At this banquet, with notables gathered and ears pricked, the atmosphere was just what He Chunhua needed. He neither demurred nor hurried, but sat down and spoke with composure. Of Zhu Xiu’er’s role at Immortal Spirit Lake, he said nothing; he merely mentioned that a villager had secretly carried word to the Coordinating Army as a warning.

His wording was tactful, and his bearing unruffled. The listeners all nodded in quiet approval.

He Lingchuan kept his eyes on Ke Jihai.

When speaking with He Chunhua, Ke Jihai’s gaze never wavered. He laughed and conversed as though no one else existed. Whenever the nobles clapped or cheered at a particularly thrilling point, he only grew impatient and snapped at them to quiet down.

The irony was hard to miss. Even though the evening’s focus was supposed to be on the Zhu Family and Zhu Xiu’er, Ke Jihai carried himself as though he were the host, utterly oblivious to how overbearing it seemed. It was said that General Ke was blunt and forthright by nature, unbothered by whether he offended anyone, and that truly did seem to be the case.

Zhu Xiyan smiled and let it slide, but the younger men of the Zhu Family scowled and exchanged frowns.

When it came to military matters, Ke Jihai questioned with great interest, particularly about the Coordinating Army’s retreat with an entire village of the weak and elderly. He could not help but ask, “Lord He, you were merciful, but women and children march slowly. To keep pulling ahead of the rebels, surely you left men behind as a rear guard. What was the cost?”

“The rear guard numbered thirty-five from the Coordinating Army, with seventeen horses, along with fourteen villagers who volunteered to stay behind,” He Chunhua replied. After the terror of that night, these figures were engraved in his heart. “They held the enemy back for nearly six hours.”

“Thirty-five men, holding out for six hours!” Ke Jihai was visibly moved. “There must have been fearless warriors among them. You must reward them well.”

He Chunhua smiled faintly and beckoned He Lingchuan over. “My eldest even begged to take the rear himself. I could hardly bear it. Yet to my surprise, he commanded well and completed the task without a flaw. When he moved to retreat, Lu Yao struck him with an arrow that knocked him off a cliff. I heard that the bow he used was one that struck thrice for every shot. We thought that he had no hope of survival. My wife even fainted from grief on the spot. And yet, not only did he live, he even rescued Wu Shaoyi, who was half-dead at the time. Were it not so, I honestly don’t believe that he would ever have surrendered. Truly, Heaven blessed us.”

“Those who save themselves, Heaven then saves,” Ke Jihai said with a solemn nod. “The bow that Lu Yao used was no ordinary bow, but one of Hong Xiangqian’s prized treasures. It’s called the Ghost-Eye Bow. One shot, and if it misses, it follows with two more of its own accord. Our armies have suffered greatly beneath it; two of my officers fell to its arrows. For you to survive a shot from that bow, boy, you are no ordinary young man.”

He turned his full gaze on He Lingchuan. “So young, and already with both courage and strategy! A man is no true man until he’s tested on the battlefield. When you march north, you’ll have the chance to hone yourself. Strive well, and our Great Yuan will gain another tiger among its generals!”

A seasoned veteran like him needed no explanation of the royal court’s intent in sending He Chunhua to Xia Province. It was clearly to strengthen their hand against both Governor Nian Zanli of Xun Province and the northern monster state. With He Lingchuan at his father’s side, battles were inevitable.

He Loingchuan nodded and answered firmly, “I will remember your instruction, Grand General. I won’t fail to live up to it!”

Ke Jihai liked that sort of crisp reply. Without further word, he unfastened the saber from his waist and handed it over. “A treasured saber for a worthy man.”

“This is too much!” Before his son could respond, He Chunhua waved it away.

But Ke Jihai ignored him and shoved the weapon straight into He Lingchuan’s hands. “Its name is Hundred Monarchs. It has been with me for twenty-two years. Use it well.”

Delighted, He Lingchuan accepted it with both hands and bowed. “Then I accept it with all reverence. I will not fail your trust.”

That a grizzled war hero should heap such praise upon a youth of sixteen or seventeen, and even gift him his own saber, while treating all others as air—this did not sit well with the other young nobles. Especially those just past twenty, who bristled at his words that “a man is no true man until he’s tested on the battlefield.”

He Su, who had been chatting earlier with the He brothers, said with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes, “I heard that General Wu Di’s eldest son, Wu He, entered the battlefield at thirteen and, by sixteen, led troops to capture an enemy general alive. Even now, he fights with his father against Dong Haoming on the northwestern frontier. He’s only two years older than Brother He here, perhaps Yuan is fated to have two tiger cubs, each vying with the other for renown?”

Several of his companions chimed in with eager agreement, but most of the nobles merely smiled politely and said nothing.

Ke Jihai’s gaze snapped to He Su. “And you are?”

“My surname is He. My father is He Liwen of the Imperial Censorate.” His father, wary of suspicion, had not attended the Zhu Family’s banquet.

One of the Zhu Family members quickly added from the side, “This is He Su, the third son of the Imperial Censor.”

“Have you any military achievements to your name?”

He Su’s face flushed red, and he could only shake his head.

“Then have you ever offered counsel or expostulations to the throne?”

For an ordinary seventeen or eighteen-year-old, submitting any sort of advice to the court would be near impossible. But for the son of an Imperial Censor, the advantage of “being near the water tower” was obvious.

He Su’s face grew even redder. After a pause, he stammered, “I have submitted a few.”

But all he had received in reply was a word scrawled in red ink: Read. And then they were sent back.

Ke Jihai gave a short, derisive laugh. “No military merit, and your words have never been heeded. In that case, you’re just a spectator, meant to sit on the wall and watch.”

The words were as good as telling him to shut his mouth in front of everyone. He Su’s face turned from red to purple, his rage swallowed down by sheer force of will, though his fists clenched tight inside his sleeves.

Ke Jihai’s bluntness left the entire gathering in stunned silence. Not a word was spoken, and the hall seemed silent enough to hear a pin drop.

It was He Chunhua who finally broke the silence, “I heard that the front lines in Wu Province are locked in a stalemate. Why has General Ke returned to the capital now?”

Having gauged something of Ke Jihai’s temperament, he asked directly.

“Ah, what else but to press for grain and pay?” The smile faded from Ke Jihai’s face, giving way to weariness. “I’ve heard that the tax officials sent to the four southern provinces returned laden with silver, collecting several million taels in all.”

He then added, “Dong Haoming has stripped Wu Province bare, leaving us not a single grain. This year’s autumn harvest was plentiful, but every stalk was seized and secured by his men. Nothing remains in the fields. For months now, General Wu and I have submitted twelve urgent petitions to the court, requesting supplies. In the last three or four months, we’ve received provisions only twice. Were it not for taking Baiding City, which gave us some reserves to draw on, we would have been finished long ago.”

“If not for the urgency, why would I thicken my face to return to the capital, begging for money and food?” He sighed deeply. “The army’s rations are three months overdue. What should last one day now has to stretch into three. Without fresh supplies soon, our soldiers won’t even have the strength to fight.”

An official at the table spoke gravely, “It is not that the court is unwilling. This year has simply been too hard. Woling Pass was struck first by rebellion, then by flood. There was no harvest in spring, summer, or autumn. That whole region has always been one of the granaries of the realm, typically producing thirty percent of the nation’s grain. This year, not only was there no tribute, but the treasury had to send disaster relief as well.”

For months, the Righteous Army and the state’s forces had clashed back and forth at Woling Pass, a ruinous tug-of-war, only to collide with natural disaster as well. A breadbasket province had become a disaster zone, and the royal court was left tearing its hair out.

Zhu Xiyan sighed too. “The price of grain in Shihuan City has already risen by forty percent. Once grain rises, everything else follows. My servants tell me even candles cost more now.”

“Exactly so. All I hear from the royal court is complaint after complaint.” Ke Jihai shook his head. “But we are the ones fighting on the front. Logistics and supplies are the officials’ duty. If I don’t turn to the royal court for money and food, who else can I turn to? Soldiers can go hungry and still march, perhaps, but what of the horses? Without bran and bean cakes, if they only gnaw at wild grass, how can they run fast or bear heavy loads?”

The official’s face was grave. “In Shihuan as well, families tighten their belts to support the war. I’ve gotten word that Lord Cao, who oversees the transport of supplies to the front lines, hasn’t slept for days on end.”

Almost without thinking, He Lingchuan glanced down at the sumptuous delicacies set upon their table.

He Yue could not hold his tongue, “Dong Haoming has been planning this from the start. His army is strong, his city well-fortified, and his granaries full. He intends to drag the war into a battle of attrition. Once the state troops are spent and begin to withdraw, he will strike back, turning defense into offense.”

“You’re exactly right.” Ke Jihai nodded. “Dong Haoming has been striding across battlefields for decades. He knows all this well. If the lines reverse and the state’s forces fail to hold Jixin Hill, then Dong Haoming can simply embark from there, sail straight down the Hongchuan, and both Shihuan City and the capital will be in peril.”

At this, faces blanched all around.

The last time the rebels seized Woling Pass, the people of Shihuan City had nearly been scared out of their wits. If the rebels boarded ships at Fengling Port and floated down the Hongchuan, they could reach Shihuan City in mere days, with nothing along the way to stop them from slaughter.

Some of the nobles present had once fled the city with their entire households, only daring to return after hearing that Wu Di and Ke Jihai had routed the rebels. None of them wished to relive that terror.

One of the guests asked, “General, what results did you achieve upon returning to the capital?”

“What I obtained was but a drop in the bucket.” Ke Jihai sighed heavily and shook his head. “Dong Haoming’s troops are no rabble like Hong Xiangqian’s. His elites are stronger even than the state’s own forces. He cannot be crushed in a day or two. Still, nothing kills morale faster than empty stomachs. With winter deepening, the army’s clothing and bedding are insufficient as well. Each day, men freeze to death or lose limbs to frostbite. I won’t mince words. At this rate, by spring at the latest, we will have to withdraw to Jixin Ridge.”

Spring was less than three months away.

“Jixin Ridge is already being fortified with deep trenches and high walls. But to my knowledge, the terrain there cannot accommodate an army of over a hundred thousand.”

Zhu Xiyan, gauging the somber mood, judged the time ripe. He cleared his throat. “Since our soldiers bleed and die on the front, my Zhu Family must do its part as well. We are willing to contribute three million and five hundred thousand kilograms of grain and three thousand and five hundred kilograms of fodder for horses, to be delivered to the royal court’s quartermasters and dispatched swiftly to the front lines.”

He Yue did a quick calculation in his head. With grain priced at about eight hundred wen per seventy kilos, the Zhu Family’s pledge alone would cost them around forty thousand taels of silver, and this was not yet even counting the cost of fodder.

The entire hall erupted in murmurs.

Since the host Zhu Xiyan himself had spoken, others could hardly remain idle. The gathered nobles did some painful mental arithmetic of their own and realized that spending a bit of silver now to help the front lines hold against Dong Haoming’s iron hooves was still cheaper than letting their own homes be sacked later.

Thus, several personages of even higher rank than Zhu Xiyan also came forward to contribute. They could not be seen as stingier than he was. The most generous pledged eight million and five hundred thousand kilograms of grain, while others promised between four and seven million kilograms. They added horse fodder, clothing, shoes, and bedding.

With such figures taking the lead, the other noble families and officials could only grit their teeth and follow suit, cursing their luck in silence. Attending the Zhu Family’s banquet tonight had already cost them a gift; who would have thought that General Ke Jihai would be waiting here to wring a second offering from their purses?

And with so many families suddenly buying up grain, would the prices around Shihuan soon not soar to the heavens?