Eunuch Zhang had fled the city with his people and was waiting outside the walls for Lü Li. He both hated and feared Ning Chen now.

Lü Li went to take his leave of Ning Chen alone!

Lü Li was a clever man, tactful and sweet-talking, so Ning Chen didn't give him a hard time.

Once he'd had someone see Lü Li off, Ning Chen got ready to ride out of the city and see how the locust control was coming along.

He was on his way out the door when Xiao Yanxi showed up.

"Little Xixi, when are you ever going to change back into women's clothes?"

Little Xixi?

The corner of Xiao Yanxi's mouth jerked, then jerked again.

"Word just came. The Great Xuan under the De Emperor has opened peace talks with Nanyue."

Ning Chen's face darkened. His fists clenched before he knew it.

Xiao Yanxi said, "It seems you still care what happens to the Great Xuan after all."

Ning Chen's voice was low. "It's my old man I'm worried about. Everybody says he's weak and useless... But when it came to the country's territory, he never gave an inch. He kept the Great Xuan from losing an inch of ground.

Who'd have thought that in Zhang Tianlun's hands a perfectly good Great Xuan would turn into meat on the block, for anybody to carve up?

Ceding land, paying an indemnity, signing away the country's sovereignty and its honor—he's actually willing to do that."

Xiao Yanxi said, "Without Old General Chen and without you, even the Xuan Emperor would have had to cede land and pay an indemnity, the way things stand now."

Ning Chen shook his head. "You're wrong. My old man's softhearted, but it depends on what's at stake... The minute it touches the Great Xuan's territory, he's got a backbone.

He'd sooner turn the Great Xuan's silver into sharp arrows and shoot them at the enemy than cede land and pay an indemnity.

Kang Luo is skilled in war and stratagem, but at the end of the day his numbers are limited. Move…