Isolated town in northern border region

The convoy entered Beijing territory on the evening of the fifth day.

As Luo Daniu rode his horse, he saw the outline of the capital's city walls emerging in the twilight, like a silhouette not yet fully solidified, slowly being outlined by the last rays of daylight along the edges of the ramparts. He reined in his horse and paused for a moment by the roadside, watching the outline become clearer in his vision, without immediately urging his horse forward.

Zhou Xun rode beside him, following his gaze, and said, "We've arrived. What do you plan to say to the Prince?"

Luo Daniu was silent for a moment, then said, "To tell the truth, I admit I made mistakes. I also need to explain how I was framed."

Zhou Xun nodded and asked no further questions. The two horses stood side by side in the middle of the official road, and the caravan behind them slowly came to a stop. The magnificent carriages stood quietly and silently in the twilight, their curtains motionless, like seals nailed to the road, waiting to be lifted.

Just as Luo Daniu was about to urge his horse forward, a series of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from ahead on the official road. A fast horse galloped from the city gate, and the messenger on horseback, seeing Luo Daniu from afar, raised his arm, holding a scroll of urgent news sealed with sealing wax in his hand.

The messenger reined in his horse, jumped down, stumbled slightly, and after regaining his balance, handed the urgent report to Luo Daniu, panting as he said, "General, something terrible has happened in the south."

Luo Daniu took the urgent report, tore it open, and read it through in the last rays of daylight, then read it again. His hand holding the paper did not tremble in the twilight, but his knuckles slowly tightened, like a pair of pincers confirming its own boundaries.

Zhou Xun turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

Luo Daniu handed him the urgent report, his voice rising from the depths of his being, carrying a somber quality: "The south is in chaos. Chaos is everywhere."

Zhou Xun took the report and read it, his brows furrowing as he slowly traced the lines of text with his fingertips. He then folded the urgent report, handed it back to Luo Daniu, and said, "Even faster than I expected."

The urgent report stated that banditry had broken out simultaneously in Qingzhou, Youzhou, and the southern part of Cangzhou. The number of bandits was unknown, but the scale was enormous; they had captured three county towns overnight, burned down the county government offices, looted granaries, and forced civilians to flee in all directions. What troubled Luo Daniu most were the last two lines of the report: "The bandits' weapons are all of official quality, and their armor and flags are indistinguishable from those of the Northern Frontier Army. The civilians along the way are unable to distinguish the real bandits from the fakes, and there are rumors that it is Luo Daniu's subordinates who are behind the rebellion."

Luo Daniu read the sentence aloud once, then put it down.

He said, "They took our equipment."

Zhou Xun said, "You know how much armor and weapons those powerful families have obtained from the imperial court under the guise of 'recruiting local militia.'"

Luo Daniu said, "I know."

Zhou Xun said, "Those things are all in the hands of the bandits now."

Luo Daniu remained silent. He glanced back at the carriages behind him; the light filtering through the curtains was dim, like flickering lamp wicks. He turned his gaze back, urging his horse to gallop towards the capital. The horse's hooves landed again on the stone pavement of the official road, its rhythm slightly heavier than before.

After entering the capital, Luo Daniu did not go home or to the military camp, but instead led the caravan directly to the gate of the Imperial Academy. When he dismounted, the gate of the Imperial Academy was already closed, with only two lanterns still lit, casting two warm yellow streaks of light on the characters "Imperial Academy".

He stood at the door for a moment, then raised his hand and knocked on the door knocker. The sound of the brass ring tapping on the wooden door carried far in the night, like a signal being transmitted, moving through unconnected nodes toward its destination.

The door opened. Xu De paused for a moment when he saw Luo Daniu's unshaven face through the crack in the door. Then, his gaze passed over Luo Daniu and fell upon the carriages and cavalry behind him. He paused again, but asked nothing. He simply pushed the door open, stepped aside to make way, and said, "The Prince is in the study."

Luo Daniu didn't bring any soldiers in, only Zhou Xun. When he crossed the threshold of the Imperial Academy, his boots paused on the door panel, as if the height of the threshold was slightly different from what he remembered, or as if he was using the soles of his feet to reconfirm how long the distance he had crossed was.

Xiao Lie was grading homework in his study. The second batch of students was progressing much faster than the first, but their handwriting was still crooked. He was correcting the slanted strokes one by one, putting them back in their proper places. When Luo Daniu and Zhou Xun came in, he didn't look up. He finished correcting the last stroke of the book in his hand, closed it, and then looked up at them.

His gaze lingered for a moment on Luo Daniu's face, which was three shades darker and had a half-inch of beard, before falling on Zhou Xun, and finally across them to the still-unspecified darkness outside the window.

He began by saying, "Speak."

Luo Daniu took a step forward, then knelt down with a thud. His knees struck the floor tiles with a dull thud, sounding in the quiet night like the echo of a falling pillar hitting its base, the sound sinking into the cracks in the ground before it had fully dissipated.

He knelt there, head bowed, and said, "Your Highness, I've fallen into a trap. I killed people I shouldn't have killed. I shouldn't have brought the Princess and the officials back here tied up."

After he finished speaking, he made no further arguments or explanations, and just knelt there, waiting for Xiao Lie to speak.

Xiao Lie sat behind his desk, watching him in silence for a long while. Then he said, "Get up."

Luo Daniu did not move.

Xiao Lie repeated, "Get up. How can you speak while kneeling?"

Luo Daniu then stood up, standing three feet away from the table, like a person whose form had been fixed, without any extra movement except for breathing.

Xiao Lie said, "You brought them back. That's a good thing."

Luo Daniu raised his head slightly: "Good news?"

Xiao Lie leaned back in his chair, his gaze shifting from Luo Daniu's face to the unfinished homework assignments on the desk. He said, "You were set up, but you brought them back to the capital. Their original plan was to convict you directly in the south, then use your name to muddy the waters there. You brought them back, and their plan was thwarted."

He stood up, walked to the window, opened it, and looked at the stone pavement of the Imperial Academy grounds, now shrouded in night. He said, "But the tide has turned. They don't need you in the south anymore. They just need your name to still be circulating."

Luo Daniu clenched his fist: "I..."

Xiao Lie turned to look at him: "You've done what you were supposed to do. I'll handle the rest."

He didn't say anything more, only telling Zhou Xun and Luo Daniu to go back and rest first. After the two left the study, Xiao Lie stood alone by the window for a long time. The wind outside blew in from the training ground, carrying the dry, cold scent of early winter grass, brushing against the tip of his pen, and causing the corner of the unfinished workbook on his desk to curl slightly.

He reached out and pressed the page down, looked at the crooked horizontal line, then picked up his pen and added a stroke next to it, straightening the line. He put down his pen and muttered, "Not enough skill."

The three words were very light, like a note that had not yet been written down, slowly extending upwards along the wall opposite him, only to be blown away by the night wind before touching the roof beam.

Over the next two weeks, news from the south flooded into the capital like water bursting its banks.

Three counties in southern Qingzhou fell. After burning down the county government offices, the bandits didn't stop, but surged forward like a mudslide pushed by the tide to their next target. Two engineering schools in Youzhou were burned down. The textbooks and booklets in the schools were thrown into the fire and burned to ashes. Some of the students who had only studied for a few months ran away, some were taken to the bandits' den, and some squatted by the fire all night, only to find the next day that their teacher—one of the first batch of national craftsmen to graduate—had been hung on the flagpole at the city gate.

The situation in Cangzhou was even worse. A steam engine workshop, captured by bandits, wasn't destroyed but instead taken over by powerful families. These families hired a group of literate accountants who, using Xiao Lie's "A Brief Introduction to Engineering" as a guide, studied the workshop's equipment, learning and experimenting simultaneously. In just half a month, the workshop was producing ironware and farm tools comparable to those in the Northern Frontier. The sign at the workshop entrance was changed to the Cui family crest, and the recruitment notice read, "Food and lodging provided, double monthly wages."

The refugees scattered in all directions from the chaotic prefecture, like grass seeds scattered by the wind, landing wherever they landed. Their hearts were filled with fear of "the devilish Luo Daniu," and their minds still held the little arithmetic and geometry knowledge that Xiao Lie had taught them. Most of them couldn't even read properly.

At this time, those aristocratic families offered their terms: "Work in the workshop and you will have food and shelter," "Those who work for the aristocratic families will be free from banditry and war," and "Following the aristocratic families is safer than following the King of the Northern Frontier."

One notice after another covered the walls of the southern prefectures and counties, each bearing the emblems of the Cui, Zhao, Sun, and Zhou families, alongside Xiao Lie's notice that proclaimed "No restrictions on background, only talent matters." The two notices were of different ages, with different handwriting and different seals, but when pasted on the same wall, they resembled two boundary lines approaching each other, separated only by an unfilled gap.

The refugees stood in front of the notice and looked at it. Some of them couldn't read all the characters, so they asked someone nearby who could read to read it. After they finished reading, there was a moment of silence. Some people said, "Let's go to the Cui family. At least we'll have food to eat." Others said, "Let's wait a little longer. The King of Northern Frontier will definitely have a way." Still others said, "Wait for what? I've been starving for two days."

Then a group of people walked through the gate of the Cui family workshop. The foreman at the gate gave each of them a contract, had them put their fingerprints on it, and then led them through an iron gate into the workshop in the backyard. The workshop was dimly lit, and dozens of people were crammed together next to an assembly line. Some were passing materials, some were assembling, and some were packing, like a row of slowly turning gears, each one locked in place with the next, with no gaps or room for maneuver.

Someone glanced up at the sliver of sunlight filtering through the roof, then looked down and continued working. He had a rough hemp rope ring around his wrist, just like everyone else around him.

The public opinion in the teahouse had shifted. Someone slammed their fist on the table, saying, "The King of the Northern Frontier is doing well, teaching people calligraphy and painting in the capital, while the people in the south are almost all dying!"

Someone at the next table retorted, "That's the powerful families causing trouble! Didn't you see those bandits were wearing Northern Frontier Army armor? Someone's framing them!"

"What kind of frame-up are you trying to pull? The armor is real, the weapons are real, and even their fighting style is exactly the same as the Northern Frontier Army! How can ordinary people tell the difference between thieves and soldiers?"

"Can't you blame the King of Northern Frontier for not being able to tell the difference?"

"Who else is to blame but him? He's the King of the Northern Frontier! The south is in chaos, and he doesn't care?"

"How could he manage it? He was teaching in the capital, and he handed over military power in the south to his subordinates. Then one of his subordinates, Luo Daniu, rebelled!"

"Luo Daniu did not rebel!"

"Then why did he kidnap the princess and the senator?"

The arguments in the teahouse rose and fell, like a pot of water repeatedly boiling, the lid not yet lifted, but the faint crackling of the rising steam bursting beneath the surface could already be heard. Some stood up, smashed their teacups, and left; others continued sitting, finished the last sip of tea, and then also left, leaving only a few regulars around a table, none of them speaking again.

Meanwhile, Jiang Min was placed in a mansion in the northern suburbs of the capital. She did not return to the villa, nor did Xiao Lie allow her to enter the palace. The location of the mansion was quite interesting—it was very close to the eastern city where aristocratic families gathered, but far from the residence of the Northern Frontier faction. It was like a chess piece placed on the edge of a chessboard, neither important enough to be captured immediately nor so important as to be completely ignored.

After staying in the mansion for a few days, she began to meet people.

The Cui family's steward entered through the back door, the Zhao family's advisor exited through the side door, and the Sun family's servant waited in the main hall for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before leaving with a letter. None of the people who came wore conspicuous clothes, and they left without carrying anything in their hands, but their footsteps were lighter after leaving the mansion than when they arrived, as if they had already obtained the confirmation they needed.

After those people left, Jiang Min would sit in the study for a while, then put the papers on the table into a locked wooden box. After doing this, she would walk to the window and stand for a while, watching the eaves of the Imperial Academy in the distance cast a cold white silhouette in the sunlight.

She watched for a while, then whispered, "He's still teaching."

His tone was very calm, as if he were stating a fact that no longer needed to be confirmed.

At the Imperial Academy, Xiao Lie was indeed still teaching. The second batch of students was progressing much faster than the first, but many still got stuck when he got to equations.

He repeated the analogy of "the unknown being like an unopened lock" three more times. Some understood, while others remained confused. He put down the chalk, knelt down next to a student, and drew a balance scale on the ground with a piece of charcoal. He placed one square on the left and two squares plus a circle on the right, then said, "This circle represents the unknown. To balance the scale, you must first calculate the value of the circle."

The student stared at the balance scale pattern on the ground for a while, then looked up and said, "Your Highness, things are in chaos in the south, and you still have the mind to teach us this?"

Xiao Lie squatted there, silent for a brief moment, then said, "Whether the south is chaotic or not has nothing to do with whether you learn this or not. Once you learn it, no one can take it away from you. You'll still know this problem after the war is over. You'll still know it even if the war doesn't break out. Just learn it."

The student looked at him, his gaze lingering on his face for a moment, then looked down at the scales on the ground again. He calculated the number on the circle three times, and on the third time he got it right. He looked up and said, "Your Highness, the circle equals one."

Xiao Lie said, "Yes."

He stood up, dusted the charcoal ash off his hands, and walked back to the podium to continue his lecture. After class, he sat silently by the podium for a while. The sky outside the window was slowly darkening, and twilight began to spread from the top of the roof beams, gradually swallowing the latter half of the equation on the blackboard behind him, leaving only the first few words still lingering in the last rays of light.