The waning moon slipped behind drifting clouds, and the cold gleam of iron armor pierced the night. More than ten thousand troops wound along the highway like a python in the darkness. Cotton cloth wrapped their horses' hooves, yet the roadside branches still trembled at their passing.
Han Zhan wiped the sweat from his forehead, suddenly flung open his scarlet cloak to expose his sweat-soaked chest, and laughed from horseback. "Damn it, now that the old man has one foot in heaven, he ought to grind Western Liang's Imperial Palace straight into dust! Why go to all this trouble?"
Qin Kelan had been extremely busy lately. Every affair required her coordination, and she had visibly grown much thinner. Hearing Han Zhan complain again, she snapped half a silver whisker between her gaunt fingers and smiled. "With the old Grand Commandant's strength, he could destroy a kingdom with a flick of his fingers. But there is something you do not understand, my patron: destroying a kingdom is easy; establishing one is hard. Gathering the people's hearts is harder still!"
She had followed Han Zhan for a long time and knew that towering wealth and honor awaited her. In her excitement, even her manner of addressing him had changed.
She raised the bronze compass flickering in her hand. "Look, my patron. Among the twenty-eight mansions reflected in this star chart, Kang favors the founding of the eldest house, while Ji shines with supreme strength. Mars guards the Heart overhead-a sign that heaven will change and the sun be replaced! The old Grand Commandant ordered us to boil the frog in warm water precisely so these three hundred thousand Western Liang border troops would become the foundation stones of the new dynasty, skin, bones, and all..."
Guan Pingchao's dark xuan cloak streamed backward