Straight Ahead
After Jo Yeom left, Bai Jingyan turned to Xiao Ruohai.
"Any trouble in Dadu?"
"It seems all but certain that Yu Huanzhang's crime of treason will stand. But with his death, Lord Lü of the Court of Judicial Review, who was investigating the Southern Border grain case, has found himself in a difficult position. The testimony of the Imperial Guard alone isn't enough to disprove that the Liang King acted on the King Xin's orders. The Liang King still denies everything to the very end, and they say Gao Sheng has endured brutal torture without uttering a word. Dongji, the Liang King's servant, claims he knows nothing no matter how many times they question him—so Lord Lü is apparently at his wits' end."
Xiao Ruohai answered.
Du Zimei was dead, and so was Yu Huanzhang. The strategist and the vanguard who had served at the Liang King's side in her past life were both gone.
In this life, the Bai Family Army would never fall into the Liang King's hands. With Du Zimei dead and buried, Bai Jingyan wanted to see just how the man imagined he could turn the board around.
"And Left Chancellor Li Mu? No movement from him yet?"
Bai Jingyan pressed on.
In her past life, Li Mu had conspired with the Liang King and submitted the memorial accusing her grandfather of treason. In this life, the Liang King had been thrown into prison, yet Li Mu still sat firmly in his seat.
The man was slippery as a water snake. In her past life, Li Mu must have seen through the fact that while the Liang King appeared to defer to the King Xin, he was actually using him. He would have judged that if the Crown Prince and the King Xin tore each other apart and both were weakened, the Liang King's chances of taking the throne would rise—and so he had leaned toward the Liang King.
And indeed, around the time the Crown Prince was invested as heir in her past life, Li Mu had abandoned his guise as an honest minister and joined the Liang King in submitting that memorial.
Du Zimei had been the kind of man who always left himself a way out, whatever he did. In her previous life, Li Mu had allied with the Liang King to drive her grandfather down as a traitor. Either Li Mu had been cornered by the Liang King and Du Zimei, blackmailed into the alliance—or he had guessed early who would wear the crown and resolved to follow the Liang King. It had to be one of the two.
If the former, Li Mu would now be scrambling to destroy the evidence held over him; if the latter, he would move heaven and earth to save the Liang King.
But recalling the snake-like nature of the man, Bai Jingyan was certain he belonged to the first category.
Xiao Ruohai shook his head.
"I've received no report on that front. Before we left, I sent operatives to watch the Chancellor's residence as you ordered. Since they're stationed there, any movement at all will be detected. One of the men sent to guard the residence managed to get inside through a stroke of luck, but he's only been in a short while—he'll need time before he can accomplish anything."
Bai Jingyan nodded, spreading wide her hands, which were still trembling faintly.
"From now on, report everything that happens at Li Mu's residence to Li Gonang as it comes. Tell them I gave the orders before I departed, and that since I'm in the Southern Border, Li Gonang is to handle any contingencies. And pass along a warning—tell them to be very careful of that man Li Mu."
"Yes, sir!"
Xiao Ruohai answered.
"Scout, it seems you'll have to go in person to bring Jinchi back. And tell them I'm not sending him to Dadu. Don't clash head-on with Xiao Rongyan's people—if you find Jinchi, return to the main army at once."
Xiao Ruohai raised a fist in salute.
"I'll leave immediately!"
Before the Crown Prince departed, the Emperor had stressed again and again that this war must end in victory, and the prince had taken those words to heart. He had been violently carsick in the carriage yesterday, vomiting countless times, yet this morning he had dragged himself up and given the order for the army to set out on schedule.
As the Crown Prince, supported on either side, moved to board his carriage, his eye fell on Bai Jingyan in her neat male attire. No rain cloak, and wearing slip-proof shoes easy to walk in—seeing her dressed this way, he asked in puzzlement,
"Master B— I mean, Master Bai, are you planning to walk?"
"The carriage jolted terribly, so I think it's better to walk a while."
Bai Jingyan replied.
There was no time to slowly recover her strength. Bai Jingyan had strapped weighted sand-and-iron pouches to her body and substituted walking for training. With the army on a forced march now, she would have to keep pace if she wasn't to be a burden on the column. It amounted to whipping herself forward.
All she could hope was that by the time they reached the Southern Border, she would be able to draw the Sun-Shooting Bow again.
The Crown Prince, whose bones had nearly rattled apart from the carriage's swaying yesterday, heard her words and promptly ordered a servant to fetch him a pair of comfortable walking shoes as well.
"Riding that carriage all day yesterday left my whole body stiff as boards. I should walk a little too."
"Your Highness, this is a forced march. Unlike Master Bai, you were not raised on campaigns from childhood—traveling on foot may cost us time."
Zhen Xiangzhi tried to dissuade him.
The Crown Prince waved a hand.
"If Master Bai can walk, so can I."
The great army set out.
But before even five li had passed, the Crown Prince could no longer keep up the pace. By ten li—once he had begun to hold up the column—he climbed into his carriage, supported on both sides.
By the time she had walked some ten li, Bai Jingyan's hair had been whipped loose by the cold wind, her face and nose flushed red. Sweat dripped steadily from the line of her jaw. Her legs, bound in sandbags, might as well have been poured full of lead for all they would lift.
Her own carriage was right beside her. Like the Crown Prince, she could climb aboard at any moment and ride in comfort.
But whenever she thought of her grandfather and father, of her uncles and brothers, of how not one of them had escaped unwounded, it was as though hot oil had been poured over her chest—and her breath seemed to sink all the way down into her belly, so she clenched her teeth and kept walking.
At the fastest, they would reach the Southern Border in a month and a half. Yun Paxing—the man who had cut off her seventeenth brother Bai Jindong's head and slit open his belly—was there.
Could she drag this frail, weak body into a fight against him? She could not.
Her body had not been weak all this time because she was ill, nor because of any cold sickness. It was because she had taken the physician's words at face value, treated herself as an invalid, and neglected her training. Every summer she took medicinal tonics, every winter nourishing broths, and spent her days lying abed convalescing—so her body had only grown weaker and weaker.
As Bai Jingyan fought for breath, a pale mist faintly veiled her burning eyes. In her ears there was only the steady rhythm of the marching column.
She steadied her breathing, stared ahead, and clenched her fist. It was painful, as if molten lava were churning in her chest.
Her grandfather and father—had either of them ever grown soft because his body ached? They had taught her without reserve and given her every skill they could, but surely they had never taught her to pity herself and coddle her own weakness. Even as a child, training in the martial arts, she had endured every hardship there was. She had let her body waste away for years—did she imagine the strength she'd lost would simply come back because she wished it?
Heaven had always been fair. Life was, by nature, half bitter and half sweet.
This suffering was the price of years spent in ease. Only by paying it in full could she reclaim her former prowess. It was only right that it should be so.
Xiao Ruohai came riding hard after the marching column. Seeing that Bai Jingyan would not take the carriage, he dismounted and strode quickly to her side.
"Master Bai. I couldn't bring the Fourth Young Master back. He said he'd never seen my face and refused to come with me. Master Xiao says that since he himself is headed south, if the Fourth Young Master is truly your youngest brother, he will look after him well on the journey. If you're worried, he says you're welcome to come in person—only if he meets you face to face will his people believe we're yours, and hand the boy over."
Bai Jingyan's foot slipped on a stone and she nearly went down. Luckily, Xiao Ruohai caught her.
"Master Bai!"
If she stopped walking, the column following behind her would surely fall into disorder. Bai Jingyan was no sheltered noble daughter who had never marched; bracing herself on Xiao Ruohai's arm, she straightened her back and strode briskly forward.
"Understood."
She caught her breath again, found her steady stride, and turned over Xiao Rongyan's intentions in her mind.
Come yourself to collect the boy?
Laughter bubbled up inside her. If she left the marching column to go retrieve someone, she would have no choice but to explain the reason to the Crown Prince.
Xiao Rongyan must have some other purpose in wishing to travel with the prince, yet couldn't make it look too deliberate—so he meant to use her influence to get the Crown Prince to invite him along personally.
As an imperial prince, the Crown Prince had been raised on pleasure and revelry in the bustling capital of Dadu. He would grow bored of riding in a carriage the whole way there, and Xiao Rongyan would know it. With an amusing companion to chat with at his side, the journey would hardly be tedious at all.
Xiao Rongyan understood the habits and temperaments of imperial kinsmen and noble young lords very well indeed.
Bai Jingyan remembered being told that while she lay unconscious, the Crown Prince and her grandmother had spoken privately together for about half a shichen. And she remembered her grandmother's parting words—that no matter what happened, she was to remain where the Crown Prince could see her, and never, ever try to leave his side.
No doubt the Crown Prince had promised her grandmother that on this march to the Southern Border, so long as Bai Jingyan entertained no other intentions, so long as she did nothing beyond his sight to harm the royal house, he would spare her life.
Xiao Ruohai did not tell her to get in the carriage and rest. He knew her temperament well—there was no point in trying to persuade her. So he led his horse and walked alongside her instead.
By the time darkness had fully settled, the great army finally reached Qufeng.
Bai Jingyan felt close to collapse. Sitting inside the tent, with trembling fingers she undid the iron-sand pouches bound to her body. Water dripped steadily from the fabric.
Sitting still, she was sweating even more than she had on the march.
Xiao Ruohai ordered a servant to prepare water for her, then kept watch at the entrance so she could bathe with an easy mind.
By lamplight, the Crown Prince scowled as he watched a eunuch apply salve to his feet.
"Did the eldest Bai daughter truly walk the entire day?"
He had walked barely a few li and already blisters had made it impossible to go on—yet Bai Jingyan, a woman no less, had marched with the army from morning to night?
Zhan Yu, the eunuch attending the Crown Prince, smiled as he eased slippers onto his master's feet and answered.
"There's nothing strange in it, Your Highness. The eldest Bai daughter followed the old Duke on campaign from childhood—it must be habit to her by now. Truly a person who makes hardship where none is required."
"Still, that's going too far. Years of illness have ravaged her—her body can't be what it once was."
The Crown Prince gazed at the wavering candle flame, deeply begrudging in his heart. To think he was worth less than a mere woman?
"Your Highness is of the most precious blood. You must never lower yourself to compare your station with those accustomed to hardship."
Zhan Yu washed his hands clean, then offered the Crown Prince a bowl of bird's nest soup warmed to just the right temperature.
"Please take your bird's nest soup, Your Highness, and retire early. We must take to the road again tomorrow."
While the Crown Prince sipped slowly at the soup, Zhan Yu instructed the servants below to light soothing incense for a good night's sleep, and turned down the covers on the bed.
He waited on his master until he could rinse his mouth, then helped him into bed. Zhan Yu's face was brimming with reverence.
"That Your Highness endures such toil for the sake of the realm and its people—the people will surely come to know Your Highness's grace. Once you return from the Southern Border with victory in hand, you will win that much more of their hearts."
"Spare me the flattery."
Yet even as he said it, the Crown Prince's eyes were brimming with delight.