Subduing the Enemy
Bai Jingyan calmly untied the sandbag bound to her arm.
Nuo Ping stepped forward and murmured something into her ear.
"That is Zhao Tong, grandson of Zhao Yi, the Liang general who died at the hands of the late Duke of Zhenguo. The Liang general Fan who laid siege three days ago was wounded, which is likely why Zhao Tong has come! It seems Xun Tianzhang has lost patience and sent one of his fiercest commanders to storm the walls."
Two Liang foot soldiers emerged from behind the shield formation carrying the black-cloth White Python Banner. Reaching Zhao Tong's side, they flung the banner to the ground and, with wicked laughter, began loosening their belts. They meant to urinate on the White Python Banner and goad the Jin army into a rash response.
"Eldest Miss!"
Nuo Ping's eyes went wide with fury.
The Bai Family Army and the banner that symbolized it could not be left to such an insult.
Though Bai Jingyan said nothing, a cold and searing light blazed from her eyes. She calmly drew two arrows, nocked them to the Sun-Shooting Bow, and drew the string all the way back. A low creak sounded as the bowstring strained.
She took a deep breath, then released her fingers.
With a shriek that threatened to split eardrums, the arrow tore through the air and punched through the throat of the Liang soldier gripping his own crotch. The blood-flecked arrow with its white fletching buried itself squarely in the front rank of the Liang army's shield wall, sinking half a hand's depth into the wooden shield — and the soldier holding it felt a jolt of numbness shoot up his arm.
Blood burst from the Liang soldier's pierced throat, erupting into a fine red mist before scattering on the wind.
A second arrow followed, whistling overhead. The great banner emblazoned with the character Zhao that the Liang army carried snapped with a crack and came crashing down along with the soldier who had sought to defile the black-cloth White Python Banner.
The Liang foot soldier toppled onto the banner, and the white python bloomed crimson.
Zhao Tong's black steed reared in fright, forelegs flailing the air as it screamed. He wrenched hard on the reins to calm it, then his gaze fell on the arrow jutting from the shield — and he looked up at the ramparts again, eyes round with disbelief.
On the wall, the Jin army's blood surged hot, and a roar tore from their throats.
Bai Jingyan fixed Zhao Tong with eyes that were cold and murderous.
Even at that distance, Zhao Tong could feel, undiluted, the killing intent radiating from the general in silver armor.
"Unfurl the banners and beat the drums!"
Bai Jingyan's command rang out as she glared at Zhao Tong as though she would cut him down where he sat.
"To battle!"
The guards arrayed behind her answered as one.
Hearing her order, Lin Gangluo hurried forward.
"Commandery Princess! You rode day and night without rest — you haven't slept properly at all! That cur Zhao Tong is one of Xun Tianzhang's fiercest generals!"
Whether Zhao Tong was fierce or not made no difference to Bai Jingyan. She had to learn what had become of Jinchi, and quickly. Which meant she had to take the man alive today and wring her sister's whereabouts out of him.
Besides, General Zhang Danyue's death had badly dented the Jin army's morale. A single victory to rouse the soldiers' spirits was urgently needed.
If anything, she should have been grateful to Zhao Tong — at least he had confirmed that Jinchi was still alive.
When the Liang army saw the black-cloth White Python Banner flying high above the gates of Longyang City, rippling in the wind, they fell suddenly silent. After a stretch of dead stillness, the Liang ranks erupted into uproar.
"Has the Jin relief force come?"
"The black-cloth White Python Banner! Is that the Butcher, the Zhenguo Commandery Princess? This fast?"
The Liang army could not agree.
"General Zhao! Withdraw for now! Let us return and report to the Grand Marshal!"
Zhao Tong's vice-general shouted.
Just as Zhao Tong gritted his teeth and pulled the reins to fall back, the war drums and horns sounded in unison from the ramparts of Longyang City.
Zhao Tong did not move from where he sat. The drawbridge lowered slowly, and at its far end appeared a woman in silver armor atop a white horse, along with some twenty guards, each carrying a silver spear. The twenty silver-armored guards rode out and spread into a single line behind Bai Jingyan.
Zhao Tong leveled his long spear at her.
"Who goes there?"
The instant Bai Jingyan fixed him with her cold gaze, his voice shrank.
"Bai Jingyan."
Zhao Tong looked her gaunt face up and down and sneered.
"So they call you the Butcher, Bai Jingyan? A delicate little beauty like you? Clearly that whole 'Butcher' business is a rumor the Jin invented!"
Zhao Tong's vice-general glanced once at the arrow embedded in his shield. He wanted to shout at Zhao Tong to retreat at once. But they had been the ones to come and provoke this fight, and to withdraw now that Jin had answered the challenge would be too shameful to bear.
"Come at me, then!"
Bai Jingyan pointed her spear at Zhao Tong.
Her skill with the spear had not yet returned to what it once was, but thanks to the ever-heavier sandbags she had trained with, she still had enough strength to cross blades with a long-spear master like Zhao Tong.
She could not let the fight drag on. The longer the exchange lasted, the more of her weaknesses Zhao Tong would read.
Because she knew her own vulnerabilities so well, Bai Jingyan had to end this in a lightning exchange.
Zhao Tong curled his lip in a sneer, spurred his horse's flanks, and charged at full gallop toward where Bai Jingyan stood.
Her eyes flicked to his black steed. In that instant, Zhao Tong read her intent to strike at his horse — and his own gaze swung to her white mare, the corner of his mouth lifting.
Shoot the man, and first shoot his horse, the old saying went — so he judged that the Zhenguo Commandery Princess meant to drag him from his saddle.
Zhao Tong's eyes brimmed with certainty of victory. Raising his spear, he thrust at Bai Jingyan's white mare before she could move.
Sparks flew as Bai Jingyan snapped her wrist and swept her spear downward. The long shafts crashed together in a shower of fire. She brought her weapon down hard on the spear thrusting toward her mare, pinning it against the earth. Under that tremendous force, Zhao Tong's arms went numb and his spear tore from his grip.
Riding the rebound, Bai Jingyan kicked Zhao Tong clean off his feet and recovered her spear. He flew into the air and crashed back down to the ground. He had never imagined a mere woman could possess such strength. Before he could even flinch, the spearhead glinting with cold light punched through his shoulder — and he froze where he lay.
Three moves. In just three moves, she had subdued the enemy.
"General! General Zhao!"
Zhao Tong's vice-general screamed until his throat tore.
Zhao Tong's black horse reared high, shrieking, then wheeled and bolted for the Liang camp.
Zhao Tong wanted to fight back, but Bai Jingyan's boot was grinding down on his chest with all her weight, pinning him in place. Gritting his teeth, he clutched at the spear that had pierced his shoulder — but he could neither counterattack nor resist.
Only when the guards behind Bai Jingyan rushed up in haste did she finally draw the bloodied spear free. Zhao Tong shrieked in agony, and then the Bai family guards seized him and dragged him into the city.
On the walls, the Jin army's cheers exploded, and the war drums beat louder and louder.
Bai Jingyan spurred her horse forward again and again, and the Liang army raised their shields to protect Zhao Tong's vice-general behind their wall.
Riding up to the dead Liang foot soldier, she lifted the black-cloth White Python Banner with her spear and tucked it against her chest. As she swept her gaze over the Liang general with eyes that seemed ready to bore through bone, an air of glacial cold poured from her silver armor. The blood-red pennant snapped in the wind, and the crimson spearhead stayed leveled at the Liang ranks. With the mad, world-swallowing audacity of a conqueror, Bai Jingyan raised her voice.
"Is there anyone else who dares face me?"
Blood dripped steadily from the tip of her silver spear, catching the sunlight and scattering like shards of broken cold light.
It was true that Zhao Tong had brought his defeat on himself by scorning his enemy — but the prowess of this woman who had subdued him in three moves could not be dismissed either. She was the one who had earned the name Butcher in the Southern Border war. The Liang soldiers felt their skin crawl, their bodies locking up with dread.
Granddaughter of Bai Weiting, the Zhenguo King of Jin. Bai Jingyan had followed her grandfather onto the battlefield since childhood, and the stories clung to her — that she had never lost a single battle. Even in that war where she was gravely wounded, they said she had beheaded the enemy commander-in-chief.
A woman who had put a hundred thousand surrendered soldiers to the sword without blinking — one could well imagine how ruthless her temperament was.
Zhao Tong's vice-general was terrified. When no one stepped forward to answer the challenge, he gripped his reins hard and raised his hand.
"Retreat!"
Watching the Liang army fall back, Bai Jingyan wheeled and rode back into the city.
The drawbridge rose, and the gates closed behind her.
Inside Longyang City, the people and soldiers surged with morale. Amid their cheering, Bai Jingyan dismounted, and Nuo Ping hurried to take her reins.
She turned her head and asked Lin Gangluo,
"Where is Zhao Tong?"
"Being held in the dungeon, Commandery Princess."
Lin Gangluo answered loudly.
Bai Jingyan tossed the long spear she held to one of the Bai family guards, mounted her horse, and looked at Lin Gangluo.
"Lead the way."
Word of Bai Jinchi's fate could not wait. There was no more time to lose.
By the time Bai Jingyan reached the dungeons of Longyang City, the army physician was already dressing Zhao Tong's wound.
The Bai family guards pressed him down, demanding he kneel, but Zhao Tong refused to bend his knees. So a guard brought the scabbard of his sword crashing down across Zhao Tong's face and forced him to the ground.
A sinister smile played across Zhao Tong's lips. Lifting his head with an expression of pure insolence, he spat a mouthful of blood-flecked saliva at Bai Jingyan, who stood watching him with perfect composure.
"Ah — it seems the Zhenguo Commandery Princess covets my body. Is that it? Want to mix flesh with me, do you?"
Furious, a Bai family guard kicked Zhao Tong square in the face. Two teeth clattered loose inside his mouth.
Seizing the head of the guard whose face had drained white with pain, the guard forced him down onto his knees again. Bai Jingyan spoke.
"And it was vermin like this who took the Gaoyi County Princess?"
"She'll be taken soon enough. You will never find the Gaoyi County Princess. Our grand army has her surrounded. She'll be captured without even the strength to resist!"
Zhao Tong grinned through his bloody mouth, the wound splitting wider.
"Don't even dream of prying the Gaoyi County Princess's whereabouts out of me. I'd keep my mouth shut even with a blade at my throat this instant. My only regret is that I couldn't be the one to kill you myself. If I had slain you, my name would have thundered through all the kingdoms."
Bai Jingyan silently walked to the brazier, lifted out a length of iron glowing red-hot, and studied it for a long moment. Then came a voice of utter, bottomless calm.
"You get exactly one chance. Tell me where the Gaoyi County Princess is, and I'll spare your life. Liang will send you back when they come begging for peace."
Zhao Tong's eyes flicked rapidly over the iron, so hot it was nearly transparent, and he answered with a laugh.
"General Xun Tianzhang commands four hundred thousand Liang troops! And you — a mere woman — think you'll win? Maybe if your grandfather or your father were leading, but not you!"
Bai Jingyan gazed into the sparking brazier with cold, impassive eyes.
"Do you have a wife?"
At the abrupt question, Zhao Tong burst out laughing.
"What? Do you truly want this body that badly? I haven't taken a wife yet — but I suppose taking a concubine first would be fine!"
"How fortunate. If you had a wife, I'd almost feel sorry for her."
Bai Jingyan set the iron down and raised her head to look down at him.
"I've heard your grandfather devised a special method of interrogation for extracting information from prisoners. He takes an iron heated red like this and pierces the organ that carries on the family line — over and over, until it cooks and falls away."
Zhao Tong's face went white as bone. Clenching his fists, grinding his teeth, he stared up at her.
"Some say your grandfather, old General Zhao, was actually a merciful man — that he only used that method on enemy soldiers who were married, or had children. But perhaps because I'm a woman, I find myself thinking of it from a woman's point of view. What use would a woman have for a man already ruined — a eunuch with nothing left to carry on his line? Surely even she would have no use for such a thing. Am I not right?"
Zhao Tong's thighs clamped tight. His throat felt as though it were searing shut. His eyes darted to the brazier where the iron glowed.
"You dare! If our Zhao clan ever takes your sister, we'll make her wish she were dead!"
Bai Jingyan turned her head toward Nuo Ping.
"Pingsu. Interrogate him until he opens his mouth. Don't kill him — killing him would end the fun. Keep him breathing. The Zhao clan of Liang will come looking for him. Not everyone in the Zhao clan will be this stubborn, so we'll get our information from someone."
"Leave it to me, Eldest Miss! I'll use on Zhao Tong the very methods old General Zhao used on our Bai Family Army. The interrogation techniques the old man crafted with such care — it would be a waste not to put them to use."
Nuo Ping answered with a cupped-fist salute.
Bai Jingyan gave Zhao Tong one last look from beneath lowered brows, then walked out.
"Bai Jingyan! Stop right there!"
Zhao Tong screamed after her.
Lin Gangluo moved to follow, but paused — casting a long, unreadable glance back at Zhao Tong, whose face had gone a terrible shade — then hurried after Bai Jingyan.