General Bai
Lu Yuanfeng glanced around, and when he failed to spot Jin Lang, he turned to Sima Ping, who sat mounted right beside him, and asked, "Where's Jin Lang? Why hasn't he come?"
Sima Ping was the youngest son of Grand Censor Sima Yan and the grandnephew of Jin Lang's late mother. The two were close friends as well as relatives, and they had always been on intimate terms.
"Jin Lang is the Bai family's son-in-law — naturally he should be arriving with the Bai family, shouldn't he? If a son-in-law, of all people, came out specially to greet an executioner, what kind of picture would that paint?" Sima Ping drew his horse closer to Lu Yuanfeng and lowered his voice. "Besides, Jin Lang was once betrothed to Sister Bai. Sneaking out here alone with us, behind his wife's back? The very thought is absurd."
Lu Yuanfeng nodded, thoroughly convinced. "You're right about that."
"Hey! Hey, Lu Yuanfeng. Isn't that someone from the palace over there?" someone asked him. "Looks like the wine we brought is going to waste."
Lu Yuanfeng turned his head. Gao Demu, the Emperor's Grand Eunuch, was riding toward them, and behind him a column of armored imperial guards pressed forward in imposing, magnificent formation.
A eunuch dispatched by the Emperor would ordinarily escort a general fresh from victory straight back to the palace. If that happened, there would be no chance at all to speak with Sister Bai.
"Our Dadu just keeps getting more interesting! The twenty-eighth of this month is His Majesty's birthday, and envoys are arriving from every nation. This year, they say the Emperor of Great Yan himself is bringing a prince along to offer his congratulations!"
"That's what I heard! The Emperor of Great Yan is Consort Xi's son, and word is he's the very image of her — they call him the finest-looking man of the age, though seeing is believing, I suppose!"
Crowds were gathering in ever-greater numbers at the south gate of Dadu. The vendors selling breakfast had moved their stalls outside the walls early, and the common folk who had been eating there rose and drifted toward the gathering throng. Standing on tiptoe, they gazed at the great army approaching in high spirits from afar, speculating over what the Xiliang Princess might look like, and which of them might be the Prince of Yan.
Lu Yuanfeng looked around, and when he saw no sign of Xiao Rongyan, he turned to Sima Ping beside him. "Why hasn't Brother Xiao come yet? Didn't he say at the welcoming banquet last night that he'd join us to meet the Crown Prince today?"
Sima Ping glanced back toward the city. "Good question. Don't tell me he drank too much last night."
"Not a chance. Do you forget how much Brother Xiao can hold? He's the man who stays perfectly sober while the rest of us are face-down on the floor."
Lu Yuanfeng's voice was brimming with admiration for Xiao Rongyan. He turned to his servant and said, "Go to the residence and ask why he isn't here yet."
Before the words had even left his mouth, Sima Ping jabbed him sharply with his elbow. "He's here, he's here! I can see Brother Xiao's carriage!"
Lu Yuanfeng whipped his head around. The shadow guard Yue Shi was helping Xiao Rongyan down from the carriage. Lu Yuanfeng dismounted, tossed his reins to a laborer, and strode over to Xiao Rongyan's carriage to offer a greeting. "Brother Xiao!"
Xiao Rongyan, elegant and composed, released his grip on the hem of his official robes, returned Lu Yuanfeng's greeting with calm courtesy, and said with a smile, "Why have you come out so early?"
"To meet Sister Bai, of course!" Lu Yuanfeng seized Xiao Rongyan by the wrist and began hauling him toward the crowd. "They'll be here any moment! Come on, follow me up front!"
Dragged along in Lu Yuanfeng's grip, Xiao Rongyan gazed with deep, dark eyes at the great army advancing slowly in the distance. The cavalry led the column, and the thunder of their hooves was as disciplined as a single drumbeat — a truly magnificent sight.
If Great Yan had cavalry like this, Xiao Rongyan thought, narrowing his eyes, how fine that would be.
Watching the figure in silver armor leading the column at its very head, Xiao Rongyan tightened his grip on the Jade Cicada. There was no trace of a smile in his eyes, still as still water, yet the darkness within them burned hot.
The woman riding at the front had her long hair tied back, the Sun-Shooting Bow slung across her back and the Red-Tasseled Spear in hand — every inch of her brimming with heroic bearing.
Ten thousand rays of morning sun broke through the clouds and poured down. The horse she rode seemed to be treading upon brilliant light itself. Her silver armor glittered gold, and a luminous radiance wrapped about her, so that she looked for all the world like a divine spirit descended to earth. How could a body so slight carry such world-shaking vigor and unyielding spirit?
"Look, do you see? They've returned! They've finally returned!" The common folk could not contain their excitement, shouting one over another. "The great army has returned in triumph! General Bai has come home!"
At the words General Bai, the people remembered the day the Duke of Zhenguo and the generals of the Bai family had returned to the capital after a great victory.
General Bai.
Every man of the Bai family had been General Bai.
And now a woman of the Bai family had become General Bai as well. Leading five hundred thousand Jin troops and ten thousand Bai soldiers, she had defeated a million men in southern Xiliang and won a great victory. Xiliang, left with no strength to counterattack, had been forced to its knees to sue for peace.
"The soldiers of Jin are magnificent! General Bai, magnificent!"
"Who says a woman can't match a man? The Bai family's eldest daughter took five hundred thousand Jin troops and made Xiliang cower in place!"
"As if anyone could deny it! Only days ago she was said to be ill — and then word came out of the Southern Border that the great victory there was won not by the Crown Prince, but by the Bai family's eldest daughter!"
"This is the Bai Estate that has held military command for a hundred years! They treat the common folk as their own flesh and blood. The Bai clan could never stand by and watch the border people suffer — that is why their eldest daughter went to the Southern Border and fought through blood and fire!"
"It was never only the Bai men who gave their lives for the nation and its people. The Bai women, too, have hearts this strong and ambitions this vast! Every one of them has given everything for the country and its people! With a family like this guarding Great Jin, why should we fear Xiliang? Why fear any of the rival states?"
The people's emotions seemed to catch and spread. On the night of New Year's Eve, when word had come that every man of the Bai family had perished at the Southern Border, the household had been plunged into grief. King Xin had returned with the bodies and committed vile outrages against the family, and only by striking the Dengwen Drum had they managed to uncover the truth.
And yet, even as their men gave body and soul for the nation, the women of the Bai family — robbed of their honors — had never abandoned their unyielding spirit. With ambitions that pierced the very heavens, they possessed a breadth of vision to rival any man. They went at last to the Southern Border, shouldered that crushing burden, raised the banner of the Bai Army, and defended the nation. People marveled at that iron resolve — to protect the country, to protect the people — and respect rose in their hearts unbidden.
It was said that the Bai family of the Zhenguo Duke Estate, holders of military command for a century, had never once produced a mediocrity.
Think of the seventeen men of the Bai family who had already left this world — each one brilliant in talent, each one the finest in all Dadu.
The old and the young, the women among them — hearts swelling with gratitude — wept as they called out for General Bai.
Lu Yuanfeng, too, was swept up in that emotion, his throat tight. His chest swelled, and something hot seemed to seethe within it.
"I never knew a woman could shine like this. Sister Bai in armor — the very sight takes my breath away!"
As the army drew nearer, when it was perhaps ten paces from the south gate of Dadu, a junior eunuch beside Gao Demu darted forward at a quick trot toward the troops. He approached the head of the column, offered his greeting, and spoke; and Bai Jingyan, riding at the very front of the victorious army, pulled hard on her reins and raised the Red-Tasseled Spear high. The cavalry halted in an instant and stood at their posts in solemn formation. All around fell silent at once, and only the messenger wheeled his horse and galloped back to carry word down the line.
Only then did Gao Demu dismount and walk with a company of imperial guards toward the spot where the army had halted.
Lin Shijie, who had returned to Dadu ahead of the Crown Prince, followed behind Gao Demu's party, leading the Crown Prince's household out to meet his master.
On seeing Xiao Rongyan, Lin Shijie gave him a courteous nod and a smile.
The common folk, too, all followed Gao Demu, walking toward the halted army.
Impatience getting the better of him, Lu Yuanfeng gripped Xiao Rongyan's arm and, calling out his friends' names, elbowed his way through the crowd toward the troops.
Soon the generals dismounted, and the Crown Prince, the Prince of Yan Li Zhijie, and the Xiliang Princess Li Tianfu all came to the front to await the Emperor's decree.
"By His Majesty's decree. The Crown Prince, the Bai family's eldest daughter, and the generals all fought valiantly in the battle at the Southern Border — their labors are acknowledged. None but the Crown Prince need enter the palace to render a report; let each return to his own residence and rest! The victorious troops of Jin shall follow General Zhang Danyue back to their camps and stand down. Rewards will be bestowed in due course. The provisions shall be managed by the Crown Prince's household. The Prince and Princess of Xiliang shall rest at the relay station for now, and enter the palace tomorrow to attend the banquet."
The imperial decree said only that a banquet would be held on the morrow — it made no mention whether the feast was to celebrate the great victory in the Southern Border, or to welcome the Prince and Princess of Xiliang.
Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi were longing for nothing so much as to go home at once, so the order that they need not enter the palace struck them as a welcome mercy.
The hour in which a victorious general rode to the palace escorted by his soldiers was traditionally one of glory, when the crowds cheered him on — but Bai Jingyan no longer held the views of her childhood, when she had loved the limelight, and she paid no heed to such hollow honors.
The Crown Prince rose to accept the decree, exchanged a few words with Li Zhijie, and turned to look at Bai Jingyan. As though worried she might be displeased, he said, "The people all know you are the hero who defeated Xiliang. Whether or not you enter the palace, they know the truth! I will win your reward for you, whatever it takes!"
"Do not trouble yourself, Your Highness. I have no complaints. Indeed, right now all I can think of is getting home."
Bai Jingyan answered in a calm, even tone.
The Crown Prince nodded to her, and the moment he raised his head again his gaze fell on Lu Yuanfeng, who was straining to make his way over. And naturally, his eyes then landed on Xiao Rongyan, whom Lu Yuanfeng was dragging along by the wrist.
"Rongyan." The Crown Prince called out to him warmly, then shot Bai Jingyan a glance that was half a smile and half something else.
Xiao Rongyan stepped forward, his smile gentle and unassuming, and bowed with a warm face. "Your Highness. General Bai. My congratulations on your great victory. Word came that you would return today, so I came out to the south of the city to greet you."
The Crown Prince looked at Bai Jingyan and smiled, then spoke in a deliberately ambiguous tone. "I know full well who it is you've come to meet. General Bai tells me... you were in Nanyan recently?"
Bai Jingyan lifted her head and met Xiao Rongyan's deep, burning gaze, her hand tightening around the sword at her hip. Not a ripple crossed her expression.
She believed Xiao Rongyan to be a clever man. Surely, then, he would find some way to smooth that lie over.
And indeed, Xiao Rongyan answered without a moment's hesitation, smiling. "That is so. Come to think of it, that is a matter for which I owe Your Highness thanks. Because my belongings crossed over with the great army, they came through safely. Once you have rested, I will tell you the full story of Nanyan."
"Good!" The Crown Prince laughed and stole another glance at Bai Jingyan. Then, taking Xiao Rongyan by the wrist, he said, "Rongyan, come with me. There is something I must discuss with you."
"As you wish."
Xiao Rongyan answered, gave Bai Jingyan a formal, proper bow, and boarded the carriage after the Crown Prince.