Governing the country, enriching the people, an unparalleled imperial tutor

Zhang Lin abruptly turned his horse towards the city gate of Jizhou, his voice hoarse with the kind of hoarseness one gets when cornered: "Lin Yanzhou! You colluded with foreign tribes, brought the Jurchens into the pass, and caused chaos... You wait, I will never let you go!" He was so ashamed of himself that he didn't even dare to mention the chaos he caused to the court.

A short laugh came from the city wall, but it reached his ears clearly.

"Zhang Lin, your collusion with the Northern Di is called 'purging the emperor's inner circle'," Lin Yanzhou's voice wasn't loud, but it drowned out the noise of the dismantling camp below the city. "My leading the Jurchens to attack the Northern Di is called 'causing chaos'. You can't even lift your own sword, so you blame others for being too fast? You idiot, hahaha!"

Zhang Lin's face was deathly pale, his lips moved, but he couldn't utter a single word. The ranks of his personal guards had completely broken down; some were secretly turning their horses around, some were exchanging glances, and the last few had already turned their horses back more than ten steps. Of the twelve triangular flags embroidered with the character "Zhang," two were crooked, and the soldiers holding them were bowing their heads, as if they wanted to put them down but dared not.

His hand, which had been gripping the reins, began to drop. He glanced one last time at Lin Yanzhou on the city wall, then at the central and right armies that were retreating north. Huyan Lie and Yuwen Tuo's troops had merged into a moving torrent of gray and yellow, their two different banners fluttering in the north wind, but their direction was no longer south.

Zhang Lin abruptly turned his horse around and galloped towards his central command tent. Behind him, the twelve triangular flags fluttered haphazardly in the morning breeze, like twelve tattered pieces of cloth scattered by the wind.

As he rode past the spot where Huyan Lie had been standing, there was still one of the scout's worn-out boots on the ground. The boot lay upside down in the mud, its toe pointing north.

As he passed the grass trampled by Yuwentuo's old dappled horse, he saw a small handful of roasted rice peeking out of Yuwentuo's saddlebag, scattered on the grayish-yellow earth, and blown into tiny pieces by the wind.

He suddenly reined in his horse and looked back.

Huyan Lie and Yuwen Tuo's troops had already merged into the torrent of the retreating army, leaving only two blurry figures, one broad and steady, the other thin and hunched, flowing northward with the gray-yellow tide. No one looked back at him, no flag stopped for him.

At that moment, Zhang Lin heard a low but clearly audible murmur coming from behind him—it was his own personal guard speaking. The man's voice was so low it was as if he was afraid of being overheard, but the wind carried the words to his ears: "I told you not to trust this old bastard. He even dared to betray his own emperor, how could you trust him?"

There were no rebuttals or reprimands, but the silence was louder than any words.

Zhang Lin froze, then lashed the horse's rump with his whip. The chestnut horse neighed in pain and bolted towards the main tent. He sat on the saddle, his purple robe billowing in the wind as if it might be blown off at any moment.

It took the Northern Di army less than an hour to withdraw from outside Jizhou City. By noon on the third day, the gray-yellow wilderness outside the city was empty again, with only trampled grass and a pile of embers from the campfire that had not been taken away. The large banner that read "By the Mandate of Heaven to Punish the Rebels" was forgotten in its original place before the battle, crookedly stuck in the mud, a tear in the corner of the flag by the north wind, fluttering in the wind.

Lin Yanzhou stood on the city wall, watching the last Northern Barbarian flag disappear at the northern horizon.

Zhou Chongyuan stood behind him, his voice carrying an incredulous, still somewhat dazed tone: "The Imperial Advisor... they really retreated."

"What else do you want? Should I call them back to have a drink with you?" Lin Yanzhou joked casually.

The soldiers on the city wall looked at each other, then some laughed, some squatted down and buried their faces in their arms, and some looked up at the sky and took a deep sniff.

Suddenly, the wind picked up in the open fields outside the city. The north wind pushed the embers of the remaining campfires, making them swirl on the ground. It also turned the forgotten banner that read "Fengtian Punish the Rebels" upside down, lying face down in the mud, revealing the rough stitching on the back.

On the distant horizon, Huyan Lie glanced back at the southern horizon at a certain moment. His gaze held an indescribable complexity—a mixture of apprehension at a powerful adversary and admiration for a truly shrewd strategist. He recalled the white light atop the city wall three days prior, the composure with which the gates of Jizhou had remained closed for three days, and the unwavering certainty in the voice of the strangely dressed man who declared, "You will surely retreat within three days."

He looked away and muttered, "That person is someone we shouldn't mess with in the future."

The adjutant beside him didn't hear clearly: "Khan?"

Huyan Lie didn't repeat himself, but tightened the reins. He added, his voice as deep as a stone sinking into deep water: "Pass down the order: from now on, kill every Jurchen you see, but don't touch a single Xuan Shuo person. They didn't pursue us this time; that's already a great act of kindness. Otherwise, we would have been attacked from both sides and truly finished. We'll repay this favor slowly in the future."

The lieutenant paused for a moment, but quickly clasped his hands in a fist salute and replied, "Yes, sir!"

The black horse galloped towards the depths of the northern grasslands. The gray-yellow torrent was gradually narrowing on the northern horizon, like a wound that was closing.

Lin Yanzhou stood on the city wall for a while, then turned and walked down the steps. As he passed, soldiers stepped aside one by one to make way for him. No one spoke; all eyes were on him.

When he reached the entrance of Zhao Lingxi's tent, the tent flap was lifted from the inside. She stood at the entrance, her left shoulder still wrapped in gauze, but her hair had been neatly combed again, and she was holding a piece of wood as a walking stick.

She saw him approach, her gaze lingering for a moment on his steady features, then asked, "You withdrew?"

"Since this immortal has intervened, I must also withdraw."

She lowered her head, remained silent for a moment, then raised her eyes again and said softly, "Then what you said on the city wall still stands."

Lin Yanzhou looked at her. She stood in the morning light at the tent entrance, her ears red, but she didn't look away.

He walked up to her, stopped, lowered his head, and gently touched her forehead.

"Give me some interest first, and you can owe me what you promised," he said. "I'll make it up to you when you're healed."

Zhao Lingxi didn't speak. She lowered her head, clenched the edge of the gauze on her left shoulder with her right hand, and smiled slightly.

The north wind was still blowing in the distance, making the abandoned banner on the open field tumble a couple more times in the mud before falling completely silent.

After the Northern Di army withdrew, the wilderness outside Jizhou City remained quiet for less than half an hour.

Zhang Lin did not leave.

His central command tent still stood in the same place, his purple satin robe was already askew from the wind, and one of the buckles on his jade-inlaid leather belt was loose, but he had no mind to fasten it. He rode his chestnut horse alone, facing the city walls of Jizhou, with only less than two thousand personal guards behind him, a force that was more than a hundred times smaller than the three hundred thousand troops he had commanded three days ago.

But he didn't retreat. He knew he couldn't, and he couldn't fight back; his own forces were insufficient to shake the current Xuan Shuo army. Retreat? All his previous efforts would be in vain. At this point, his only option was to intimidate and bribe this sorcerer.

Lin Yanzhou stood atop the city wall, watching the lone figure in purple robes slowly pacing back and forth across the open field, like an old beast caught in a leash yet still struggling. After a moment, he said to Zhou Chongyuan, "He's caught in a dilemma now, haha, I love seeing my opponent like this."

"Where else can he go?" Zhou Chongyuan said. "The Northern Di don't want him anymore, he can't go back to the capital, and he only has these two thousand remaining soldiers. If he retreats, he'll have nothing left."

"So he will definitely hit me," Lin Yanzhou said. "Even if it's just one hit, he will hit me."

Zhou Chongyuan gripped the hilt of his sword: "This subordinate will go and set up defenses immediately..."

"No rush." ​​Lin Yanzhou's gaze passed over Zhang Lin's figure and landed on the official road leading to the capital behind him. "Let the bullets fly for a while longer."

A small plume of dust was rising from the official road. It wasn't large, but it was moving in a precise direction and at an extremely fast speed, as if several horses were galloping at full speed, exhausting themselves.

Zhang Lin was oblivious to the cloud of dust. He was reining in his horse and circling in front of the battle lines, his purple robe billowing in the wind, his voice hoarse and high-pitched as he shouted towards the city wall: "Lin Yanzhou! You think you can win just by repelling the Northern Barbarians? I've cultivated my influence in the court for decades, my cronies are spread throughout the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers! Even if you hold Ji Province, can you hold the capital? My power base is still intact, what do you have to fight me with? We can discuss this. I have two daughters, beautiful as flowers, and skilled in all the arts. How about my two daughters plus half the empire? Let's cooperate, and a vast empire and endless riches await you..."

There was no echo from the city tower.