Ning Chen stayed a full month at the southern frontier.

He was not idle in that month. He kept men out the whole time, watching for movement from Nanyue.

But after the meeting that day, the Nanyue army went back into Nanyue and nothing moved again.

But Ning Chen had already made his preparations.

Since he was here, he might as well take Nanyue down a peg again... and if he moved this time, he would hurt Nanyue thoroughly enough to be sure they never dared provoke anyone again.

Before he could move, though, an imperial edict came from the capital. His Majesty was summoning him back to the capital.

But one line in the edict was strange. He was to leave the Ning'an Army at the southern frontier, and the reason given was that Nanyue might attack again once he was gone.

Ning Chen looked at the edict and said nothing for a long time.

He carried the edict out of his tent, turned it over and read it several times, and had Tong Yuanzhou confirm it as well: the hand was His Majesty's beyond any question, and there was nothing wrong with the imperial seal either.

But Ning Chen could not shake the feeling that something about this was off.

After long and careful thought, Ning Chen made up his mind anyway... he would defy the edict.

He would take the Ning'an Army back to the capital.

There was nothing wrong with the edict, but he could not shake the feeling that something had happened in the capital.

Kang Luo had said the worst decision of his life was leaving the capital.

A man did not say a thing like that for no reason. Either it was to trick him into leaving the southern frontier, or something really had happened in the capital.

Ning Chen wrote a letter and sent a man to the eastern frontier with it at all speed.

He was worried too that Kang Luo would bring an army back to attack once he had gone.

So he ordered twenty thousand men up from the…