"I've told Hsung to normalize. To avoid confrontation. To shift his emphasis from the military to the political. They're vulnerable in their disunity. Intrigue should be his weapon of choice. It could be decades before we avenge our dead. We have to digest what we've taken."

Lord Kuo impressed Shih-ka'i now. His inflammatory demagoguery had been, apparently, a device to push Ko Feng aside. Today he was talking a more realistic response to the empire's problems. Maybe he could reverse the trend toward chaos that had set in with the deaths of the Princes Thaumaturge.

Their swift parade of successors had shattered stability by warring among themselves while launching unwise foreign adventures.

"I'll be pleased to command Eastern Army. I'm honored that you think me competent. I'll begin selecting staff today."

A faint irritation flickered across Kuo's face. He was being dismissed—he. Then he smiled. Ssu-ma could not shake old habit. Younger men were trainees... He rose. "I wish you luck, Lord Ssu-ma."

"Thank you." Shih-ka'i wasn't really listening. He was engrossed in his work once more.

He had to hide in the training reports for a while. This stroke of fortune would take some digesting.

Shih-ka'i found that he had to guard thirty-four hundred miles of border with thirty thousand men. The eastern legions were, at least, at strength. None had been involved in the ill-starred western campaign.

He also had to govern and keep the peace in the military frontier zone.

His predecessor had done the obvious and employed local auxiliaries. They weren't much. The peoples of Shih- ka'i's new proconsulate were all savages. Only a few tribes had a Bronze Age level of technology, though storytellers spoke of a past age of greatness. They had revealed a few ruins in support of their claims.