Winning Hearts
Zhang Tiansheng's face drained white in an instant. He clenched his teeth, but fear had already seized his heart before resolve ever could. He found himself bitterly regretting that he had not wiped out the Bai family army to the last man.
"Marshal, I do not believe this course will serve us. If Grand Yan lingers in Jin territory, dragging out time without grain or baggage trains to see Nanyan through the winter, then one day our hundred thousand men will end up buried in a sea of flames, just like the Xiliang army."
Zhang Tiansheng's deputy marshal spoke with visible dread, invoking the battle of Wengshan Canyon.
"They say the Crown Prince of Jin leads the soldiers himself, but the one behind the strategy is the eldest granddaughter of the Duke of Zhenguo — Bai Jingyan, the very woman who took the heads of the rulers of Shu and Fangping! They say that though she is a woman, she is merciless beyond measure, and that unlike the old Duke when he led his armies, she fights as though a war god had descended upon the world. We would do well not to touch her!"
Inside the marshal's tent, Zhang Tiansheng stroked his beard and sank into a long deliberation. At last, recalling the fires of Wengshan Canyon that still had not died, he gave a slow nod.
"I will send up a memorial. Send a man to the capital and have His Majesty decide whether we withdraw!"
Zhang Tiansheng's deputy marshal nodded.
"That seems the wisest course."
But before Zhang Tiansheng's memorial could even set out, a scout suddenly came rushing with a report: the Bai family army, bearing the black-silk White Python Banner, had marched out of Fengcheng and was advancing on Fengming Mountain.
Zhang Tiansheng shot to his feet in alarm, then paced the tent for a long while. Fight, or flee?
To fight — but the mere thought of the great blaze in Wengshan Canyon, still burning to this very day, sent a chill down his spine. His deputy marshal had gone pale to the lips as well, and carefully counseled him at his side.
"From Fengcheng to Fengming Mountain is a mere four or five shichen — barely eight to ten hours. Marshal, you must decide at once! If we are to fight, you must summon the commanders immediately, form our battle lines, and meet them at the front. And if we mean to return to Nanyan, we must break camp and march this instant."
The deputy marshal spoke with a cupped-fist salute.
Meet them at the front?
Zhang Tiansheng shut his eyes tightly. He thought of the hundred men of the Bai family's Haoying Battalion who had struck into Fengxian — men so fierce that a single one of them was worth a hundred.
Before the great army had set out, His Majesty had told Zhang Tiansheng that Jin would campaign together with Xiliang, and that Nanyan was merely to lend Xiliang its momentum while preserving its own strength as much as possible. Send the soldiers out, the Emperor had said, merely to give them experience of the battlefield and teach them a thing or two.
And now Xiliang had been utterly crushed and driven all the way back to the border between the two nations. Nanyan, which had done nothing but wave its flags and cheer from the sidelines, had no reason whatsoever to take the Bai family army's blade here.
Zhang Tiansheng made his decision swiftly.
"As long as we live, the chance will come again. Order the army to break camp at once and fall back quickly to Yaoguan Pass. We will reach the pass before full dark!"
Yaoguan Pass marked the border between Nanyan and Great Jin. So long as they held that ground, they had nothing to fear from the Bai family army.
The various nations had held the combined forces of Nanyan and Xiliang in high regard — after all, they had slaughtered the descendants of the Duke of Zhenguo to the last soul. Then the Crown Prince of Jin had arrived in the Southern Border with his reinforced army, and the million soldiers of the two nations combined had scattered like frightened birds.
The eyes of every nation turned naturally toward Jin's newly emerged Crown Prince. Though Jin had won a great victory at Wengshan, the killing of the surrendered troops in the canyon had left the nations harboring resentment against Jin. Jin's new Crown Prince, they said, was cruel to the point of excess — hardly a virtuous gentleman. Once he became Emperor of Jin, he would be certain to bring calamity upon them all.
The Emperor of Liang, who had maintained a warm friendship with Jin all this while, sent a letter to the Jin Emperor. Under the pretext of friendship, he delicately laid out the anxieties of the surrounding nations, and proposed that the Crown Prince be punished to set the nations' minds at ease.
Having read the letter, the Emperor of Great Jin remained silent for a long while, then gave an urgent command that it be forwarded, unaltered, to the Crown Prince.
The moment the Crown Prince received it, he collapsed into his chair and hastily summoned his three advisors.
Jin Xiangzhi, Advisor Fang, and Lin Shijie — who ever kept his silence and spoke little — took turns reading the letter.
"What am I to do now? Burning the surrendered prisoners to death... The rumor that I am cruel must already have spread to every nation."
The Crown Prince gripped the armrests of his chair, his face deathly pale. He bitterly regretted having handed over the military authority to Bai Jingyan, letting her deploy the great Jin army as she pleased.
For the several days he had remained in Wengcheng, every report that reached him from the front had followed the same pattern: Bai Jingyan did not ask and then act — she acted first and reported afterward.
Killing the surrendered troops, transferring the garrison of Pingyang City to Tianmenguan, striking into Fengxian and Fengcheng, and even pursuing the enemy all the way to Xiliang's border with the great Jin army and the Bai family army in hand — all of it had been so. Every last matter had lain beyond his control.
The Crown Prince even felt an unsettling doubt: having led the soldiers out on this campaign, was he truly the marshal directing the war — or nothing more than an ornament on display?
"The one who killed the surrendered troops was Bai Jingyan, the eldest legitimate granddaughter of Bai Weiting, King of Zhenguo — not Your Highness. Report the truth to His Majesty in a memorial, and beg His Majesty to behead Bai Jingyan. You must draw the line, Your Highness!"
Advisor Fang was the first to speak.
"Absolutely not."
Jin Xiangzhi bowed with cupped hands before the Crown Prince.
"Your Highness, with the killing of the surrendered troops, the nations already bear resentment toward you. If His Majesty were to behead General Bai, the nations would say that the Crown Prince seeks to shift the blame and the crime onto a lone woman."
The Crown Prince gave an almost imperceptible nod, his eyes distant with deep thought.
"Moreover... General Bai and the great Jin army are fighting this war side by side. A decision like this would chill the hearts of every soldier. Your Highness would become a villain both within and without. Advisor Fang — think on this more carefully. Is this not a breach of duty?"
Jin Xiangzhi knew Advisor Fang's influence ran strong, and so, when adding his own words, he made a show of profound respect for the man. Though it went against every grain of his nature, if only the Crown Prince would heed him and spare Bai Jingyan's life — if that was the path that would carry the day — then lowering himself was no hardship at all.
Advisor Fang glanced once at Jin Xiangzhi and stroked his beard. To see the ever-proud Jin Xiangzhi bow before him sent a look of arrogance and open contempt sliding across his eyes. Slowly, he spoke.
"Master Jin's words do carry some reason."
"I have a way, Your Highness. Submit a memorial to His Majesty requesting honors for General Bai. Petition for her reward on account of her victory in this war, and confer a title upon her. Then have it proclaimed to all the realm under Your Highness's own imperial brush — that General Bai killed the surrendered troops out of fear that the Xiliang captives might draw blades from behind her army's back, out of concern for the safety of Great Jin's soldiers."
"Then the nations will learn that besides the King of Zhenguo, Great Jin is shielded by a general of surpassing cunning and masterful strategy — Bai Jingyan! And what is more, Your Highness will win the fine reputation of a sovereign who never doubts those he has chosen as his own. In time, all the more men will flock to the Crown Prince's banner!"
Jin Xiangzhi bowed low at the waist, raising his cupped hands in salute.
"A general of a nation is no different from a fierce weapon wielded in her sovereign's aid. Only with courage, ferocity, and ruthless resolve will the nations tremble in fear. But the sovereign is the foundation upon which the nation stands — only with upright virtue, overflowing righteousness, and dignified bearing can he set the realm at peace. Therefore Your Highness must not contend for battlefield glory; you must win through strength of character. You must win benevolence — you must win the hearts of the people!"
Advisor Fang narrowed his eyes and turned Jin Xiangzhi's words over in his mind.
He was right. His Highness had already ascended to the position of Crown Prince. While a sovereign's seat remained uncertain, building power through battlefield glory might indeed be the proper course — but as for the remaining princes... the King of Xin and the Liang King had been stripped of their titles, and Prince Wei was barely five years old, and did not seem particularly clever besides. As for the child in Consort Luo's belly, no one yet knew whether it would be a boy or a girl. The Crown Prince's position could be called exceedingly secure.
And though Advisor Fang was loath to admit it, Jin Xiangzhi's scheme was precisely right. Better to push all the glory onto Bai Jingyan alone by such means than to kill her and apologize to the nations. And afterward, in shielding Bai Jingyan, he would be certain to keep her under his command. That way he would catch both hares — honor and profit — and a valiant general would repay him with her whole loyal heart.
"Your Highness — I too believe Master Jin's plan will serve!"
Advisor Fang spoke at last, unhurried.
With Advisor Fang saying the same, the Crown Prince finally made up his mind with an easy heart. It stung to surrender the military glory, but if Bai Jingyan — a born commander if ever there was one — devoted her loyalty to him in exchange, it was no losing bargain.
The Crown Prince nodded.
"I too think Master Jin's words are very right indeed. Am I not a sovereign, not a general? Battlefield glory is of no use to me. It is hearts I must win!"
Hearing this, Jin Xiangzhi at last let out a long breath of relief.
So... have I saved Bai Jingyan's life?
Bai Jingyan had taken thirty thousand of the great Jin army, ten thousand of the Bai family army, and the Haoying Battalion to garrison the Xiliang border. The two armies faced each other across the Jinghe River, and for now neither raised the banner of war again.
The Xiliang troops dreaded the black-silk White Python Banner snapping in the wind above the enemy camp across the water, and Bai Jingyan, still waiting for word of her seventh brother, her ninth brother, and Shen Qingzhu, could not afford any reckless moves.
The Crown Prince intended to shift the entire matter — both the military glory and the crime of killing the surrendered troops — onto Bai Jingyan's shoulders. A perfect maneuver for washing his hands of it all.
Jin Xiangzhi sent her a letter. Naturally, since it would be troublesome were the Crown Prince's people to see it, its contents were written throughout in plausible language that spoke for the Crown Prince's position. It said that the Crown Prince was a man of magnanimous spirit, a wise gentleman who thought it unjust to appropriate her military glory. It went on, point by point and in meticulous detail, explaining how deeply the Crown Prince trusted her, and exactly how he would guarantee her innocence before the Emperor.
Bai Jingyan understood perfectly well that this was the fruit of Jin Xiangzhi's efforts to save her life, and she was fully prepared to accept his help gladly.
Bai Jinchi took the letter from her sister's hand and skimmed through it quickly. Fury boiled up inside her.
"The Crown Prince has some nerve! If we hadn't killed those surrendered troops in Wengshan Canyon, he'd have snatched the military glory right out of our hands. But the moment the affair blows up, he has the gall to prattle on about how he'd never steal Eldest Sister's achievements. He's just terrified of having to answer for the slaughtered prisoners himself!"
"I expected as much. What is there to be angry about?"
Bai Jingyan was unperturbed. The imperial family was always like this. It was hardly the first time, and it would not be the last.
Bai Jingyan did not claim to be a gentleman, but neither was she the sort of petty man who broke his word. She had said during the Southern Border campaign that she would yield the military glory to the Crown Prince, and she had genuinely meant to do so — she had already used that glory to secure a first-rank imperial patent for Bai Jinxiu, after all.
She had killed prisoners in the battle of Wengshan, which meant she had her own plan in place for bearing that responsibility in the Crown Prince's stead.
But for a man called the Crown Prince to be so utterly impatient. Very well, then — she would accept his goodwill, and someday someone would have to thank him for it. A show of loyalty would settle the account nicely.