Here in Jizhou City, in comparison to Qingzhou, what that man Yao Chunyu had set in motion was precisely the kind of thing Gui Yuanshu had been investigating.

In Qingzhou, Mister Wu had had a Yao Chunyu who stepped forward of his own accord — which had made things rather simpler.

What Gui Yuanshu first needed to do in Jizhou City was find someone like him. Once that was accomplished, what followed would be no different from what Mister Wu had done.

In a manner of speaking, it was something like fishing with bait.

But as for using bait on account of Tang Pidi’s situation — Li Chi didn’t feel there was anything wrong with that. He only worried that the net wouldn’t haul in enough fish.

At the execution grounds.

Those arrested in Jizhou outnumbered those arrested in Qingzhou by more than double.

But clearly this was not all of those who had been spreading lies and stirring up trouble. Had Li Chi not been in a hurry to put down this wave of sentiment, he would have carried on baiting, patiently. First lay the groundfeed — basin after basin — half a pond of water and half of lure, then hauled net after net, pulling the fish up one haul at a time.

Even so, some fish would likely still slip through. But as long as the surviving fish were made to hold their tongues, that was enough.

Li Chi stepped up onto the elevated platform, his expression grave and still as dark water.

“In times past, you have always said of me that I am benevolent, that I am magnanimous. Perhaps it is because I have always been disinclined to kill — I have always felt that small faults can be pardoned, that greater faults can be admonished. I have also always felt that telling you what is wrong, so that you do not commit it, is far better than punishing you severely after you have already transgressed.”

“But from this, you concluded that this is weakness. When you mention that the Prince of Ning is benevolent, that the Prince of Ning is magnanimous, there is perhaps even a trace of smugness in your hearts — thinking: *is that not simply weakness, and an easy mark?*”

“It seems I have indeed placed too much trust in you. I assumed that once I told you what was wrong, you would not do it. What I did not foresee was that in telling you what was wrong, I only gave you a boundary to probe.”

Li Chi looked toward Yu Jiuling: “Bring out the executioners.”

Yu Jiuling answered and stepped forward, calling out in a loud voice: “Executioners — where are you!”

A group of bare-chested men, each cradling a great ring-pommel blade, stepped forward in formation. One stood behind each of the condemned kneeling on the ground — behind these thousand-odd people, there now stood a thousand-odd executioners.

“You wished to probe where my limits lay — did you not?”

Li Chi spoke in a loud voice: “Then let me make it perfectly plain here and now. My limit is Tang Pidi. Whoever it may be — if they again stir up trouble and sow discord about the great general, that limit is a single sword stroke through the neck!”

When those words fell, Yu Jiuling’s hand swept downward: “Kill!”

The thousand-odd executioners brought their great ring-pommel blades sweeping down.

A thousand-odd heads tumbled to the ground. The sight of so many people bleeding at once would likely become the stuff of nightmares for everyone present, for countless years to come.

The Prince of Ning used those thousand-odd heads to make his position plain to the world. If anyone dared speak ill of Tang Pidi again, if anyone dared stir up discord, then their end would be exactly this — simple and direct.

“There will still be fish that slip through the net — you should count yourselves fortunate that today’s condemned do not include you. But do not expose yourselves again. Whoever transgresses will be punished starting from execution and rising from there — to wiping out three generations of their family, or nine generations.”

When Li Chi finished speaking, he stepped down from the elevated platform.

The watching crowd fell into absolute silence.

They had always known the Prince of Ning’s goodness and his kindness — today, for the first time, they felt the Prince of Ning’s ferocity.

At some earlier time, Changmei the Daoist had once said that Li Chi, in his heart, had never wanted to be a ruthless overlord — and so he had always had to suppress this part of himself.

Allowing just a little of the ferocity within himself to emerge, naturally, was something not everyone could withstand.

Only Changmei the Daoist had seen it so clearly: *Diudiu’er — how vast the ferocious beast he keeps caged within his heart.*

He had suffered every hardship the world could offer — and so, most of the time, he kept that ferocious beast pressed down inside him, afraid of frightening others.

He also understood perfectly well that sometimes, frightening people could serve a purpose. He simply hadn’t been willing to do it. It was not that he couldn’t.

In Jizhou City, with more than a thousand heads dropping to the ground, those who had been spreading falsehoods would hold their tongues. Those who had been hoping to play the situation for personal advantage would hold their tongues as well.

They had, at last, probed out where the Prince of Ning’s limit lay — though perhaps this was not a discovery they could take any pleasure in.

Yet this was not the end of it.

The Tingwei Office and the Intelligence Guard both moved into action, launching a sweep throughout all of Jizhou to search for and apprehend the outside agitators who had spread these rumors.

These were people who had come up from the south — whether they were Yang Jiju’s agents or Yang Xuanji’s, once they had come, every effort would be made to ensure they didn’t leave whole.

Several months later, the rumors of Commander Tang Pidi’s alleged treason finally died out entirely.

The matter seemed to have come to a close. But Li Chi understood that this kind of thing would never truly be extinguished. Even after all this — even after the realm was united in the future — there would still be people who stepped forward to stir up discord and sow discord.

The troublemakers of this age were villains. The troublemakers of that age to come would be more dangerous still — because they would believe themselves to be loyal.

—

Early autumn.

Li Chi issued orders mobilizing every available force in Jizhou and sending them all south to Suzhou, to be placed under the command of General Tang Pidi.

*You all say the great general has too many troops and harbors ambitions — then I’ll give him more. As many as are available, that’s how many he gets. There are more now, and more will follow.*

When the great army set out on the march, whether the men of the army or the civil officials, they once more understood the Prince of Ning’s resolve.

—

Jizhou City.

After Li Chi stood outside the city gate to see the great army off on its march, he turned to look at Gao Xining, who stood beside him: “Has anything changed with those three old men lately?”

Gao Xining let out a long sigh and didn’t answer — that sigh said everything.

“Those faces of theirs…”

Li Chi clicked his tongue.

During the northern frontier crisis, when he had nearly lost his life, those three old men had been desperate for the two of them to be married today and expecting a child tomorrow. And now they were treating the whole matter as if it had never been.

Gao Xining sighed: “Having a child is so difficult.”

Had her voice been even slightly louder, Li Chi would have clapped a hand over her mouth.

All the civil and military officials were standing not far away — if they overheard those words, there was no telling what rumors might spring from them.

For instance: *I heard it with my own ears — the Chief Tingwei said that having a child is too difficult, which proves beyond all doubt that the Chief Tingwei is unable to bear children!*

This was no exaggeration. There was no predicting what form any given piece of gossip might take.

Li Chi walked along, patiently saying: “Though having a child is rather difficult for us right now, it needn’t be difficult for others.”

Gao Xining’s eyes narrowed: “That sounds as though it carries deeper meaning.”

Li Chi quickly said: “No, no — nothing of the sort. How could I have a child with someone else? What I mean is — other people having children is also something worth celebrating.”

Gao Xining: “For example?”

Li Chi: “For example, someone who was unable to have children suddenly having one.”

Gao Xining: “And you still say it isn’t you?”

Li Chi: “…”

He let out a sigh: “Was I unable to? I’m simply not yet permitted to…”

Gao Xining grew curious: “What exactly is going on?”

Li Chi took her hand: “Come — back to the Tingwei Office.”

Of course there was a Tingwei Office in Jizhou City as well, though compared to the Plum Garden in Yuzhou it was a good deal smaller. After all, Plum Garden was the Cao family’s great estate.

Li Chi had also considered at one point giving Cao Lie the rights to construct future Tingwei Office premises in various locations — but Cao Lie had simply refused to be foolish enough to take it, which made things considerably less fun.

He and Gao Xining returned to the Tingwei Office, and shortly after, Li Chi had someone go out to bring someone in.

Gao Xining kept feeling that something was off about all this. When she saw a young woman in the full bloom of her years step in, cradling an infant still in swaddling clothes, she found herself looking at Li Chi once more.

The young woman appeared to be somewhere around twenty-four or twenty-five, with fine and striking features and a graceful figure.

Perhaps because she had recently given birth, Gao Xining found her eyes darting to the woman’s chest — then glancing back at her own. A small pang of defeat stirred in her heart.

Of course, she experienced this sort of defeat rather often.

That time not long ago, when she had gone to soak in the hot spring along with Liu Yingyuan and Yuan Jiabei, she had been utterly astonished.

By rights, as the eldest, she ought to be first — but in terms of natural endowment, she had suddenly found herself the fourth youngest among them.

Of course she herself was not exactly what one would call unremarkable.

She simply couldn’t understand how, when they were all girls, all growing up the same way, Liu Yingyuan and the others had somehow managed to accumulate everything in exactly the right places.

Now looking at this young woman before her, Gao Xining felt that even Liu Yingyuan would have to concede defeat in comparison. Though turning the thought over, Auntie Wu had once said that in that particular regard, things only grew more generous after having a child — and if so, Liu Yingyuan would be a match for this young lady, and might even surpass her.

Having gotten this far in her thoughts, Gao Xining gave her head a vigorous shake, thinking: what on earth am I thinking about!

One extra look — that was all it took — and she had stirred up all these ripples inside.

Li Chi walked over to the young woman’s side and said with a smile: “Let me make an introduction.”

Gao Xining’s eyes were narrowed.

Li Chi said: “This is the wife of Zhang Tang, Deputy Chief Tingwei of the Tingwei Office.”

Gao Xining’s narrowed eyes slowly began to open — wider and wider, wider and wider.

“How — how did this happen?!”

She was so astonished her mouth fell open.

Li Chi turned and said: “Go and invite Zhang Tang here.”

An attendant immediately ran out to fetch Zhang Tang, and before long Zhang Tang, thinking there was some urgent official matter, came running over in a hurry — and the moment he stepped inside and saw that woman, he froze completely. When his eyes landed on the infant in her arms, he became as still as a statue, as if in an instant he had turned into carved stone.

He was genuinely dumbfounded. He had utterly no idea what to say. His mouth hung open, yet no sound came out.

Li Chi walked off to one side and sat down, smiling: “So remember — none of you should ever think I have no means of dealing with you.”

He looked at Zhang Tang with a smile: “You can go to Shen Medical Hall to buy medicines — and I can have the people at Shen Medical Hall switch your medicines out for others. You were ruining your own body before. Afterward, I had Shen the Physician swap your medicines out for ones to nurture your health instead.”

Zhang Tang dropped to both knees with a thud. The young woman cradling the child knelt down alongside him.

—

About one hour later, in the rear courtyard of the Tingwei Office.

Gao Xining sat in the swing Li Chi had built for her, swaying gently. She asked: “What exactly happened?”

Li Chi said: “Do you still remember what Zhang Tang was doing in the very beginning?”

Gao Xining nodded: “Of course — a young shop assistant.”

Li Chi said: “This girl was the young woman who used to sing and perform at that tavern. She and Zhang Tang had always been fond of each other — they simply never dared let anyone see it.”

Gao Xining: “And how did you know about it?”

Li Chi: “I’m that clever.”

Gao Xining gave a thumbs up: “Impressive!”

Li Chi said: “Once I found out, I arranged for her to be brought here, and found an opportunity to let them meet again — and then she plied Zhang Tang with wine until he was thoroughly drunk. In his cups, he spoke the truth, and Zhang Tang that night said a great many things.”

Gao Xining: “And how did you know that?!”

Li Chi: “Not important.”

Gao Xining: “Hm?”

Li Chi: “I only listened for a little while before I left. Truly.”

Gao Xining: “Hm?”

Li Chi: “Yu Jiuling can vouch for me — just for a little while!”

Gao Xining burst out laughing.

She suddenly thought of something: “The two of them — ahem, ahem — the two of them, just that once, and there was a child?”

Li Chi: “Seems so… your angle of thinking on things is really quite sharp.”

Gao Xining said: “Do you still have that prescription? We might need it someday.”

Li Chi: “Your angle of thinking… turns out it can get even sharper.”

He tilted his head back to look at the sky: “I don’t think we’ll need it — I’m in such excellent health…”

Gao Xining also tilted her head back to look at the sky: “Well, who’s to say…”