The Cry of Surrender
"Your Highness, I sent my operative only because I knew you and Teacher Xiao had grown close, and I feared it might put you in an awkward position. I never meant for it to breed such a misunderstanding. The truth is, this operative of mine is timid by nature and moves with the utmost caution. If he had truly intended to go to Southern Yan, collude with the enemy, and sell out the country, not a soul in the world would ever have found a trace of him."
Bai Jingyan glanced once at Xiao Ruogang, then added, "On this Southern Border campaign as well, it was this very operative of mine who arrived ahead of us and single-handedly located Xiliang's grain depots—without being detected by a single Xiliang soldier."
A light sparked in the Crown Prince's eyes. He looked down at Xiao Ruogang, still kneeling on the floor. Bai Jingyan was right. The more fearful a man was, the more carefully he moved.
When Bai Jingyan had marched out for the Southern Border, she had brought only a single operative with her. Everyone had assumed the Bai family's private guards were absent, since all seventeen sons of the Bai household had gone to war without them.
So Bai Jingyan's operative possessed such abilities?
"I have one more operative besides him—You saw him when we set out, Your Highness. It was that operative who uncovered the Xiliang army's encampment before the battle at the Jinghe River. He is stationed at Donggu Mountain now. When the garrisons of Xiliang and our Great Jin rotate, Xiliang may well plant spies on Donggu Mountain, so he went ahead to stand guard."
It was better to speak before the Crown Prince could ask.
"As expected, the Bai family has capable people to spare," the Crown Prince marveled.
"At present, the Bai family has only two operatives worth their salt. It is Your Highness's own household that brims with talent."
Bai Jingyan lowered her head, concealing a smile as she answered. "Advisor Fang, Teacher Jin, and Teacher Lin as well—every one of them a rare talent, men of exceptional stratagem."
Had anyone else said such a thing, the Crown Prince would have taken it for flattery. But from Bai Jingyan, who spoke nothing but the plain truth, the words warmed him.
Only, she seemed utterly tone-deaf. If she had any sense, she would have seized the moment to offer her two operatives up to him, to work for his benefit.
Fine. Fine. The Bai family are all stubborn as mules; they would never ride a moment's momentum to curry favor. And even if Bai Jingyan truly did send me these two, I couldn't use them for anything that mattered anyway.
"In truth, Teacher Xiao is a remarkable man. Upright in bearing, clear of heart. I have known him well since my days as Prince. A merchant by birth, yes—but not the sort who sniffs after money alone. He is deeply learned, with the breadth of spirit of a true scholar! The Bai family has no sons left now, so if Teacher Xiao has feelings for General Bai, and if he is willing to marry into the family… his rank is a touch low, I grant, but I would call him an excellent match!"
The Crown Prince spoke slowly, thoughtfully.
If Xiao Rongyan willingly became the Bai family's live-in son-in-law, it would be no ill thing for the Crown Prince himself. He need never worry that Bai Jingyan might marry into some other household. She and Xiao Rongyan got along well, the man was a scholar of the first rank, and if he remained in Jin he would become its greatest merchant…
The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes, recalling how lavishly Xiao Rongyan had spent in the capital of Dadu.
The Bai family would follow him from now on. If Xiao Rongyan entered the Bai household as their son-in-law, he could surely lend great weight to the Crown Prince's ascension to the throne. So long as his service was acknowledged, the man would become his purse—a source of endless profit for whatever he chose to do later.
Bai Jingyan's brow knitted. She wore the expression of one forced to speak the words she least wished to say—the look of a woman offering the Crown Prince the unvarnished truth, with no thought for saving face.
"Your Highness, fine a man as Teacher Xiao may be, he is not fated for me. I cannot bear children."
"Fate is an uncertain thing," the Crown Prince said, still unwilling to give up, smiling at her—before turning back to Xiao Ruogang. "From this day forward, conduct yourself with greater care in all things. It is fortunate that it was I who discovered this. Had anyone else learned of it… you might have brought calamity down upon your Eldest Miss."
Xiao Ruogang bowed deeply to the floor. "I shall engrave the Crown Prince's words upon my heart. Your humble servant will exercise the utmost caution from this day on. As the Crown Prince commands, I will be careful, and careful again, in all things. I will never bring harm upon the Eldest Miss."
"You may go."
Xiao Ruogang hastily kowtowed and withdrew.
The Crown Prince turned his gaze once more to Bai Jingyan, standing to one side.
"This was not done because I distrust you."
"I know it well. Since Your Highness has accepted me as one of the Crown Prince's own people, you summoned me together with my operative. You rebuked him in my stead, did you not? How could I fail to appreciate Your Highness's consideration?"
The Crown Prince nodded, his face full of smiles. "General Bai, go and rest. Tomorrow you must escort Li Zhijie, the Prince of Yan of Xiliang, and the Xiliang Princess back to the capital of Dadu. Keep your wits about you the entire way. There is no telling what scheme Xiliang may yet have hidden up its sleeve."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Leaving the command tent, Bai Jingyan submitted a formal report to Advisor Fang, then caught sight of Bai Jinchi and Xiao Ruogang waiting at the entrance.
On the walk back to their quarters, Xiao Ruogang spoke in a low voice. "Eldest Miss, Teacher Xiao and the Crown Prince seem to be on excellent terms. If we use Teacher Xiao as a shield, then the matter of the Seventh Young Master…"
"Don't worry. Teacher Xiao won't say a word."
When Xiao Rongyan sent word or letters, he never once concealed his movements—as though he feared nothing should the Crown Prince come to know of them.
Xiao Rongyan knew perfectly well that Bai Jingyan was keeping the Jin imperial house in check. And Bai Jingyan knew of Xiao Rongyan's extraordinary true identity. Since each held the other's secret, was it not only right that they guard and shelter one another to some degree?
Guangping, capital of Southern Yan.
The Emperor of Southern Yan, Murong Pei, pressed the imperial seal against his chest. The Black Bird Azure Sparrow Banner, emblem of Great Yan's legitimate succession, was drawing steadily nearer. The carriage drawn by sixteen black steeds, bearing Emperor Mingde of Great Yan, came on in full majesty through the dazzling morning sun.
The hands holding the imperial seal trembled violently. Leading the Southern Yan royals and his ministers, Murong Pei stood before the palace gates and raised the seal high above his head.
When Empress Xi had died, Great Yan had plunged into chaos and civil war. Seizing the seal amid the upheaval, Murong Pei had made his way to Guangping, Great Yan's old capital, overturned the New Policies Empress Xi had established, and restored the aged institutions of the past. Backed by Great Yan's venerable old clans, he had drawn the Tianqu River as their border, severed Southern Yan from Great Yan, and raised his own kingdom upon it.
Then General Shi Ju of Great Yan had marched all the way to Guangping and put to the sword every one of the old clans that had set Murong Pei upon his throne. The people had cheered.
Shi Ju had ridden alone up to the palace and flung wide its main gates, bearing a secret decree from Murong Yan, the former Prince of Great Yan. The Emperor of Great Yan would soon arrive at Guangping, the decree read: if Murong Pei had no wish to stain the walls of Guangping with the blood of the imperial clan, he would kneel at the palace gates bearing the imperial seal in person to welcome him. Only then would Murong Pei and his family be permitted to live out their days in peace.
Murong Pei understood, at last, that his spirit had broken. He could not bring himself to bury the little ones in the earth of Guangping alongside him. Above all—true, he had revived Great Yan's old institutions and climbed onto a king's seat, but the only ones rejoicing were the ancient clans, while the hearts of the people seethed with fury. Behind his back, every one of them pointed fingers and called him a muddle-headed ruler.
Enough. Enough of it all.
He had been nothing but the illegitimate son of Prince Su from the very start. He had played at emperor long enough; for a dozen years he had tasted every riches and glory the mortal world could offer. And had he not served as the old clans' puppet quite long enough as well? If only the lives of the children could be spared, he would gladly kneel and grovel a hundred times over for the sake of his dignity.
Besides, he had never been the legitimate heir anyway.
On the third day of the third month in the thirteenth year of the Mingde era, Murong Pei—Emperor Huiwen of Southern Yan—knelt outside the palace of Guangping, Great Yan's old capital, returned the imperial seal, and cried out his surrender. With his surrender, Great Yan, divided for nineteen years, was made whole again.
That same day, Lin Chongyi, Chancellor of Southern Yan, hanged himself with his own hands, dying for his fallen state; Murong Pei was stripped of his throne and demoted to King of Mingdu, and his entire family was banished to the border town of Mingdu.
Within the palace of Guangping.
Emperor Mingde of Great Yan, escorted by Xiao Rongyan and the aged eunuch Feng Yao, walked the palace corridors he had known so well as a child. The morning sun slanted slowly toward Lanfeng Pavilion, the palace where his mother had stayed during her time in Guangping.
Feng Yao was the one who had once attended upon Empress Xi, and he was now grown old. Before Emperor Mingde Murong Yu arrived, Feng Yao had sent men ahead to restore and set Lanfeng Pavilion in order, arranging every detail according to his master's memories.
Murong Yu—tall, yet thin as a reed—came at last to the entrance of Lanfeng Pavilion. The wind shook loose crabapple leaves onto the threshold, and Murong Yu bent down to gather them. Feng Yao startled in alarm at the sight.
"Your Majesty! If there is anything you desire, pray command this old servant!"
"I am quite well. Do not fuss so, Old Feng."
Murong Yu stretched out a hand on which the bones stood plain beneath the skin, picked up the crabapple leaf, and slowly straightened. Smiling, he gazed at the crabapple tree glittering in the golden sunlight.
"More than twenty years, has it been. The crabapple Mother planted has already grown tall enough to reach the sky."
Murong Yu and Xiao Rongyan, their eyes identically shaped, watched the tree with the same warm smile.
Murong Yu was thirty-seven, in the very prime of life—yet he was gravely ill, and terribly frail for it.
His beauty was famed far and wide. His features were the very image of Empress Xi's, a face more delicate than any woman's, so lovely that none dared gaze upon it for long. Only his tall frame and the sovereign's aura he carried about him saved him—for had he been small and slight, any who saw him would surely have mistaken him for a beauty dressed in men's clothes.
Xiao Rongyan stood at his brother's side, his eyes dark and unfathomable. He brushed his fingers over the jade cicadas he always carried, and spoke slowly.
"I hardly remember it at all."
When Empress Xi had been moved to Dadu, Xiao Rongyan had been but two years old. Naturally, he could recall nothing of the old palace.
His mind was filled with only one thing: he had to find a good physician for Murong Yu, whatever it took.
To keep Great Yan's losses to a minimum, Xiao Rongyan had made his elder brother take the long detour to Guangping. Knowing that Emperor Mingde himself was coming, the people—just as he had predicted—poured into the streets in celebration. Expectations ran high that Great Yan's legitimate Emperor Mingde would restore Empress Xi's New Policies.
But who could have known his brother's health would fail so catastrophically fast? Twice in the carriage he had vomited blood, and six times he had collapsed unconscious.
Xiao Rongyan's brow knitted, his heart a tangle. There was no more time to lose.
He found himself thinking of the Bai family's physician, the one surnamed Hong. That Physician Hong, if he recalled rightly, was the senior brother of Imperial Physician Huang, who presided over the Imperial Academy of Medicine of Jin. And his medical skill was said to be nothing short of miraculous.
Murong Yu smiled and took Xiao Rongyan's hand, drawing him toward the gate of Lanfeng Pavilion, and searched along a corridor pillar until he found the marks left behind from the days when they had measured their heights as children.
"They are still here."
Murong Yu bent low and traced the old marks with his fingers. He could see it still—the four brothers tumbling and laughing at their mother's side. Back then, Ayan had been a drooling little toddler, nothing more than a small boy squabbling with his third younger brother. And now, of the four brothers, only two remained.
"Your Majesty, please go inside and rest," Feng Yao murmured at his side. "The third month has come, yet the wind is still cold."
Murong Yu gripped his brother's hand tight and rose to his feet, gazing at the crabapple tree in the courtyard. His voice trembled, ever so slightly.
"Ayan… I miss Mother."
At the sudden mention of Empress Xi, Feng Yao's eyes reddened, and he bowed his head low, unable to utter a single word.