On the morning of the third day of the fourth month, amid a series of explosions echoing through Huangming county town, the Chinese Army charged out of the mountain pass and reclaimed this now-ruined key point along the Jiange mountain road.

As the Jurchens withdrew, they had detonated their military supplies, and the remaining flames and smoke now blanketed the sky. Work to clear explosives, put out fires, and remove mines continued for most of the day, with more units gradually arriving from the rear. Toward evening, Ning Yi arrived at the site and, on a stretch of open ground where mine-clearing had just been completed that night, gathered together Pang Liu’an and other senior military commanders.

“The mountain road is narrow, and the Jurchens’ withdrawal pace hasn’t been fast. According to the report just brought back by scouts, Balisu has set up an artillery position on a hillside beside the road three li away. He’s still personally handling the rearguard, though Sheyema may have already gone ahead with Saba…” Pang Liu’an first reported the main situation at the front. “Clearing and mine-removal at Huangming County is basically complete. I can lead two regiments forward to follow up.”

“Zonghan’s retreat has been very methodical. Though it’s been a crushing defeat, over the past half month or so, they’ve largely worked out the mountain roads around Huangming County and Yushui Creek, and it’s become very difficult for our scouts to slip through anymore.” After Pang Liu’an came Chen Tian, chief of staff of the Fourth Division, who had come bearing Qu Zhengyan’s views as well. “Ten li beyond Yushui Creek and Huangming, the roads converge at Yellowhead Rock. A forceful assault on Yellowhead Rock could pin down part of their forces, but on our end, we believe the key priority right now actually isn’t further attacks on their retreat route…”

Everyone sat cross-legged on the ground as Chen Tian continued. “After all, if we’re not relying on rocket range, defending a narrow pass still favors the Jurchens. They’ve marched far from home and all want to get back — their morale hasn’t fully collapsed. If we want to inflict maximum damage on them, our division commander believes the key lies in seizing Jiange through a forceful assault — after all, our rocket supply is running low, and good steel should be used on the blade’s edge.”

“How many rockets do we have left?” Pang Liu’an asked.

Lin Qiu, sitting nearby, leaned forward. “Stock is down to sixty-three.”

Pang Liu’an’s eyes widened. “That few?”

Beside him, Chen Tian’s eyes widened too. “And who’s been using so many of them? Our division commander said long ago to use them sparingly — but you, Division Commander Pang, keep sending up request after request without end. Our Fourth Division has been under strict orders to use them only at the most critical moments.”

“Old Chen, your Fourth Division fights ambush actions — we’re the ones doing the killing at the rear, and a lot of the time we’re fighting head-on. Look, Balisu’s a cunning old fox — he’s scattered his cannons across the hills, blocking the retreat route with everything he’s got. The Jurchens are defeated, but they all still want to go home, and their fighting will is stubborn. We can’t just charge them head-on. And besides, when we do see an opportunity, we have to use it — we’ve killed plenty of men on our end too…”

“Don’t limit yourself to the tactical level — look at the bigger strategic picture, Old Pang… Our Division Commander Qu says you’re a spendthrift.”

At this, Pang Liu’an burst out laughing despite himself. “All right, all right, say whatever you like… Next time I see Qu Zhengyan, I’ll have him say it to my face.”

The setting sun sank in the west, its crimson light sweeping in from behind Huangming County. Ning Yi laughed too, then took the document Lin Qiu handed him. “All right, let me go over the overall situation.”

Everyone nodded and turned their attention to him.

“Since the offensive began in early March, up to today, enemy casualties in combat have reached nearly eleven thousand. Following the blockade of Huangming County and Yushui Creek, over fifteen thousand six hundred Jin soldiers have been taken prisoner in the mountains to the rear. There are also those unwilling to surrender, now scattered across the surrounding wild mountains — our preliminary estimate puts that number at three to five thousand as well.”

“Strategically speaking, of the more than two hundred thousand troops Wanyan Zonghan brought south from the north on this campaign, even in the best case where they truly make it back, the total won’t reach a hundred thousand at most — not to mention Old Qin still waiting for them further along the road. But we have our own troubles to take seriously as well.”

Ning Yi continued: “First, there are twenty thousand prisoners from Wangyuan Bridge; more than thirty thousand turned Han troops from the Lion Ridge-Xiukou front still need settling; here in the mountains we’ve taken another fifteen thousand prisoners; and add to that the earlier prisoners from Yushui Creek and elsewhere… Even though our rear-area militia and reserve forces have been continuously mobilized, and training and oversight of the turned Han troops is underway, I’ll be honest with you all — just managing and guarding our prisoners is nearly more than we can handle.”

Speaking of being unable to handle it, Ning Yi actually laughed, then quickly composed himself. “Then there’s the problem of those few thousand men scattered in the mountains. They’re all men who came down from the north, unable to go home now, unwilling to surrender either. Some will starve to death in the mountains; others will come out looking for trouble. Patrolling fifty li of mountain road takes manpower, and summer’s coming — if they set even a single careless fire in the mountains, they might burn themselves to death, but it’ll be trouble for us too.”

“Furthermore, our losses in the fighting so far have already been substantial. March went somewhat more smoothly, but eleven thousand enemy killed and fifteen thousand-odd taken prisoner — that came from grinding it out battle by small-scale battle. As Division Commander Pang just said, the enemy still hasn’t collapsed, and our own casualties have already reached nearly five thousand. We need to pay attention to this.”

“Strategically speaking, before we launched the offensive in March, I already discussed with everyone that one thing needs to be settled: keeping this entire enemy force pinned here permanently isn’t realistic. We don’t have enough manpower. The ideal scenario would be to break them with a single massive strike using rockets — but if we grind them down bit by bit, no matter what the exchange ratio, in the end we’ll be the ones who exhaust ourselves, and then it’ll just be that bunch in the Wu Dynasty laughing their heads off.”

“Stripping away as much of the Jurchens’ flesh as possible at the most favorable exchange ratio, or killing Zonghan, or pulling out his teeth, so that when they get back north they descend into internal chaos — that’s the most ideal outcome we can realistically aim for. So although I do love the boldness of ‘pursuing the fleeing enemy to the utmost,’ once past Huangming County and on toward Jiange, the Jurchens genuinely do fit the military maxim about not pursuing a desperate enemy too far. So I agree with Qu Zhengyan’s thinking — we should shift our strategic focus to this one chokepoint at Jiange.”

“After all, we’ll need this Jiange road ourselves in the future to get out of the mountains, and once the Jurchens are past Jiange, they still have a long way to go — at that point we can pursue at a more measured pace, which will also make it easier to coordinate with Old Qin’s side. What does everyone think?”

Pang Liu’an nodded. “Our rocket supply is already insufficient — I agree we should commit it to the strategic goal of taking Jiange. But we should still keep up the pursuit of the Jurchen forces — otherwise, they’ll destroy every road behind them.”

Once everyone else had also indicated agreement, Ning Yi nodded as well. “Split off a portion of the manpower to keep pursuing and applying pressure, but don’t get dragged into anything deep. Chen Tian, notify Qu Zhengyan to prepare a plan for seizing Jiange by force once the Jurchen forces have largely withdrawn. Jiange is easy to defend and hard to attack — if the first assault fails, the Seventh Army under Old Qin will end up cut off and isolated outside Jiange. So this battle can only succeed — failure is not an option.”

“Understood.”

After Chen Tian nodded, Ning Yi fell silent for a moment before speaking again. “There’s also one very important matter I need to repeat — even repeat several times. Tomorrow I’ll also issue it formally in writing to every division headquarters: the abuse of prisoners must stop. No more of it.”

His expression turned stern as he pulled out several sheets of paper and handed them to Pang Liu’an. “These are the prisoner-abuse cases the military discipline office uncovered these past few days — this batch is from your Second Division. Take a look first. It’s shocking. Chen Tian, you have some too.”

Pang Liu’an and Chen Tian took the investigation reports and read them carefully. Ning Yi waited a moment. “You may not agree with me calling it shocking, because these are Jin dogs — steeped in blood debts, deserving of death many times over…”

Pang Liu’an set down the report. “I’ve given warnings about this before. But honestly speaking, our division has lost too many brothers. The ones who remain fight bravely, wanting to avenge them — so sometimes it’s not that they deliberately want to abuse prisoners. Not killing those animals outright is already showing considerable restraint. What happens in between is more like… forgetting to feed them, forgetting to treat their wounds…”

Ning Yi’s gaze turned stern. “I don’t care whether every last Jurchen dies. What I care about is whether our own men turn into animals! Division Commander Pang, don’t think this is some minor detail, some small outlet for venting. This is a matter of life and death for us. It matters even more than defeating Zonghan, more than chasing them the whole way through!”

“They’re all good labor, though,” Chen Tian muttered off to the side.

Ning Yi’s gaze swept over everyone, and he shook his head.

“It must have been… over ten years ago now. I first met Zhou Tong in Shandong. He was scolding his disciple Lin Chong at the time, and later, talking with Elder Fu Lu, he said something I still remember. He said that for a martial artist, the important thing is learning to sheathe the blade. Lin Chong lacked fire in his blood, no blade in his heart — that wouldn’t do. But his other disciples, after learning martial arts, ran wild and unchecked, a blade with no sheath — that wouldn’t do either.”

“Back in the Wu Dynasty, we were all tangled up in this and that. The army had no fighting strength, soldiers just drifted through their days, weak and slippery… So I killed the emperor, cut off all paths of retreat, and after Xiaocang River, spent several more years forging this force. When the Western Xia came, someone asked me what Xiaocang River was like… Xiaocang River was like a blade honed for years — one strike, and nothing could stand against it.”

“To this day, the Chinese Army remains a blade like that. Every soldier in the Chinese Army has seen the sharpness of this blade they wield. Today he abuses prisoners out of brotherly loyalty — but tomorrow, once he’s discharged? Once he’s no longer a soldier? This blade will still be the most effective tool he has. Plenty of people will find it easy to cut through the rules of this world without a second thought. They’ll think: I fought so hard to win this world, so I deserve to enjoy it. They’ll demand all sorts of privileges beyond what others get… Gentlemen, you’ve all read those articles coming out of Lin’an. You scoffed and laughed them off — but let me tell you, that’s not some baseless scaremongering. If this balance ever tips, we’ll fall right back into the same old road every dynasty before us has walked.”

“You rely on the army to conquer the realm, but once you hold the realm, if the army expects to live in comfort and privilege, that kind of military dominance can never sustain a peaceful, prosperous age. That’s exactly why, dynasty after dynasty, rulers have come to favor civil officials over military men. Do you think this cycle, generation after generation, happens just because scholars are good at flattering words? No — it’s because if the power of military men isn’t restrained, within a century any dynasty descends into warlordism and fragmented feudal domains.”

“The more capable a person is, the more self-discipline they need, the more they must guard themselves even when alone. Today, a soldier of the Chinese Army, grieving a dead brother, can casually take another man’s life into his own hands. Once he carries that possibility in his heart, someday, out in ordinary life, he’ll run into this or that situation, and he’ll remember the blade in his hand. All these years, the reason I’ve kept insisting on military discipline, holding meeting after meeting, strictly punishing every violation — it’s so they see the sheath, so they remember at all times: military discipline is strict. And in the future, once they’re out among the people, they’ll remember: the law is just as strict as military discipline! Even if their brothers have died, this blade may not be used carelessly!”

“If we don’t do this, a new privileged class will emerge before long — and once they see themselves as a rank above the common people, they too will prey upon their own communities and oppress others. That’s exactly what the Jurchens have done. And when that day comes, our regicide and rebellion will have accomplished nothing at all. Today we say we saved the realm — tomorrow, some other Black Banner, or Red Banner, will rise up and tear us down in turn.” Ning Yi laughed coldly. “And by then, we might be the ones driven off to cling to life on some small island somewhere.”

The setting sun sank red toward the horizon. Ning Yi paused. “Going forward, we’ll face a great many problems. After the enormous losses of this great campaign, how do we ensure we keep our own reason, avoid becoming corrupted, how do we absorb and administer the millions upon millions of people, the territory we’ve seized…”

He continued: “Our roots lie in the Chinese Army. I will not allow a sense of privilege, of being above others, to take hold within the Chinese Army. We’ve simply woken up a step earlier, come to understand certain things a little sooner. We’ll use the study of natural science to expand productive capacity, so that everyone across this land, rich or poor, noble or humble, can have food to eat and books to read, so that education is no longer the exclusive privilege of a ruling class. Once the vast majority of people understand how to strive and fight for themselves, we will gradually arrive at a great commonwealth of true equality — and at that point, even if outside enemies come, everyone will understand that they must fight for themselves. It won’t just be numb, mindless soldiers serving for their pay, generals enjoying privilege while too cowardly to advance, common soldiers disrespected and left with nothing, collapsing at the first blow. I will not allow that to happen again.”

Everyone listened, falling somewhat silent. Pang Liu’an said, “I will enforce this strictly going forward.”

Ning Yi nodded. “Old Pang, I know this kind of strictness can feel rather harsh right now — overall, the Chinese Army is already the most disciplined force there is, but it’s still not enough. We simply don’t have enough people. Once soldiers are discharged in the future, we want them to take part in every layer of our society. They’ll be like the spine and skeleton holding the whole society up — so after this war ends, education and training within the army will only intensify further. I want every single one of them to become, as much as possible, an outstanding person, someone who can serve as a role model for children. I want that kind of sense of honor.”

“On the other hand,” Ning Yi said with a smile, “no one will be shortchanged either. After a great war like this, there will be many displaced people, many broken families. Alongside resettling the population, the army will regularly hold sessions teaching soldiers how to get along with women, how to start a family, how many children they might have someday. As you’ve all already seen, with the development of natural science, everyone’s children will one day have the right to an education, will grow into reasonable, cultured, respectable people. But all of this depends on one precondition, my fellow officers: the soldiers under your command must have the minds of normal human beings — not men who think of killing all day long, who drink and cause trouble and beat their wives. Men like that will never live a good life, no matter what.”

Ning Yi sighed softly. “In truth, I know that many of us have already had our whole lives ruined by this war. In this army, some have lost family members to the Jurchens, or to more than ten years of displacement and hardship… Many of you are living for the sake of revenge, and it’s hard for many to imagine starting a new life again. But you must at least admit: this world is meant for normal people to live in. There are still many young men in this army — men who lost their elders, who suffered terribly — but who will still, someday, meet a good woman, raise two good children, and when their time comes, pass away with a heart full of contentment, surrounded by children and grandchildren.”

“After everything you’ve all been through, after a lifetime of fighting — isn’t this exactly the outcome you’ve been fighting for?”

“So, gentlemen, I don’t care whether, deep down, you feel normal or not anymore, whether you can still start a new life… or whether that’s no longer possible for you. As officers, as elders, for the sake of the men under you, uphold military discipline strictly, so that they can still return to a normal life someday. And if you yourselves feel you can no longer live a good life… then let them live it for you. Beyond that, what Chen Tian said also has some truth to it — such fine, strong laborers. Kill them, and will you get to eat their meat?”

The Jurchens had run rampant across the realm, and the number of people who had died directly or indirectly at their hands numbered well into the millions. In truth, most of the Chinese Army soldiers who had fought their way here, unwavering, carried their own hidden wounds in their hearts. And most of those who had risen to the upper ranks of the army were by now middle-aged, some even approaching old age — how could they easily imagine starting over, dreaming of the day they or those around them might leave the army behind? Ning Yi’s words struck deep into many hearts, and more than a few were visibly moved. He patted the dust from himself and stood up.

“One more thing,” he said. “From now on, when addressing our fellow soldiers in the army, let’s stop using ‘brothers’ — it’s warm and familiar, but it also feels too personal.” He continued, “Starting today, let’s standardize this: we’ll call each other ‘comrades.'”

The western horizon had already swallowed half the crimson sun; the remaining light showed all the more magnificent and sweeping for it, red light climbing into the sky, burning through the clouds. Balisu, still covering the rear, Zonghan and Sheyema, moving with the retreating army through the mountains, Xiyin and Qin Shaoqian, far beyond Jiange, and even, a thousand li further still, figures in Lin’an and even in the lands of Jin — every one of them, from every direction, could see this vast crimson sun spanning the whole sky with equal clarity.

How small a thing a person is…

And yet it is precisely such small things that play out, again and again, the rises and falls, the joys and sorrows, upon this vast earth — and at certain moments, cast forth a radiance no less magnificent than that towering red sun. That is the thing humanity longs to leave behind within this boundless universe…