The wind moaned mournfully, the lights of the small county town gradually dimming out—but by midnight, torches began streaming through the streets in great numbers, and the town suddenly grew lively again. Down at the docks, lights had already come on aboard several of the large ships, a small ripple of commotion spreading outward.

Zhou Pei cracked her window open a narrow sliver and peeked out. She saw that several of the officers traveling with the ship had already been roused from sleep, and soldiers were disembarking in units. Few guests were lodging aboard the large ships at this hour, but the soldiers still made a point of steering clear of the areas where the noble guests were staying. Listening for a while, Zhou Pei gathered that it was Lu Chun, son of Marquis Wangyuan Lu Peijiang, who had gotten into a dispute at a brothel and been forcibly abducted by bandits.

Though Jiangning was a great city, among the ranks of the nobility, Marquis Wangyuan Lu Peijiang was a man of considerable standing in his own right. This fleet’s journey north was escorting the birthday tribute for the Empress Dowager, and several officers traveling along with it were capable men from within Jiangning’s military—but even they counted for little in the face of a marquis’s rank. Everyone had assumed that with the canal route being generally secure, and these young nobles accompanied by their own family guards, there’d be no real trouble in going out for a bit of fun—who could have guessed such an incident would occur. The moment word spread, everyone sprang into action at once, charging into the county town.

With such an uproar breaking out, security both around the docks and aboard the ships had already been tightened, and within the county town, the local yamen’s men were surely being mobilized to assist as well. Zhou Pei naturally had no particular sympathy for disputes over women at a brothel, and after listening for a while, heard the sounds of Ning Yi and Xiao Chan being roused and getting up next door as well. She tiptoed back to bed. Ning Yi knocked on her door and asked if she’d been woken by the noise; a moment later, Xiao Chan brought over a pot of tea, set it down, quietly relayed what she’d heard, and then left.

The two of them were, in truth, not so far apart in age—Xiao Chan, too, still had the look of a young girl, her features still somewhat unrefined, though having just gotten out of bed, she’d hastily pinned her hair up in the style of a married woman. Zhou Pei, lying in bed, compared herself to her for a moment, and by then had already forgotten all about the young marquis’s predicament.

But the commotion outside continued in waves, drifting near and far, showing no sign of settling for a long while, so she naturally couldn’t sleep. Before long, the stern cabins nearby grew similarly lively—someone had come looking for Ning Yi. They spoke together out in the corridor, and the young princess listened in, ears pricked.

“That young Lord Lu… still hasn’t been found…”

“Whoever did this is highly skilled—we’ve searched all of Xuyi and still can’t find him. He must have scouted the place out beforehand. At this rate, we won’t be leaving tomorrow.”

“They picked their target well. If this was planned in advance, could it be… they’re after the birthday tribute?”

“Doesn’t seem likely. On this particular route…”

The ones speaking with Ning Yi were, naturally, Wenren Buer, Qi Xinyong, and the others—seasoned men of the martial world all, who could tell from the sheer method of the abduction alone just how difficult tracking the culprits would be, and whether this was mere chance or a deliberate plot. But to conclude from this alone that the culprits were after the birthday tribute was, in the end, perhaps reading too much into things. This particular route had always been a prosperous one, heavily patrolled by the authorities. They were currently docked on the Xuyi side, and while the far side of this large county bordered Hongze Lake, home to a few water bandits, the idea that they’d dare touch the birthday tribute, or lay a hand on someone of marquis rank, still seemed rather far-fetched.

Still, Ning Yi and the others bore no particular responsibility for the young lord’s fate, and discussing the matter now, as a form of mental preparation, seemed a reasonable enough precaution.

That night, the soldiers and constables of Xuyi county, along with most of the officers and troops aboard the ships, spent the entire night scouring the town until dawn broke. The following day, the fleet did not set out. The deputy commander responsible for the fleet’s safety, named Chen Jingui, had been personally asked by Lu Peijiang, the young lord’s father, to look after his son when he boarded the ship—if something happened to Lu Chun on his watch, then even if he managed to deliver the birthday tribute safely to Bianliang, he’d likely face grave consequences upon returning.

By now, most of those who had gradually made their way back from the town had heard about Lu Chun’s abduction. Since the fleet wasn’t departing, they were content enough to spend a day resting in Xuyi, though everyone reinforced their personal security. Some remarked that if they’d already reached Huai’an, there would have been far more to do for entertainment.

Everyone aboard was from wealthy, prominent families, and that day, some paired off to go sightseeing, while others, unwilling to wander too far, stayed at the docks and had restaurants come set up banquets, or invited opera troupes and courtesans from the brothels to entertain them. The docks weren’t normally kept in the best sanitary condition, but this side had always catered to official traffic, and with banquets being laid out and operas performed below, it took on quite an unusual, festive air.

In truth, by this point Xuyi county town had already gone into a state of heightened security, and going out now carried relatively little actual risk. Wenren Buer, however, remained concerned that someone might be targeting the birthday tribute. The political situation in the Wu state was sensitive at present—after Fang La’s rebellion had been suppressed, his followers had scattered, and banditry and unrest had, if anything, grown more common across various regions. Wenren Buer, working within the Secret Investigation Bureau, was privy to more information than most, but this particular route had generally remained safe enough that the idea of someone plotting to rob the birthday tribute did carry something of a jumpy, overcautious quality to it.

The three Qi brothers had, after all, previously been active in the south and weren’t especially familiar with conditions around Huai’an. Ning Yi, too, was someone who trusted intelligence over speculation, and after asking around among a few people familiar with the local area, his own suspicions on the matter had lessened somewhat. But that morning, word kept trickling in about the bandits, and the several units of soldiers Deputy Commander Chen sent out kept coming back empty-handed, prompting Ning Yi to discuss the matter with Wenren Buer and the others.

“At this point, the odds that someone’s actually after the birthday tribute still seem fairly low, and there’s no getting Deputy Commander Chen and his men to raise their guard any higher than they already have—there’s no defending forever against a determined thief. But fortunately, that’s not really our concern. I think we should put our heads together and come up with some way to sidestep the possibility, just in case…”

He discussed the matter with Wenren Buer, Qi Xinyong, and the others, and also called over Su Wenyu and Su Yanping to sit in and listen. Everyone offered their own thoughts for a while, and then someone delivered a calling card from outside, seemingly an invitation for Ning Yi to go out and meet someone. Ning Yi had no acquaintances in this area and had kept a low profile along the way, so he opened the card and checked the signature first. The card was written in a chaotic cursive script, and the person inviting him out had the surname Li. It took him a moment of careful study before he finally recognized the name. A flicker of puzzlement crossed his mind.

“Uh… this guy… running around all over the place, is he…”

…

While Ning Yi was discussing matters with Wenren Buer and the others, along the shores of Hongze Lake between Xuyi and Huai’an, more than a dozen riders were making their way through the hills. The sky was thick with clouds, and not far from the lakeshore, cargo boats could occasionally be seen passing by. The riders pointed things out to one another, then stopped by a stand of low woods. A middle-aged man among them stood pointing out over the water, speaking.

“Among those court officers, it seems there’s at least one cautious sort. It’s less than half a day’s journey from Xuyi to Huai’an—if they’d pressed on through the night, they’d have reached Huai’an well before deep night fell. But instead, that fleet’s stopped right here in the channel, refusing to enter the lake mouth. Still, if not for that, we wouldn’t have gotten such a fine opportunity. Now that we’ve captured that young lord, the main fleet won’t simply leave—Xuyi’s yamen simply doesn’t have the manpower for a proper search. But whoever’s concerned about that birthday tribute surely won’t want the goods sitting in Xuyi indefinitely—only once it reaches Huai’an will everything truly be safe. That means these stretches of lakeshore here are exactly where our chance to act will come…”

The man speaking was tall, with a pair of blades strapped to his back, dressed in the manner of a martial artist of the greenwood, his eyes sharp and alert, his tone calm and measured. The others, numbering more than ten, had dismounted and were wandering about casually. One of them said, “This isn’t the best spot to strike—there are two more stretches ahead. We’ll see how things stand when the time comes.” He seemed quite familiar with the surrounding terrain.

Some of them occasionally glanced over at the man with the twin blades on his back, and the burly, curly-bearded leader among them said, “Brother Zhu, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but this matter is simply too significant. We’ve done our small-scale operations here on Hongze Lake, and we’ve even robbed government shipments of goods before—but something as thorny as the birthday tribute may well be more than we can swallow. You show up out of nowhere, offering us a windfall like this, and I genuinely can’t make up my mind about it. If this goes wrong, it could spell utter ruin for all our brothers here on Hongze Lake.”

The twin-blade swordsman had by now dismounted, and once the curly-bearded man finished speaking, he gave a smiling clasped-hand salute. “People out there say Brother Qin Weihong, the River Tiger, is reckless—I see now that rumor must be mistaken… But there’s no need for Brother Qin to be so modest. We brothers heard that over these past six months, Brother Qin has already brought a dozen large and small water strongholds across Hongze Lake under his banner, ready to accomplish something great—that’s precisely why we’ve come to offer our services. With the Sagely Duke rising up now, shaking the whole realm, and the court stretched thin with no attention to spare eastward, this is precisely the moment for heroes to make their mark. But this is only my own suggestion, brothers—we’re well aware this shipment is a thorny one, and it’s only reasonable for Brother Qin to proceed with caution. Whether to take it or not is entirely Brother Qin’s call to make. If Brother Qin is worried that we brothers might be trying to drag you all into some private feud with the court, that too is a perfectly reasonable concern.”

The words from the man surnamed Zhu were smoothly delivered, flattering Qin Weihong while making clear the decision rested entirely with him. Qin Weihong, the burly bandit known as the River Tiger, stroked his beard, smiling without a word, wearing the air of a man who already had a plan in mind. Someone off to the side asked, “And if he simply doesn’t move at all—insists on waiting until the young lord is rescued before setting out, or has the official ships from Huai’an come out ahead to escort them instead—then what?”

The twin-blade swordsman shook his head. “If he doesn’t move at all, then we simply continue to keep them tied up here in Xuyi, letting them exhaust themselves trying to rescue the young lord. Some among them may even grow anxious, while the commanding officer refuses to let the ships leave without him—that alone could spark internal discord. As for the latter possibility… this route has always been fairly peaceful, and with no clear sign yet of any plot to rob the shipment, sending for reinforcements now, on a hunch, would be premature—how many troops would even be willing to answer such a call? With the enemy hidden and themselves exposed, their best course is to seize the initiative and get the birthday tribute to Huai’an first.”

He paused. “Even so, they’ll certainly still take some precautions regardless. But fortune favors the bold, as they say—if there’s truly a chance to seize this shipment, there’s no avoiding some risk. I won’t overstate things, brothers, but managing to draw the point of action here to Hongze Lake, and forcing them to split their forces, is already about the best opportunity we could hope for. If we can truly seize this shipment, heroes across the realm will surely flock to join us. We brothers only hope to gain some share of the spoils, to help prepare for… for the Sagely Duke’s eventual comeback…”

Having said all this, the twin-blade swordsman’s expression grew somewhat somber. The others assumed he was one of Fang La’s scattered followers from the battle at Hangzhou, and thought nothing more of it. After a while, the swordsman mounted his horse and left ahead of the others, who remained behind studying the terrain. Once the stranger was gone, one of them finally spoke up. “Can we really trust this fellow surnamed Zhu?”

“At this point, it’s all been these brothers of his doing all the work—they’ve even gone and abducted the court’s own young lord. They clearly don’t care whether they live or die. We haven’t burned our bridges with the court like that yet, chief. This is something we really need to think through carefully.”

“We may not have burned our bridges yet, but do you really think the court would tolerate us regardless? Brother, I think what this Zhu fellow said made sense. The plan is his to propose, but whether it’s right or not is for us to judge. Given how things stand now, if our stronghold truly wants to grow into something greater, this really is about the best chance we’re going to get…”

As it turned out, this group were bandits operating on Hongze Lake, and Qin Weihong, the River Tiger, had only recently unified the underworld factions across the lake when a few men had shown up seeking him out, saying they had a fortune to offer him—referring to this matter of the birthday tribute. These men claimed to be commanders under Fang La, scattered across the martial world after the fall of their cities, with nowhere left to call home. As men with nothing left to lose, with no way back, before Qin Weihong’s side had even made a decision, they had already gone ahead and abducted the young lord themselves, declaring that the opportunity was now at hand—whether to rob the ship or not was up to Qin Weihong’s side to decide, but even if they chose not to act, the abduction of the young lord was something they themselves would shoulder regardless, given how deep their own enmity with the court already ran. This bold, unflinching declaration had won them no small amount of admiration among the group, and stirred their interest considerably.

Still, given the sheer scale of the undertaking, the group deliberated further. Someone pointed out that the renowned Liangshan Marsh, at the very outset of their uprising, had also robbed a birthday tribute shipment—proof, it seemed, that anyone hoping to accomplish something great inevitably had to rob such a shipment at some point. Though the tribute Liangshan had seized back then had been far smaller, nothing comparable to this current shipment. But Liangshan, at the time, had had relatively few hands to work with, whereas this group, having now unified all of Hongze Lake, commanded close to a thousand men. Before long, the conversation among them had shifted to the question of exactly where to strike.

There was a main road running along the lakeshore, and as the band of bandits searched for a suitable spot along the water to strike, the twin-blade swordsman rode west, heading toward Xuyi, and met up with several men dressed as traveling merchants at a roadside teahouse. He sat down, drank a cup of tea, and said, “Took some talking, but I think this lot’s genuinely tempted. Not sure how things stand at the docks, though.”

One of the men in the teahouse said, “Brother Zhu, true to your reputation as the Marvelous Strategist, you’ll be glad to hear—word just came that the steward in charge of the ship’s cargo and the leading deputy commander have had a falling out. He’s insisting the birthday tribute takes priority, saying something’s off about the situation and they should push on to Huai’an first. But the officer refuses to leave just yet. Seems our little diversion here in Xuyi really has caught the attention of those traveling with the fleet—some worried about the cargo, others worried about the young lord’s safety. At this rate, it’ll either come to internal discord, or they’ll end up splitting their forces. Only, brother, I’ve been wondering—if they do split their forces, and that River Tiger actually manages to pull off the theft, what then?”

The twin-blade swordsman shook his head. “Never mind whether they can pull it off—even if they do, this shipment is far too conspicuous for them to swallow. It’s worth a fortune, and the court will absolutely send troops after it. Around the canal route, his dozen or so strongholds on Hongze Lake don’t have the kind of terrain advantage our own marsh does—they’d be wiped out in no time. It’ll actually be easier for us to move the goods in the confusion. Even if we can’t carry it all off, we can just sink it in the lake and let the whole realm know it was us, Liangshan, who tripped up the court right here—this trip won’t have been wasted either way. And conveniently, the bandits on Hongze Lake are skilled in water combat—we can recruit a few of the better ones, bring them back with us, and after a few battles along the way, whoever’s left will be well-tested fighters.”

The others nodded. “Truly a clever plan that serves several purposes at once.”

One of them laughed. “Even if that Qin Weihong fails to pull it off, he’ll surely still get some of the government troops killed or wounded in the attempt. And on top of that, once they think they’ve foiled this plot, they’ll grow overconfident—which will make it all the easier for us to strike later on. The only real risk is if some of Qin Weihong’s men get captured, which might tip the government troops off that there’s yet another group with designs on them…”

The twin-blade swordsman laughed. “Even then, all they’ll know is that it was a few scattered remnants of Fang La’s forces. It’ll put them slightly on guard, jumping at shadows—which, if anything, makes it easier for me to work my schemes.”

As they were speaking, a tall young man with fair, handsome features and loose, unbound hair approached, and after a moment sat down among them, cupping his hands in greeting to the twin-blade swordsman. “Brother Zhu’s back. How did it go?”

The twin-blade swordsman recounted the situation with Qin Weihong’s group, then asked, “Brother Shi, did you just kill someone?”

The young man shook his head, lowering his voice. “Just broke the legs of two soldiers. I moved fast—they never got a good look at me.” There was a certain disdainful pride in his tone as he said it.

“Good, good—it’s not the right time to be killing anyone just yet. Just keep them rattled and on edge.” Having said this, the twin-blade swordsman went on, “How are things on Xiaoyi’s end?”

The young man surnamed Shi laughed heartily. “There’s only the one place in Xuyi worth mentioning, the West Garden, and its top courtesan, Ji Lianhong, was already thoroughly charmed by Xiaoyi yesterday. If not for that, with so many young lords and nobles heading over there yesterday, we’d have had a hard time figuring out who was worth targeting. But I did hear today that some rather well-known lady seems to have arrived as well, also staying at the West Garden—though she didn’t make an appearance yesterday. From what I hear, this woman would probably be the easiest one to lure aboard the ship.”

“Who is she?”

“One of the capital’s Four Great Beauties—Li Shishi.” The young man laughed. “From what Xiaoyi says, she’s quite the talented and refined lady, and he seems to have taken something of a shine to her himself. She seemed rather taken with Xiaoyi too—by the time I left, the two of them were already deep in conversation. Whether Xiaoyi’s just playing the part, or whether it’s turned into something real, I couldn’t say… ha ha…”

At this, everyone burst out laughing. Those gathered here were, in fact, another group that had come out from Liangshan—the man with the twin blades on his back was none other than the Marvelous Strategist Zhu Wu, and the young man was Nine-Dragon-Tattooed Shi Jin. The “Xiaoyi” they spoke of was none other than Lu Junyi’s household servant, “Prodigal” Yan Qing. Though he always presented himself as a mere servant, Yan Qing’s martial skill was formidable, his mastery of wrestling techniques unmatched anywhere on Liangshan—even the fierce, untamable “Black Whirlwind” Li Kui was no match for him in a bout. On Liangshan, should the Black Whirlwind ever fly into a rage, only Song Jiang and Yan Qing could reliably rein him in.

“Prodigal” Yan Qing, formidable in martial skill and easygoing and affable by nature, got along well with everyone at Liangshan. Beyond his martial prowess, he was equally accomplished in music and singing, and with his handsome looks besides, he had always been the most sought-after guest whenever he visited the pleasure quarters. It had been Yan Qing who’d first gone out to gather intelligence the day before, winning over the West Garden’s top courtesan, and afterward striking up acquaintance with several of the young nobles who’d disembarked from the fleet. In Zhu Wu’s scheme, having someone of Yan Qing’s caliber slip aboard the ship would be worth far more than any ordinary informant.

The others, knowing him to be reliable and unlikely to bungle things, joked around for a while longer before turning to other matters. “Brother Lin and the others should be back at Liangshan by now, I’d think…”

“The whole realm’s been shaken by what happened in Jiangning—Brother Lin and the others really made quite a name for themselves there. We’d best hurry up on our end too.”

“Once we’re back, I’d like to go take a look at Dulong Ridge myself—I hear the men of the Zhu Family Estate are quite formidable… shouldn’t we start thinking about how to take that place down too?”

“How’d you know we’re planning to go after Dulong Ridge…”

“The strategist’s laying out big plans this time—we’ve already taken Zeng Family Market, there’s no way we’d leave Dulong Ridge standing…”

“Brother Song’s always seemed to favor seeking amnesty, though…”

“That was then, this is now. When Xi Junyu spoke up that day about seizing this opportunity, Brother Song wasn’t too pleased about it at first, but in the end I think he agreed all the same. What do you think, Brother Zhu?”

“…It really is a different time now.” Zhu Wu said quietly, then added, “But deep down, I think Brother Song still wants amnesty in the end. Still, Brother Song also knows that the bigger a stir we make now, the better things will go for us later if amnesty does come through.”

“Enough of that talk. I wonder if Brother Lin and the others got hurt this time in Jiangning, how the fighting actually went—I hear Fang La’s men included some genuinely skilled fighters. Not sure who all they managed to save…”

“I heard that merchant family surnamed Su was wiped out entirely…”

“Of course they had to be killed to the last. Brother Xi Junyu isn’t the most skilled fighter, but he’s certainly formidable in his own right, and with him set on revenge, who could possibly stand in his way…”

This group hadn’t originally set out with a fully fixed target—it was only in recent days that they’d set their sights on this birthday tribute. They had no fixed base of operations out here, and while they could send word of their own situation back by carrier pigeon, receiving any information in return was far more difficult; what they knew of Lin Chong and the others came only through word passed along informal channels, and was understandably rather hazy. But the battle at Jiangning had undeniably sent shockwaves through the entire realm, stunning everyone with what the heroes of Liangshan had accomplished there.

As for the detailed news of Bao Xu and the others being severely wounded, that was something they had yet to learn.

…

As for Liangshan’s covert involvement behind all this, it was something Ning Yi, having just been through the massacre of an entire household and having left Jiangning behind, could hardly have imagined. Even the notion that “someone might be after the birthday tribute” wasn’t something he could say with any certainty—his discussion with Wenren Buer and the others amounted to little more than a precautionary exercise in reasoning backward, considering what approach he himself might take if he were the one plotting such a thing.

He treated the whole discussion simply as a way of training people like Su Wenyu and Su Yanping. The young county princess next door, however, took it rather more seriously, pressing herself against the cabin wall to listen in fragments for a good while, turning over all sorts of ideas of her own in her head, itching to rush over and share them with Ning Yi. But Ning Yi and the others soon wrapped up the discussion, and not long after, word came of the argument between the Consort’s estate steward and Deputy Commander Chen. By this point, Ning Yi had already returned to his room, continuing to write out some of the material he intended to present to Qin Siyuan.

Toward evening, the young man named Zhuo Yunfeng came to see Ning Yi, wearing an expression of grave, formal seriousness, as though preparing for some solemn negotiation…