A Heavy Burden
The old man's eyes reddened in an instant. Gripping his young grandson's hand, he stumbled after the great army as fast as his legs would carry him, shouting all the while.
"Is that Young Marshal Xiao? A young marshal of the Bai army?"
At the word young marshal spoken once more, Bai Jingyan felt a sting at the tip of her nose and a burning tightness around her eyes. She clenched her fists, ground her teeth, and walked south with heavy steps.
She had lost all her martial cultivation. She was no longer the young marshal she had once been.
Still the old man came hurrying after them, a cane in one hand and his grandson's hand in the other.
"I am a teacher in Fengxian who instructs children in letters! Four years ago, the General saved my little grandson from beneath an enemy's blade! And four years after that, the Generals and the young marshal of the Bai family shielded us with their own bodies so that we could escape! General… are you a descendant of the Bai family, Dukes of Zhenguo? Have you come south to the borderlands to win back Fengxian, the homeland of us common folk?"
Bai Jinchi's eyes, rimmed red, finally spilled over with tears. Her chest swelled with emotion.
So the Bai army was hope itself to the people of the borderlands.
She turned her head to look at Bai Jingyan walking ahead of them.
"Eldest Sister, that old man is calling out to you from behind."
At the words Bai family General, the people began, one by one, to halt their steps and gaze in the direction the old man was chasing and shouting. Some, hearing the name Bai, followed after him.
"The Young Marshal? A descendant of the Bai family of the Zhenguo Duke Estate?"
"Didn't they say the Crown Prince has come? If a Bai General is in his retinue, why did no one know of it?"
"Which General of the Bai family do you mean?"
"That handsome young gentleman has a black band wound about his sleeve — he must be in mourning! Surely he is the young General of the Bai family!"
As the army drew farther and farther away, the old man realized he could chase it no longer. Desperately, he pulled his grandson close and forced him down to his knees.
"Quickly! Chun'er, quickly — kneel and bow. That man is the benefactor who saved your life."
The little boy called Chun'er knelt and, facing the direction in which the great army marched, bowed deeply and gravely. The old man, leaning on his cane, tottered down onto his knees as well and cried out at the top of his voice.
"The Generals and the young marshal of the Bai family gave their lives to protect us, the people of the borderlands! We remember all of it! Young Marshal Bai, General Bai! Win back our country's land — win back Fengcheng! Avenge the Generals… avenge the people of Great Jin who died unjustly beneath the blades of foreign invaders!"
"Is it truly a General of the Bai family?"
"There are still living Generals in the Bai family? Didn't the Bai Generals all fall in battle? And now another General has come south to the border? Ah, give it up. Tianmenguan has fallen. We must flee, and quickly! When the Xiliang host arrives, we'll all be dead!"
"Pah! What kind of talk is that! The Bai Generals are upright, valiant men, every last one of them. Don't go measuring them by your own coward's heart!"
A woman burdened with bundles and a child in her arms knelt down beside the old man, her face streaked with tears, and cried out with all her strength.
"General Bai, my husband was killed by the Xiliang people! General Bai, avenge us! Win back our homeland for us!"
"General Bai!"
"General Bai, grant us victory! We do not want to leave our homes!"
Moved by the woman's weeping, the refugees fleeing along the road sank to their knees in a great wave and raised their voices, shouting General Bai in the dialects of Fengcheng and Fengxian. They cried out their hope that General Bai would reclaim the lost territory of the nation and restore the people's homeland, and they shouted that vengeance must be taken for the fallen Generals of the Bai family.
When great calamity had struck the people, the Generals of the Bai family had rushed, time and again, to the southern border and given their lives for the common folk. How could such grace ever be forgotten?
Seated inside the carriage, the Crown Prince lifted the curtain and leaned his head out to look behind them. Xiao Rongyan sat upright within the carriage, his gaze lingering on Bai Jingyan's reddened eyes before drifting to the people kneeling one by one in the distance; inwardly, he could not suppress his admiration.
So this was how the Bai family had won the hearts of the people. The borderland folk regarded the Bais as their saviors. If such a family met a wise sovereign, they would surely achieve feats that would shake the world; but should they serve a dull-witted one, they would be driven into the crush of his envy, jealousy, and suspicion. Indeed, given all that, their current circumstances were almost something to be grateful for.
It was not the first time Xiao Ruohai had seen people kneeling to see an army off. The only difference was that in the past, the farewells had been made with rejoicing and shouts of joy.
But now the people were weeping, regarding the Bai Generals as their last hope — and that was nothing less than laying a heavy burden upon Bai Jingyan's shoulders.
Bai Jinchi turned her head. Looking at the people kneeling in farewell — gaunt and yellowed, clothed in rags — she could bear it no longer and tugged at Bai Jingyan's sleeve. Her own eyes were rimmed with red.
"Eldest Sister, give them even one glance. They're all kneeling."
Bai Jingyan clenched her jaw.
The people who wept after the old man were drenched in tears. The tall, slender young man with the black band about his arm turned and raised his cupped hands in a formal salute toward them. Then, without a word, he walked on after the great army.
Bai Jinchi and Xiao Ruohai, following behind Bai Jingyan, bowed in return to the people.
Thank you for not forgetting the Bai family. Thank you for not forgetting General Bai.
She would carry their hope and win back their homeland! She would avenge the people murdered without cause, the Bai Family Army, her grandfather, her father, her uncles, and her brothers!
A great stir rippled through the kneeling crowd.
"It's the Bai Generals! Truly the Generals of the Bai family!"
"Now we're saved! We can live now!"
"The Bai Generals have come to save us! We won't have to run and wander as refugees any longer!"
The closer they drew to Wanping, the more refugees appeared on the road — most of them people driven from their homes by the war. If, by some mischance, the peace negotiations failed and the two nations went to war again, the powerless common folk would find their very lives hanging by a thread.
Watching the army of fifty thousand march past, the refugees halted in their tracks. They hoped that the nation's elite soldiers would reclaim the land of their homeland in their stead.
That night, the great army arrived at the Wanping garrison. Nothing remained in Wanping City of the bustling streets of former days. According to the military governor, the people had trembled in fear ever since word spread that the Duke of Zhenguo and all the Bai Generals had fallen in battle. Dreading another incursion by Xiliang cavalry, the wealthy households had already led their families and servants out of the city to seek refuge elsewhere; those who remained within the walls were only the old, the weak, and the young.
After the soldiers had been stationed, Bai Jingyan asked the Crown Prince to summon every general and officer who had accompanied them.
Candlelight flooded the government office with brightness.
The Crown Prince spread out a great map, and with the officers gathered around it, he spoke.
"We have reached Wanping, and we depart early tomorrow morning. If we ride without rest, we can reach Wengcheng by late in the night. Once we arrive at Wengcheng, we will no longer be able to conceal the fact that we are attempting peace talks on the surface while moving troops in secret. War is upon us — and our enemy is the combined host of Xiliang and Southern Yan. In this war there is only victory; there is no room for defeat! Do any of you hold a strategy by which we might seize that victory?"
"Xiliang has already seized Tianmenguan, and Southern Yan is garrisoned at Fengxian. In my view, we should attack on separate fronts!"
Shi Panshan stood with his arms folded, staring at the map for a long while. Then he turned and offered a cupped-fist salute to the Crown Prince before continuing.
"Southern Yan holds no fear for us. It is Xiliang's great host that is truly fierce — every soldier among them strong and hardy! Yun Paxing above all is a famed general of Xiliang. He suffered defeat once at the hands of the King of Zhenguo, but in every other war he has tasted victory. We must take him by cunning rather than force."
"That's saying nothing at all!"
Zhen Zeping was famously hot-blooded. He offered the Crown Prince a hasty salute and spoke up.
"Your Highness, give me but ten thousand elite troops. I will skirt around Tianmenguan and strike straight from Pingyang City into the Xiliang den! That bastard the Emperor of Xiliang will surely recall Yun Paxing to defend his own lair! Once Yun Paxing leads his forces back, the rest will come easy. We know the terrain around Tianmenguan like the backs of our hands. If General Zhang Danyue leads the troops, he can retake Tianmenguan in a single stroke, I'm certain of it."
Zhang Danyue considered the proposal for a moment, then gave a slight nod.
"It can be done."
The Crown Prince turned his gaze to Bai Jingyan. She stood in the bright light of the candles, saying nothing, her eyes fixed toward Mount Weng. The Crown Prince drew near to her.
"Young Master Bai — is there another way? Are you looking at Mount Weng?"
Bai Jingyan bowed respectfully to the Crown Prince before speaking.
"News that Your Highness personally leads troops on campaign would long since have reached Xiliang and Southern Yan through their spies. I was wondering why, then, they still show no movement at all."
"Perhaps our marching speed was so swift they haven't yet decided on a countermeasure… or perhaps they simply haven't grasped our intent?"
Zhen Zeping spoke with uncharacteristic uncertainty.
"Fifty thousand troops departed from Dadu, and the spies of Xiliang and Southern Yan are not blind men. Spies ride mostly on steeds of a thousand li, day and night without rest. If several riders relay the message by changing horses along the way, the news would have arrived in seven days — eight at the latest. Which means…"
Zhang Danyue glanced down at the map once.
"By the time we reached Chonglan Ridge, Xiliang and Southern Yan would already have had the intelligence in hand."
Bai Jingyan nodded.
"Even granting that the message was delayed and only arrived after more than ten days, the question remains unresolved. They knew war would break out again — so why did they not strike first at Wengcheng? Were they planning to wait until our fifty thousand relief troops arrived before opening hostilities? The men of Xiliang are hardly so chivalrous."
Zhang Danyue grasped her meaning at once.
"You mean to say, Young Master Bai, that Xiliang and Southern Yan are not in agreement — whether to fight the war through to the end, or merely take what spoils they can and withdraw?"
Bai Jingyan looked around at the generals, their faces grave.
"Southern Yan's military strength does not rival Xiliang's. In the past, Yu Huanzhang colluded with Southern Yan. Southern Yan dared to march to war alongside Xiliang only because a spy of high standing and great power within the Bai Family Army was feeding them intelligence. One side supplied the information, the other supplied the soldiers. It was an exchange of equals, clearly.
But Yu Huanzhang is dead now, and Southern Yan's source of intelligence has been cut off. No longer able to discern the disposition of Great Jin's armies, Southern Yan can no longer strike bargains of equal standing with Xiliang. And so — would Southern Yan, whose lands border Xiliang's, dare to act rashly?"
Shi Panshan pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"Southern Yan is holding still, and Xiliang could hardly sit by and watch an idle Southern Yan reap the rewards without lifting a finger. More than that, they fear Southern Yan might draw a blade at their backs — which would leave them even less able to move."
Bai Jingyan nodded once more.