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

On June 25th, the messenger set off.

He carried a piece of paper with four lines of text: The Khan is now able to sit; I am in the royal court; everything remains the same, do not change; the ten-day period will continue.

"Take the old road to the west." Yang Hu rolled up the paper and stuffed it into his boot. "Give it to the medic guarding Liutan. No need to go into the camp."

"Three days is enough," the messenger said.

"That's enough," Yang Hu said. "Once the 28th arrives, the 29th battalion will know."

This is the last day we can make it.

After seeing the people off, he took a urine sample from the Khan.

"Three bowls today," Su Heng noted, "half a bowl more than yesterday."

"How many steps did you take yesterday?"

"Twice, one hundred steps each time."

"Today's increase is 150," Yang Hu said. "The swelling in my feet has subsided by two-tenths, but I still can't reduce the water intake. The meat remains at two ounces."

"The Khan ordered wine last night."

"Did you give it to them?"

"I didn't give it to him," Su Heng said. "I answered as the general instructed: 'If the Khan wants a drink, first ask if he wants to leave this tent.'"

The Khan sat on the felt mat and watched him write.

"I've never heard such a long-winded person in my entire life."

"The Khan never left that tent in his entire life."

Twenty-six, the Khan walked three times, but the last time he didn't help.

Early on the morning of the 27th, the horse returned on its own.

The horse came running back from the west; the saddle was still there, but the rider was gone. There was blood on the saddle pads; the blood had dried and turned black. The piece of paper inside the boot was missing.

Liu Ye led the horse to the back of the tent and touched its legs.

"It ran for more than a day," she said. "It has no injuries."

"The person died on the way."

"General, there are two days left."

Yang Hu turned the saddle over and looked at it once, then put it down.

"Think of another way."

He came up with three options.

The first order was to entrust the nineteen chieftains who were heading south. That afternoon, he went to inquire and was told that the chieftains of all the tribes were not allowed to leave the royal court for the next two days, as they were to wait until the Khan was well before departing together. This message was relayed by the prince's men and could be used in the Khan's name.

The second group consists of people from Liutan who go north to gather information. They can only go as far as sixty li. From the royal court to that sixty li, there is still a hundred and forty li in between where there is no human habitation or water. In the daytime, a horse on the grass is just a dot.

The third one is the princess's wet nurse brother. He went out on the evening of the 27th, but didn't make it beyond the outer perimeter. When he returned, his left sleeve was torn, but he was unharmed.

"They didn't stop me," he said. "They just asked me where I was going, six times."

All four gatekeepers have been replaced, now under the command of the eldest prince.

On the morning of the 28th, the twelve personal guards who were standing watch outside the Khan's tent were gone.

The new arrivals were sixteen cavalrymen, standing neatly and orderly, and they even made way for Yang Hu. The one in charge spoke very politely.

"The eldest prince said that the Khan needs to rest and recuperate, and no unauthorized persons are allowed to enter or leave."

"Am I considered an idle person?"

“Sir doesn’t count,” the man said. “We follow him in and out.”

From that day on, when he went to the Khan’s tent, he was followed by four men; when he returned to his own tent, six men stood outside.

The hot water stopped working the next day.

On the third day, the firewood ran out. The meat that was delivered was not fresh, and Su Heng threw it away after smelling it.

On the fourth day, Su Heng scooped out half a bowl of water and held it up to the light to examine it before pouring it out.

"What's wrong?" Liu Ye asked.

"There's something heavy underneath," Su Heng said. "It's not mud."

From that day on, Liu Ye had to fetch her own water, boil it, and then drink a sip herself.

On the afternoon of the 29th, four people came to inspect the medicine.

The leader said he was acting on the orders of the eldest prince, fearing that someone might tamper with the Khan's medicine, and that everything they brought had to be checked one by one.

Two sachets of physalicylic acid were dumped on the ground, said to have an off-putting smell. Nine knives were taken away, seven were kept, leaving only the two smallest ones, said to be used by the master for shaving and scraping. Calamine and mutton fat were taken away, said to be sent to the high shaman for testing.

Su Heng stood motionless at the corner of the tent, clutching the stack of papers.

"Where's the paper?" the man asked.

"The paper shows how many bowls of urine the Khan urinated each day," Yang Hu said. "Take it and see if you want."

The man flipped through two pages, couldn't understand them, and threw them back.

"Where's the scallion?" Liu Ye asked later.

"They didn't take the scallions," Su Heng said. "They don't know what scallions are used for."

On the 30th and the first day of the seventh lunar month, two days passed, and six of the nineteen ministries had left.

The six who left were heading east and north, a long journey, and they needed to return before the grazing land was moved. The Khan suppressed the group heading south, arguing that they should wait to be assigned to their respective grazing lands.

That night, Yang Hu sat in his tent and thought through everything that was happening in the camp.

Ten days have passed, and the person has not returned, nor has any news been received.

Cui Ting should follow the first piece of paper he left behind: no breaking camp, no battle, and no change of any military order for his sake alone. Cui Ting would abide by this rule; he always did.

The second document outlined the battle plan. It specified which battalion would move first, from which route, and at what time. Qin Ying had signed it; she wouldn't change a single word.

He calculated the distance. The fastest of the three routes would take six days to travel from the camp to the outer perimeter of the royal court.

And those sealed envelopes.

The cover had six characters written on it, meaning it could only be opened if the person didn't return. Tonight, Cui Can should open it.

He mentally reviewed the half-page of text, stopping halfway through and not thinking any further.

On the night of the twenty-ninth, the Khan summoned him once.

Only the two of them and the interpreter were in the tent. The Khan's face had thinned, and he looked thinner, but his eyes were brighter than before.

"They have cut off your water and fire," the Khan said.

"It's broken."

"I know."

"Can the Khan control it?"

The Khan placed his hands on his knees and spoke after a long time.

"The piece of wood I gave you can stop a knife," he said, "but it can't stop anything else."

"What do you mean?"

"According to the rules, they cannot touch your sword, your fire, or your water and food until the debt is settled," the Khan said. "But what if no one sees these three things? The wood belongs to forty-three tribes, and there is only one old man watching over it."

"The Khan means that people should see it."

"What I mean is, you won't get out of here alive because of me," the Khan said. "I can walk three hundred steps a day now. Three hundred steps won't get me to the outer circle."

Yang Hu moved the lamp to the center.

"Khan, may I ask? What is he waiting for?"

"Wait for them to leave."

"Who are they?"

"The leaders of the nineteen tribes," the Khan said. "They watched that piece of wood being carved. As long as they were in the royal court, that piece of wood lived. Once they returned to their respective tribes, separated by two or three hundred miles, who could say for sure what exactly happened that night?"

When are they leaving?

"I'll hold it in for three to five days," the Khan said. "After that, the water on the grass will recede, and the various tribes will have to move. I can't stop forty-three tribes from moving."

Yang Hu stared at the tiny flame on the wick.

"You're an accountant," the Khan suddenly said. "You can keep your own accounts."

Yang Hu returned to his tent at midnight.

Liu Ye stood guard at the tent entrance. She peered out through the seams of the felt tent for half the night, then turned back and gave a number.

"The six outside have been replaced by eight," she said. "Further out, there are two more campfires on the second perimeter of the tents, each with four people."

"Do you recognize whose person they are?"

"I don't recognize them. But their horses are tied together and won't scatter," Liu Ye said. "General, this isn't guarding them, it's surrounding them."

"Su Heng, take inventory."

Su Heng spread the remaining items on the felt.

"There's still one and a half bolts of burnt cloth. One spool of hemp thread, two wooden bowls, and two small knives." She reported each item one by one, "The perilla is gone, the calamine is gone, and the mutton fat is gone."

"onion."

"There are nine scallions left," Su Heng said. "I looked at them today; three were wilted, so the other six are still usable."

"How many days are enough for the six senses?"

Su Heng did the math.

"The Khan now comes every three days," she said. "That's enough for three times."