Chongqing was a city unlike any other.
It sat precisely at the sharp bend where the Yangtze River met the Jialing River, cradled between two vast waterways that wrapped around it like twin dragons coiling protectively around a pearl. Unlike the flat, orderly cities of the plains, which stretched out in neat squares as if drawn by a ruler across a farmer's map, Chongqing had surrendered itself to the terrain. Its shape followed the rivers. The city walls curved and slanted, forming an irregular rhombus that looked almost accidental from above, yet perfectly natural from within.
Zhu Yujian stood upon the height near Chaotianmen and let his eyes travel along the two rivers. The water was wide, restless, glinting under the light. He studied the city walls, the gates, the slopes stacked with houses clinging to the hillsides.
After a long silence, he spoke slowly.
"The two rivers form natural moats. Vast ones. No human army could possibly fill them. Almost every city gate faces the water. That makes this city exceptionally easy to defend and extremely difficult to attack. Even a small force could hold against an overwhelming enemy."
He paused, clearly puzzled.
"For such an excellent stronghold, why has it not been chosen as a capital in recent centuries?"
Li Daoxuan smiled faintly.
"To become a capital, geography alone is not enough. A capital must also be a political center. An economic center. A place that feeds power, and is fed by it in return."
He looked toward the mountains that embraced the city like uneven walls of stone.
"Chongqing lacks economic strength."
Zhu Yujian blinked, then nodded as realization struck him.
"Of course."
The surrounding terrain was mountainous. The fields were limited. There were no vast plains suitable for large-scale rice cultivation. In an era where agriculture determined survival, population, taxation, and military logistics, this was not a minor weakness.
It was fatal.
He frowned again, thinking deeper.
"Then another matter troubles me."
He turned to Li Daoxuan.
"Such a formidable city. How was it taken by the Yi chieftain She Chongming just a few years ago? My humble understanding cannot reconcile this. Give me three thousand disciplined men, and I could repel a hundred thousand attackers here."
Li Daoxuan exhaled softly.
"For a city like this to fall, it is never breached from the outside."
Zhu Yujian's brows knit together.
"Not from the outside?"
Li Daoxuan did not answer immediately. Instead, he pointed toward the docks below. Laborers strained beneath cargo loads, their clothes worn thin, their movements heavy with exhaustion. Then he tapped his own chest lightly.
Understanding dawned slowly in Zhu Yujian's eyes.
"The people's hearts."
Chongqing had long been poor. Its common people struggled merely to survive from one day to the next. When hardship became constant, loyalty became fragile.
Under such conditions, when enemies attacked from beyond the walls, the impoverished populace did not feel united with those who ruled them. The officials were distant. The gentry extracted what they could. The city had few regular troops and relied heavily on local militia.
If even that militia did not stand firmly with the authorities, then the walls, no matter how thick, were hollow.
Zhu Yujian fell silent, troubled.
"This problem…" he murmured. "It does not belong to Chongqing alone. It plagues the entire realm."
He lowered his head slightly.
"With my limited wisdom, I do not know how to resolve such a matter. I beg you, Dao Xuan Tianzun, teach me."
Li Daoxuan spread his hands in a gesture that was almost casual.
"It is simple to say. Develop the economy. Allow the common people to prosper."
He gave a small smile.
"But simple words are the hardest to implement."
Zhu Yujian absorbed this quietly.
Now he understood why, wherever Dao Xuan Tianzun traveled, he first concerned himself with work. With wages. With factories. With trade. With ensuring that ordinary men and women could earn their daily bread with dignity.
It was not charity.
It was foundation.
As the two continued their serious discussion of governance and the fate of cities…
Not far away, another Zhu was having an entirely different experience.
Zhu Cunji had already scrambled up onto the Chaotianmen city gate. He leaned forward excitedly, peering at the hillsides covered in layered buildings.
"This place is marvelous!" he laughed. "Look at these houses. Built into the slopes, stacked on top of each other, winding up and down like a maze. It is like walking inside a puzzle box. Zhu Yujian, let us go explore those old houses. It must be delightful."
He was the only one present who had arrived purely as a tourist.
Zhu Yujian sighed deeply.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun, please forgive our family's embarrassment. We have produced such an incorrigible fellow."
Li Daoxuan chuckled.
"This is not entirely a bad thing. If every prince in your esteemed Zhu family were obsessed with affairs of state, would that not create succession struggles every few years? That would hardly benefit the common people."
Zhu Yujian found himself momentarily speechless.
At this moment, Wang Xingjian stepped forward again, seizing the opportunity to return to urgent matters.
"Master Li, regarding the rebel forces in Jiangbei…"
Li Daoxuan nodded calmly.
"You mentioned Jiangbei City. My men will station there at once."
He turned his gaze slightly.
Cheng Xu understood instantly.
"This subordinate will proceed to Jiangbei City immediately to assess the situation."
---
Jiangbei District. Longtou Mountain. Longtou Temple.
Longtou Mountain was modest in height, barely a hundred meters tall. At its peak stood Longtou Temple, a small structure where an elderly monk and two young acolytes once lived quiet days chanting scriptures and tending incense.
Now the chanting had ceased.
The old monk and the two boys lay lifeless, their blood long dried upon the cold stone floor.
The temple halls were crammed with bandits who had drifted down from Shaanxi like a dark current of their own.
Their leader was a man called Er Zhi Hu.
He sat cross-legged upon a prayer mat before the Buddha statue, as if mocking it, surrounded by a ring of subordinate commanders.
His face was stern.
"Our provisions are running low," he said bluntly. "If this continues, our ten thousand men will starve. We must seize a proper city and secure enough grain."
One subordinate hesitated before speaking.
"Brother Hu, are we truly planning to attack Chongqing? That city is formidable. All its gates face the river. We would have to cross the river first and then assault the walls. The difficulty is enormous."
Er Zhi Hu waved a hand dismissively.
"A direct assault on the main city would indeed be troublesome. That is why we begin with Jiangbei."
He leaned forward slightly.
"Jiangbei stands separated from the main urban area. Its northern gate faces land. The militia there are not strong. It is far easier to take. Once Jiangbei is ours, we seize civilian vessels, organize a fleet, cross the river, and then strike the main city."
The commanders exchanged uneasy looks.
"Even so… it will not be easy."
A cold smile crept across Er Zhi Hu's face.
"There are many poor people in Chongqing. I have already sent men to contact certain members of the Jiangbei militia. When we attack, they will open the gates from within. Jiangbei will fall in a single blow."
He continued, almost lazily.
"I have also reached out to laborers at Chaotianmen docks. Those men are hungry. Hungry men listen."
The junior commanders brightened immediately.
"As expected of Brother Hu. Your strategies are unmatched."
Just then, a young bandit rushed into the hall in panic.
"Brother Hu! Something has happened."
Er Zhi Hu frowned.
"What now? Why such agitation?"
The young man gulped.
"A new militia has arrived in Chongqing. They appear disciplined and strong. They have already entered Jiangbei City. If we attack Jiangbei now, we may have to face them."
Er Zhi Hu snorted.
"Another militia? There is nothing to fear. As long as our insider remains in place, the gates will still open."
The insider he spoke of was named Jiang Daliang.
Jiang Daliang was a native of Jiangbei City.
But he did not love it.
His family had always been desperately poor. Since childhood he had rarely eaten his fill. By the time he was barely ten, he was already hauling cargo at the docks, his thin shoulders bent under loads far too heavy for his age. Each day he labored for a handful of copper coins, barely enough for a proper meal.
Under such circumstances, expecting him to cherish the city was unreasonable.
A few days earlier, a notorious local foreman from the gentry, infamous for exploiting dockworkers, had organized a militia to defend against the rebels. Jiang Daliang had been conscripted into it.
What the foreman did not know was that Er Zhi Hu's men had already contacted Jiang Daliang by the riverside.
They had reached an agreement.
When the rebels attacked, Jiang Daliang would open the city gates from within.
And Jiangbei would fall not because its walls were weak.
But because its people were hungry.