When Xu Youde stepped out of the Huguo Temple's mountain gate, the morning light had just spilled over the top of the spirit screen.
He stood on the steps and glanced back toward the main hall.
The solitary stick of incense standing in the censer had likely burned to ashes by now, but Monk Huiming's final words had seared themselves into his very bones.
"The secrets of heaven can be seized, but karma cannot be reversed."
...
A thousand miles away.
The Northern Frontier, Zhenbei City, the backyard of the posthouse.
The five-day deadline had arrived.
Before the sky had fully lightened, the courtyard was already bustling with activity.
The groom pulled the reins, leading the packhorses to line up at the courtyard gate one by one. The axles had been greased with fresh tallow, the wheel hubs reinforced with iron plating, and a row of counted empty carts leaned against the courtyard wall.
Xu Qinghuan stood under the corridor in the backyard, holding a manifest and checking it item by item.
Li Sheng came over from the front yard, still carrying the grassy smell of the stables, and knelt on one knee with cupped fists.
"Reporting to Your Excellency, twelve packhorses, all fully fed and newly shod. Eight large carts have been loaded."
"Thirty-two escort guards, all fully equipped with weapons and armor. The fifteen brothers assigned to us, led by Goudan, have assembled in the front yard."
Xu Qinghuan nodded, folded the manifest, and tucked it into her sleeve.
"What about those thirty cargo carts?"
"As you ordered, twenty-seven are left at the border market warehouse, with Qian Fugui's men watching over them. The other three are already following behind the convoy."
"Let's go."
The convoy filed out of the back door of the posthouse, turned onto the main street of Zhenbei City, and headed toward the North Gate.
The shops on the street had just set up their door panels. Early rising porters and pancake vendors huddled at the base of the walls to escape the wind.
Seeing a line of carriages rumbling over the flagstone road surrounded by guards, a few vendors craned their necks to look for a moment, then lowered their heads to busy themselves with their work.
But at the corner of the street, an old man selling baked cakes casually gave a look to a young boy beside him.
The boy put down the shallow basket in his hands, turned, slipped into an alley, and ran off.
...
The Deputy General's Manor.
The doors and windows of the inner hall were tightly closed. Four heavily armored personal guards stood under the corridor, hands on the hilts of their swords, facing outward, completely blocking the passageway.
He Minghu sat in a tiger-skin armchair, legs spread apart, his right hand gripping a bronze wine cup, his thumb constantly rubbing the rim.
A spy in gray slipped in through the side door and knelt.
"Reporting to the General, the Imperial Envoy's convoy has departed from the posthouse and is heading toward the North Gate. There are eight large carts in total, over thirty guards, and about a dozen remnants of the Vanguard Camp following."
He Minghu's thumb stopped.
"The North Gate?"
"The North Gate, heading toward the border market."
Ma Jin'an, sitting in the armchair to the side, picked up and put down his teacup, speaking unhurriedly.
"It seems she's going to pick up the goods. The cattle, sheep, and grain provisions must have been prepared by Sarhan."
He Minghu slammed the bronze cup onto the table.
"Lord Ma, originally we agreed to wait until she brought the cattle and sheep back before making our move, but the more I think about it these past few days, the less it sits right with me."
Ma Jin'an raised his eyes to look at him.
He Minghu stood up from his chair, took two steps, and turned around.
"If she really herds hundreds of cattle and sheep back to Zhenbei City, what do you think those soldiers under us who have been starving for half a year will think?"
Ma Jin'an didn't reply.
He Minghu slammed his fist on the table: "Those soldiers will think that the Imperial Envoy saved their lives! That Tie Lanshan and the Imperial Envoy saved them together! When the time comes and the army's loyalty completely shifts over, what will I, He Minghu, be? How will I hold the fort?"
Ma Jin'an tapped his finger lightly on the teacup twice.
"General He's meaning is..."
"I'm not waiting for her to come back." He Minghu's eyes were bloodshot. "This batch of cattle, sheep, and grain provisions will be received by my Deputy General's Manor! Xu Qinghuan cannot escape, and neither can the grain! All I have to do is intercept the convoy at the North Gate and seize the goods, and this military merit will belong to me, He!"
Ma Jin'an's brows furrowed.
"General He, this is different from the plan we previously agreed upon. If you intercept the Imperial Envoy's convoy in the street, and word gets back to the capital..."
"So what if word gets back to the capital?" He Minghu didn't care at all. "Lord Ma, you've stayed in the capital too long and forgotten one thing... This is the Northern Frontier! This is my territory! She's just a little girl, thinking she can move grain right under my nose with thirty-some people?"
He took half a step forward and lowered his voice: "She dares to complain to the Emperor? With what? Her own illicit dealings with the Helian merchants at the border market—I haven't even brought out that charge yet! If she really wants to make a fuss..."
He Minghu's right hand pressed onto the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"Hmph! At worst, let her die on the road. In this place, the Northern Frontier, people die every year. One more Imperial Envoy, one less, who's counting?"
Ma Jin'an's finger paused on the rim of the teacup.
He looked at He Minghu's bloodshot eyes and remained silent for three breaths.
"Have you thought this through?"
"I have."
Ma Jin'an slowly set the teacup down on the table and offered no further persuasion.
He Minghu strode out of the inner hall and stood under the corridor.
"Men!"
The four personal guards turned in unison.
"Gather two hundred personal guards, fully armored, with horses. Follow me to the North Gate!"
The thunderous sound of hooves poured out from the main gate of the Deputy General's Manor.
...
The Commander-in-Chief's Manor.
Bai Yushu stood on the observation platform on the second floor, twirling the folding fan in his hand twice.
He saw it very clearly: the dust rising from the direction of the Deputy General's Manor was winding its way toward the North Gate.
Bai Yushu turned, hurried downstairs, crossed the corridor, and pushed open the door to Tie Lanshan's study.
"Master, He Minghu has made his move."
Tie Lanshan was wiping an old-fashioned goose-quill saber, the rag rubbing back and forth across the blade unhurriedly.
"How many men?"
"By my visual estimate, two hundred cavalry, fully armored, heading toward the North Gate," Bai Yushu walked to the front of the desk and tapped his folding fan on the position of the North Gate on the map. "The Imperial Envoy's convoy just left the posthouse half a quarter of an hour ago, also heading to the North Gate. He's going to intercept them."
The movement of Tie Lanshan's hands didn't stop.
Bai Yushu said in a deep voice, "Master, should we deploy the Commander-in-Chief's Manor guard to escort the Imperial Envoy out of the city?"
Tie Lanshan put the saber back on its stand and wiped his hands with the rag.
"We do not move."
Bai Yushu was stunned.
Tie Lanshan stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the grayish-yellow skyline in the direction of the North Gate.
"If He Minghu wants to jump, let him jump."
"But if the Imperial Envoy is..."
"Yushu," Tie Lanshan interrupted him. "If I send troops to escort the Imperial Envoy now, it's equivalent to openly tearing up my face with He Minghu. He has three thousand Ministry of War troops in his hands, and my personal guard battalion totals two thousand men. We cannot afford to fight this battle."
He paused for a breath.
"Furthermore... Lord Xu, if she can't even get past a single North Gate, what does she have to overturn this chessboard?"
Bai Yushu closed his folding fan, gripped it in his hand, and said no more.
Tie Lanshan sat back down in his chair and closed his eyes.
"Have the spies keep a close watch. If the situation spirals out of control... it won't be too late for me to make a decision then."
...
The North Gate of Zhenbei City.
Three rows of abatis blocked the front of the city gate tunnel.
The wooden stakes were sharpened, connected by iron chains, with less than ten feet of distance between each row of abatis, completely blocking the way. The gate-guarding lieutenant led thirty city gate soldiers, their long spears resting behind the abatis, spearheads pointing outward.
Xu Qinghuan's convoy stopped twenty paces away.
The horses' hooves pawed at the ground, the packhorses snorted, and the sound of colliding iron chains and wheels gradually ceased.
Li Sheng spurred his horse forward and pulled tightly on the reins.
"The Imperial Envoy's border inspection convoy is leaving the city by imperial decree. Open the gates at once!"
The gate-guarding captain leaned half his body out from behind the barricades, his face bearing the distinct apathy typical of a seasoned local grunt.
"Without a clearance warrant, no one is allowed to pass. No exceptions."
Li Sheng retrieved a document from his robes, unfolded it, and thrust it forward.
The grand seal of the Commander's Estate was stamped prominently on the paper, the vermilion ink glaringly bright in the morning light.
"The authorization document for the border market's management is right here, bearing the grand seal of Commander Tie Lanshan. Open your eyes and look closely!"
The captain glanced at the document, a cynical smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Documents from the Commander's Estate govern the commercial affairs of the border market, but the defensive deployment of this North Gate falls under the jurisdiction of the Vice General's Estate."
He struck the butt of his long spear firmly against the ground.
"Without a warrant from the Vice General's Estate, these three rows of barricades aren't moving, no matter who comes."
