True Heart
Unable to bear the thought of swallowing hot tears, Bai Jingyan sank to one knee, offered a cupped-fist salute, and asked the Crown Prince, "But how could I ever dare put Your Highness in so difficult a position?"
The Crown Prince raised a hand toward the empty air and bade her rise.
"Difficult or not, I will protect the Grand Daughter-in-law of the Bai family. Not because I desire anything for myself. It is for the sake of the people on the borders of Great Jin. So tell me, Grand Daughter-in-law — will you follow me?"
"Your Highness……"
Bai Jingyan pressed her lips together tightly, then opened her mouth again.
"Might I be so bold as to ask Your Highness a question? What is it that you truly hold in your heart?"
The Crown Prince clenched his fists. Before coming here, Zhen Xiangzhi's words came back to him.
The Grand Daughter-in-law of the Bai family, Zhen Xiangzhi had said, was a woman who had inherited the upright, unyielding spirit of the Bai family's traditions in their entirety. To live for the people and to die for the nation — that was the Bai family's mission. If the Crown Prince wished to make Bai Jingyan his own, he would have to lay bare his ambitions to her.
Zhen Xiangzhi had urged the Crown Prince to remember, above all, the memorial text Bai Jingyan had read at the Bai family's funeral. Bai Weiting, the King of Zhenguo, had been given the courtesy name Buyu — to return peace to the people and to strive for harmony in the human world. Szhibuyu — to swear that one's heart would never waver toward another purpose. Zhisiwangxiu — to serve with loyalty until death itself released one from the duty.
Reciting these words inwardly, the Crown Prince looked into Bai Jingyan's eyes, which were calm and yet cold, and spoke.
"My ambition is to see the people live in an age of peace and prosperity."
Bai Jingyan gazed at him in silence.
The Emperor had once said those very words to her grandfather. He must have looked just as the Crown Prince did now, standing before her grandfather — feigning the baring of his whole heart, feigning sincerity.
"Your Highness, do you know why my grandfather brought every man of the Bai family down to the Southern Border?"
It was an unexpected question. Bai Jingyan offered no vow of loyalty; instead she had raised something seemingly unrelated, and the Crown Prince, thrown off balance, could only answer as naturally as he could.
"I don't know, but……"
"His Majesty told my grandfather that his will encompassed all the world. My grandfather resolved to devote himself faithfully to His Majesty, and, deciding to serve as His Majesty's minister, naturally assumed he would scheme and labor to fulfill His Majesty's will. If His Majesty desired all the world under heaven, then Jin needed bold, war-hardened generals.
The other lords did not wish to send their own sons and grandsons onto the battlefield. But my grandfather made every man of the Bai house — legitimate or not — come out and undergo brutal training, preparing them so that His Majesty could reign supreme over the warring states."
The Crown Prince's heart pounded. He had never once imagined that this was why Bai Weiting had led the men of the Bai family onto the battlefield.
"So today, I, Bai Jingyan, have resolved to devote my loyalty to Your Highness — and thus I must know your will. And you, Your Highness, must speak to me truthfully. Otherwise, we will become exactly as my grandfather and the Emperor became. My grandfather, never knowing what His Majesty truly desired, served him with rigid, unswerving devotion — and so earned only His Majesty's displeasure, until suspicion came to stand between them."
The Crown Prince looked at Bai Jingyan solemnly. Her words were astonishingly audacious. If she had not truly intended to give him her loyalty, how could she dare spit out words that rebuked the reigning Emperor himself?
Since ancient times, any man of ability choosing a master feared nothing so much as ending up in Bai Weiting's position.
And Bai Jingyan was a woman who could hardly bear children. If she served him and never married for the rest of her life, her devotion would surely be absolute.
Advisor Fang had once counseled the Crown Prince to take Bai Jingyan as a concubine. She was, of course, a woman of extraordinary beauty. Yet every time the Crown Prince looked upon her dignified bearing, he thought of something inviolable, something sacred, and his heart refused to open to her. After long deliberation, he had finally abandoned the idea.
Now the Crown Prince was torn. Should he tell Bai Jingyan the simple truth — that he only wished to preserve the splendor of Great Jin? Or should he, as Zhen Xiangzhi had urged, show her his "grand ambitions"?
The Crown Prince did not answer at once, and Bai Jingyan stood motionless and silent, listening to the waters of the Jinghe River flowing past.
After a long while, the Crown Prince at last lifted his head and spoke to her.
"His Majesty misunderstood the King of Zhenguo. But I will never misunderstand General Bai. The bond between an enlightened sovereign and a wise minister has ever been passed down as a beautiful tale. When I am gone, I hope the story of me and General Bai will be remembered as one of them — a minister and his sovereign, united in devotion."
'General Bai?'
The Crown Prince had changed how he addressed her. He was looking at her no longer as a woman, but as a minister he could rely upon — someone with whom he might forge a tale for the ages.
After a long moment, Bai Jingyan sank respectfully to her knees before the Crown Prince and bowed.
"I, Bai Jingyan, pledge my life to fulfilling Your Highness's will. Whatever hardships may come, I shall never retreat."
Now Bai Jingyan had formally entered the Crown Prince's service.
Unable to contain his excitement, the Crown Prince bent down and helped her to her feet.
"But the work of securing peace under heaven must not be rushed. It must be achieved slowly, step by step. First, we must secure the peace of Great Jin."
Bai Jingyan, for her part, did not believe for a moment that the Crown Prince's ambitions truly extended to all the world.
The walk along the Jinghe River with the Crown Prince was the Crown Prince performing for her — and no more than Bai Jingyan performing for him.
What the Crown Prince wanted was to keep the Bai family's position as the shield of Great Jin. Those whose roads diverge cannot travel together, after all. For now, he was simply a man still worth using.
The moment this thought crossed her mind, Bai Jingyan flinched.
When the Emperor had spoken those words to her grandfather back then — had he, just like her, harbored this same intention of using the man before him?
After everything she had endured, Bai Jingyan had changed a great deal. She no longer followed her grandfather's teachings. She no longer kept the Bai family's ancestral precepts. From head to toe, she had become a thorough, consummate schemer.
But she never once regretted it.
The road ahead was long and perilous. If only she could protect the Bai family — if only she could protect the Bai Family Army — and if only she could fulfill the ambitions that generations of Bais had guarded and passed down, then she would gladly become an unashamed schemer.
When Bai Jingyan remained silent for a long while, the Crown Prince clenched his fists and asked, "General Bai — was there something wrong in what I said?"
"I believe Your Highness's words are correct in every particular!"
Bai Jingyan offered the Crown Prince a cupped-fist salute.
With the great matter settled, the Crown Prince made his rounds of the encampment with a light step. He praised Bai Jingyan, drank cups of wine with the soldiers, and formally acknowledged her battlefield merits once again.
To bind a person to you, one must never overlook even the smallest details, down to the very last. In this, he seemed to take a great deal after the Emperor.
Bai Jingyan presented the treasured sword she had taken as spoils of war to the Crown Prince, then courteously escorted him along his way.
Before mounting his carriage, the Crown Prince — a faint flush of wine upon him — steadied himself against Zhan Yu and spoke to Bai Jingyan with grave earnestness.
"The military tallies are in your hands now, so I will trust you. No matter what anyone says, I will trust you. Move the troops however you see fit. Only — I beg you — see to it that the people on Great Jin's borders suffer no more."
Bai Jingyan saluted with formal precision.
"I shall not fail Your Highness's expectations!"
As Zhan Yu helped the Crown Prince into the carriage, Bai Jingyan spoke to him.
"Gonggong, take good care of His Highness."
"It is this humble servant's duty."
Zhan Yu hurriedly bowed to Bai Jingyan, then added, "General Bai, your health is still frail — please, do take care of yourself."
After the words left his mouth, it seemed to strike him that they might have been ill-chosen, and he hastily appended one more.
"Only then will His Highness be able to set his mind at ease."
Each of them showed the other the very picture of devoted service — both determined not to earn the suspicion of the master they served.
The carriage rolled away. The Crown Prince, drunk on wine only moments before, slowly opened his eyes. Turning his head, he gazed at the treasured sword Bai Jingyan had given him.
Didn't they say that wine loosens the tongue of truth? He hoped she would believe the words he had spoken to her before climbing into the carriage.
Bai Jingyan, having seen the Crown Prince off, was returning to the commander's tent when Xiao Ruogang approached and murmured to her.
"My lady, a guard in Master Xiao's service has come. He says he has something to deliver to you."
Without turning her head, Bai Jingyan asked, "Where is he?"
"He has been waiting a long while down by the banks of the Jinghe."
"We'll stop by the tent first, then go see him."
Having said this, Bai Jingyan went straight into the commander's tent.
Xiao Rongyan's guard had stood a long while in the cold wind along the Jinghe. Besides the horse he had ridden, there was a second horse — a white one — whose reins he held.
The moment he caught sight of Bai Jingyan and the torch-bearing Xiao Ruogang riding toward him, he dismounted at once.
As he watched the armored Bai Jingyan draw near from the distance, the guard was struck with a start of surprise.
The Grand Daughter-in-law of the Bai family he had met in the capital had been gaunt of frame, yet always strong, a woman of dazzling beauty. But now she came in armor, her long hair swept back and bound high. She carried the five-jin mace in one hand, and a fierce, martial aura seemed to coil about her entire body — so intense that merely looking at her felt like a weight upon the eyes.
When she drew close, Bai Jingyan pulled up on the reins and asked, "Are you Master Xiao's guard?"
"This humble one is indeed in Master Xiao's service. I was commanded to deliver this white horse to you, my lady. It is a horse my master purchased at the Mengcheng market in Nanyan. He also bid me deliver a letter to you."
With that, the guard drew a sealed letter from within his robes and raised it respectfully.
Xiao Ruogang dismounted and took the letter from the guard's hand, examining it thoroughly to be sure nothing had been tampered with before handing it over to Bai Jingyan.
Bai Jingyan broke the seal and, by the light of the torch Xiao Ruogang held, read the letter through.
The White Python Banner of the Bai Family Army was used to seize the grain of Nanyan. In gratitude for the care shown to my men throughout the journey — and in apology for employing the Banner without so much as a word of notice beforehand — I send you one fine horse.
The moment I laid eyes on this beast, I was reminded of you riding a swift white horse through the palace of Chu, the Piaofeng banner streaming behind you — and so I send horse and letter together.
It is a savage creature, and as yet no hand has broken it. It seems to me this horse, too, is waiting for its master. I believe you will tame it well.
— Xiao Rongyan
The letter's contents were very simple, but the brushwork brimmed with swagger. It was, without question, written in Xiao Rongyan's own hand.
Xiao Rongyan had gone to Nanyan?
With Great Jin and Xiliang both in turmoil, he was clearly moving to reclaim Nanyan — territory that had once belonged to Great Yan.
Repeated disasters had struck Great Yan the year before, and its situation now was dire indeed. The warring states would all have assumed Yan would spend this winter merely licking its wounds. Yet Xiao Rongyan had made a bold decision. To see so far ahead was remarkable in itself — but his power of execution was remarkable too.
One thing was certain: it was the perfect moment.
Had Bai Jingyan stood in his place, she reflected, she would likely have done the very same.
She would have used the Bai Family Army's White Python Banner to seize the grain in transit. The point of seizure — Yaoguan Pass. After taking the grain, she would have kept her forces lying in ambush at Yaoguan, waiting until the great army of Nanyan turned back toward its own land, and then slaughtered Nanyan's soldiers to the last man at the pass.
The terrain of Yaoguan was ideally suited for ambush. It would have been almost a waste not to make full use of such a place.
And — a passing thought — did Great Yan actually possess a proper military force?
Every word and deed of Xiao Rongyan's carried a purpose. To reveal his movements in a letter was tantamount to announcing Great Yan's plans to her. And a letter in his own hand, no less. This letter was something that could yet become a weapon held against him.