The Deployment Map
"Yes! Xiao Baishu, let's get inside the fortress at once."
Wei Zhaonian nodded and stepped aside, clearing the way so that Bai Jingyan could enter first.
Bai Jingyan also nodded, then took Bai Jinchi's hand and studied the one-eyed general. Among the generals under her Fourth Uncle, he was the most brilliant at devising stratagems.
After bowing her head to Wei Zhaonian in a gesture of deep respect, she followed the generals and the Bai family soldiers who had come out to welcome her into the city.
Most army physicians were men, so it fell to Bai Jinchi to tend to Bai Jingyan's wound.
When Bai Jinchi emerged, her eyes rimmed red, carrying a basin brimming with bloody water after treating the wound on Bai Jingyan's shoulder, Xiao Ruogang was already waiting outside the door with Physician Hong in tow.
"Xiao Ruogang? Physician Hong?"
Bai Jinchi startled and called out to them, staring at the two men with an expression of utter disbelief.
"How did you get to the Southern Border? Did you sneak away here like I did? Slipped into the camp in secret?"
Xiao Ruogang, Physician Hong's medicine chest strapped to his back, saw the basin of blood and his hand clenched tight inside his sleeve. Then he bowed respectfully and answered.
"The Eldest Young Miss sent me ahead to the Southern Border to gather intelligence on the situation here. Physician Hong arrived at Wengshan only a short while ago, and upon hearing that the Eldest Young Miss had led the Bai family army back to Wengcheng, he came straight here. As for me, I happened to run into Physician Hong just as he was about to enter the camp, and thanks to him I was able to get in as well."
"Then this... is this the Eldest Young Miss's blood?"
Physician Hong started in alarm.
"Where was she hurt?"
"Her shoulder. Fortunately, the wound isn't deep, and the bleeding's been stopped."
Bai Jinchi's heart ached. She turned her head toward the inner room and called out.
"Sister, Physician Hong and Xiao Ruogang are here!"
"Tell them to come in."
Bai Jingyan sat beside the table where a lamp glowed, her face pale, and drew her clothing snugly about herself.
Xiao Ruogang bowed once more to Bai Jinchi, then stepped inside.
"Eldest Young Miss! The enemy fortified Wengcheng and I could not get in! Through my own incompetence, I failed to meet with you at once!"
"Eldest Young Miss, are you all right?"
The moment Physician Hong entered, he pulled out his pulse pillow, sat down, and reached out his hand toward Bai Jingyan.
"Give me your wrist, if you please."
Because she was a woman, Physician Hong could not examine her wound directly. Taking her pulse was the only option available to him.
"I'm fine."
Bai Jingyan laid her wrist upon the pillow so that he could take her pulse.
"Thank the heavens. Thank the heavens."
Physician Hong let out a long breath, and only then did the anxiety drain from his eyes.
"In fact, the cold poison in your body seems greatly improved. I once told the Eldest Young Miss to rest quietly and recuperate — it seems that advice was entirely wrong!"
"Physician Hong, why did you come to Wengcheng instead of staying with the Dong family's attendants?"
Bai Jingyan asked as she lowered her sleeve.
"I had intended to go to the battlefield and treat the wounded Bai family soldiers, but by the time I reached Wengshan, you had already led the army back to Wengcheng. So I hurried here in pursuit."
Physician Hong put the pulse pillow back into his medicine chest as he spoke.
"Now I must go tend to the other wounded."
When Bai Jinchi came in, Bai Jingyan spoke to her younger sister.
"Jinchi, carry Physician Hong's medicine chest for him."
"Yes!"
Bai Jinchi answered meekly and darted over to snatch up the medicine chest before Physician Hong could protest. Flustered, he insisted he would carry it himself.
"Don't refuse. Let's go!"
Bai Jinchi hoisted the medicine chest onto her shoulder and marched out first. Physician Hong bowed to Bai Jingyan and hurried after her.
With only Bai Jingyan and Xiao Ruogang left in the room, she finally questioned him.
"What news of my seventh brother, my ninth brother, and Shen Qingzhu?"
"Eldest Young Miss, I could learn nothing of the young masters. But I heard that Lady Shen went alone toward the Xiliang royal road. I have already sent men to search for her, with strict orders that if they find her, they must bring her back safe and unharmed."
Xiao Ruogang lowered his gaze, then slowly finished his report. From his breast he drew a carefully folded parchment map, bowed at the waist, and presented it to Bai Jingyan.
"As you instructed, I have scouted the Xiliang camp thoroughly. This is a map of their deployment."
Bai Jingyan nodded.
"You've worked hard, Ruogang."
While Bai Jingyan held up the lamp and studied the Xiliang army's troop positions, Xiao Ruogang swept back his robe, knelt, and continued.
"I heard that in half a shichen, you will lead two thousand soldiers to the Xiliang camp to retrieve the Crown Prince's head. I beg a command of you. Grant me leave to accompany you. Yun Paxing brought his eldest son and eldest grandson on this campaign, yet he has never once sent them into battle. It seems he means to hand his descendants the war merits so they can win official positions upon returning to Xiliang."
Xiao Ruogang raised his head, his eyes rimmed red as he spoke.
"I have seen with my own eyes what Yun Paxing's eldest son and grandson look like. This time, I will cut off both their heads. I will make Yun Paxing know what it feels like to be denied even the preservation of his descendants' corpses."
Beyond that reason, Xiao Ruogang also wished to stay at Bai Jingyan's side and protect her.
Bai Jingyan had been wounded in the battle of Wengshan. Xiao Ruogang knew better than anyone the state of her body. Throughout the entire journey to the Southern Border, she had subjected herself to punishing training that bordered on self-torture in order to draw the Sun-Shooting Bow again — but close combat was still beyond her. That was precisely why she had been wounded.
If she were injured yet again when they raided the Xiliang camp because no one was there to shield her, he would have failed the plea of her mother, Lady Dong, matriarch of the Bai household — and he would never have repaid the debt owed to the deputy marshal who had saved him and his brother.
Bai Jingyan knew. She knew that Xiao Ruogang suffered because of his father's head hanging high above the Xiliang camp, and his father's body that had never made it home to Dadu.
Her throat burned hot. Reading the loyalty in Xiao Ruogang's heart, she nodded and answered, her own voice thick with tears.
"Then I must trouble you, Ruogang. Come with me."
Xiao Baishu's return set the Bai family army buzzing. Once every man had restored his strength, they scrambled over one another begging for the honor of following Xiao Baishu into the Xiliang camp to retrieve the deputy marshal's head.
Even Wei Zhaonian, who had lost an eye, donned his battle armor and drew his greatsword. He was preparing to enter the Xiliang camp alongside Bai Jingyan. Hearing that Physician Hong was in the wounded soldiers' barracks, he had come there to pay his respects.
Physician Hong was in the middle of extracting a broken arrow embedded in the bare shoulder of Cheng Yuanzhi. When the armored Wei Zhaonian walked in, Cheng Yuanzhi greeted him with a grin.
"Master Wei, Master Wei, you'd best stay behind! With your eye half gone, if you fall off your horse in the dark, it'll be a disaster!"
Barely had the words left his mouth when Physician Hong yanked the arrow free with a mighty pull, and red blood spurted. Cheng Yuanzhi's face flushed crimson; he clenched his teeth and pressed his lips shut, swallowing the cry that nearly burst out of him.
The army physician assisting behind Physician Hong hastily pressed a wad of cloth hard against the wound.
"Don't relax — keep pressing it. I'll apply medicine shortly. Bind it tight. The wound is at the shoulder blade, so you'll need a good stretch of rest."
With that, Physician Hong washed his hands, dried them thoroughly with a cloth, and moved on to check on the next wounded soldier.
Physician Hong had followed Bai Weiting his entire life. Though he was merely an army physician, his standing within the Bai family army was immensely high. It was for that very reason that Xiao Ruogang, who had come in his train, could enter the camp so easily.
Bai Jingyan entered the makeshift barracks that had been thrown up so the wounded could be treated.
"Xiao Baishu!"
Someone quick-eyed spotted her and shouted.
At the news that Xiao Baishu had come, the wounded soldiers of the Bai family army could not stay seated even mid-treatment — they leapt up for joy and turned toward the direction from which she entered.
"Xiao Baishu!"
Cheng Yuanzhi rose as well, hastily covering his bare chest with his clothes.
Bai Jingyan looked out over the soldiers spattered head to toe in blood, then quickly raised her hand, gesturing for them to sit back down.
"Tonight I need two thousand Bai family soldiers to come with me and retrieve the head of the Bai family deputy marshal. Tomorrow at dawn, the wounded among you will go with me to retake Tianmenguan, and after that, Fengcheng. Rest easy and recover well. Conserve your strength for the battle we will fight tomorrow."
When she finished, Bai Jingyan bowed to the wounded soldiers and walked straight out of the barracks.
"Xiao Baishu!"
Wei Zhaonian followed her out and performed a cupped-fist salute.
"I, Wei Zhaonian, will follow you to the Xiliang camp. I will retrieve the head of the Bai family deputy marshal that hangs there."
Bai Jingyan studied Wei Zhaonian's darkened face. He had lost one eye, but his hunger for vengeance burned as fiercely as ever.
She returned his salute with a cupped fist of her own.
"Then take my sister Bai Jinchi and eighteen hundred warriors and lie in ambush ahead at Huiping Road. When I and the remaining two hundred warriors return with the deputy marshal's head and pass through Huiping Road, you must hold back Xiliang's pursuers!"
Wei Zhaonian felt his eyes bulge from their sockets. She was going to storm the camp... with a mere two hundred men?
"Xiao Baishu, isn't two hundred men far too few?"
Wei Zhaonian could not put his mind at ease.
"Everything is planned out. General Wei, you needn't worry!"
Bai Jingyan answered.
"Yes, Commander!"
Wei Zhaonian asked nothing more, answering with another cupped-fist salute. He watched Bai Jingyan's retreating figure for a long while, then, after a moment's deliberation, gave immediate orders for oil, bows, and crossbows to be readied. The plan was to strike the Xiliang troops using the very same methods the Xiliang soldiers themselves had employed.
Two thousand Bai family soldiers slipped out of Wengcheng under cover of darkness. There, having finished clearing the Wengshan Canyon battlefield and returned to Wengcheng at the head of the Jin grand army, they met General Zhang Danyue.
The moment Zhang Danyue saw the Bai family soldiers emerge from Wengcheng, he hurried over. The figure riding ahead was Bai Jingyan.
"General Bai — do you intend to march on Tianmenguan right away?"
"General Zhang, keep your soldiers in Wengcheng and see to their provisions. When I return, we will head for Tianmenguan the moment day breaks."
Zhang Danyue answered with a cupped-fist salute. Mounted on his horse, he watched for a long time as the soldiers bearing the black-silk White Python Banner drove through the darkness toward Tianmenguan.