Protect the Nation, Protect the People
A brief silence passed, and then the soldiers who had been watching began to laugh, throwing their arms around one another's shoulders.
"That's why she's wearing a veil. What a pitiful-looking thing."
"Well, well! Captain Du. Slapped by a woman! Hahahaha."
"Captain Du, you've gone and trampled the honor of every man in Jin! I could understand a slap from a pretty woman, but getting slapped by one with a face like that? Hahaha!"
The jeers burned across the centurion's face like the slap he'd taken moments before. Gritting his teeth, he flared up in fury and swung his hand.
"Dammit! Has everyone lost their minds?!"
But before the centurion's palm could reach Ji Nanghua's face, Bai Jingyan came rushing in with a sweep of wind, yanking Ji Nanghua out of the way even as her boot drove into the centurion's chest.
The centurion stumbled backward in disarray, and just as he was about to fall, bystanders caught him. The instant he opened his mouth to spew curses, he realized who had struck him—his face hardened, he straightened himself upright, and raised a cupped fist salute.
"General Bai!"
The Jin soldiers who had been laughing uproariously hastily swallowed their mirth at the sight of Bai Jingyan, snapping to attention and raising their fists in unison.
"General Bai!"
"General Bai!"
With her great victory in the war, Bai Jingyan's authority and renown within the army had soared. She was a woman, yes—but the armies of Jin respected her, and respected her from the heart.
The sharp-eyed soldiers of Jin had seen the centurion stirring up trouble and had quietly slipped away to fetch help.
Ji Nanghua wiped her tears with her sleeve, then, without even pausing to pick up her veil, rushed at the centurion and snatched her cloak back from him. Clutching it tightly in her loathing, she bowed to Bai Jingyan through her sobs.
"Thank you, Little Bai Marsh."
The wounded soldiers of the Bai Family Army, hearing that Little Bai Marsh had returned, all streamed out of their barracks—only to find Bai Jingyan's eyes blazing with fury.
She regarded the centurion, who stood with his back bowed and head lowered, her expression unnervingly composed.
"Centurion. Quite the commanding presence you have."
Cold sweat beaded on the man's brow. What wretched luck. He'd only been curious to see the face beneath the Little Courtesan's veil because her eyes were so pretty—and he'd gone and gotten caught by General Bai herself. A woman herself, she would surely take that woman's side. His luck couldn't have been worse.
"This lowly officer has committed a crime deserving death. I only meant to jest with this courtesan, but I fear the jest went too far. General Bai, I beg your forgiveness."
The word jest sent Bai Jingyan's rage surging. She stepped forward two paces and kicked him squarely in the stomach again. The onlooking soldiers scrambled out of range, terrified the sparks might land on them.
"Was that fun?"
Her brows lifted. She looked as though she could no longer hold her fury in check.
These were the people her grandfather, her father, her uncles and brothers, and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Bai Family Army had protected with their lives. Had they saved these people only to be shamed and toyed with by men like this?
The centurion staggered backward under her kicks. Once he found his footing again, he hurriedly raised his fist salute and bowed low, unable to lift his head. His saluting fist had gone white from clenching it so hard.
Bai Jingyan raised her foot once more and kicked him with all her strength.
"I asked if it was fun, harassing a woman."
Before the centurion could even steady himself, her boot drove into his gut again and sent him crashing to the ground.
"I asked if it was fun, tormenting the weak."
The centurion picked himself up, bent into a salute, and pressed his lips shut, unable to say a single word.
Wang Xiping, who had come running at the news, heard the fury in Bai Jingyan's voice and hastily shouted out.
"General Bai! General Bai!"
He shouldered his way through the crowd, glared at his subordinate the centurion, then turned to Bai Jingyan and raised his fist in salute.
"General Bai, please calm your anger. I've heard everything. This is Du Sanbao's fault, no two ways about it. But Du Sanbao beheaded two Xiliang generals in succession at the Battle of Ongsan. The great merit has made him cocky. Thankfully he only mocked this woman—no real harm was done—so I beg you to overlook it just this once."
Seeing Bai Jingyan's face grow stonier by the moment, Wang Xiping hurried on.
"General Bai, I'll make him apologize to this courtesan. Du Sanbao! What are you doing standing there like a stump? Move!"
The centurion Du Sanbao stepped forward and bowed toward where Ji Nanghua stood.
"I'm sorry!"
"General Bai, please, just this once."
Wang Xiping was a man who closed ranks for his own.
Bai Jingyan's grip tightened around her sword as she suppressed her fury, fixing cold eyes on Du Sanbao, whose face still glowed with smug delight. A murderous gleam stirred in her eyes; her authority radiated off her in waves.
"So what General Wang is saying... is that the armies of Jin may use their merit to commit wrongs, and then use merit again to cover those wrongs? In that case, today I shall execute this centurion right here. I did earn considerable merit in the Southern Border, after all. That should be more than enough."
At those words, Du Sanbao went white-faced and dropped to his knees, sweat pouring down his forehead. Bai Jingyan was a killing god who executed even surrendered soldiers. Du Sanbao turned to Wang Xiping for help.
"General Wang! This lowly officer made a terrible mistake! General Wang, please spare me! I am your soldier!"
"You ate the grain offered by the people of Great Jin, and collected the taxes paid by the people of Great Jin, did you not? Put your hand on your heart and answer me. Whose soldier are you?"
Bai Jingyan's voice rang out thunderous.
"The state feeds its army to defend the nation and protect its people. For those who serve in the army, defeating the enemy is their duty! Merit earns rewards and titles and rank—was that ever a license to torment the very people of our own country?"
Wang Xiping's mouth fell open.
"Where is the Bai Family Army?"
Bai Jingyan's voice rang out loud and clear.
The wounded soldiers of the Bai Family Army who had been watching near the entrance stepped forward and raised their fists in salute.
"And the Bai Family Army—watching our own people of Jin be humiliated, you simply stood by and did nothing?"
Bai Jingyan asked.
The wounded soldiers wanted to protest, but on reflection they realized they truly had stood by and watched, and not one of them could utter a word.
"Have you forgotten what hundreds of thousands of the Bai Family Army died for?"
Bai Jingyan's fists clenched tight as she fixed her blazing eyes on the wounded soldiers.
"Just months ago, Fengcheng was under siege, and the Bai Family Army brothers under the Deputy Marshal fought with their dying breath to hold the enemy back so the people of Fengcheng could flee. Of everyone who fell at Fengcheng, not a single one deserted to save his own skin! General Jifeng, Bai Jingyou, led fifteen hundred Bai Family Army soldiers into battle and staked his life to open a path of survival for the people. Bai Jingyou died fighting the Xiliang army—his body was never even recovered! General Jiyong, Bai Jingming, led his army to defend Fengxian! And those Bai Family Army brothers—not one survived. Every last man fell! Why?"
The camp fell deathly silent.
The flames in the brazier flickered in the wind, casting mottled shadows across Bai Jingyan's face.
Her furious voice carried the force of mountains and rivers crumbling.
"Protect the nation. Protect the people!"
Ji Nanghua clutched her cloak tight against her chest and broke into open weeping.
She remembered the moment Bai Jingming had leapt from his horse and wrapped her in that very cloak. She remembered the words he had spoken to her.
If only she could, Ji Nanghua would descend into hell itself to bring General Bai Jingming back.
Bai Jingyan gritted her teeth and went on.
"Our Bai Family Army—from the Marshal down to the generals and the common soldiers—gave up their lives to protect the people. And you stood by and watched while the people of Jin were humiliated! Do you feel no shame before the Bai Family Army brothers who left us first? Do you even deserve to be called the Bai Family Army alongside them?
Courtesan Ji is the daughter of a physician's family from Fengxian. Out of gratitude to the Bai Family Army for saving her life, and knowing that we are waging desperate battles for the sake of the people, she traveled all the way here from Fengxian of her own accord—to save even one more wounded soldier with her medicine, however small a hand she might lend. Even a frail woman was willing to risk her life to repay a debt of gratitude. And you? What did you do to the benefactor who tended your wounds?"
"This subordinate has done wrong!"
One of the wounded squad leaders of the Bai Family Army dropped to one knee, tears streaming down his face.
"I will accept any punishment gladly!"
"This subordinate has done wrong! I will accept punishment!"
"This subordinate has done wrong! I will accept punishment!"
Every wounded soldier of the Bai Family Army stepped forward, confessing his fault and volunteering to take his punishment.
"Those who know their own fault will each receive fifty lashes as discipline! Any who believes himself guiltless may leave this place of his own accord once his wounds have healed! Whoever cannot protect the people has no right to be a soldier! The people whom hundreds of thousands of Bai Family Army brothers and our brothers of Jin defended with blood and lives are forever more precious than our own lives. No one—not one of you—may ever despise them or shame them!"
"Yes, General!"
The wounded soldiers of the Bai Family Army answered as one.
"And you—"
Bai Jingyan turned, picked up Ji Nanghua's veil from the ground, and knelt to retrieve it, then looked down at Du Sanbao, who still dared not lift his head.
"Either strip off your armor and go home to farm, or ask for eighty strokes of the military rod yourself. Your choice. All of the merit you earned in this campaign is wiped clean. Start over as the most ordinary of soldiers! I remember your name now. Du Sanbao!
General Wang Xiping—there will be no occasions on which I, Bai Jingyan, play the fool or look the other way. I will be reporting this man's name to General Zhang Danyue as well. If you mean to shield him, then you had best be prepared to shoulder the consequences too."
Sweat glistening on his forehead, Wang Xiping hastily raised his fist in salute and answered.
He lifted his head and watched Bai Jingyan supporting Ji Nanghua as she led her toward the barracks, a flood of emotions washing over him.
He had overestimated himself, Wang Xiping thought. It wasn't as though he'd never heard how strict the Bai Family Army's discipline was. But he had fought alongside Bai Jingyan in this war, and he had assumed that with a word from him she would let it slide—that was why he had come like this. He'd believed she would protect his face!
Wang Xiping was no fool. True, Bai Jingyan had spared his dignity not one scrap just now—but hearing her words to the Bai Family Army, his own chest had swelled with feeling.
Everyone who joined the army came carrying the same burning resolve: to defend the nation, to protect the people.
All this while, the ones bleeding on the front lines had been the Bai Family Army. The great armies of Jin had lounged in comfort while parading their merits about, their discipline grown ever more slack. As the years of service stretched on, the Jin armies—Wang Xiping himself included, officers and soldiers alike—had little by little lost sight of the resolve that first brought them here.
Wang Xiping's hands tightened where they were clasped behind his back. Just then, Du Sanbao rose to his feet through gritted teeth, and Wang Xiping frowned.
"What, you still won't admit your fault?"
"I admit it!"
Du Sanbao's heart was pounding. He turned toward the barracks and raised his salute, lifting his head to cry out at the top of his voice.
"General Bai! Courtesan Ji! Du Sanbao has done wrong! I go now to accept my punishment! From this day forward, Du Sanbao will start again as an ordinary soldier! I will reclaim the resolve I once had!"
At Bai Jingyan's words, Du Sanbao remembered the day he had first enlisted. Back then, Shu had been slaughtering the people of Jin's borderlands and defiling Jin's women. Hearing word of the border people's plight, he had been unable to contain his fury, and had joined the army with the resolve to drive out the enemy at the cost of his life.
Protect the nation. Protect the people.
Those four words were the reason Du Sanbao had enlisted.
As the years passed he became a squad leader of ten, then a centurion of a hundred—his rank climbing ever higher, and his first resolve fading further and further away.
Thanks to General Bai's words today, he had come to his senses at last.
And this punishment, Du Sanbao intended to accept gladly.