Submission
Advisor Fang gazed at Zhen Xiangzhi's retreating back, rigid with barely contained fury, and curled his lips into a sneer. Then he turned to the Crown Prince, and in an instant his manner softened into one of warm deference.
"Your Highness, has some difficulty befallen you?"
The Crown Prince shook his head and held up the military tally he'd been carrying, showing it to Advisor Fang.
Advisor Fang started in surprise.
"The... the military tally?"
"A short while ago I was too weary to summon you. This tally — Bai Jingyan surrendered it to me of her own accord, once the negotiations concluded. She said the reason she had not presented it earlier was her concern that Xiliang might attack again before the treaty was formally ratified. But now that the pact is sealed, she said, there was no reason to withhold it any longer. And that is not all......"
The Crown Prince gazed at the coals blazing brightly in the brazier, his voice swelling as though with overwhelming emotion.
"Bai Jingyan has sent the Bai Family Army to Donggu Mountain, and one of the Bai family's generals to Zhongshan City and another to Bailong City, to hold those fortresses while training soldiers on my behalf."
Advisor Fang flinched. He called to mind the positions of Donggu Mountain, Bailong City, and Zhongshan City — and his brow furrowed once more.
"A general of the Bai Family Army is to hold the fortresses and train troops for Your Highness? You mean... to place Jin's soldiers under the command of a Bai general? Your Highness, that is a matter demanding vigilance."
"Advisor Fang. Are you not being overly cautious?"
The Crown Prince went on with a smile on his face.
"She proposed that my own hereditary generals and two generals of the Bai Family Army jointly guard Bailong City and Zhongshan City. The Bai generals would train the soldiers, while my hereditary men held command of the troops! Do you see what that means? From now on, every elite soldier in Jin will move at my word! Wherever my blade points, there will be men ready to throw their lives into the fray! And besides — Bai Jingyan's health is poor. She has no choice but to entrust the Bai Family Army to me."
Advisor Fang studied the Crown Prince's expression. He saw at once that the Crown Prince trusted Bai Jingyan without a shadow of doubt.
"Your Highness, then what of the Haoying Battalion? How does Bai Jingyan intend to dispose of it?"
The Crown Prince started, then narrowed his eyes.
"She... did not say! But surely she will do as she has promised, without deviation."
Advisor Fang stroked his beard and nodded slowly, recalling the deferential bearing Bai Jingyan had shown him in the barracks only a short while before.
"You are a sovereign of abundant virtue and gentle grace, Your Highness — so much so that even a fierce warrior like Bai Jingyan has submitted to you as her liege! My congratulations, Your Highness. The Bai Family Army is truly yours at last!"
At Advisor Fang's words, the Crown Prince erased the last thread of doubt he harbored toward Bai Jingyan.
He gripped the tally tightly in his hand, pondered a moment, then spoke.
"If grace has been given, then grace must be returned! When we return to the capital, I shall submit a memorial to my father asking that Bai Jingyan be invested as a princess. It will show our gratitude to the Bai family and the Bai Family Army as well!"
"If Your Highness honors the Bai family and Bai Jingyan so faithfully, then Bai Jingyan will serve you with the same wholehearted devotion as I do."
Advisor Fang said it with a hearty chuckle.
The Crown Prince nodded, then asked him another question.
"Then... in your view, Advisor Fang, ought the Haoying Battalion to be brought back to the capital?"
"I believe Shen Liangyu should be handled as we discussed before. Grant General Shen power and wealth of gold and silver, and see that his family lives in comfort and abundance. Then, for the sake of His Majesty and Your Highness, have him raise soldiers like the Haoying Battalion to serve you with perfect loyalty! Just as Bai Jingyan has disposed of the Bai Family Army's other generals, Your Highness need only place command of the troops in the hands of a general you trust, and leave Shen Liangyu to the training of soldiers alone. That, I believe, would be best."
"Advisor Fang speaks rightly."
The Crown Prince nodded.
"With the matter of the Bai Family Army settled, we must now turn our minds to His Majesty's birthday on the twenty-eighth of the third month. What gift shall I offer that would please my father — that would win his favor?"
Advisor Fang had roused him to it.
"Yes — the Crown Princess's household will already be making preparations. When we return, Advisor Fang, see to it as well."
"Your Highness, I fear you misunderstand me."
Advisor Fang smiled as he stroked his beard.
"On Your Highness's return in triumph, nothing could delight His Majesty more than an auspicious omen sent down from Heaven itself. If Your Highness finds this proposal agreeable, leave it to Lin Shijie. He is a man of few words, but he handles affairs with immaculate precision."
A gleam kindled in the Crown Prince's eyes. He broke into a wide smile and nodded.
"How fortunate I am, to have Advisor Fang at my side, reminding me of things at every turn."
Inside the barracks, Bai Jinchi had her arm wound dressed, then changed out of her blood-soaked clothes. She sat before the brazier staring blankly at her silver spear, her mind far away, turning over and over the brush with death she had just survived.
Her eldest sister had shouted at her to pick the spear back up, but she had been like a soul departed, struggling for her very life to do nothing but pull the silver spear free.
If her eldest sister and Xiao Ruogang hadn't been there, I'd have met the King of Hell by now.
Bai Jinchi's pupils trembled. In the thick of battle she had felt no fear, but now, replaying that instant when she had grazed against death, a chill ran down her spine.
Bai Jingyan came into the barracks carrying a jug of wine. Seeing Bai Jinchi sitting dazed, staring at her spear, she reached out and lightly ruffled her hair.
Only then did Bai Jinchi come back to herself. She lifted her head and looked at Bai Jingyan, her voice low.
"Sister......"
"Are you frightened?"
Bai Jingyan asked her with a gentle smile.
Bai Jinchi nodded, then shook her head. She looked up at Bai Jingyan with eyes still clear and bright despite the streaks of blood across her face, and clenched her faintly trembling hands into fists.
"At first I was terrified! But then I saw the Dong family scouts and the Haoying Battalion soldiers falling right in front of me, and hot blood splashed across my face and into my mouth. Blood is... a little salty, it turns out. I thought — so this is how the Ninth Brother died at Chuishanguan! So I told myself... even if I died, I'd have to take a few more of Xiliang's dogs down with me first. And then I saw you coming."
Bai Jinchi managed a smile at Bai Jingyan through her cracked, parched lips. The rims of her eyes were red.
"The moment I saw you, I wasn't scared anymore! I just felt strong — like I could kill a hundred more, a thousand more of them!"
Bai Jingyan looked into her young sister's clear eyes and stroked her hair tenderly. Then, her own eyes brimming, she drew Bai Jinchi into her arms.
She understood exactly what Bai Jinchi was feeling. In her past life, in the hardest hours of the war, the sight of the Bai Family Army's black-cloth White Python Banner had, inexplicably, swept all fear away. Because it was Bai family blood leading the Bai Family Army, coming to the rescue.
That was why Bai Jingyan had always ridden at the front — because she knew the Bai kin and the Bai Family Army were right behind her. Because they guarded her back so steadfastly that she had nothing to fear.
As the eldest of the house, she should have been the one to shield her young siblings from wind and rain — should have been their strongest shield. And instead she had been left weak and sickly, tending to nothing but illness. If only she had grown stronger sooner, if only she had been harder! Her siblings would never have met such an end.
"Jinchi, you're greater than I ever was! When I first took the field, I had a guard of escorts protecting my side. But you drove back the Xiliang army all on your own!"
Bai Jingyan patted her sister's back gently.
"I believe in you. In time, our Jinchi will become the most glorious vanguard general the Bai Family Army has ever known!"
Bai Jinchi wiped her tears with her sleeve, straightened her back, and looked at Bai Jingyan with firm resolve.
"Sister, trust me. I will make it so."
"This is the medicinal wine General Shen Liangyu sent for you. He says it's made from a secret recipe passed down through his family for generations. Drink a few swallows and sleep. It won't hurt anymore."
Bai Jingyan handed her the jug.
"I've had it myself. It works wonders."
"Yes!"
The moment Bai Jinchi took the jug, a soldier of the Bai Family Army called a report from outside the barracks. Generals Shen Kunyang, Wei Zhaonian, Gu Wenchang, and Cheng Yuanzhi had departed Fengcheng and arrived at Youhua Ferry, and were presently waiting in General Shen Liangyu's quarters.
"Sleep deep and sound."
Bai Jingyan said it as she rose, tapping Bai Jinchi lightly on the head.
Bai Jinchi wanted to tell her eldest sister to sleep too, but watching that straight, pine-like figure walking away, she swallowed the words back down.
It would be useless — her sister wouldn't listen anyway. Day and night without rest, Bai Jingyan circled and labored to protect the Bai family and the Bai Family Army. It was herself she should blame, useless as she was. Not yet strong enough — not yet able to lighten her sister's burden.
Bai Jinchi pressed a hand hard against the wound on her arm. At the very least she had to heal quickly, and ease her sister's worry. Even if she couldn't help her, she refused to be a weight upon her.
Hugging the jug to her chest, Bai Jinchi pulled out the stopper. She forced down the searing burn and swallowed two great gulps.
The moment Wei Zhaonian, Cheng Yuanzhi, Gu Wenchang, and Shen Kunyang arrived, they had gone to pay their respects to the Crown Prince. But Zhan Yu told them the Crown Prince had only just finished deliberations with his advisors and retired to rest.
Unable to see him, the four made their way to Shen Liangyu's quarters instead.
Shen Liangyu, already asleep, bolted upright the instant he heard that the generals of the Bai Family Army — Wei Zhaonian, Cheng Yuanzhi, Gu Wenchang, and Shen Kunyang — had come, and roused the others around him. Then, in a hushed voice, he passed along the news: they had rescued Bai Qingyun, the Ninth Young Master of the Bai family.
Cheng Yuanzhi was so electrified he nearly roared it to the heavens. Luckily Wei Zhaonian's hand clamped down hard on his wound in a single motion, and Cheng Yuanzhi, mid-guffaw, could only let out a strangled yelp.
"Ow! One-eyed Wei, you dog! Where in blazes are you pressing!"
Cheng Yuanzhi's mouth hung wide open in pain.
Wei Zhaonian, face impassive, cast one glance toward the outside, then stirred the coals in the brazier with his iron tongs and spoke in a low voice.
"The Crown Prince is here. Careful, always."
Gu Wenchang and Shen Kunyang nodded.
"Wei's right. Keep your voices down."
Sharp-eared as ever, Shen Liangyu picked out the sound of quick footsteps approaching from outside, recognized Bai Jingyan at once, and sprang to his feet.
"Xiao Baishu!"
Cheng Yuanzhi, spotting her entering the barracks, shot up as well.
Wei Zhaonian lifted his head, saw her, and rose too.
"Xiao Baishu!"
"Xiao Baishu!"
Unable to contain himself, Cheng Yuanzhi opened his mouth.
"So, about that —"
He had been on the verge of blurting out the news of Bai Qingyun's rescue when he recalled Wei Zhaonian's warning from moments before and swallowed it back down.
Gu Wenchang was pushing himself up on his staff when Bai Jingyan, entering the barracks, pressed down on his shoulder. She gave it a light pat and settled herself on the bench beside him.
"Uncle Gu, stay seated! Uncle Shen, General Cheng, General Wei — everyone, sit."
"Xiao Baishu, what was so urgent that you summoned us here? Is there work to be done?"
Impatient by nature, Cheng Yuanzhi spoke the moment his backside hit the seat.
Bai Jingyan nodded.
"You'll have heard already — Qingyun is alive. He has been rescued."
They nodded, every man of them suddenly wide awake.
"But there is one thing more that you do not know."
Bai Jingyan sat before the blazing brazier and warmed her hands at the fire. Her voice was heavy and calm.
"The Seventh Young Master — A'jie — is alive as well. He too has been rescued. He is in Southern Yan now."