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

On the fifth day, they lived in those three tents. One of them died, and nine remained alive.

Two out of the nine were able to stand up and walk while holding onto the tent poles.

He didn't do much inside. He boiled water so that everyone who could drink could drink; he carried the dead one out and dug a pit downwind to bury him, the pit being one and a half people deep; he cut open the two with boils and drained the pus using those two small knives; he separated the eleven people's blankets, one for each person, and no one was allowed to switch blankets.

There was no medicine. He hadn't received any medicine in the past five days.

Yang Hu wrote down what happened in the past five days on the back of Su Heng's stack of papers: what time each of the eleven people lay down, which end of the royal court they lived at, how many people were still in their families, whether they had developed rashes on their bodies, and whether there was blood in their excrement.

"General," Liu Ye peeked out from the felt seam, "we searched again today and found a second tent enclosure."

"Are they coming this way?"

"They stopped at that crooked tree," Willow Leaf said. "They walked around it, going about twenty paces."

"They should have figured it out in two days."

On the morning of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the princess went out.

When she returned, a person followed her. That person stopped about twenty paces away and refused to go any further.

He is an old man who holds the wood.

Yang Hu walked to the tent entrance and spoke to him from twenty paces away, with the princess translating between them.

"Old man, I don't ask you to let me out," he said. "I want you to carve a stroke."

"What should I carve?"

"At midnight on the second day of the seventh lunar month, all four corners of the tent where the creditor lived caught fire. The creditor did not die; he was inside one of the three tents. Today is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month."

The old man stood there for a long time.

"I didn't make that decision," he said. "I was just in charge of carving."

"What I want is for you to carve it."

The old man took out a small piece of wood and a stone knife from his pocket, squatted down on the grass, and started carving. After he finished, he didn't leave; he looked up.

"It's engraved in the bag, that's the matter of forty-three parts," he said. "If anyone asks about it in the future, I'll just read it from the wood, and that's it."

"That's enough."

On the eighth day of the seventh month, in the main tent.

Six of the chieftains in the royal court have left, leaving thirteen.

When Yang Hu entered the main tent, he walked in by himself, still wearing the robe that was half-burnt. Liu Ye and Su Heng stopped outside the tent, with the princess half a step behind him.

The people inside the tent all stood up.

The eldest prince spoke first.

"The gentleman is still alive and well. That night there was a fire, and the wind was strong. The four corners of the tent were covered with dry felt. We searched for him for five days without success. I even thought he had already left the royal court."

"If the eldest prince says it was a fire, then it was a fire," Yang Hu said. "I will not ask about the fire today."

"What did you ask, sir?"

"Asking about debts."

He turned to the thirteen leaders.

"On June 28th, in front of the nineteen ministries, that piece of wood bearing the debt of life and death was carved. Today I only ask one question: Has it been settled?"

The eldest prince smiled.

"It's settled," he said. "What the gentleman asked for in front of everyone, my father gave it to him on the spot. No more arrows were allowed to be shot in the Willow Beach area, and from that day on, not a single arrow was fired south from the royal court. The gentleman asked for it himself, and my father gave it to him himself, so the debt is naturally settled."

"Is the woodcutter here?"

The old man came out from the back of the row on the east side, carrying a third leather bag in his arms.

"Take out the piece from June 28th and read it."

The old man took out a piece of wood and read out the steps one by one.

He stopped reading the last one.

"There are no dots underneath this area," he said.

"What time?"

"The debt has been settled, and the heads of the nine departments must nod in person, marking each mark as it is," the old man said. "There isn't a single mark on this piece of land."

A sound came from inside the tent.

"If the debt on the wood is not cleared up in a day, the debtor shall not touch the creditor's knife, fire, or cut off his water and food." The old man held up the piece of wood for those nearby to see. "This was recited by my master when he gave it to me thirty years ago. I will not misread it."

The eldest prince's face darkened.

"What would you like, sir?" he asked. "A horse, a sheep, a man, and salt. Just name your price."

"I want nothing," Yang Hu said. "I only want one thing: from this day forward until I leave the territory of the forty-three tribes, no one shall touch my sword, my fire, my water, or my food."

The thirteen chieftains all kept their eyes on the eldest prince.

That was the very sentence the old man had just recited.

"As for whether the debt is cleared or not," Yang Hu said, "after I leave, all nine of you should nod together, and then carve it on wood. I won't come back to check."

The eldest prince couldn't answer. If he said no, it would be saying the rules didn't apply in front of the thirteen ministers; if he said yes, the man would leave.

The witch doctor stepped forward at this time.

“Don’t let him go,” he said. “He came out of those three tents. Those are the people God is taking away. He carried something dirty with him, and as soon as he went out, the dirty thing followed him south. Keep him here, burn him.”

Several of the thirteen leaders moved.

"What the great shaman said, people over there are saying too," a leader from the eastern row spoke up. "Some people in my tribe have also fallen ill since August. If it really was brought by this southerner, then letting him go is letting this thing go."

"When was the first person in your department to fall ill?" Yang Hu asked.

The chieftain paused for a moment, then said, "Early August."

"I was still south of Baishaliang in May."

"Bring the person up," Yang Hu said.

The curtain was lifted.

Two people walked in, supporting themselves on the tent poles.

One was in his thirties, his face still showing signs of illness; the other was so thin he was emaciated, needing to rest after every three steps. Both of them had been carried into those three tents in March. Everyone in the royal court knew in March that those who went into those three tents would never come out again.

They stood in front of the copper basin, panting, and stopped.

The fire in the copper basin crackled.

"Of the eleven who went in during March, nine are still alive," Yang Hu said. "The first one arrived at the royal court more than three months before me. Of the eleven, ten lived in the northwest corner of the river bend. I advised the Khan to stop letting people drink the water from that area."

He turned to witch doctors.

"The great shaman said that Heaven was taking them away. I stayed inside for five days, and Heaven did not take me away."

The witch doctor's lips moved twice, but no sound came out.

"Khan," the emaciated man suddenly spoke, in their own words, "I want to go back to my tribe."

The Khan remained seated under the banner, his hands resting on his knees.

He lifted his hands off his knees.

"Let them go."

"Father Khan!"

"I have carved four pieces to commemorate my life's debts," the Khan said. "All four have been repaid. I will not be the Khan who reneges on his debts."

He looked at Yang Hu.

"There's one more thing you can take with you."

He pointed to his daughter.

"She saved you. Sooner or later everyone in the court will know about this," the Khan said. "My son will not tolerate her. Take her away."

The princess did not move.

She stood there for a while, then walked to the banner, knelt down, and kowtowed three times to her father.

After she finished kowtowing, she stood up, and the first thing she said to Yang Hu was not "thank you."

"I'll go with you," she said, "but if my father passes away, I'll come back to see him off."

On the morning of the ninth day of the seventh lunar month, five people left the west gate of the royal court.

All thirteen chieftains stood inside the gate, watching them leave. The old man in charge of the timber, carrying a leather bag, stood closest to the door.

For the two days after he left, no one followed him.

On the afternoon of July 11, as they approached Liutan, they ran into a group of herdsmen running south.

A dozen or so families were herding sheep, their carts piled high with all sorts of things, and they were moving very fast.

Liu Ye stopped someone and asked a few questions.

After asking her the question, she turned around, her expression strange.

"General, someone died in the royal court three days ago."

"Who?"

Liu Ye glanced at the princess.

"Khan".

"when?"

"They said it was the day after we left."

The princess sat on her horse, without crying. She only asked one question.

"Has the banner been moved?"

Liu Ye asked again, and returned in a very low voice.

"It's been moved," she said. "It's moved thirty paces to the east and stands before the eldest prince's tent."