A Changed Bearing
At the Crown Prince's word, Zhan Yu turned at once and led out two companies of the Crown Prince's guard.
"They say the Suyang clan has been running roughshod over everyone in sight. And of all people, you happen to be a daughter of the Bai family. They will surely pull rank and play the elders, and they may well try to seize hold of you. So take Zhan Yu and the Crown Prince's guards with you. Once the clansmen learn that I stand behind you, they won't dare lay a finger on you."
Zhan Yu bowed to Bai Jingyan with a warm smile.
"I know I'll be a burden, but please take me along and let me see the sights of Suyang. His Highness the Crown Prince has given me his orders. The command of the Commandery Princess is the command of the Crown Prince himself — I will follow whatever you instruct."
At Zhan Yu's words, the Crown Prince nodded with evident satisfaction.
Bai Jingyan's face registered astonishment, then deep gratitude. She performed a full obeisance before declining.
"Your Highness, you mustn't! Eunuch Zhan Yu attends you at your side — if I take him away, who will look after Your Highness with such attentive care? And more than that, if I take the Crown Prince's guard with me... what of your own safety?"
To the Crown Prince, Bai Jingyan's refusal looked nothing like a show put on for appearances; it seemed to spring from genuine feeling, so deep it moved him. At her words of concern for his person, his expression softened further.
"I did not wait for you here at dawn this morning only to be refused. Accept my command."
Bai Jingyan lifted her head and looked up at the Crown Prince. His sincere gaze brimmed over with boundless warmth.
"I accept your command. Thank you, Your Highness."
"Good. That's the spirit!"
The Crown Prince nodded in satisfaction. Then a thought struck him — the Liang King had gone to Yanwo to deal with the famine. Advisor Fang had insisted the Liang King must not be allowed to handle the matter properly, but the Crown Prince wanted to hear what Bai Jingyan thought as well.
"Commandery Princess, walk with me a moment."
Bai Jingyan nodded and followed him a short distance to a wider stretch of ground, where they walked side by side. The Crown Prince related Advisor Fang's counsel to her.
"The Liang King once bribed a maidservant who attended you, tried to pin the charge of selling out the nation on the Duke of Zhenguo, and even meant to slander you with it. Judging by that alone, he is hardly a man to be taken lightly. I begin to think he is not the weak, witless creature he makes himself out to be.
Perhaps that is why Advisor Fang urged me to send men and act — to stir up a popular uprising so that the Liang King cannot clean up the mess behind him. But if such a crisis breaks out, I suppose I might have to lead soldiers there to suppress it myself, and..."
When Bai Jingyan's brow furrowed, the Crown Prince broke off and asked, "Commandery Princess, you seem less than convinced."
Bai Jingyan bowed to him.
"Your Highness is the lord of a nation. The people of Jin are Your Highness's own people. Even if you mean to place obstacles in the Liang King's path, you must on no account resort to any measure that harms the people. I beg you never to forget that the people are the root of the state."
The Crown Prince, hands clasped behind his back, tightened his fists.
"Your Highness, I can never forget, even in death, how the Liang King slandered my grandfather and sought to exterminate the Bai family root and branch. Unlike you, I share no brotherly affection with the Liang King. I despise him to the marrow of my bones!
When I broke both of Li Mu's son's legs and dragged him before the Left Chancellor, I said it plainly: once the famine affair was settled, I would not tolerate the Chancellor aiding the Liang King. I would support only the Crown Prince, the rightful heir who has received Heaven's mandate.
This famine is grave — it was never going to be an easy matter to resolve. If the Liang King handles it well, he will merely have done what he was obligated to do; if he fails to resolve it properly, he will have to answer for it. Even if the Liang King governs the famine well and returns to Dadu in triumph, so long as no one aids him, he cannot threaten Your Highness's position. So set your mind at ease."
When the Crown Prince's face wavered with hesitation, Bai Jingyan continued.
"More than that, whether the Liang King can even govern this disaster well is anyone's guess. If he succeeds, there is no problem — but what if he botches it and His Majesty demands an accounting? And if it ever came to light that Your Highness had schemed behind the scenes, the blame would fall squarely upon your shoulders. Should that happen, His Majesty would look upon you with displeasure.
Ask Master Jin about this matter as well. He is a man of great talent. He will surely help Your Highness walk a smooth and unobstructed road as a wise sovereign."
The Crown Prince bowed his head and turned the matter over in his mind.
Bai Jingyan was right. She hated the Liang King far more than he did. Of all people, she was the one who most wished to see him plummet into the abyss.
So everything Bai Jingyan had said today had been purely for his own sake.
The Crown Prince met her gaze and spoke.
"Very well — I will bear the Commandery Princess's words in mind. You have a long road ahead, so be off. I must attend morning court now; we will speak in detail again after you return from Suyang. Zhan Yu! Look after the Commandery Princess well, and follow her every instruction!"
Zhan Yu, who had been standing at a distance, hurried over and bowed with a smile.
"Have no fear, Your Highness. You have exhorted me so many times that your words are engraved upon my heart."
The Crown Prince nodded.
"Travel safely, Your Highness."
Bai Jingyan bowed in farewell.
She stood watching until the Crown Prince's carriage vanished from sight. Then Zhan Yu said to her with a pleasant smile, "Shall we be off, Commandery Princess?"
"I'm in your hands."
Bai Jingyan offered a fist-and-palm salute to Zhan Yu and the two company commanders.
The commanders, visibly honored, hastily bent at the waist.
Once inside her carriage, Bai Jingyan's expression hardened.
Devising countermeasures for the Crown Prince was a strategist's proper duty, of course — but to resort to such petty, mean-spirited schemes.
Recalling the earnest look in the Crown Prince's eyes a moment before, she clenched her fists and shut her eyes tightly. A lord of a nation ought to know how to cherish and protect his people. If the Crown Prince truly moved on Advisor Fang's plan and stooped to such vicious methods to secure his own position, then he too would be a man unfit to be sovereign of Jin.
There was no telling whether the Crown Prince would follow Advisor Fang's scheme or not, but she had to send word ahead at once — a letter to Agyeol. The disaster refugees had to be lured to Youhua Road, and quickly.
The Crown Prince doted deeply on Zhan Yu. Ordering him to accompany Bai Jingyan, he had even prepared a carriage for her. It was neither lavish nor spacious, but it was exquisitely crafted, and the insignia of the Crown Prince's household was emblazoned upon it.
It worked in Bai Jingyan's favor as well. A hundred guards, plus Zhan Yu, had been added to her retinue. The more visible the Crown Prince's insignia on their persons, the more the Suyang Bai clansmen would tremble in fear. The local officials of Suyang would doubtless prove far more cooperative, too.
Thus the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's procession gained a hundred of the Crown Prince's own guards. Shen Qingzhu reorganized the formation of the guards and set them to follow at the rear of the column. Then, with imposing grandeur, they set out for Suyang.
On the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month, no sooner had dawn broken than the Prefect and the County Magistrate were waiting outside the walls of Suyang.
When Bai Jingyan returned to Suyang this time, the atmosphere had shifted beyond all recognition.
First, messengers from the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's household arrived. The Commandery Princess would soon return to Suyang to settle the clan affair herself, they announced, and ordered the County Magistrate to punish severely any young clansmen of the Bai family who had committed offenses.
Hard on their heels came men from the Crown Prince's own household. The Commandery Princess would return to Suyang to resolve the clan matter, they said — cooperate to the utmost, and on no account permit a single misstep.
Squeezed from both directions, the Prefect and the County Magistrate could not afford to be careless. They calculated the hour the Commandery Princess's party would reach Suyang, dispatched men to keep checking how far her carriage procession had come, and finally came out beyond the city walls in reverent welcome.
The party was expected in the late hour of chen — between eight and nine in the morning — but when late chen arrived, not so much as the nose of a carriage was to be seen. Anxiety began to creep over the County Magistrate.
"They say bandits have been running rampant of late. Surely the Commandery Princess hasn't run into bandits!"
the County Magistrate said, feigning worry. In truth, he was fretting over whether he would have anything to say to the Crown Prince afterward.
Seated composedly beneath the sturdy canopy, the Prefect lifted his teacup and took a leisurely sip of tea.
At the sight, the County Magistrate rolled his eyes at the Prefect, whites flashing. Was the tea actually reaching his throat just now?
Setting down his cup, the Prefect spoke slowly.
"A hundred of the Crown Prince's own guard are escorting the Commandery Princess. No bandit horde has a death wish — how would they dare lay hands on the Commandery Princess's carriages?"
"Quite right, my lord."
The County Magistrate nodded. His scalp, pulled taut with nerves, seemed to loosen a little, and he raised his own cup for a sip — but the servant had only just poured the tea, and he scalded his tongue, yanked his mouth wide open, then clapped a hand over it.
"Ah — hot!"
The servant cowered and stammered in alarm, "My lord, forgive me — the tea had gone cold, so I brought you a fresh, warm pot."
"They're here! They've arrived! My lord, they've come!"
A junior clerk of the county came sprinting to the roadside stall and skidded to a halt, gasping for breath. Straightening his official's cap, he bowed to the Prefect and the County Magistrate, then pointed behind him.
"The Commandery Princess has arrived."
The County Magistrate shot to his feet in astonishment and squinted into the distance.
The fourth lunar month poured brilliant morning sunlight across the land.
A long, unbroken column of carriages came rolling over the golden light, bearing a majestic air. They carried no banners, yet every rider was mounted with a sword at the hip. Where they passed, dust billowed up in thick clouds and did not settle for a long while. It was a vast and awe-inspiring procession.
The Prefect smoothed his court robes, rose, and went out beyond the stall to give welcome.
When word spread that the Prefect and the County Magistrate had gone out beyond the city walls to greet the Commandery Princess's carriage, the Suyang clansmen were struck dumb. The clan chief hurriedly sent word to the elders, and leading his kinsmen, went out beyond the walls to welcome her as well.
Only days before, the clan elders had so enraged the Grand Princess that she had coughed up blood. Before they had even returned to Suyang, there was already no one in Suyang who did not know of it.
The people of Suyang had been astounded by the news. They had assumed the Suyang clan, drunk on its chieftain's power, was now answerable to no one at all.
Lately, whispers had been drifting in from all quarters. The people recalled how Bai Jingyan had slipped into Suyang some time ago and quietly investigated everything the Suyang Bais had done. She had gone to the homes of those who had suffered harm, punished Bai Qingjue — the clan chief's grandson — in the middle of the street, and ordered the County Magistrate to look into the clan's misdeeds in thorough detail.
Bai Jingyan had set aside her rank and apologized to the people. She had sworn that the clansmen who had oppressed the common folk would be cast out of the clan, that the victims would be compensated — and that if the clan refused to pay, she would lead the Bai family of Dadu out of the clan herself.
So the people had come to believe that perhaps the Bai family of Dadu had known nothing at all of what the Suyang clan had been doing.
From of old, merchants and travelers passing through Suyang had never tired of praising the Bai family of Dadu and the Zhenguo Duke Estate — how overflowing with righteousness they were, how true to their word. And every time, the people of Suyang had only pursed their lips in discontent.
But now, seeing what the Commandery Princess had done in Suyang, and hearing the rumor that the Grand Princess had coughed blood over the clan's misdeeds, the people of Suyang began to think that perhaps the Bai family of Dadu truly did hold the common folk in their hearts.