looked reluctant.

He said: “Telling it all at once really does make it lose its appeal—you won’t be able to stick with it.”

Yu Jiuling: “Tell me!”

Dantai Yazhen said: “First course: mix dry chicken droppings with water and apply to the face as a paste. Second course: take wet chicken droppings, dry them out, grind them into a powder, mix with water again into a paste, and apply to the face.”

Yu Jiuling: “??????????”

Dantai Yazhen said: “The third course is the most critical. After completing the first two, come and find me—I’ll refund you five taels of silver, and you can take that money and go get your head examined.”

Yu Jiuling: “I’ll have your life for this—”

All the way, joking and laughing as they went, until they reached a crossroads—where they encountered another column of Ning Army troops arriving at exactly the same time.

Dantai Yazhen’s column had come from the east, where the flood victims were being settled. This other column was coming from due north—visibly travel-worn, clearly after a long march.

When they met, it turned out to be General Liu Ge’s column—they had arrived.

Dantai Yazhen’s side had brought roughly twenty thousand combat soldiers. Liu Ge had been marching from Jizhou for six or seven months and had brought twelve thousand combat soldiers.

The columns joined together and after a few more days’ march, they arrived at the Ning Army’s camp on the northern bank of the river.

With forces converging in one place, the Ning Army camp on the northern bank suddenly grew lively—total troop strength surpassed forty thousand men.

At once, Li Chi’s confidence became considerably more solid.

Though compared to the Tianming Army’s forces on the southern bank, their numbers were still far fewer—once the Ning Army’s scale reached forty-some thousand, the kind of confidence that came with it was something no other force could match even with a hundred thousand.

The moment they arrived at the camp, Yu Jiuling ran straight to Li Chi to report his grievance—that Dantai Yazhen had swindled nine taels of silver out of him, front to back.

Li Chi heard this and was outraged—he felt Dantai Yazhen had gone too far. How could he swindle Yu Jiuling out of nine taels? That was one tael short of a round number—why not ten?

Yu Jiuling felt he had gone to the wrong person with his complaint.

Li Chi said: “I’ll give you a chance to possibly win back what you lost—maybe even double it.”

Yu Jiuling: “I don’t want it.”

Li Chi said: “I can do this openly, in front of everyone. If you succeed, I’ll take one tael of silver as my fee. If you fail, I won’t take a single coin—I’ll even pay you back a tael myself.”

Yu Jiuling thought it over—one tael of silver really wasn’t much, and since it would be done openly in front of everyone, there shouldn’t be any problem.

So he asked: “What is the method?”

Li Chi said: “Follow me.”

He led Yu Jiuling to find Dantai Yazhen—and Xiahou Zuo, Liu Ge, Zhuo Qinglin, and the others were all there.

Li Chi took a sheet of paper, wrote and drew on it, then flipped it face down.

Then he placed a spoon on top of the paper and said to Yu Jiuling: “On the other side, I drew a circle with two options written inside it—only two. One is: the full amount is returned doubled. The other is: you accept your loss and move on. Do you want to try your luck?”

Yu Jiuling thought to himself—those were fifty-fifty odds. Rather enticing.

Dantai Yazhen said: “My lord, you’re being so biased—you’re giving far too much advantage to Yu Jiuling. That’s not fair to me.”

Li Chi said: “You were the one who deceived people—how can I favor you? Besides, Yu Jiuling just recovered from his injury and you’re already swindling him. How can that be right?”

Yu Jiuling: “Exactly! My injury had barely healed and you’re already scamming me.”

He took out one tael of silver and handed it to Li Chi: “I’ll do it!”

Li Chi looked at Dantai Yazhen: “You have no right to choose—you can only accept the outcome.”

Dantai Yazhen sighed: “Fine. Let’s see how his luck fares.”

Yu Jiuling blew on his hands, then set the spoon spinning—fast, sending everyone’s eyes chasing after it.

A moment later the spoon came to a stop. Li Chi pointed to where it had landed: “All right, flip it over.”

Everyone’s eyes went even wider, all wanting to see how the Ninth Sibling’s luck would hold.

The paper was turned over—and Yu Jiuling’s face went green. Sure enough, a circle had been drawn, and sure enough there were only two options—but the option that read *accept your loss* occupied more than nine-tenths of the circle, while *return doubled* was little more than a sliver of a line.

Yu Jiuling: “I should never have trusted any of you.”

Li Chi said: “Scamming the Ninth Sibling when his injury had just healed—truly, that was…absolutely hilarious.”

Dantai Yazhen took out one tael of silver and handed it to Li Chi: “I’ll put in a tael too—otherwise I really would feel a little guilty.”

Just at that moment, from the Tianming Army camp on the southern bank came the sound of rolling drums—not the signal for an attack, but something more like a summoning.

Everyone looked toward the southern bank. After a moment, Li Chi said: “It seems the man Yang Xuanji sent to replace Pei Fanglun has arrived as well.”

In the Tianming Army camp, a cavalry column came riding in and halted outside the main command tent. This cavalry unit carried an air of arrogance about them.

At their head was Yang Xuanji’s strategist Pei Chongzhi—yet the several young generals riding behind him were all of considerably higher rank than he was.

From the attitude of those young men, it was clear they held Pei Chongzhi in the deepest respect.

Everyone dismounted. The young general walking behind Pei Chongzhi gave a command: “Beat the drums and open the assembly tent. Have everyone of fifth rank and above report here for a war council.”

This young man appeared to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age, with sharp and firm features and a tall, lean, but not slender build.

He wore a set of what appeared to be brand new third-rank general’s armor—suggesting he had not long been elevated to this position.

Before long, generals from every camp had arrived, and they all exchanged uncertain glances with one another.

The young man’s gaze swept across these visibly apprehensive generals, then he spoke: “Remember three things.”

“First—my name is Xie Di. From this day forward, I am your commanding general.”

“Second—within seven days, have all materials and equipment ready for the river crossing and assault. Anyone not ready will be executed.”

“Third—General Pei’s vengeance, I will lead you to settle. What General Pei could not achieve—taking Yuzhou—I can.”

When he finished, he waved a hand: “Dismissed.”

The faces of those generals were not looking particularly pleasant.

—