The Empress Takes the Throne
The Bai army marched straight back into camp.
Only then did Yun Paxing and his generals realize what was happening. Across the river, the great Jin army had been carrying out drills in a thunderous uproar all along.
Drums thundered across the water, war cries boiled up like a seething tide, dust swirled in the air, and the shrill blast of whistles seemed about to tear the sky apart.
Yun Paxing narrowed his eyes. Across the river, only the banners streaming from the Jin camp and his son's head swayed in the wind.
"What is the meaning of this? Training on such a grand scale. Are they trying to frighten the great army of Xiliang, to warn us they intend to storm our camp? How laughable."
One of the Xiliang generals sheathed his blade. All the tension of a moment ago had vanished, leaving nothing but irritation, and he muttered under his breath.
Yun Paxing raised his eyebrows. A sudden smile crept across his face.
"Yes. That's it. They mean to frighten our Xiliang army off!"
He fell deep into thought. When the man who had returned from upstream — the man who had cut off his son's head and now stood at Bai Jingyan's side — must have persuaded her somehow. And Bai Jingyan, realizing that revealing his intent outright would look arrogant, must have chosen to intimidate through military drills instead.
Which meant Bai Jingyan herself was afraid!
Otherwise, why make such a spectacle and try to scare them off when she could simply have waited quietly for him to come?
Yun Paxing's resolve to raid the enemy camp tonight only hardened.
When the drills ended, Bai Jingyan — silver armor draped with a red cloak — ascended the platform and raised her hand.
Tens of thousands of soldiers on the training ground fell silent in an instant, as though doused with water, and turned solemn faces toward her.
"Tonight will be the final battle between our Jin and Xiliang! Tonight, the men of Jin will make the Xiliang invaders tremble like leaves — make certain they never covet our land again, never scorn our soldiers again! We will make those barbarian dogs shudder at the mere mention of the great Jin army! We must hold them back so that they cannot torment the people of Great Jin for years to come!"
Bai Jingyan raised a fist-palm salute. Killing intent was etched into every line of her features.
"And through this occasion, I want to thank the soldiers of this nation — those who risked their lives to protect their families on behalf of the people along our borders! Truly, thank you for marching to war without fear of death!"
Watching morale surge through the ranks, Zhang Danyue ordered wine brought out for the soldiers still breathing hard from their exertions.
Bai Jingyan accepted the cup Zhang Danyue personally raised to her, lifted it high, and addressed the soldiers.
"Burn with righteous hatred and defend our land! Until we fall in battle, our armor does not come off!"
As if hot blood were boiling in their veins, the soldiers roared in unison, three times over.
"Until we fall in battle, our armor does not come off!"
"Until we fall in battle, our armor does not come off!"
"Until we fall in battle, our armor does not come off!"
The soldiers' frenzied shouts reverberated to the heavens, leaving every ear ringing.
Yun Paxing sat inside the Xiliang supreme commander's tent, staring at the imperial edict laid on the table, his face darkening.
The skies over Xiliang had changed.
The Emperor of Xiliang had died beneath an assassin's blade. The palace had done everything it could to keep the news from leaking, but it had poured out regardless.
The Emperor had left no sons — only two daughters. There had been no time for him to issue an edict naming his successor among his brothers, and the Third Prince, growing impatient, had led troops to storm the palace and seize the throne.
The Empress had stepped forward and elevated the Emperor's eldest legitimate daughter to the throne as Empress — but the Sixth Prince had issued an edict in the Emperor's name, declaring the Empress guilty of a hen crowing at dawn, and ordered Yun Paxing to withdraw from the field at once and return to the capital, Yunjing. There he was to help the Sixth Prince contend for the throne and preserve the legitimate line of the imperial house.
Uprising had broken out in Yunjing. Yun Paxing had to go back. But before leaving, he had to kill Bai Jingyan first. If he left her alive, there would be no end to the trouble she would bring — a calamity far greater than any internal strife in Xiliang.
Yun Paxing lowered his head to study the map, thinking through how tonight's raid would unfold.
Grain was limited. This time, he had to fight with his back against the wall. If he lost again...
Then he would no longer be able to stop the envoy the late Emperor had sent to sue for peace before the incident ever occurred.
If he met defeat even in this final battle, it would simply be the will of heaven, and there would be nothing to do but accept it.
The question was how many soldiers to deploy.
Bai Jingyan was cunning beyond measure. Worse, the Bai army was made up entirely of fierce, seasoned soldiers — and that Haoying Battalion in particular... The mere thought sent a chill down Yun Paxing's spine.
But if he hoarded his troops this time, he could never take Bai Jingyan's head. To raid her camp merely to recover his son's skull was a trade that lost too much.
He resolved to lead half of the Xiliang camp into the Jin camp in the deep of night, slipping through in the quiet hours.
Since war would come only after nightfall, the soldiers had to eat their fill first.
But if smoke rose from the cookfires, wouldn't Bai Jingyan see the Xiliang army eating and suspect something?
No. Impossible. She's threatened us with words and staged those elaborate drills just to intimidate us — her confidence must be scraping the sky right now. I'll have the soldiers eat their fill, then show her the army withdrawing from camp as if returning home, and order them to skirt around Black Bear Mountain and the Yinggu Pass by night.
Then Bai Jingyan would read it as an admission of defeat and drop her guard.
Yun Paxing wasted no more time and ordered the rice cooked at once.
Steam was rising over cookfires in the Great Jin camp as well. Bai Jingyan stood at the entrance of the commander's tent beside Wei Zhaonian, gazing at the smoke curling up from the southern bank of the Jinghe River, her expression caught somewhere between a smile and its absence.
"So Yun Paxing truly means to raid us tonight!"
Word of the upheaval in Yunjing, capital of Xiliang, and of the Empress of Xiliang's enthronement had reached Bai Jingyan as well.
Yun Paxing was a master at commanding troops. He knew perfectly well that once smoke rose from the cookfires, Bai Jingyan would sense something was afoot. She surmised that he intended to feed his soldiers their fill, feign a withdrawal, and then circle around Black Bear Mountain and the Yinggu Pass to strike the Jin camp again by night.
Bai Jingyan lifted her head and looked at Yun Paxing's son's head hanging high overhead. Since Yun Paxing was moving so openly, she decided she too would be open about it — ordering her soldiers to lie in ambush at the Yinggu Pass. If the great armies of two nations collided head-on at the Yinggu Pass or Black Bear Mountain... Great Jin did not have as many troops as Xiliang.
The oil stockpiled in camp had originally been meant for the Xiliang army if they attempted their raid. But if the Xiliang army would not come, they might as well lend it to them.
In today's drills, they had trained the formations and strangling tactics for raiding an enemy camp. They could be used tonight when the raid came — and would leave the Xiliang army unable to mount any counterattack at all.
"Give the orders. Once the meal is finished, General Cheng Yuanzhi, General Zhang Danyue, and General Shi Panshan are to lead forty thousand elite troops and, together with the Bai army under General Wei Zhaonian, show themselves withdrawing toward Fengcheng. Tell General Wei Zhaonian and General Shi Panshan to lead thirty thousand men, cross the river after nightfall, and lie hidden along the eastern and western flanks of the Xiliang camp, quietly awaiting orders. The ten thousand under General Cheng Yuanzhi and General Zhang Danyue need not go as far as Black Bear Mountain — they will simply hold the ambush at Yinggu. And tonight, the Xiliang troops who come to raid us will be slaughtered to the last man at the Yinggu Pass."
Wei Zhaonian started in surprise.
"But it isn't dark yet. If Yun Paxing sees our great army withdrawing..."
Mid-sentence, Wei Zhaonian suddenly went wide-eyed, as though something had struck him.
Right — if the great army withdrew while Xiao Baixiu remained here, Yun Paxing's resolve to raid the camp would only harden further.
"Send a man to the Xiliang camp. Tell them we will be returning Yun Paxing's son's head."
Bai Jingyan issued the instruction to Xiao Ruogang.
"Tell them that with turmoil breaking out in Yunjing, Yun Paxing can no longer wage this war — so while seeing him off, we send the head along as a parting gift."
Xiao Ruogang understood it was an arrogant pretense, a calculated display of utter contempt for Yun Paxing. Only that way could Yun Paxing attack with his heart at ease.
"I will go myself."
Xiao Ruogang offered a fist-palm salute.
Bai Jingyan nodded.
As she returned to her tent, Bai Jingyan heard someone speaking to Xiao Ruogang.
"There is a man outside on horseback who says he wishes to see Lady Bai. It seems he means to deliver a letter to her."
Xiao Ruogang recalled the guard he had dispatched and stepped inside to report.
A letter? One of Xiao Rongyan's people again?
Bai Jingyan nodded.
"Very well. Go and see to the business at the Xiliang camp first."
Bai Jingyan walked out of the camp. Sure enough, it was Xiao Rongyan's guard. The moment he saw her, he bowed in respect.
"Lady Bai!"
The guard had ridden without rest ever since receiving the letter. He could not afford to fail in any matter concerning Xiao Rongyan.
"Is it a letter from your master?"
Bai Jingyan asked.
"Yes, my lady!"
The guard hurriedly drew the letter from his breast and handed it over. Bai Jingyan unfolded it before him.
By the method you proposed, I will recover Nanyan.
I write to tell you, as casually as one mentions the weather, that I rescued a soldier of Jin from the slave market. According to the slaver, he was pulled from the Jinghe River. He bore himself with dignity and refinement, and his speech and manner marked him as the son of one of Jin's great houses — so I brought him home.
He had come to the battlefield to gain experience under the elders of his house, but when I said I would send him back to Jin, he refused to go. He said that since he owed me a debt, he could not allow his family to be entangled in it. He gave me an alias — Wang Qijie — and promised to do three things for my sake, saying he would return home only after the debt was fully repaid.
A surge of heat rushed to Bai Jingyan's head. The hand holding the letter trembled without her willing it.
Wang was the surname of her fourth aunt; Qijie meant seventh younger brother. So he had named himself Wang Qijie.
A'jie was alive!
He was still alive!
Had he been wounded? Did he know what had happened in Dadu?
Bai Jingyan wanted to ask Xiao Rongyan's guard about A'jie's condition, but she barely held herself back. What she could not hold back were the hot tears welling in her eyes.
Unable to reveal too much to the guard, Bai Jingyan steadied her emotions with effort and asked him,
"Do you have a fire striker?"
The guard respectfully handed her one. He watched her burn the letter to ashes, then bowed at the waist.
"Is there any message you would have me carry back to my master, Lady Bai?"
Xiao Rongyan had sent such a letter to her because he suspected A'jie's true identity.
"Tell him this: I am deeply grateful."
Bai Jingyan answered simply.
The guard could not imagine what she was thanking his master for, but he promised to deliver it faithfully.
Beyond that, Bai Jingyan said nothing more.
That single letter was enough. Nothing in the world mattered more than knowing A'jie was alive!
Just as Geumchi had said — once her fourth aunt learned that A'jie lived, she would surely weep with joy. Perhaps it would offer some small solace for the grief of losing her youngest son.
This was the happiest news Bai Jingyan had heard since returning to life.
Grandfather, Father, my uncles, my brothers — in the end, they saved A'jie. And Ninth Brother too. Ninth Brother must be living safely somewhere, just like A'jie.
Xiao Rongyan had sent her this letter as a subtle reminder. Which meant he would surely protect A'jie's safety. That much Bai Jingyan did not worry about.
At worst, he would simply set more conditions before her.
Above all, A'jie had A'jie's own stubbornness and pride. If A'jie meant to repay Xiao Rongyan's debt, then she could be brought home once it was paid in full.
Only — someone had to remain at A'jie's side. She could not be left alone.