Shao Yao had not played in quite some time and her hands were itching badly. The moment she confirmed Wu Yong had grasped the rules, she was ready to go to war.
First round — Wu Yong was routed completely.
By the second, he had begun to grasp the underlying logic. Shao Yao needed twice as long as before to bring him down.
By the third round, he was meeting her move for move. He still lost, but the gap had closed sharply.
Hua Zhi was not surprised. However gifted Shao Yao was, she was no match for a general who had spent years guarding the frontier. Had Wu Yong been otherwise, Yanxi would have had cause for concern.
The two of them were well-matched in their own way — one clearly pulling punches out of consideration, the other fiercely competitive — and they spent the entire day in the courtyard. The Hua family trickled home one after another; neither of them moved.
Hua Yizheng took in the scene and made no move to approach. “When did General Wu arrive?”
“He’s been playing with Shao Yao all day.” Hua Zhi looked at her grandfather. “Have everyone come and watch. Starting tomorrow, everyone is to learn this. We’ll add it to the Hua family school as a subject — call it recreation, if nothing else.”
Hua Yizheng looked at her for a long moment, then walked forward first. The Hua family gathered around the sand table, ringing it tightly.
In this round, Shao Yao had pushed all the way to the enemy commander — but her own base had been taken. Wu Yong won.
He looked up at the person across from him: eyes bright, not the slightest irritation at the loss. Wu Yong felt the blood in his body run a little warmer than usual. That was exhilarating. He hadn’t expected Shao Yao to be not only a gifted physician, but no poor hand at military strategy either.
“I wonder if Shao Yao might have time tomorrow? I’d like a rematch.”
Shao Yao had no reason whatsoever to decline — her eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. Hua Zhi had wanted to add a word of caution but didn’t manage it in time. Still, it would all be taking place right under her nose, and given how oblivious Shao Yao could be, unless Wu Yong came out and said something plainly she would probably not pick up on any of it. Thinking that it would be Wu Yong who ended up suffering for his own strategy, Hua Zhi decided to say nothing.
The hour was growing late. Wu Yong politely declined the Hua family’s invitation to stay for dinner and took his leave briskly. The sand table naturally remained behind.
Hua Zhi returned to her room, took her medicinal congee, then spread out paper and brush. Her wounds weren’t fully healed, but light writing was no longer a strain. Since this was for her own family’s use, she wrote out the rules in thorough detail, and before she knew it several large pages were filled.
Beside her, Shao Yao watched and seethed with mild envy. “Hua Hua, you never explained it this carefully when you taught me.”
“If you wanted to study the classical histories, I would annotate every line for you word by word.” Hua Zhi slipped the page out of Shao Yao’s hand, placed it at the bottom of the stack, and looked at her with an amused half-smile. “Shall I?”
Shao Yao shook her head enthusiastically. She wanted nothing to do with any of that!
Hua Zhi rolled up the pages and rapped her lightly on the head with them. “The Hua family has been civil officials for generations. The purpose of a sand table isn’t to teach them calligraphy. Of course the explanations need to be thorough.”
That was… actually hard to argue with. Shao Yao conceded the point and made it up to her by scooping her into the new wheelchair that had been made, and wheeling her out.
The study was occupied not only by those of the main branch, but by Hua Yizheng’s brothers as well. When they saw Hua Zhi, the murmur of conversation stopped. Hua Pingyu rose and came to the doorway, lowering his voice. “Why aren’t you resting? Is something the matter?”
“There is, actually.” Hua Zhi glanced inside. “Is this a bad time? I can come back later…”
“Nothing is off-limits where you’re concerned. Come in.” Hua Yizheng stepped out from behind the study desk to look at what she was holding. “For me?”
Hua Zhi passed it over. “It’s about the sand table.”
The others gathered around, passing the pages along one by one. Hua Zhi patted Shao Yao’s hand. “You don’t need to wait here. Go do what you need to do.”
She had done nothing but play at the sand table all day, and there were still herbs left untended. Shao Yao grinned sheepishly and slipped away. She genuinely had no desire to sit in a room full of people swapping book references — and even if no one had ever actually been unkind to her there, fragments of faint, half-there memories surfaced sometimes, as though in some other life she had been treated rather harshly…
Hua Yizheng finished reading. He looked up at this granddaughter who kept surprising him. “The rules of this sand table game — you devised them?”
“I’m only borrowing from what others have done before me. But since the Hua family’s future now rests here at Yinshan Pass, we need some foundation of our own. Being scholars alone isn’t enough. When the fighting actually starts, no one will care whether you’re a Hua.” Her words were lucid and unflinching. “But asking the Hua family to entirely abandon letters for the sword is also unworkable. The Hua family’s roots have nothing to do with the word ‘military.’ I kept turning it over, and I kept coming back to: use what we’ve already learned here.”
Hua Zhi touched her temple. “The Hua family has stood at the center of the court for generations because of their minds. That doesn’t change with the location.”
“Ha ha ha ha!” Hua Yizheng broke into sudden, unrestrained laughter. The sound carried, and the people inside and outside the room all exchanged glances — it was the first time in this entire year that anyone had heard the old patriarch laugh with such unguarded delight.
“Father.” Hua Pingyang moved closer, concerned. Hua Yizheng waved him off, wiped the corners of his eyes, and said, “I’m happy — genuinely happy. Zhi’er, tell me — what should we do?”
“Negotiate with Wu Yong. The Hua family needs to enter the garrison. No matter how many military texts one reads, without practical application it’s all empty theory — and empty theory harms everyone. Wu Yong will agree.”
“Oh?” Hua Yizheng raised an eyebrow.
Hua Zhi shook her head lightly. “This has nothing to do with Yanxi. The Wu family and Yinshan Pass have a shared fate — if the pass holds, the Wu family is secure. If Yinshan Pass falls, Wu Yong falls with it. By now it’s no secret that the Chaoli tribe never gave up their ambitions, and in the north the drought has been severe — the steppe tribes are restless. Wu Yong understands all too clearly that if both sides were to move at once, Yinshan Pass might receive no reinforcements whatsoever. Every elite force in Great Qing would be sent east. His position is not a comfortable one. Grandfather — you served as a second-rank official. That is the highest a civil minister can rise. Your perspective, your depth of strategic understanding — these are beyond most men. Wu Yong would have to be a fool not to make use of you.”
Hua Zhi’s tone lightened for a moment. “In fact, he is already making use of you, isn’t he? Why else would there have been an assassination attempt?”
In that room, four elders and four grown men sat listening in silence as the youngest among them spoke with complete clarity. This girl who was speaking did not know that before she entered, they had been discussing precisely this — the road ahead — and had reached an impasse. Now they had their answer.
Hua Yizheng smiled. “You have that much confidence in your grandfather?”
“Naturally. I was taught by you, after all, and I’m already this capable — how much worse could you be?” Hua Zhi said.
Exactly whose virtues was she singing praises of here? Hua Yizheng squinted at her.
Hua Zhi was entirely unbothered. Her grandfather had always been a paper tiger where she was concerned. “The sand table is just one form of theorizing on paper. But it isn’t entirely without value either. Taken to its furthest depth, it can give someone command over the full picture — every movement of every side held within one’s grasp.”
But so far Hua Zhi had not found anyone who had reached that level. Not herself, not Yanxi either — he had a remarkably strong strategic instinct, but was still a little young. Some things could only truly be given by the weight of years.
Even as she said it, Hua Yizheng found himself somewhat tempted. “Tomorrow I’ll have people make several more sand tables. Everyone should carve out time to learn.”
Hua Zhi nodded. “Don’t go to the offices tomorrow. Wait for Wu Yong to come. And there’s one more matter — the Hua family’s riding and archery need to be properly trained. When it truly counts, the only thing one can rely on is oneself.”