The twentieth of the seventh month. Night fell over Chengdu, and the city began to seethe with uproar.

“They really came after all…”

In the Five Lakes Inn on the north side of the city, sensing the commotion outside, Yu Hezhong went out into the courtyard, climbed to the second floor, and gazed off into the distance. In his line of sight, flames were rising — clearly, the anticipated unrest had broken out that night.

The inn he was staying at was under the protection of Liu Guangshi’s forces, so there was no need to worry about safety. Yan Daolun, coming up to the second floor as well, found someone from the front hall bringing in a piece of paper. “There are Huaxia Army soldiers outside. They say we shouldn’t go out tonight.”

Yan Daolun nodded, and then someone else came around from behind. “Mingxin Ward over there is sealing off the roads.”

Mingxin Ward was located not far behind this inn, across the river. Yan Daolun, Yu Hezhong, and the others went over to the second-floor room and pushed open the window there, seeing that gongs were indeed sounding over that way, and people had already begun guarding the ward gates — household guards from a wealthy estate were streaming out with clubs in hand: “We are the private guards of the Nie household. Tonight we’re protecting the safety of everyone in the ward — please, everyone, do not leave the ward carelessly.”

“Nie Shaotang.” Yu Hezhong heard Yan Daolun say in a low voice. “He’s thrown in with the Black Banner completely.”

This Nie Shaotang had originally been a local gentry figure; during the war in the southwest, he had been persuaded by Shishi to surrender and had made no trouble since. Yu Hezhong had heard the man’s name before, when Yan Daolun had first taken him to see Shishi. That he was now stepping forward on his own to maintain order meant he was fully committed to going along with the Huaxia Army.

He thought back to the mood he’d been in when he saw Shishi the day before yesterday — on the one hand, he didn’t wish to see the Huaxia Army truly harmed; on the other, seeing this kind of preparedness now left him with an uncomfortable feeling — he still wished, somehow, for the chaos to be a bit bigger.

In the end, he only said, “The Huaxia Army is prepared.”

Yan Daolun nodded. “Of course they’d be prepared… now it depends on how much resolve the others have…”

…

“The Huaxia Army is prepared…”

Having had his servants fetch a ladder and surveyed the scene from atop his courtyard wall for a while, Guan Shanhai murmured this to himself, countless thoughts turning over in his mind…

“It just depends on how big this can get.”

He climbed back down the ladder and paced around the courtyard several times. A young woman, already dressed, approached with light steps, only to be impatiently pushed aside. He then called over his most trusted servant and gave a low order: “Tell Yan Ying and the others to be ready. Whether we act or not depends on how the situation develops…”

His pulse pounded, as feverish as midsummer heat…

…

South of the city, Huo Liangbao waved his hand, signaling his blade-and-spear-bearing brothers to slowly retreat back into the courtyard. He himself stepped backward, one step at a time.

He shut the gate and bolted it.

The group stood in the courtyard in silence for a long while, looking at one another without speaking.

Standing by the gate, Huo Liangbao clenched his fists, crumpling the document the Huaxia Army had given him into a ball, an immense sense of shame and defeat washing over him.

After a while, the sharpest-minded man among the escorts moved, fetching a ladder and setting it against the wall to look outside.

“The Black Banner’s lapdogs are still there…”

“Still there…”

“They’re leaving…”

Amid this string of reports, after a good while, the man on the wall finally swallowed and turned back. “They’ve gone.”

Huo Liangbao turned to face the others, all of them eyeing each other eagerly. After a long moment, Huo Liangbao raised the crumpled paper ball in his hand and hurled it away.

“To hell with it—”

He turned, drew back the bolt, and pulled the gate open with force. Someone behind him let out a savage roar. Huo Liangbao pushed off with his feet and charged out the door!

The night wind stirred gently.

Someone pulled a trigger—

The scene cuts back.

The twenty-ninth of the sixth month. Ning Xi, having finally settled the matter of her younger brother’s third-class merit medal, walked into the Chengdu City Patrol Office’s temporary command center together with Fang Shuchang, Hou Wu, Xu Shaoyuan, Su Wenfang, and several others. The command center was vast, with people, desks, and files coming and going everywhere.

After a while, Ning Yi arrived, gathering the senior staff together and passing around a document.

“…After all this time preparing, the organizational matters can finally be settled. In early August we’ll hold the military parade, and at the same time we can convene the assembly. The procedures on both the civil and military fronts can also be set, and the assessment standards are already drafted in preliminary form… On your end, security is a major issue. With such a major event coming up, plenty of people will want to cause trouble. Just recently, people in the city have been going on about how they want to ‘introduce themselves’ to us… In the old days, it was the wandering heroes of the realm who wanted to introduce themselves to us; this time it’s a lot of Confucian scholars — nothing wrong with that either. We should give them a good… introduction, get to know each other.”

Ning Yi tapped the table.

“By our estimate, the moment this schedule is announced, tension in the city will spike immediately. The parade is set for August, so before the end of July, there’ll be a group of people who don’t know when to quit and will want to take a desperate gamble, whether by assassination or by stirring unrest, to sabotage our plans ahead of time. My thinking is: first, put out the bait. Guide their thinking so they try to kill me, rather than trying to disrupt the parade or the assembly…”

“The Bamboo Registry will handle the public-opinion guidance on this front, reinforcing the idea of assassination as their obsession while downplaying any thoughts of disrupting the parade and assembly. At the same time, we can plant the idea that the army entering the city marks the final deadline, pushing them to try to seize their chance before then… It’s not as though we haven’t given them an opportunity — but if they place too much hope on this and it fails, their next steps will only get harder, and fewer of them will still be willing to try…”

“The household registration survey of the past two years has proven very useful. This time, everyone who’s come through Jianmen Pass has been registered upon entering the city — so far, over eight thousand seven hundred, and it’ll certainly pass ten thousand, maybe even fifteen thousand. With this list, you’ve already done the first round of screening. We can now have the Bamboo Registry help compile summaries, and screen out the group posing the greatest danger first…”

“The elite units from each army are currently being pulled together, and will coordinate with your work when the time comes. In the past, when we had fewer people and smaller territory, the common folk under us were relatively simple, and it was easy to screen for enemies. Now it’s different — the territory is larger, and we don’t know who’s good or bad. Our defenses have to be comprehensive across the board. We need to use the fewest people to achieve the greatest efficiency, which requires proper organization and coordination…”

“So… bring the map of Chengdu… Using this detailed map as the basis, every street, ward, and road needs a reasonable allocation of manpower — how many people per street, where the crowds are thickest, which spots are key, which are fire hazards, how many water-cart teams to station, how many doctors can be deployed, how many soldiers assigned to storm any hard points, and if a gap appears somewhere, how quickly reinforcements can arrive — all of this must be worked out in full.”

“These matters have already been discussed before. The preliminary survey of Chengdu is mostly complete. We have a bit over twenty days left; every plan and contingency must be finalized, and one or two covert drills carried out. This time, small incidents can be tolerated — if someone sets fire to their own home, there’s nothing we can do about that — but we cannot allow major chaos. When necessary, my location can be exposed to draw them toward me, and then we round them all up in one sweep…”

“For this operation, Fang Shuchang has overall responsibility, including liaison with the Bamboo Registry and the intelligence department; Hou Wu will continue overseeing patrol and constable work, and will also take over coordination with the army’s reinforcements afterward; Xu Shaoyuan is responsible for medical care, firefighting, and all matters of the aftermath, and can call on whatever personnel he needs; the details of the whole plan are for you to finalize among yourselves. I’ll serve as the bait, with Du Sha and the others responsible for my security; everything else regarding coordination should be clear enough already. Ning Xi will be running errands here, responsible for liaising with and receiving army personnel as they arrive… Any questions?”

Everyone indicated they understood.

Ning Yi tapped his fingers on the table. “Meeting adjourned. I’ve got another appointment to get to.”

When this meeting had been held, it was still the height of summer, with a few rounds of rain and the sound of cicadas over Chengdu. By the sixth day, the entire plan had been finalized, and as the written orders went out, two groups of elite army units arrived first. One was the women’s brigade brought by Min Chuyi, who had received orders from Su Tan’er back at Zhang Village, and thus arrived here before the Qixi Festival, managing both duty and personal matters at once.

At noon that day, Ning Xi brought Min Chuyi and the others to the temporary command center and assigned their tasks.

“…We’ve divided the whole of Chengdu into forty-five large sections, with ten to twenty people assigned to each — no more than a thousand elite troops entering the city in total. You’ll operate in teams of five or ten, working alongside local constables or Bamboo Registry and intelligence personnel who know the area — please listen to their suggestions, since you’re not as familiar with local conditions as they are. Fortunately, you’ve arrived early, so you can go scout the area first…”

After that, soldiers arrived in successive waves, and Ning Xi, responsible for liaison, would introduce them briefly before handing them over to Hou Wu for the transfer. By this time, internal relations within the Huaxia Army were close-knit; Hou Wu, himself of military background, had since taken on much rear-area security work, and had no trouble coordinating the deployment of these soldiers. Even the few troublemakers among them, once received by Ning Xi and then passed along, would never dare cause any casual mischief — this was, after all, business handled by the “young prince,” and anyone with sense wouldn’t dare be careless about it.

As time went on, successive rounds of personnel screening began to take shape, and a number of highly dangerous opponents were flagged and marked.

On the fourteenth of the seventh month, Niu Chengshu, Liu Muxia, and others representing the elite of the Seventh Army entered Chengdu; on the fifteenth, Wang Dai arrived in the city; on the sixteenth, Mao Yishan led his troops in. Many of those who’d placed among the top ranks in past army tournaments and survived were among these units. Even before this, the elite of the Twenty-Ninth Army, who had traveled with Chen Fan and his wife, had already arrived — Yuwen Feidu, Little Black, and others had long since rejoined their units, and the likes of Old Honest Monk, who had come from elsewhere, had already been active undercover in Chengdu for several days, traveling with merchant caravans.

“…This gathering in Chengdu has indeed secretly drawn in some fighters of decent skill. Coming into the city at a time like this, and yet unwilling to join our tournament — it’s very likely they harbor ill intent. Of course, if they don’t act, we welcome them to come tour the sights, but if trouble breaks out and they start running loose in the streets, we need to get these people under control the first moment possible. Here are a few names — Xu Yuanzong, Wang Xiangfo… there’s an assassin called Chen Wei, once quite famous. We’ve confirmed he’s here, but we don’t know his location…”

“…For this first batch that needs to be dealt with, we’ve also arranged our own good fighters to go up against them — but this isn’t some sporting match. First, treat them with courtesy. Those willing to go back, to stand down, to submit peacefully to our arrangements — thank them, and we can make it up to them, apologize to them later. But if they resist at that point, remember, you are soldiers. There’s no need to observe any code of the martial world with these dregs of the greenwood.”

“Can we have a proper fight, if there’s time?” Niu Chengshu, still a bit green, raised his hand partway through the meeting. Fang Shuchang glanced at him. “No.”

He then tossed out a sheet of paper. “You’re in charge of Wang Xiangfo. He’s a fighting fanatic — this time around, his skill may well be the most formidable of anyone. Don’t take him lightly. Liu Muxia will be grouped with you; the two of you, plus three others, five in total, to deal with him alone.”

“Yes, sir!” Niu Chengshu saluted, then took the file on Wang Xiangfo and sat down.

Fang Shuchang’s gaze swept over the group. “This time, more than fifteen thousand people have come in from outside through Jianmen Pass. Even though we’ve coordinated with outside contacts to screen them twice already, there are certainly some who’ve slipped through. The city may well have more skilled fighters than just these — so don’t assume the task is just the one or two names on your list; you may well end up fighting all night. Also, besides following ground command, we’ve set up thirty-five tall watchtowers throughout the city, and if necessary, hot-air balloons will be sent up as well — pay attention to the information from up there too…”

The soldiers arrived in successive batches, and such meetings weren’t a first either — this time it was about arranging the most elite personnel. Fang Shuchang finished laying out the various arrangements.

“…For now, everyone outside is watching, wanting to ‘introduce themselves’ to us, wanting to rally friends and come at us all at once. Mr. Ning has also said that if the situation grows urgent, his position can be exposed to draw people to him… but personally, I think we shouldn’t lead anyone there. It’d look bad.”

Once he finished speaking, everyone stood and saluted.

“—Yes, sir!”

Time returns to this moment, as the autumn wind stirs.

Little Black walked out into the street.

Huo Liangbao pulled open the gate, gritted his teeth, and charged toward the street.

Not far off, on the balcony of a building, Yuwen Feidu pulled the trigger; sparks burst from the muzzle as compressed air propelled the bullet forward, out of the barrel.

“Within three hundred paces, I’m your daddy.”

A savage roar carried on the night wind. Amid that cry, Huo Liangbao stepped onto the stone stairs outside the gate, and the crowd surged out after him.

Bang—

Huo Liangbao’s head burst open.

His body jerked mid-charge, then slumped and fell onto the road at the foot of the steps.

The group behind him piled up at the doorway, the ones at the very back even bumping into those ahead, then jumping up to peer over their shoulders.

Those outside stared, stunned, at the corpse at the foot of the steps, flecks of blood and flesh scattered across their own bodies.

Little Black sighed from down the street ahead, and waved a hand at them.

“Go home.”

A group of fierce, murderous escorts, their blood boiling, veins still standing out on their foreheads, fists still trembling in midair. Being somewhat dazed, and crowded together as they were, they failed to produce any coherent reaction for a moment.

Someone at the very back kept jumping up and down.

“What happened? What happened?… Hey, let me see…”

…

Xu Yuanzong let out a great roar and charged at Wang Dai, his group of brothers doing the same. Wang Dai drew his broadsword and lunged suddenly to one side; behind him, the Huaxia Army soldiers lined up and raised their firearms.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom—

A group of fighters scattered wildly to dodge, blood blossoming as some fell. Several soldiers then drew their blades and advanced like a wall pushing forward down the street, while a few others continued reloading their powder.

Wang Dai charged forward like a bull, his broadsword already slashing straight down at Xu Yuanzong’s head—

…

Niu Chengshu and Wang Xiangfo traded blows in the middle of the road, their heavy fists and reckless collisions smashing a paving stone into two pieces.

“Ha, feels good—”

“Ha, what a rush—”

Before long, blood showed at both their mouths, and yet they both laughed heartily.

Then someone in military uniform emerged from down the road — it was Liu Muxia. He stood off to the side and watched for a moment, and once the two men had briefly separated, said with a frown, “Looks like this could take a while.”

Wang Xiangfo, thoroughly enjoying himself and having just warmed up, spread his arms. “Want to join in?”

By the customs of the martial world, in a one-on-one duel like this, a third party would not normally interfere — his words carried a note of mockery.

Liu Muxia nodded. “Sure.”

Wang Xiangfo blinked. “Ah…”

From a dark corner of the street, a figure suddenly burst out, and in the blink of an eye was beside Wang Xiangfo, wrapping both arms around his waist and shoving him backward. Wang Xiangfo swung a fist down at him; Liu Muxia grabbed his heavy blade, sheath and all, and swung it hard; Niu Chengshu drove a fist into his flank, and then more men arrived.

Standing against the wall on the other side of the street, Lu Xiaolun watched five figures surround Wang Xiangfo, fierce punches and kicks flying without pause, the street ringing with a rhythm of thuds. Wang Xiangfo tried at first to break free and counterattack, but after a moment he was curled up, arms over his head, collapsed on the ground…

Lu Xiaolun turned and slipped away down the street as quietly as he could…

…

The lively night had only just begun, and already, a few stragglers were causing minor disturbances in scattered spots.

Ning Yi and Chen Fan stood atop the tower, spyglasses raised, scanning in every direction, two snipers standing by on alert nearby.

“You think how long it’ll take them to find their way here — my skills have gone rusty from disuse…”

Ning Ji had already left Old Little Mean Dog’s courtyard, watching the direction of the fireworks, sprinting full-tilt through the dark streets like a whirlwind. He was thoroughly excited.

“Wait for me, wait for me, wait for me, wait for me…”

He ran on until he reached a street where a fight seemed to be happening, and ran straight into Lu Xiaolun coming the other way. Lu Xiaolun was startled by the boy who’d come charging out of nowhere; the boy looked at him, then craned his neck to peer inside, and his face suddenly fell.

“They already finished…”

He turned and sprinted off again, headed elsewhere.

Lu Xiaolun wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued on his way home.

Throughout the city, the outsiders were exchanging their first “greeting” with the Huaxia Army — and the Huaxia Army’s response had only just begun…