The river-crossing battle had formally announced that the Ning Army’s feet had trodden upon Jingzhou territory. If one were to draw the line at Yuzhou, then with this, all lands to the north — save only Yongzhou in the west — had fallen into Li Chi’s hands.

Jizhou. Youzhou. Yanzhou. Yuzhou. Qingzhou.

Of Dachu’s thirteen provinces, five now belonged to him. The remaining eight were Jingzhou, Liangzhou, Yuezhou, Suzhou, Shuzhou, Yongzhou, Yangzhou — and Jingzhou, the capital province.

The shape of the world was changing without a sound — though most had not yet noticed, and fewer still had grasped what it meant.

The great figures of the realm, especially, sat at the bottom of their wells looking up at what they took to be the whole sky. They still believed the balance of the world remained unchanged. They still thought that Li Chi — this Prince Ning — was nothing more than a grand bandit from beyond the northern frontier.

Yet the Ning Army’s fierce red battle banners had already been planted across five provinces.

Grand General Tang Pidi, leading an army of two hundred thousand, had reached Suzhou. With Suzhou’s defensive forces depleted, and given Tang Pidi’s talent for command, even if he could not seize all of Suzhou in one stroke, taking dozens of cities before Li Xiong-the-bandit could mount a relief effort was no great problem.

While those great figures still squabbled endlessly over which horse to back, the man they looked down on most — Li Chi — already held a third of the Central Plains in his hands.

What was laughable was this: if you were to grab one of those great figures by the ear and tell them that all lands to the north now belonged to Prince Ning, they would likely tell you that you were talking nonsense.

Jingzhou. The southern bank of the river. The main camp.

Li Chi climbed the high slope and looked southward. This was the first time Li Chi had ever set foot on southern soil as its master.

Walking as a master meant something: every footprint left behind was, in some sense, territory claimed.

By geography, everything from Jingzhou onward could be called the Jiangnan — the lands south of the river.

He had been to Daxing city before, and seen the grandeur of it. He had also seen the Jiangnan with its little bridges, flowing water, and homes nestled between. It had to be said — compared to the rough and open character of the north, the scenery of the Jiangnan was indeed more delicate and graceful.

Having seen it, Li Chi found his resolve to not place the capital in the Jiangnan even firmer — whenever the day came that the whole land fell to him.

Jiangnan was too comfortable. Too beautiful. Too full of feeling.

People who lived in Jiangnan for long gradually grew a languid ease of heart.

Just like the people in Daxing city. They never left the city gates, and all they saw was a city in full bloom. How could they understand what the eastern frontier endured from sea raiders? How could they understand the foreign threats pressing in from the northern frontier? How could they understand the hardships of the western frontier? How could they understand the turmoil of the southern frontier?

Even the common people of Daxing thought that those who came from beyond its walls were exaggerating how rotten the state of the world had become.

Li Chi did not know — and could not be certain — whether he would remain as disciplined as he was now in the years to come. Still less could he be certain whether his children and grandchildren after him would maintain that same discipline.

*The sound of foreign tongues and nomad flutes drifting in from beyond the frontier — only then does one know the realm is not yet fully in hand. Territory beyond one’s borders may always harbor enemies, and only the blade keeps friendship.*

Yu Jiuling came over from behind, smiling as he said: “Our people just sent word — Gui Yuanshu and Yuchi Guangming took different routes, and Gui Yuanshu has already made it back to Yuzhou city. He’s on his way here.”

Li Chi smiled with him.

Yu Jiuling said: “Yesterday I had just dispatched the intelligence operatives to Yuzhou city to gather people — and today the men from Yuzhou city arrived.”

He let out a slow breath. The knot of worry in his chest dissolved.

Yu Jiuling continued: “According to reports, Gui Yuanshu brought back two people with him — both sworn brothers of his. One of them had sworn to die as a loyal minister of Dachu — said even if he died, he wanted to die on the walls of Daxing city. But over the course of the journey, seeing the way the people of Yuzhou were living, his resolve had begun to waver. Gui Yuanshu arranged for someone to take him to Jizhou. Said he’d wait until the man had seen Jizhou for himself before saying any more.”

Li Chi made a sound of acknowledgment. His thoughts grew quietly heavy.

Because the people of the realm did not believe — not the great clans, not the powerful forces, not even the common people — that someone like him could bring the common folk a good life.

They were all more willing to believe in someone like Yang Xuanji. Even knowing full well that Yang Xuanji was putting on a performance of enlightened rulership.

“Boss.”

Yu Jiuling stood beside Li Chi and said: “I just thought of something.”

Li Chi asked with a smile: “What did you think of?”

Yu Jiuling said: “Whenever we take a new place in the future, if there’s anyone who still isn’t convinced — just send them to Jizhou to look around. Send them to Yuzhou to look around. Press their faces right up to it and pry their eyelids open. Then ask them: well? How does it look? Pretty impressive, isn’t it? Pretty comfortable, isn’t it?”

Li Chi burst out laughing: “Done. That job’s yours from now on — you’re already used to asking people whether things are comfortable or not.”

Yu Jiuling: “I…”

“Boss.”

“What is it?”

“Let me serve as your personal guard commander.”

“Stop being ridiculous — you’re already a fourth-rank general. You want to serve as personal guard commander? That’s only sixth rank.”

“I don’t care about the rank. Seventh rank is fine. Even eighth rank is fine. As long as you keep paying me like a fourth-rank official.”

Li Chi raised a hand and patted Yu Jiuling on the shoulder: “I know what you’re thinking. But our brothers who’ve marched this road with me — they deserve to rise higher and higher with every step, and to have better and better lives.”

Yu Jiuling let out a sheepish grin: “Boss, you know I’m different. I just want to be your tag-along. You tell me to go do something, I go do it. You tell me to go buy something, I pocket a bit of silver on the side. You tell me to go sell something, I pocket a bit of silver on that side too…”

Li Chi was laughing so hard tears were nearly coming: “Such ambition.”

Yu Jiuling let out a long breath: “Boss, you know me — I’m timid and I’m greedy. You’re leading us to build a whole new world one day — a world where officials don’t take bribes or abuse people. Someone like me doesn’t fit in that picture. I don’t steal from the common people. I steal from *you.*”

Li Chi laughed and gave Yu Jiuling a kick on the backside: “Fine. From now on, you’re Commander of the Personal Guard — but, Nine-Sister, being personal guard will be dangerous.”

Yu Jiuling said: “I’m not afraid of danger. I’m afraid of distance.”

That sentence stirred something in Li Chi.

Yu Jiuling said: “When you’ve taken the whole realm someday — it’ll be so vast, and the brothers will certainly be sent off to hold different territories. I don’t want to go. I just want to stay. Not even as an official — that’s fine too.”

Li Chi patted Yu Jiuling on the shoulder again: “What the future holds — perhaps none of us will be our own masters.”

The two of them stood on the high slope and talked idly for a while, until a personal guard came to report: a man had arrived from the south, captured by scouts, who was demanding by any means available to see Prince Ning.

Li Chi asked: “Someone from the south — whose man is he?”

The guard replied: “He’s been escorted to the outside of the central command tent. The man’s lips are sealed tight — says he won’t speak unless he sees Prince Ning.”

Yu Jiuling said: “Could it be that Yuchi’s letter has had some effect, and this Xie Di is thinking about surrendering?”

Li Chi shook his head: “If he were Xie Di’s man, he would have sought out Yuchi Guangming first.”

He turned to head back: “Let’s go take a look.”

Shortly after, Yu Jiuling arrived back at the command tent a step ahead of the others. He found a man of medium build being held under guard. The two sized each other up.

Looking at this man, Yu Jiuling’s eyes narrowed slightly. His first instinct: this person was somewhat… unfortunate looking.

The man was also looking at Yu Jiuling. His expression was more bewildered — but Yu Jiuling could still read it. This man’s thought was probably the same as his.

This man was Luan Tang, the advisor to Jingzhou Military Governor Xie Xiu. Looking at Yu Jiuling, his heart gave a little thud… *This Prince Ning… is a bit lacking in the looks department.*

Yu Jiuling walked up to him and gave a small scoff: “I know what you’re thinking.”

Luan Tang immediately bent into a bow: “I pay my respects to Prince Ning.”

Yu Jiuling said: “I’m not him.”

Those three words caused an inexplicable wave of relief to pass through Luan Tang.

Yu Jiuling said: “Were you just thinking I was ugly?”

Luan Tang absolutely did not dare answer honestly. He shook his head vigorously: “Not at all — how could such a thought ever cross my mind? I was simply thinking…” he was about to say *that this lord looked wise and noble and possessed of an extraordinary bearing* when he heard Yu Jiuling’s warning. The rest of the sentence, somewhere between his brain and his mouth, came out differently: “…just somewhat lacking in comeliness.”

Li Chi, who happened to be walking up at that exact moment and caught that last part, thought to himself: *Nine-Sister, was that really necessary?*

*Do you two really need to go through this?*

Compared to Yu Jiuling, this fellow was considerably less presentable. Medium height — and hunched at that. The face, not particularly well-arranged — with something of a donkey about it.

Yet from the look in his eyes, it was clear this man had placed himself and Yu Jiuling in the same category.

“Bring him in.”

Li Chi gave the word and stepped inside the tent.

Once inside, Luan Tang dropped to his knees with a thud: “Outsider Luan Tang, representing Military Governor of Jingzhou Xie Xiu, pays his respects to Prince Ning.”

Li Chi said: “Rise and speak — there is no need for such ceremony.”

He sat down and asked: “What business brings Governor Xie to send you to see me?”

Luan Tang sighed: “Outsider… outsider needs a moment to reorganize my words. What I had prepared to say — I can’t say it now.”

Li Chi thought to himself: this one is interesting.

Luan Tang said: “The key point I had prepared was to make clear my lord’s intention: to work in concert with Prince Ning, striking the Mandate Army from north and south simultaneously. But I arrived and looked around — it seems it’s already been done.”

Yu Jiuling thought to himself: *does Governor Xie truly have no one better to send than this?*

But he didn’t know — this entire manner, this attitude, this way of speaking, was all something Luan Tang had carefully calculated.

He had heard that Prince Ning disliked those who spoke in flowery rhetoric, those who could talk a river into flowing uphill — he only wanted to see men who told it straight. So he had deliberately presented himself as somewhat more artless than he actually was.

Li Chi smiled: “No rush. Take your time.”

Luan Tang thought for a moment and then said: “Before I came, I was thinking — with the merit of helping defeat the Mandate Army, plus the merit of surrendering Jingzhou, my lord should certainly deserve to be enfeoffed as a marquis. Now I can only wonder — if a marquisate is out of reach, could my lord at least retain his authority to command troops, with the Jingzhou forces still under his command…”

Li Chi couldn’t help but smile again. The way this man was talking sounded like a bumbling ramble — yet it was actually quite a clever retreat-to-advance.

“Show sincerity.”

Li Chi said three words.

Luan Tang immediately looked at Li Chi and said: “Change the armor, change the banners, swear an oath of loyalty to Your Highness — and we are willing to take cities and hold territory for Your Highness.”

Li Chi said: “You may return.”

Luan Tang froze. Panic flared in his chest at once.

*Return?*

What did Prince Ning mean by that?

Li Chi said: “Go back and have your Governor Xie come and see me himself. If he comes in person, everything you’ve spoken of is no issue at all. If he does not come… what use is any of this talk?”

Luan Tang bowed his head: “Your Highness, my lord only wishes for a single pledge from Your Highness.”

Li Chi asked: “What is your name?”

Luan Tang replied: “Outsider’s family name is Luan, given name Tang.”

Li Chi made a sound of acknowledgment, then rose: “Prepare food and lodging for Advisor Luan. Let him rest well. Tomorrow, arrange an escort to see him safely home.”

He looked at Luan Tang: “Where men trust me, there they shall find peace. Where men do not trust me, first must come pacification — and then peace. The ten thousand common people of Jingzhou are no trivial matter. How could I treat such a thing so lightly as to hand out a pledge just like that?”