The imperial messenger bearing the edict to relieve Cui Jinzhi of his military command mounted a swift horse and rode hard out of the city. Given the cold weather and slippery roads, even riding day and night, it would take at least two days to reach Luo Prefecture — or so he had reckoned.

But he had barely ridden a hundred li past the outer walls of Chang’an when he saw the banners ahead and pulled his horse to a sudden stop. A chill crept up his spine and shot straight into his skull.

When had Cui Jinzhi led his troops back to within such close distance of Chang’an — and not a single battle report had reached the court to announce his return?

In truth, Cui Jinzhi had not deliberately concealed the battle report; it was simply that the campaign had ended too swiftly.

The displaced people of Luo Prefecture were, in truth, nothing but scattered sand. The reason suppressing the uprising had taken so long in the early stages was simply that those displaced commoners, knowing the terrain, had scattered and run in every direction. When Cui Jinzhi first began the suppression, he had spent his time chasing them east and west, his soldiers exhausted to the point of collapse and the battle still going nowhere.

After being herded around by those commoners like a dog on a leash for nearly a month, Cui Jinzhi finally lost his patience entirely. He invoked the Crown Prince’s authority to compel the prefectural governors along the Yellow River to obey his commands, and during the suppression he stretched across two circuits, effectively becoming an uncrowned military governor in all but name. The local prefectural governors, intimidated by his authority, all committed their garrison troops to the effort, driving the displaced people within their borders out into the open and corralling them together. Then Cui Jinzhi led his forces in with unstoppable momentum, and with a few swift strokes broke them into total rout.

After all, he was of a military family’s lineage. Though he had never truly fought on a battlefield, he had grown up steeped in military strategy and tactics — those commoners were simply beneath his notice.

So it was that the suppression, though it had begun with considerable difficulty, proceeded in the end with great smoothness. Without waiting for the new year to turn, Cui Jinzhi had led his troops back and had not yet had time to dispatch the battle report back to the capital.

The imperial messenger dismounted, uncertain of Cui Jinzhi’s present intent, and could only force a composed expression as a small soldier led him before Cui Jinzhi.

Five thousand troops were making camp, cooking their midday meal over open fires; not even the tent stakes had been driven in. Cui Jinzhi stood in light armor on top of a small earthen mound, half a head taller than all those around him.

The imperial messenger stood below the mound and bowed, knowing full well that with Cui Jinzhi’s troops stationed outside the city, he must on no account provoke him. So he deliberately concealed the edict stripping him of his command and put on an air of warm pleasantry: “Speed is the soul of war — the Commander is truly a tiger’s son from a tiger’s household.”

Cui Jinzhi turned toward him with a smile. When he smiled, he looked easy and elegant, with no hint at all of whether a knife was hidden beneath that smile.

The imperial messenger continued, “By coincidence, today is the year-end palace banquet; since Commander Cui has already returned to the capital, why not come along with me into the palace? The Crown Prince was just at the banquet speaking of you to His Majesty, saying that it is the middle of winter and you have been out alone commanding troops — quite a hardship.”

The imperial messenger finished speaking, raised his head, and with a look of perfect sincerity said, “Commander Cui, shall we return to the city together to attend the banquet?”

Cui Jinzhi gave every appearance of having not the slightest suspicion. He smiled, stepped down from the earthen mound in one stride, and threw his arm around the imperial messenger’s shoulder in the easy manner of a military man — while applying hidden force in his grip, so that the messenger was unable to move.

Cui Jinzhi’s voice drifted softly into the imperial messenger’s ear: “Attending the banquet is perfectly agreeable — but should the imperial edict inside your breast pocket not be presented first?”

The imperial messenger stood frozen. How did Cui Jinzhi know? As though he had eyes that could see a thousand li away!

Having said his piece, Cui Jinzhi gave the imperial messenger a casual shove, sending him stumbling backward, and soldiers immediately came forward and bound him up tight.

A full hour before the Emperor’s messenger had arrived, the Crown Princess’s own messenger had gotten there first, giving him a rough account of events in the palace. When Li Shu’s name and Shen Xiao’s name were spoken, the hand Cui Jinzhi had been holding his riding crop with showed the veins standing out beneath his skin.

Li Shu — he and she were truly locked in a fight to the death.

Had the Crown Princess not sent advance word, Cui Jinzhi would very likely have set down his command without a second thought, followed the imperial messenger back into the city, and gone blithely to the banquet — entirely unaware of what was happening.

Cui Jinzhi swung himself onto his horse. In his light armor, he gleamed in the sunlight with a cold brightness that cut into the imperial messenger’s eyes.

The messenger called out in a voice cracked with terror, “Commander Cui, what fate awaits one who defies an imperial command?”

Cui Jinzhi heard him. He turned his horse slightly and fixed the messenger with his gaze, then returned his words without alteration: “Then… as for the vanquished — what fate awaits them?”

He straightened his horse’s head. Before him, the road stretched onward — running straight to the city gate, then from the city gate following the north-south line of Zhuque Avenue, straight to Taihe Hall.

The regular troops garrisoned within the city were few in number; the main armies were all encamped and training at the Western Mountain barracks. Within the city, the only genuine threat came from the city wall guards and the palace’s own garrison troops. The city wall guards had no real fighting strength — Cui Jinzhi was not afraid of them. As for the palace garrison, though formidable in skill, they were too few in number to match him.

The edict stripping him of his command had already been issued; there was no need to consider what fate the Crown Prince was facing in the palace. If they simply waited, letting the Emperor withdraw his authority and then investigate the full truth of the Luo Prefecture disaster — then it would truly be impossible to turn things around.

And at this moment, the palace banquet was a scene of peacetime prosperity, with not a shred of defense.

Time — time was the most critical factor of all. If he could move before the Emperor had a chance to react, driving like a blade straight into the heart of the inner palace…

Cui Jinzhi’s mind turned it over for no more than an instant before he resolved.

He raised his arm slowly. “Forward — into Chang’an.” He set his jaw, and from his lips came three cold and ruthless words: “Purge the Emperor’s side.”

With that, he and his horse surged forward alone. Behind him, a tide of iron cavalry thundered across the frozen, snow-covered ground toward Chang’an, the earth trembling faintly beneath them — like the tremor of a great catastrophe.

*

The palace gate sentries had been standing their post all morning. Inside the palace, the banquet was underway; no one would be coming or going for a good while. A sentry, chilled to his core, took advantage of the quiet to shift his feet and stamp them on the ground.

Just as he moved, he heard a swift set of footsteps coming up behind him. The sentry thought it was a superior officer coming to check on the watch, was sure he was about to be in trouble, and steeled himself for a scolding — only for his peripheral vision to catch the hem of richly embroidered red and gold robes sweeping past.

She was walking very quickly and urgently; the long skirt trailed over the ground, with no time for a handmaid to lift it.

“My respects to Princess Pingyang. Why are you leaving the palace at this hour? Has the banquet ended?” the sentry asked, puzzled.

If it had ended, how was she the only one leaving? Besides, every year the palace banquet went on until nightfall before it was over.

Li Shu, hurrying along, stopped at being hailed by the sentry. The taut expression on her face eased slightly. “This princess is not feeling well and cannot hold on any longer. Returning to my mansion to rest a while.”

A sentry had no power to stop a princess; it was merely routine habit to ask questions when something seemed out of the ordinary. Hearing her explanation, he dismissed his suspicion and respectfully said, “Safe travels, Princess,” watching Li Shu mount her carriage.

Only when Li Shu had boarded the carriage and the curtain fell did her tightly coiled spine at last loosen. During those tense moments within the palace she had felt nothing, but now that she relaxed, she found her back aching all the way down the spine.

Her meddling had not been especially skillful; it could easily be traced back to her. That was why she had left the palace in such haste — she feared being detained and used as a means to threaten Shen Xiao.

She was of no further use now.

Today’s true battleground was in Taihe Hall, and it rested with Shen Xiao. Li Shu had done nothing more than provide the scaffolding for Shen Xiao’s entrance.

Thinking of Shen Xiao, Li Shu raised her eyes slightly and lifted the curtain a sliver. Through the gap she saw the glazed roof tiles of the palace glinting with a cold light in the pale winter sun; that cold gleam fell into her gaze, and into her always-composed eyes crept something that resembled reluctance.

Whatever the outcome of today’s events — whether joy or sorrow — until all was settled, she would not see Shen Xiao for a very long time.

Interrogation, or safekeeping — her father would not allow Shen Xiao to come into contact with any outsider.

She drew her gaze back in, closed her eyes, and knew she ought not to linger over passing matters of the heart. There would be time enough ahead; she was not in a hurry for this moment.

The carriage was rolling steadily along when Li Shu’s heart gave a sudden leap — she seemed to hear, from somewhere far off, the rumble of thunder.

She raised her eyes to look out, yet saw only the cold winter sun overhead. A clear sky with full sun — how could there be thunder on such a day?

But the thunder drew nearer and nearer — a rolling rumble, mixed with countless other sounds. Only then could Li Shu dimly make it out: the sound was not thunder at all. It was more like — the sound of tens of thousands of iron cavalry moving in formation at the same time.

Li Shu jolted upright.

Who was marching troops through Chang’an?

Other than the palace garrison troops, no large army was permitted entry into the city. To do so was to invite charges of treason.

Who was so bold as to lead troops into Chang’an?

Li Shu’s mansion in the Thirteen Prince’s Ward was situated very close to the palace; if the sound of marching could be heard even in the Thirteen Prince’s Ward, then it meant the army was almost at the palace gates.

The tension that had just eased from her body instantly snapped back. She gave an order in a voice sharp enough to cut through the air: “Quickly, go and find out who is marching!”

A guard received the order and galloped off; Li Shu felt that something beyond her calculations had happened.

She was nearly breaking into a cold sweat, yet she held herself rigid and did not move.

It was only a moment before the guard came galloping back, his face drained of all color. He stumbled off his horse; his body was actually trembling from shock.

“Pri… Princess — it is Commander Cui, it is Cui Jinzhi! He has forced his way through the city gate with his troops and is now encamped outside the palace gates — he says… he says he is purging the Emperor’s side!”

Cui Jinzhi — purging the Emperor’s side!

Those six words, taken together, carried a weight like ten thousand catties, crashing down onto Li Shu, and for one instant she was utterly stunned.

How could Cui Jinzhi have suddenly returned from Luo Prefecture? The news she had known placed him still without progress in his suppression, with the fastest possible return being after the new year. How had he come back so quickly?

And of all days, on this very day, at this very hour!

He appeared like a divine army fallen from the sky, suddenly materializing outside the palace. The palace garrison was few in number — they could probably not hold out for long. He was forcing the palace’s hand!

Li Shu felt the cold wind cut like a blade, striking her on all sides. She was nearly trembling — from the cold, or perhaps more from dread.

But she clenched her teeth hard and forced her terror down. Her mind began to race.

If Cui Jinzhi truly succeeded in forcing the palace, his first act under the banner of purging the Emperor’s side would be to kill Shen Xiao. And her father — the Emperor — would certainly be pushed from his throne, reduced to a Grand Emperor with title but no power.

If Cui Jinzhi succeeded today, tomorrow would belong to the Crown Prince’s reign, the dust would settle, and all of them would be ground under the Crown Prince’s heel to become nothing more than dust.

Cui Jinzhi must be stopped. Li Shu gripped her teeth and held on. He must be stopped.

Time was the most critical factor. Cui Jinzhi had appeared like a divine army from nowhere, but his forces were not great; he was counting on the absence of a large army in the city. The palace would immediately dispatch someone to the Western Mountain barracks to call up troops — but with the cold weather and slippery roads, the army would take at least a quarter of an hour to arrive.

If Cui Jinzhi broke through the palace gates in that quarter of an hour, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Li Shu’s hand gripped the window frame so hard that her nails drove into the wood. She did not notice. What method was there to delay Cui Jinzhi?

Her fingernail snapped clean off where it caught the wood; the pain from the roots of her fingers shot straight to her heart.

The idea came to Li Shu in an instant. Her gaze went cold and still, and her whole person hardened into something merciless.

Her eyes turned outward, in the direction of Huaining Ward.

“Call every guard from my mansion and have them follow me.”

Li Shu’s voice was ice-cold. “We are going to Duke Cuiguo’s mansion.”

Strike at the root — that was the only thing that would work. Against Cui Jinzhi, attacking the heart was the superior strategy.