Caught Off Guard
Bai Jinchi, silver spear in hand, came running to Bai Jingyan's side, panting for breath. Her heart was so full that even her eyes sparkled.
"Eldest Sister!"
Bai Jingyan shot her a single glance, a silent signal to steady herself. Then she wiped the sweat from her brow with the handkerchief Xiao Ruohai handed her, loosened the sandbags strapped heavily around her arms, donned her cloak, and spoke.
"Let's go."
As Bai Jingyan stepped through the outer gate, Shi Panshan dragged Jian Zhiping — who was still clutching her cloak — in behind her.
Bai Jingyan turned and offered the two generals a salute, and the two returned it with cupped fists.
"Who is it at this hour of night? Don't tell me the Xiliang army has launched a surprise attack!"
Jian Zhiping bellowed in his rough voice before they were even inside.
The Crown Prince, his three advisors, and General Zhang Danyue had been standing before the map deep in discussion when Jian Zhiping's shout made them all turn their heads.
When they saw Bai Jingyan saluting them alongside Jian Zhiping and Shi Panshan, the Crown Prince shifted his gaze to her and spoke.
"Spare me the formalities. The scouts have returned. The Xiliang main force is lying in ambush along the winding mountain road of Jiuqu Peak, and to the east of Jiuqu Peak's exit in the Wengshan Gorge. The Xiliang troops are hauling timber, stone, and oil up the mountain as we speak! There are roughly twenty thousand troops at Jiuqu Peak; how many are hidden at Wengshan, we don't yet know. But the scouts say dust is swirling and banners are unfurled, so I'd wager no fewer than ten thousand!"
Jian Zhiping's eyes went round. Bai Gongzi's conjecture had matched the intelligence exactly! He whipped his head around to stare at Bai Jingyan.
Dressed in white beneath her cloak, slight of figure, Bai Jingyan stood in the wavering glow of the lamps. Her pale face bore no expression at all. Her gaze was deep and utterly calm.
There was no triumph in her features that the Xiliang deployment had matched her prediction, nor any fury that the Crown Prince had ignored her stratagem and squandered the opening. She was composed and coldly measured.
"The Xiliang army deploying at those two points amounts to cutting off our fastest route to Wengcheng! If we skirt around Jiuqu Peak and Wengshan, even a forced march would put us at Wengcheng no sooner than the hour of Shen in the afternoon."
Shi Panshan ground his teeth before pressing on.
"If the Wengcheng garrison can hold out until then, we could circle around Jiuqu Peak and Wengshan and strike the Xiliang main force from within and without, together with the city's defenders."
"No."
Bai Jingyan shook her head.
She walked over to where the map was spread out.
"Even if we skirt Jiuqu Peak and Wengshan now and force-march to Wengcheng, fifty thousand exhausted troops will arrive — how are they to fight a battle?
And remember, it is fifty thousand soldiers, not fifty men. Are the Xiliang spies blind? The notion that our movements would go undetected is absurd. The moment they learn that fifty thousand troops are circling their ambush points, Yun Paxing will move the soldiers lying in wait. The Xiliang army will reach the outskirts of Wengcheng hours ahead of us, through the Jiuqu Peak mountain road and the Wengshan Gorge. And they will deploy again. At that point, our fifty thousand reinforcements become lambs wandering into the wolves' den. The Xiliang cavalry will surround them!
The Bai Family Army defending Wengcheng is a force brimming with fighting spirit — they will never stand by and watch fifty thousand reinforcements slaughtered before their very eyes. They will surge out to help without question. And then Yun Paxing's purpose is accomplished all the same!"
The night before, Bai Jingyan had predicted today's Xiliang deployment with uncanny precision. Not one among them — not Jian Zhiping, not Shi Panshan, not even the Crown Prince — dared take her words lightly now. Everyone fell silent.
Zhen Xiangzhi deliberated a moment, then lifted his head.
"Your Highness, send word to Pingyang to mobilize thirty thousand reinforcements, and dispatch a single rider to Wengcheng with a message: the soldiers there must on no account leave the city, but hold Wengcheng to the very end. Yun Paxing is setting a trap and lying in ambush for it — a lone rider is no great army, and the hidden troops will not stir to stop him!"
Zhen Xiangzhi pointed at the map.
"So long as Wengcheng holds, we split our forces in two: one branch goes to Fengxian to block Nan Yan's advance, while the other avoids Yun Paxing's main army and marches slowly, circling around Jiuqu Peak and Wengshan — all so Yun Paxing cannot fathom our intentions.
Then we send a fast column of cavalry to the Xiliang main army's base camp. We set fire to it, and once their base is thrown into chaos, Yun Paxing will have to redeploy his troops. That is when our opportunity comes. At that point, we adapt our moves to his deployment as circumstances demand. What do you say?"
"Most unwise!"
Before Bai Jingyan could speak, the oldest of the Crown Prince's advisors was the first to open his mouth.
"The combined Xiliang and Nan Yan forces outnumber our own several times over. If we set fire to their camp, Yun Paxing, spurred by fury, could simply surround our fifty-thousand-strong army and burn it to the ground! What Master Zhen proposes — improvising according to the enemy's deployment — is nothing less than handing the initiative to our foe. We will be led about by the nose. It is reckless!"
The Crown Prince nodded along, agreeing with the old advisor.
But Bai Jingyan looked upon Zhen Xiangzhi with new appreciation.
The best defense is an offense, it was said — yet shaping one's strategy while watching how the enemy moved was also sound. On the surface it looked like surrendering the initiative, but done well, it gave one's own side the chance to steer the battle exactly as it wished.
Zhen Xiangzhi understood that principle perfectly. But it required an element left to chance, and for a Crown Prince who had to win without a single defeat, it was too great a gamble.
"Master Bai!"
Zhang Danyue turned toward Bai Jingyan, saluted with cupped fists, and spoke with formal deference.
"Master Bai — did you not say yesterday that if His Highness did not follow your strategy, you had another plan ready? Tell us now."
The Crown Prince, his brows knitted tight, looked at Bai Jingyan anxiously.
"Master Bai, you have another plan?"
Shi Panshan looked at her as well.
The hot-tempered Jian Zhiping urged her on impatiently.
"Master Bai, I was rash yesterday. It wasn't that I thought little of you. But the enemy is about to crash down on us — don't keep us in suspense any longer. Out with it!"
Bai Jingyan calmly gathered herself before answering in an even voice.
"It is true that I told General Zhang yesterday I had a plan. I also said the plan existed only if the Bai Family Army's Haoying Battalion was available."
The words had barely left her mouth when a scout shouted loudly from beyond the outer gate.
"Report! Word from Wengcheng! Yun Paxing has led his main army in a surprise assault on the city!"
"Assaulted it when?"
Zhang Danyue stepped forward and asked.
The scout, kneeling on one knee at the entrance, answered.
"They say the assault on the walls began at the hour of Chou, in the dead of night!"
The Crown Prince flinched. The hand hidden in his sleeve clenched into a fist.
The words his father the Emperor had charged him with before his departure flashed through his mind. But just as quickly, he loosened his fist.
"The Haoying Battalion is still here. To Wanping!"
Without a trace of agitation, Bai Jingyan turned back to the map. After a brief silence, she spoke in a calm, rapid cadence.
"We must split the army into four. General Zhang Danyue will lead one branch, acting as the decoy. Take thirteen thousand elite troops and two thousand crossbowmen up toward the Jiuqu Peak mountain road, and let the Xiliang spies carry the news. You must march slowly — deliberately slowly. Reaching Jiuqu Peak within two shichen is about right. But do not enter the mountain road itself.
General Shi Panshan will take ten thousand elite troops around the eastern side of the Jiuqu Peak road and launch a surprise attack on the Xiliang ambush force. Once battle is joined, the Xiliang main force will know their ambush plan can no longer ensnare our army, and they will throw everything they have into fighting General Shi. But General Shi — at the battle of Jiuqu Peak, you must not win. You must lose."
Bai Jingyan looked at the bewildered Shi Panshan, then traced her finger around Jiuqu Peak on the map and stopped at the Wudan River.
"General Shi, you will feign a panicked rout. Lure the Xiliang main force around Jiuqu Peak toward the Wudan River.
The Wudan River connects to the Wengshan Gorge — it is the lowest ground and the widest. It is also the gorge's only entrance.
The Xiliang main force pursuing you knows their own ambush troops are inside the gorge. And they know the entrance is broad while the exit toward Jiuqu Peak is narrow, so they will do everything in their power to drive you toward the Jiuqu Peak end of the Wengshan Gorge. They intend to annihilate your soldiers inside it."
Bai Jingyan turned to Zhang Danyue again.
"General Zhang Danyue!"
Zhang Danyue nodded, waiting for her words.
"The moment General Shi Panshan engages the Xiliang main force, you will lead your army in a rapid withdrawal toward Wanping. After riding for about half a shichen, you will split in two.
You will take two thousand crossbowmen and a thousand close-combat soldiers and return to Jiuqu Peak to lie in wait. Then your deputy general will take twelve thousand men and hide in concealment at the mouth of the Wudan River where it enters the Wengshan Gorge — drawing the attention of the Xiliang scouts inside the gorge so they report back to Yun Paxing.
But you must never allow the Xiliang army to retreat. The moment Yun Paxing's entire Xiliang main force has poured into the gorge, seal the exit behind them — fast.
General Jian Zhiping will take twelve thousand elite troops around the eastern side of Jiuqu Peak and advance on the Wengshan Gorge, where you will climb the gorge's eastern wall and engage the Xiliang soldiers lying in ambush there. As before — you must not win. You must lose.
Then split your troops in two: one branch will pose as routed stragglers, with General Jian Zhiping luring a portion of the Xiliang force into the Wengshan Gorge, while the other branch moves in the opposite direction, drawing the Xiliang troops away from the gorge to the sunken hollow halfway up Mount Wengshan. I will be waiting there in ambush with five thousand men.
General Shi Panshan, General Jian Zhiping — the moment the two of you meet in the gorge, work swiftly and lead your soldiers out through the Jiuqu Peak exit of the Wengshan Gorge. You will draw the Xiliang army toward the spot where General Zhang lies in wait."
Bai Jingyan turned her head to look at Zhang Danyue.
"General Zhang, you will make use of the timber, stone, and oil the Xiliang army has hauled up. Generals Shi Panshan and Jian Zhiping, you must do everything in your power to slaughter the bulk of the Xiliang force right there!
Once the Xiliang army realizes they have walked into a trap, they will stop at nothing to retreat. General Zhang, General Shi, General Jian — kill as many as you possibly can. Then hold the narrow passage with your troops and block the Xiliang army's path toward Jiuqu Peak.
When Yun Paxing learns that the Xiliang ambush troops have all been lured into the Wengshan Gorge, he will attempt to gauge our strength. He will most likely conclude that, beyond the fifteen thousand reinforcements under General Zhang Danyue, the remaining thirty-five thousand have all marched out to strike the Xiliang ambush forces as well.
Yun Paxing is a man hungry to make his name resound across the realm. His only thought is to wipe out the Bai Family Army — and with all of the Bai generals dead, he has nothing left to fear. Moreover, believing his forces mighty and numbering several times ours, he will try to massacre every last one of the thirty-five thousand reinforcements gathered at the Wengshan Gorge, along with the Bai Family Army. Which means he will have no choice but to stick to his original plan. He will march on Wengshan with his main force — dragging the Bai Family Army into the Wengshan Gorge with him."