The steward pointed to the tray in Fan Changyu’s hands. “This one was specially prepared for the lord inside.”

The guard glanced at Fan Changyu. She kept her head lowered; at first glance, she indeed looked the picture of a gentle and demure young maid. The guard’s smile turned colder still. “Give it to me.”

Feigning obsequiousness, the steward said, “That lord came from afar, and Qingping County is but a humble place. There’s little with which to properly show hospitality—please, let this girl deliver it herself.”

He insisted that Fan Changyu be the one to go in not without reason. Croton might cause severe diarrhea, but it couldn’t disable an entire courtyard of soldiers in short order. If Fan Changyu could get close to the officer in charge, she might be able to subdue him directly—then everything that followed would be far simpler.

The guard’s sneer didn’t fade. Perhaps thinking of something, he cast another glance at Fan Changyu, then said, “I’ll go in and ask the lord.”

He knocked and entered the room. Inside, a young man rested one elbow on the chessboard, playing a game alone.

“Your Excellency,” the guard reported, “the people of this household insist that a pretty maid come in personally to serve you soup.”

The one who had slaughtered the soldiers of Jizhou Prefecture, disguised his own men as grain-collection officers, and taken control of all Qingping County for several days—was none other than Sui Yuanqing, son of Prince Changxin, the rebel king of Chongzhou.

Prince Changxin had two sons. The elder had been frail and sickly since childhood, so the title of heir had fallen to the younger.

In earlier years, Prince Changxin had kept a low profile, and Sui Yuanqing was known only as a wastrel. But after his father’s rebellion, he began to distinguish himself on the battlefield of Chongzhou—his ruthless methods earning him the name “Little Marquis of Wu’an.”

At his subordinate’s report, Sui Yuanqing gave a cold, amused snort, tossing the chess piece in his hand back into the basket. “Wei Xuan’s reputation for cruelty and lechery is well known. It would make no sense for his men to be paragons of virtue. Very well, let her in. What tricks could a petty county magistrate possibly play?”

The guard accepted the order and turned to leave, but Sui Yuanqing called after him, “Has the scout returned? Has Wei Xuan arrived yet?”

“Not yet, my lord,” the guard replied.

Sui Yuanqing frowned slightly. With Wei Xuan’s hot temper and brutish nature, once he learned that Qingping County had failed to deliver the grain, wouldn’t he have already marched here in fury?

Could something have happened in Jizhou?

The rioters from Qingping County were almost at the city; if Wei Xuan the blockhead did not come, his little stage could not be for nothing.

He tapped the tabletop with long fingers and said, “First transport the money and grain looted from Qingping’s merchants and commoners out of the city; raise a thousand men to wait on the slope outside the walls. If that blockhead Wei Xuan doesn’t come, we’ll kill the rioters in his stead.”

The guard did not understand. “Those rioters intend to submit themselves to our Chongzhou, why would the heir still wish to slaughter them?”

Sui Yuanqing snorted, “No need to kill them all. Put on a show to thoroughly chill the world’s faith in the court. If we do not slaughter these rioters, how many of them, having vented their momentary anger, will truly go and enlist with Chongzhou? If we drive them to a dead end, then they will truly take the path of rebellion.”

The scholar who had been let go and sent to Jizhou spread word that the court’s troops had forcibly levied grain and left no livelihood for the people; the people went to Jizhou Prefecture to seek justice and were butchered by the soldiers.

When that time comes, no matter how the Wei faction tries to clarify, people will tend to believe the scholar’s account. After all, the Wei faction’s infamous reputation was not new, and behind that scholar’s every grieving word stood the lives of tens of thousands from Qingping County.

Things grounded in fact always move people’s sympathy and are easier to trust.

The guard hurried, “The heir’s name is illustrious.”

Sui Yuanqing paid no mind to the guard’s flattery and asked, “Was that brat captured?”

The guard’s heart tightened. “Half a quarter of an hour ago someone broke into the Yixiang Tower and injured our men, and seemed to have fled carrying a small child. I’ve already dispatched men to pursue; there should be news shortly.”

Sui Yuanqing only said, “Do not harm that child; after all, he is my elder brother’s blood.”

The guard asked one more question, “And the woman in the prison—”

Sui Yuanqing raised a pair of cold, frosty eyes. “As for my elder brother’s concubine, how to handle her—bring her back and my brother will decide. Let her suffer two days in jail first; do not allow others to humiliate her.”

The guard acknowledged the order.

After the guard left, someone brought in a tray.

Hearing that light but steady footfall, Sui Yuanqing’s mouth curled into a cold smile.

When he raised his eyes toward the maid, although he had expected that the magistrate would send someone pleasing, seeing such a striking beauty in this backwater nonetheless surprised him.

Especially her eyes — not like stars in brilliance, nor like a deer in liveliness; the first impression was of someone pretty and honest, the sort of honest person who, if taken into the house as a maid, might be looked down upon by others for her simple nature.

Fan Changyu, perhaps having often been swept over by Xie Zheng’s assessing glance, did not feel fear when a stranger fixed that scrutinizing look on her; she simply held the tray steadily and offered it forward.

Fan Changyu set the soup bowl on the table. As she reached to take back the tray, the man, lips curled in a faint smile, said, “You have quite the nerve.”

Fan Changyu thought he already knew the white fungus soup contained croton. Sticky cold sweat gathered in her palm; she thought this person was of the same sort as Yan Zheng — though not as handsome as Yan Zheng, he was clever and not one to be easily fooled.

As the old saying goes, strike first and strike hard. She immediately swung the tray as if to bring it down on his head. His eyes went suddenly cold and he shot out a long arm to intercept.

The tray was a feint — Fan Changyu’s foot drove straight into his abdomen. Sui Yuanqing’s face showed surprise; he doubled over in pain. With her other hand, Fan Changyu brought a heavy chop toward the back of his neck.

A normal person would have blacked out from such a strike, but Sui Yuanqing still had strength enough to topple a few tables to block her. Clutching his neck, he stood up, staggered a step, then leapt toward the door with great speed.

Fan Changyu had not expected his neck to be so tough. The guards outside heard the crash of overturned tables and rushed into the room. “General?”

She had already prepared for the impossibility of subduing this man at close quarters. From her sleeve she produced a thin cord she had tied into a loop earlier and flung it toward Sui Yuanqing’s neck.

Winter garments were thick; the cord had been hidden in her sleeve and was not easily seen.

When the guards burst in, they saw Fan Changyu had looped the cord around the heir’s neck and was hauling hard. The rope snapped taut. Sui Yuanqing planted one hand over his throat, grasping the cord and straining against Fan Changyu. His face flushed a dark red — whether from lack of air or rage was unclear.

Sui Yuanqing’s arm strength was astonishing. By rights, if he tore at the rope he should have pulled the audacious woman toward him like a rag kite, but she only staggered an instant and then steadied herself, matching his force. The tug between them was like that of a fighting bull.

Still, Sui Yuanqing’s neck could not withstand the power of both her hands. She hauled him over like a dead dog, snatched him up, pressed a sharp knife to his throat. Half his handsome face was contorted by asphyxiation; the other half was twisted with hatred that seemed to wish to saw his enemies limb from limb.

He snarled, “You’d better not fall into my hands or I’ll skin you alive and hang your corpse on the city tower!”

Fan Changyu was at the moment detaining him in the county magistrate’s name, and showed no fear. She pressed the keen boning knife against his thigh and nicked the skin, drawing a thin red line. “Then we’ll see whether you’re faster at flaying or I’m faster at stabbing.”

The wound she made was shallow, but it did draw blood; Sui Yuanqing didn’t even make a sound.

The guards outside were terrified — half in fear for him, half aghast that their lord had been captured by a woman.

The guard who had first entered the room was one of his personal guards, named Mu Shi; he immediately barked at Fan Changyu, “Do not harm my general!”

Fan Changyu said, “Do as I say and I will not hurt him.”

Mu Shi and the others looked to Sui Yuanqing. At his signal, gritting his teeth, Sui Yuanqing spat out through clenched teeth, “Do as she says.”

Then, in a voice meant for only the two of them, he threatened her, “I’ll remember you.”

How on earth had he at first thought this woman honest?

Fan Changyu thought it strange that he only remembered her hatred and did not reckon it against the magistrate — when she was now acting in the magistrate’s stead!

She considered a moment, pressed the boning knife a little deeper under his skin, and toward the guards outside said, “Release our county magistrate at once!”

Mu Shi looked at the steward with a gaze that seemed to wish to tear him apart.

The steward trembled all over, nearly fainting.

A moment later, the county magistrate—who had been detained for many days—finally stepped out of his room. When he saw the scene in the courtyard, he nearly fainted on the spot.

He would rather be locked in a room for another year than come out and face such a sight!

Sui Yuanqing smiled thinly at the corner of his mouth and asked, “My men have released the magistrate. Will you now release me?”

Seeming to worry that Fan Changyu might fear his revenge, he put on the air of a genteel noble youth: “Rest assured, even if I intend to capture you, I will wait until you have fully escaped before taking you—won’t seize you now.”

Just then, a soldier came running in breathless from the great gate. 

“Report— the rioters have gathered outside the city gate. All the prisoners from the yamen have been freed. They’ve seized the requisitioned military grain and hauled it to the city gate, saying they will return it all to the rioting people!”

Sui Yuanqing’s face contorted with fury. He sneered at Fan Changyu, “Your planners are thorough indeed.”

Fan Changyu ignored him—whatever was happening at the yamen was most likely Yan Zheng’s doing.

The man in her custody was a hot potato. If she truly killed him, she would have slain a high-ranking official; for the rest of her life she might only be able to flee with Changning into bandit dens.

But if she let him go, she would never have peace either.

She looked at the magistrate. “Your Excellency, the commoners in Qingping County’s countryside have revolted over the grain requisition. You must give the people an explanation to quell their wrath.”

As she spoke, her eyes flicked toward the man she was holding.

When the magistrate heard that the rioters had reached the city gate, his face went ashen. If the rioters entered the city, they would surely kill some corrupt officials—and as Qingping County’s magistrate, he would be the first to be sacrificed.

If he died, the people above would demand an account and heap the blame on him; after all, his record had been mediocre, and a dead man is the easiest scapegoat.

Seeing Fan Changyu’s hinting glance, the magistrate—though timid before his superiors—was shrewd enough to grasp her meaning in an instant.

After weighing the plan’s feasibility, his face brightened with sudden delight.

Indeed—he had no stomach to crack down on the rioters, and the rioters demanded an explanation. Why not naturally push this lot out and let them answer to the rioters?

The magistrate’s belly bobbed like a woman eight months pregnant; the fat on his face trembled as he looked toward Sui Yuanqing. “The grain requisition came down from the generals themselves. Given the state of affairs, I must trouble the generals to go to the city gate and give the people an explanation.”

How the rioters handled those men would be the rioters’ affair.

Sui Yuanqing merely sneered coldly, “Very well, then go to the city gate and give them an explanation.”

Mu Shi caught his eye and understood; the anger on his face receded.

They had ambushed a thousand men on the slope outside the city gate—at the signal of one arrow, the troops on the hill would descend and slaughter the whole of Qingping County without a second thought.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · 

Outside Qingping County, a host of soldiers flying the banner of Jizhou wound along the official road. At their head rode the veteran general He Jingyuan, clad in heavy armor; the scholarlike gentleness he might once have worn was suppressed beneath the armor, and his face bore chiefly dignity and authority.

Yet he was, after all, an old man—his hair and beard had turned white, and after so many sleepless nights, his spirit looked worn and his eyes dulled with exhaustion.

Zheng Wenchang rode half a step behind him and said, “Perhaps that scholar exaggerated. Could a minor magistrate of Qingping County really dare to use the grain levy as an excuse to bleed the people dry? Let me take troops to look into it for you, why trouble yourself to come personally?”

He Jingyuan shook his head, his aged eyes stern and steady. “Qingping County has salt lakes. For trouble to break out during a grain requisition there, it cannot be simple.”

No sooner had his words fallen than a scout galloped up from the front, whip cracking. “Report—at the slope ten li ahead, a force of Chongzhou soldiers has been discovered lying in ambush in the forest!”

Hearing the report, even Zheng Wenchang broke into a cold sweat down his back.