Roaming All Under Heaven
Bai Jingyan had instructed Zhen Zeping to feign defeat and split their forces in two, fleeing in separate directions. She had her reasons — several of them.
First, to make the Xiliang army believe they had panicked and lost their composure.
Second, to swallow up part of the Xiliang forces in an orderly fashion at the midpoint of Wengshan.
Third, to minimize the number of Great Jin's own troops being funneled into the narrow canyon.
And fourth, to preserve as much as possible of the ten-thousand-strong force under Zhen Zeping's command, the one charged with playing the defeated, fleeing army.
But at present, the Crown Prince was barring her from leading any soldiers at all.
Even setting aside the matter of preserving her own troops, once those ten thousand soldiers and the Xiliang army were driven together into the middle of Wengshan, if the Xiliang troops annihilated all five thousand Great Jin soldiers lying in ambush there and seized the high ground, those ten thousand men would be slaughtered to the last one as well.
When that moment came, the Crown Prince — who absolutely had to win this war — would have no choice but to send Bai Jingyan into the field, for he could never allow the great Jin army inside Wengshan Canyon to be wiped out entirely.
She had already calculated everything to perfection. That was why, after handing the rope-bridge mission to the Haoying Battalion, she had assigned them no further operations.
The Haoying Battalion would complete its mission and withdraw, then re-form and prepare to take the field alongside her once more!
If anything, she ought to be grateful for the Crown Prince's wariness. He had handed her this opening himself.
When she returned to the barracks, Bai Jingyan found Xiao Rongyan standing before his carriage, making ready to depart.
The gentle-natured man standing at a distance bowed respectfully toward where Bai Jingyan stood.
She halted, returned his bow, and watched as he climbed into the carriage. Once they parted like this, there was no telling when they might meet again. And when they did meet again — she could only hope they would not stand as enemies.
"Big sister, aren't you going to speak with Master Xiao? He's leaving now!"
Bai Jinchi lowered her head and whispered the question.
Bai Jingyan shook her head.
At the tail end of the Hour of the Rabbit, when the great army set out according to Bai Jingyan's strategy, she had already lain down to sleep, storing up her strength for what was to come.
Standing atop the city wall, the Crown Prince watched the fifty thousand troops he had personally gathered split off again and again, marching toward the frontier. In his heart he prayed, over and over: Please, let me win this war.
The Crown Prince had never once taken the field under an enemy's banner, but he knew at least this much — after every last general of the Bai family of the Zhenguo Duke Estate had perished, the morale of Jin's armies had sunk terribly. Only by defeating a stronger foe with a smaller force could that morale be restored — only then could Nan Yan and Xiliang alike be made to tremble in fear.
After seeing off the final column of the great army, the Crown Prince turned to his eunuch, Zhan Yu.
"What is Grand Miss Bai doing at this moment?"
"Your Highness, they say Grand Miss Bai went straight to sleep upon returning."
Zhan Yu pressed on with a bright face. "It seems Grand Miss Bai is certain of victory. How else could she sleep! Your Highness, set your worries aside. This war will end in a great triumph! Soon all the world will know Your Highness's name!"
The Crown Prince's fist, hidden inside his sleeve, clenched tight. Please, let it be so……
He deliberated a moment, then gave Zhan Yu his instruction. "Send men to the city gate shortly. When the Bai family army's Haoying Battalion returns to the city, block them. Order the Haoying Battalion to await commands outside the walls — they are not to enter the city!"
At those words, Zhen Xiangzhi grasped the Crown Prince's intent at once: he meant to keep Grand Miss Bai and the Haoying Battalion from meeting.
"Your Highness! If I may offer my humble thought…… it would be best, I believe, to follow the plan Grand Miss Bai proposed yesterday — move the garrison of Pingyang City, sending a portion to strike at the Xiliang army's grain supplies, and a portion to Fengxian to hold Nan Yan in check by force of arms."
Zhen Xiangzhi raised a fist-palm salute and spoke with careful courtesy.
"Absolutely not!"
The old strategist at the Crown Prince's side shook his head. "The Pingyang garrison exists to defend against Great Yan. If we move it, Great Yan will learn that our Jin is locked in fierce battle with the combined forces of Xiliang and Nan Yan — and they will most assuredly come swooping in to snatch whatever spoils they can! The Pingyang garrison must not be moved, not under any circumstances!"
Frustrated, Zhen Xiangzhi began to argue from logic. "Great Yan's lands have already been stripped terribly bare at Great Jin's hands. And last year they suffered floods and drought besides. With no harvest after all that, it remains to be seen whether Great Yan's own people can even survive this winter. They sent envoys requesting aid from every nation before the new year — where would they find the strength to come hunting for gains?"
Stroking his beard, the old strategist swept an arrogant gaze over Zhen Xiangzhi before answering with maddening calm. "The ruler of Great Yan is a man of vast ambition. Never underestimate him. Besides — did not Master Zhen himself warn Your Highness of this on more than one occasion? And now you say it remains to be seen whether Great Yan can even last the winter? Are your words not at war with themselves, Master Zhen? You are young yet, it seems!"
Zhen Xiangzhi clenched his jaw and turned to the Crown Prince. "Your Highness! The decision is Yours to make!"
After a long silence, the Crown Prince gave his answer. "I know well that you watch out for me, Master Zhen! But you are still very young — there is much you ought to learn from Master Fang!"
"……"
At the Hour of the Horse, Bai Jingyan woke. Reports had been arriving from the front without pause.
Bai Jinchi grew restless, itching to ride to the front lines and see the situation for herself, but Bai Jingyan dragged her back by force and made her eat lunch.
At the Hour of the Monkey, three soldiers — wounded from head to foot, caked in blood — rode through the gates of Wanping City and spurred their horses toward the yamen. They all but fell from their saddles, and the clerks at the yamen entrance hurried forward to catch and support them.
The moment he saw the Crown Prince, the soldier drenched in blood broke down weeping. "Your Highness the Crown Prince! Your servant is worthless! The five thousand men lying in ambush at the middle of Wengshan — and the ten thousand elite troops who drew Xiliang into the canyon's heart — they were…… they were all slaughtered by the Xiliang army! The Xiliang soldiers knew they had walked into a trap, so they fought with everything they had to fall back toward the ambush positions on the eastern side of Wengshan Canyon — and wiped out every one of our reinforcement troops!"
At the report, the Crown Prince collapsed into his chair. Then, his face drained white, he bellowed at his eunuch.
"Quickly! Go and bring Young Master Bai — now!"
"Yaoqiang sent word. Ever since the Haoying Battalion returned, the Crown Prince's men have been barring them outside the city walls, refusing them entry. He is trying, it seems, to keep the Haoying Battalion and Grand Miss Bai apart."
Xiao Ruohai bent at the waist and murmured low, close to Bai Jingyan's ear.
"Big sister!"
Bai Jinchi burst in, breathless — she had run so hard she was still gasping for air. "General Wang, who led the soldiers lying in ambush at the middle of Wengshan, has come back. We lost! The Xiliang soldiers are heading for the ambush positions on the eastern side of Wengshan Canyon right now!"
The hand Bai Jingyan had resting on the arm of her chair clenched hard. When she lifted her head, a cold killing intent had kindled in her eyes.
She rose, teeth clenched. "Jinchi. Ruohai. Change into your armor."
The time had come.
The Bai family army could never, ever be traded away to some other city.
Was the Emperor not afraid that the Bai family might turn the Bai family army into a private force? Then from this day forward, the Bai family army would be exactly that — the private soldiers of the Bai family alone!
"Yes, ma'am!"
Bai Jinchi threw a fist-palm salute and hurried back out the door.
Xiao Ruohai felt as though his throat were burning. His chest swelled so fiercely that even his shoulders trembled faintly. Clenching his fists as he left the room, the rims of his eyes were red.
Today he would wash away this humiliation, whatever it took. The heavens themselves would surely show Bai Qishan that he had come home!
Zhan Yu rode at the head of a troop of guards from the government office toward the barracks road, urging his horse so recklessly that he tumbled right out of the saddle, his face white with pain. A soldier guarding the barracks gate rushed to help the wretched eunuch up.
"Quickly! His Highness summons Young Master Bai at once! Go and tell her — hurry!"
Zhan Yu pushed aside the soldier who was supporting him, breathless with urgency. "Go, I said! Quickly!"
"There is no need."
At the sound of Bai Jingyan's calm voice, Zhan Yu raised his head and looked past the barracks gate.
She held a silver spear in her hand. Over silver armor, her crimson cape snapped in the wind. Her stride — brimming with martial bearing — was firm and weighty at once. She was approaching steadily from across the courtyard, and killing intent rolled off her whole body.
The Grand Miss Bai that Zhan Yu knew had always been gentle and unfailingly courteous. He had never once seen her radiate such menace. Clad in armor, she overflowed with a boldness that seemed fit to command the entire world. That aura rooted him to the spot; the hair on his scalp stood on end.
Bai Jinchi and Xiao Ruohai, likewise clad head to toe in armor, followed close behind Bai Jingyan. Their eyes were deep and composed, yet within them burned a fierce fighting spirit.
Bai Jingyan strode out of the barracks, swung herself nimbly onto the red horse Zhan Yu had ridden in on, and looked down at him from above. Gripping the reins with one hand, she spoke with glacial calm.
"I'll be borrowing your horse."
Before Zhan Yu could even nod, she had already wheeled the horse around and galloped off, kicking up a cloud of dust. Xiao Ruohai and Bai Jinchi mounted horses from the guard troop and raced after her.
Scrambling upright with the soldier's help, Zhan Yu stared after the receding figure of Bai Jingyan, his heart beginning to pound.
"Ah — yes! Quickly! Help me up onto a horse!"
Inside the yamen, the Crown Prince paced anxiously between the campaign map and the entrance. When Bai Jingyan failed to appear, he turned to his three strategists.
"Is there no other way?"
"Your Highness, order Young Master Bai at once to lead Wanping's garrison of two thousand to the ambush positions on the eastern side of Wengshan Canyon — as fast as horses can carry them!"
Zhen Xiangzhi raised a fist-palm salute and pressed on. "If Young Master Bai can block the Xiliang main force and keep them from reinforcing their army trapped in the canyon, our side may yet win this!"
Advisor Fang, eldest of the three strategists, stopped mid-stroke of his beard. "On the far side of the canyon stands the Xiliang army; on the near side, General Zhang Danyue. Our forces have Xiliang surrounded within the gorge — our great Jin army is hardly doomed to defeat."
"Only by following Master Zhen's counsel can our army hope for victory. There is no other way."
At those words, the Crown Prince turned toward the entrance — and there stood Bai Jingyan, armored, offering him a fist-palm salute.
His eyes flickered faintly. She had come in full battle dress. She meant to take the field, whatever he said.
Bai Jingyan rose swiftly to her feet and spoke without preamble.
"The Xiliang main force outnumbers our own many times over. Surely Your Highness does not imagine that the Xiliang soldiers, making for the ambush positions in Wengshan Canyon, will fail to see General Zhang Danyue's waiting troops — and yet decline to split their forces and attack? If Zhang Danyue's crossbowmen become entangled by the Xiliang main army, then in this war our entire army will be annihilated at Wengshan and Jiuqu Peak."
At the word annihilated, a chill shot down the Crown Prince's spine.
If all fifty thousand reinforcements perished at Wengshan, Great Jin would become a fish laid out on Xiliang and Nan Yan's chopping block — helpless in their grasp.
But if they won this war, the Crown Prince's position would be ironclad, and his name would resound through all the world.
And if they lost — he would have no choice but to step down from his seat.