A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

Of the six people sent out, four returned.

They set out from camp on the night of June 16th, taking the straight road to the east. Their group consisted of two scouts, two herb gatherers, an interpreter, and a guide. The men Liu Ye had chosen had all been out on missions seven or eight times before.

They were spotted on a dry riverbed thirty miles from the royal court.

It wasn't seen by humans, but heard by dogs. Dogs were tied up outside the barbarian camp, and the scent of six horses arrived first as the night wind blew from the north.

Of the four who returned, one was carried back on horseback, stabbed in the right shoulder with a knife wound that ran from below the collarbone down to the shoulder blade, inflicted by a cavalryman's sword. The other three lost two of their horses in the procession.

The one who died was surnamed Zhou, and he was one of Liu Ye's sixty-two apprentices. He was the rearguard, and the last time someone saw him was at the south mouth of the dry riverbed, where he blocked two people behind him.

One person never returned. He was nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead.

When Liu Ye reported these lines early on the morning of June 17th, her voice was hoarse.

"The eastward route is blocked," she said. "They've set up hidden sentry posts all the way north along the dry riverbed, every five miles."

"What about the north?"

"The northern area is even denser. The eldest prince's two hundred riders are stationed around the outer perimeter of the royal court, at all four gates."

"What about the one who didn't come back?" Yang Hu asked.

Liu Ye's fingers were tapping on the edge of the table.

"I chose this path."

"I asked him how he calculated it."

"Report him missing," Liu Ye said. "If he is alive, he is in their hands; if he is dead, his body is in that patch of grass."

"Draw that road," Yang Hu said. "Mark the location of every sentry post, how far apart they are, how many people are there, and whether there are dogs. They traded six men for this map; don't let it go to waste."

It took half an hour to draw the willow leaves.

"West side."

The messenger then spoke up.

"It's a 40-mile detour to the west, and there are no tribes or water along the way," he said. "Precisely because there's no water, there's no one there. If you're going west, you need to bring plenty of water, good horses, and few people."

How many people?

"Three, four at most," the messenger said. "Any more, and they'll be spotted from the hillside."

There were only five people at the military council that day.

"Three," Yang Hu said, "me, Liu Ye, and Su Heng."

"no."

Qin Ying placed her hand on the table.

"I'll go."

"We have Lieutenant General Cui in the camp; he's more than capable of taking charge."

"That's not the reason," she said. "The one you're serious about."

Yang Hu looked at her.

"I don't have to go," Qin Ying said. "I'll lead three thousand cavalry to a point sixty miles outside the royal court. If you have something to do inside, I can get there in a day."

"That would force him to make the first move," Yang Hu said. "If your three thousand cavalry move, the first thing the eldest prince will do isn't to guard against you, but to kill his father. Once his father is dead, he'll be the Khan, and the forty-three tribes will have to obey him. At that point, I'll be in my tent, and you'll be sixty miles away. Who will save whom?"

Qin Ying did not accept this message.

"That one really has three layers."

"speak."

"Firstly, your identity is no secret," Yang Hu said. "You recognized the flags on the battlefield at Qing Shi Kou that day. There are many people among the barbarians who recognize who stands under those flags."

"I can keep my identity hidden."

"Whether you shine or not is not up to you," Yang Hu said. "The moment you open your mouth, they'll know you're not a shepherd; the moment you mount your horse, they'll know you've led troops."

Qin Ying pursed her lips.

"The second level, Wild Fox Ridge."

Her finger twitched.

"Your father and two brothers died at Wild Fox Ridge," Yang Hu said. "The ones who did that were barbarian cavalry. Someone in the royal court remembers it. When you walked into that tent, you weren't just a lieutenant general; you were the best thing in the world. Every card I have will be used to redeem you."

The other three people inside the tent didn't dare to move.

"The third layer, I didn't originally intend to talk about it now."

"explain."

"They were paid to kill your father the night they did."

Qin Ying's expression remained unchanged. She simply withdrew her left hand from the table and placed it on the scabbard, holding it there for a long time.

"Whose money?"

"I don't know," Yang Hu said. "But they keep accounts. They have to record the expenses allocated to the forty-three departments according to the number of people; they also have to record the goods purchased from the south. I need to go to the royal court to find out where the records are kept and who is in charge."

"Can you find it?"

"We might not find it this time," Yang Hu said, "but I need to get into that tent first."

He paused for a moment.

"If you're with me, I can't look for you anymore. I can only think of how to get you out of here first."

Qin Ying stood up, walked to the tent entrance, lifted the curtain, and looked at the sun outside for a while.

"Ten days." She turned around. "If you don't return in ten days, I won't come to redeem you."

"right."

"I will lead my troops north as you instructed."

"right."

"General Cui," Qin Ying said, "write this sentence down, and I'll sign it."

Cui Ting's hand trembled slightly, but he still wrote it down.

That afternoon, Yang Hu wrote three sheets of paper.

The first document is a military order: Within ten days, all orders in the camp shall be issued by Lieutenant General Cui, and Qin Ying shall be in control; no camp shall be disbanded, no battles shall be fought, and no order shall be changed for him alone; medicine and salt shall continue to be supplied to Liutan as usual, and the goods reported back from Liutan shall be recorded by time each day.

The second plan is the strategy for ten days from now: three routes, when to move, which route to take, and the name of each battalion.

The third sheet was only half a page long. It was sealed and handed to Cui Ting, with a note that read: "Open only if I don't return in ten days."

Su Heng packed the luggage.

Nine knives of various sizes, all boiled. Six bolts of burnt cloth. Two sachets of lye. One jar of calamine and one jar of mutton fat. Twelve reed pipes, cut from this year's new reeds along the Willow Beach River. One spool of fine hemp thread. Two wooden bowls. A set of paper and pen.

Finally, Yang Hu added one more ingredient himself.

Thirty scallions.

I spent a long time looking at the willow leaves as I tied my luggage.

"Why is the general carrying scallions?"

We'll talk about it when we get there.

"What if the scallions wilt on the way?"

"Wrap them in a damp cloth and change the water once a day," Yang Hu said. "Wilted ones are unusable. I need to bring at least thirty of them, just for this purpose."

They set off on the night of June 19th. The group consisted of five riders: Yang Hu, Liu Ye, Su Heng, the messenger, and the young man with the broken leg. The young man himself had himself tied to the saddle, the rope wrapped three times around his waist.

Before leaving, Qin Ying tied a leather strap to Yang Hu's saddlebag.

That was the one she had tied up his upper arm in April.

"I tied it for you last time," she said. "You can tie it yourself this time."

Yang Hu pressed down on the leather strap.

"Ten days."

"Ten days."

It took two days and one night to travel the road to the west.

On the first day, we slept for three hours behind a sheltered sand dune during the day and continued our journey at night. We brought enough water, and the horse was unharmed.

The next day they crossed a salt flat. There wasn't a single blade of grass on it; the horses' hooves left white marks where they trod, which were quickly smoothed out by the wind. After traveling thirty li, the lips of all five horses were covered with a layer of frost-like substance. Su Heng wanted to give the horses water from their water bags, but Yang Hu refused, saying that the remaining water for the journey was calculated based on the return trip.

The messenger led the way, remaining silent throughout this stretch. Only after crossing the rapids did he turn back and say, "The last time I walked this land was twenty years ago."

The young man with the broken leg didn't utter a single cry of pain while on horseback. By the second night, the rope around his waist had chafed his skin raw, and Su Heng wanted to loosen it, but he refused.

"If I let go, I'll fall," he said. "If I fall, I have to stop, and if I stop, it'll be an hour too late."

On the evening of June 21, they saw the royal court behind the slope to the southwest.

The tents stretched from the bottom of the slope all the way to the river bend to the north, in concentric circles, large circles enclosing smaller ones. Between the circles were paths for livestock, and people were herding sheep on these paths, but they were too far away to see their faces clearly.

In the very center of the empty space stood a large banner. The banner pole was very tall, the same one that had been erected thirty years ago, and the thing at the top of the pole remained still in the wind.

Cavalrymen stood outside the tents beneath that banner.

Liu Ye lay on the slope and counted three times.

"How much?" Yang Hu asked.

Two hundred and seventeen.