In the darkness, no one knew how large the force coming was — that sweeping fire dragon looked as though it carried the force to devour everything in its path.

When Yuchi Guangming led his men charging in, he ordered them to shout at the top of their lungs and make the greatest possible commotion.

Not only to frighten the Mandate Army — but also to ensure the Ning Army could see them. Otherwise, the risk of clashing with the Ning Army in the dark was far from small.

Having spent an entire day watching, Yuchi Guangming had a clear read on the balance of power between the two sides. The Ning Army was dominant — overbearing, overwhelming, like a tide rolling everything before it — yet the Ning Army’s numbers were far fewer than the Mandate Army’s.

Even adding his own twenty-thousand-plus troops, the numerical gap remained significant. And his soldiers were nothing like the Ning Army’s battle-hardened fighters.

Create a grand illusion. Break the Mandate Army psychologically. Win the battle.

So as his men marched, they gathered every stick and piece of firewood they passed along the way. Each man tore strips from their own clothes — everyone had to hold two torches thrust high as they charged. Blades could stay sheathed, but the torches had to be raised.

Furthermore, once that fire dragon formation closed on the Mandate Army, it immediately scattered — gathered together it was one river; spread apart it became a boundless sea.

In this way, his force of twenty thousand produced an impression of at least fifty thousand.

Add the darkness, and the effect on morale was even more devastating.

“Pass the order: attack only the Mandate Army’s southeast — do not advance northward, do not make contact with the Ning Army.”

Yuchi Guangming shouted as he charged forward, relaying orders to the commanders of each unit.

The Ning Army didn’t know what was happening — if they spotted an unfamiliar force approaching, the reception wouldn’t be warm smiles. It would be a sky full of arrows.

At the very front of the Ning Army’s formation, Li Chi glanced sideways at the force approaching from the flank, genuinely baffled — he had absolutely no idea where this relief army had come from.

Things had played out through a remarkable coincidence. Yuchi Guangming, to avoid causing any misunderstanding, had sent a messenger toward Yuzhou city well in advance.

The messenger had indeed gone to Yuzhou city — but Li Chi wasn’t there. So his man had effectively made a long, circuitous journey for nothing. By the time Yuchi Guangming’s main force had arrived, that messenger and Li Chi’s people were still on their way to the main camp.

“Restrain the troops. Don’t charge in that direction — just push into the Mandate Army camp.”

Li Chi gave a brief order and plunged headlong into the Mandate Army camp.

By that point, the Mandate Army was running in every direction, their formations completely dissolved.

They were no rabble — but in a situation like this, the terror bottled up inside each person had been fully unleashed. No one had any thought for whether the people running beside them were from the same unit. Just run. More importantly — just run faster than the man next to you.

The result was that Xie Di, who had been counting on falling back to defend the main camp, found it completely impossible to organize his forces.

Men flooded in from the camp’s north entrance and poured out from the south like a receding tide.

They ran ahead. The Ning Army stayed on their heels and cut them down.

In a victory like this, Li Chi had not expected it — but since it had come, he would see it through to the finish.

A collapsing pursuit — that scene that every commanding general had dreamed of. Once this situation formed, the defeated side would never find a chance to recover.

A chase of slaughter, a flight of desperation — through the entire night, the sounds of battle cries filled every direction.

By the time dawn broke, Li Chi ordered the armies to consolidate their forces and assess casualties.

Then he looked at Yu Jiuling and said: “Send someone over there to ask — whoever they are — to be polite about it.”

Yu Jiuling acknowledged the order at once and took a few men himself to cross over.

When he got there, he found that the unknown force had already organized itself impeccably. Every soldier was assembled together in neat formation, seated on the ground in perfect order.

As the sky had begun to lighten faintly, they had started to draw back. They had not competed with the Ning Army for the chance to pursue and cut down the Mandate Army, nor had they moved into the camp to seize any of the Mandate Army’s supplies.

Over twenty thousand men, seated there in neat, orderly rows — waiting.

The sight of it was enough to leave Yu Jiuling momentarily stunned.

About half an hour later, Yu Jiuling had sorted out the full story. He brought Yuchi Guangming with him and went directly to see Li Chi.

On the other side, Xie Di — after a night of flight — gathered what remained of his forces and found himself with only two or three thousand men around him.

Yet he was certain that in the chaos of the night, the Ning Army couldn’t possibly have killed all his men. Most of them had simply scattered and fled.

He opened a map and looked. Ahead, roughly seventy to eighty li away, was a city named Yingzhou.

He rose and ordered his remaining men to split half of their number and fan out in every direction, searching for the scattered troops and gathering them toward Yingzhou.

After giving these orders, Xie Di set off with roughly a thousand ragged survivors — not daring to rest, jumping at every sound, fleeing in fits and starts, the cry of a crane or the rustle of grass enough to send them into a panic.

After the Ning Army took possession of the Mandate Army’s camp, the wealth of grain, provisions, and supplies they captured was immeasurable.

In comparison, the Ning Army’s casualties were nowhere near the Mandate Army’s.

A victory of this magnitude filled every heart with joy.

In the command tent, Li Chi saw Yuchi Guangming moving to kneel before him and reached out to pull him back to his feet.

“We don’t stand on so much ceremony here.”

After helping Yuchi Guangming up, Li Chi looked at Dantai Yajing and said: “General Yuchi’s forces have come a long way and have no grain or provisions — they’re certainly still hungry. Send someone over and have them come into camp to rest. Food will be ready shortly.”

Yu Jiuling added: “General Yuchi’s men tore up their clothes last night to wrap around their torches to frighten off the Mandate Army. The soldiers are lightly clad now.”

Li Chi turned to his personal guard: “Go back to camp and pass the order — have uniforms sent over. Make it fast.”

A warmth settled in Yuchi Guangming’s chest. The very first thing Prince Ning thought to say was that his men were still hungry. And then there was Yu Jiuling — though he was, let’s be honest, somewhat lacking in the looks department, his heart was kind.

If Yu Jiuling could have read his mind, he probably would have said: *your great-uncle.*

With just a few words, Prince Ning had dissolved the quiet unease that had been sitting in Yuchi Guangming’s chest.

Yuchi Guangming had assumed that Prince Ning’s second order of business would naturally be to ask where he had come from and why — at the very least, some kind of formality had to be observed.

But the first thing Prince Ning asked was: “Where is Gui Yuanshu? How is it I don’t see him with you?”

Something complex stirred in Yuchi Guangming’s heart.

He explained in full how Gui Yuanshu had turned back to Daxing city. Li Chi’s brow furrowed.

He glanced at Yu Jiuling. Before he could say a word, Yu Jiuling had already turned to leave: “I’ll go now and dispatch every available intelligence operative to bring Gui Yuanshu back.”

How many years had it been — Yuchi Guangming could not remember. How many years since he had been part of a force and witnessed a scene like this.

“Sit down and rest.”

Prince Ning pressed a hand to Yuchi Guangming’s shoulder, guided him to sit, then looked at Xiahou Zuo and said: “Yingzhou is less than a hundred li ahead — the enemy’s remnant forces will almost certainly fall back to hold the city. Send scouts to gather intelligence.”

Xiahou Zuo said: “I already sent men out a moment ago.”

Li Chi nodded, then looked at Zhuo Qinglin: “The most pressing matter is treating all the wounded and properly seeing to the brothers who fell.”

Zhuo Qinglin gave a fist salute: “My lord, General Xiahou has already seen to the arrangements.”

Li Chi couldn’t help but smile. He looked at Xiahou Zuo, who extended an open hand toward him.

Li Chi rummaged in his breast pocket for a moment and produced a few small pieces of broken silver, which he placed in Xiahou Zuo’s palm: “I’ll make up the difference later.”

This left Yuchi Guangming completely bewildered.

Liu Ge, seeing the blank look on his face, smiled and leaned over to explain in a low voice.

When Yuchi Guangming learned that Xiahou Zuo had made it a rule that Prince Ning was not to interfere casually with military affairs — and that if he did, he would be fined ten taels of silver — and then saw the look of extreme reluctance on Prince Ning’s face as he dug out the money, and that he apparently couldn’t even produce a full ten taels —

The atmosphere within the Ning Army was unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of in all his life.

A commanding general had demanded that his lord not interfere with military affairs — and the lord had genuinely complied. And when he forgot and issued a casual order, he was actually fined for it.

At that moment, Yu Jiuling came back in and bowed: “Boss, I’ve already sent the order back. Our people will set out from different directions to bring Gui Yuanshu back in time.”

Then he turned and gestured behind him: “I also had the prisoners questioned briefly. Their commander’s name is Xie Di — someone Yang Xuanji sent over not long ago.”

“Xie Di?”

Yuchi Guangming startled. He immediately asked: “Is this the same Xie Di who was at the Academy of Scholarly Excellence?”

Yu Jiuling shook his head: “I don’t know what institution he came from. The name seems right though — I’ll bring the man in and you can ask.”

He gave a word to someone nearby, and shortly after, several prisoners were escorted in by Ning Army soldiers.

Yuchi Guangming questioned them carefully and confirmed: yes, this was indeed the same Xie Di he had known as a classmate at the Academy of Scholarly Excellence.

But they had never been of the same kind.

At the Academy, he and Gui Yuanshu and the rest had run together. They were all of military household background — nothing remotely close to wealthy or well-connected. The ones they were closest to were all of much the same origin.

Xie Di and those around him came from distinguished families. Back then, it was nothing more than a nod of acknowledgment when they passed — no real bond between them.

Differences in background had divided the Academy into three distinct camps. The first was Xie Di’s sort — born with a natural elevation above others. The second was Yuchi Guangming’s sort — military household stock with ancestral battle merit, which earned them a place at the Academy. The third was those who despised their own origins and exhausted every scheme trying to attach themselves to Xie Di’s circle.

This had created an especially awkward situation. Xie Di and his kind were highborn and considered themselves exceptional. They had no interest in the fawning ones who came crawling to them, and couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge them.

While Yuchi Guangming and his kind had nothing but contempt for anyone who groveled like that, and equally couldn’t be bothered.

The result was that this third group, after leaving the Academy, had gained nothing at all — unable to attach themselves to anyone above, and unwilling to stand alongside those on their level. Most ended up retreating and settling for someone even further beneath them to cling to.

Yuchi Guangming gave a fist salute: “My lord, I could go in person to speak with Xie Di — see if I can persuade him to surrender. The man has talent as a commander, though his temperament is proud…”

Li Chi looked at him and said: “You shouldn’t go. Send a letter — that will suffice. Going in person would be dangerous.”

Another quiet tremor passed through Yuchi Guangming’s chest.

He had only just arrived. By every reasonable expectation, to test his sincerity, shouldn’t Prince Ning have agreed?

But Prince Ning said it would be dangerous — and on that basis alone, he set the matter aside.

“The food should be about ready.”

Li Chi swept a glance around the tent: “Come on. Let’s go fight the next round.”

Yuchi Guangming grabbed his blade and prepared to go start a fight — then noticed everyone was looking at him and smiling. He stood there, somewhat at a loss.

Yu Jiuling laughed: “Fighting the next round — means fighting a meal.”

Xiahou Zuo walked alongside Li Chi, chuckling as they went: “That kind of fight — who’s going to take you up on it.”

Li Chi sighed: “Alone at the summit, unmatched and unbothered.”

Yuchi Guangming was curious and lowered his voice to ask Yu Jiuling what Prince Ning meant. Yu Jiuling just smiled and said: *you’ll see in a minute.*

And indeed — a minute was all it took.

When Yuchi Guangming watched Prince Ning finish off his ninth steamed bun, he had the distinct feeling he had crossed from one world into another entirely.

By the time Prince Ning consumed his eleventh steamed bun, the expression on Yuchi Guangming’s face had already reduced the rest of them to helpless laughter.

—