"General Feng." I bowed, deep and formal.

  "I was watching you." He said it without preamble or apology. "Most men would have shown fear when accused by the Chancellor."

  "The Son of Heaven had already decided the matter with his divine prescience."

  "Agreed," General Feng nodded. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Tell me, Colonel Zhang. What do you actually think of our situation?"

  The question caught me off guard. A general of his stature, asking a newly minted colonel for his assessment? It felt like a test, though I could not determine what answer he was looking for.

  "General, I am hardly qualified to-"

  "Spare me the modesty." His voice was sharp but not unkind. "I read the reports from SongJiaTun. You killed Yan Pei." He paused. "So I ask again. What do you think?"

  I studied him for a long moment. The more competent I found him the more tragic he appeared.

  And that really hurt.

  "I think," I said carefully, "that we are going to lose Luoyang."

  General Feng's expression did not change. "Go on."

  "The rebel forces were our elite. Their troops are veterans, their supply lines are prepared, and their commanders know what they are doing. Our forces will be conscripts who have never seen battle. Even if we stripped every garrison between here and the eastern capital, we could not match their numbers or their experience."

  "I march east because the alternative is worse." He matched my gaze "If we do nothing, the rebels take Luoyang unopposed. That gives them legitimacy, resources, momentum. Every day we can delay them, every week we can make them bleed for their advance, is time for the western garrisons to mobilize. Time for the empire to respond. What can your unit contribute?"

  "We can push out and fight a delaying action to buy you time to organise. Our thunder may leave the enemy hesitant to advance so that you get as much training time as you can."

  I lowered my voice further. "and General... may I speak freely?"

  "You have been speaking freely this entire conversation."

  I glanced toward the palace gates, where the last of the officials were filtering out into the morning. "Be careful of Bian Lingcheng."

  General Feng's expression shifted, surprise flickering across his homely features. "The Imperial Monitor? I would have thought you of all people would support your colleague, given your promotion."

  Honestly that could have been an insult but I didn't think too much of it.

  "There will always be those who seek their own gain even in the most dire of circumstances" I paused, considering how to phrase it. "Even moreso for those who believe that righteousness alone is enough to seize victory"

  General Feng's eyes sharpened. "That's quite bold an idea."

  "In a way. Cowardice. Defeatism. Unwillingness to fight." I let the words hang. "The Chancellor will not forget that you contradicted him in front of the entire court. Even if it is the correct decision, even if it saves the empire, the memorial that reaches the Emperor will not describe strategic wisdom."

  General Feng was silent for a long time.

  "I have studied history, General. The patterns repeat."

  "Mm." He was quiet for a moment. "You are young to be so cynical."

  I shrugged. "Youth and experience are not always correlated."

  Something like a smile touched his unfortunate features. "No. They are not." He straightened. "I depart for Luoyang at dawn. Not within the week. Tomorrow. Every day I spend there before the rebels arrive is a day to assess the terrain, levy local troops, identify defensible positions along the retreat route."

  "The retreat route?"

  "TongGuan." His smile turned grim. "You are right that abandoning Luoyang will be called cowardice. But you are also right that holding it is impossible. Bloody An Lushan's nose before he gets to me. Make him pay for every li of ground. And when we reach Luoyang, perhaps we will have bought enough time to hold." He paused.

  General Feng extended his hand in the clasped-fist salute of the military. "I have commanded men for thirty years, Colonel Zhang. I have learned to recognize when someone is trying to save my life." His homely face was serious. "I will not forget it."

  I returned the salute.

  "Safe travels, General Feng. I will follow as quickly as I can."

  He nodded and walked away, his cape catching the morning breeze. I watched him go. Flesh and blood felt far warmer than paper. Much more human to lose.

  I set off on my way home on horseback.

  My new mansion was a three-courtyard structure in the eastern wards, modest by the standards of high officials of a fourth grade but palatial enough for my purposes. The previous owner had been a merchant who had run afoul of the Censorate, his property seized and redistributed with the casual efficiency of imperial bureaucracy.

  I found Xiao Qi waiting in the front courtyard, perched on a stone bench with a stack of account ledgers he was working his way through with pencil in hand and abacus on his other side he flicked occasionally. He'd grown quite a bit since when I first met him, and he'd found himself better fitting cloth robes to match. He looked up as I entered, his round face breaking into a relieved smile.

  "Master Zhang! You survived the court audience. We were taking bets on whether you would return in at all or in chains."

  "Your faith in me is touching." I removed my helmet and Xiao Qi helped me with my horse. "Where is Xiao Kai?"

  "The inner courtyard. She said the front rooms had too many sight lines from the street." Xiao Qi fell into step beside me as I walked deeper into the compound. "The mansion is adequate. Three courtyards, stabling, a small garden in the back. I've setup our workshop and your study as you like it"

  I smiled despite myself. "How was the Scholars' Mark in our absence?"

  "Well staffed, Toothman Yao and Ting're did fine work maintaining these ledgers while we were out. The apprentices have been tasked to map in the safer south. Oh" Xiao Qi handed me a letter bearing the stamp of the Left Guard,"Commander Sun Li asked us to employ a Lady Meng, Mr. Yao thinks she has performed adequately despite seeming out of place at first. Perhaps Master Zhang, you should speak with her when you have the chance."

  That was a bit of a surprise. I wondered why Commander Sun didn't mention it earlier. But if it is someone he's responsible for I should find a chance to speak with her so that I can figure out what her deal is. "I'll drop by the shop tomorrow before we leave."

  Then a thought struck me.

  "Xiao Qi have we been selling a lot more maps as of late?"

  Xiao Qi glanced checked the ledgers. "Yes. Sales are up more than three fold for the northern regions, General Gao commissioned twelve copies of ZhaoYi and Weibo Circuits. Maps of the Weibo district are selling particularly well." He stopped, "It's because of the rebellion isn't it?"

  I nodded. "For now lets stop selling maps to anyone without an official seal and letter of recommendation. If any maps end up in enemy hands that may come back to bite us."

  Xiao Qi nodded and tucked the ledger at the bottom of the stack. I took the chance to ask, "How is our Lady Feng doing? Has she visited the shop recently?"

  Something flickered across his face, there and gone. "She is well. Back at the Garden of Serene Thought with her father." He paused, his tone carefully neutral. "Minister Feng has been very... attentive to her recovery. He prefers she remain close to home for the time being."

  I caught the subtext. I knew Minister Feng liked Xiao Qi well enough, but his historical status was not the sort of match a Minister of Rites would choose for his only daughter. Keeping them apart was probably deliberate.

  "I see," I said, leaving it at that. "And you? Are you settling in well enough?"

  "Well enough. A little lonely of course." He shrugged. "Just glad to be back behind solid walls again."

  "Fair enough. Could you help me with this armor?"

  We passed through the middle courtyard, a space dominated by a decorative pond that had been drained and now sat empty and forlorn. The inner courtyard beyond was smaller, more private, screened from the rest of the compound by a wall of shaped hedges.

  Chen Qianyu was waiting there, seated on a low wooden platform beneath a scholar's pine in a meditation pose. She was dressed in the simple hemp robes of a male servant, her hair bound up and hidden beneath a cloth cap. Without her mask, without her fine robes, she could almost pass for an unremarkable young man once more.

  "You are late," she said. A smile breaking accross her face. "I was beginning to think Chancellor Yang had convinced the Emperor to have you beheaded after all."

  "The Chancellor made a valiant effort." I settled onto the platform across from her with a clank, feeling the ache in my legs from hours of standing. "Minister Feng and Commander Sun spoke in my defense. As did the Crown Prince, interestingly enough."

  Qianyu's eyes widened a smidge. "The Crown Prince? That is significant. He rarely involves himself in military matters."

  "He made a practical argument. The Tang needs useful men, and apparently I qualify." I began working at the straps of my armor. "We have been allocated one thousand taels from the imperial treasury to equip our forces."

  Xiao Qi, who had followed us into the courtyard, made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a groan. "One thousand taels. How generous. How much do you think will actually reach us?"

  "Less than half, I expect. The Ministry of Revenue is slow, and Chancellor Yang has allies there who will find reasons to delay disbursement." Xiao Qi helped me finally free myself from the breastplate, feeling the cool air against my sweat-soaked undertunic. "Minister Feng gave me five hundred from his personal funds. That should cover immediate expenses."

  Qianyu looked at me with a significant degree of unease. "How long did you say we had before the rebels arrive at LuoYang?"

  She'd been anxious ever since restoration of her father's rank, while her family remained here in Chang'an under the emperor's watchful eye, ChenHuaRong had already traveled to the Eastern Capital.

  "Perhaps a month at most. Hence we must depart as soon as possible." I added quickly, "But as I said things may have changed, although if memory serves AnLuShan treated the city quite well when it fell."

  "RuLin, I was thinking we could change things," Qianyu said. "If we do so dramatically enough then perhaps tens of thousands could be saved. We could...assassinate An Lushan before he can make it to our walls."

  "I have considered it." and I had, "It is too risky. An Lushan is surrounded by loyal guards, and who knows what others. And even if we succeeded, what then? His son would continue the rebellion. His generals would fight for succession. The structural pressures that created this crisis would not disappear with one man's death."

  "So we do nothing?"

  "We do what we can." I met her eyes. That familiar fire was burning again. "We buy time. We save lives where we can save them. We try to preserve the forces that might actually end this war." I paused. "And this time we try to keep Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi alive long enough to matter."

  "Then we had better start packing."

  A commotion at the front gate interrupted us. A messenger announced his arrival.

  "A messenger, Master Zhang. From an encampment at the Hangu Pass."

  I took the letter and broke the seal. The handwriting was Wang Er's rough, angular script, each character slashed onto the paper like a knife stroke.

  "Colonel Zhang. The Black Wind Sword Chapter has arrived at the HanGu Pass as instructed. Fifteen hundred men in total, supplies stockpiled and ready to move on your order. We await your further instructions. Wang Er."

  "Good news?" Qianyu asked.

  "Our divine strategy army have arrived." I folded the letter and tucked it into my sleeve. "Against the forces we will be facing, it is barely a drop in the ocean." I rose, feeling energy return to my tired limbs. "Qianyu, begin preparations for departure. We move out tomorrow afternoon. Lets get ourselves two horses."

  She nodded and rose with fluid grace picking up her sword and hanging it deftly from her belt again.

  "Xiao Qi." I turned to my young assistant. "I need you here in the capital. Minister Feng has arranged for the workshops to be transferred to my direct control. You will oversee production while we are gone."

  "You want me to stay behind?" Disappointment was unhidden on his face.

  "I have something important for you to oversee. The larger rockets we were working on." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "It may be the most important one, as soon as the first batch of twenty is ready I need you to dispatch them for LuoYang. Then you must make sure we are continuously supplied"

  He straightened, accepting the responsibility with visible effort. "I understand, Master Zhang. I will not let you down."

  "Just be very careful handling them. Just like our workshop safety rules and make sure everyone else knows."

  "No sparks. No fires within the same courtyard."

  Another disturbance at the gate. This time the courier who appeared at our door wearing the livery of the Ministry of Revenue, a thin man in blue robes with the harried expression. Behind him two heavyset men carried a large wooden chest by two metal rings on either side.

  "Colonel Zhang RuLin?" The courier did not wait for confirmation. "A disbursement from the imperial treasury, as ordered by the Son of Heaven." He gestured towards the wooden chest, lacquered in red and stamped with the ministry's seal. The two men brought it forward and it landed with a thump on the ground.

  I bowed deeply then I broke the seal and opened the lid.

  Inside, arranged in neat rows, were silver ingots in ten tael ingots. I counted them quickly, then counted again, certain I had made a mistake.

  Three hundred and seventy taels.

  The courier was already backing toward the gate, his duty discharged. "The Ministry of Revenue notes that certain administrative fees and processing costs were necessarily deducted from the original allocation. A detailed accounting will be provided upon request. Good day, Colonel."

  I suppressed a grimace with my bow and handed him a five tael ingot from my own salary. "Thank you, and I hope the ministry of revenue might overlook our previous friction"

  The courier returned the bow. "No need to be quite so apologetic Colonel. You have made many promotions available to the rest of us."

  And with that he left, servants in tow.

  Qianyu appeared at my shoulder, looking down at the meager contents of the box. "How much?"

  "Three hundred and seventy." I closed the lid. "Less than half a tael a man. We'll be dipping into our own treasuries this time."

  How fortunate we were that the Escorts had been profitable on their own, and the scholar's mark having its own fair sum hidden away.

  She was silent for a moment. Then, quietly: "We always knew we would have to fight this war with what we had, not what we were promised." She leaned forward to help me with the chest.

  "Yes." I lifted the chest with her from the other side, feeling its inadequate weight where the chest weighted more than the silver did. "Yes, we did."