Joyce looked at the map, trying to recall what she knew about the Northern Expedition in her own world. They were only two days into the expedition and they'd taken the better part of a province.

The Flying Dragon's First and Second Shaman Brigades had also seen their first skirmishes, but those had ended rather quickly. The few dozen soldiers had surrendered as soon as a wall of fire appeared around them. After all, the major battle was likely to be in Changsha, where they'd be headed tomorrow.

Things were going a little too smoothly, in Joyce's opinion. She didn't think she remembered anything going this smoothly in her own world's version of the Northern Expedition.

She had a feeling this would be a wild ride.

Joyce felt the whirl of chaos strumming behind her eyelids, ready to burst out at any time. The weird vibes had been pretty quiet since she'd gotten to Canton, but it had been pretty wild on their way down from Siberia.

Honestly, "the weird vibes be vibing' was a terrible excuse for crashing into the room of a warlord's sister-in-law while riding a cyclone that shot pink lightning, but at the same time, Joyce didn't exactly have a say over how it worked.

Joyce just knew that some funny shit was about to go down and that she'd probably have to burst through like a woodchipper on steroids.

Wu Peifu had stopped fighting the other warlords three months ago when Joyce had revealed herself as a spirit-sent. But he'd been in correspondence with Zhang Zuolin.

Joyce remembered Zhang Zuolin from when she'd been plowing through Manchuria. He'd had great wifi speeds and long-range projectile weapons. Were they exchanging information? Zhang Zuolin wouldn't be able to do much other than curse them for destroying so many of his tanks and helping his third concubine escape back to Russia.

What was he going to do? Chuck a missile at them? Joyce didn't think Wu would agree to have another warlord bomb his territory.

"I sure hope I'm not tempting fate," Joyce said cheerfully. Kiyoko shot her a worried look.

"Chairman, I think you're already tempting fate," Kiyoko said snarkily. "Only letting a small number of people know your plans is not only terrible for transparency, it's also bad for efficiency. If it turns out no one can actually do it properly, we'll all be screwed."

Kiyoko had gotten into the habit of calling Joyce out in the month since she'd signed on for the Northern Expedition. Joyce wondered if it was Kiyoko's coping mechanism.

"That's true," Joyce said, "But since we've all but signed off the more mafia-ish methods for the more syndicate-ish methods, I'm kinda short on options, you know? Also, my plans are always a complete mess. I'm willing to bet that it'll be a complete wreck. Nothing will work right but we'll get the results in a way that makes us really embarrassed."

Kiyoko only shook her head in response.

Joyce flipped the map upside down to try and get a better perspective. "Like, look at Feng Xia. She's so quiet after I dropped so many hints for her," Joyce complained.

"Please don't take credit for the Intelligence Director's work," Kiyoko said. "All you did was ignoring Feng Xia's terrible attempts at discretion."

Joyce lifted the map to almost level to her face, squinting at it and trying to imagine it through a 3D angle. She belatedly realized she didn't know the topography well enough.

Kiyoko let out an exasperated huff of air, staring resolutely away from Joyce.

"Six months is kinda short," Joyce mumbled. "Didn't the original timeline take way longer?"

Kiyoko swiveled to stare at Joyce again. "For what?" Kiyoko asked, voice radiating deadly amounts of alarm.

"I want to do it faster. Starting in winter is bad, didn't they say you should never invade Russia in winter?" Joyce continued to mumble.

"Are you invading Russia?" Kiyoko demanded. Joyce sighed and lowered the map.

"Hey, didn't Zhang Zuolin have a son or something? The guy who really shaped up when shit blew up with Japan," Joyce said. His last name was probably also Zhang.

"Chairman, are you going to fight Japan?!" Kiyoko looked positively horrified when Joyce finally thought to glance over.

"Uh, no. Nope, nada. Zero chance," Joyce replied. Kiyoko looked unconvinced by the firm reply.

Joyce gave up on the map altogether. With the pressure mounting beneath her skin, she seriously doubted that any plans would be worth shit in the face of what she'd probably end up unleashing. Not to mention that she had to deal with Gu Feng before anything else would even be on the agenda.

"So, Changsha's supposed to be easy, which means it won't be," Joyce said.

Kiyoko sighed. "Chairman, I believe I've met my daily quota of putting up with your bullshit," she said primly. It was Joyce's turn to sigh.

"Kiyoko, you…really just say whatever you want," Joyce said. She gave up and tugged on her mental link with Spade.

'Dude, what's that backflip girl's name again, the one who can drive tanks,' she sent.

'Qixin, why?' Spade replied warily.

'You need her much?' Joyce asked. Spade sent a wave of confusion back.

'She's not Russian but she'll do,' Joyce sent. 'I need her to go to Manchuria first.'

Qixin gulped at the weary look on the Vice-Chair's face. Spade looked apologetic and exasperated, as he often did after he'd met with the Chairman.

"Vice-Chair?" Qixin prodded when he didn't give say anything. Spade let out a sigh.

"I need to give you a very important task," Spade said.

"I'll do it," Qixin replied almost immediately.

"At least listen to what it is first," Spade said, sounding distinctly annoyed now.

Qixin grinned sheepishly. The thrill for danger ran through her blood, if Qixin hadn't gotten into the Flying Dragons, she'd probably be back in jail again. But the Chairman had said during the interview that a criminal record didn't matter as long as Qixin "didn't do crime", so she was on the Northern Expedition instead.

"Please do tell me, Vice-Chair," Qixin said. She bounced on her heels in anticipation, a huge grin on her face. Spade seemed to look even more exasperated at the petite, innocent-looking young woman in front of him with a destructive streak.

"Manchuria," he said bluntly. Spade handed her a talisman and what looked like a strange piece of calligraphy.

"I need you to go to Manchuria and keep an eye on the warlord there. When Zhang Zuolin makes a move, contact me right away," Spade said. A message dinged on her phone.

"That's your contact, she works in the red-light district. She'll help you out if you need, but don't contact her unless you really need to," Spade continued.

"Awesome, can I plan the route I take? I could get there more discreetly," Qixin said. She already had an idea of a ship route she could take.

"I'm leaving it to you, so take as much cash as you need," Spade ordered.

Qixin smiled brightly. "Of course, Vice-Chair."

Spade nodded at the two items he'd handed her. "I won't contact you during this period of time. But the second I do, rip up that piece of paper."

Qixin raised the calligraphy questioningly. Spade nodded in confirmation. He ignored her look of confusion to continue.

"That talisman's for your safety. If you are in danger, you will be able to use it to call for back-up," Spade said.

"In Manchuria?" Qixin asked skeptically.

"Just trust me," Spade said. Qixin nodded. The Vice-Chair was secretly her favorite, the dad-vibes he gave off and his badly hidden crush on the Operational Director were rather endearing. Qixin would trust Spade with an untouched bucket of popcorn chicken, and she wouldn't trust her own sister with that.

"Alright, so just go vacation in Manchuria, send selfies if something happens, and rip paper if you call," Qixin said cheerfully. Spade sighed.

"Check your phone for the details," he ordered. After a silence, he grudgingly patted her shoulder. "And be safe, you're the only driver who can do a drift on a moving train."

Qixin smiled. "Of course, Vice-Chair." She was now certain that joining the Flying Dragons was a good choice. Where else did you get paid to do ridiculously simple tasks with a disproportionate amount of danger?

Selva frowned at the information coming in from social media and the tracking spirits. Changsha residents were posting videos of unprecedented numbers of soldiers in their streets, but the soldiers seemed to be gathering near the northern boundaries of the city. Gu Feng had lost control of much of Hunan in only a few days, but the man didn't seem to be holing up for a siege either.

"This looks more like they're retreating than anything," Selva said doubtfully.

"Is Gu Feng running into the mountains now?" The employee next to him looked just as doubtfully at the display.

"He's had a while to prepare since we made our declaration, so why has everything been so badly defended so far?" Selva continued to think out loud as he tried to hone into social media posts from the Northern part of the city.

The wifi in Changsha was terrible, but a little less terrible when a host of tracking spirits were used to amplify the signals so that they could be seen in real-time. A small number of employees were combing through the intercepted text messages as well.

Selva stared at the display thoughtfully as he looked through the newly posted videos. It definitely looked like Gu Feng was retreating.

"The tracking spirits show that the soldiers are heading north," an employee reported. Selva frowned, hastily sending off a text message into the squad's group chat. Within seconds, everyone but Mohan had read the message.

The only possibility Selva could think of was that the Jade Marshal was abandoning Hunan in order to gather his troops at the northern border of the province, to stop them from entering Hubei. Jade Marshal Wu was known for being a great strategist, Selva wouldn't be surprised if the shrewd warlord had some way to force them into a prolonged battle.

If the Triple Alliance was forced into a resource and momentum-draining battle, they would likely move on to target Sun Chuanfang's faction in Jiangxi and Hokkien or Li Zongren's faction in Guangxi while maintaining minimal forces in Hunan. It would allow Wu to buy time to form an alliance with the warlords to their north.

Selva shuddered at the possibility that they would have to face all the warlords working together.

'Damn it, we've got to avoid that.'

Forget six months, they'd still be struggling in six years' time.

'Triple Alliance calling a meeting,' Joyce sent into the group chat. 'I think they're gonna try to push me to the front. Thoughts?'

Selva let out a heartfelt groan. Three days in and he felt like he was going to have an ulcer. How the hell was he even going to survive this thing?